***
Stay safe - wash your hands,
practice social distancing, and follow informed medical advice - and be considerate towards those at risk or in
situations of vulnerability (including economic) while the COVID-19
pandemic is a problem.
This is a new, very
cut down series of posts based on some observations on matters that struck a
personal note: unlike the former “Gnwmythr’s News”, it is not
trying to convey key events.
Content Warning: the linked articles and their descriptions here may be
about violence, abuse, hate, and other problems.
Three issues stand out to me this week for the severity
of the risk they pose to world peace: the shooting deaths and other racist abuses
of people of colour at the hands of police in the USA; the
stupidity of the USA’s racist
Cretin-in-Chief, POTUS45; and the
threats of war or violence of an equivalent severity created by Israel’s plans
to annex the West Bank. Other
issues are also serious - such as the abuses committed by police elsewhere (now subject to legal action), the still ongoing genocide by burma against the
Rohingya (the world is watching, has
expressed formal disapproval, and burma is sensitive
enough to this to make a token reply, but a
reply nonetheless), and the pandemic, which is subject to a series of ongoing actions. Also, the climate crisis and threat of nuclear war remain
ever present, and critical.
My articles this week
include: the evidence supporting meditation.
Reading I found
interesting this week included: how greed destroyed the ethics and claims for justice of workers in the banking
industry (this also applies in other situations); an opinion
on art - good or bad - in “bad times”; a woman’s three
decades alone on a mountain; on self
control.
In this week’s
news: a particularly pertinent review of events this
week in the USA; a device to help
the NBN cope with growing Internet traffic;
an Australian ‘'fake genuine Russian choir” went
viral in Russia; the difference/overlap
between mental health and mental illness;
the problems
with economic modelling of wages growth;
some people - particularly women - are discovering something I’ve been
saying and doing for decades: you can exercise at
home; a culturally
tone deaf TV proposal; “Africa's
female journalists use radio to dispel
coronavirus fake news and sexism”; the
pandemic has accelerated
the tech transformation; the parallels
between preventing deaths from the pandemic and preventing deaths from guns
(and see also this); tips
for keeping data safe and maintaining privacy online; the loss of carbon storage from loss of
forests.
In the environmental arena, where we have been
fighting World
War III for some time now: as another call is made for use of Indigenous fire management practices (which
will
be used in my home state), we are
entering the era of the Pyrocene . . . ; high speed rail on Australia’s east coast
would reportedly increase
emissions for 36 years (because of construction emissions); an assessment
(another here)
of the neoliberals’ emissions technology plan, and a criticism
of our laws; major concerns
over warming of deeper layers of oceans;
a staggering admission
of DECADES of major water theft in the Murray-Darling basin; the effect
of the climate crisis on the 15% of the world’s population who are people with
disabilities; Ethiopia.
On human and animal rights:
as the 20th anniversary of the walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge for reconciliation nears, and progress on constitutional recognition is urged, the lies told over the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the subsequent three years of inaction are a test of liberalism/liberality (not to mention the cold hearted, ideologically driven neoliberals, who are dragging their heels over allowing people to exit the cashless “welfare” card system); more Aussie families are exploring their Indigenous heritage; destruction of an Indigenous site; a court decision in favour of an indigenous forest people in Kenya is being ignored; a Uyghur American has been appointed to the USA’s Commission on International Religious Freedom;
in a week when a call has been made for reparations for the massacre of hundreds of blacks by a white mob - which also used aircraft with police - in Tulsa in 1921, four US “police” have been sacked after killing a man they were allegedly “arresting” - and there were calls for charges to be laid (one has been charged [and at this point, the presumption of innocence - no matter how compelling the evidence - comes into operation] with murder), protests - and the live arrest of a COMPLIANT news crew - LED BY A BLACK PRESENTER (a white journalist was NOT arrested) - covering the protests - and international condemnation, and seven people have been shot during protests over the death of a black woman who was shot by police while asleep in her apartment elsewhere in the USA;
NSW “police” will be sued over their ABUSE AND BARBARIC - EQUIVALENT TO SEXUAL ASSAULT - OF STRIP SEARCHES; South Australian “police” who committed three acts of battery - including a broken femur - during an alleged “arrest” of a South Australian man three years ago have resulted in award of $700,000 compensation to their victim; Angolan police have killed a union official; appalling brutality by police during Uganda’s lockdown;
a gravely concerning case of child abuse in Australia raises questions about government intervention;
a trans sensitive legal service;
a Senatorial enquiry into domestic violence has gathered no evidence and delivered only questions - and received a scathing assessment; a dishonourable murder of a woman in Iran has “sparked outrage” and a new law “to protect women”; unbelievably, Mexico’s “campaign against” domestic violence showed no women victims;
an Israeli court has ruled that a Palestinian house cannot be razed; there may be legal jurisdiction issues for the ICC if the Palestinian Authority rejects the Oslo Accords;
issues facing vulnerable students;
land ideal for public housing is being sold for other purposes.
