March 11, 2025 ❧ Trump disappears Palestine protester, Hegseth cancels the Enola Gay, and a student uprising in Serbia

Plus: Montana shoots down anti-trans bills, a new Canadian prime minister, mechanical elephants in India, and parrotfishes' bubble force fields

There is news everywhere for those with eyes to see

STORIES THAT SHOULD BE BIGGER

❧ Huge student-led protests are going on in Serbia, and a confrontation with the government is expected Saturday. The incident that sparked this uprising was the deadly collapse of a railway station roof in Novi Sad last November, for which 13 government officials have been indicted for corruption and negligence. But after an initial wave of “Corruption Kills” protests and an aggressive police crackdown against them, young Serbs have started to reject the right-wing government of President Aleksandar Vučić as a whole. 

The protesters have adopted the symbol of a red hand, meaning that Serbia’s government has blood on its hands, and they’ve rallied in the hundreds of thousands. At least 400 different towns and cities have held demonstrations, and “Almost all state universities and a large number of private higher education institutions are under blockade,” according to the local press. At a single event in the capital of Belgrade last December, more than 100,000 people were in the streets, making this the single biggest protest in Serbian history—even larger than the ones during the overthrow of President Slobodan Milošević in the early 2000s.

In English, the slogan reads “You have blood on your hands!”

(Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Things are rapidly moving into “revolution” territory, and a climactic rally in Belgrade is scheduled for this coming Saturday, March 15. Just a few hours ago, a large group of demonstrators—clad in yellow vests like the ones from France’s anti-inequality protests in 2018—blocked the largest public TV station in Serbia, which they accuse of spreading pro-government propaganda. Meanwhile Vučić has sworn never to voluntarily step down, reportedly saying that “You will have to kill me if you want to replace me.” On Saturday, Serbian history could change forever, and the eyes of the world will need to be on them. 

Special thanks to reader Aleksandar J. in Serbia for writing in about these developments! Наша љубав и солидарност према покрету!

Video: TRT World

AROUND THE STATES

❧ In an openly fascistic move, the Trump administration has sent ICE to arrest and disappear student activist Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil was one of the leading organizers of Columbia University’s recent protests against Israeli war crimes in Gaza, which Donald Trump condemned on the campaign trail. He was arrested on Saturday and taken all the way to Louisiana, where he’s being kept in a private detention facility that’s notorious for abuse and even prisoner deaths. Importantly, Khalil has not been charged with any crime. Rather, he has been arrested simply because he is a prominent pro-Palestinian activist, and the Trump administration admits it. 

According to the Forward, Khalil became a target after a pro-Israel activist named Ross Glick shared his name with aides for both Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and John Fetterman (D-PA), who promised to “escalate” action against the student. An unnamed White House official also told the Free Press—yes, Bari Weiss’s propaganda outlet—that “The allegation here is not that he was breaking the law,” but that Khalil was simply a “threat to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reposted a Homeland Security statement accusing Khalil of having “led activities aligned with Hamas,” presumably meaning the Columbia protests, and has pledged to “revoke the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.” Likewise, Trump has posted that his administration “will not tolerate” what he calls “terrorist sympathizers,” and he promises more arrests to come. 

But even if Khalil were a vocal supporter of Hamas—which, so far, has not been proven—that would not be a crime, any more than supporting the IDF would be. It would simply be a political opinion, and the First Amendment protects those, regardless of whether the person in question is a citizen or not. So what we have here is a right-wing government which has started arresting people for their political speech and making them “disappear” into secretive prisons, in an obvious attempt to prevent more of that speech from happening. If that isn’t fascism, nothing is—and it has to be opposed in the strongest possible terms, or there’s no telling who could be next. 

CURRENT-EST AFFAIRS

In a new article, Nathan J. Robinson writes that this is the Trump administration’s “most dictatorial action so far”:

“The arrest of Khalil is an important moral test: any official who is silent about it should be presumed to endorse it. It must be vigorously opposed and protested. I cannot emphasize enough that if they get away with this, it will only be the beginning. Martin Niemöller’s famous piece “First They Came” remains as important a warning as ever. First they came for Mahmoud Khalil. Did you speak out?”

