Fueled by Western Capitalism, China is on the rise, knocking down forests, displacing watersheds, and exhaling a toxic amalgam of gases and particulates along its way. China's economy, if it continues to grow, will result in tremendous environmental devastation.Factory Pollution in China
In the Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu, India there are 350,000 Dalit people who are under threat of being displaced by a government-approved iron ore company. The people of the area have spoken out against the presence of this facility but at present the government is not backing down.The iron ore facility will not only displace people but also their livestock, temples, homes, educational and health facilities as well as break apart communities that have been existing here foryears.
As working hours wound down in Sichuan, a southwestern Chinese province, 29-year-old human-resources manager Liu Lun invited recent college graduate and new hire Chen Dan into his office and asked her to be his girlfriend. When she refused, he grabbed her by the neck and forcefully kissed her. Colleagues overheard and called police. Chen escaped.Xiong Jie
Journalists are being killed, arrested and banned from entering and reporting from combat zone areas in Sri Lanka. Civilians are being held in refugee camps within their own country while the government bombards its own citizens. Suresh Premachandran, Parliament member from Tamil Student Funeral Procession
A smoky sunset in the choking streets around Old Delhi Railway Station, where the traffic is permanently stalled. Low sunlight through a violet cloud bathes the scene in blood. Stringy cycle-rickshaw drivers strain every muscle with a mountainous load of goods to be despatched from the station. Everything moves with agonizing slowness, as though people are in an alien element. As indeed they are: displaced villagers struggling to survive in the city.
The ongoing conflict between the Sinhala and the Tamils that has ebbed and flowed derives its emotional force, in part, from competing beliefs that began during the colonial period about legitimate rule, economic well-being, and sacred authority. Sri Lankan Peace Rally
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019