Excluded Headlines: Chad kicks out France, Turkish-backed offensive in Syria ...
Stay up to date on the Global South news stories the US- and Eurocentric media overlook, with author and journalist, Tamara Pearson.
In this week’s Global South news:
Chad ends military cooperation with France - Chad has become the latest country (after Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Niger) to end military ties with France and order its troops to leave. On Sunday, President Deby said the ties, that go back nearly 65 years, are not helping to rescue Chad from “growing security challenges, including terrorism and armed conflicts.” Some Chadians took to the streets to celebrate. Source, source, source.
Namibia elections see first female president, results controversial - Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah won Namibia’s recent elections, but her party, the ruling Swapo Party of Namibia (Swapo), has recorded its worst performance since independence, with its support dropping from 65% to just under 51%. Nandi-Ndaitwah has spent time in prison for protesting and as a politician she has provided greater protections for women. But the Landless People's Movement (LPM) rejected the results, saying the elections weren’t free and fair. Source, source.
Opposition, Jihadist, Turkish-backed offensive in Syria - Opposition forces in Syria have launched an offensive over the past week, capturing Hama today in central Syria, after taking control of Aleppo (Syria’s second largest city) days earlier. They have launched a new wave of attacks in Rojava (like Aleppo, in northern Syria), there are reports of massacres and beheadings, and over 75,000 people, including Kurds, Yazidis, Christians, and Arabs, have fled Aleppo (Heleb) into north and east Syria. Freezing temperatures are seeing a humanitarian crisis. Having achieved a hard-won autonomy during Syrian Civil War, Kurds are now cornered between the Syrian government and the Turkish-backed opposition, both of whom want to put an end to Kurdish self-governance. But, some Kurds have declared “in Rojava it is clear to everyone that no one will leave the field without a fight.” Thousands of people marched in the Euphrates Canton (Kobane, autonomous administration) in protest at the invading Turkish and allied attacks on North-East Syria. Recommended: To understand where this fits in with Israel and the US’s attacks and strategy, read here. Source, source, source, source, source, source, source.
Palestinians face restrictions in West Bank, attacks in Gaza continue - Israel bombed a camp of displaced people in the Al-Mawasi 'safe zone' near Gaza's Khan Yunis, killing 21 people. Palestinians in the West Bank are basically under lockdown, as they face increasing restrictions, with numerous checkpoints, cities like Nablus closed off, and the consequence severe economic impact, along with increasing attacks from illegal Israeli settlers. Source, source.
Israel repeatedly violates Lebanon ceasefire - Israel is continuing to strike Lebanon despite last week’s ceasefire. France has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire at least 52 times. Source, source.
Pakistan’s community health workers form first national union - Polio workers, community health workers, and midwives in Pakistan have formed the first national trade union, the Pakistan Community Health Workers Federation (PCHWF), uniting five trade unions representing some 20,000 workers. Source.
Useful reads:
Prabowo to Trump: ‘All my training is American, Sir!’
Mozambique’s deadly protests: how the country got here
What Is Happening in Syria?
How Can U.S. and Mexican Workers Build Cross-Border Solidarity?
Venezuela: Amid fears of new sanctions, Maduro proposes more privatisations
Nigerian president Bola Tinubu enforced violent crackdown on hunger protests to satisfy IMF demands
Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier: Gang Leader or Revolutionary? “Subversive History” Discussion with Kim Ives (Haiti: video)
Overturning beliefs about the Global South
While the news is an important way to stay connected with the world we are part of and to understand what is going on, we also need to shift these narratives that normalise poverty, inequality, forced migration, and more. There’s nothing natural or acceptable about millions of people not having enough to eat, while there is overproduction of food, or people fleeing for their lives and being punished for that.
My novel The Eyes of the Earth just launched. It is about a seventy-three-year-old refugee who performs unnoticed magic and acts of quiet heroism. La Tortuga arrives in the surreal wreckage of Mexico City longing for just one thing; her own bed. But the concrete-skinned city is steeped in the pain of colonisation, exploitation and corruption. She must join its broken and weary inhabitants who persevere, as their culture's vivid colours and memories infuse them all with an urge to survive.
As La Tortuga pursues her mission, an oppressive System of Monsters that criminalises migrants, limits housing access, and destroys forests, tries to stop her. Hostels vanish when she approaches them, and migrant shelters have shut down. Nevertheless, she must find and confront the System of Monsters before exhaustion extinguishes her magical abilities.