Post No. 1514 - In this week’s news

This is a new, very cut down series of posts based on some observations on matters that struck a personal note: unlike the former “Gnwmythr’s News”, it is not trying to convey key events.

Content Warning: the linked articles and their descriptions here may be about violence, abuse, hate, and other problems.

My articles this week include:   “The Hypocrisy of the ‘No Emotions at Work’ Dinosaurs”;   “The releasing of the racist worst in some people”.

This week:   the inventiveness of Aussie farmers;   the background to my home state’s Labour Day public holiday;   a listen and hug service in Indonesia;   “Policy Actions for Member States on R2P’s 15^th Anniversary”;   extra-pair paternity “doesn’t seem to cause serious problems for the Himba . . .. For men, these include a scrupulous sense that biological and non-biological children deserve equal treatment”;   some rich Australians are bludging off the rest of us;   dealing with burnout;   the need to include women and women’s equality in peacemaking;   Malawi is using beehives to scare away illegal loggers;   domestic violence committed by teenagers;   the need to consider the ethics of advanced brain-interaction technologies;   misconceptions around testosterone.

In the environmental arena:   a move to combat the toxic aspects of surfing by going back to timber boards;   concerns that this summer’s dryness, which killed many trees, might be the start of an ecosystem collapse - and a warning that, as Brazil cuts back enforcing environmental compliance, the Amazon could potentially collapse within decades;   yet another call for urban trees (specifically, in backyards);   climate change is making a rare phenomenon that causes drought in Australia far more common;   “the last five years were the warmest ever recorded”;   plastic “missing” from our oceans is in vegetation behind beaches.

On human and animal rights:
   transphobia in a mainstream paper which prides itself on being progressive;   yet more inaccurate transphobic hate from one of Australia’s most hateful politicians;   a call to take trans kids seriously (which I can vouch for);
   sexist trolls on social media (some are women);   for IWD, a call for equity, rather than equality;   gender equality targets in my home state’s public service (the article includes the discrimination against men for taking paternity leave);   as yet another Queensland police officer shows misogyny and questions are raised over why UK police and the UK Foreign Office allowed an investigation into a woman’s abduction to lapse, police need to start enforcing DVOs to keep women and children alive;   recommendations to improve sexual harassment court cases;   gender stereotypes harm parenting;   sexism in medicine and workplaces;   the climate crisis is harming women and girls;   the insecurity of domestic violence survivors in Brazil;   the continued gagging of sexual assault survivors by one Australian territory;   inconsistency on legal protections against digital sexual abuse around the world;
   a neochristian church “wrongly advised” a child abuse victim - and then tried to get her to agree to a gag clause;
   anti-Semitism in the USA, Brazil, and the Netherlands;   changes in ways of worship after last year’s massacre in New Zealand;
   an Australian-made product is being marketed in a way that is illegal if done in Australia, unethical, and promotes racism;
   far right extremists are primary threats in New Zealand (although, sadly, gun reform has become political), Australia, and Germany, and efforts to manage their evil online continue to struggle;
   fossil rich amber may be financing burma’s genocide;
   Greece is losing its soul;   Australian guards - who should be IMMEDIATELY be sacked - played a hangman game with the name of an Indigenous detainee;
   a court case against a social media platform over privacy breaches;
   disturbingly, China states that even mask wearers can be ID’d by surveillance;   a professor who, effectively, was a whistleblower over data privacy breaches by Australia’s inept neoliberal government has been forced to resign;   India’s push to digitise land records is putting the privacy of poor people at risk;   calls for caution before facial recognition is used in US schools;
   why don’t we show the same sort of innovation we do for those made homeless by bushfires for other homeless?;   a push for tiny homes in New Zealand to solve homelessness;   Spain will move to better protect vulnerable homeowners and renters;
   an SBS exclusive reports on a campaign to end Australian visa battles for people with disability;
   the 61^st anniversary of Tibet’s uprising day;
   the trial into the mass murder of people on flight MH17 has been told Russia used a “ ‘textbook’ disinformation campaign”.
Immigration and refugee matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Cameroon/Nigeria;   DR Congo,   the Turkey/EU border (most refugees trying to cross are Afghans driven to Iran initially, and then Turkey);
trafficking/slavery/child abuse matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Malaysia,   the Philippines,   schools,   Pakistan,   DR Congo,   Australia,   China,   India/USA;
LGBTIQ+ matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Australia (increased reward for solving a cold case murder),   UK prisons,   US and Israeli nutjobs,   Canada (move to ban so-called conversion therapy),   UK; and
other matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   the Internet,   Brazil (land rights),   South and Central America (femicide),   Singapore (employing disabled people).

In the related human rights arena of employment:   some illegal pressure around leave in relation to self-quarantine for COVID-19, and calls (and a petition) for compensation for casual workers;   Bangladesh still hasn’t stopped abuse of workers in its garment industry;   a staged theft to attempt to cover up theft from workers.

In the governance, politics, and society arena:   the prohibitive costs - especially to the most vulnerable people - of mental health care (even things like having to pay first before you can get a rebate can be absolute bloody barriers);   exposing the Chinese Communist Party’s lies over the 1989 Tiananmen  Square  massacre;   questions over whether NSW’s police minister filled in the correct paperwork to allow him to fire an illegal weapon (a sub-machine gun);   a sporting body is refusing to answer questions on its possible role in a political rorts scandal;   a new opposition political party in Thailand;   Afghanistan now has the political farce of two duelling claimants to the Presidency;   excellent recommendations on avoiding a recession;   Malaysia’s shiny new governing coalition is showing cracks . . . ;   volunteer fatigue in schools shows that funding is inadequate;   unbelievably, Australia’s voters are showing a poll preference for our current neoliberal nitwit (seriously, are they so blinded and greedy they think they will get more from the neoliberals? Have they forgotten the horrors of the lack of preparation for the bushfires, the devastation of climate crisis denial, and the current ineptness on COVID-19? What is wrong with them?);   an analysis of the last decade’s trend of growing protests - which is likely to continue.