FIGHTING BACK: All around the country, people are pouring out to protest this attack on free speech. On the ground at Indiana University, Current Affairs news briefing editor Stephen Prager has photos and video from outside the Monroe County courthouse, where dozens of demonstrators gathered in support of Khalil and in support of two members of I.U.’s Divestment Coalition who were criminally charged after disrupting a school board meeting. Earlier on Tuesday, it was also reported that I.U. was one of 60 campuses that will be investigated by the Trump administration for its pro-Palestine activity.

Dozens of demonstrators march in front of the courthouse in downtown Bloomington, Indiana (Photo: Stephen Prager)

PhD student Bryce Greene, a leader of I.U.’s Palestine Solidarity Committee, speaks to students on the steps of the Monroe County Justice Center (Photo: Stephen Prager)

Some Current Affairs readers may recognize a familiar face: Bryce Greene, who recently wrote a terrific article on new Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He is also one of the leaders of I.U.’s Palestine Solidarity Committee and can be seen here giving a rousing speech, leading his fellow students in a chant of “Stand up, fight back!”

Video: Stephen Prager

❧ In Louisiana, a prisoner on Death Row is trying to prevent the state from using nitrogen gas to execute him. The killing method, known scientifically as nitrogen hypoxia, was first introduced in Alabama last January, and there’s every reason to believe it is unconstitutional “cruel and unusual punishment.” Observers at the execution of Kenneth Smith, the first person to be killed this way, report that Smith showed signs of pain and distress for around ten minutes after the gas mask was placed over his face, and a multitude of faith leaders have condemned the practice. 

Now, Jessie Hoffman Jr.—an inmate at Louisiana’s infamous Angola prison—is challenging his own death by nitrogen in court, and demanding what he calls a more “humane” method. Hoffman’s lawyers are using a novel defense, claiming that the gas would interfere with breathing exercises that are a part of his Buddhist faith, and therefore violate his First Amendment rights. But really, it should be obvious to everyone that this practice is completely barbaric, and it should be banned outright. (The Guardian)

❧ Two transgender legislators in Montana have convinced 29 Republicans to cross the aisle and oppose anti-trans bills. One of the bills was called HB 675, and it would have severely restricted drag performances and even Pride parades in Montana, creating a “private right of action” for anyone who felt such a performance was “obscene” to sue up to three years after the event itself. The other, HB 754, was even worse. It would have empowered Child Protective Services in Montana to take minors away from their family homes if they transitioned gender—but the bill didn’t define what transition meant, so it could have been applied to things as simple as a change in clothing or name.

Thankfully, two legislators—Representatives Zooey Zephyr and SJ Howell—stepped in. Both of them made compelling speeches to the Montana legislature defending trans and nonbinary people’s basic humanity, and using their own lives as examples. As Zephyr put it:

At its very core, drag is art. It is very beautiful art. It has a deep history in this country, and it is important to my community [...] I am here to stand before the body and say that my life is not a fetish. When I go to walk [my son] to school, that’s not a lascivious display. That is not a fetish. That is my family.

In a nearly unprecedented development, Zephyr was able to convince 13 GOP legislators to vote against HB 675, striking it down. Howell did even better: they convinced 29 of their Republican colleagues to vote with the Democrats and kill HB 754. It’s a much-needed piece of good news, and a useful example of how people in even the reddest states can push back against the tide of anti-LGBTQ policy. (The Guardian)

GOODBYE TO THE

‘DUMB FRIENDS LEAGUE’

This week, one of the United States’ oldest and most storied animal welfare institutions changed its name. That’s right: after 115 years in business, Humane Colorado will no longer be known as the “Dumb Friends League.” The change was arguably overdue, since referring to animals as “dumb” because they can’t speak is pretty old-fashioned, and the new name will promote a more respectful attitude toward them. Also, this means “Dumb Friends League” is now available for your group chat or bar trivia team!

