UN: ‘Machismo’ in Honduras driving epidemic of femicides

In: TeleSur, 2018

Provides recent data uncovered by the United Nations on femicide in Honduras. It also connects the occurrence of femicide, and the lack of effective measures to tackle it, to political and economic instability, which lead many people to flee the country.

To see the consequences of femicide in terms of the children made orphans in Honduras, have a look at this link https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Thousands-of-Children-Orphaned-in-Honduras-By-Femicides-Study-20180912-0010.html

Available online at:

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/UN-Machismo-in-Honduras-Driving-Epidemic-of-Femicides-20181128-0017.html

Nae Place for Nuclear Weapons

Scottish delegation to Nuclear Ban Treaty negotiations

In: Peace News, No 2608-2609, 2017, pp. 7-10

This is a detailed day by day account of the activities of the Scottish civil society team at the negotiations in New York from 15 June to 24 June and 29 June to 7 July based on the blog kept by the Scottish delegation. The group received regular briefings and lobbied delegates involved in the negotiations, but also attended external meetings and protests organized by peace activists.

Briefing: The Rising Seas: Higher Tide

In: The Economist, 2019, pp. 16-19

Notes that two thirds of then world's large cities in 140 countries are close to the sea, that a billion people live only 10 metres above sea level. and that scientific reports show that the rate of sea level rise is accelerating. Discusses different estimates of rising sea levels and the inadequacies of engineering measures to create adopted by many countries.   

Indigenous deaths in custody: Why Australians are seizing on US protests

In: BBC, 2020

Explores the rise of Black Lives Matter protests in Australia in solidarity with the international response to the death of George Floyd, and also to highlight the long running tragedy of Aboriginal deaths in custody.

See also: Allam, Lorena and Nick Evershed, ‘The killing times: the massacres of Aboriginal people Australia must confront’, The Guardian, 3 March 2019.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/04/the-killing-times-the-massacres-of-aboriginal-people-australia-must-confront

Special report on the killing, incarceration and forced removal from their land of Indigenous Australians over 140 years. The article offers an interactive map that shows the locations and date of massacres between 1794 and 1928.

See also: Dovey, Ceridwen, ‘The mapping of massacres’ The New Yorker, 7 December 2017.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/mapping-massacres

The article reports on how historians and artists turned to cartography to record the widespread killing of Indigenous people in Australia.

Available online at:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-52900929

The referendum that changed Ireland

In: Foreign Policy, 2019

To celebrate the first anniversary from the repeal of the Eight Amendment of the Irish Constitution that prevented women accessing abortion even in cases of rape and incest, Ailbhe Smyth, the co-director of the ‘Together for Yes’ campaign in Ireland, is interviewed on First Person and describes what it was like for women in Ireland to live under the ban, and how the predominantly Catholic country managed to overturn it. She also talks about the laws passed in 2019 in Alabama and other parts of the United States that ban most abortions.

See also https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/world-reaction-ireland-historic-vote-abortion-rights/

Available online at:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/24/ireland-ban-abortion-constitutional-amendment-together-for-yes-reversed/

Grassroots will drive North Africa women’s rights push

In: Oxford Analytica, 2020

The year 2019 has seen women’s rights movements come to the fore across the Maghreb, a region where previous initiatives have been driven by Western political pressure and from the top down by predominantly authoritarian leaders. This paper explores the unprecedented bottom-up activist movements that have begun advancing the agenda of women’s rights across the region.

Honduran President called ‘murderer’ at inauguration of UN anti-femicide initiative

In: TeleSur, 2019

Announces the launch of the ‘Spotlight Initiative’ in Honduras through a joint collaboration between the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) and the Honduras government to end femicide and impunity. By 2014, Honduras had the highest number of femicides in the world, according to the U.N. It is reported that 380 women were murdered in the country in 2018 and that 30 women were killed during the first 30 days of 2019. The impunity rate for this crime hovers at 95 per cent.

Available online at:

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Honduran-President-Called-Murderer-at-Inauguration-of-UN-Anti-Femicide-Initiative-20190214-0009.html

Special issue on climate change

In: The Economist, 2019

Issue focusing on climate change: Contains an analysis of rising carbon dioxide emissions, articles on the role of China and Russia, forest fires in Indonesia, flood prevention plans in low lying Asian cities, and the climate diplomacy of small island states.

The Race Issue. Black and White

In: National Geographic, 2018, pp. 79-149

Originally published: April 2018

In this special issue on race in the US, Michele Morris recounts how demographic changes across the US are challenging white Americans’ perception of their majority status. She also discusses attempts to re-create a narrative that could reflect more than white Christian ethnicity as the only identity framework of US history. Michael A. Fletcher reports the personal stories of people of colour who had suffered traumatic experiences of stop-and-search by police officers on the basis of their racial profile. Clint Smith examines two major and prestigious colleges that have experienced a recent surge in enrolment of black youth and the rise of new forms of Black activism. Finally, Maurice Bergers reports on the work by photographer Omar Victor Dopi on slave revolts, independence movements, social justice quests. The events represented range from 18th century’s Queen Nanny of the Maroons, known for her ability to lead Jamaican slaves to liberation from British colonialism, to 21st century’s 12 year-old Trayvon Martin, whose shooting by a white neighborhood watch volunteer inspired the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Young and old, city and country: Ireland unites to end abortion ban

In: Observer, 2018, pp. 1-3

Analyses the referendum and the 66.4 per cent vote to repeal the amendment to the Irish Constitution forbidding abortion. 

