This originally appeared on my political blog at https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2021/05/on-uganda-burma-attempted-coup-in-usa_15.html.
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On Uganda this week:
- Museveni is continuing his stay in, and abuse of, power;
- parallel swearing in ceremonies could be attacked, and opposition figures' homes have been surrounded and dozens arrested;
- widespread repression ahead the fake swearing in of Uganda's fearful dictator;
- widespread flooding;
On Burma this week:
- the protests and killing continue - see here,
- the junta is targetting young men to attempt to crush resistance;
- the Burmese poet "who penned the line "They shoot in the head, but they don't know the revolution is in the heart" has died" in police custody;
- Thailand is considering whether or not to kill (by an act of refoulement) arrested Burmese journalists & activists who fled from Burma to Thailand;
On the attempted coup in the USA:
- revelations that #45 wanted troops to protect the coup ... and there are still IPOCs who support that insane tyrant;
- ongoing problems with RWNJs;
From the news this week:
- on the climate crisis and the environment:
micro-plastics could be in rice; millions of jobs in Kenya are at risk because of the climate crisis; an assessment of the devastating impact of the climate crisis on bushfire risk; coral reefs remain at dire risk; “70 per cent of our trade is with nations committed to net-zero emissions” - leaving us economically exposed; massive regrowth of forests is still being outstripped by deforestation; "hydrological droughts — the ways our rivers and aquifers respond — can continue long after the meteorological drought ends" - with 80% stuck in drought mode after the Millennium drought ended; GHG are thinning the atmosphere; the massive GHG emissions of bitcoin mining; - on conflict and tensions between Israel and Palestine:
Israeli provocations at the al-Aqsa mosque and evictions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem have led to escalating violence involving firing of hundreds of missiles from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes, damage and the death of people (including children); an exposition on what proportional response means; mediation between Israel and Palestine is being attempted; Israeli troops are massing on the border; street violence within Israel is a major problem;
- see also here, here,
- on international relations including war:
thousands of small arms have been seized before reaching Yemen; our (Australia's) international reputation (our so-called "brand") has been trashed by Scotty from Marketing and other xenophobes; tensions are continuing between Uganda and Rwanda; US naval vessels have fired warning shots near aggressive Iranian vessels; tensions between Kenya and Somalia are continuing; tensions between Spain and Morocco over Western Sahara; Armenia's leader - who caused last year's war by shooting off his mouth - has claimed Azerbaijan is encroaching on Armenian territory; the USA has indicated it will support Australia against China's continuing attack; China's population is ageing and the growth rate is declining; the UK is aggressively expelling EU citizens present after confusion around rules; the Russia-Ukraine conflict harms NATO's credibility; China's fake social media accounts;
- on the COVID-19 pandemic:
calls for a lockdown in India, where vaccine makers can - unconscionably - charge whatever they want and victims are being dumped in rivers; there is a major risk that other resistant nations will experience the same disaster as India; the need for a less problem-plagued response to the next pandemic; an assessment that India's COVID disaster is because of Modi's (Scott-like) style of slick image over substance; community pantries are countering the inadequate response of the Philippines' Marcos-lite "president"; - on genocides and other human rights issues:
Pakistan's religious bigotry ("anti-blasphemy") laws may wind up have economic costs; a community sponsorship programme for refugees MIGHT be considered; another possible execution of an innocent man in the USA; a Tibetan protestor in France; yet another mass murder by gun in the USA - and a mass murder by gun at a school in Russia; an opinion that Israel has moved away from a two state solution and into apartheid; a land rights activist has been murdered in Thailand; Da'esh is guilty of genocide in Iraq according to the UN; authoritarian Hungary has protected its mate in the authoritarian camp (China) by preventing the EU criticising the latter for egregious human rights abuses; child slavery in Venezuela has been worsened by the pandemic; British lies over the Army killing of ten people in northern Ireland in 1971 have been exposed; how to fight impunity as despots try to corrode democracy; another Australian state has finally started an enquiry into child sexual abuse; staggering lies about the national neolibs laws allowing indefinite and unlimited detention of refugees and asylum seekers; the DRC has brushed off criticism of military human rights abuses; disguised Eritrean troops are blocking aid; growing concerns about human rights abuses in Algeria; - on democracy:
