Image is of vehicles set aflame by protestors near a government building.
Since July 1st, students have protested the unpopular proposal in which 30% of government jobs would be reserved for veterans of the 1971 War of Independence and their relatives. In a country with a youth unemployment rate of around 20% and a population of 170 million, a large number of otherwise eligible and competent people would have been forced out due to favouritism for veterans. As with basically every country on the planet over the last couple years, Bangladesh is suffering from inflation and an increasing cost-of-living, further exacerbating tensions.
The student protests have been met with significant violence by the government - local newspapers report that over a hundred protestors have been killed, and thousands have been injured. Guns and tear gas have been used. Additionally, the government has completely cut internet access throughout Bangladesh to prevent organizing, which has had some success in dividing protestors, but has also only further angered various parts of the country due to the massive impact to Bangladesh's online industries and various startups. And a national curfew has been in place to limit movement, with the population told to remain home if they want to be safe.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh relented, stating that now, only 5% of government jobs would be reserved for veterans and their families. 2% would be allocated to members of minorities, with the remaining 93% distributed on merit. A period of tentative calm has arrived, but Hasnat Abdullah, a coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, has stated that unless the government restores the internet, removes the curfew, releases detainees, and forces certain ministers to resign within a few days, then the protests will resume.
The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you've wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.
The Country of the Week is Bangladesh! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.
Please check out the HexAtlas!
The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week's thread is here.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA daily-ish reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
Absolutely hilarious to me that Kamala's two most famous quotes, "You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you," and "What can be, unburdened by what has been." Are just two completely mutually exclusive statements.
https://xcancel.com/SuppressedNws/status/1816110782322504103
⚡️BON APPÉTIT! MAGGOTS RELEASED ON THE ISRAELI PM NETANYAHU’S TABLE
Protesters disrupted the Watergate Hotel last night, targeting Netanyahu, Israeli Mossad agents, and the Secret Service. Mealworms and maggots were placed on banquet tables, while crickets were released on multiple floors. Fire alarms were triggered for over 30 minutes, creating chaos to prevent rest before Netanyahu's appearance before Congress.
Source: Palestine Youth Movement on IG.
Genuinely insane that Netanyahu can just give a speech on the Palestinian people that is the 2024 version of a “White Man’s Burden” and people will still argue that Israel is not an apartheid state. This MF literally was talking about “Israel’s vision of Palestine” like ok well who said that you get to have a vision on Palestine? That’s like… supposed to not be your place to have a say if you aren’t an apartheid state.
In case you're wondering how cooked we are with climate change and deforestation, here's a recent satellite photograph of South America. Notice anything that's missing?
Show
Oh that's right half the Amazon rainforest is gone... Just look at the Western half of Brazil, you can see the boundaries for protected areas as they are still forested. Just islands of forest.
The New Yorker got caught publishing quotes from two fake "Hezbollah field commander" whose comments read to me like they were coming from hasbara account.
President Biden had just finished trying to persuade a group of congressional Democrats to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure bill when Nancy Pelosi, then the House speaker, took the microphone.
In 30 minutes of remarks on Capitol Hill, Biden had spoken disjointedly and failed to make a concrete ask of lawmakers, according to Democrats in the room. After he left, a visibly frustrated Pelosi told the group she would articulate what Biden had been trying to say, one lawmaker said.
“It was the first time I remember people pretty jarred by what they had seen,” recalled Rep. Dean Phillips (D., Minn.), who would go on to mount an unsuccessful primary challenge against the president.
That was October 2021. That month was the last time Biden met with the House Democratic caucus on the Hill regarding legislation.
They knew. They've known for YEARS.
I must say that I just opened TikTok for the first time in like 2 weeks and all I’m getting is Kamala Kamala Kamala coconut tree this coconut tree that
Feel like I’m losing it. This is the person who couldn’t win a single fucking delegate IN HER HOME STATE and now I’m expected to believe that everyone loves her all of a sudden? Holy shit this is a brand new level of consent manufacturing
- Show
Senate Dems are apparently scrambling to figure out who will preside over Netanyahu's speech and be forever in the back of the pictures of the genocidaire speaking in the Senate. There have been previous reports that Harris and her team do not approve of the blank check that Biden gave Bibi, but who knows what that actually means in practice.
They should fucking make Schumer do it. He signed the letter inviting Bibi.
I'm on a little comment run here but fuck it.
Gotta say that we on the left have a lot to learn from the sheer impressive power that the DNC have when it comes to consolidation when the serious shit happens. Any issue on the left is debated and derailed by loser energy, while the DNC machine can just snap into overdrive mode where literally every single voice all fall in line when there is a serious lib matter. Remember how hard they consolidated for Biden pre-Super Tuesday in 2020, or how the discussion around Kamala went from "can she do it" to "I'll die for her" in literal hours in the last three days. Yeah of course we don't have the media tools for that, but it just pains me to see how hard the "ackshually" loser energy derails any leftist momentum these days, while libs all deeply know that their candidate is a loser but still delude themselves into actually fully believing.
Israel’s national anthem loudly jeered before Olympic soccer match against Mali
Israel’s national anthem was loudly jeered before its soccer team kicked off play at the Paris Olympics against Mali on Wednesday night.
When it came to Israel’s anthem, boos and whistles immediately rang out. The stadium speaker system playing the anthems then got notably louder in what seemed like an effort to drown out the jeers.
This is just the appetizer… I’m hoping that Israel gets booed hard during the opening ceremonies. Though I strongly suspect the broadcasters are expecting this and there will be shenanigans to ensure the broadcast will barely register any booing at all, no matter how loud it actually gets.
Netanyahu abusing the US's policy of free laundry for foreign diplomats:
https://xcancel.com/LadyDumplings/status/1815590415497674972Over the years, the Israeli leader has developed a reputation among the staff at the U.S. president’s guesthouse for bringing special cargo on his trips to Washington: bags and suitcases full of dirty laundry, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
