Excluded Headlines: Venezuela, Gaza, India protests, Nigeria ...
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:
US-backed opposition causes violence after Maduro electoral win in Venezuela - Current president Nicolas Maduro won Venezuela’s presidential elections Sunday. However, the US-backed, right-wing opposition has claimed fraud, without offering evidence, while the National Electoral Council (CNE) claims it was hacked, but also hasn’t offered detailed evidence of that, nor provided the booth-by-booth results yet - though Maduro has promised to do so (note, in the US’s 2020 elections, it took a month to certify results state by state).
Private polling companies had predicted a sweeping opposition win (these companies are renowned for being unreliable) and opposition supporters protested the results with violence (video: burning a hospital) and racism (video, dragging around a statue of an Indigenous leader that they knocked down). The coup-government in Peru has recognized the opposition candidate as the winner, while the US, which prior to the elections stressed the importance of recognising the outcome, is now refusing to do so. Mainstream media has completely overlooked the impact of the US’s sanctions against the country. Source, source, source, source.
Indians protests in floods - After three students died in the basement of a coaching institute which flooded following heavy rains, students have protested knee-deep in that area of Delhi. They want better safety standards in coaching centres. Source.
200 days of Indian farmer protests - Indian farmers around the country want minimum support prices for crops. Many of them have been protesting since February. In February, the government erected concrete barricades and barbed wire to stop farmers marching to Delhi. Source, source.
Gaza: journalists protest, school bombed, leader killed - Palestinian leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a rocket targeting the guesthouse he was staying in Tehran. Haniyeh was born in a refugee camp, became Palestinian prime minister in 2006, was a leader in Gaza until 2017, when he moved abroad to promote the movement as a Hamas political bureau leader. The murder of Haniyeh came hours after an Israeli strike on Beirut that allegedly aimed to kill Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.
Then, two Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza who were recording coverage outside Haniyeh’s house, were killed as a strike targeted their car. A total of 165 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October. Earlier this week, journalists protested Israel’s deliberate targeting of the press (video). A few days before, a strike on a girls’ school killed at least 30 people. Some 4,000 displaced Palestinians were sheltering there. Source, source, source, source, source, source.
Nigerians support #EndBadGovernance protest - Today, Nigerians protested against the rising cost of living and the policies that have led to it, and kicked off 10 days of protests. Organisers also want the reversal of the fuel price hike, the restoration of affordable electricity tariffs, and the reduction of import duties to their previous rates. Source, source.
Nepal Supreme Court rules trans women are women - The Supreme Court of Nepal ruled that Rukshana Kapali, a transgender woman, should be legally recognized on all documents as a woman without needing medical verification. The ruling only applies to Kapali, but does set a precedent. Source.
Did you know: The Olympics have never been held on the African continent?
Useful reads:
Sri Lanka: Elections, debt and the struggle for democracy
Nigeria under cost of living pressure: 8 essential reads on rising tensions
Health workers in Gaza witness “different stages of death and dying” day after day
Tanzania: Indigenous Maasai Being Forcibly Relocated
The Wisdom of Anger, the Battle For Our Lives
What it’s like for Palestinian women living through the Gaza genocide
India - Karnataka's 14-Hour Workday Proposal: The Burden on Women and Impact on Domestic Chores
Guyanese Revolutionary Gerald Perreira Offers his Analysis of Haiti and the World
Migrants Die at Sea Because Governments Let Them Drown