Journal on World Affairs, UCLA
Shortages of basic goods have prompted people to demand change. Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, has been flooded with people fighting to overthrow Nicolas Maduro, the current Venezuelan President. However, months have gone by and Maduro has not gone anywhere.
These protests lasted weeks and culminated in a night of tear gas, water cannons, and police clashes on November 26th, leading to the world’s largest general strike and a reigniting of India’s most left leaning political organizations
Known as the most violent dictator in South American history, Pinochet’s military orders were responsible for the deaths of more than three thousand Chileans (many of whom were college students), the disappearance of eleven hundred people, and sending over two hundred thousand Chileans into exile (2% of the Chilean population at the time).
On August 4th, at approximately 6:09 PM, Beirut, a treasured city in the Middle East, was ripped apart by a pair of explosions at the city’s port. Since then, young Lebanese citizens have been risking their lives to help put their country back together again, but many have also wondered if all their work and fervent hope is futile. The question on everyone’s mind is: can Lebanon ever be whole again?
As many as 300,000 people that once lived in the capital are now homeless or injured and are being forced to take shelter in homes of strangers or nearby hospitals, which are barely being held up. Considering the increasing rate of COVID-19 infections, Lebanese first responders worry of the compounding impact of devastation, which is expected to cost around $15 billion in repairs.
On the anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks, Americans remember the 2,977 innocent lives lost and the countless first responders who worked tirelessly on ground zero. It has been nineteen years, and the consequences of that fateful day remain ingrained in American society.
On August 9, 2020, Alexander Lukashenko’s seventh presidential victory was announced to the people of Belarus. The news sparked outrage and protests erupted throughout the country’s capital of Minsk with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators flooding the streets claiming that the reelection of the Belarusian dictator was “neither free nor fair.”
Ten years ago, optimism surrounding the internet ran high. So much so that then secretary of state Hillary Clinton touted its decentralizing force as a potential catalyst for advancing democracy around the world.
In the last several years, Turkic ethnic groups including the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Uzbeks have been arrested arbitrarily and placed in “education” centers at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party. While most prisoners are not formally convicted or charged with a crime, they share one characteristic in the eyes of the Chinese police: they are perceived to embody the threat of terrorism.
Cox’s Bazar, a city in Bangladesh, used to be known for its fishing ports and sandy beaches. Now, it is known for holding the world’s largest refugee camp with over 860,000 Rohingya living in it as of May 2020.
Journal on World Affairs, UCLA