This originally appeared on my main blog at https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2020/06/post-no-1598-in-this-weeks-news.html.
***
Black Lives Matter!
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 news aggregation 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.
On personal /
spiritual matters:
children have shown that the meaning
of life revolves around connections
(relationships).
Reading I found
interesting this week included:
younger people are moving to regional areas;
the importance of acknowledging and working with emotions
constructively in international relations.
Overall Commentary: what has struck me this week in the world’s
news is the continued growth of good governance in many parts of Africa, partly
offset by suppression of the press and difficulties holding abusers to account.
That latter problem, together with endemic and egregious racism, is also very
present in the USA, whose tyrant-in-chief continues, as do other despots, to
try vainly to convince the rest of reality that their perverted fantasy perspectives
have some connection with reality: however, those bubbles of delusion are only
reaching a few police and violent extremists, but some of those they reach have
considerable power, and thus attempts to change the world for the better keep meeting
road blocks. Ignorance - which is wilful - and lack of awareness continue to
also blight decision making and thinking. At least there is some positive
acknowledgement of the need to work with emotions, and that emotions can be constructive.
In This Week’s News:
an examination
of the impact of the recent killing of a police officer in New Zealand;
my home state has a
new
police commissioner: he has delivered statements against domestic violence, but
we’ve seen senior officers with personal behaviour at odds with such public
statements. He has also delivered
warnings
against taking part in BLM protests: is he racist, or public health oriented?
There have been
no
infections (family gatherings were the problem), but the organisers
were fined. He’s expected to help the force learn from recent mistakes, but a
conservative rag suggests there would be a “return to basics” which is code for
abandon minorities and police only for the majority. None of our commissioners
since
Christine Nixon
has been anywhere near as good as she was
(e.g., see here,
but also see here,
for instance): will be buck that history?
This
is promising on ethical issues, but police actions recently
(the EMD cop and
others wielding batons, this
- especially missing the transphobia when commenting, the appallingly and
unnecessarily violent raid on a gay shop) have actively recreated barriers
to several groups, and just being ethical is
not
enough;
the difficulty
of predicting future jobs;
Australians
are
unhappy
with our leadership;
my home state’s Parliament has released their latest
Auslan briefing;
a
critique
of policing
(“the modern police state is rooted in an almost wilful
misunderstanding of the root economic causes of criminality, and the will of
the powerful to protect themselves”);
poor
sleep can lead to self-harm and suicide
.
In the
Environmental Arena,
where we have been fighting
World
War III for some time now:
an endangered species has been found to have survived last summer’s bushfires;
Australia’s
Chief Scientist has called for improved energy efficiency;
wrong
categorisation is allowing endangered fish to be harvested;
an appeal to cut
out engine
idling;
lessons
and evidence of the possibility of fast responses from the pandemic
responses;
a
call
for bipartisanship in Australia;
criticism in an Australian state
(not mine) of a
slow
response to drought;
Australia’s
neoliberal nitwits are
continuing
their attack on renewables;
illegal hunters are a bigger problem than animal activists on farms.
other environmental matters have occurred
in:
Europe
(inclusion of human rights);
USA (good news - from young conservatives!);
Peru;
Afghanistan
(good news).
This week on the Protests
in the USA and associated protests/issues elsewhere:
the
changes for the better that have been accomplished;
although democracies tend to discourage
political repression, They Can FAIL To Manage Coercive State Oppression;
the
exhaustion
of having to explain racism over and over again
(I can relate to that, but
for transphobia);
“domestic spying”
is
undermining
attempts to achieve racial justice;
from “The Guardian”: “what Defund the
Police really means: replacing social control with investment”;
an internet theft and misinformation
campaign
by a notorious hate site;
an
appalling
act of racism and threatened violence/murder in a US “sport”;
the noose found in the garage area of a
black driver in a US car competition had apparently been there for
months
beforehand - before he was allocated that garage;
a
powerful
speech by MLK’s daughter;
mapping
shows the
variability
in police violence/response;
in Australia:
NO
COVID-19 cases linked to the rallies two weeks ago;
how
to learn about racism in Australia;
internationally:
K pop in South Korea is actively supporting the
US BLM protests - see
here,
here,
here,
and
here
and
here,
about possibly reducing numbers at #45’s recent rally - which show
dim
prospects for the dim one, who appears to be
uniting
the USA against himself . . . ;
“police”:
a
Reuters
review shows many viral videos of police brutality
were
acted on;
tear gas is a WEAPON being used by police to commit abuses;
police in
Australia have cleared
themselves of wrongdoing again - as more concerns emerge;
French police have
choked
a man to death;
a
proposal
for reform of police in the USA is progressing;
an authoritative
warning that tear gas and rubber bullets are not
“non-lethal”;
suggestions/recommended actions
/ noteworthy responses:
more
candidates from minority groups;
analysis/commentary:
the role of
unstructured
movements in violence.
In the related human
rights arena of
Employment:
after the pandemic,
most
workers want “hybrid” combinations of work at home and office.
