Commandment 11: ‘Thou shalt not think’

 Al Jazeera English

On Wednesday, June 19, Louisiana’s far-right governor Jeff Landry signed House Bill 71 into law, which will require all public school classrooms in the southern US state – from kindergarten through college – to display the Ten Commandments. The legislation stipulates that the Commandments “be printed in a large, easily readable font” on a “poster or framed document that is at least 11 inches by 14 inches”.

Shortly prior to signing the bill, Landry boasted: “I can’t wait to be sued.” Sure enough, his prayer was swiftly answered, and on June 24 a coalition of civil liberties groups and Louisiana parents filed a lawsuit contending that the law is unconstitutional and a violation of the separation of church and state.

If the case makes it to the US Supreme Court, chances are the court’s conservative supermajority will see to it that Landry’s excitement at being sued was not unfounded. Recent rulings by the nation’s top judicial body on matters of religious freedom have been a godsend for Christian nationalism – as if there were any doubt that right-wing politics and religion were a match made in heaven. READ MORE AT AL JAZEERA ENGLISH.

Nothing ‘out of the box’ about Italy’s asylum offshoring deal with Albania

 Al Jazeera English

Imagine for a moment that you are a racist Western government plagued by an influx of asylum seekers, many of them dark-skinned. Wouldn’t you dream of packing them off to a distant land to be dealt with out of sight and out of mind?

Well, that dream is now becoming a reality for Italy, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party is overseeing an agreement with the Balkan nation of Albania to open two processing centres for seaborne asylum seekers intercepted en route to Italian shores.

Located in the northern Albanian towns of Shengjin and Gjader, the centres are expected to hold up to 36,000 people per year. The scheme will cost Italy at least 670 million euros ($720m) for the initial five-year period – but the price tag is apparently worth it in terms of racking up xenophobic nationalist points for the government. READ MORE AT AL JAZEERA ENGLISH.

Collateral genocide in Nuseirat

 Al Jazeera English

On June 8, the Israeli military slaughtered at least 274 Palestinians and wounded nearly 700 more in a raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Concerned sectors of the international community responded with typical ineffectual handwringing; the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the latest Israeli “massacre of civilians”, declaring that “the bloodbath must end immediately”.

Four Israeli captives held by Hamas were also rescued during the assault, which has sent Israeli social media into a jubilant tizzy of self-congratulation and genocidal fanfare. The internet is awash with sensational accounts of the rescue and the captives’ weepy reunification with loved ones – and never mind all those dead Palestinians.

Indeed, the blatant disregard for Palestinian life is hardly shocking in the context of a war that has officially killed more than 37,000 people in Gaza in just over eight months. The actual death toll is without a doubt far higher given the number of bodies remaining under the rubble. READ MORE AT AL JAZEERA ENGLISH.

Mexico’s election: A victory for organised crime

 Al Jazeera English

On June 2, Mexico elected Claudia Sheinbaum as its first woman president. The 61-year-old scientist served as mayor of Mexico City from 2018 until 2023 and is the protégée of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), to whose Morena party she belongs and in whose shadow she will now govern.

In the largest election in Mexico’s history, Sheinbaum faced off against ex-senator Xóchitl Gálvez, head of a conservative coalition. In addition to the presidential race, Mexicans also voted for candidates contesting more than 20,700 federal and local positions countrywide.

In the run-up to the election, observers relentlessly cast the prospect of an impending female head of state in Mexico as a victory for women’s empowerment, although a glance at facts on the ground suggests the prematurity of any such celebration. READ MORE AT AL JAZEERA ENGLISH.