Excluded Headlines: US multinational liable for Abu Ghraib torture, Milei pulls out of COP29, new Haitian PM ...
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:
New Haitian PM and aid temporarily suspended - Haiti’s transitional council, supposedly tasked with re-establishing democratic order in Haiti, has signed a decree sacking interim Prime Minister Garry Conille and has replaced him with a businessperson. Haiti has also shut down its main airport after supposed “gangs” shot at planes and the UN temporarily suspended its aid to the country as a result. Source, source, source.
US cancels US$1.1 billion of Somalia’s debt - This latest debt cancellation amounts to around a quarter of the country’s debt and follows Paris creditors cancelling some US$2 billion in March and more debt cancellation in December last year. However, the measures seem to come with conditions, with Somali spokespeople talking about now being able to open the country up to investors and the US ambassador mentioning that Somalia had agreed to “reforms” and new laws. Source, source, source.
Milei pulls out of COP29 - Argentina’s right-wing president, Javier Milei and his delegation withdrew from the climate summit without any formal explanation, but Milei is a known climate change denier. Source.
US contractor held liable for torture and Abu Ghraib survivors awarded US$42 million - A US jury awarded the compensation to three Iraqi men who were formerly detained and abused at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The decision holds US multinational defence contractor, Caci International responsible for its role in the abuse perpetrated at the prison during the 2003-2004 US invasion of Iraq. Caci had argued that liability should rest solely with the US military. Source.
Opposition wipes out ruling party in Mauritius elections - Amid serious voter concern around censorship and surveillance, the opposition Alliance for Change won a landslide victory in the weekend elections, taking 60 of 62 seats in the legislature to completely wipe out the ruling party. The coalition is led by former Mauritian PM Navinchandra Ramgoolam, the son of Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who led Mauritius to independence from Britain, however his politics seem mixed. Source, source.
Less than a third of diabetes sufferers in India get treatment - While diabetes rates have increased in India, only 27.8% and 29.3% respectively women and men suffering from the disease have any treatment coverage. Further, over half of Indians aren’t able to afford a fully healthy, nutritional diet. Source.
My latest novel, the Eyes of the Earth is out tomorrow: Anti-empire, magical realism
So dear readers, activists, friends; living in the Global South or outside it, I am sure you feel my anger that the 83% of the global population here is so subordinated, its poverty and the violence against it largely accepted. There is also incredible resistance, initiative, and stories here, that rarely see the light of day because Europe and the US dominate "global" news and Hollywood reduces the Global South to dirty, dysfunctional danger zones.
I wrote this second novel because 1) I want a new, truer story and new heroes. Instead of James Bond or Captain America (always white, young, physically strong male from the US or UK etc), the hero of the Eyes of the Earth is an old woman refugee. Like the Global South in general, she is often invisible, but does incredible and magical things. Like many activists in the Global South, she is an earth carer. 2) creative writing is the thing that makes me deeply happy. And 3) novels can provide hope through clarity, beauty, and re-defining and re-imagining.
The Eyes of the Earth looks at the origins and consequences of global inequality, migration v tourism, sleep and exhaustion, and more. It’s out tomorrow!
Order now: Book blurb and purchase options here, or at Amazon US, Amazon AU kindle, Amazon UK kindle. Note, Amazon does weird things to print book pricing especially outside the US, but the e-book is more affordable.
Free online forum: Authors from around the globe discuss the role of storytelling and fiction in resisting empire and justice: Info here.
Useful reads:
COP29: Setting a climate finance target is only half the battle for Africa
Report from Gaza: Palestinians Feel They Are Being “Slowly Exterminated” in Israel’s Genocide
From Egypt to Libya, migrant deaths in the Mediterranean are either ignored or normalized
Farming in Crisis: Suicides and Climate Change Threaten India’s Agrarian Future
No justice, no peace in Mozambique
Prepping Readers to Accept Mass Slaughter in Lebanese ‘Strongholds’
The Failure of International Law (on Gaza)
With Gaza’s education system in ruins, parents take matters into their own hands