World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The UN Security Council passed a resolution which condemned attacks “targeting persons as a result of their sexual orientation” in the aftermath of the Orlando massacre.  LGBT rights are not protected in many countries in the world.  According to the New York Times:

“Homosexuality is still a crime in 73 of the world’s 193 countries, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association; in 13, the death penalty can be applied. In some countries, like Egypt, laws against “debauchery” are used to target gays. Russian law prohibits what it calls “propaganda on nontraditional sexual relationships,” which critics call a thinly veiled measure to harass gay men and lesbians.”

The resolution is a victory for a definition of human rights that is truly universal.  There are, however, many more steps to be taken before that dream is realized.

Johnny Miller is a photographer who has used a drone to capture the reality of income inequality in South Africa.  The photographs reveal a country that was once ruled by a white minority which enforced a highly unequal political and economic system called apartheid.  South Africa overthrew this system in democratic elections in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela.  Despite the legal end of apartheid Miller’s photographs clearly indicate that inequality is still a serious problem in South Africa.

Hout Bay and Imizamo, Cape Town, South Africa

Terrorism is a major issue in many countries in the world and there is a profoundly mistaken belief that terrorism occurs because security forces such as the police are not vigilant enough in dealing with suspects.  Being tough on immigrants and giving the police and FBI greater powers is often suggested as a way to address the terrorist threat.  That view is naive.  The Washington Post has the data that indicates the impossibility of the task.  The long-term solution to the problem is to more effectively address the grievances of those who embrace violence.  The short-term solution is to end the false distinction between “domestic” and “foreign” terrorism.  For reasons that I cannot understand or even fathom, we seem able to accept domestic terrorism such as the massacre in Newtown, CT or Aurora, CO or Charlston, SC with less hysteria because the killers were white males.  Americans have for a long time accepted levels of violence that most other societies deem completely unacceptable.  That attitude is a serious problem, played out along racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual orientation lines, and until the American people decide that the attitude must change, violence will remain an intrinsic part of the culture.