21 | December | 2016 | HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

21/12/2016

19 December 2016 (openDemocracy)* – We historians at the University of Warwick are very concerned about the racism that is becoming increasingly commonplace over Britain, especially in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.

800px-warwick_university_buildings_panoramic_-_manufacturing_and_cs_and_maths

**Three buildings on the University of Warwick campus;| Author: Mike1024 | public domain | Wikimedia Commons

We are witnessing a profound authoritarian shift in long-established liberal democracies around the world. The recent result of the US election is only the most dramatic illustration of this. But while we have reason to worry about Trump, grave developments are also afoot in Britain.

Since 23 June, this country has experienced one of the greatest upsurges in racism that has happened in our lifetimes. This has affected EU migrants: Poles have been attacked as “vermin”, a Czech and a Polish man were even murdered, while mothers with infants are being assaulted on the street.

This October a Polish shop in Coventry, just over five miles away from Warwick’s Campus, was the victim of an arson attack that many suspect to be racially motivated.

Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | Leave a Comment »

21/12/2016

The Modern Destruction of Ancient Aleppo

Human Wrongs Watch

By Vithal Rajan*

19 December 2016 – TRANSCEND Media Service – If the English poet, John William Burgon, called Petra ‘half as old as time,’ Aleppo is a lot older. One of the world’s earliest cities, it ended the bronze age by discovering iron ore. A centre of Christianity almost two-thousand years ago, Aleppo sent evangelists as far afield as the western shores of India.

800px-aleppo_citadel_18_-_throne_hall

**Throne Hall of the Citadel of Aleppo, Syria | Author: Bernard Gagnon | This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

Commerce was the life-blood of the city, and almost till the Suez Canal was built, it was the entrepôt that supplied the riches of the Orient to Europe.

Posted in Climate Crisis | Leave a Comment »

21/12/2016

Beyond Standing Rock: Extraction Harms Indigenous Water Sources

Human Wrongs Watch

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage*

NEW YORK, Dec 20 2016 (IPS) – Since the decision by the U.S. army to suspend the Dakota Access pipeline on 4 December, many are still unsure of the controversial pipeline’s future or its implications for other mega infrastructure projects affecting indigenous communities across North America.

At the perimetre of Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State. Credit: Jason E. Kaplan/IPS

At the perimetre of Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State. Credit: Jason E. Kaplan/IPS

After months of demonstrations by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and thousands of allies from across the world, the Army announced that it will not allow the 1,172-mile long pipeline to cross Lake Oahe in North Dakota.

Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples | 1 Comment »

21/12/2016

The Plight of Environmental Migrants

Human Wrongs Watch

Nairobi, December 2016 – UNEP* – Who is an “environmental migrant”? Is it a citizen of an island nation escaping rising seas at his doorstep; a drought-stricken farmer who cannot grow crops or raise livestock; or someone living in a highly polluted metropolis forced to move to another country to cure persistent asthma attacks?

Photo: UNEP

These are not anecdotal examples, rather realities that many environmental migrants face. The International Organization for Migration predicts that by 2050 there could be as many be 200 million environmentally displaced people.

Stories of migration caused by environmental degradation pepper human history. The Dust Bowl exodus from the American praries in the 1930s, for example, was a combination of severe drought and poor land use led to massive soil erosion and the United States’ biggest internal migration.

Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples | Leave a Comment »

21/12/2016

With Continued Drought, Horn of Africa Braces for Another Hunger Season

Human Wrongs Watch

Countries in the Horn of Africa are likely to see a rise in hunger and further decline of local livelihoods in the coming months, as farming families struggle with the knock-on effects of multiple droughts that hit the region this year, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO on 20 December 2016 warned.

Photo: ©FAO/ Tamiru Legesse

Farmers in the Horn of Africa need urgent support to recover from consecutive lost harvests and to keep their breeding livestock healthy and productive at a time that pastures are the driest in years. | FAO

Growing numbers of refugees in East Africa, meanwhile, are expected to place even more burden on already strained food and nutrition security.

