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YNTR – June 2020: George Floyd, Antifa, Ebola, and more

EditorChief — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 08:14:30 +0000

USA. On May 25, George Floyd (46) was arrested for allegedly using counterfeit money to buy cigarettes. He died as a consequence of a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on his neck for over eight minutes. Protests against racism and racist police violence have erupted throughout the USA, as well as abroad. Unlike as in many other cases, the officers involved in the murder of Floyd have been charged. The charges against Chauvin have been raised from third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter to second-degree murder. His previously uncharged colleagues are now accused of aiding and abetting murder. A few days after the killing of Floyd, hactivist group Anonymous released a video accusing Minneapolis Police Department of “a horrific track record of violence and corruption” in which the murder of Floyd was “merely the tip of the iceberg”.

France. Despite a police-ban thousands of people in France have protested against racist police violence after the murder of George Floyd. The case bares ressemblance to the killing of Adama Traoré (24) in 2016. Official reports claimed he had died of heart failure due to possible pre-existing health conditions. A second autopsy which had been requested by Traoré’s family, however, suggests he died due to the three police officers, that arrested him after he ran from them since e had no ID card with him, holding him to the ground with their bodyweight. They have not been charged. Two days prior to the killing of Floyd, the hashtag #MoiAussiJAiPeurDevantLaPolice has gone viral after singer Camélia Jordana had spoken out against police violence on TV. She stated that “there are thousands of people who do not feel save in the presence of a cop”.

France. Currently, a new law is being debated that would make it illegal to photograph or film police officers (in a manner that makes it possible to identify them). Diffusion of images of this kind could lead to a fine of 15 000€ and even one year in prison. The proposed law is criticised as disregarding the right to inform and making it even more difficult to hold police officers accountable for police violence. At the same time, French police has interrogated Mediapart journalist Pascale Pascariello who frequently reported on police violence and uncovered the lies of president Macron linked to a case of police violence. It is the fourth time in 18 months that police have tried to uncover the sources of Mediapart. Pascariello refused to answer the police’s questions during the one and a half hours of interrogation and criticised the police’s attempt to reveal her sources condemning “a climate of pressure on our profession and of intimidation vis-à-vis our sources”.

USA. In the wake of a disagreement between Donald Trump and Twitter, the US president threatened to introduce legislation that would weaken Twitter’s protection against liability for content by its users. Previously, Twitter had flagged a tweet by Trump on mail-in voting fraud as needing to be fact-checked and flagged another post as “gloryfing violence”. Yet, they decided to not remove the tweet as it is in public interest. The Trump administration had initially responded by retweeting the latter flagged tweet via the White House account which was subsequently hidden by Twitter.

USA. US president Trump has proposed to classify Antifa as a terrorist organisation. Antifa is a loosely organised anti-fascist movement that sees its roots in the radical left groups which resisted fascist dictators such as Hitler and Mussolini. However, Antifa conspiracy theories are wide-spread among groups and members of the political right. Due to its lack of characteristics typical for an organisation, legal experts view Trump’s plan as impossible and even unconstitutional.

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In the DRC, the eleventh Ebola outbreak was announced on the 31st of May 2020 in the northwest of the country, while in the East the tenth outbreak is not over yet. In the district around the city Mbandaka, 4 people have died. Meanwhile, in the Kivu province the appearance of new case prevented the previous outbreak from being declared as over. The country is under travel restrictions to prevent a spread of the coronavirus. It is a measure which might now also be helpful to fight Ebola.

Russia/Siberia. Near the city Norilsk in Siberia, 15 000 to 20 000 tons of diesel fuel have been spilled into the Ambarnaya river. The waters are heavily polluted and the installed booms will only be able to collect a small portion of the oil that is polluting the environment. The Russian president Putin has declared a state of emergency in Norilsk. The cause is suspected to be the thawing permafrost, followed by the abnormally warm temperatures in the Arctic regions which made the platform sink deeper into the ground.

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YNTR – May 2020: New government in Israel, Afghanistan & the Taliban, and attacks on civilians in Syria

EditorChief — Sun, 17 May 2020 15:30:13 +0000

Israel. The new government of Israel was sworn in on the 14th of May. Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz eventually succeeded in forming a government after one and a half years without a functioning government. The contract of the coalition says that for the first 18 months, Netanyahu will serve as premier. After this period, Gantz, who serves in the meantime as defense minister, will take on the role for another 1.5 years. Together they serve as prime minister and “alternate prime minister”.