On disasters this week:   floods in Queensland;   the COVID-19 quarantine hotel collapse has killed ten people, but 38 have been rescued and 28 are still missing;   a call to handle donations better;   more support for post bushfire survivors;   “The world’s best fire management system is in northern Australia, and it’s led by Indigenous land managers” - and an Indigenous rangers programme has secured funding for seven years;   another massacre in PNG’s highlands, which may be connected to a similar massacre last year;   a fatal train collision in Egypt.

Internationally:   India has experienced its biggest bank failure;   Russia’s grand tsar is trying to extend (again) his grip on power (so is the Philippines president) - and weary Russians don’t see a viable alternative;   the outlines of a resolution exist in Venezuela;   a brief commentary on Russia’s nuclear weapons.

In Africa:   drought is driving Namibians to shanty towns around cities;   “Africa’s devastating locust outbreak exposes need for crop science on all fronts”;   stupid superstitions are interfering with the fight against FGM in Guinea;   the UN has condemned the growing threat of violence extremism;   concerns about the effect of political instability in Guinea-Bissau;   claims of corruption and cronyism at the AU;   suppression in Algeria, Uganda, Nigeria, and Zambia arrests a 15 year old over a social media comment, but Malawi is being pressured to reverse its suppression of dissent;   xenophobia in South Africa;   Mali’s undersized army, but human rights experts have asked Australia and other nations to stop selling weapons there, as violent extremists claim they will “talk” if foreign troops leave . . . ;   an unsuccessful attempted assassination in Sudan;   more deterioration in Burundi, but one man is trying to heal;   more calls for Guinea’s president to resign;   military supplies are flooding into Libya;   teachers in north-eastern Kenya are being targeted by regressive violent extremists;   continuing food insecurity in South Sudan, where ethnic violence has flared again . . . ;   concerns that ECOWAS may be backsliding on democracy, and concerns about Ethiopia’s move towards democracy;   the Nile dam  remains contested and controversial;   Liberia is attempting to regulate its oil industry;   Zimbabwe - which is being pressured to find a missing activist - has said it will give back farms taken over in 2000;   an examination of the quest for peace in the CAR;   Zimbabweans are considering stilt houses to deal with floods (as someone who lived in a “Queenslander” for much the same reasons, I endorse this idea).

On COVID-19:   which continues to spread (Europe is the “new epicentre”), even after global authorities changed their tune when it was declared a pandemic (and WHO is reviewing how it manages that);   a quarantine hotel in China collapsed;   “The rapid pace of deforestation, urbanisation [is increasing the] spread of infectious diseases across Asia, including the coronavirus”;      an explanation of why we keep touching our faces;   the fear is more contagious than the virus;   unlike influenza (such as the “Spanish flu” in 1918, which probably started in France and infected half a billion people [around 25% of the world’s population] and killed between 17 and 50 [maybe 100] million people in just over two years. World War One, which created the conditions for that flu to be so devastating, killed 20 to 22 million people over four and a bit years . . . ), people with COVID-19 have symptoms BEFORE they are infectious;   as work continues on a vaccine, the virus is likely to last past the northern hemisphere’s summer until the end of the year;   an Australian school has closed;   experiences in Tibet;   Italy will quarantine an entire province - and, in a criticised move, now the entire nation, which has dropped their GDP by 10 - 15%, leading to suspension of mortgages (COVID-19 got into their health centres before they were alert to the problem, which is why it has taken off), and there have been violent and fatal riots in a prison in Italy over losing visitors;   Israel will quarantine all arrivals kick out all tourists, and ban public gatherings;   Australia has  banned large public gatherings;   the death toll is growing in Iran;   a young man is running a data website on COVID-19;   in an indication the worst may be over, China’s Chairman Xi has visited Wuhan;   the USA will give China flexibility on its commitments under the trade agreement;   continued, sometimes violent, racism and hate;   a site on how companies are responding (we’ve banned international travel, and staying at home is compulsory if ill and return requires a medical certificate);   an Australian uni which admits to being too focused on a single foreign market has drastically reduced its offerings;   Australia’s neoliberal national government has belatedly and begrudgingly committed to the sort of stimulus it slagged off at the ALP for successfully using to deal with the GFC (and may have to do more);   collective intelligence is helping;   the need for media ethics on this topic;   COVID-19 leading to moving meetings online might lead to low carbon behaviours;   infections in 11 nations in Africa;   the vulnerability of the homeless;   Orthodox churches are being utterly stupid and irresponsible;   POTUS45 totally  stuffed up his address on measures to address COVID-19 - to the extent corrective messages were issued;   mass graves found in Iran by satellites question that nation’s official claims about deaths;   some of those who are at elevated vulnerability to COVID-19 - who are being threatened by panic buying (FFS, why can’t our governments issue some common sense solutions on groceries - as has been done in Wuhan?).

On personal / spiritual matters:   a reflection on the soul;   thoughts on “choosing our birth”;   the ethics of disposing of body parts (after amputation: it should include religious aspects).

Reading I found interesting this week included:   on crisis of faith.