See also:

Emma Graham Harrison '"The future is safe" - a long fight pays off', Guardian Weekly, 10/06/18, p. 4-5, which looks back at 35 years of courageous campaigning, and Karl McDonald, 'Irish battle goes global: Abortion campaigners from around the world are intervening in referendum', the i, 19 May 2018, p.35.

Youth Climate Action Takeover

22-28 April 2019

In: The Big Issue, 2019, pp. 19-39

This special supplement in the paper focusing especially on the homeless (and sold by them) takes up the climate crisis and the role of youth activism. Features young people arguing for climate change to be on the school curriculum, and interviewing the UK Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, Caroline Lucas (the sole Green MP in the UK Parliament), and representatives of Marks and Spencer about their clothing and recycling policies. Includes interviews with young naturalists and activists in different parts of the country.

Mexico: Submission to the Committee On the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Amnesty International2018, pp. 13

This report sets out Amnesty International’s concerns about the Mexican state’s failure to comply with observations of the Committee (in the combined seventh and eighth periodic reports) on violence against women. Amnesty notes in particular the murder of women for gender-based motives, also known as “femicides”, the gender alert mechanism, disappearances of women, and the torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of women during detention, which is exacerbated in the context of a militarization of public security.

Protesters criticize AMLO’s plan for domestic violence’s shelters’

In: TeleSur, 2019

Human rights activists have opposed President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s plan to cut funding for women’s shelters in Mexico. The scheme is still not properly defined, but the money will instead be given directly to the victims of domestic violence. While the government’s decision does not intend to withdraw support for victims, human rights activists point out the risk of nullifying years of activism and initiatives led by civil society. In fact, they stress that giving money directly to victims can further expose them to violence.

Available online at:

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Protesters-Criticize-AMLOs-Plan-for-Domestic-Violence-Shelters-20190305-0007.html?fbclid=IwAR3-6VQ-3LlNLCE93hcx25nKmhk3mgXZANWfE027Z3bxHJBXJYu_WY8fRns

The Big Story: Oceans. 'Who Owns the Sea?'

Sept-Oct 2019

In: New Internationalist, 2019, pp. 16-26

Covers issues of both climate change and biodiversity: loss of fish stocks, plastic pollution and role of oceans as climate regulators, and dangers of planned seabed mining. These issues are framed by a legal and political analysis of the Law of the Sea, the role of the International Seabed Authority and the negotiations between 190 countries in the Intergovernmental Conference on the Protection of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, intended to lead to a new Global Ocean Treaty.   

There are a number of timelines on the evolving scientific research and the political context of climate change:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15874560 (1712-2013)

Sources for the evolving scientific understanding of climate change include:

IPCC Reports (comprehensive assessment reports, special reports on specific issues and methodology reports); there are also summaries for policy makers. The IPCC releases very much shorter summaries to the press.

NASA provides climate change and global warming information on its website: climate.nasa.org

The Scientific American carries material on the science and politics relating to climate change. www.scientificamerican.com

The New Scientist provides accessible news reports and analyses on scientific issues, including climate change. https://newscientist.com

Sudan: The Generals Strike Back

In: The Economist, 2021, pp. 59-60

Provides a well informed summary of the context and nature of the October military coup.

See also: 'Sudan: Coup de Grace', The Economist, 27 November 2021, p. 55.

This analysis of the coup leaders' decision to reinstate Prime Minister Hamdok interprets this move as' the army tightening its grip on Sudan's political transition. 

¡Viva Nos Queremos! (Art)

Author(s): ' Mujeres Grabando Resistencia

In: NACLA Reports on the Americas, Vol 50, No 4, 2018, pp. 418-422

The initative of 14 women of capturing the feminist struggles through artistic production within the #VivaNosQueremos campaign. Many cities throughout the world joined the campaign and printmaking appeared in cities like Ciudad Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico State, Puebla, New York, Chicago, Montreal and Barcelona as well as other countries like Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Italy.

Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority and Mystery

Author(s): ' Starhawk'

Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1988, pp. 384

Often cited exploration of issues from an eco-feminist perspective by activist drawing on experiences in 1980s peace movement affinity groups. Explores power along three axes – power-over, power-within and power-with, and provides materials on individual and group empowerment.

Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising

Author(s): ' Starhawk'

New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island BC, 2003, pp. 288

Part 1: the author, an activist and ecofeminist, chronicles the global justice movement from Seattle to Genoa. Part 2 explores the future of the movement and debates between advocates of violent and nonviolent tactics.

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