In the
Democracy, Governance, Politics,
Public Ethics, and Society arena:
an Indigenous
woman has been appointed as a replacement Senator;
concerns
about a secret trial related to an incident of appalling behaviour by my
nation;
the neoliberals are
continuing
their attack on democracy;
the
conservative neoliberal minister who is thumbing his nose at the judiciary is
mocking
“our system of government”;
from
“The Conversation”:
“The
‘problem’ is not ‘fixed’. Why we need
a royal commission into robodebt”;
the social engineering aspects of the latest
attack
on thinking courses at Universities by my nation’s neoliberal government -
which is
against
what business wants;
a
call
for better defences against disinformation
campaigns
by China and others
(especially #45!);
an assessment of the inequality and other
causes that have led the USA to being a
failing
state;
retroactive
tax benefits for the PM
- currently facing corruption charges - approved
in Israel;
a call to
delay
a loan to Egypt until it takes anti-corruption measures;
data on the
gig economy;
another
blow to democracy in Venezuela;
the
“
authoritarian
rot” in Europe;
regressive,
misleading moves in
Samoa;
obfuscation
by Scotty from Marketing;
concerns
about security classification policies;
the problems
of privatisation;
the US Senate has approved
sanctions on Chinese officials over China’s
attack on democracy and freedom in Hong Kong;
concerns
about firefighting services in my home state
.
other democracy, governance,
politics, public ethics, and society matters have occurred in:
the
media;
Singapore.
On
Disasters this week:
a massive
earthquake
in Mexico;
locusts
have followed storms and pandemic in Italy;
as the eastern
Ebola
outbreak is declared over, concerns about an outbreak in northwestern DR Congo.
On
Humanitarian Aid and Development:
seven
suggested
principles
(focused on the UK);
more on aid
failures
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Internationally:
a
conservative
hardline hawk and former appointee of #45 is
closer
to being able to publish a so-called “tell all” book
(given the
sensationalist nature of partial previews, I’m waiting for a sensible review by
informed and capable people before I comment one way or another about the book);
yet another debunking
of the
Myth
of US “exceptionalism”;
the Union of
Soviet Socialist Russia
(yes, mockery) is putting up statues to form
Grand Tsar
(yes, mockery) Stalin
(yes, notorious mass murdering tyrant);
concerning allegations that warnings of Russia’s hold over #45 were
ignored;
a US White House advisor has “
walked
back” a
(stupid) comment that the US-China trade deal had been
ended;
North Korea has “
suspended”
its “military campaign” against the south . . .
(?!) -
see also
here;
a lá the South China Sea, China is buildings
things in territory it doesn’t own - in this case,
Tibet,
and India is
responding;
China’s
puppet
media;
on Israel’s intended annexation of the West Bank:
a
mass
rally against the planned annexation;
opposition in
Europe
and
Jordan;
warning of a “religious
war”.
In Africa:
a
review
of recent efforts to achieve peace in
Mali,
which has been urge to
re-run
its election -
as Malawi is doing;
a call for financial
support of Sudan’s transition;
growing
tensions between Libya
- see also this
- and Egypt;
Sudan has
warned
against escalating the dispute over the extremely controversial
Nile Dam
in Ethiopia - which the
Arab
League has called for Ethiopia to
not fill, and the UN
Security Council will discuss
next
week;
action
against corruption
in the DR
Congo, where
protests
are also occurring;
the growing power of generals in Burundi . . . ;
as
more
shooting deaths by Kenyan police mark a
bloody
year, deaths in police custody in
Kenya;
the corruption
trial
of former president of South Africa
has resumed;
growing
tensions
between Nigeria and Ghana;
the
opposition leader has been arrested in Tanzania
ahead
of the election;
peace in South
Sudan
needs
to be implemented more quickly;
generous Uganda has reopened its borders to refugees from violence
in the DRC;
risks to
community buses and informal taxis in Uganda
.
medical
aspects:
a
suggestion
to use UV-C lamps for disinfection
(I tried to get a company interested in
this for air conditioning back in the 80s: that is the sort of area it should
be used for - open air use, as suggested, brings cancer risks, which we in
Australia know more about than probably most nations);
using
public
toilets;
concern about claims about
air
purifiers;
superspreading
(“as few as 10 percent of infected people may drive a whopping 80 percent of
cases”);
the
person
behind the “flatten the curve” phrase;
Environmental Impacts:
how to go back to better habits around
plastic;
increased
poaching;
Australia:
family transmissions and
hot
spots (we’re in one) have forced a
reimposition
of some lockdown provisions
(Norman Swan has asked, on social media, why we
aren’t requiring face masks: why aren’t we?), and we’re starting to look at
a
second
wave;
attempts to learn lessons for
our health system have
started;
demands
for investigation of a devastating outbreak at an aged care home;
even fewer Australians can afford to retire;
advice on masks could
FINALLY
be
coming
to my home state;
changes for better and worse to
lifestyles
in response to the lockdown;
the
neoliberal government
ignored
advice to engage with migrant communities;
the neolibs are getting
impatient
- despite a
rise
in the “toilet paper index”;
a
statement
of the bleedin’ obvious: our international borders will likely remain
closed until there is a widely available and effective vaccine;
a
call
for an Australian Centres for Disease Control;
to complicate matters, there has been a
TB
outbreak in one city;
Globally:
the pandemic is “
accelerating”
in many nations;
some temporary moves
may
become permanent;
And finally
. . . Black
Lives Matter!
