🗺️ Picks of the Week — October 23
🗺️ Picks of the Week — October 23
Chile Referendum Violence, Stranded Venezuelan Oil Tanker, Nigerian Police Kill Protestors, French School Teacher Beheaded, Duterte Welcomes Own Prison Sentence, Pope Backs Same-Sex Civil Unions
Happy Friday folks and welcome to Picks of the Week, where we dissect the most important news from around the world over the past seven days. Today’s news pieces are super diverse so we hope you enjoy!
We visit Chile where violence has ensued just days before the country votes on whether to write a new constitution; to Venezuela where videos show a stranded oil tanker continuing its ominous tilt; to Nigeria where protests over police brutality have resulted in the police shooting and killing protestors in the street; to France where a school teacher was decapitated as the country’s war between freedom of speech and religious equality has been fully reignited; to the Philippines where President Rodrigo Duterte said he’d gladly go to prison after killing thousands of drug users; and to the Vatican where Pope Francis has for the first time publicly supported civil unions for same-sex couples.
We’re also entering a good groove on the podcast! This week we welcomed New Scientist chief reporter Adam Vaughn on to talk about his frontline Covid-19 reporting, as well as how the pandemic has impacted flu season and climate change. Next week we’ll have New York Times editorial writer Binyamin Appelbaum on to talk about what it’s like being on the NYT’s editorial board in the age of Donald Trump. Also check out this week’s Inside The Middle East and Election Dissection of what went down in New Zealand and Bolivia. Okay, over to you Amy…
Job Corner
Another 200 jobs and internships were added to the job board on Monday, including at CNN, Politico, The Telegraph, Times of London and USA Today. Spread the word!
DataCorner
Some datasets referenced in today’s newsletter…
Oil Spills: Number of global oil tanker spills between 1970-2016, from Our World In Data
Terrorism: Global terrorism dataset, from the University of Maryland
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Chile Prepares For Pivotal Referendum
We start off in Santiago where around 25,000 Chileans gathered in the central square to mark the one-year anniversary of mass protests that left more than 30 people dead and thousands more injured. The protesters waved rainbow flags and banners to encourage Chileans to cast their votes in the upcoming referendum on Sunday. But once darkness fell over the city, the peaceful remembrance quickly descended into rioting and looting. The vote will decide whether the country will embark on a novel journey with a new constitution, or whether the 20 million population will remain chained to the policies written 40 years ago by dictator and former President Augusto Pinochet.
The New York Times reports that more than 50 countries still have constitutions written by outgoing authoritarian regimes post-World War II. And as Michael Albertus, associate professor in political science at the University of Chicago, writes, the issue with that is that “democracies with authoritarian-era constitutions have weak political accountability and not enough citizen involvement in forming policies. And their political systems favor elites tied to the former regime rather than common citizens.”
Stranded Venezuelan Oil Tanker
Staying in South America as the Venezuelan oil tanker that’s been anchored in the Gulf of Paria — the sea between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago — since January of last year is tilting at an increased rate, according to local activists and experts. The ship, dubbed the Nabarima, has been lain for almost two years after U.S. sanctions on the Venezuelan government scared away potential buyers of the country’s oil.
If the tanker carrying up to 80 million gallons of oil were to tip over, a major ecological disaster would quickly ensue. For context, the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska involved 11 million gallons and covered 3,000 square miles, roughly the same size as Cyprus. Trinidadian environmental group, Fishermen and Friends of the Sea, posted a video of the tilting tanker this week. But despite the visual evidence, Venezuelan officials maintain the tanker is stable, while Trinidad and Tobago’s government said the stranded vessel no longer poses a major environmental risk.
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Nigerian Police Shoot Protestors Dead
Moving to Nigeria next where Amnesty International said at least 12 protestors were shot and killed by the military and police on Tuesday, as the #EndSars protests entered a second week. They report that a total of 56 people have now been killed. The protests were originally sparked when a video of a man being beaten by the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars) went viral, which have engulfed Nigeria’s largest city of Lagos, as well as multiple other cities throughout the country. Sars has long been accused of police brutality, including “harassment, kidnappings, extortion, torture and murder,” according to VOA.
End Sars protests: People 'shot dead' in Lagos
French School Teacher Beheaded
Moving to Paris next where a school teacher was beheaded in a northern suburb, reigniting France’s war between freedom of speech and religious equality. More than five years since the country’s history was altered by the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks, 47-year-old Samuel Paty was stabbed and decapitated for using cartoons from the satirical magazine as a teaching aid to discuss freedom of expression, a strongly held belief in France. This latest incident comes just weeks after another terrorist wounded two in a knife attack outside the former Charlie Hebdo offices. The new location of its offices is kept secret.
CNN reports that Paty warned Muslim students in advance about the contents of the lesson and excused them if they felt uncomfortable. But a parent at the school was upset about the lesson and lobbied the school to dismiss Paty, using YouTube videos to out him and garner support. Paty’s assailant, an 18-year-old, paid two 14-year-old boys €300 ($360/£275) to point him out, and the killer jumped Paty as he walked home from the school. French President Emmanuel Macron posthumously awarded Paty the French Légion d’Honneur on Wednesday.
Previous Picks of the Week
🔎 Picks of the Week — October 16
🔎 Picks of the Week — October 9
🔎 Picks of the Week — October 2
🔎Picks of the Week — September 28
Philippine President Open to Going to Jail
We stop off in the Philippines next where President Rodrigo Duterte publicly took responsibility for the thousands killed in his administration’s war on drugs. While police reports say 6,000 killings have been attributed to the crackdown since Duterte took office in 2016, watchdog groups suspect the death toll is far higher. There are almost 2 million drug users in the Philippines and Duterte has framed them as being a public safety and national security threat, similar to the country’s communist rebellion in the country. Duterte’s crimes are currently being examined by an International Criminal Court prosecutor, but the leader doesn’t appear to be scared nor remorseful…
“If you get killed it’s because I’m enraged by drugs,” Duterte said on Monday. “If that’s what I’m saying, bring me to court to be imprisoned. Fine, I have no problem. If I serve my country by going to jail, gladly.” And he made his position on drug users crystal clear last month when he told the country’s police chief: “If it’s drugs, you shoot and kill.”
Pope Francis Backs Same-Sex Civil Unions
We end this week with the news that Pope Francis became the first pope to publicly support civil unions for same-sex couples. His comments are a departure from the Vatican’s official stance, including Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who in 2013 called homosexuality “an intrinsic moral evil.” Speaking in Francesco, a biographical documentary that premiered at the Rome Film Festival this week, the Pope said “homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They're children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it.”
The film is set to debut in North America at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival this Sunday, and also explores other societal issues including migrants and refugees, clerical sexual abuse, the role of women in society, and the disposition of Catholics and others toward those who identify as LGBT, according to the Catholic News Agency.
That’s all for this week. See you next week 👋