Hey, this is Sham, your very own news curator.
In issue #328, I focus on natural catastrophes and the worst effects of climate change in Iraq, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique and Indonesia, Argentina's money crisis, coal and human rights abuses in Colombia, independence talks in one of the world's last colonies Tokelau, Gen Z in South Korea and a 'funny' note from Iran.
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whlw in Asia, Africa and Latin America
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Estimated reading time: 10 min
Curated from "bad" to "good" news
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1) At least 34 people were killed last week after a boat carrying migrants from Madagascar to the island of Mayotte sank, reports Arab News. The island Mayotte is French and therefore European territory, even though it lies in the Indian Ocean, thousands of kilometers far away. It's likely that the boat capsized because it was overloaded. It is reported that there were some 60 people on it. Local fishermen were able to rescue 24 people; 23 of them reportedly fled before the authorities arrived. One remained, and that was a young pregnant woman.
- Why this matters: This is one of those lesser-known migration routes to the territory of the European Union. It is no less dangerous, however. The "journey" takes many hours, the sea is unpredictable. There are no reliable statistics on how many people have lost their lives attempting such crossings; some older reports estimate that around 1,000 people die every year. If migrants do reach the island (without valid documents), they get detained. In 2021, more than 6,500 people were detained, according to French authorities.
- Did you know that Mayotte officially being French territory was/is against international law? A 2022 Le Monde article by Iris Derœux explains why.
- Fun fact: About 95 percent of Mayotte’s population are Sunni Muslims, according to Reuters.
2) At least 50 people have died from landslides in Serasan, Indonesia, CNN Indonesia (Indonesian) reports. It just wouldn't stop raining. Serasan is a remote island in the Natuna region between Borneo and Malaysia; some 8,000 people live there. There are several reasons for landslides; too much rain, climate change, road building, deforestation, etc. can all be factors.
- Why this matters: This landslide might have happened on a remote island, yes. However, on a yearly basis, landslides account for Indonesia’s highest disaster death toll. Nearly half of Indonesia's 250 million citizens live in landslide-risk zones.
- Did you know that Indonesia is very, very vulnerable to the effects of climate change? However, two recent surveys have shown that many people in the country do not understand climate change or its causes, reports The Jakarta Post.
- Fun fact: A report by Development Dialogue Asia (Indonesian) suggests that conservative-leaning messages like 'preserving the forest is our duty as people of faith' resonate better than liberal-leaning ones like 'protect the forest, save Indigenous communities' in the Indonesian public.
3) Argentina's annual inflation rate increased to 102.5%, the highest recorded rate since 1991, reports Reuters. It's so bad, it's all many people can talk about. "There's just nothing left, there's no money, people don't have anything, so how do they buy?" said retiree Irene Devita, 74. Prices change almost weekly. The government has been trying to control the situation, by capping prices and limiting grains exports to boost domestic supply. But who's controlling the government? Last summer, three economy ministers succeeded one another in the space of four weeks as the country's economic crisis deepened.
- Why this matters: The country that won the FIFA World Cup is not doing well. All eyes therefore are on the next government, which will take office in December (the elections are in October/November; the current administration isn't very popular, Americas Quarterly has a piece on all the potential candidates).
- Dig deeper: In October 2022, Naomi Larsson for The Guardian did a really 'beautiful' photo essay to show 'the absurdity of inflation in Argentina'. For example, Irina Werning photographed her husband who was papering walls with 10-peso bills – which is cheaper than buying wallpaper; check out the photo here.
4) 21 people were killed as some coal mines exploded in Sutatausa, Cundinamarca, Colombia, reports El País (Spanish). The cause? It's not clear yet; a worker’s tool probably caused a spark. The victims' families will receive "full support of the government with social and psychological services, as well as economic aid," according to Tempo. The mines belonged to the Minminer company, which have been operating for 30 years. There will be a thorough investigation as to why this all happened. On Thursday, Al Jazeera quoted Colombia’s president, "Each work fatality is not only a business failure but also a social and governmental one."
- Why this matters: At least 100 people die each year in such incidents in Colombia. The country has a lot of open and underground gold and coal mines; a lot of illegal ones, too.
- Zoom out: Ever since Russia invaded all of Ukraine, coal has been coming/had to come into Europe from other places, such as Colombia. A couple of months ago, Joris van de Sandt and Joseph Wilde-Ramsingh wrote an opinion piece for Trouw (soft paywall) in Dutch, basically saying that that coal is "drenched in human rights abuses." To be clear, they talk about the coal that's coming from the Cesar mining region in the north.
5) The death toll from Cyclone Freddy has increased to over 400, with most victims being in Malawi, Madagascar and Mozambique, reports Al Jazeera. Some 80,000 people have lost their homes. It is one of the longest-lasting (at least 36 days) tropical cyclones every recorded, and one of the deadliest in Africa in recent years. Search and rescue efforts are struggling because it hasn't stopped raining and because of power outages. Locals have been organizing themselves intro groups, naturally. Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera has called for 14 days of mourning for the victims and pledged a lot of $$$ in assistance. Dealing with and healing from such an event is extremely difficult. In the past, children have dropped out of school, people have found it difficult to cope psychologically (how do you grieve when you've lost everything you had?), etc. It could get worse for the country as before Freddy, Malawi was experiencing its deadliest cholera outbreak, writes The Guardian.
- Why this matters: Many
scientists say the world is likely to see weather phenomenon like cyclones become more extreme due to the warming of the oceans. And Africa will "continue to bear the brunt of extreme weather events," says one scientist to NPR.
