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Vietnamese health officials disposing of pigs. PHOTO: Manan Vatsyayana / AFP
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Swine fever continued to cut a swathe through Asia's pig stocks
- Washington lawmakers tried a new tact: investigating tech giants
- South Koreans pondered scrapping their bizarre age system
- Failed climbs left bodies littered across the Himalayas
- YouTube pulled the plug on Holocaust denial content
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The Raptors went 2-1 against a rampaging Steph Curry
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Liverpool FC became the Champions of Europe (thanks to you)
- Angela Merkel's coalition faced existential challenges
- The World Bank issued warnings about sharply slowing growth
- The other half of the world began to log on to the internet
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The democratic revolution that failed. PHOTO: AFP
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Two events that shook and shaped the world were marked this week. June 4th marked the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and two days later the old Allied forces once again gathered on the beaches of Normandy – 75 years after D-Day. In both events the power and pitfalls of memory were on full display.
Forgetting the 4th of June
180,000 people gathered in Hong Kong this week to remember an event that changed the course of Chinese history. It was a surreal scene, a teeming mass of people all peacefully commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre; something that officially did not happen. China does not have a memory of June 4th, not legally, at least. Instead, the hints of memory are picked up by others around the world. But while the memory is strongest in Hong Kong, that is where it is also the most vulnerable: under Beijing's influence many activists were simply not allowed to enter the city-state in the lead up. If memory is the basis for learning, and the public memory of Tiananmen Square gets excised by state censors, can it still be learned from?
Historical records can be changed but individual experiences can sometimes be harder to erase, which is why so much weight is placed on the artefacts from that event. They are few in number, but powerful because of it. The Tank Man image, for instance, remains highly evocative and is regarded as an iconic tableau of defiance. It's unlikely to be forgotten. The fact that we don't know whether the he is alive or dead adds a perplexing twist to rumination about the photo. Martyrdom usually requires a death, and seeing as there wan't one (at least not one that was publicly acknowledged), the Tank Man has become something of a historical curiosity.
Unfortunately, in the coverage of the anniversary, there was far too little attention paid to the many imaginative and coded ways in which everyday mainland Chinese continue to remember Tiananmen Square. Even as the censors worked overtime, survivors fasted in remembrance of the hunger strike that preceded the massacre. And others snuck in variations of '4/6/1989' into advertisements and social media posts.
For all the censorship, there are clearly two institutions that do remember Tiananmen Square. The first is the army. The massacre left a deep psychological scar on the soldiers who were present, and many who weren't. There was sharp dissent amongst the ranks against the decision to violently clear the protest camp (a fact that often gets lost in Western coverage). The second is the Communist Party itself. It is telling that the party allowed a state newspaper to run an article stating that on June 4 China had "immunised" itself against internal turmoil. Of course, the piece stops short of admitting that 1,000 students or more had been gunned down or crushed beneath tank tracks for their pro-democracy views. But it does still offer a level of acknowledgement, and in so doing makes it less likely that the event will be forgotten entirely.
Losing our memories of the war
On Thursday a host of world leaders gathered on the beaches and fields of the Normandy coast that once groaned under the weight of the largest military operation in human history. Popularised by innumerable Hollywood films and video games, the amphibious assault as part of Operation Overlord has become central to the understanding of the war. It is a totem of bravery, sacrifice and overwhelming power. But today Hitler's fortifications along the Atlantic have mostly disappeared beneath the dunes. Three quarters of a century is a mighty amount of time. And once the last of those who were there on "D-Day" die, all we'll have are images of the leaders of France, the United States and Britain laying wreaths on battlegrounds, memorials and cemeteries. But we mustn't forget that it was commoners, and not the politicians, who lost their lives and limbs on that fateful morning.
Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas and father of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, posited (rather unnecessarily) that it must have been "awkward" for Angela Merkel to sit amongst leaders of the countries that so violently felled Germany in 1945. His comment is noteworthy because it speaks to a fascinating divergence in how wars are remembered and learned from.
For the victors, the war has become something to celebrate. But celebrations don't necessarily afford opportunities to learn. For instance, we witnessed sharp retorts this week to suggestions that one of D-Day's bloodiest (and most mythologised) battles could perhaps have been avoided altogether. Conversely, for the defeated – the passage of time provides occasion to reflect. Germany suffered a cataclysmic defeat that reordered its physical and psychological borders; and that is why today, for the most part, Germans have a more nuanced understanding of the war.
Back on the beach the commemorations continued. There were survivors of the Normandy landings present. Some even parachuted into the fields behind the beach, replicating jumps they had made a lifetime ago. They should be cherished while they are still with us. Once they are gone the narrative will be reshaped by the interests of people who had no skin in the game, and learning will become much harder.
To borrow a line from Lee Sandlin's superlative essay on the war, "it's as though the experience of war fits the old definition of poetry: war is the thing that gets lost in translation."
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A sign of the times. PHOTO: AFP
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So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu
Theresa May has stepped down as head of the Conservative and Unionist Party. She will continue as Prime Minister in the dead-time between now and mid-July (assuming that the Tories actually decide on a new leader). While it is rare for outgoing PMs to be active in this period, May is expected to rush through some crowd-pleasers in an attempt to burnish her legacy – a legal commitment to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 has been suggested.
