Excluded Headlines: Yemen protests, distorted Peru massacre, Colombia, Indonesia..
Stay up to date on the global news stories the US- and Eurocentric media overlooks, with journalist and author, Tamara Pearson.
In this week’s excluded, overlooked, and distorted Global South stories…
Yemen: Massive protests against the US-backed war and blockade not covered at all - On the weekend, hundreds of thousands of people marched around Yemen against the war being waged on their country and against the economic blockade, which has lead to famine. The World Organisation Against Torture said the blockade can be considered torture. Marchers accused the US-Saudi coalition of weaponizing food, and said the blockade was a war crime. There were protests in at least twelve different cities.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen used weapons supplied by the UK and the US in hundreds of attacks on civilians between January 2021 and February 2022, according to Oxfam. The war in Yemen began after the Arab spring, when people forced the current, conservative and nationalist government into exile in 2014. A Saudi-led coalition backed by the US, entered the war on the side of Yemen's exiled government in March 2015. Source, source, source, source, source.
Colombia: Assassination attempt against vice-president - Francia Márquez, the first woman of African descent to hold such a position, and also the minister of equality, said on Tuesday that her security detail had found an explosive device, including seven kilos of explosive material, on the road to her home. She said it was an attempt to kill her. In May last year during a rally in Bogotá, her body guards used bullet-proof shields to protect her against an attack, and around that time she also received death threats from the far-right paramilitary group, Águilas Negras or Black Eagles. Source, source
Media distorts Peru massacre – Much of the English-language mainstream media coverage of the killings of anti-coup protestors in Peru has put the blame on those protestors or tried to make the source of violence ambiguous. The New York Times headlined Death Toll in Peru Rises to 47 Amid Extraordinary Violence, as well as 18 Die as Political Clashes Shake Peru. CNN wrote, Protester killed in Peru as anti-government violence spreads to tourist city, and the BBC, Peru protests: Many dead in new clashes. In fact, 17 people were killed in Juliaca, in Puno, on the weekend by security forces as they demanded that the new president, Dina Boluarte, who was not chosen in elections, resign. A total of 47 people have been killed by security forces over the past month, since the coup, that was supported by the US. Huge numbers of people turned out in Juliaca yesterday to protest the murders. Source, source, source, source. To share the TikTok video of this story, go here.
Uganda: End of Ebola outbreak declared – After the first case of Ebola was confirmed in the country in September last year, the government has now been able to declare an end to the outbreak after it used measures like contact tracing, prevention, and control. Source.
Indonesia: Nearly 1 million jobs lost – Almost 1 million people were fired in the first 11 months of 2022. However, the real figure is likely much higher, as this official figure was calculated based on unemployment claims. The pandemic and the state of the global economy would be part of the cause of this. People in rural areas in Indonesia continue to face much harsher poverty. Source, source
Syria: Bread shortage due to fuel crisis – People are having to queue for hours to buy bread in Syria as fuel shortages, souring prices, civil war, and currency collapse are wreaking havoc across the food supply chain. Source, source.
Haiti: Over 50 people killed in government repression of protests – For the past two months, hundreds of thousands have protested in Haiti against US and Canadian intervention in the region. The two countries are using so-called gang violence as a pretence to send armoured vehicles to the country’s government, and recently stated they are preparing “scenarios” in response to deterioration in the country. Police have used tear gas and live ammunition at protests. Source, source