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Trigger warning: sexual abuse.
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We finally got justice for 36 Mayan Indigenous women in Guatemala – after 40 years
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A historic trial came to a happy end (Spanish) in Guatemala. Last week, a court sentenced five former paramilitary soldiers up to 40 years in prison for having raped, sexually enslaved and tortured 36 Mayan Achí Indigenous women (Spanish) between 1981 and 1985 (during the civil war).
Why this matters: Patriarchy and violence go hand in hand. The civil war in Guatemala was the most brutal armed conflict in all of Central America. A lot of really horrible crimes were committed (mostly) by the government against ethnic Maya Indigenous and Ladino leftist groups from 1960 to 1996. It is estimated that between 140,000 and 200,000 people died or went missing. Today, it is clear that the army in Guatemala (funded and trained by the United States) committed acts of genocide. However, only some of these crimes have been prosecuted. Even worse, lawmakers are looking into amnesty bills today. So, this is a small 'yay!' but a 'yay!' it is.
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The case started in 2011, when the women started telling their story to Indigenous lawyers Lucía Xiloj, Haydeé Valey and Gloria Reyes Xitumul. Guatemala Human Rights Commission was like, "This sentence is a fundamental victory, not only for these 36 brave women, but for all survivors of state violence. Justice is the only way to ensure that these heinous crimes are never repeated."
- Good to know: The men are also Indigenous and some are from the same villages as the women. The Guatemalan army recruited, often by force, local men into these paramilitary “civil defence patrols” during the civil war.
- Btw, this case is based on another one from around six years ago. Back then, a court sentenced two former military officers of raping and sexually enslaving 15 Maya Q’eqchi’ women in the 1980s in eastern Guatemala.
What now?
Now, the case gets looked at as a sort-of precedent case. (I paraphrase) 'Now everybody is, once again, reminded of the fact that sexual violence is a tool in armed conflict,' said Brisna Caxaj, a sociologist and gender programme coordinator for Impunity Watch Guatemala.
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We witnessed this year's second deadly stampede – this time it was at a football match in Cameroon
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Last week, a stampede killed eight and injured about 50 people during a football match in the last 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations (short Afcon) in Olembé Stadium in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Why this matters: Human stampedes have been a chronically understudied topic. And more and more of them keep happening. Two recent 'events' come to mind: the stampede at the Travis Scott concert in Houston, USA killed at least ten people on November 5, 2021 and on January 1, 2022, twelve people died during a stampede at a Hindu shrine in Kashmir, India as they were celebrating the New Year.
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It all started so quickly. Right outside the stadium, before the game, closed-for-too-long gates made people super nervous, and when they 'recklessly' opened, hundreds of people stormed in, causing a stampede. Plus, according to a spectator Liam Mwen: “Access was really, really difficult. People came to the stadium without tickets and had access. Some of them scaled the fence.”
What do we know about stampedes?
There are some scientists who are looking into this. For example, Professor Edwin Galea and his Fire Safety Engineering Group at the University of Greenwich use behavioural experiments and mathematical modelling to understand how crowds move in different scenarios. The aim is to make sure that crowds don't build up for too long without a 'release'. Because, as Keith Still, professor of crowd science at Manchester Metropolitan University says, “People don’t die because they panic. They panic because they are dying.”
What now?
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) was quick to hold a press conference. (CAF president) Patrice Motsepe expressed “deep condolences to the families” of the victims, and that CAF, the local organising committee and the government should all shoulder the blame and set up a committee to find out what happened. Fifa president Gianni Infantino and Samuel Eto'o, president of FECAFOOT (French acronym for the Cameroon football federation), echoed this. Things are still looking super grim. Now, no matches will be held at the Olembé Stadium until CAF knows what happened. Originally, it was supposed to be the venue for the final but matches have been moved to the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium (also in Yaoundé).
Do we know who died?
Out of eight people, we know the names of six so far:
- Véronique Dorothée Djilo, 41
- Ndongo Louis Bruno Nzinga, 14
- Ndongo Marie Laure Nga (student, age unknown)
- Ambassa Mandela Bilogue, 6
- Bernard Ebaneck, 30
- Beyene Donald Onana, 22
#RememberTheirNames.
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We are switching capital cities in Indonesia because the old one is sinking into the ocean
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I mentioned this briefly in last week's issue but yes, Indonesia is building a new capital, and it will be called Nusantara (an old Javanese term meaning 'archipelago')
Why this matters: 'Climate change is already affecting the way we live. Look at Indonesia's capital' (or eleven other huge cities) is now something you can say to climate-change-deniers – instead of punching no-sense-making people in the face like astronaut Buzz Aldrin once did. Plus, a new report by Greenpeace East Asia looked at the risks in seven cities in Asia (it's really bad here), and said that more than 15 million people could be affected by rising sea levels and flooding by 2030.
