SOUTH AFRICANS ATTACK MIGRANTS OVER FOOD POISONINGS

A wave of food poisoning cases that has so far killed at least 22 children across South Africa has led to vigilante groups and locals attacking migrant shopkeepers.

The most affected migrants are those from Somalia and Ethiopia, who run small neighbourhood grocery stores, locally known as ‘spaza shops.’

Videos posted on social media showed mobs vandalising and looting shops, and hounding out migrant shopkeepers.

However, during an address on 15 November, President Cyril Ramaphosa clarified that investigations conducted by multiple government agencies indicated shops—whether migrant-owned or South African-owned—storing food items alongside chemicals and pesticides caused the poisonings.

He added that a lack of routine inspections due to inadequate government staffing led to widespread non-compliance with safety and health regulations.

Continued.........Sources:

https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/spaza-shops-implicated-child-deaths-be-shut-down

https://mg.co.za/news/2024-11-15-spaza-shops-implicated-in-the-deaths-of-children-to-be-closed-immediately-ramaphosa

https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/soweto-locals-close-spaza-shops-after-five-children-allegedly-die-from-eating-snacks-20241008

https://www.semafor.com/article/11/05/2024/deadly-food-poisoning-sparks-xenophobic-shop-attacks-in-south-africa

https://x.com/CyrilRamaphosa/status/1857484182181855426

https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/foreign-owned-shops-looted-in-sharpeville-after-local-shopkeeper-shot-dead-20241017

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/south-africa-announces-measures-after-22-children-were-recently-killed-from-food-poisoning/3395214

https://x.com/CyrilRamaphosa/status/1857484407059218884

https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2024-10-13-sixth-naledi-child-hospitalised-over-suspected-food-poisoning-dies

SUDAN ON WHY U.K. RESOLUTION DESERVED VETO

On 18 November, Sudan’s UN representative denounced a UK-led UN Security Council resolution on 'increasing civilian protection' and 'humanitarian aid' in the war-torn country, arguing it disregarded Sudanese sovereignty, did not oppose United Arab Emirates support for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) accused of massacres and r*pes, and that it didn’t designate the RSF a terrorist group.

Continued,,,,,,,While the UK, US, and France condemned Russia’s veto that squashed the resolution, Russia’s representative, Dmitry Polyanskiy (@Dpol_un on X), accused the UK of using the resolution to meddle in Sudan's affairs under the guise of humanitarian concerns. Russia also claimed double standards were in play, denouncing the West’s criticism of Sudan while it supports Israel's actions in Palestine.

The RSF and the Sudanese military plunged the country into a proxy war on 15 April 2023, when they clashed over incorporating the paramilitary group into the military. Since then, the war had already k*lled more than 150,000 people by May, according to the US envoy for Sudan. It has sparked one of the world’s biggest displacement crises, with 11 million people internally displaced and more than 3 million having fled the country. UN experts warn the world’s worst hunger crisis looms, with 97 per cent of Sudanese internally displaced people facing ‘severe levels of hunger.’

Sudanese activists and human rights monitoring groups have accused both sides of war crimes, but the RSF has stood out for alleged g*nocide against non-Arab ethnic populations, use of s*xual violence as a weapon, and ransom kidnappings, to name a few.
SOURCES

News
https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15901.doc.htm

Russian POV
https://news.1rj.ru/str/dpol_un/1228

Spark for war
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/31/fighting-in-sudan-a-timeline-of-key-events

Number of killed
https://www.dw.com/en/us-sudan-envoy-we-hear-horrific-stories/video-70337032

Among world’s biggest displacement crises
https://sudan.iom.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl1606/files/documents/2024-11/sudan-crisis-regional-response-situation-update-62-13-november-2024_0.pdf

https://www.iom.int/news/displacement-sudan-crosses-11-million-devastating-crisis-reaches-new-heights-iom-chief

Among world’s biggest hunger crises
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/sudan-faces-one-worst-famines-decades-warn-un-experts

RSF genocide
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sudan-civil-war-hrw-rsf-genocide-geneina-threat-ethnic-cleansing-fasher

RSF sexual violence
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/29/africa/sudan-sexual-violence-women-intl/index.html

RSF kidnappings
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/23/sudan-rsf-kidnapping-ransom-slaves

Sudan's UN representative
https://media.un.org/avlibrary/en/asset/d330/d3309950

'ALLIANCE OF SAHEL STATES IS A BEACON OF HOPE'

The historic Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel took place 19-21 November in Niamey, the capital of Niger. Hundreds of participants gathered at the Mahatma Gandhi International Conference Centre from popular movements and organisations across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United States to express solidarity with the people of the Sahel, an arid region south of the Sahara Desert.

Continued........In a powerful speech during the event, Jonis Ghedi Alasow, the executive director of Pan-Africanism Today, coordinator of its secretariat and one of the conference organisers, described the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) as a beacon of hope for states that were once under France's oppressive rule. However, even after the end of formal colonialism, most French-speaking African countries were forced to use the France-controlled CFA franc currency.

Between 2021 and 2023, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger—with the support of their populations—expelled Western-aligned governments through coups d’état and demanded the withdrawal of French troops from their territories. These countries faced isolation from their Western-aligned neighbours, particularly the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which imposed sanctions in response. To further defend their territories against the scourge of terrorism that Western military occupations had not stopped, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger united to form the AES confederation, an anti-imperialist bloc that shares defence, economic and foreign policies. It plans to move toward becoming a federation, with the goal of continental unification.

The conference symbolised hope in the ongoing struggle against neocolonialism in Africa’s Sahel region and throughout Africa, igniting the spirit of revolution among African peoples.

Video credit: @peoplesdispatch (x)

Continued......https://www.nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articles/law/in-depth/2019/all-work-and-low-pay

https://newjimcrow.com/

U.S. RACIAL WEALTH GAP POST-GEORGE FLOYD

It's been over four years since police k*lled George Floyd, sparking an uprising that not only raised questions about racism and police brutality, but also on the stark wealth gap between Black and white people in the United States. 

According to the latest data, not much has changed since.

The St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank’s Institute for Economic Equity reported Black families held just 23 cents for every $1 held by white families in the second quarter of 2023. While white households comprise 65.9 per cent of US households, they own 84.1 per cent of the total family wealth. Black families, representing 11.4 per cent of US households, own only 3.4 per cent.

Continued........Bloomberg also noted that based on the US Census Bureau's 2023 data on household income, ‘Black households were making about the same as households headed by people without college degrees, even though more than a quarter of [Black people in the US] have a bachelor’s degree or higher.’

Meanwhile, corporations’ attempts to bandage the issue in 2020 through Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programmes have failed, with DEI staff cuts, layoffs and dissatisfied Black workers, indicating Black people in the US continue to be economically disenfranchised.

Sources:

https://www.stlouisfed.org/institute-for-economic-equity/the-state-of-us-wealth-inequality

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2024/04/wealth-by-race.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-09-26/the-us-racial-wealth-gap-is-widening

https://wordinblack.com/2023/12/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-initiatives-decline-after-george-floyd

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/news/black-workers-consider-leaving-job

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPZkhL3fr6o

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2024/7/7/whats-behind-the-creation-of-the-alliance-of-sahel-states