grandmothers in Poland are demonstrating for democracy and inclusivity; "the federal budget's forecasts have relied on dodgy assumptions for years"; an anti-corruption activist has been killed and a journalist critically injured in Iraq;
police violence against anti-coup protestors in Chad; suppression of dissent in Algeria; moves towards an appointed not elected parliament as part of a peace deal in South Sudan; Ethiopia is "struggling" to meet an election timeline (I wonder how that will go in Tigray?); the AU has appointed an envoy to Somalia; the continuing support of DINOs (Democrats In Name Only) for the anti-democratic US-only practice of filibustering is putting the possibility of genuine reform towards decency at risk; the national neolib nitwits are boosting spending on international trade, but not aid, have made xenophobic racist cuts in immigration/refugee matters, cut uni's (and thereby Australia's future) back more, a demeaning and HYPOCRITICAL relationship verification requirement has been dropped after it didn't work, and the national neolibs are pretending to be the ALP in their budget - but they have included aged care reforms; the national neolib nitwits are finally easing up on some of their ideological obsessions; concerns about paying for the budget as taxes on the rich have not increased; concerns that a review into the death of a child was too limited; growing inequality in Germany; a growing youth-based social media campaign in Ghana; Sudan has arrested and will charge those who recently shot peaceful protestors; Kenya's High Court has ruled recent constitutional changes are illegal; - on LGBTIQ+ matters:
German priests have defied the Vatican's homophobia; the US electoral pendulum has swung away from LGBTIQ_phobia (for how long?); Victoria Police have apologised and paid small amounts of compensation for infringing the human rights of a trans woman; a social media platform is finally allowing users to specify their preferred pronouns; world's first non-binary mayor; violent anti-LGBT hate in South Africa; - on racism:
the need to combat racism by teaching kids that it causes pain; both sides are aiming to kick traumatised youth in the NT in the teeth by making bail harder and the controversy over youth law changes in the NT has included misgendering and misidentifying ethnicity; a massive fine against a phone company shows the problems of both racism and underpaying staff; a call to finally start listening to Indigenous people on how to protect Indigenous culture; thousands have protested against the racism and brutality of Brazil's police; conservatives in New Zealand are indulging in racist lies and attacks; my home state has appointed the members of Australia's first truth telling commission; - on sexism:
fifty girls have been murdered by a bomb inAfghanTalibanistan; technology - including location monitoring and kill switches on cars - is being used to abuse and terrorise women; NSW police are the latest to have their problems with internal domestic violence revealed; YEARS after he attacked women whose complaints of sexual harassment were finally - VERY belatedly - found to be true two months ago, a controversial political figure has claimed he has now reflected, is now aware, is sorry, etc; misogyny against an MP in Germany; women’s gymnastics went off the rails after the Cold War led to ideological competition throughout the olympics and male coaches who found pre-pubescent girls bodies closer to male physiology and thus easier to coach without having to adapt; a landmark treaty on violence against women celebrates its 10th anniversary; six people murdered in a domestic violence attack in the USA; the harm done by fatphobia; religious misogyny in Malta; - on ableism:
criticism of the national neolib nitwits for undermining the principles of the NDIS; the neolib's unconscionable razor gang attack on the NDIS; - on other matters:
growing housing stress; recommendations for more effective ways of addressing youth crime; current scams include cryptocurrency and dating - with going off the main app being when problems occur; teachers are facing burnout from excessive workload; "we live in our smartphones, anthropologists say"; the benefit of grief groups (which my elderly father found after Mum passed).