Afghanistan. After attacks at a clinic and a funeral, president Ashraf Ghani orders the resumption of military attacks against the Taliban. While the Taliban deny any responsibility for the attacks, the government gave orders to the military to be rather offensive against armed groups, contrary to the defensive approach of the United States who is currently withdrawing troops. US officials had previously been in talks with Taliban and signed an “agreement for bringing peace”.

Syria. The report “Nowhere is safe for us: Unlawful attacks and mass displacement in north-west Syria” by the human rights organisation Amnesty International reports on attacks on schools and medical facilities in Syria. While civilians are targeted and massively affected, there is evidence for the use of cluster munition, which is against the international law. This puts new pressure on the ruling dictator al-Assad and the Russian military, which supports the Syrian government. The report is among others based on interviews with displaced people, teachers, doctors and humanitarian workers in aid organisations.

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YNTR – April 2020: Forest fires in Chernobyl, new fask force in Sahel, Maduro accused of drug trafficking, and more

EditorChief — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 08:50:27 +0000

Ukraine. Forest fires near the defunct nuclear plant of Chernobyl caused radation in the area to rise 16 times above the normal level. Police arrested a suspect who is accused of causing the fires that started in early April by setting grass and rubbish on fire. While the fires increased the level of air pollution in Kiev – located around 90km south of Chernobyl – making them the worst in the world, authorities claimed there was no rise in radiation levels in the Ukrainian capital. While reports said the fires were getting dangerously close to the nuclear power plant and waste storage facilities, the government assured that the fires were contained and under control.

Sahel. Eleven European states have formed a new task force, named “Takuba”, to fight terrorism in Mali and the Sahel. The states supporting the project are Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Sweden. The French-led task force is also supposed to support the French “Barkhane” mission in the Sahel as well as the joint troops of five Sahel states.

Venezuela. The United States are accusing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as well as other high-ranking politicians of drug trafficking and narco terrorism and offered a bounty of $15 million for the arrest of Maduro. According to US federal authorities, Maduro cooperated with dissident FARC members to “flood” the US with cocaine. The US government, which supports Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guidó, already imposed sanctions against Venezuela under Maduro for human rights abuses and argues that Maduro is responsibile for Venezuela’s economic and political crisis.

WHO. US President Donald Trump has accused the World Health Organisation (WHO) and European states of knowingly allowing covid-19 to spread beyond China. Consequently, hesuspended funding for the WHO. The UN agency had declared a global health emergency on Janaury 30. The day after, Trump announced a ban on all foreign nationals entering the US from China. He said: “Tragically other nations put their trust in the WHO and they didn’t do any form of ban and you see what happened to Italy […]”. Meanwhile, New York Times data suggests that almost 40 000 Americans and authorised travellers were able to enter the US from China since the travel ban was put into action on February 4 whereas Italy introduced a complete ban on all people travelling from China on January 31. The WHO criticised Trump’s travel ban for “increasing fear and stigma, with little public health benefit”, and Democrats and disease experts claim that the travel ban has little effect as the coronavirus had already started to spread within the US as well as internationally.

WFP. Due to fundig shortfall the World Food Programme (WFP) was forced to reduce their support for refugees in Uganda by 30% and for Yemen by 50%. In Uganda, 1.4 million refugees rely on food rations distributed by the WFP. Activists fear that these cuts will make refugees’ lives in midst the nationwide shutdown due to the coronavirus even more complicated. A speaker of the WFP said that due to a critical lack of finances they had no other option but to reduce their aid for Yemen by half, despite the humanitarian crisis in the country. According to the UN, about 80% of the Yemini population is dependent on aid. Starting in mid-April they will receive support every second month as opposed to every month.

Syria. For the first time, the UN’s Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) explicitly names the Assad regime as those responsible for the poison gas attacks of 2017. They accuse the Syrian air force to have used sarin and chlorine gas in attacks on Syrian cities in late March 2017. Human rights organisations see the OPCW’s report as a milestone in the investigation of war crimes.

Israel. On the way of forming a new government, opposition leader Benny Gantz, who holds the mandate to form a government, has been asking for more time. This was denied to him by President Rivlin. The possibility of a unity coalition that was in sight is slipping away. Since no party has a clear majority, the mandate goes back to the parliament and a fourth election round in Israel could be the consequence.