(Image: Humane Colorado)

AROUND THE WORLD

❧ Syria’s new government is already massacring its Alawite minority. Late last week, fighting broke out between forces loyal to the new Sunni Islamist government, under interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, and ones still loyal to the deposed Bashar al-Assad, who fled the country in December. On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that more than 1,300 people had been killed in just 72 hours. 

After pro-Assad forces launched an attack that killed more than 200 of the new government’s security forces, the government fighters launched a “military operation” against what it called “remnants of the former regime.” But it has really been a horrific campaign of reprisal against civilians. Soldiers began rolling into villages with large populations of Alawites, the second-largest ethnoreligious group in Syria, which made up the bulk of Assad’s support. More than 800 people have reportedly been killed in what the Observatory called a “liquidation.” Videos have captured mass graves and houses set ablaze. Some soldiers have even filmed themselves committing “field executions” of innocent people. Syria’s military has announced that the campaign against the supposed “insurgency” is now over. 

Though he blamed Assad supporters for starting the fighting, Al-Sharaa has condemned the massacres and pledged to bring those who perpetrated the revenge killings to justice, including his own allies. Here’s hoping that this actually happens, but there is reason for skepticism, since the groups responsible are basically made up of the same HTS militants who have taken control of the government.

Video: France 24

❧ Mark Carney will replace Justin Trudeau as Canada’s next prime minister. Carney is a career banker who has previously served as the director of the Bank of Canada—where he helped stabilize the institution during the 2008 crisis of capitalism—and as the director of the Bank of England, where he was the first non-British person in the role.

He won the leadership election for the Liberal Party with a commanding 85.9 percent of the vote, and has made a tough stance against Donald Trump his first priority, telling his U.S. counterpart that “Canada will never, ever be part of America” and promising to retaliate with tariffs of his own for any Trump imposes. He’ll soon face a critical test, though: Canada’s next general election is expected to be called soon, and the opposition Conservative Party is still in the lead. (BBC)

Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum, doing Economic Things.

(Image: WEF via Flickr)

❧ In the Indian state of Kerala, a Hindu temple has replaced its live elephants with mechanical ones. Across the country, the Indian branch of PETA estimates that around 2,700 captive elephants are held in temples for ritual purposes, where they often face “severe physical and psychological stress” from their isolation and confinement. But that number just dropped! Thanks to an organization called the Voice for Asian Elephants Society, a growing number of temples are looking into “cruelty-free” ritual practices. And at the popular Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple, Hindu religious leaders have taken a bold step: replacing their live elephant with a mechanical one called Mahadevan, which can “shake its head, lift its trunk, move its ears and eyes, swish its tail and even spray water” just like a real elephant. Templegoers get all of the tradition, with none of the suffering—a win for everyone. (Mangalore Today)

Mahadevan in action.

(Image: Mangalore Today)

CROOKS vs. SICKOS (Or, “What’s going on with our politicians and oligarchs?”)

❧ Anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has been giving some wildly mixed messages about the measles outbreak that has taken hold in Texas and begun to spread across the United States. In just a week, the number of measles cases has shot up by 35 percent, with at least 222 people having been infected across a dozen states as of Tuesday. Most of the cases have been in unvaccinated patients, and both the people who have died were unvaccinated.

After getting widely torched for his response to the outbreak last month, during which he described the outbreak as “not unusual,” and neglected to endorse vaccination, RFK abruptly reversed course and take a position that was actually sensible and normal. He penned an op-ed for Fox News in which he endorsed the vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), saying that “Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons.” While it still includes some of the typical RFK slipperiness, emphasizing vaccination as a “personal decision” and touting alternative cures like Vitamin A supplements, for him to come out in support of vaccination something he has dedicated his life to opposing is pretty astonishing.

Perhaps RFK’s brain worm was taking a quick nap.

(Drawing by Richard Scarry)

But alas, this moment of lucidity seems to have passed, and RFK has reverted back to Crank Mode. As Mother Jones reports, he’s since gone on to promote the use of unproven remedies for measles like steroids, antibiotics, and cod liver oil, saying they were “getting very, very, good results.” RFK also reportedly had a phone call with a “holistic medicine clinic” in Texas that has been distributing these treatments to unvaccinated members of the Mennonite community instead of urging them to get vaccinated. One of the leading fundraisers is an employee for Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine organization RFK ran for nearly two decades before stepping away to run for president. 

