WORLD - The African Mirror

Dec

24

2024

4B: how South Korean women are leading a radical movement against misogyny

WORLD

DONALD Trump’s return to the White House has sparked fears about the future of women’s rights in the US. Trump has a long history of misogyny and has boasted about his role in shaping the court that overturned women’s constitutional right to an abortion in 2022. His victory thus, unsurprisingly, sparked a reaction. Following November’s election, some American women encouraged each other to delete dating apps, sign up for self-defence classes, and get on birth control. Others drew attention to 4B, a radical feminist movement founded in South Korea that has seen some women refuse to marry, have children, engage…

Dec

24

2024

By THOMAS KLASSEN

What’s ahead in politics in 2025: Elections, economic angst and enduring conflict

WORLD

DOMESTIC and international politics heading into 2025 will largely be dominated by potentially transformative elections, economic volatility and profound uncertainty about the future prospects for global peace and prosperity. Donald Trump’s return to the American presidency will reverberate around the world. His unpredictability, his contentious policies and his appeal to populism will be felt around the globe. There will be bellwether elections on three continents as left-leaning governments seek re-election. In Germany, low-key but effective Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party will seek a second term. The election will also test the strength of the far right; however, Scholz…

Dec

23

2024

By STEFAN WOLFF

Ukraine war: as 2025 approaches, Kyiv is left with few good options and allies in a Trump 2.0 world

WORLD

AS the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, held his carefully stage-managed annual phone-in and press conference to answer questions from journalists and ordinary Russians, EU leaders were hosting Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels at their final meeting of the year. Unsurprisingly, the war in Ukraine loomed large at both events. But the conflict in Ukraine is just one part of a complex and rapidly changing geopolitical environment which neither Russia nor the EU, let alone Ukraine fully control. The main reason for this is Donald Trump, who will return to the White House at the end of January 2025. He…

Dec

23

2024

By The African Mirror

Elon Musk and Giorgia Meloni: a burgeoning friendship the world should keep an eye on

WORLD

THE friendship between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Elon Musk is the talk of Italy, and increasingly so since the latter secured a key role in the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump. The two first expressed their mutual admiration in an official picture during Musk’s visit to the Italian prime minister’s official residence, Palazzo Chigi, in June 2023. Six months later, Musk was a special guest at Atreju, an event for young members of Meloni’s party, Brothers of Italy. At the end of October 2024, Musk was a guest at the Global Citizen Awards, hosted by the…

Dec

23

2024

By PETRA MOLNAR

Increased surveillance at the Canada-U.S. border means more asylum seekers could die

WORLD

AT a press conference on Dec. 17, the Canadian federal government announced proposed new measures to expand its management of Canada’s border with the United States. These measures were intended to appease the incoming Trump administration and to avoid a threatened 25 per cent import tariff. The proposal includes expansions of border technologies, including RCMP counterintelligence, 24/7 surveillance between ports of entry, helicopters, drones and mobile towers. But what will this mean for people seeking asylum? If the U.S.-Mexico border is any indication, it will mean more deaths. The U.S.-Mexico border wall in California. (Shutterstock) Criminalizing migration At the press…

Dec

22

2024

By The African Mirror

“Genocide is taking place in Gaza,” MSF says

WORLD

ISRAELI forces are “crushing the entire population of Gaza”, Médecins Sans Frontières warns in a new report – the latest by an international organisation to describe Israeli military actions in Gaza as ethnic cleansing and genocide. The Israeli military is “destroying the conditions of life” in Gaza through 14 months of attacks on civilians, dismantling the healthcare system and infrastructure, and denying humanitarian aid, the aid organisation said. “We are seeing clear signs of ethnic cleansing as Palestinians are forcibly displaced, trapped, and bombed,” MSF Secretary General Christopher Lockyear said in a statement. “What our medical teams have witnessed on the…

Dec

22

2024

By The African Mirror

Syria’s missing persons crisis: ‘A wound that never heals’

WORLD

TENS of thousands of Syrian families continue to live in anguish over missing relatives as the country's detention crisis enters its thirteenth year, the UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said today at a press briefing. "Each passing day deepens the trauma for families who have no information about their loved ones," Al-Kheetan told reporters. "These families deserve to know the truth. They deserve answers about the fate and whereabouts of their relatives, and to understand the circumstances under which they disappeared." The spokesperson highlighted how the crisis extends far beyond the prison walls, creating devastating ripple effects throughout…

Dec

21

2024

By GRACE PANETTA

Democrats look to state legislatures as their anti-Trump ‘firewall’

WORLD

As Democrats prepare for Republicans to take over the White House and Congress, they’re looking to their wins in state legislatures as a bright spot from November’s otherwise-disappointing election results — wins they say will be the basis for their anti-Trump “firewall.” As President-elect Donald Trump retook the presidency and Republicans flipped control of the U.S. Senate, Democrats managed to hold off a red wave further down the ballot, said Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), state legislative Democrats’ campaign arm. Democrats suffered some defeats, losing control of the Michigan state House and falling short of…

Dec

21

2024

By The African Mirror

Syria may sink if support lifeline is delayed, says IOM chief, while winter compounds Gaza misery

WORLD

THE head of the UN migration agency stressed on Friday that Syria is in no position to take back millions of Syrians following the fall of the Assad regime, while there is an urgent need to “re-evaluate” sanctions impacting the war-ravaged country. “We are not promoting large-scale returns; the communities frankly are just not ready to absorb the people who are displaced and would come home…it will overwhelm the country,” said Amy Pope, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). “Many have returned to find their find their homes reduced to rubble,” she noted. Speaking in Geneva shortly…

Dec

20

2024

By The African Mirror

The life and death of a displaced Haitian woman

WORLD

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian.By Pascale Solages ON 15 October this year, Béatrice Cajoux’s image was everywhere on Haitian social media. The photos being circulated by online outlets and feminist organisations showed a smiling, round-faced young woman with sparkling eyes and sleekly braided hair. The previous night, she had been murdered in a displacement camp in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. Béatrice was just 31 years old. Today, I want to share her story to highlight the violence faced by Haitian women and the impunity that exists and enables it to continue. There are currently more than 700,000 displaced people in Haiti,…