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Showing posts from June 20, 2021

Never-ending quest for peace

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  SINCE the period of Spanish colonization to the present, Mindanao has never really known peace. This is very lamentable considering that Mindanao is very rich in mineral resources and the land is fertile. One reason Mindanao lags behind Luzon and the Visayas in terms of economic development is that it is a troubled region. As students in the University of the Philippines, Nur Misuari often discussed the problems that beset Mindanao with our small group of classmates, composed of Edcel Lagman, Manuel Yngzon, Rogelio Subong and Voltaire Garcia. Misuari told us that the Philippine government perpetuated the iniquities and the oppression of the Spanish and American colonizers. Soon after President Ramon Magsaysay declared Mindanao as the "promised land," there was an exodus of Filipinos from Luzon and the Visayas to the region, resulting in the displacement of Muslims from their land. In the 1950s, the communist-led rebellion in Luzon and the Visayas was also about land ownersh

Maoists confirm two senior leaders died of COVID-19

  The Telangana state committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has formally accepted that key Maoist leader Haribhushan alias Yapa Narayana as well as a senior woman leader Siddaboina Sarakka alias Bharatakka have died of COVID-19 infection. The two deaths were admitted through a press release issued by the Telangana state committee on Thursday, Bastar inspector general of police (IG) Sundarraj P. told THE WEEK. While Haribhushan—a central committee member of CPI (Maoist) had succumbed on June 21, Bharatakka—an Indravati area committee member—died on June 22, the Maoists’ press release mentioned. Their last rites were conducted in the presence of people and a meeting in their memory was held June 22, the note in Telugu said. The Bastar IG had on Wednesday has issued a statement on the death of Haribhushan, who carried a reward of Rs 40 lakhs, on basis of "confirmed sources". The key Maoist leader had been camping along the Minaguram-Bhattigudam-Jabagatta jungles on

Enid Blyton: Why seeing sexism, racism in her work should not make us unsee her

  Charity English Heritage, an organisation that installs blue plaques at sites that were once the working or living quarters of Britain’s canonical literary figures, recently updated the information associated with Blyton’s plaque. Charity English Heritage, an organisation that installs blue plaques at sites that were once the working or living quarters of Britain’s canonical literary figures, recently updated the information associated with Blyton’s plaque. Enid Blyton, the beloved children's author who touched millions of lives with her writing, was never a stranger to controversy. Her work, though received with unprecedented love, was called out for its problematic aspects by critics. Blyton  wrote over 700 books and 4,500 short stories in her lifetime. Her works were translated into 90 languages and sold over 600 million copies, moulding the childhoods of many children across the world, and in the process, shaping their fragile minds. Stories of Noddy and Sambo were engraved o

Violence against smuggled migrants widespread, but justice is lacking: UN report

The  study  focusses on transit routes in West and North Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and Central America.  It also examines the differing types of violence inflicted on men and women, and presents factors and motivations behind abuse committed during smuggling operations.  No reason for punishment  “Our research showed that violence is used by the smugglers or other perpetrators as a form of punishment, intimidation or coercion, and often inflicted with no apparent reason”,  said  Morgane Nicot, who coordinated the development of the report.  “We found that male migrants are primarily subjected to forced labour and physical violence while women are more exposed to sexual violence, leading to unwanted pregnancies and abortions. All genders can suffer from inhuman and degrading treatment.”   Migrant smuggling is a profitable criminal activity,  UNODC  said, with desperate people paying to cross borders to escape natural disaster, conflict or persecution, or to seek employment, educati

COVID pandemic fuelling major increase in drug use worldwide: UN report

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  According to   UNODC ’s   World Drug Report 2021 , cannabis potency has quadrupled in some parts of the world over the last two decades, while the percentage of adolescents who perceived the drug as harmful fell by as much as 40 per cent. This perception gap prevails despite evidence that cannabis use is associated with a variety of health and other harms, especially among regular long-term users. Moreover, most countries have reported a rise in the use of cannabis during the pandemic. "Lower perception of drug use risks has been linked to higher rates of drug use, and the findings of UNODC’s 2021 World Drug Report highlight the need to close the gap between perception and reality to educate young people and safeguard public health,” said UNODC Executive Director, Ghada Waly. 2021 World Drug Report. Socioeconomic impact The  COVID-19  crisis has pushed more than 100 million people into extreme poverty, and has greatly exacerbated unemployment and inequalities, as the world lost