Immigration and refugee matters (good and bad) have occurred in: Malta; east Africa;
trafficking/slavery/child abuse matters (good and bad) have occurred in: Yemen; Israel (good news); Nigeria; Australia; the Philippines; Thailand;
LGBTIQ+ matters (good and bad) have occurred in: an Australian tertiary institution; Australia; Costa Rica; Kenya; Zambia (good news); USA (good news); Malaysia (good news);
sexism, misogyny/misandry and domestic violence matters (good and bad) have occurred in: DR Congo; AirServices Australia;
other freedom of the press matters (good and bad) have occurred in: Nigeria;
other repression/oppression / reduction of democracy and other civil & political rights matters (good and bad) have occurred in: Israel; Saudi Arabia; Kazakhstan; Ethiopia (torture); and
other human and animal rights matters (good and bad) have occurred in: Burkina Faso.
as the 20th anniversary of the walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge for reconciliation nears, and progress on constitutional recognition is urged, the lies told over the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the subsequent three years of inaction are a test of liberalism/liberality (not to mention the cold hearted, ideologically driven neoliberals, who are dragging their heels over allowing people to exit the cashless “welfare” card system); more Aussie families are exploring their Indigenous heritage; destruction of an Indigenous site; a court decision in favour of an indigenous forest people in Kenya is being ignored; a Uyghur American has been appointed to the USA’s Commission on International Religious Freedom;
in a week when a call has been made for reparations for the massacre of hundreds of blacks by a white mob - which also used aircraft with police - in Tulsa in 1921, four US “police” have been sacked after killing a man they were allegedly “arresting” - and there were calls for charges to be laid (one has been charged [and at this point, the presumption of innocence - no matter how compelling the evidence - comes into operation] with murder), protests - and the live arrest of a COMPLIANT news crew - LED BY A BLACK PRESENTER (a white journalist was NOT arrested) - covering the protests - and international condemnation, and seven people have been shot during protests over the death of a black woman who was shot by police while asleep in her apartment elsewhere in the USA;
NSW “police” will be sued over their ABUSE AND BARBARIC - EQUIVALENT TO SEXUAL ASSAULT - OF STRIP SEARCHES; South Australian “police” who committed three acts of battery - including a broken femur - during an alleged “arrest” of a South Australian man three years ago have resulted in award of $700,000 compensation to their victim; Angolan police have killed a union official; appalling brutality by police during Uganda’s lockdown;
a gravely concerning case of child abuse in Australia raises questions about government intervention;
a trans sensitive legal service;
a Senatorial enquiry into domestic violence has gathered no evidence and delivered only questions - and received a scathing assessment; a dishonourable murder of a woman in Iran has “sparked outrage” and a new law “to protect women”; unbelievably, Mexico’s “campaign against” domestic violence showed no women victims;
an Israeli court has ruled that a Palestinian house cannot be razed; there may be legal jurisdiction issues for the ICC if the Palestinian Authority rejects the Oslo Accords;
issues facing vulnerable students;
land ideal for public housing is being sold for other purposes.
Immigration and refugee matters (good and bad) have occurred in: Malta; east Africa;
trafficking/slavery/child abuse matters (good and bad) have occurred in: Yemen; Israel (good news); Nigeria; Australia; the Philippines; Thailand;
LGBTIQ+ matters (good and bad) have occurred in: an Australian tertiary institution; Australia; Costa Rica; Kenya; Zambia (good news); USA (good news); Malaysia (good news);
sexism, misogyny/misandry and domestic violence matters (good and bad) have occurred in: DR Congo; AirServices Australia;
other freedom of the press matters (good and bad) have occurred in: Nigeria;
other repression/oppression / reduction of democracy and other civil & political rights matters (good and bad) have occurred in: Israel; Saudi Arabia; Kazakhstan; Ethiopia (torture); and
other human and animal rights matters (good and bad) have occurred in: Burkina Faso.
