CounterVortex

The Amazon

Peru: indigenous protesters shut down pipeline

On the sixth day of a declared civil strike (paro) in Peru’s Amazon rainforest, hundreds of indigenous protesters armed with spears seized oil installations, effectively shutting down the NorPeruano Pipeline. Station 5 on the pipeline, as well as oil exploitation blocs 192, 95 and 8, are under occupation. State company PetroPerú admitted that personnel have been evacuated from the pumping station, and that seizure of the installation has “paralyzed the operations” of the pipeline. Awajún apu (traditional leader) James Pérez, speaking for the Indigenous Association for the Development & Conservation of the Bajo Yurimaguas, said the paro will continue until the central government responds to protesters’ demands for environmental remediation following hundreds of oil spills. (Photo via Gestión)

Africa

Drought deepens crisis in northeast Kenya

Kenya is facing its worst drought in a decade, with 2.4 million people expected to be going hungry by November. The fast-emerging humanitarian crisis is not only the result of two consecutive poor rainy seasons in the Arid & Semi-Arid Lands region—an arc of under-developed territory in the north and east of the county. Needs are compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and chronic insecurity. Household maize stocks are well below the five-year average, and both livestock productivity and milk production have fallen, driving up prices. A glut in the livestock market, as people sell off their animals, is further eroding pastoralists’ earnings. They are already forced to walk longer distances in search of water and forage, resulting in a spike in inter-communal tensions. (Photo via Twitter)

Southeast Asia

Fear in Rohingya camps after slaying of activist

The killing of Mohib Ullah, a prominent Rohingya community leader, has drawn international condemnation and renewed deep-rooted fear in the Bangladesh refugee camps. Mohib Ullah was shot and killed outside the office of the civil society group he headed, the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace & Human Rights (ARSPH). A relative reportedly blamed members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a militant group active in the camps. Mohib Ullah had become one of his community’s most prominent voices in the aftermath of the 2017 Burmese military assault that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh. He led early attempts to document atrocity crimes, stood up for his community before governments and aid agencies, and addressed the United Nations. (Photo: HRW)

Syria

The Syria war’s unknown toll

For the first time since it stopped attempting to count Syria’s dead back in 2014, the UN has released a new casualty number. The UN Human Rights Office now says 350,209 people were killed in the war between March 2011 and March 2021—but cautions that because of the strict methodology used, this figure is “certainly an under-count of the actual number of killings.” And it doesn’t include those who died from causes that would likely have been more easily treatable were it not for the ongoing violence, such as hunger or COVID-19, which is now barrelling through northwest Syria, spreading quickly in displacement camps and overwhelming healthcare facilities. (Photo: Destruction of Aleppo, via 7ee6an)

Europe

Italian mayor imprisoned for sheltering immigrants

Hundreds of residents in the southern Italian town of Riace took to the streets to express support for their mayor, Domenico (Miimmo) Lucano, after he was sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges related to his policy of providing safe harbor for immigrants. Following a probe dubbed “Xenia” (ironically, the ancient Greek word for hospitality), Lucano was charged with “aiding and abetting illegal immigration” among other crimes. Riace, on the Ionian coast of Calabria region, was facing population decline, like many small towns in Italy’s South, and Lucano sought to arrest this trend by welcoming migrants and asylum-seekers to settle there. Under his proclaimed modello di accoglienza (model of welcoming), the municipal government helped hundreds of migrants and asylum-seekers from Africa and the Middle East to establish themselves in Riace. Despite his conviction, Lucano remains a candidate for regional president in Calabria’s upcoming elections. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Planet Watch

Podcast: CounterVortex at 20

In Episode 91 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes the 20th anniversary of the launch of World War 3 Report, as it was then called—a direct response to 9-11 and Dubya Bush’s declaration of the Global War on Terrorism. In 2005, it was renamed World War 4 Report, on the logic that the Cold War had been World War III, and to emphasize support for the “Fourth World”—land-rooted, stateless, and indigenous peoples. In 2016, the project was transformed into CounterVortex, in light of its expanding mission beyond our original mandate of the GWOT, and to emphasize the need for general resistance to humanity’s downward spiral into ecological collapse and permanent war. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Oceania

Vanuatu seeks ICJ opinion on climate justice

The South Pacific nation Vanuatu announced its intention to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the right of future generations to be protected from the consequences of climate change. Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Bob Loughman warned that the climate crisis is “increasingly eluding the control of individual national governments,” and stressed the need for a global solution. The announcement set out his government’s plan to coordinate the efforts of Pacific Island states and other vulnerable nations to seek clarification on the legal duties of large emitters of greenhouse gases. (Photo: David Cobbin via NUPI)

Southeast Asia

Court: Facebook must reveal role in Burma genocide

A US federal judge ordered Facebook to produce documents relating to its involvement in violence against the Rohingya people in Burma. The Gambia brought a claim against Facebook, Inc before the International Court of Justice alleging that the social media platform played a key role in the genocide of the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority. The Gambia then filed suit against Facebook in the District of Columbia, seeking documentation related to the World Court case. The Gambia’s case contended that it was only in 2018, six years into the genocide, that Facebook began deleting accounts and content used by Burmese government officials to enflame attacks on the Rohingya. (Photo: UNHCR)

North Africa

Migrants ‘disappearing’ in Libya

Of more than 24,000 asylum seekers and migrants intercepted at sea this year by the EU-supported Libyan Coast Guard, only 6,000 are accounted for in Libya’s official detention centers, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told the Associated Press. The fate of thousands of others returned to the country remains unknown. The situation has been worsening for months. The IOM warned last year of returnees vanishing from Interior Ministry “data-collection facilities,” and said it suspected that thousands are being sold to human traffickers. (Photo: Alessio Romenz/UNICEF)

Africa

Sudan: Omar Bashir plots comeback?

A failed coup by army officers allegedly linked to ousted long-ruling strongman Omar al-Bashir underscored the fragility of Sudan’s transition to civilian rule. Some 20 officers were arrested in the coup attempt. Military leaders from the country’s power-sharing government, the Sovereign Council, blamed their civilian counterparts for neglecting public welfare and opening the door to the coup plotters. Civilian cabinet minister Khalid Omer Yousif called the officers’ comments “astonishing” and “a direct threat to the transition.” Bashir, overthrown in 2019 after nearly 30 years in power, is presently in prison in Khartoum, where he faces multiple trials. He continues to be wanted on genocide charges by the International Criminal Court. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection)

Africa

Russian mercenaries to Mali?

France, now in the process of drawing down its military presence in West Africa’s Sahel nations, criticized plans that could see Russian mercenaries brought to Mali, where jihadist groups tied to ISIS or al-Qaeda operate in large parts of the country. Reports suggest that Mali’s transitional government is considering a deal with the Wagner Group, which has close links to Vladimir Putin and is also active in Central African Republic. The Coordinating Body of Azawad Movements (CMA), a coalition of Tuareg rebel groups that signed a peace deal with the Malian government in 2015, likewise expressed its “firm opposition” to any agreement to bring in the Wagner Group. (Photo: FIDES)

East Asia

Hong Kong: ‘patriots’ in, democrats out

The first “patriots only” vote under Hong Kong’s new political system was held to choose members for a 1,500-member Election Committee—although only some 360 of the seats were actually contested. Voting was restricted to some 5,000 individuals representing different professions and industries, chosen under a principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong.” The Election Committee is tasked with electing 40 members of the enlarged 90-seat Legislative Council in December as well as choosing the city’s new chief executive next March. The new and more controlled electoral system was adopted by an overwhelming majority vote of the National People’s Congress in Beijing this March. (Photo: HKFP)