This was originally posted on my political blog at https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2021/06/on-uganda-burma-and-from-news_12.html.
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On Uganda this week:
- Museveni is continuing his stay in, and abuse of, power;
- "a new wave of repression in Uganda has led to the abductions of dozens more opposition activists by security forces and at least one alleged death";
- at least 12,000 Ugandans leave every year to seek jobs in West Asia;
- concerns over privacy with a new digital ID card - the lack of which is denying millions of Ugandans access to services.
On Burma this week:
- the protests and killing continue - see here,
- more reports on the young people who have the junta to be trained in military resistance in Burma's regional areas;
- misogynistic abuse of prisoners in Burma.
From the news this week:
- on the climate crisis and the environment:
environmental protests over cruise ships in Venice; reforestation in China; a call to end fossil fuel subsidies; "EU countries give final approval to multibillion euro green transition fund"; solar powered bikes for the fight against poaching in Africa; building flood resilient housing; calls for water theft penalities to be large enough to have some significance to businesses; how to go beyond net zero emissions; Scott is an utter <insert pejorative of choice>; "Australia's multi-billion-dollar alumina and aluminium export industries could risk closure if the European Union leads other major economies into adopting ... carbon border adjustment mechanisms" - also, our lower farming standards generally are likely to become a problem; the problem of single use plastic; "saving Kenya's last sacred forests"; "Saami reindeer herders and others say the technology to block a share of sunlight reaching Earth, in a bid to cool the planet, is too risky and does not respect nature"; water (in)security in South East Asia; - on international relations including war:
as aid workers in Gaza are overwhelmed, confrontations have resumed over evictions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem; China may have shot itself in the foot with its economic attacks on Australia; the G7 nations have agreed to "a 15 per cent global tax rate on multinational companies"; calls for Australia to evacuate Afghans inAfghanTalibanistan who helped us during the decades of war; "the Australian government has been ordered to pay an Iraqi asylum seeker $350,000 in damages for unlawfully detaining him for more than two years"; a machine learning ("artificial intelligence" or AI) "arms race [is] already underway"; the USA is increasing pressure to find a peaceful resolution to Cameroon's separatist conflict; Burkina Faso has banned motorbikes - used by violent extremists (VEs) - in the region VEs are active in; VEs inAfghanTalibanistan have murdered mine clearers; regional anger at a second filling of Ethiopia's controversial Nile Dam; an examination of peacebuilding; calls for Ethiopia to negotiate genuinely over its controversial dam on the Nile River; how the USA could use its advantages to better deter China;
- on the COVID-19 pandemic:
small businesses are falling through the cracks of business relief plans; "the Therapeutic Goods Administration has written to [a controversial billionaire] and a regional radio network to express concern about ads that spread false information about the risks of COVID-19 vaccines"; more staggeringly irresponsible COVID criminals from my home state; anti-vaxx RWNJ businesses ... (for the sake of the community, I hope they go bust); the USA will donate half a billion vaccine doses to needy nations; - on genocides and other human rights issues:
ways tiny homes are being made accessible; police reforms in Colombia; even doctors are criticising the national neolib nitwits latest attack on Medicare; Germany's offer of compensation for its genocide in Namibia is "not enough"; Rohingya refugees have been left at terrible risk during the monsoon by Bangladesh; an Islamophobic violent extremist attack in Canada; the UK has continued "a long tradition — dating back to the 1960s — when the Russell tribunal investigated the US military intervention in Vietnam" by playing "host to an independent tribunal into the Chinese treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang province" which creates "a permanent record of history — particular in instances where international bodies can't deal with matters"; the national neolib nitwits changes to proxy advisor laws "could" also "censor activism on issues like executive pay, gender diversity and climate change" . . . ; my home state's "child protection authorities misled the state's privacy watchdog during an investigation of a data breach involving a sex offender and dozens of vulnerable children"; "a Liberal senator has joined a growing number of critics of her government's controversial plan to introduce independent assessments for the National Disability Insurance Scheme"; outrage at the prolonged delay of medical authorities before allowing treatment for a seriously ill child refugee (was this racism or medical incompetence? Difficult to see a third possibility for medical professionals . . . ); a controversial Australian anti-encryption law that exceeds even US powers was behind a major and valuable police sting (although the outcome was beneficial in this instance, the abuses of the USA's FBI under Hoover shows the dangers of such powers going to bigots and other unfit people - and that is why I have concerns about such laws: too many of people using them appear to be reactionary, backward, conservative misogynists, LGBT-phobes and other bigots and therefore cursed with the INHERENT bias and stupidity of all bigots and thus are untrustworthy because their bias potentially makes them incompetent) - see also