A World on Fire
Protests Around the World
In these times of change and protest, it is important to recognize that the United States is not the only country that has people fighting for their own opinions. Some topics that have caused arguments around the world are police brutality, racial equality, LGBTQ+ rights, immigration, and corruption in the government.
People in Nigeria are currently protesting against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, also known as SARS. The federal police unit has existed for the last 30 years and has a reputation for abusing its power. Just within the last three years, there have been 82 reported cases of SARS abuses. The hashtag #EndSARS was first created in 2017 but a recent video post on October 4 showed SARS abusing their power. This caught the attention of people internationally and the hashtag went viral. On October 11 the government dissolved SARS in response to the protests but will be redeploying the officers in other jobs which further angered many protesters. A new hashtag was added to the movement when security forces cut electricity and fired upon a group of people singing the national anthem in protest on October 20 in Lekki. It seems that their protests will continue because the government promised police reform four times in the last four years it has not yet taken any action to do so.
Racial Equality
After the death of George Floyd, due to police brutality and the color of his skin, many people in the United States were enraged and the Black Lives Matter movement became more widely known. Since then, the number of countries fighting for racial equality has increased. Protesters in France fight in the name of Adama Traore, a Malian-French man who died in police custody due to asphyxiation caused by his violent arrest in 2016. Protesters in Australia fight because aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, the indigenous people of Australia, make up 28% of the prison population while the indigenous population only makes up 3.3% of Australia's population. Protesters in London use police statistics to point out that black people are almost 10 times as likely to be stopped and searched by police compared to their white counterparts.
Protests in favor of LGBTQ+ rights emerged in Poland after Andrezej Duda won a second term as president on July 12. He swore to, “defend children from LGBT ideology,” and claimed that it was more dangerous than communism which angered many people when he was re-elected. In recent weeks many proters have been arrested for breaking a law that criminalizes offending, "the religious feelings of others by publicly insulting a religious object or place of worship.” This law violates their right to freedom of expression according to Human Rights Watch. In addition to arresting protesters, authorities in one-third of Polish cites protect "LGBT Ideology Free Zones.”
More arguments have broken among Catholics Churches on LGBTQ+ rights after the pope announced that same-sex couples should be "legally covered" according to the civil union laws. Over the past two decades, the acceptance of same-sex couples in most religions has increased, especially among the younger generation, but it is still a controversial topic in most religions.
Immigration
Protesters in Australia made a statement by vandalizing the car of the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and locking him inside the University of Queensland while protesting the country's immigration policies. Australia has been holding refuges indefinitely for the last eight years in detention centers which the UN has called, "harsh" and "inadequate."
In 2018 the American Civil Liberties Union said that migrant children had to be returned to their parents within 30 days. However, those separated by the pilot programme in 2017 were not ordered to be returned until the last years. Of the 1,030 children from the 2017 pilot programme, 545 children are not returned because as of October 20, their parents were "unreachable" according to the ACLU and the US Justice Department.
Curruption in the Government
Kyrgystan
Protesters broke into the parliament building and released Kyrgyzstan's former president, Almazbek Atambaye, who was going on trial for corruption in response to the supposedly rigged Krygystan election. Out of the 16 parties that ran for president only 4 made it passed the 7% threshold to enter parliament, one being the party Sooronbai Jeenbekov represented. The other three parties have close ties to Jeenbekov, who is now the president, and there are allegations of the party buying votes to win the election.
Belarus
Protesters have been fighting to redo the election after President Alexander Lukashenk won a fraudulent election in August where the other candidates were arrested. The President recently spoke with the opposing political figures in jail which was seen as a sign of weakness among political rivals and protesters.
Thailand
Protesters have been calling Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to "Resign, Rewrite, Reform.” On October 14, tens of thousands of citizens held up the three-finger salute, a symbol of protest, as the queen's brigade passed through. Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932 but its political system is still unstable and there have been many military coups. Mr. Prayuth gained power through one of these coups. Comments criticizing the royal family can lead to 15 years in prison and online content is also monitored. This limit of free speech is one of the driving forces of the protests in Bangkok. The protests started in February when the student population rose against their military-style school rules.
The unrest seeps into all cultures
as inevitable as the setting sun
Issues that were hiding in the darkness
are unable to be ignored once revealed
So the closed-minded fight each other
each group thinking that their truth is right
Some choose to fight others with fire
and opposing fires are the main response
They fight in the light of their fire
believing that it is the light of the sun
while those without a lighter in hand
watch the world burn to ashes in stubborn flames
Those who voice their opinions wonder
How much longer until there is a sunrise
I completely agree with the sentiment. The US news has, in light of recent events, been somewhat neglectful in its reporting. It was really interesting to see a list of important news stories that aren't being talked about right now to show the state of the rest of the world outside of our bubble.
ReplyDeleteLots of info on items that we should all be aware of. Is that your poem at the end? It's fantastic!
ReplyDeleteYes it is, thank you! I'm glad you liked it.
DeleteI totally agree that with all the craziness going on in the US, it is easy to forget to keep up on world news. The poem was so well written!
ReplyDeleteThis was really well written and thorough. I really liked your poem at the end too!
ReplyDelete