Excluded Headlines: Jamaica wants to be a republic, Bolivia wants to replace the US dollar with the yuan, Haiti and intervention ...
Stay up to date on the global news stories the US- and Eurocentric media overlooks, with journalist and author, Tamara Pearson.
Welcome to another week of news from the Global South:
Guatemalan Q’eqchi’ people demand the Spanish government be responsible for the impact of its companies - Q’eqchi’ people marched through the capital to the Spanish embassy to demand representatives there take action against Spanish hydroelectric plants that are leaving them without water. Source.
Haitians face an impossible situation and US intervention - Haiti hasn’t had a national election since 2016, its parliament has no legislators, and it is facing food shortages and gang violence (where many of those gangs are backed by right wing power players). The current PM was placed in power by the US and other foreign nations. The UN is still occupying the country, and the US seems keen to enter into “security assistance” arrangements with the US-friendly PM. Source.
UK rules in favour of Shell - The UK Supreme Court has issued a ruling in a Nigerian case against the British oil giant for a 2011 oil spill in the country. Some 27,800 individuals and 457 communities from Nigeria have been trying to hold Shell accountable for the damage it has done to their land and waterways, but the court said they were too late. There is another case being tried at the moment against Shell by 42,500 Nigerian farmers and fishers. Source.
Monarchy reparation demands and Jamaica plans to become a republic - Jamaican officials plan to change their country's constitution by introducing a bill to sever ties with the British monarchy. After that they would hold a referendum. Caribbean nations have also long called for reparations for the negative impacts of British imperialism on the region, and saw the recent coronation as another chance for a response. Three prime ministers from the Caribbean deliberately didn’t attend the ceremony, and also want an apology for Britain’s role in the slave trade. Source, source, source.
Bolivia considers using the yuan for foreign trade - While most financial news at the moment is almost exclusively focused on US debt and bank collapses, Bolivia’s president has instructed the country’s Central Bank to look into using the yuan rather than the US dollar to pay for imports. Source.
Palestinians killed by Israeli fire - 13 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. For 16 years now, an Israeli government blockade against the region has caused serious poverty and undermined the development of health institutions. Source, source.
The IMF’s role in Sudan - Sudan has now been experiencing four weeks of civil war, with at least 700 people killed. But the media has focused on the conflict between the two military or armed forces, and provided little context. Of course, that context is complex, but it is worth examining the IMF’s role in liberalising the country’s agricultural sector and reducing public control through government over the economy. The IMF has been telling Sudan what to do for decades, and it was there in 2018, when then President Omar al-Bashir ended subsidies on fuel and wheat, there were protests, and the military orchestrated a coup against Bashir. Source.