In the related human
rights arena of employment: some dinosaurs are still struggling
to trust their staff; an analysis
of the neoliberal PM’s ordered
pseudo-consensus.
Risks or occurrences
of atrocities, mass violence and/or war(s) this week in: Somalia; Burkina
Faso; joint
Ivory Coast-Burkina Faso action against violent extremists - and in Egypt; Israel; the so-called “incel”
movement; reports
of a war crime by an Australian SAA trooper;
despite their success, peacekeeping operations are being cut
back; an overview of
populations at risk; South Sudan; DR
Congo; DR
Congo; Nigeria; Libya; Mali; Burkina
Faso; Mozambique;
and burma has submitted a report on some matters to the ICJ - update on court case here - in response to orders to stop committing its still continuing genocide; a tertiary institute in my home state has removed information about war crimes during the Bosnian war from a course; more stupidity from the USA on the ICC; Sudan has stated the perpetrators of a recent massacre will be held accountable; victims of the former Chad dictator who was convicted of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture, including sexual violence and rape, are still waiting for reparations; a call for the UN to keep peacekeepers in Sudan.
and burma has submitted a report on some matters to the ICJ - update on court case here - in response to orders to stop committing its still continuing genocide; a tertiary institute in my home state has removed information about war crimes during the Bosnian war from a course; more stupidity from the USA on the ICC; Sudan has stated the perpetrators of a recent massacre will be held accountable; victims of the former Chad dictator who was convicted of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture, including sexual violence and rape, are still waiting for reparations; a call for the UN to keep peacekeepers in Sudan.
In the governance, politics, public ethics, and society arena: in a test
of the nation’s democracy, Israel’s PM has appeared in court in front of a strong
judge - the first
to do so (with reminders of Italy’s
former PM); more
allegations of pork barrelling - this time in an
Australian state; protests
in
and outside
(including Taiwan) Hong Kong - and calls
for more
and a suggestion
that the UN Security Council review the matter - over a
“ ’flagrant
breach’ of the Chinese-British Joint
Declaration that returned Hong Kong to China in 1997” (the USA has decided Hong
Kong is no
longer autonomous); misogyny and religious bias (and attack on
the separation of church and state) in the USA; a whistleblower-driven crackdown
in the USA; criticism
of my home state’s family violence hubs scheme for a rushed delivery that
rendered them ineffective, with “some people waiting months for support”; more on the victims
- 470,000 of whom will get some sort of refund
- of the neoliberals idiotic robodebt scheme;
the 1975 “palace letters” are finally
where they should have been all along: in Australian hands; more warnings -
including from Jordan
and the USA
- over the unprecedented risk of annexing the West Bank (and Palestinians there would be denied
Israeli citizenship - and see here
for an assessment of what this could do to a two state solution [if we do wind
up with a single state, it would destroy the ethical foundation for Israel
existing as a Jewish nation, in my opinion] ); questions
over a changed approach to unmasking of a spy in the USA;
other governance, politics, public ethics, and society matters have occurred in: France.
other governance, politics, public ethics, and society matters have occurred in: France.
On disasters
this week: floods in
Uganda; a cyclone
in Western Australia; floods
in Kenya have drowned rice supplies; the
need
to build resilience to extreme weather
events.
Internationally: the risk
of a new “Cold War” between the USA and China arising out of a “cauldron of
panic”; split
messaging from the USA about Australia;
the G20 debt relief plan has been ignored
in Africa; Singapore is looking to move
beyond
being an oil trader; Canada, which
already has a citizen being held as a hostage, is vulnerable to further
retaliation from sanctions-breaking China (which is also
putting the wellbeing, livelihood, and even the lives, and the environment of
billions of people at severe
risk by abusing Tibet’s environment) following a court ruling
that an arrested Chinese citizen can be extradited to the USA; tensions
are growing between India and China at the Tibet-India border; for Australia, India
may be an economic alternative to China (and don’t forget Africa); Algeria has
its nose out of joint over documentaries on its recent protest movement
shown in France; border tensions and
conflict between Sudan
and Ethiopia;.
