Excluded Headlines: Congo ceasefire, 1,000+ US airstrikes on Yemen, Iraq drought, May Day marches ...
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:
Congo ceasefire - After months of intense fighting, the Congolese government and the Rwandan-backed M23 have agreed to a ceasefire, brokered through Qatar-mediated talks. Two days after that, representatives of the DRC and Rwanda met in Washington, US, with secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Peace in the DRC is in the US’s interest, as it eyes mineral mining possibilities. Source, source.
1,000+ US airstrikes on Yemen - The US military struck a migrant detention centre in northern Yemen, killing at least 68 people, mostly migrants from African countries. Since mid-March the US has been bombing the country on a daily basis, killing, officially, over 250 people, though the real number is likely double that. Infrastructure has also been severely affected by the over 1000 strikes. Source, source.
United National Congress wins Trinidad and Tobago elections - Lead by Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the UNC won 26 out of 41 parliamentary seats. This will be Persad-Bissessar’s second (but not consecutive) term as PM. The UNC focused its campaign around tackling crime, protecting pensions, and activating a children’s hospital and it describes itself as “people-centred". Source.
3,000 UNRWA aid trucks waiting at Gaza border - With two months now of Israel’s blockade on Gaza stopping all food and medicine from entering, trucks are piled up at the border, while people are eating once a day if they can, and food prices are soaring. Staples like eggs, dairy, and fruit, can’t be found, and bags of flour are selling at US$300-500 each. In the West Bank, there are half a million unemployed Palestinians and hunger is also affecting that region. Source, source, source
Drought in Iraq endangers farmers' livelihoods and buffalo - Iraq’s buffalo population - used for milk - has more than halved in a decade as the country’s two main rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, suffer from severe droughts. Many farmers have been forced to leave the region. Climate change and upstream damming are key causes of the drought. Source.
May Day - People around the Global South and North marched for workers’ rights today, with pushback against billionaires being one of the common themes. Hundreds of thousands mobilised in Cuba and there were huge demos in the Philippines (and police repression there), Turkiye (also some repression), Indonesia, Mexico, Senegal and of course many other countries. Source, source, source, source, source.
Useful reads
Algeria: Decolonizing the Mind, Liberating Water, Inventing the Future
As aid ends, empire endures
Peru: Indigenous communities resist extractivism, gov’t attacks
What’s left of Nigeria’s feminist left?
The Plight of Gig Workers in India
The fight for abortion rights in Sri Lanka
Philippines: Oppose US imperialism’s growing web of war
Indispensable—Native Hawaiian Elder Says of Indigenous Ocean Management Systems
‘The body as a battlefield’: Sexual violence in Sudan is a ‘deliberate genocidal tactic’