Excluded Headlines: Meta allows anti-Muslim ads, unreported mass shooting, Haiti clean up ...
Stay up to date on the global news stories the US- and Eurocentric media overlook, with author and journalist, Tamara Pearson.
In this week’s Global South news:
Sudan army bombs refinery - On Tuesday, the Sudanese Air Force reportedly bombed the El Jeili refinery, northeast of Khartoum, which had been under control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since the start of the war in April last year. Source.
300,000 health workers strike in Argentina - Workers are striking in various shifts this week due to a lack of wage increases. Source.
Egypt effectively privatises its health care - Egypt has passed a law where private companies can run public healthcare. The government says it wants to attract investment, but the policy does not require that public health institutions continue to treat Egyptians, especially the poor, for free. Source.
Meta permitted AI-generated anti-Muslim ads during India election - Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, approved AI-manipulated political advertisements inciting violence and spreading disinformation during India’s election. Source.
Another mass shooting ignored by the media because it wasn’t in the US - In Nigeria, armed criminal gangs burnt houses and attacked people in Plateau state, with authorities reporting that at least 40 people were killed. One of the villages attacked is a mining town. Meanwhile, also in Nigeria, inflation is hitting the poorest sectors hard, with rice and bean prices doubling in a month, and teachers saying they now can’t afford basic goods like those or sugar and cooking oil. Source, source.
Protests in New Caledonia - While it is unclear if New Caledonia is part of the Global South (the per capita income is high there but the Indigenous people earn about a quarter of European households and are seeking independence after the French invasion), the protests happening there are worth a mention. French lawmakers recently passed a constitutional amendment so that recent arrivals (within the last 10 years) to the territory could vote in elections there. This would dilute the Indigenous Kanak people’s vote, while giving France more power in the Pacific. Protestors have set up barricades, six people have been killed, hundreds arrested, curfews and a state of emergency enforced, and France has sent 1,000 more troops to the region. Source, source, source.
Haiti spends big on rubbish clean up - The new transitional government in Haiti has decided to spend a billion gourdes (USD7.5 million) on cleaning up the cities’ streets, abandoned and filled with rubbish after long periods without active governance. But the army and police force will be “protecting” the clean up, and locals say such clean up projects never result in long-lasting solutions. Source.
New Vietnamese president - To Lam has been chosen by the country’s parliament to be the new president. Source.
Iranian president dies - The Iranian president died in a helicopter crash this week, with mourners packing out his funeral today. Source.
Severe flooding in Afghanistan hunger hotspots will worsen - Floods that have already made tens of thousands homeless and killed hundreds, will get worse, the UN warns, and will affect crops and food supply. Source.
Useful reads:
War cuts the heart out of humankind
At Western Sahara: Visiting a Forgotten People
Fossil fuels dependency exacerbates Pakistan’s power crisis
Latin America shows why ecocide must be an international crime
Afghans fear life on both sides of Durand Line
Asia-Pacific’s alarming loss of biodiversity – a hidden threat to food security, habitat