The first anti-AI protester to be jailed has a message for OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta: ‘Regain your humanity’: “It’s absolutely frightening and appalling that these CEOs and AI experts know the dangers and they are pursuing it anyway,” Kaufmyn said before she was imprisoned. “That to me is unconscionable and reprehensible.”

A protest against AI outside OpenAI headquarters in San Francisco, California, on 11 July. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Kaufmyn in front of her home in Berkeley, California. Photograph: Winni Wintermeyer/The Guardian

Wynd Kaufman, 69, chained and locked the front doors of OpenAI’s headquarters last year with members of StopAI

Robert Booth

Sun 16 Aug 2026 04.00 EDT

An activist who blocked the entrance to one of the world’s biggest AI companies is believed to have become the first person jailed for protesting against artificial intelligence as supporters dub her the “Rosa Parks of AI risk”.

Wynd Kaufman, 69, surrendered herself on Friday to authorities in San Francisco. She was found guilty by a jury for her role in an action last year that saw members of the group StopAI chain and lock the front doors of OpenAI’s headquarters in protest against the pursuit of artificial superintelligence.

The retired teacher from Berkeley, California, refused to move from a sit-in protest in February 2025 and pleaded not guilty to multiple misdemeanor charges. She was convicted in June of interfering with a business, trespassing with intent to interfere with a business, unlawful assembly and refusal to disburse a riot. On Friday, sheriff’s officers handcuffed her as fellow campaigners sang to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic (Glory, Glory Hallelujah): “Rise up, rise up and join us/Do not let the tech bros destroy us.”

“It’s absolutely frightening and appalling that these CEOs and AI experts know the dangers and they are pursuing it anyway,” Kaufmyn said before she was imprisoned. “That to me is unconscionable and reprehensible.”

She said she was willing to go to jail not because she was a martyr but because it was an “issue of sounding the alarm, challenging the system and hopefully trying to get the message out”... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/16/california-openai-protester-wynd-kaufman

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*Meanwhile, more than a thousand researchers at frontier AI labs this summer signed a letter warning of “a real risk that capability development rapidly accelerates beyond our ability to understand or control the resulting systems”. 

The Peace Walk “a powerful reminder that peace is practiced step by step. In a divided time, this is what it looks like to stand up for the best of who we are. Love demands endurance. Peace is strength.” MLKIII

Monks bring balm for America’s wounds as Washington cheers peace odyssey

Some monks have walked barefoot or in socks during parts of the journey. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Buddhist monks had walked 2,300 miles from Texas, braving snow and often barefoot – their arrival in the capital was greeted by thousands

David Smith in Washington

Wed 11 Feb 2026 20.37 EST

Bhante Saranapala gazed down at more than a hundred Buddhist monks wearing burnt-orange, saffron and maroon robes, most sporting woolly hats, a few clutching flowers.

“These monks are awesome!” roared Saranapala, who is known as the “Urban Buddhist Monk”, prompting a cheer from the big crowd. “Their determination should be greatly appreciated. Walking from Texas to Washington DC, 2,300 miles; it requires strong determination!”

The Lincoln Memorial has witnessed much over the past century – Black opera singer Marian Anderson, Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, Richard Nixon’s late-night chat with the anti-war demonstrators – but rarely a scene as colourful as on Wednesday.

For 19 monks and Aloka, a rescue dog from India, it was an important stop on a 2,300-mile “Walk for Peace”, a self-described spiritual journey across nine states that had been cheered on by crowds of thousands.

The odyssey had begun in Texas 108 days ago, and saw them brave frigid temperatures and a paralysing winter storm, sometimes with bare feet, to raise “awareness of peace, loving-kindness, and compassion across America and the world”.

About 100 monks and nuns joined them in America’s political capital determined to stay away from politics, although among the thousands who gathered at the Lincoln Memorial was someone waving a Palestinian flag and another who held a big sign that said: “Peaceful resistance.”... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/11/buddhist-monks-peace-walk-washington-dc

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"States owe you rights not bruises" Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt

@FranceskAlbs

 

Reminder for Gen Z & beyond: 

 

When your govt raises batons at peaceful protesters, that’s not “order”: it’s a human rights violation. 

