Friday, March 31, 2023
News and Views from the Global South
The ‘Vampiric’ Draining and Poisoning of Lifeblood: Water
Shockingly, the human suicidal war on Nature not only continues unabated but is also set to become even more virulent. Just to start with, please be reminded that groundwater accounts for 99% of all liquid freshwater on Earth, according to the 2022 UN World Water Development Report.
The ‘Pernicious Evil’ of Racism, Discrimination, Hatred, Inequality
Three-quarters of a century ago, the world adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, emphasising that all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights. The 2023 theme of its 75th anniversary focuses on the urgency of combating racism and racial discrimination.
‘Outright Hatred’ Towards Muslims, Risen to ‘Epidemic Proportions’
Islamophobia is a ‘fear, prejudice and hatred of Muslims that leads to provocation, hostility and intolerance by means of threatening, harassment, abuse, incitement and intimidation of Muslims and non-Muslims, both in the online and offline world.’
Why Do 800 Mothers a Day – 1 Every 2 Minutes– Die from Preventable Causes?
The answer is that there are alarming setbacks for maternal health care and, in many cases, even a total lack of maternity services, which threaten to further raise the number of these tragic preventable deaths one million or more a year by 2030.
Most African Govts (3 in 4) Spend More on Arms, Less on Farms
The data is shocking: three-quarters of African Governments have already reduced their agricultural budgets while paying almost double that on arms.
Wildlife Is Much More than a Safari. And It Is at Highest Risk of Extinction
Wildlife is indeed far much more than a safari or an ‘exotic’ ornament: as many as four billion people –or an entire half the whole world's population– rely on wild species for income, food, medicines and wood fuel for cooking.
‘Ticking Time Bombs’ for the Most Defenceless: The Children (II)
While the world’s biggest powers and their giant private corporations continue to attach high priority to their military –and commercial– dominance, both of them being shockingly profitable, entire generations are being lost to deadly armed conflicts, devastating climate catastrophes, diseases, hunger and more imposed impoverishment.
‘Ticking Time Bombs’ for the Most Defenceless: The Children (I)
Today, there are more children in need of desperate humanitarian assistance than at any other time since World War II.
‘Hate Speech Loads the Gun, Misinformation Pulls the Trigger’ – And It Is Profitable
In this world of wars, massive weapons production, sales and use; of sharpening inequalities and deadly climate emergencies, hate speech and its inhumane impact, is being amplified at ‘unprecedented scale’ by new technologies.
Food Industry Exposes Five Billion People to Toxic Chemicals that Kill
The food industry continues to intensively use toxic chemicals in their products, some of them provoking heart diseases and death. Trans fat is just one of them, adding to contaminating fertilisers, pesticides, microplastics and a long etcetera.
How (Much) Are You Today?
Gone are those times when catastrophes were measured in terms of human suffering. Now, with an exception: Ukrainians victims of the Russian invasion, everything is calculated in just money.
US Installs New Nukes in Europe: As Destructive as 83 Hiroshima Bombs
As if the 100 billion dollars that the United States has so far provided to Ukraine in both weapons and aid were not enough, the US has now started to install in Europe its brand new, more destructive nuclear warheads.
Forget About All this Humanitarian Blah Blah (And Buy More Weapons)
Day after day, international humanitarian organisations launch desperate appeals for funding to continue saving some of the many lives at high risk. When they get a handful of dollars –even just one million– from a rich country, they welcome it as manna from heaven.
Migrants? ‘Don’t You Dare Come Here, Unless…’
When tens of thousands of Europeans had to flee the horrors of two born-in-Europe devastating armed conflicts that attracted other powers: the World Wars I and II, they migrated to the Americas and other Western countries in search of safe haven.
The Poor, Squeezed by 10 Trillion Dollars in External Debts
The external debt of the world’s low and middle-income countries at the end of 2021 totalled 9 trillion US dollars, more than double the amount a decade ago. Such debt is expected to increase by an additional 1.1 trillion US dollars in 2023.
Corruption: Europe Doing Nothing – Part II
"Western Europe and the European Union remains the highest scoring region in the world’s corruption index, progress has halted and worrying signs of backsliding have emerged.”
Corruption: The Most Perpetrated –and Least Prosecuted– Crime – Part I
In these times when all sorts of human rights violations have been ‘normalised,’ a crime which continues to be perpetrated everywhere but punished nowhere: corruption is also seen as a business as usual. A business, by the way, that relies on the wide complicity of official authorities.
This Planet Is Drying Up. And these Are the Consequences
Drought is one of the ‘most destructive’ natural disasters in terms of the loss of life, arising from impacts, such as wide-scale crop failure, wildfires and water stress.
Black ‘Fraud-Days’ and the Shocking Cost of Staying Fashionable
Please take a quick look at this short report before rushing to shop on a Black Friday, Christmas sales and all those long chains of big discounts and wholesales, most of them are fake, as often denounced by consumers organisations that report that the business usually inflates prices before launching such deals.
Crimes Against Children
An indisputable truth is that no child has ever chosen where to be born, which colour of skin to have, which ethnic community to belong to, what religion to practice and language to speak, or how safe or dangerous the context to grow up in. A child is the most innocent and defenceless human being.
Don’t Be Fooled: Climate Disasters Are Highly Lucrative
As much as wars --or even more--, climate disaster represents a great business opportunity, so don't bother those who pour their fortunes into fueling them with talks about stopping it.Next Page »
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