Latest Global South news: National Peru protests, 11-day Guatemala strike, Afghanistan..
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 overlooked, distorted, and ignored news about the Global South:
Protests today in Peru against coup government - Protests were held around Peru today, including in Lima, Puno, Cajamarca and Arequipa. People blocked main roads and marched, demanding the unelected president, Boluarte, resign. Source, source.
11-day strike in Guatemala continues - People are striking around the country and have blocked 119 main roads, as part of an emerging movement to defend August’s electoral results, when a left-leaning president was chosen for the first time in many decades. The Attorney General has tried to argue there was electoral fraud and to ban the winning party. Protestors want the AG to resign. Source, source.
At least 2,400 die in Afghan earthquake, English mainstream media barely notices - The 6.3 earthquake hit on Saturday, but because many people near the epicentre live in mud-brick houses, thousands more have been left homeless, have lost livestock and access to infrastructure. Rescue efforts involve using bare hands and shovels to search through the rubble for survivors. Source, source.
A month since the horrific Derna flood, Libya is already being forgotten - On September 10, floods saw two dams break and thousands were killed, and at least 40,000 people instantly displaced. A month later, and people in the area are still looking for a possible 10,000 missing people, struggling to meet their basic needs such as food and utilities, and infrastructure has yet to be repaired. Source.
Basic food in Zambia costs twice the average wage - Prices have soured so high in Zambia that basic food is unaffordable. Prices of the staple, maize meal, have risen to the point that people are forced to reduce the number of daily meals. Malnutrition in Zambia was already at 48% last year. Source.
A note: This newsletter focuses on Global South news that has been ignored and downplayed. The horrific situation in Palestine has not been ignored, but the mainstream coverage- particularly the Western media - of the bombings and severe human rights violations by the Israel government as it deprives a whole people of electricity and food, has been extremely problematic, and I didn’t want that to go unacknowledged. In this week’s Useful Reads, below, see a range of analyses written by people who are closer to the situation.
Useful reads:
Palestinian Journalist: Latest Violence Shatters Notion That Israeli Apartheid Is Sustainable
Gaza to turn into 'mass grave' if aid further delayed: Official
The Root of Violence Is Oppression - Jewish Voice for Peace
Gaza’s unyielding reality: Sparrows, sirens, and survival
Cancel Global South debt and deliver $7.9 trillion in climate reparations NOW
Israel-Palestine war: The blood of Gaza is on the West’s hands as much as Israel’s
Lula: Veto everything! Environmental and Indigenous policy in Brazil
The effects of climate change on Trinidad's forests, rivers and seas
How profit is preventing peace in Yemen
Has African Climate Fiction Already Shown Us the Future?