- Do you remember? Four years ago, Mozambique experienced one of the worst-ever tropical cyclones to ever hit Africa, Cyclone Idai. There were some lessons learned this time around (people close to rivers or lakes leave their homes faster, government was quicker to respond).
6) Tokelau has a new Ulu-o-Tokelau, or head of government, and his name is Kelihiano Kalolo, report Pina and RNZ. If you didn't know, Tokelau is a realm nation of Aotearoa (New Zealand), and has different governing structures. Who is Kalolo? He's been in office before, several times. Kalolo's also the guy who, in 2020, drafted a referendum on the territory moving to independence from Aotearoa to be held by 2025. People in Tokelau (about 1,500) have been thinking about this for a long time now, Samson Samasoni for The Spin Off sums up the decolonization talks.
- Did you know that Tokelau was first colonized by Britain in 1877? In 1925, Tokelau was essentially given to New Zealand, which has administered it since.
- Fun fact: Tokelau has the smallest economy of any nation. However, it is a leader in renewable energy, being the first 100% solar-powered nation in the world. (SMA)
7) South Korea's younger people have forced the country's government to rethink their plans to increase the weekly working hours to 69 hours, reports The Guardian. Millennials and Gen Z protested hard and long, saying that if they worked more, this would destroy their work-life-balance and put their health at risk. Women's groups also were like, 'hello?!'. The Korean Women's Association United said in a statement, "While men will work long hours and be exempt from care responsibilities and rights, women will have to do all the care work."
- Why this matters: South Korea is known for a very hard workplace culture; it even has a word. Gapjil, the Korean word for authoritarian, toxic relationship dynamics is embedded in the culture of Samsung, LG, Hyundai, etc. However, a lot of younger people are doubting the Korean dream, as Arian Khameneh writes for rest of world.
- Did you know that South Koreans worked an average of 1,915 hours in 2021? That's 566 hours more than workers in Germany, according to the latest OECD Employment Outlook.
8) Ten Prairie-based First Nations are suing the Canadian government over the loss of language, culture and tradition inflicted on communities by the modern First Nations child-welfare system, reports CBC. The claim is: When kids were taken from their Indigenous families and put into foster care because of problems with their families (because of abuse, lack of care, etc), they were placed with foster parents who were not vested in continuing the child’s language and cultural traditions. "The intergenerational trauma, the addiction rates, the poverty, all of those unfortunate results flow from the child-welfare practices and programs of the federal government," says a lawyer on the case. Canada's government is already putting CA$20 billion on the table for child welfare reform. 'We're really doing everything we don't repeat mistakes twice,' they say, basically.
- Why this matters: Canada has f*cked up a lot when it comes to how they treat(ed) the Indigenous populations, aka the First Nations. Accountability talks have been trending in recent years.
9) Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has announced plans to plant 5 million trees to help the country cope with climate change, reports AFP. That's what he said at the Iraq Climate Conference in Basra on March 13. Iraq is already facing many of the worst effects of climate change like extreme heat, very little rainfall and dust storms that keep getting worse. Hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq have had to move their homes elsewhere already. Al-Sudani said his government is also working on a plan to build new irrigation projects, cut flaring from oil drilling, and ramp up clean energy, aiming to draw 30 percent of the country’s electricity from renewables by 2030.
- Why this matters: "Climate change is the biggest threat Iraq has ever faced," says the UN's Ghulam Isaczai. These latest announcements are tiny steps in the right direction.
- Zoom out: There are scientists who say that many of these tree-planting projects are "ill-conceived and poorly managed and often fail to grow any forests at all," writes Fred Pearce for Yale Environment 360.
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Watch... Documentary: "Fighting Back Against Monetary Colonialism" (10 min), sponsored by the Human Rights Foundation. It explores the history and impact of the French Treasury-backed CFA currency on the economies and people of 15 West and Central African countries. In focus is Togolese activist Farida Bemba Nabourema, a self-described anti-CFA campaigner.
Listen to... Azagaia's entire discography. Edson da Luz, better known by his stage name Azagaia – after the assegai spear used by Bantu warriors – was arguably the best Mozambican rapper of his generation. He died on March 9, from an epileptic seizure. He was 38. My favorite? Cães de Raça (Purebred Dogs) about the enduring impact of colonialism in Mozambique. It's in this newsletter's Spotify playlist 'Go Global Weekly'.
Read... Long-read article: "Under the money tree" by Priya Basil for Aeon. The writer and activist writes about traditional medicine and knowledge systems that have been "disdained and marginalized by the West."
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Iran condemned France's brutal suppression of rallies over pension reform, reports Tehran Times.
The Irany is killing me...
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That's it from me. This issue has been written while listening to the Spotify playlist, "The Sound of Japanese R&B".
In some 2,000 words and around 12,000 characters, I highlighted more than 12 countries and regions in the global majority for you.
You have access to all of my sources by clicking on what's underlined.
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Hey, I'm Sham, the person behind this newsletter. Since 2014, I email a bunch of strangers once a week, curating news headlines from Asia, Africa and Latin America. I work under the assumption that, here in the West (I live in Berlin, Germany), we don't read or know much about the global majority, aka the rest of the world.
My goal is to help you burst your Western-centric bubble.
If you want to know more about me, visit my website or follow me on Twitter or Instagram.
Questions or feedback? Just reply to this email. I intend to write back.
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