China Makes a Complete U-Turn!!

 

In the past, China has been known as a country with a fast-growing population due to the high birth rate. In relation to their growing population, they already had one of the highest total populations in the world. Due to China’s immense population, the government had concluded that it would be a good idea to put in a law that stated you could only have one child, the “one-child policy.” Along with the law they were known for decades to force women to have abortions when pregnancies were “deemed illegal by the state.” Alongside the one-child policy that had been implemented in 1979, there had been a “traditional preference for sons also led to sex-selective abortions.” As of 2015, China’s one-child policy had diminished somewhat to whereas, in 2021, China made some different decisions. The country was facing a significantly lower birth rate and decided to ban abortions, making a stand in the opposite direction. The government put out a policy referred to as a 10-year plan in order to further women's rights over the next decade which included the new abortion policy. Spiking a considerable reaction from the public by their decision China has been under a tremendous amount of scrutiny. According to government officials, the restrictions on abortions referred to “non-medical” abortions and promote gender equality for women. 

The recent policy sparked a controversial outrage from many of the Chinese population because of its lack of specifics and reasoning. Over the years in China, women’s rights have been a topic that has held a lot of weight in the fact that women aren’t seen equally to their counterparts. China’s government official's reasoning on why they implemented the abortion policy was to create gender equality and hold men accountable for their actions of impregnating women. When in reality they are only contributing to the problem at hand, women shouldn’t be told what to do with their own body especially by an entity that has nothing to do with any aspect of it. The decision to implement the abortion policy wasn’t to create gender equality it was to increase birth rates in a country that over the past couple of years had a dwindling population due to lower birth rates. In 2015 the “one-child policy” was uplifted and in May of this year, the government announced that families would be allowed to now have three children. Unlike other countries, China controls the number of children you may have which is a total red flag. How are you trying to promote gender equality if women can’t make their own decisions based on their personal wants and needs? Another point that was made by the government was that abortions could affect the harmony and happiness of a family due to the risk of infertility from abortions. Again here is an instance in which the government is interfering in a position that has nothing to do with them or the country of China. The happiness and harmony of one’s family should not be a countries main point in the explanation and reasoning for the implementation of a policy. Personally, I believe the women in China should take a strong stand against this policy. It’s the 21st-century women should be able to make decisions based on their own situation. In order to enforce this policy, it would have to be implemented to all women and every women has a different situation and reason why they would like to have an abortion.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/01/china/non-medical-abortions-mic-intl-hnk/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/27/china-to-limit-abortions-for-non-medical-purposes

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/world/asia/china-abortion-limits.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/china-is-finally-ending-the-one-child-policy-it-cant-happen-soon-enough/2018/06/11/5dde684c-6b4b-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html

Does India Tune in to Watch the News or Propaganda?

Figure 1: 2020 World Press Freedom Index rankings for Southasia. Himal Southasain

Press freedom is a key factor for any well functioning democracy. This factor was an essential tool for India during the struggle of independence from the British Raj. However, since 2014, we have seen a drastic change in the kind of journalism presented to the citizens. The perspective and quality of the news supplied by the mainstream media has changed radically and the voices of independent journalists and news agencies have been suppressed. These could very well be the reasons that India hit an all time low in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index with a rank of 142 out of 180. So, let’s get to the important questions - 

Who is responsible for this? And why is the press of the country which stood up to the tyranny of the colonial masters converting itself into one where news is simply advertisement for the ruling government?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a right-wing Hindu Nationalist Party, was elected to power in 2014 and again in 2019. It’s safe to say that a large section of the Indian media has become the lap dog of this government. In 2019, a sting operation was conducted by Cobrapost, which showed video proof of how some two dozen news organizations were willing to not only cause communal disharmony among the citizens but also tilt the electoral outcome in favor of a particular party for a price. A major reason for news organizations to go completely pro-government is because the BJP regularly uses government machinery like the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate to keep in check the mainstream media and independent organizations who dare to criticize the government. The BJP has tried to systematically weaken the news and media organizations and create division along communal lines which has now polarized the majority of the population in India. The ruling party has also stopped running ads on TV channels which don’t toe its line, hence denying them an important source of revenue. This pressure also extends to other companies who now don't want to run ads or support news organizations who don’t buckle under the pressure of the government. 

Recently, the government has come under fire for passing Farm Reform Laws which have been opposed by a large section of farmers and protests have been going on in different parts of India. The government has used the media to try to discredit and demonize the farmers. This vilification reached another level in October.

