Global News Dispatches: 5 Stories | Myanmar, Netherlands, Latin America, Afghanistan, South Africa

At Least 29 Killed in Myanmar Government Attack on Refugee Camp

An October 11 article by “Democracy Now!” stated that the Burmese government has killed at least 29 people in northern Kachin state at a refugee camp. The October 9 attack included 11 children among its casualties, according to local rebels cited by the Associated Press.

“I had to struggle a lot to run after the first one hit. It was really difficult to remove all of the [wreckage] pressing down on me,” an unnamed woman from Munglai Hkyet village told Myanmar Now. “The [house] had no door anymore. I ran into the streets and hid in a trench,” she added.

Myanmar is riven by various ethnic independence movements in the civil war that broke out to resist the military government, which came to power in a 2021 coup. The Kachin Independence Army controls the area where the bombing occurred on October 9, said the New York Times.

A recent report by the nonprofit organization Kachin Women’s Association Thailand found that violence in Kachin has increased as a result of the Chinese investment through the Belt and Road initiative. Munglai Hkyet is near the border with China.

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Demands by Activists Prompt the Netherlands to Phase Out Fossil Fuel Subsidies

A sustained protest campaign by environmental activists has led the Dutch government to commit to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. The activists stopped traffic on a major highway for nearly a month, said “Democracy Now!”

“[We] achieved a transformation… of Dutch society, with three-quarters of the people now wanting a phaseout of fossil fuel subsidies and even a third of the people wanting an immediate stop on fossil fuel subsidies. And that is the Extinction Rebellion demand. So, a big win,” said Lucas Winnips of Extinction Rebellion to “Democracy Now!”.

Extinction Rebellion is known as one of the most militant climate change groups, frequently employing disruptive and sometimes controversial tactics. Winnips said that more than 9,000 arrests were made in the course of the campaign.

The Dutch government subsidizes the fossil fuel industry to an amount equaling 4 percent of the country’s GDP, or about $42 billion according to the advocacy group Oil Change International. Internationally, fossil fuel subsidies increased to $7 trillion in 2022, according to statistics from the International Monetary Fund.

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Israel-Palestine War Throws off Latin American Leftist Leaders

World Politics Review (WPR) chronicled the struggle of Latin American leftist leaders to respond to the ongoing crisis in Palestine. From Argentina to Chile, local demographics and politics intersected with a perceived need to articulate a point of view on Hamas’s attack on Israel and Israel’s disproportionate response to it.

“I was shocked by the terrorist attacks carried out… against civilians in Israel, which caused numerous victims. In expressing my condolences to the families of the victims, I reaffirm my rejection of terrorism in any of its forms,” said Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

On the other hand, WPR noted that Colombian President Gustavo Petro was more firmly in Palestine’s camp. “The only way for Palestinian children to sleep in peace is for Israeli children to sleep in peace. The only way for Israeli children to sleep in peace is for Palestinian children to sleep in peace. War will never achieve this,” he tweeted.

Several countries in Latin America have large Jewish or Palestinian diasporic communities, influencing responses. For example, Chile has 500,000 Palestinians, the largest number of any country outside the Middle East.

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Afghanistan Hit by Multiple Powerful Earthquakes

Al Jazeera reported that the area near Herat, Afghanistan, has been hit with a series of powerful earthquakes recently. In particular, two earthquakes of 6.3 magnitude struck the region, killing at least 1,000. Homes have been destroyed and a landslide blocked a major thoroughfare near Herat.

“We can’t live here anymore. You can see, our family got martyred here. How could we live here?” said Mohammad Naeem, who lost his mother and 11 other relatives in the earthquakes.

More than 90 percent of the dead are women and children, said France 24, citing UNICEF. “Women and children are often at home, tending to the household and caring for children, so when structures collapse, they are the most at risk,” said Herat-based UNICEF field officer Siddig Ibrahim to the news outlet.

Afghanistan was already one of the poorest countries in the world prior to its takeover by the Taliban after U.S. military forces exited in August 2021. International penalties subsequently placed on the government have increased the amount of hardship endured by the Afghan population.

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Price of Eggs Expected to Jump in South Africa

The BBC reported that an egg shortage in South Africa is likely to lead to price increases. The biggest reason for the shortfall is a major bird flu outbreak that has led to “millions of chickens” being killed in the country.

“Not only will consumers spend more for eggs but the rising price of eggs will affect all other food products where producers use eggs and other poultry products,” said the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity (PEJD) research organization to the BBC.

South Africa is an upper-middle-income country and has the second-largest economy in Africa. However, the BBC noted that more than half of South Africans live under the poverty line and are dependent on eggs as cheap sources of protein.

South Africans spend about 35 percent of their incomes on food said PEJD to the BBC.

By Saurav Sarkar

Author Bio: Saurav Sarkar is a freelance writer and editor who covers political activism and labor movements. They live in Long Island, New York, and have also lived in New York City, New Delhi, London, and Washington, D.C. Follow them on Twitter @sauravthewriter and at sauravsarkar.com.

from the Globetrotter News Service

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