'Lupin' on Netflix: How Season 2 avenges Europe's racist past - Los Angeles Times

  Source:  https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-06-24/netflix-lupin-season-1-part-2-omar-sy-immigrant-tale

Swallow your pride and drop vaccine racism

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  In what is the latest cause for celebration in China's scientific community, and also terrific news for most countries, the World Health Organization has listed the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Sinovac for emergency use. This follows the listing of the Sinopharm vaccine on May 7, making the second Chinese vaccine with WHO approval. Sinovac's vaccine had already been proven 95 percent effective in preventing hospitalization and deaths among front line health workers in Indonesia. With Sinovac now part of the WHO's COVAX program, China's vaccines will play a significant role in ending world vaccine inequality allowing for the equitable distribution of vaccines worldwide. Numerous western countries have engineered, promoted or demonstrated scepticism about China's vaccines at the level of government, media, the academic community and public opinion. Against this, the approval of Sinovac's vaccine by the WHO's expert panel should put this matter beyond doubt.

JOEL MODIRI: Critical race theory is being attacked as need to take racism seriously can no longer be ignored

  Attacks on critical race theory intellectuals and ideas are marked by aggression, bad faith, racist anxiety and ignorance — a toxic mix not easily appeased by facts or argument In 1995, African-American legal theorist Prof Derrick Bell published a paper prophetically titled “Who’s Afraid of Critical Race Theory?” Today, in post-Trump 2021, this question finds its answer in the ferocious right-wing onslaught against critical race theory (CRT), which has set off a political and cultural explosion in the US. Some of the debris from this explosion has landed as far off as the UK, Europe and even here in SA. From legislative attempts to ban the teaching of CRT to viral online conservative screeds decrying the pervasive influence of CRT and “identity politics”, we find ourselves in a dystopian contradiction where white people increasingly, and without irony, claim to be the greatest contemporary victims of racism at just the time black people’s protest and critique against racial inequalit

Vaccine Hesitancy or Systemic Racism?

Minority communities and developing-country populations may approach health services cautiously – and with good reason, given the medical profession's history of inhumanity. But, by blaming low COVID-19 vaccination rates on vaccine hesitancy, the profession is effectively using this history to victimize the same communities again. JOHANNESBURG/SEATTLE/ADDIS ABABA – When the United States began to roll out COVID-19 vaccines earlier this year, uptake in black communities  lagged behind their white counterparts. Many assumed this was by choice: the history of medical abuses against them had supposedly left African-Americans mistrustful of the public-health intervention. A similar vaccine hesitancy has also purportedly  hampered  efforts to vaccinate African populations. But this narrative amounts to little more than obfuscation. To be sure, minority communities and developing-country populations may approach health services cautiously – and with good reason. From the gynecological exp

‘What was robbed must be repaired’: 5 Black business leaders talk reparations and corporate America’s role in closing the wealth gap

 As we honor Juneteenth as  an official federal holiday  for the first time, many are calling attention to conversations about reparations and the need to close the racial wealth gap for Black Americans. Prior to the Covid-19 crisis and its disproportionate impact on communities of color, the median white household in America held nearly eight times the wealth of the median Black household in 2019, reports  Brookings Institution . While President Biden and his administration have  unveiled plans  to help close this gap, which has only been exacerbated by the pandemic, many people have also called on corporate America and its leaders to take a stand in speaking out against racial inequality and economic injustice. Some leaders, like BET and RLJ Companies founder Robert Johnson, have openly talked about the need for reparations to help compensate Black Americans for years of slavery and unpaid labor. Other leaders, like The ActONE Group founder and CEO Janice Bryant Howroyd, have spoken