 

Int’l law requires: 

 

1. Fulfil -make protest possible 

 

2. Respect -don’t interfere 

 

3. Protect -keep people safe

 

States owe you rights not bruises.

 

https://x.com/FranceskAlbs/status/1985669415849861133 

 

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Vanessa Redgrave (age 88) bangs a pot for Gaza at the Lambeth Town Hall in London... Sharing it on social media, photographer Misan Harriman wrote: "I burst into tears when I saw this image of our national treasure, Vanessa Redgrave, still fighting for us to recognise the humanity of Palestinians 46 years after her Oscars speech. She has endured so much for this cause, but she still shows her solidarity in London today!"

2025: Vanessa Redgrave (age 88) bangs a pot for Gaza at the Lambeth Town Hall in London. 

In 1977, Redgrave produced the film The Palestinian.  Zionist groups tried to shut down the film. She won the Oscar for her role in Julia that year, and told the Academy, "In the last few weeks you have stood firm and you have refused to be intimidated by the threat of a small bunch of Zionist hoodlums, whose behaviour is an insult to the stature of Jews all over the world, and to their great and heroic record of struggle against fascism and oppression."

The following year, the Jewish Defence League bombed the Doheny Plaza theatre in Los Angeles, where The Palestinian was to be screened.

In a 2018 interview, Redgrave stood by her acceptance speech (which included the "Zionist hoodlums" remark) during the 1978 Academy Awards ceremony.  

Vanessa Redgrave, 1978 Oscar ceremony. She won for the film Julia. She starred in the title role as a woman murdered by the Nazi German regime in the years prior to World War II for her anti-Fascist activism.

BRITANNICA: Her political activities were not without repercussions: she was loudly booed at the 1978 Academy Awards ceremony when, during her acceptance speech, she referred to those who had objected to her nomination because of her support for Palestinian causes as “Zionist hoodlums.” Jewish organizations also protested when she was cast as Holocaust survivor Fania Fenelon in Playing for Time. There is little doubt that Redgrave’s political views affected her career, although public resentment waned in the 1990s, when she played character roles in popular films such as Mission: Impossible (1996) and Deep Impact (1998).  https://www.britannica.com/art/history-of-film

MSN: Vanessa Redgrave, 88, praised for attending protest

Vanessa Redgrave has been praised for turning up to a protest addressing the ongoing starvation crisis in Gaza.

 

In recent weeks, there has been increased international attention on the suffering of civilians in Gaza, with photos of starving Palestinians, including babies, emerging.

With aid agencies issuing stark warnings about the desperate situation on the ground, there’s been a public outcry for intervention in the conflict, which is about to enter its third year.

Although Israel has denied any responsibility for what experts have now called a famine, it controls the flow of all aid into the enclave and has been blamed by agencies, including Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam International, for ‘restrictions, delays and fragmentation’ for ‘chaos, starvation and death’.

Over the weekend, more protests occurred across the world calling for action, including in London, where Redgrave, a long-time supporter of Palestine, was spotted.

On Friday evening, the pots and pans for Palestine protest was held at the Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton, with attendees asked to ‘bang pots and pans to echo the hunger faced by Palestinians trapped under blockade’. 

The demonstration, organised by Lambeth and Southwark for Palestine and West Norwood 4 Palestine, was part of a UK-wide day of action, with the acclaimed actress photographed taking part.

Photos taken at the event show the 88-year-old in a wheelchair holding a spoon and pan.

Sharing it on social media, photographer Misan Harriman wrote: ‘I burst into tears when I saw this image of our national treasure, Vanessa Redgrave, still fighting for us to recognise the humanity of Palestinians 46 years after her Oscars speech. She has endured so much for this cause, but she still shows her solidarity in London today! READ MORE  https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/vanessa-redgrave-88-praised-for-attending-protest/ar-AA1JPw4R

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Protesting over Gaza’s starvation feels like screaming into a void – but we mustn’t stop by Nesrine Malik in The Guardian

Political platitudes and a few trucks of aid won’t save the children dying now. But they show leaders can’t ignore public opinion for ever

Illustration: Nathalie Lees/The Guardian

Mon 28 Jul 2025 01.00 EDT

Last modified on Mon 28 Jul 2025 03.14 EDT

The children die first. In conditions of starvation, their growing bodies’ nutritional needs are higher than those of adults, and so their reserves are depleted faster. Their immune systems, not yet fully developed, become weaker, more susceptible to disease and infection. A bout of diarrhoea is lethal. Their wounds don’t heal. The babies cannot be breastfed as their mothers have not eaten. They die at double the rate of adults.

