Uganda

After 37 days of occupying a United Nations office in Gulu, Uganda, 234 farmers, youth, mothers with young babies and elderly men packed their gear into trucks and returned to their homes in Apaa — an area of rich farmland and forest in the north of the country. Far from being a quiet and somber event, their departure was marked by an explosion of song and ululation. It was part collective exhale — following a month of cramped conditions, an overflowing pit latrine and daily hostilities from their reluctant “hosts” — and part cry of triumph and hope.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi touted India as an emerging manufacturing hub, pointing to the development of domestically produced smartphones, cars, satellites, and others. He also pointed out that India is now exporting these goods to countries which India used to import them from. The statement came during a speech to Indian diaspora at the Ugandan capital. He also noted that rail tracks, metro train coaches and satellites are being manufactured using Indian steel.

Fake news, propaganda, public relations, advertising — it goes by many names, but at the core of all these terms is the idea that powerful institutions, primarily governments and corporations, strive to manipulate our understanding of world affairs. The most effective such shaping of opinion is invisible and therefore unquestioned.

Freelance journalist Judi Rever joins me this week for an in-depth discussion of her new book In Praise of Blood: The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. Judi talks about her first experiences in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide while reporting in Congo in the late 1990s. Judi discusses what it was like to uncover the true nature of both the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and its actions before, during, and after the genocide. We then move onto Paul Kagame himself and the structure of the RPF.

Sudan again came under pressure last week to withdraw troops from Yemen when pictures depicting yet another failure surfaced on social media. Yemen’s Army and Popular Committees — who control most of Yemen’s northern provinces — ambushed and killed dozens of invading Sudanese troops.

I am constantly amazed in this day and age where Americans have a President who touts anything he doesn’t agree with as “fake news” that is the moment that people grow cynical of the term.   Despite Donald Trump’s ability to shun astute critique of his politics, the term does carry currency in terms of how true or false news stories are.  But it is not just American media that is stuck within this paradigm of readers never knowing what is or is not true, the British who have a n

(MEE) — Israel began warning thousands of African migrants on Sunday that they must leave by the end of March, officials said, under a plan that could see them jailed if they refuse. On 3 January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced implementation of a plan to deport about 38,000 migrants who had entered the country illegally, mainly […]

Take religion or leave it. Some people get a lot of comfort from it. My problem has never been with religion per se; it's always been with armed religion. If God's on your side... well, anything goes. Right from the days of the Bible you had permission-- even a duty to-- butcher women and children... as long as you're doing God's work. The conquistadors enslaved and wiped out most of the population of what's now known as Latin America, in the name of Jesus. You know what those beheadings by ISIS are all about? Right, God's will. Religions and weapons... always bad. Never good.

21st Century Wire says…

Gandhi Jayanti – 2 October, the date of Mohandas K. Gandhi’s birth in 1869 and the International Day of Nonviolence – offers an opportunity to reflect on human violence and to ponder ways to end it. There may be a fast way to end human violence but, if there is, Gandhi did not know it. Nor do I. Nor does anyone else that I have read or asked either. But this does not mean there is no way to end human violence.