July Roundup: Global Boiling
Newsletter 023 -- Updates from Sudan. Israel is a whole thing. Motherhood is hard everywhere. And, China's debt is everyones problem now.
Welcome to the end of Summer…that happened fast!
Did you hear? Earth has graduated from Global Warming and has entered its Global Boiling era. Not sure what this means yet, but I know it’s not good! In July, temperatures across the Middle East and Asia almost reached the limits for human survival. Iran recorded temperatures of 152 degrees Fahrenheit — that’s the internal temperature of a well-done steak!
And, do you know what really grinds my gears? When people call things like war and occupation complicated. It can feel like they’re trying to neutralize the conversation before it even begins. It leaves them space to deem your disagreement or pushback a lack of understanding (and they usually follow that up with an excuse for why they simply couldn’t explain it all to you). Do you mean the situation is nuanced? Are you saying there will be people that need to give up things in order for there to be peace? Are you referring to the history of build-up that will have to be unraveled in order for us to understand the problem landscape?
If this newsletter is doing its job, you’ve been able to approach news stories without feeling overwhelmed, and you walk away with the basic context necessary to follow these stories as they unfold. We hope it’s helped you be a more active participant of our global community! With a little time and interest, there’s nothing too complicated for you to understand! After all, these are human-made problems, so together we have the capacity to understand and even solve them (well, maybe not you and I specifically, but you get it).
Enjoy!
>> Inside Sudan
Money is Power: Hemedti and the RSF’s Paramilitary Industrial Complex in Sudan
Since April of 2023, two military groups in Sudan have been at war with each other for full control of the country’s resources — The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Hemedti, and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, or Hemedti (as he’s commonly referred to) was the head of the Transitional Military Council following the 2019 coup d’etat. Because of the war, nearly 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes and there have been reports of gender-based and sexual violence. Additionally, there have been attacks on healthcare facilities and the price of goods is so high that millions of people have been unable to meet their basic needs. Like many Arab countries, the Sudanese army has been heavily involved in the country’s political, social, and economic spheres since the 1950s. Because this is so common in the region, it is not identified as a Military Industrial Complex, but I have seen it referred to as such in the US. In the U.S. there is some separation between the military and the government, however, in the Arab world, it is not just that defense manufacturers or the military are in relationships and intimately intertwined with government entities, but that they are the same entity. The government is run by the military, which also controls manufacturing and other projects, like construction. North African countries have seen various military groups take control of the government throughout history – ensuring money is always routed to the army. In the case of Sudan, the RSF is engaging in fighting abroad, gold investments, and mercenary activities. They have boots on the ground in the war in Yemen, and investments in media and security companies. SAF has invested in banks, agricultural land, and entertainment businesses. The diversity of investment funds ensures that both groups have the resources to fight and maintain power. However, when these civil wars arise, or even when one military group takes power, it is the people who always suffer. Every day people cannot afford to buy bread or medical supplies and whoever takes control will continue to bleed Sudan of its resources without accountability. — Sarah
While many countries in crisis are receiving aid and international support, communities across Sudan are coming together and forming resistance committees as networks of support, protection, local leadership, and resistance against the RSF. These committees rose to importance during the 2019 revolution and are activated in new ways during this war. The Council on Foreign Relations recently put out a brief on the extent of Sudan’s humanitarian crisis and it doesn’t look good — more than 3 million people have been displaced since war broke out in April. Many international organizations are providing various forms of aid, but the UN halted its aid when fighting escalated and becomes too dangerous for aid workers. — Alexis
>> Is Israel a Democracy?
