THE UNSPOKEN OCCUPATION

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged Africa, AFRICOM, al-Murabitun, al-Shabaab, Ansar al-Sharia, army, Boeing, boko haram, Burkina Faso, coltan, corporate, daesh, Djibouti, Drummond, Ethiopia, featured, Halliburton, Islamic Magreb, Kenya, military, neoliberalism, Niger, occupation, Raytheon, somalia, South Sudan, terrorism, the Lord’s Resistance Army, the Seychelles, US, war on terror, WEIRD, Yemen.

by Stu Lucy

With all the madness that has been taking place across the pond on a near daily basis since the 2016 inauguration of the comb-over-in-chief, it is all too easy to overlook many of the less sensational affairs carried out by the United States. While we are familiar with the war on terror, defined by US military occupation of significant areas of the Middle East for almost all of the 21st Century, there are areas of the world in which the US remain equally as active in this same regard, despite much less public awareness.

In October of last year, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked a small group of Nigerien and US soldiers in the Tonga Tonga region of Niger, killing three Americans and five Nigeriens. Although the incident was indeed broadcast by the mainstream media, the event represents a far greater issue developed on the continent: the increasing military presence of the US in Africa.Continue Reading

THE LIES WE LOVE TO HEAR

Posted on July 5, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged anti semitic, austerity, Austria, behaviour, blue collar, boko haram, Boris Johnson, Brexit, British public, buhari, Chilcot, CPS, Crown Prosecution Service, cuts, Donald Trump, EU, EU referendum, far right, freedom party, geert wilder, immigration, Leave, lie, Malcom Bruce, marie le pen, national front, Nigel Farage, politicians, politics, public, public office, racial hatred, refugee, Rodrigo Duterte, tony blair, truth, untruths, war criminal.

by Gunnar Eigener

Content warning: mentions xenophobia

“Then what is the answer? Not to be deluded by dreams
To know that great civilisations have broken down into violence,
and their tyrants come, many times before.”

–Robinson Jeffers, ‘The Answer’

The EU referendum result is the beginning of the UK’s divorce from the mainland. In Austria, the recent election results were declared void and must be re-run, giving the far-right Freedom Party another chance at victory. Marie Le Pen’s National Front in France and Geert Wilders’ Dutch Party for Freedom are exploiting every moment of Brexit to force referendums of their own. It seems we have learnt nothing from the past as we hurtle towards far-right governments, high-unemployment and less financial security. Meanwhile in the US, Donald Trump had to delete a tweet deemed anti-Semitic.

These are just some of the recent events that continue to expose the deep flaws within Western societies but none more so than the ease with which politicians are able to con the public into believing blatant untruths and the ability of the public to turn, literally overnight, into unpleasant, frothing-at-the-mouth racist, xenophobic animals. In the case of the UK, these two flaws are actioned by a minority of people, yet seem to encompass the behaviour of the entire country — a perception enabled by another deep flaw, the media.Continue Reading

WHERE ARE THE #PRAYERSFORNIGERIA?

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #ParisAttacks, #prayersforbrussels, #prayfornigeria, Abba Aji, Abubakar Shekau, Ankara, awareness, Baga, Baga massacre, Baghdad, Bauchi, Beirut, Belgium, bias, boko haram, Brussels, brussels attacks, charlie hebdo, Chibok, daesh, Dalori, Dikwa, Europe, facebook, hashtag, ISIL, ISIS, Islam, Maiduguri, media, MSM, Naija, new media, Nigeria, paris, privilege, profile picture, shock factor, social media, solidarity, suicide attack, Syria, terrorism, West Africa, Western media.

by Cadi Cliff

On Tuesday night, landmark buildings from Germany to Dubai were lit up with the Belgian flag — a sign of solidarity after the horrific attacks in Brussels. The attacks — two bombs at the city’s main airport, and one at a metro station near the EU headquarters— have killed at least 30 individuals and injured hundreds of others. Daesh (read: the so-called Islamic State) have claimed responsibility for the attacks. It’s the most violent terrorist attack to hit Europe since the November attacks in Paris, which killed 130. But this is not the first, or even 100^th, terrorist attack since Paris — though this certainly will be reported on by the Western media far more than the rest combined.

Since Paris there have been hundreds of terrorist attacks worldwide. Attacks that didn’t result in tricolour Facebook profile pictures; attacks that didn’t lead to projected flags on lumps of architecture. Their narratives are only a headline, barely breaking. The descriptions are factual, not empathetic. There is no footage of candlelight vigils played on a loop on the news outlets. The shock factor simply isn’t there for the media splash if it’s a country that gets attacked again and again and again.Continue Reading

CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE NOT SO CURIOUS CASE OF TERRORISM

Posted on August 4, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged barack obama, boko haram, climate change, epa, ISIS, Nigeria, nigerian drought, republicans, terrorism.

by Gunnar Eigener

US President Barack Obama recently gave an impassioned address at the US Coast Guard Academy:

‘I understand climate change did not cause the conflicts we see around the world, yet what we also know is that severe drought helped to create the instability in Nigeria that was exploited by the terrorist group Boko Haram. It’s now believed that drought and crop failures and high food prices helped fuel the early unrest in Syria, which descended into civil war in the heart of the Middle East.’

As expected, this speech was met with derision from the Republican Party and its media allies, claiming that taking further steps to help resolve the environmental issue could affect the US economy. It’s hard to see what steps Obama is taking to prevent climate catastrophe in light of recent events: the US Department of the Interior has allowed drilling in the Arctic region to go ahead, the Keystone Pipeline still remains a dangerously unresolved issue and land sacred to the San Carlos Apache Tribe and Yavapai-Apache Nation is about to be handed over to a mining corporation. While it’s business as usual for government-corporate relations, a growing threat is dismissed as scaremongering.

boko haram

THE UNSPOKEN OCCUPATION

THE LIES WE LOVE TO HEAR

CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE NOT SO CURIOUS CASE OF TERRORISM

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