RFK has insisted that he is not “anti-vaccine,” even though he has spent the better part of his career advocating against them. His tepid endorsement of MMR is yet another attempt to save face as we watch the devastating results of his lifelong project play out in real time.

❧ Meanwhile, the Democrats have a bold new strategy: talk about sports to appear more normal! Unfortunately, this is not a joke. Rather than anything policy-related, the lesson the Dems appear to have learned from their recent electoral loss is that they didn’t go on enough sports podcasts and radio shows. So now we’re getting a wave of them. Tim Walz is talking about how he “hate[s]” the Packers,” Maryland’s Governor Wes Moore thinks “Lamar Jackson was robbed” of the NFL MVP award, and Pennsylvania’s Governor Josh Shapiro thinks “the Sixers suck right now.” (Well, he’s not wrong.) It’s all very “how do you do, fellow sports fans?”, and it doesn’t seem like they’ll get around to offering actual solutions for healthcare, wages, or food prices any time soon. (New York Times)

Shapiro Zooms into “B-Ball Breakdown” for a little quality pandering. (YouTube)

❧ The Supreme Court has announced it will take up a case that could roll back state bans on anti-gay “conversion therapy.” At least 28 states have laws either totally or partially banning the practice, which involves a variety of harmful and discredited methods intended to change or “convert” the sexuality or gender expression of LGBTQ people, almost always minors. But the Supreme Court may soon invalidate those bans, leaving potentially millions of young people at risk. 

The case challenges a 2019 law in Colorado that prohibits licensed therapists from trying “to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity” or “eliminate or reduce” same sex attraction, though it notably allows practices that provide “acceptance, support and understanding” and exempts religious ministries from the ban—That last part is already a pretty major concession (We shouldn’t have religious exemptions to laws). But the Alliance Defending Freedom, a virulently homophobic far-right religious legal group, has taken up the case, arguing that any restriction on conversion therapy violates free speech and must go. ADF’s leader, Kristen Waggoner protests that “the government has no business censoring private conversations between clients and counselors.”

If this were merely a voluntary decision between patients and their therapists, she may have a point. But the people put through conversion therapy are usually minors who are sent there against their will, not people seeking to change their sexuality of their own accord. This law and others like it do not interfere with medical freedom, they protect it. But it’s not like the Alliance Defending Freedom has ever actually cared about that—they are, after all, famous for arguing for the criminalization of homosexuality before the court. 

❧ In lighter gay news, Pete Hegseth’s anti-woke purge of the military accidentally deleted pictures of the “Enola Gay” because they included the word “Gay.” To be fair, photos of the Enola Gay are kind of obscene, since the Boeing B-29 plane was used to commit the atomic bombing of Hiroshima—one of the worst war crimes in human history. But that’s not why Hegseth objects to them. He’s just been sending his minions to delete any “woke” or “DEI-related” content from military websites, and they’ve apparently just been doing CTRL+F searches for words like “gay” and removing everything that comes up—which has also affected military veterans with the last name “Gay.” Your tax dollars at work, folks! (Newsweek)

The Enola Gay, presumably, will also be called the “Enola Straight.”

FISH FACT OF THE WEEK

Queen parrotfish protect themselves with a giant bubble while sleeping!

Blowing a bubble to use as a force field sounds like something that a Pokemon would do. But parrotfish really do this in order to protect themselves from parasites, specifically a species of isopod that sucks blood from its eyes. The way parrotfish produce this bubble is a bit grosser than you may imagine, though. The bubble is not made of air, but mucus. Before settling down for the night, parrotfish spend up to an hour working on it: 

Video: Oceana

Writing and research by Stephen Prager and Alex Skopic. Editing and additional material by Nathan J. Robinson and Lily Sánchez. Header graphic by Cali Traina Blume. This news briefing is a product of Current Affairs Magazine. Subscribe to our gorgeous and informative print edition here, and our delightful podcast here.

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