Protests sparked again in Israel over a new judicial law put in place that ended the reasonableness doctrine. The doctrine gave the Supreme Court the power to overturn policies proposed by the government if they were not made according to basic standards of fair and just policymaking. This is the biggest check the Israeli Supreme Court has on the elected government. The elimination of the doctrine is the most decisive hit to the country’s claim to democracy. Israel doesn't have a formal Constitution and lacks significant separation between its other branches of government. In this video, they offer examples in which the Court ruled on reasonableness in the past. Spoiler: it’s mostly cases challenging aspects of the Israeli government’s occupation of Palestine. But, this isn't what brought Israelis out to protest. Protests began earlier this year over Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed judicial overhaul package. In response to those protests, the government seemingly backed off — until this new bill was passed. It turns out they were quietly restrategizing: instead of introducing one major bill and passing all of these reforms at once, the government seems to be trying to pass components of the overhaul package, piece-by-piece. Many are surprised at how far to the right this new coalition government under Netanyahu is, and how democracy in the country seems to be devolving, but the underpinning truth is that Israel’s longstanding occupation of Palestine is fundamentally bolstered by these two tenets – Israel’s hardline, far-right policies, and porous democratic values. These incidents make it clear that the future of Israeli democracy is inextricably tied to the ending of the occupation of Palestine. — Alexis
“There should not be unshakeable bonds between governments. The bond should be shakeable. If a government is violating human rights, if they are violating international law, if they are doing bad things, then our bonds should be shook.” — Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action
In a Congressional session this month, activists came to rally members’ support of a piece of legislation on the floor that would restrict funding to Israel in an effort to end their violent and unlawful treatment of Palestinian children. Representative Pramila Jayapal addressed the activists, calling Israel a racist state and affirming that there are members of Congress actively working to support the Palestinian cause — this received backlash from many members of Congress and the public. Jayapal’s statement, as well as the protests in Israel over the judicial reform, set the stage for Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to the US capital and prompted widespread discussion around whether or not Israel is a democracy. — Alexis
A last-minute addition…
Biden Saw Israel’s Dark Future Last Week
“The full-bore, “unsoftened” law represented a defeat for Biden, a telling reminder of the decline in influence Washington now exerts over the most hard-line and fundamentalist government Israel has ever known.” — Quote from article
>> Mothering Around the World
Bay Area Aunties From China Can Charge $10k A Month
It’s no secret the ways American life can be unfriendly to mothers and mothering. The fortunate few who are able to afford additional childcare in the home insist that this help is a necessity for the mental and physical health of mother and child. Outside of America, some countries offer postpartum care to all mothers as a part of their regular health care programs. In other places, additional care is a cultural give-in. Chinese mothers have a tradition of zuo yue zi, or “sitting the month”, where mothers receive help from female relatives as they recover from birth. This is practice is so common in China that now, mothers hire postpartum caregivers, a yue sao, or “first-month” auntie to help them and the family. Chinese mothers in the Bay Area began hiring these aunties from China in an effort to keep tradition, but grievances from American mothers today lead me to believe that following cultural tradition is just an added bonus. Chinese mothers who’ve encountered the gaps in American postpartum medical care were so desperate for this necessary cultural care that they brought zuo yue zi and the yue sao to America and turned it into a competitive and lucrative industry. — Alexis
In the country of Georgia (a majority conservative Greek Orthodox nation) surrogacy is looked down upon, but many women are becoming surrogates in order to provide for themselves and their families. Couples from countries like Turkey, Israel, and the US, who are struggling to conceive, have found that Georgian surrogates are the most affordable option. Some Georgian women have been surrogates to many children and say that although they’re making more money, it's still not enough. The risks and physical toll of pregnancy make this job difficult, and due to the gestation period, and the recovery after giving birth, the money is inconsistent. Georgian law favors parents over surrogates, which is why the demand for surrogates in Georgia has gone up, but this has also left surrogates with little to no protections. What moral and practical obligations do parents have to their surrogates? As this becomes a more popular option, there will have to be more regulations around the surrogacy process and these transactions to ensure the safety of surrogates and babies. — Alexis
>> Everyone Is In Debt
One intriguing point made in this debate was posed by Heidi Chow from Debt Justice:
“A lot of this money that was lent to the global south was lent at high-interest rates. Private lenders lent to low-income countries at higher interest rates, around 6-10%, at a time when they were lending to the UK and the US at around 1%. They were charging these high-interest rates to countries in the Global South because of the risk of not being paid. And over recent years we’ve had a succession of shocks - the Pandemic, rising food and fuel prices…so the risk of countries not being paid has actually materialized, so private lenders really need to take that hit…They've already been remunerated for the risk that they’ve undertaken through high-interest rates so now they need to take that responsibility when they lose that gamble.”
My follow-up: If lenders are made to participate in debt relief to countries in the Global South, it may disincentivize them to lend to “risky” countries in the future. What other loan options would countries have if this were to happen? An alternative I’m familiar with is the way China has invested in the infrastructure of a number of African countries, but I wonder what long-term effects there may be in that instance. Bright Simons touched on this critique saying that private loans from companies or other countries may end up facing the criticism of neo-colonialism. — Alexis
China’s Hidden-Debt Problem
