Day: February 6, 2007

South Asia
naga

Podcast: solidarity with Nagaland

In Episode 109 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg explores the under-reported conflict in India’s northeastern state of Nagaland, which has seen a multi-generational pro-independence insurgency. Popular protest is rising there since an army massacre of coal-miners in December. The armed conflict began in 1956, when the Naga National Council declared independence from India in the face of Delhi’s intransigence on recognizing local autonomy, and adopted a constitution emphasizing village self-rule. The traditional Naga territory is divided by the border with Burma, which has complicated their self-determination struggle. With Burma now going over the edge into civil war, there are growing fears that India’s conflicted Northeast could be further enflamed. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Naga Student Union Delhi via My Nagaland)

Oceania

Taiwan: indigenous seek Austronesian unity

Taiwan’s Council of Indigenous Peoples signed an agreement with the Pacific Island state of the Marshall Islands aimed at increasing bilateral exchanges to promote Austronesian culture. The agreement seeks to promote cooperation between Taiwan’s indigenous communities and the linguistically related people of the Marshall Islands, particularly in the fields of language and preservation of traditional wisdom. The agreement, signed last month, coincides with the opening of the UN International Year of Indigenous Languages, which acknowledges to the critical state of many indigenous tongues, and seeks to promote their protection and use, both at national and international levels. (Photo of Bunum people via Mata Taiwan)

Iraq

Can Assad (and Putin) reconquer all Syria?

Trump dramatically steps up US air-strikes along the Syrian border in Iraq, as Russia pitches the Kurds and Syrian rebels on a peace deal that will allow Assad to remain in power.

Europe

Forgotten history: Muslims who sheltered Jews

The group "I Am Your Protector" marked Holocaust Memorial Day by celebrating the often forgotten stories of Muslims who helped Jews to survive during the Nazi genocide.

Central America

El Salvador: indigenous mark 1932 massacre

Nahua-Pipil indigenous communities in El Salvador gathered to recall the 1932 genocide that marked the start of generations of suppression of their language and culture.

The Andes

Colombia: peasants sue over mining contamination

Indigenous and Black communities in Colombia’s Chocó department filed a lawsuit, claiming 37 of their children died after drinking water contaminated by nearby mining operations.

North Africa

Tunisians protest Islamist counter-revolution

Tunisia’s Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali announced that he will dissolve the Islamist-led administration and form a new “technocrat government” as protests rock the country.

Africa

Fighting spreads in Sudan border region

At least 20 are dead in two days of clashes in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state, as a pro-Khartoum militia refused to withdraw to the North following the vote for secession.

Southeast Asia

Thailand: war heats up on two fronts

Two were killed in a Thai-Cambodian border clash at a contested ancient temple, while presumed Muslim separatists escalated armed attacks in Thailand’s south.