In Africa: “climate-related security
risks and the African
Union”; civil society in
Chad; Burundi has held its election,
and the conduct of the election has been criticised
and result will be contested; corruption in
South Sudan; the pandemic is hampering
the fight against malaria and TB.
On the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2
novel coronavirus (there are other novel coronaviruses) (seven
major risks to watch here,
and seven sins of thought to avoid here):
another call for a better world - including continuing with home grown veggies - after the pandemic; the danger of complacency; conspiracy nutjobs are moving offline; attacks on hundreds of health care workers in 13 nations;
another call for a better world - including continuing with home grown veggies - after the pandemic; the danger of complacency; conspiracy nutjobs are moving offline; attacks on hundreds of health care workers in 13 nations;
medical
aspects: health
risks have stopped trial - one nation has banned
it - of a malaria drug touted by the USA’s misogynistic
and now being fact
checked on social media
(which has led to retaliation
[and that platform has not
acted on an antisemitic account from Iran, but also flagged an account from China]
and another platform showing how evil
that particular platform is) cretin-in-chief POTUS45 - who has
pulled the USA out
of the WHO; concerns
about length of incubation/infectivity periods; better
masks have been developed; the
medical risks
asymptomatic patients may face;
human rights aspects (crisis
. . . running summary of impacts on elections here): the vitally important and overlooked issue
of consent around physical
closeness; Bangladesh will ban Western companies that refuse
to pay bills or otherwise exploit Bangladeshi garment workers; global
concerns over continuing and increased surveillance - especially in China; the evidence is that political protests are continuing
- despite the pandemic; Malaysian
xenophobes are targeting
Rohingya; widows; migrant
workers in Lebanon;
also including
increased opportunistic repression/oppression / reduction of democracy in: Sri Lanka; burma;
also including
increased opportunistic repression/oppression / reduction of democracy in: Sri Lanka; burma;
Australia:
a couple of disreputable newspapers misrepresented
an informal US document as being from US intelligence; suggestions
on what
to do with the extra cash from a budgetary estimate error (mistake?); an opinion
that the much vaunted tracking app has become largely irrelevant; women are worse
off than men again; an
assessment that Australia did relatively well despite
the PM, not
because of him; public transport has to be properly managed
after the pandemic; the neoliberals lack
of understanding on arts jobs; a shortage
of period products; some schools are in
areas with no
Internet access; citizenship
applications are being held
up; after the pandemic, more
Australians might move
to regional areas (they would have to get over their homophobia/transphobia
for that to be an option for me); electricity retailers could
get help; the RBA governor has said that the
JobKeeper program may need
to be extended; a breach of
isolation rules has led to students being expelled; “more than one-third of single mothers
. . . live in poverty, according to a new report from the Australian
Council of Social Services” - and they are more
affected by the lockdown both now and in the future; my home state has emphasised
continuing to work at home while can;
internationally: powerful
journalism in the USA on the death toll;
recommendations for better
stockpiling in the USA; concerns
over Venezuela’s health system; the
Maldives; South and Central
American slums; the homeless (rough sleepers) in the USA; legal action in the USA over failing
to protect workers; xenophobic/racist Singapore’s
forced
consideration of “migrant workers” appears to be working - almost; a village in
Colombia is, despite civil war violence, successfully
organising to manage the pandemic; Syria; concerns
over “unlicensed” (illegal?!) retirement homes in Mexico; policy suggestions
for South and Central America; South
Korea has reimposed
lockdown; easing of lockdown in the
Philippines, France,
and no spike in Finland
or Denmark after schools reopened; tensions
between Taiwan and mainland China (which has threatened
to physical invade Taiwan) may have helped keep Taiwan safe; Israel
is walking back some of the easing of lockdown after a spike; Singapore has joined the nations considering
travel bubbles;
Africa: Madagascar is responding
to an outbreak; Sudan will protect
health workers; problems at borders; west African food trade is under
strain; hundreds have fled
quarantine in Zimbabwe and Malawi; a
suspected outbreak in Darfur,
Sudan;
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