In Zunyi, a city in the southwest province of Guizhou, a number of government infrastructure projects sit unfinished. There’s the partially closed Fengxin Expressway, a theme park, and numerous housing projects — all of these projects have been stalled for the last four years. In 2012 the State Council in China called for investment into impoverished provinces in an effort to close the development gap. This sparked years of credit-fueled stimulus for urbanization projects across the country; local governments spent in excess on ambitious projects and have run out of money to finish the work. This isn’t just happening in China. Here in downtown Los Angeles, the Oceanwide Plaza stands half-built across the street from the Crypto.com Arena. The 55-story project was supposed to house 500 luxury condos, a Park Hyatt hotel, and a shopping complex. The China Oceanwide Holdings Group, a Beijing-based investment firm, broke ground on the project in 2015 and halted construction in 2019 due to a lack of money. Oceanwide claims to have found a buyer for the project and that work will resume in 2023, but, so far, there are no signs of this. Earlier this month, Chinese billionaire Li Zhang agreed to be extradited to San Francisco where he faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire service fraud and left a number of lawsuits behind. Zhang’s company, Z&L Properties, has incurred a number of lawsuits due to the many real estate deals they broke across the Bay Area. Many of their real estate projects were in the works and homebuyers had already put money down on the proposed units. Today these families are still waiting in limbo, much like families in Zunyi who accepted government assistance to move into temporary housing while they await new housing complexes that seem unlikely to be finished any time soon. — Alexis
>> Culture, Leisure & Trends
Viral women’s soccer ad uses doctored footage to prove a point
The advertisements for this year’s World Cup have not only been drumming up excitement for the matches but have also been shedding light on the inequities that exist for female teams in the world of professional sports. One French company used AI to replace the players in a women’s match with male players, only to reveal in the end, that the exciting goals and amazing footwork were executed by women. The hope was to destroy the age-old stereotype that women’s sports are not as exciting. There have been other advertisements that have cleverly portrayed the way sexism infiltrates this area of entertainment. The simple fact that we refer to men playing sports as simply “sports,” and women playing sports as “female sports,” centers men as the norm on the field and women as the “other.” You can see this in other ways, for example: In the U.S., the main sports programming network separates genders and the way they cover the games on social media, using ESPN for sports played by men and WESPN for sports played by women. If you look at the way the men’s World Cup was advertised, there was no mention of gender at all, while the current World Cup is referred to as the “Women’s World Cup.” Pay inequity is also a source of frustration – although the American women’s team was victorious in minimizing the gender pay gap! However, Australian players, and many others, have to take on second jobs just to be able to continue playing on their teams. I have mentioned before in this newsletter that the field of sports is an eye-opening metaphor for societies’ largest inequities, and I hope these campaigns activate changes for female athletes across the world. — Sarah
Is The US Being Hypocritical in Taking Years to Destroy Its Chemical Weapons…
Let me start by saying that nuclear weapons are not chemical weapons. The biggest difference is that chemical weapons (more commonly referred to as weapons of mass destruction) are deployed in gas, liquid, and sometimes their solid form. This article is my Trojan horse to discuss the new Oppenheimer movie (gotcha!) – it’s not much of a reach as the argument about US hypocrisy still applies to the discussion on nuclear weapons. If you haven’t heard about Oppenheimer, it's the new movie about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who created the atomic bomb. Let me give you a little background: Let's begin with the communities that were displaced when the Trinity site was built in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Some who were pushed out of their homes were compensated with jobs at the Trinity site working on the secret Manhattan Project — their handling of dangerous chemicals would lead to significant health issues for them and their families. That’s not all, in the 1990s the government began working to address “atomic-era failures” through things like the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). The most well-known victims of Oppenheimer’s creation were the Japanese people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where we dropped the atomic bombs. During World War II, the creation of the atom bomb was a topic of excitement — Oppenheimer was lauded for his incredible scientific accomplishment. Today, the conversations around nuclear weapons are much different — there is justified concern over the fact that many countries have nuclear weapons, or have access to the materials needed to create them. With nuclear weapons more widespread since WWII, the concept of “mutually assured destruction” has heightened nuclear anxiety. What’s mutually assured destruction? Since the destruction from a nuclear weapon is so great, the only response to its use is nuclear retaliation. Because of this, countries are stuck with a Catch-22 — if they produce nuclear weapons in order to defend themselves, they’ll be proliferating nuclear anxiety forcing the hand of their neighbors to procure nuclear weapons as well. If one country denuclearizes, all countries must, and this is the standstill the world is currently in. — Alexis
Wait, do you need a visa to go to Europe now? The New ETIAS Requirements Explained
If you’re like me, enviously watching all of your friends visit Europe this summer, then you’re probably booking your tickets to Italy or maybe Amsterdam for 2024. Before you book, you may have one extra step now that American passport holders will need additional authorization – the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS). Although not technically a visa, Americans will now have to fill out an automated form to stay in European countries up to the 90-day tourist limit. According to the European Commission, the ETIAS was put in place for safety purposes and to better track who is coming in and out of the country due to previous terror-related offenses. However, when we look at the history of migration and travel regulations, regulations like this are often used to keep specific groups of people out, and not just for national security. According to Eurostat, 1.08 million non-EU citizens were found to be present in the EU in 2022 without documentation, which is up by 59% compared to 2021. Although Syrian refugees accounted for the highest number of non-EU citizens, whenever an influx of migration occurs, countries attempt to impart some control on the flow of visitors. This ETIAS seems like the EU’s way of asserting control and more closely monitoring who enters and stays in EU countries. Additionally, travel restrictions are easing and tourism is reaching all-time highs, particularly among Americans. In fairness, for Europeans to enter the U.S., they have to fill out a similar authorization form. The U.S. is hyper-vigilant of foreigners who enter the U.S. (some more than others) and the EU is simply taking a page from the American regulation playbook. The American passport is the 8th most powerful in the world, and while Americans have been able to travel and migrate freely, the rest of the world faces an abundance of processes just to be a tourist in the U.S. So while Americans may be annoyed by this inconvenience, this authorization process is nothing new. — Sarah
>> Updates
Israel Recognises Western Sahara as Part of Morocco
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In Solidarity,
The 823 Team