USA. Senator Bernie Sanders ended his campaign for the nomination as presidential candidate, saying “the path toward victory is virtually impossible.” Thus, Joe Biden is the only remaining candidate of the Democrats. Sanders wants to leave his name in the ballot, but assured that he is supporting Biden in the political fight against Donald Trump. Sanders is known to not only run a presidential campaign, but to mobilise the US American progressive left and to have created a movement concerned with social and environmental justice.

Photo Credits

pi-IMG_5623, zhrefch, CC0 1.0

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YNTR – March 2020: Weinstein sentencing, refugees teargassed in Greece, Uighur concentration camps in Xinjiang, and more

EditorChief — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 10:06:13 +0000

Scotland. In a fight against period poverty, the Scottish government has decided to make menstrual products freely available. While pads and tampons were already accessible for free in schools and universities, they are now also available to women outside the education system. The cost for this undertaking is estimated to be around £31 million.

USA. Movie director Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape. He will now be extradited to California to be charged with multiple sexual assaults.

Luxembourg. In March public transport has become free in Luxembourg. The country with the highest rate of cars per people in the EU has taken this step to battle trafic congestion and help low income citizens.

Turkey/ Greece. After Turkish soldiers were killed in an airstrike in Syria in late February, Turkish PM Erdogan opened the Turkish border with the EU to be open for refugees to put prssure on the EU to grant Turkey more support. However, the EU, and particularly Greece were refugees previously staying in Turkey are attempting to cross the border, are unwilling to let them in. Greek police used tear gas against the people, some of them children, trying to cross the border. In the increasingly hostile anti-refugee atmosphere even journalists have been attacked by locals.

Australia. Wildfires that consumed more than 16 million hectares—approximately the size of Tunisia—are now either contained or extinguished. In early February, torrential rains—estimated at more than the accumulated rainfall for the entire year of 2019 and lasting for only three days—helped put out many fires which had been raging for months. Australia has lost more than 20% of its forests, more than one billion animals perished, and the weather is predicted to become hotter and drier in the years to come; making it likely that Australia runs the risk of experiencing an increasing amount of bushfires in the future. The fires lasted from October 2019 until February 2020.

Afghanistan. On the 29th February, the US signed a deal with the Taliban in preparation of a full withdrawal of foreign troops in Afghanistan. The deal includes a timeline for the U.S. and NATO troops to pull out, as well as assurances that the Taliban will prevent any militant groups from basing their operations within Afghan territory and posing a security threat to the U.S. and its allies. The deal was signed in Doha, Qatar—where the Taliban’s political headquarters are located—and has laid the foundation for negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban; though Afghan President Ashraf Ghani recently rejected a clause in the deal concerning the exchange or pardoning of Taliban prisoners. The war in Afghanistan has lasted 18 years and 5 months as of March 2020. It is the longest war in U.S. history.

Myanmar. The Maldives, represented by Human Rights lawyer Amal Clooney, will join the Gambia in litigations against Myanmar regarding their treatment of Rohingya Muslims in what has been recognized as genocide by various UN organs, International Criminal Court officials, human rights activists and several governments. The initial decision of the International Court of Justice on 23 January 2020, concerning the “Rohingya case” (The Gambia v. Myanmar), was that Myanmar is obligated to prevent further violence against the Rohingya. The case proceedings will continue, with the Court having set the dates 23 July 2020 and 25th January 2021 for the Gambia and Myanmar, respectively, to file their initial pleadings. In October 2016—and again in August 2017—the Myanmar armed forces and police launched a major crackdown on Rohingya people in the Rakhine State in northeastern Myanmar. Estimated death tolls are around 25,000; sexual violence perpetrated against women and girls at around 18,000; more than 100,000 cases of brutal beatings; more than 100,000 homes burned down; and around 750,000 people displaced. The de facto head of government and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has dismissed allegations of targeted systematic violence against the Rohingya people, and, ironically, defended the same Myanmar military responsible for her 15 year long incarceration which ended in 2010. The conflict is still ongoing.

China, Xinjiang. Estimates are that around 1-3 million Uyghur Muslims are interned in “re-education” camps administered by the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China. Former detainees report to have been tortured and otherwise mistreated. Whereas camps have been compared to concentration camps, the governor of Xinjiang refutes these comparisons and describes them as resembling boarding schools.

Photo Credits

pi-IMG_5623, zhrefch, CC0 1.0

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