from the news on: political and democracy issues, and international affairs

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/. 

From the news on political and democracy issues, and international affairs: 

• “Loans, not grants, already proving costly for PNG”   https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/loans-not-grants-already-proving-costly-png   
  

• “Outward bound: We should celebrate Australian investment overseas”   https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/outward-bound-we-should-celebrate-australian-investment-overseas   

 

• “The Ethics of Dissent and Protest”   https://dgilesphilosopher.medium.com/the-ethics-of-dissent-and-protest-732d52709e9e  
  

• “Regulating political misinformation isn’t easy, but it’s necessary to protect democracy”   https://theconversation.com/regulating-political-misinformation-isnt-easy-but-its-necessary-to-protect-democracy-216537  
  

• “Dozens of Centrelink fraud prosecutions dropped due to unlawful welfare debt calculations”   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/02/dozens-of-centrelink-prosecutions-dropped-due-to-unlawful-welfare-debt-calculations   GOOD!!!   but   “Australian academics apologise for false AI-generated allegations against big four consultancy firms”   https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/02/australian-academics-apologise-for-false-ai-generated-allegations-against-big-four-consultancy-firms   (don’t people ever bloody learn???)  
  

• “Judges to be protected against civil lawsuits after Salvatore Vasta sued over wrongful imprisonment”   https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/nov/02/salvatore-vasta-australia-judges-civil-lawsuits   “The Law Council of Australia said that the concept of judicial immunity was crucial to the independence of the bench and ensuring they act “without external influences such as a fear of personal liability after the fact”.   “Importantly, judicial immunity does not mean a lack of accountability for the exercise of judicial functions,” Murphy said. “The majority of Australia’s states and territories have an independent statutory mechanism to receive, manage and investigate complaints about judicial officers, and at the federal level the Australian Government is in the process of establishing of a Federal Judicial Commission.””   

• “A Major Political Turning Point for Venezuela -- Can Elections Be Credible This Time?”   Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters   “An opposition candidate named María Corina Machado overwhelmingly won a primary in October to challenge Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro in presidential elections next year. Maduro was the hand picked successor to Hugo Chavez and has been in power since 2013, overseeing an economic freefall and social dislocation of a massive scale. All the while, Maduro has tightened his grip on power through authoritarian means. Elections in Venezuela have not been free nor fair. But there was a significant political breakthrough this month that suggests things might be different this time. In negotiations in Barbados, the Maduro government agreed to allow competitive elections in 2024. In response, the United States lifted some key sanctions on Venezuela. For the first time in long time, there is a decent chance that Venezuela may move past Maduro.  On the line with me to help understand these key recent developments is Mariano de Alba, a senior advisor for the International Crisis Group. We kick off discussing the background of Maduro's main challenger, María Corina Machado, before having a longer discussion about what this agreement in Barbados means for Venezuela's political future.”   Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/global-dispatches-world-news-that-matters/id593535863?i=1000632644984  

 

 

Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

• this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

• there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  
• I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
  

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

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Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk.