Johanne: International politik, klima og udlændinge på dagsordenen

Enhedslistens politiske ordfører, Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen, holdt i dag et oplæg og besvarede spørgsmål for en propfyldt sal ved et offentligt møde i Aktivcentret i Gladsaxe. Hun talte om mange indenrigspolitiske emner, såsom oprettelsen af en statsejet bank, regulering af den finansielle sektor, samt bedre nominering i skolerne og daginstitutionerne.

Men Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen talte også om de mange vigtige overnationale områder som der ikke blev fokuseret på i valgkampen, og som hun mente en ny regering burde ændre politik på i forhold til de seneste ti års borgerlige styre – herunder international politik, klima- og udlændingepolitik.

”I valgkampe fylder den internationale dagsorden meget lidt”, sagde Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen, ”fordi det er svært at rejse en dagsorden som ingen andre taler om”.

Swazi police assault demonstrating bus operators

While yesterday’s reports of Swazi police killing two demonstrators in Swaziland’s industrial centre, Manzini, have not been confirmed, this does not make the crimes of the Swazi police any less severe.

One death as a result of the teargas used by the Swazi police has been confirmed, three people were hit by live ammunition fired by the police, and many others were injured, including the several police officers who had to be hospitalised.

“Confirmed information, which I got from the Secretary General of the Kombi Association Sabelo Dlamini, is that one child lost his life after inhaling a tear gas. Ten police officers were injured and a number of bus operators were injured as they were assaulted with sjamboks [large whips] and fired upon with live rounds and rubber bullets,” says Dumezweni Dlamini from the Swazi NGO Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice.

Police kill protesters in Swaziland

“Two bus operators have died today [19. September] after having been shot by police in Swaziland,” Morten Nielsen from Danish NGO Africa Contact reports from the small kingdom.

The shootings come in the wake of widespread police violence throughout the country during recent weeks, as well as in April, where thousands of Swazis marched for democracy and socio-economic justice.

Er boligskatten vigtigere end politivold, systematisk voldtægt og sultkatastrofer?

Valgkampe i Danmark fokuserer oftest på nære, nationale temaer, og national selvtilstrækkelighed, og den netop afsluttede valgkamp var ingen undtagelse.

Det ”store udland”, herunder ulandene, er i højere og højere grad kommet til at være noget som vi mener vi kan bruge til at berige os selv økonomisk, noget som vi i vores stigende nationale selvtilstrækkelighed ikke bekymrer os alt for meget om.

I bedste fald er det noget som vi beskæftiger os med i forbindelse med landsindsamlinger og andet velgørenhed, som ikke ændrer grundlæggende ved årsagerne til fattigdomen.

African awakening: the emerging revolutions

African Awakening is a new book about the 2011 African uprisings that the mainstream media didn’t cover properly, such as the April uprising in Swaziland.

The publisher, Famuna Books and Pambazuka Press, descibes the book as follows:

“What the media has missed – the 2011 uprisings in their African context.
Pambazuka News’s respected writers offer in-the-moment comment and analysis as well as informed reflection. An almanac with its eyes open – Africa’s radical review of the year. The tumultuous uprisings of citizens in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have seized the attention of media analysts who have characterised these as ‘Arab revolutions’, a perspective given weight by popular demonstrations in Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and elsewhere. However, what have been given less attention are the concurrent uprisings in Benin, Gabon, Senegal, Swaziland, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda and in other parts of the African continent.

United Kingdom concerned about human rights situation in Swaziland

“The UK is deeply concerned about the continuing decline in good governance and human rights in Swaziland, and the lack of progress towards democracy,” the United Kingdom’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s Africa Directorate says in a letter from September 7. The letter was addressed to the many people who had complained about Swaziland’s absolute monarch, King Mswat III’s, invitation to the British royal wedding in April 2011, and specifically calls on the Swazi regime to uphold human rights.

Swazi police assault pro-democracy protesters

After a comparatively restrained conduct during the pro-democracy demonstrations in Swaziland earlier in the week, Swazi police have started detaining, beating, and even shooting at demonstrators.

“Teargas and batons were allowed to do the talking by the forces as the enraged security forces unleashed their ugly side,” as local newspaper The Swazi Observer put it.

The demonstrators are demanding democracy and social reform in Swaziland, a small absolute monarchy where political parties are banned and two thirds of the population survive on less than a dollar a day. Swaziland is nominally a middle-income country.

Free Maxwell Campaign supports Global Week of Action protests in Swaziland

Below is a press release from the Free Maxwell Dlamini Campaign in support of the ongoing protests against Swaziland’s absolute monarchy.

“The Free Maxwell Dlamini Campaign commends and supports the thousands of Swazis who have taken to the streets this week during the Global Week of Action to demand Multi-party democracy and socio-economic justice, as well as all of the Swazis who have stayed at home, fearing yet another violent response by the regime’s police forces.

And we reiterate our demand for the unconditional release of Maxwell Dlamini and all other political prisoners in Swaziland, as the protesters have done in numerous speeches during the past two days.

Thousands protest against Swaziland’s absolute monarchy

“The walls of Mbabane were vibrating with the shouts of Viva Pudemo [banned political party], viva Swayoco [youth wing of Pudemo],” says Secretary General of Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions, Mduduzi Gina.

Between one and two thousand people took to the streets today, and between five hundred and a thousand yesterday, to demand democratisation and social reform in Africa’s last absolute monarchy, Swaziland.