whlw: no. 292

• The murder of trans woman Doski Azad in Kurdistan, Iraq
• Iceland will stop hunting whales
• Brazil is demanding justice for Moïse Mugenyi Kabagambe from Democratic Republic of Congo
• Plus: bye-bye government in Montenegro, China's Uighur torchbearer, an update on Ecuador's horrible landslide, Morocco's Rayan and an Amnesty International report on Israel

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

what happened last week

• Good to know: Another transgender person was killed by family members in July. Activists say, 'nothing has happened. Nobody has been arrested yet.'

Iceland plans to end whaling in 2024.

Why this matters: Whales are highly intelligent and social animals; there's also a lot of research that suggests that whales play super important roles in marine ecosystems. Unfortunately, some populations of whales are going extinct because of extreme hunting (for example, there are only 300-400 North Atlantic right whales; it is one of the world's most endangered large whale species). Iceland is one of the only countries that still hunts whales for money. Norway and Japan are the other two.

Did you know that, historically, humans have hunted and killed whales to make candles and cosmetics?

Why now? 
People don't like to eat whales anymore – at least not those from Iceland. In economy-terms you say, 'demand has decreased dramatically' or 'well, it just doesn't make any more sense financially,' as Fisheries Minister Svandis Svavarsdottir said (and I paraphrased). Only one whale has been killed in the past three years – a Minke whale in 2021. To compare: In 2018, it was 146 fin whales and six Minke whales.

How so?
It's all thanks to Japan. The country started hunting whales for money again in 2019. Before, Japan used to buy fin whale meat mostly from Iceland. 

That's the only reason?
Not really. There are other issues that have made whaling more challenging, like stricter safety requirements for imported meat and bigger no-fishing zones. Plus, COVID-19 slowed down the entire industry, too.

What's the alternative?
Whale watching. It's a US$2 billion global industry. When properly managed, it offers a viable, ethical and alternative income source,' writes Humane Society International. 

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Behind the scenes (My commentary):
While researching this, I noticed that in a lot of the news articles, no or few animal rights organizations were quoted. Seemed an odd and incomplete representation of all that mattered around the very harmful whaling industry.

On January 24, Congolese immigrant Moïse Kabagambe was beaten to death by four men in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was all captured on video. Last week, three of them were arrested. Thousands of people have taken to the streets demanding justice and harsh punishments to those responsible for his death.
 
Why this matters: Brazil has a huge structural racism problem. Black people in particular are facing a lot of racism and discrimination in this Latin American country. After all, Brazil is a country built on slavery as it has received nearly five million enslaved people from Africa. Here, slavery endured for the longest; it was the last country in the Americas to abolish it.

Why was he killed?
Relatives said that Kabagambe was attacked after asking the manager to pay overdue wages of US$38 for two days of work at a kiosk in Barra da Tijuca, one of Rio's best-known beaches, where he had served drinks. People say, 'of course, racism also played a huge part.'

Tell me more about him
Moïse Mugenyi Kabagambe was an immigrant from Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo. He came to Brazil in 2011 with his three siblings, looking for safety and a better life – far away from the dangerous conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

• "I fled the DR Congo so we wouldn't be killed, but they killed my son here the same way they do in my country, with punches and kicks, like an animal," said his mother.
• “My cousin never hurt anyone, he was always smiling. It’s abhorrent. It’s a nightmare,” said his cousin, Chadrac Kembilu Nkusu. He is now considering fleeing to Canada because of the attack.

Tell me about the protests
Yes, in 20 cities across Brazil, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Brasilia. In Rio, protests took place in front of the very kiosk Kabagambe worked at. Douglas Belchior, a leader from the Coalizão Negra Por Direitos network which is helping organize protests, said: “The barbaric murder of black people is shamefully commonplace in Brazil … Here we have a George Floyd every 23 minutes. We have a Moïse every 23 minutes. We are constantly being killed.”

Montenegro: This Balkan nation doesn't have a functioning government at the moment. Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic's government has collapsed after only 14 months in power.

China: The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics have begun. The torchbearer? Dinigeer Yilamujiang, a 20-year-old Uighur cross-country skier. You can imagine the controversy.

Ecuador: At least 24 people have died in a very deadly landslide in Quito. The search for survivors is not over yet.

Morocco: Oof, what a week it was in Morocco. The entire nation was praying for the health of a five-year-old boy who was trapped for five days in a 32-metre (100-feet) deep well in the hills near Chefchaouen. Unfortunately, Rayan Oram died before emergency teams found him.

Israel: Human rights organization Amnesty International (and some others) said that Israel is an apartheid state. Many Israeli politicians agree. 

• Fun fact: When De Hef (people in Rotterdam call it that) was renovated in 2017, the council pledged at the time it would never be dismantled again. Oops.