whlw: no. 288

• The Philippines made it illegal to marry children
• Sudan is defending its democracy (again)
• A study that takes a global look at the nature of political protests – and what we can learn from a bird's-eye view
• And: Haiti, South Africa, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Seychelles and Ukraine.

Now without further ado, here's what happened last week,
Sham 

what happened last week

Sudan has been going through a lot over these past few months. Now, the country's prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, quit his job all of a sudden last week. 'I think the army is in over its head,' he (didn't but I assume) said.

Refresher: People all over the world looked to Sudan in 2019 and said, 'wow!' This northeast African country literally said 'buh-bye' to dictatorship (ousted the country's long-term authoritarian President Omar al-Bashir; the 78-year-old is now on trial), and 'oh hello' to a (transitional) democratic government, with a power-sharing arrangement that read like an amicable divorce agreement: Hamdok and parts of the military decided to rule the country together for two years until a civilian (not someone in the military) became president of Sudan. However, that hasn't happened yet and people are worried that the army might be breaking a very sensitive promise.

What do people in Sudan say?
Well, thousands of people have been protesting out on the streets of the capital Khartoum for a while now; they're against the recent deal that Hamdok had done to share power with the army (who staged a coup in October). 'He shouldn't have done that,' they say.

Why, what was so bad about the deal?
Under the new agreement, people weren't sure about just how much power the new civilian government would have, so the protests have continued. 'We want full civilian rule. A government by The People for The People. Don't involve the military,' people say. Military responded with force (again) and two people died. 

Why this matters: Around 45 million people live here, and they – like you and I – deserve a government they can trust and not a sh*tshow of a power-sharing facade that takes them and their needs for granted.

So... what now? 
The military is in full control now.

But... that's f*cked up.
Yeah, as BBC writes, "It is another blow to Sudan's fragile attempts at a transition to democratic rule." And as Emmanuel Igunza writes for BBC, "And there's also the risk that the country could go back to being a pariah state with the likes of the US already indicating that they would sanction those impeding a return to civilian rule. Given Sudan's economic struggles, that could have an even worse effect on the lives of Sudanese people."

To be continued.

Btw, and this is out of context, did you know that there is a land (as big as the Greater London area) between Sudan and Egypt that belongs to no country? Or as Robert O'Connor writes for Vice, "or rather, it belongs to two and neither of them wants it. It is the last unclaimed, habitable land on earth." Read about Bir Tawil, where it is 45 degrees celsius nine months of the year.

• There are more and more protests with more than 10,000 participants whose goal is to remove a politician.
• Clark (only) looks at the tactics and violence that protest organizations employ. The more control organizers have over the protests, he says, the less violent they are likely to become.
• Meanwhile, “where protests are spontaneous, they’re more volatile, both on the protestors’ and the government’s side.” There are three reasons why, according to Clark:
  • Organized movements tend to have more focused goals, demands and methods. And, if some members become violent, they're instantly kicked out.
  • Government forces have a more difficult time justifying violent responses to protesters who are less violent themselves.
  • Governments are less likely to respond violently when organized protesters are able to tell their story more effectively to the public.
• That said, there’s no historical consensus for what will spark a protest, how large it will grow, or how it will end.

Haiti: The country's prime minister, Ariel Henry, survived an assassination attempt. Armed men tried to shoot him at a ceremony celebrating the country's independence anniversary in a church in Gonaïves.

South Africa: The country's parliament in Cape Town was destroyed by a fire, look. They're looking into possible causes but nothing yet; could be a sprinkler system that didn't work. Taxpayers will probably have to pay for the damages as the building was not insured.

• Zoom out: There's a long history of parliament fires; for example, in the United Kingdom, the parliament burnt down in 1834 and in Canada, in 1916 (no one knows why). The more darker-history example is, of course, Germany's Reichstag fire by the Nazis in 1933.

India: Some 70 years after cheetahs (these beautiful wild cats) went extinct in India, the government is importing cheetahs from South Africa and Namibia to the 748 sq. km Kuno-Palpur National Park in Madhya Pradesh. The plan is a bit controversial. Some say, 'hey we have native species that are extremely endangered, like the Indian Blackbuck. We should take better care of those first. Plus, what if the cheetahs from Africa don't like our landscapes?'

Mexico: Speaking of endangered animals, there was once a small fish called "tequilla splitfin" that called the Teuchitlán river in western Mexico 'mi casa', but it disappeared in the 1990s. For more than 20 years, scientists all over the world worked to bring them back, and last week they succeeded. Yay! However, not to spoil the mood, the fight is not over: More than one-third of 536 species of freshwater fish in Mexico are endangered as of 2020.

Pakistan: The country is getting its first female Supreme Court judge and it's no other than Justice Ayesha Malik, the woman who last year made it illegal to run a 'virginity test' when investigating rape cases. However, always keep in mind: representation is not that important but it's an important first step.

Seychelles: Girls in state and private secondary schools in this part of East Africa now get free period products. The government is also looking into ways to lower the price for these hygiene products for anyone who needs them. Thank you to non-profit organization Ladies Circle Seychelles who started the petition in the first place!

Ukraine: The country is thinking about legalizing medical cannabis this year.

• In 2020 alone, at least 37 journalists were arrested in Turkey (globally, the number was 274). The country ranks second after China in jailing journalists, according to the annual global survey of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which was published in 2020.
• In 2021, journalists were sentenced to 133 years, 8 months, 21 days in prison in total, according to the annual report of the Tigris-Euphrates Journalists Association (DFG).