Figure 2: A vehicle set ablaze after violence broke out in Lakhimpur Kheri on 3 October 2021 . Photo Courtesy - PTI

On October 3rd, 2021, four farmers were mowed down by three SUVs, one of them allegedly driven by the son of the Union Minister, Ajay Kumar Mishra,  in the Lakhimpur Kheri District of Uttar Pradesh. This led to further violence resulting in the lynching and death of four BJP workers. The coverage that this incident got is just another nail in the coffin of the credibility of mainstream media. At first, the violence was overshadowed with a huge distraction of a Bollywood superstar’s son being involved in a drugs scandal and was later subjected to shoddy and false reporting. Dainik Jagran, the largest selling newspaper in the country, took the cake with its best, misleading headline: “Uttar Pradesh me arajak kisano ka upadrav, 6 ki jaan gayi” [Unruly farmers on rampage in Uttar Pradesh, 6 lost lives]. Other channels played along the same lines. This proves how the media can go above and beyond to protect the government’s image and play along with their narrative, even when the government abuses its power in the most gruesome ways. The fact that the mainstream media will not project public opinion makes India question its credibility and creates a disconnect which can only be bad news for a democracy.

https://theprint.in/opinion/one-more-death-in-lakhimpur-kheri-shouldnt-go-unnoticed-indian-media-credibility/745682/

https://thewire.in/media/cobrapost-sting-big-media-houses-say-yes-to-hindutva-black-money-paid-news

China Genocide = “Re-Education” Camps?

China Genocide = “Re-Education” Camps?

Who are the Uyghurs?

The Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group originating and culturally unified from the Central and East Asia region. The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Region in Northwest China. There are about 12 million Uyghurs, mostly Muslim, living in Xinjiang and they speak their own language. There's been a huge migration of the Chinese ethnic majority group into Xinjiang, allegedly pointed by the state to push down the minority residents in the region. Many Uyghur activists are worried about the group's culture, and how it could be under a major threat of elimination. The Uyghurs group have no religious rights and believe their ancestors were indigenous to the area, relating to the crimes that are being done to these groups of humans.





Committing Crimes Against Humanity

Human rights groups believe China has confined one million-plus Uyghurs against their drive over the last few years in a large network of what the state calls "re-education camps". There has been evidence that the Uyghurs are also being used as forced labor, while also being tortured and sexually abused. These disgraceful humans are creating specific jobs, including step-by-step procedures to remove clothes from women and make sure they cannot move. The BBC

interviewed a woman from Xinjiang who was detained for 18 months in the camp system. ​​"My job was to remove their clothes above the waist and handcuff them so they cannot move," said Gulzira Auelkhan, crossing her wrists behind her head to demonstrate. "Then I would leave the women in the room and a man would enter - some Chinese man from outside. I sat silently next to the door, and when the man left the room I took the woman for a shower." (BBC News: Matthew Hill, David Campanale and Joel Gunter) To add to this sickening situation, Auelkhan also stated that the Chinese men "would pay money to have their pick of the prettiest young inmates" (BBC News: Matthew Hill, David Campanale, and Joel Gunter).















Experts say Xinjiang has switched over to more of a surveillance state that counts on innovative technology to look over all of the people in the community. Different parts of Xinjiang are split into these so-called “squares” and most of these cities have a police station every 100 yards. The public security in Xinjiang almost tripled from 2016 to 2017. In 2016, there was a total of a little over 30,000 job advertisements for security, while in 2017, it jumped to almost 80,000. There are leading human rights groups like Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, who have presented reports going against China, emphasizing their crime against humanity. China continues to deny all of the allegations of human rights abuses. China states the clampdown in Xinjiang is necessary to avert terrorism and the camps are an effective instrument for re-educating inmates. Now there is a new report titled “China forcing birth control on Uyghurs to suppress the population.” Hmmm, wonder why?!










https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-repression-uyghurs-xinjiang



https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/04/china/xinjiang-detective-torture-intl-hnk-dst/index.html



https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/8/uighurs-timeline



https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55794071

What is really going on in Yemen?

     Yemen, as of 2014 been going through a civil war. This all started from the failure of political transition from Ali Abdullah Saleh to Abdabbah Mansour Hadi. Hadi struggled with various problems such as corruption, attacks by Jihadisit (a militant Islamic movement that is looked at as threatening), and unemployment and food insecurity. With that said, the Houthi movement took advantage of the new president weakness and took control of the capital of Yemen Sanaa in 2014. This war mainly consisted of Houthis and Hadi-led military supported by Saudi Arabia.


    The Houthis movement started in the late 1980's and was primarily people from northern Yemen. Houthis became politically motivated under Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi. He started making the group politically motivated since he was against the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Ironically, Yemen's previous president had an alliance with Houthis which happened to fall through in 2017 and the Houthi's ended up killing President Saleh in order to take full control of the capital.



    As shown above most of Yemen is occupied by the Houthi forces which is possibly means they can expand to eastern Yemen. Also the red is labeled as the conflict zones meaning this is were most of crimes are most likely to occur.

    Throughout the war there’s been lots of attacks on Yemen soil. In November 2017, there was a launch of a ballistic missile towards Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Then in 2019 Saudi Arabia oil fields were attacked by Houthis but Saudi Arabia and the U.S. accused Iran for that. Attacks like this caused Yemen had worsen the humanitarian crisis. The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project claimed in October 2019 that there's been over 100,000 fatalities and by the end of 2019 more than 23,000 fatalities was recored making it the second most lethal war so far. Then the UN had verified the deaths of 7,700 civilians by March 2020. With that said, is classified as one of the poorest Arab countries with a $824 GDP per capita.




