Ghanaian activist halts coal plant, wins major prize
(GIN)—Coal kills. Choose renewable. Those were the bedrock principles of environmental activist Chibeze Ezekiel, a grassroots organizer from Ghana, who in November was named one of five winners of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for 2020. Through the efforts of Ezekiel and members of 350 Ghana Reducing Our Carbon (G-ROC), among others, the Ghanaian Minister of Environment was persuaded to drop...
Paris police suspended over beating of Black man
PARIS—A Black man beaten up by several French police officers said he is seeking justice after the publication of videos showing officers repeatedly punching him, using a truncheon and tear gas against him for no apparent reason. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered the officers involved in the case suspended. The incident came as President Emmanuel Macron’s government is pushing a...
Macron’s Anti-Islam Platform And France’s Presidential Race
Anti-Islamic comments made by French president Emmanuel Macron and a speech he made offer previews of his rhetoric in preparation for a presidential election that is two years away. “Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world today, we are not just seeing this in our country,” he said during a speech introducing a law to...
India fumes as OIC urges rescission of ‘illegal’ Kashmir move
India has been angered by a resolution recently passed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that rejects New Delhi’s decision to revoke Kashmir’s autonomy. The OIC resolution, which was passed during a session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the OIC in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, rejected the Indian decision and demanded that “India rescind its illegal steps”...
Bolsonaro is responsible for 25 percent of racist statements by authorities in Brazil
By Flávia RibeiroBlack Brazil Today @BWofBrazil In 2020, the country’s authorities have already practiced twice as many racist statements and demonstrations detected in 2019. This is one of the data presented by the Coordenação Nacional de Articulação das Comunidades Negras Rurais Quilombolas (National Coordination for the Articulation of Black Rural Quilombola Communities) (Conaq) and Terra de Direitos in a study...
Ethiopian Government and UN strike deal for ‘unimpeded’ humanitarian access in Tigray
The UN recently announced that an agreement has been reached with the Ethiopian Government to allow “unimpeded, sustained and secure access” for humanitarian supplies to reach those in need across areas now under its control in Tigray. Confirming details of the deal at UN headquarters in New York, spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that the safe passage of aid supplies and staff...
With Just One Percent of Farms Controlling 70 Percent of Global Farmland, Study Reveals ‘Shocking’ Level of Land Inequality
By Andrea Germanos, CommonDreams.org A new report details the “shocking” state of global land equality, saying the problem is worse than thought, rising, and “cannot be ignored.” Among the key findings is that the largest one percent of the world’s farms operate 70 percent of farmland and “form the core of production for the corporate food system.” What’s more, “given the...
Black man killed by security guards is buried in Brazil
BRASILIA, Brazil—A Black man who died while being beaten by supermarket security guards was buried following protests that echoed those of the racial justice movement in the United States. Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas, a father of four, was buried wearing a white T-shirt in a coffin draped with the flag of his favorite soccer team in the city of Porto...
South African police use tear gas on protest over race
CAPE TOWN, South Africa—South African police used tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons on hundreds of mainly Black protesters who gathered again outside a high school in a predominantly White neighborhood that’s become a flashpoint for racial tensions. The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters party has organized protests at the school in response to a students’ prom they claim that...
UN prepares for up to 200,000 Ethiopian refugees in Sudan
NAIROBI, Kenya—The United Nations refugee agency says about 32,000 people have fled Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region into neighboring Sudan, and it is preparing for up to 200,000 in the next six months if necessary. Axel Bisschop, the agency’s representative in Sudan, told reporters Nov. 20 that “nobody at this stage can say exactly how many will come,” as deadly fighting...