We've often heard of the "Brexit" and "Trump" phenomena being described as two sides of the same coin - the common thread being that both campaigns were fuelled by misinformation and fear. That lent a poetic quality to Trump's state visit coinciding with May's final week as leader of the Tories. Back in Brexit ancient history (2017) Theresa May held Trump's hand in a clear message to the world: nothing will break our special relationship. This time around, she could barely wring a handshake out of him.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Theresa May's potential replacements within the Tory ranks have mostly positioned themselves as ready to fix the mess she made. It is unlikely that she will be remembered otherwise, but she certainly does not deserve to carry the can alone. That David Cameron is allowed to go about his business in polite society is a mystery.
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Standing between Sudanese and self-rule are the janjaweed. PHOTO: Washington Post
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'The bush' comes to Khartoum
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. And it would appear that for every democratic revolution there is an authoritarian counter-revolution. In the wake of Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir's ouster it was hoped that civilians would be given the right to choose their future. Instead the Transitional Military Council (TMC) – a body purpose-built to ensure that the military retains control – has balked at every demand. This week in Khartoum the old guard reasserted itself, cracking down on pro-democracy protesters.
Government forces raided protest camps, firing indiscriminately into crowds. At first the death toll of 30 seemed manageable: the result of a few undisciplined soldiers. But then people began fishing bodies out of the Nile by the dozen. At time of publishing 108 deaths had been confirmed, 400 were wounded and there are reports of multiple rapes. The butchery was done by the feared Rapid Support Forces – known locally as the janjaweed – a provincial paramilitary organisation used by al-Bashir to quash ethnic uprisings (see: Darfur genocide). These are the shock troops held at arm's length to protect the government from its war crimes (torture, ethnic cleansing, weaponised rape, wholesale murder of civilians).
Over the past several weeks the janjaweed have become more prominent in the capital, creating roadblocks and shaking down locals. Now they've shown their true colours. That janjaweed commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo serves as the deputy of the TMC should tell you everything you need to know about how serious the Sudanese army is about the transition to civilian rule. The African Union has suspended Sudan over the killings, but as long as the military is backed by (guess who!) Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., there is little chance of change.
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Helsinki has virtually eliminated rough sleeping with purpose-built apartments. PHOTO: The Conversation
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One for the social scientists
Few health and income determinants are as potent as homelessness. Strategies to combat homelessness vary between countries with strong cultures of social welfare, and those that are left wanting. Many of us are still earnestly debating whether more emergency housing, UBI's or earned income tax credits are the solution. Meanwhile, the Finns – using the power of lateral thinking – have gone ahead and solved the problem by simply providing the homeless with homes. This radically simple thinking works: Finland is now the only country in the EU where homelessness is falling.
One for the thrift-shoppers
Each year European luxury fashion brands destroy hundreds of millions of euros in unsold clothing, cosmetics and jewellery for the sake of 'label exclusivity'. They argue that it is better to torch thousands of unworn items rather than sell them at a discount (students of the Marie Antoinette school of economic management). Thankfully, the French government has moved to ban this ludicrous practice by 2023. Kudos.
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A huge illegal logging camp. PHOTO: Bruno Kelly / Reuters
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Trade war crimes
By now most people know just how important the Amazon rainforest is. It is not only an invaluable store of biodiversity and home to precious flora and fauna, but also an irreplaceable carbon sink that is vital for the survival of our species. And so it is a cruel irony that our economic system has outpaced our scientific understanding. Even though we now understand the importance of these forests, they are being logged faster-than-ever to make way for soy crops. Right now deforestation in the Amazon has reached the quickest pace in a decade and is accelerating.
It's tempting to pin the blame on Brazil's protofascist president Jair Bolsonaro; one of his first moves in office was to ensure that the bureaucrats responsible for protecting the country's irreplaceable rainforests are placed under the control of the logging-friendly agriculture department. Even so, this most recent uptick in felling can be blamed on Donald Trump's trade war with China. Beijing's tariffs on U.S. soy crops have sent ravenous importers scrambling for more product from Brazil. It's not just the global economy that is suffering – it's the globe.
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Quote of the week
"The hope is that over time they can become capable of governing."
– Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner is pursuing his peace "deal of the century" between Israel and Palestine. His opening gambit was to tell one party that they are incapable of self-determination.
Headline of the week
'Metal thieves' steal 56-tonne, 23-metre rail bridge in Russia
– The Independent
Special mention
Who else but bees? This week we learned that these supercreatures can learn to associate symbols with numbers, a skill that a vanishingly small number of species can manage. The finding has kicked open the door to an entire new realm of inter-species communication. What can't these joyous, hallowed honey-givers do? To celebrate this discovery, go plant some native flowers in your yard for them.
Some choice long-reads
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EDITOR'S NOTE: This week a great deal of media in Europe and beyond (yes, us included) reported that Dutch teen Noa Pothoven had been legally euthanised at an end of life clinic. She had endured multiple sexual assaults and was haunted by anorexia and other subsequent mental illnesses. Headline writers gobbled up the story, knowing full well that Dutch end of life clinics are a source of heightened and emotive debate in the other countries.
This did not happen. Noa was informed by the clinic she approached that she was indeed too young to be considered – and that her treatment had not yet run its course. She fell into a state of desolation and anorexia wracked her body. She was placed into a medically-induced coma in her own home in order to deliver food into her malnourished body. A decision was made to move to palliative care; the feeding stopped and eventually her organs did.
Her family deserved better than a slew of viral stories – mostly un-fact-checked – that mischaracterised their tragedy.
Tom Wharton
@trwinwriting
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