Last week, over a period of just 72 hours, 21 children died in Gaza of malnutrition and starvation. The path to death from starvation is a slow and agonising one, especially in a territory suffering shortages of not just food, but medicine, shelter and clean water. The total death toll from hunger surpassed 100 at the weekend; 80 of those were children. An aid worker reported that children are telling their parents that they want to die and go to heaven, because “at least heaven has food”.

Every single one of these deaths, and those that will come, is preventable. The World Health Organization described the starvation as “man-made”, but it is more than that. It is foreseeable and thus deliberate. Israel’s siege on Gaza has blocked tonnes of aid from entering, or being distributed to those who need it, according to humanitarian organisations there. The “tactical pause” of military operations for a few hours a day in three parts of the Gaza Strip to allow in some aid is a measure that does not ameliorate a crisis accrued over time. The starvation, long warned about, is the latest phase of a campaign almost two years long, for which words are now entirely inadequate.

Genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass punishment – all these descriptions still somehow do not capture the lurid and varied ways in which Palestinians in Gaza are being killed: bombed in their homes, and in their tents, burned alive in their hospital beds, shot while queueing for food and now starved. It almost doesn’t matter what it is called any more, because all you need to see to know that what is happening is a crime that requires immediate action is the bones of a child sticking out of its thin skin, while the food it needs is being blocked by Israeli soldiers.

The time for justifications, arguing about semantics and hand-wringing over the “complexity” of the conflict has long passed... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/28/gaza-israel-aid-starvation-children

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A 2025 BANG on POTs protest of Israel's systematic starvation & torture of Palestinian men, women, & children in Gaza #PALESTINE

Misan Harriman

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I just discovered that the woman on the right is Selma James, an American writer, feminist, and social activist. She co-authored the book 'The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community' with Mariarosa Dalla Costa, founded the International Wages for Housework Campaign, and coordinates the Global Women’s Strike. She is also a co-founder of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. She will turn 95 next month. She was married to C L. R. James. The woman with her is an activist named Nina Lopez.

Still marching at 94 years old! Wow

Thanks for the information, @angeledavidguillou  https://www.instagram.com/p/DMlVsYEomZQ/

Protesters in Tel Aviv held up portraits of Israeli hostages—next to it, photos of Palestinian children killed in Gaza. Humanity and sympathy know no borders.

Protesters in Tel Aviv held up portraits of Israeli hostages—next to it, photos of Palestinian children killed in Gaza. Humanity and sympathy know no borders.

It's really like this...

Key context on the Palestinian activist arrested by ICE: I Was a Columbia Student Journalist. Here’s What to Know About Mahmoud Khalil. By Irie Sentner 3/13/2025

There’s a website called Canary Mission that posts the names and images of anyone seen as anti-Israel — including student journalists whose coverage the Canary moderators don’t like.
 

New York Police Department officers surround the pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University in New York City, on April 30, 2024. | Irie Sentner/POLITICO

1

What was Mahmoud Khalil’s role in Columbia’s student protests? And do you know what his immigration status was during the protests?

2

Was deportation a widespread concern among immigrant students participating in the protests?

Absolutely. During the encampment, two friends who were international students told me they wished they could be there but couldn’t risk losing their visas. There was a similar fear among low-income students, who didn’t want to risk their scholarships or lose on-campus housing. Many chose to participate in other ways, like sharing pro-Palestinian content on social media or bringing food and supplies to the encampment.

At Barnard specifically, students who were suspended for protesting were evicted from their dorms almost immediately. That was also a major fear: There’s a big difference between someone who lives near New York or has a robust support system in the U.S., and a student who would be left on the streets of Manhattan because their family lives in another country... READ MORE 

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/03/13/columbia-student-journalist-mahmoud-khalil-00226729

3

Has there been a vibe shift on campus since Trump’s election?

4

How had student protesters tried to protect themselves from retaliation until now?

5

Has the debate surrounding student protests changed at all since 2024? Could Khalil’s arrest change it in any way?

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