Posted in Africa, Climate Crisis, Market Lords, Mother Earth | Leave a Comment »

21/12/2016

Who Profits from Turkey’s ‘Sarajevo Moment’?

Human Wrongs Watch

By Pepe Escobar*

20 December 2016 (RT)* – Let’s cut to the chase: Ankara 2016 is not Sarajevo 1914. This is not a prelude to WWIII. Whoever plotted the assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov – a cool, calm, collected old-school diplomat – risks a mighty blowback.

The Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, has been shot dead by a gunman who opened fire at the opening ceremony of a photo exhibition in Ankara. | RT

The Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, has been shot dead by a gunman who opened fire at the opening ceremony of a photo exhibition in Ankara.

The assassin, Mevlut Mert Altintas, was a 22-year-old police academy graduate.

Posted in Asia, Market Lords, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | Leave a Comment »

21/12/2016

Bring It On, 2017: New Year’s Resolutions for People and the Planet

Human Wrongs Watch

By Dawn Bickett*

20 December, 2016 (Greenpeace)* – For many of us who care about the environment and about people, 2016 has been a punch to the gut. Politicians and corporations at odds with issues like human rights and a healthy planet have managed to grab power in countries all over the world this year. Meanwhile, activists are being murdered, forests are burning, reefs are bleaching, ice is melting.

Credit: Paul Hilton/Greenpeace

The challenges we will face in 2017 are urgent and massive. But the good news is that when we act together, we are stronger than any government, corporation or head of state. Next year, we can’t afford to be bystanders, so let’s get moving!

Here are a few resolutions you can make to help take back 2017 for people and for planet Earth.

Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | Leave a Comment »

21/12/2016

Syrian Centenarian Dreams of European Reunion with Family

Human Wrongs Watch

‘Great-grandmother Eida Karmi doubted she would see her family again after they fled their homeland. Now in Greece, she is determined to join them.’

Eida, who is over 100, was the last remaining member of her family in Syria, but even she fled as the conflict © UNHCR/Yorgos Kyvernitis.

By Tania Karas in Athens, Greece*

19 December 2016 (UNHCR)* – Aged over 100, Syrian great-grandmother Eida Karmi planned to live out her days in her home village in north-eastern Syria. She doubted she would ever see her family again after they fled the war and settled in Germany.

Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | Leave a Comment »

21/12/2016

You Must Be the Change You Wish to See in the World – Mahatma Gandhi

Human Wrongs Watch

By Farhana Haque Rahman*

DHAKA, Dec 20 2016 (IPS) – 2016 has been a dramatic year for the world, and for the media. Political dysfunction appears to be on the rise, putting social media under increasing critical scrutiny even as prestigious global commercial news brands capable of acting as the fourth estate are downsizing.

Farhana Haque Rahman

Fiscal austerity in advanced economies is catalysing populist protests and a nascent form of nationalism that risks turning the international arena into a less generous space.

And yet times are even harder in conflict-riven lands such as South Sudan, drought-suffering regions in Madagascar and, for too long now, cities such as Aleppo. While robust and credible news coverage is under threat, never has it been more needed.

I would like, however, to announce some good news. A year ago, Inter Press Service was in troubled waters. Today, thanks to many stakeholders, and the fine work of the IPS team, that is less the case. I can confidently assert that we are alive and kicking.

Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | Leave a Comment »

21/12/2016

Tackle Root Causes of Human Trafficking Now – UN Chief to Security Council

Human Wrongs Watch

Highlighting the plight of victims of human trafficking, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 20 December 2016 underlined the need to ensure justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators, as well as to address underlying factors by focusing on human rights and stability.

A young girl stands outside a tent at the Vinojug reception centre for refugees and migrants in Gevgelija, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Photo: UNICEF/Ashley Gilbertson VII

“If conflict gives oxygen to traffickers, human rights and stability suffocate them,” Mr. Ban told the Security Council today at its ministerial-level meeting on the theme trafficking in persons in conflict situations.

Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | Leave a Comment »

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