    Even for the civilians that do survive the attacks in the war still suffer. The Charity Save the Children estimated that 85,000 children with severe acute malnutrition might of died between April 2015 to October 2018. About 80% of the population needs humanitarian assistance. An estimated 2 million children are acutely malnourished along with 360,000 children under five are struggling to survive. An example of the civilians struggles during this war is expressed by Abdullah al-Ibbi. Abdullah is a local citizen of Yemen and one day he was going to have a late night meal with his wife and children however, he lost his loved ones that day. The family lived in Saada which is the Houthi territory. During this time there was intense aerial attacks by Saudi led coalition. There was an air strike that killed his wife and some of his children in just a matter of seconds. The air strike killed 27 of his family member however, luckily three of his oldest children survived. This a prime example of the injustices and struggles the Yemeni civilians are going through during this horrific war.

Citations:

Bakhsh, Sumaya. “Yemen: The Man Who Lost 27 Family Members in an Air Strike.” BBC News. BBC, November 4, 2016. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37791211.

“GDP per Capita (Current US$) - Yemen, Rep.” Data. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=YE.

“Who Are Yemen's Houthis?” Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/interview/who-are-yemens-houthis.

“Yemen Crisis: Why Is There a War?” BBC News. BBC, June 19, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423.

“Yemen's Tragedy: War, Stalemate, and Suffering.” Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/yemen-crisis?gclid=Cj0KCQjwnoqLBhD4ARIsAL5JedIUDDCIqDvHK4X-8phvX3T5LEyEoEAIRFOp-5tSxqRhSevK1ZrENA8aAgHsEALw_wcB.

Greece and the Economic Crisis

Greece’s economy is facing a debt crisis at the moment. In 2020, their national debt was around $430 billion USD and is predicted to continue growing in the years to come (Statista). When Greece first joined the European Union in 1981, their economy was sufficient. However, this changed when the Panhellenic Socialist Movement and the New Democracy parties came into power. To keep the people of Greece happy, these parties made a protectionist economy, meaning that they stayed away from international trade. Along with that, they created various liberal policies that were extremely costly, and put them in the situation they are in today.

The Greek government continuously adjusted their spending. Workers in public departments had their salary risen yearly, pensions were high, were entitled to additional months pay on holidays, and paid time off vacations. These factors led to debt piling up for Greece, which caused them to join the Eurozone in 2001. Being a part of the Eurozone means that the country has adopted the euro as their main currency, making it easier for Greece to borrow money from European countries. Due to this, Greece enjoyed economic growth until the financial crisis of 2007-2008, when investors started asking for more yields for debt. In the aftermath of the crisis, Greece’s debt skyrocketed. European figures and investors have even loaned Greece around $371 billion USD but their debt is still predicted to increase overtime. Even though Greece will have to face the consequences of their spending, they should restructure their government and policies so that this problem does not happen again.









Sources:

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/061115/origins-greeces-debt-crisis.asp

https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-the-greece-debt-crisis-3305525

https://www.statista.com/statistics/270409/national-debt-of-greece/

China Announces Building of New Coal-Burning Powerplants

Credit: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock in The Guardian

China is facing an energy crisis with costs increasing and outputs decreasing as flooding has forced many coal mines and plants to shut down (Axios). With the UN climate summit COP26 set to begin at the end of the month, China has recently announced that it will be building more coal-burning power plants in order to help ensure that its energy needs can be met (The Guardian). The Communist Party has also recently announced that they need to revisit their timetable for reaching peak emissions in light of the recent energy crisis. (The Guardian). These announcements seem to indicate setbacks to decreasing worldwide carbon emissions


Credit: Axios

China is a major contributor to coal emissions worldwide, burning more coal than every other member of the G20 combined (The Guardian). As such, ensuring their cooperation is essential when it comes to reducing world emissions and reaching the goals set forth by the Paris Accords. The decisions China’s government have made seem to put not only those goals at risk, but also the success of the upcoming COP26 summit in the UK.


Some experts, though, have claimed that there is not necessarily cause for concern. China’s decision to build more coal plants does not mean they will increase carbon production, merely carbon capacity, in case of emergencies such as the ones China is currently facing. Additionally, while China is building new domestic power plants, they have announced that they will stop funding foreign coal projects. Combined with China’s continued participation in climate summits, there seems to be hope that China will continue seeking to reduce its emissions (The Guardian).



Credit: Reuters

Despite those claims, there is still a need for China to step up its efforts to reduce emissions. China’s carbon emissions have been continually rising, tripling over the last thirty years (The Guardian). As such, it is imperative that they commit to reducing fossil fuel usage and switching to cleaner fuel sources, which currently make up only around 15% of energy consumption. When combined with the fact that, as mentioned above, China's coal emissions outnumber the combined output of every other G20 country, the need for cleaner energy is clear.



Sources:


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/13/will-chinas-plan-to-build-more-coal-plants-derail-cop26


https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-coal-prices-hit-record-high-floods-add-supply-woes-2021-10-13/


https://www.axios.com/china-energy-coal-threatens-climate-goals-9cbddf1e-6db7-4dee-9a6e-88df8bcfc66a.html


https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/12/china-coal-fired-plants-uk-cop26-climate-summit-global-phase-out