here; a Cameroonian human rights lawyer is still behind bars on a "bogus" charge; "the UN Security Council [has] strongly condemned violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the Central African Republic and warned that attacks on United Nations peacekeepers there may constitute war crimes"; calls to investigate egregious violence by Colombia's police; Afghan interpreters are at risk of attacks from VEs; a discriminatory law hampers religious freedom in Indonesia; the Defence Minister "has defended overruling senior officials and allowing special forces troops to keep their meritorious unit citations from Afghanistan despite credible allegations of war crimes"; bail has been denied for a neo-nazi; Australia is continuing to complete the abuses committed by despots and terrorists in other nations; another report has confirmed that China is abusing Uyghurs - this one described it as a crime against humanity; the European Parliament alarmed over Sri Lanka's rights situation; alarming new child labour figures; Germany takes a positive step for corporate accountability; $181 million from the USA to address the famine in Tigray, Ethiopia (will the armed forces allow the aid in?); "child kidnapping being used as warfare tactic in Mozambique"; the ICC has called for Sudan to hand over Darfur war crimes suspects; the DRC has captured a militia leader accused of murdering 19 park rangers; actions against pirates off Nigeria; - on democracy:
how humans moved from the 97% of our history where equality was the norm to society's plagued by inequality; in a fit of pique Nigeria has suspended one social media platform, leading to Nigerians setting up VPNs; non-religious young political activists in Lebanon; support for a democratic opposition in coup-hit Mali (France has suspended military cooperation with the Malian military); Netanyahu is trying it on with one of #45's lies; participatory democracy to replace a sacked Council has worked in the NT; El Salvador's President has announced a plan "to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender" . . . (distraction, or genuine?); neolib conspiracy nutters have been spouting utter drivel about our injured Premier - AND attacking the right of injured workers to sick leave; secret dossiers & decisions without any right of appeal about research applicants; "concerns about Australia’s growing tendency to call in the defence force to deal with crises outside its usual remit. These are crises that could or should be dealt with by well-resourced civilian government agencies and institutions"; Haiti has indefinitely postponed a referendum; a report into the USA's attempted coup on 6th January 2021 seems to indicate the silo problem still - nearly two decades after "911" - afflicts US agencies; Mali's coup leader has strengthened his grip on power; Nicaragua's dictator has jailed a third political opponent; concerns over slow implementation of parts of Sudan's transition to democracy agreement; Grand Tsar Putin is continuing his quest to quash democracy in the Union of Soviet Socialist Russia; the threat by the 6th Jan attempted coup thugs' elected "representatives" to democracy ... ; Peru's president is the latest RWNJ leader to try #45's lies-about-election-results on for size ... ; "a judge has approved a $1.2 billion settlement between robodebt victims and the federal government while blasting the scheme for being a “shameful chapter” in public administration"; a message of decency from FLOTUS46 has shown a powerful contrast to the psychopathy of #45's "wife"; a tech company is trying to undermine Australian sovereignty by trying to evade Australian laws; more deferment of elections in Ethiopia . . . ; democracy in the CAR is showing its fragility; scepticism about today's election in Algeria; - on LGBTIQ+ matters:
homophobic abuse of LGBTIQ+ students; an "Indian court calls for sweeping reforms to respect LGBT rights"; more transphobia from the small minds of a couple of bunches of rabid reactionary conservatives; - on racism:
calls for an apology from a neochristian school in Canada were the remains of hundreds of Indigenous students were found; the trend towards Indigenous operation and/or ownership of businesses selling Indigenous goods; more racism and sexism in sport; a victim of egregious racist abuse "has declined an invitation to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame"; another class action to recover unpaid wages for Indigenous workers; - on sexism and misogyny:
more on the sexism in medicine; "lack of holistic court support leaves survivors of domestic and sexual violence traumatised twice"; more racism and sexism in sport; feminism in China under Xi's misogynistic and reactionary regime; new Ecuador law could silence sexual violence survivors; an elite level swimmer has quit trials for the olympics "citing 'misogynistic perverts' in the sport"; "sexual abuse 'normalised' in UK schools as boys pester girls for 'nudes' "; extremely backwards thinking on domestic violence in Zimbabwe; - on ableism:
"NDIS provider accused of compromising safety of people with disability in quest for growth"; - on other matters:
"responsible gambling – a bright shining lie Crown Resorts and others can no longer hide behind"; part of a cryptocurrency ransom paid to criminal hackers has been recovered; malaria continues to kill 400,000 people every year but a vaccine still has not been developed; in an illustration of the stupidity of some crims, the wife of a notorious crim didn't expect to be jailed despite running his criminal activities while he was in jail ... ; "some employers are looking for ways to avoid passing on legislated super rises to their workers"; that slapping is a physical assault has been confirmed by the jailing - as he should - of a man who slapped France's President; more support for the right to repair.