Tell me more
According to the government, there's many things 'wrong' with Jakarta. The capital is on Java, one of Indonesia's islands. Some 10 million people live in Jakarta, three times that number in the greater metropolitan area. It's too busy, earthquakes love it a lot and, perhaps the most important reason to leave, people know it as the world's fastest-sinking city. 'We need to quickly move to the island of Borneo,' they said (and I paraphrased). This all started in 2019.
- Did you know that Indonesia is an archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands?
Wait, why is the city sinking?
That's thanks to decades of uncontrolled and illegal draining of the city's ground water, but it is also sinking because the Java Sea is rising due to climate change.
- Btw, Jakarta isn't the only city sinking. Houston (Texas), United States and Manila, The Philippines have a very similar problem: over-extraction of groundwater.
What's the vision for the new capital?
President Joko Widodo said, "The main goal is to build a smart new city, a new city that is competitive at the global level, to build a new locomotive for the transformation ... toward an Indonesia based on innovation and technology based on a green economy." Blah, blah, blah. Basically, they're moving some 1.5 million civil servants to the city. Some are super skeptical, too.
How?
Well, the designated area for the new capital – it's super huge, like 256,000-hectares/990 square miles – Borneo's East Kalimantan province is also home to orangutans, leopards and other wildlife animals. How is this going to impact them? Plus, 'you're literally spending $US34 billion in the middle of a pandemic. Is it worth it?' But also, experts say the city has a decade to act. Oh, and the committee overseeing the construction is led by Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair is on it, too.
When is this project due?
Oh, you'll be hearing about this for the next two decades. The whole moving process is scheduled to be completed by 2045. But the core government area, they say, will be done by 2024.
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OTHER NEWS YOU MIGHT FIND INTERESTING
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United States: The world's oldest gorilla, Ozzie, died last week. He was 41; so, he got to be pretty old. In 2009, Ozzie made history when he became the first gorilla in the world to participate in a voluntary blood pressure reading.
Space: The James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful telescope ever built, has reached its final destination in space. Now comes the fun part. Yay, some US$10 billion and around 30 years well spent! Speaking about space, a group of researchers last week launched the first-ever archaeological study of humans in space, observing the lives of the crew living on the International Space Station. #excited.
Vietnam: A famous monk and peace activist died last week. His name: Thích Nhất Hạnh. He's literally the reason why mindfulness is so hip in the West (have you read 'You Are Here'?) Fun fact: Martin Luther King Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967.
France: The country finally signed a new law and banned the so-called 'conversion therapy' that operated on the very dangerous and silly idea to try and change the sexual orientation or gender identity of people. It will take force in the next 14 days once signed off by President Emmanuel Macron. :)
Speaking of LGBTQ+, Afghanistan: Human Rights Watch published a new report, saying that, since the Taliban took control, LGBTQ+ in Afghanistan "have survived gang rape, mob attacks, or have been hunted by their own family members who joined the Taliban, and they have no hope that state institutions will protect them."
Germany: A report found out that while the former Pope Benedict XVI was archbishop of Munich diocese, four sexual abuse cases happened under his watch. Last week, he admitted that he f*cking lied and that he did attend that meeting about a sexual abuse in 1980. Up until last week, he told everyone, 'nope I wasn't there.' The Vatican is typing... This is no surprise. Remember when another report found out that clergy in Germany abused at least 3,677 people between 1946 and 2014?
Mexico: Another journalist was killed. This time it is photojournalist Lourdes Maldonado. She's the country's third journalist to be murdered (probably) for her work. I talked about this in detail in Die Wochendämmerung in German, check it out here.
Australia: Aboriginal Australian artist and activist Harold Thomas sold the rights of the Aboriginal flag (it looks like this) to the government for US$14 million. 'Finally, the Aboriginal flag is free,' said (I paraphrase) Prime Minister Scott Morrison. It's also minted as a NFT.
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David Fincher's 1999 cult classic "Fight Club" has a different ending on China's Tencent Video. In this version, the authorities win at the end.
But: At this point in time, it is not clear if government censors ordered the alternative ending or if the original movie's producers made the changes. Hollywood studios often release alternative film versions because to kiss China's *ss.
Anyway, I'm now thinking of all the movies that could end 30 minutes earlier with a simple "Then the cops came and arrested everyone."
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That's it from me for this week. If you want to stay connected on social media, follow me on Twitter or on Instagram.
Bye,
Sham
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