Excluded Headlines: Glencore ordered to pay, Bangladesh victory, Thailand, Nigeria and Kenya ...
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:
Glencore ordered to pay over $150M following Congo mining bribery case - Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company, Glencore, was found criminally liable by a Swiss federal prosecutor for failing to prevent bribery in Congo's mining industry. The case stems from Glencore’s 2011 purchase of minority stakes in two Congolese companies, where inadequate measures were taken to prevent bribery of a public official by a business partner. Glencore and its subsidiaries are active in many Global South countries, including the DRC, Nigeria, Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Venezuela. Source, source.
Massive Bangladeshi protests celebrate victories - Bangladeshi protesters stormed the PM’s residence after she fled the country on Monday, and on Tuesday the country’s president dissolved parliament. Students demanded that Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus serve as interim prime minister as elections are prepared for, and that demand has been met. The students were also clear they don’t want the military involved in the interim government. Security forces have killed over 400 protesters. Video, video, source, source, source, source.
Thai Constitutional Court dissolves election-winning Move Forward Party - The court dissolved the party after a request by Election Commission of Thailand, which cited the party’s campaign to reform the lèse-majesté law, which punishes defamation of the monarchy. Source, source, source.
Guatemalan government says it will support coffee growers - According to the Guatemalan government, one in every 20 m2 of land in the country is used for growing coffee. They announced that they will spend 20 billion quetzals on the industry, and on individual financial support to coffee-growing families. Source, source.
Nigeria protests - Nigerians have continued their protests against the harsh economic situation the poor majority are facing and #EndBadGovernance. Some 50 protesters were arrested on Saturday and a total of 700 have been arrested, with police also reportedly using teargas and firing at protestors. Source, source.
Kenya protests - Kenyans are also still protesting. Having won their initial demands, they want President Ruto to resign. Today, the president signed in a second, new cabinet. Police have recently arrested 170 protesters. Source, source.
Travel warning issued against the UK - Malaysia is warning its citizens residing in the UK or hoping to travel there to maintain caution, given the right-wing racist actions taking place there. Source.
Israel torturing Palestinians in camps - The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has published a report documenting how the Israeli prison system has become “a network of torture camps,” where physical, psychological and sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners is routine. People in Gaza are experiencing unprecedented levels of trauma, with the UNRWA communications director saying that what has transpired in Gaza over the past eight months has created “the most destructive mental injury to the human brain, experienced by 2.4 million people.” Source, source.
Useful reads:
The massive appropriation of labor from the Global South allows for high consumption in rich countries
The war in Sudan from a left perspective
.‘From the river to the screen!’: Alana Hadid says important to decolonise Hollywood (short video).
Will the Real Wickremesinghe, Premadasa and Dissanayake Please Stand Up? (How social media creates fictional constructs of candidates in Sri Lanka)
Ecuador: ‘We demand that the violation of the rights of nature be recognised and reversed’
Young people brought down Bangladesh’s repressive leader. Will they now be empowered to lead real change?
How the West learnt to love India’s fascist leader
Arundhati Roy: India Must Stop Arming Israel or 'Forever Be Linked to Genocide'
Erosion of Cairo's green space leaves residents exposed to searing heat