October 24th, 2018
Written by - Bridget O'Shea '20
In Germany, the killing of a man by two immigrants in the town of Chemnitz resulted in a right-wing rally that incited mob violence in early September. After the man --who was himself of German-Cuban descent--was murdered, far-right wingers used his death to fuel anti-immigrant sentiment. The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany Party (AfD) organized a rally, eventually resulting in the gathering of more than 6,000 right-wing extremists. The violence and chaos that ensued, as well as the anti-immigration message of the rally, caused many to criticize the people of Chemnitz. When hearing what the general public were saying about them, the locals became upset that they were being portrayed as racists in the media, even though many of them do not share the same views as the far-right extremists present at the rally. In addition, many residents of Chemnitz are upset that politics overshadowed the grief of the local man’s death.
Off the coast of Normandy, English and French fishing vessels are engaged in an on-going scallop war. On August 29, the conflict heated up substantially, resulting in both sides throwing rocks and smoke bombs and ramming each other’s boats in this scallop-rich area. The source of the conflict originates from the different restrictions that the British and the French fishing vessels face; while French ships are restricted to a harvesting season of October 1 to May 15, English vessels are able to harvest the scallops all year long. This has caused much anger among the French vessels as they are left with the scraps. According to France, they will send in their navy if any future conflicts occur. Meanwhile, efforts to resolve the conflict are ongoing as negotiations between industry representatives from the two countries have been taking place for the past 5 years and will continue until an agreement is reached.
Meanwhile, in Italy, Pope Francis faces criticism for responding insufficiently to the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. After now former cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, was accused of sexual misconduct, Pope Francis received a letter from Vatican ex-ambassador, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, featuring his complaints against both Pope Francis and Pope Benedict, claiming that they knew about McCarrick’s misconduct for years. In response, Pope Francis simply said that Viganò ’s letter “speaks for itself.” His lack of a formal response and apology caused another letter of grievances to be sent to the pope; signed by over 30,000 women, this letter protested that his 3-word response was inadequate. Unfortunately, this sexual misconduct is hardly a rare occurrence but, rather, is prevalent throughout all of the world. While this kind of sexual abuse has always existed, only recently have many women who have experienced sexual abuse been able to come forward and share their stories with the world via the #metoo movement. These experiences told via the #metoo movement and revealed through the corruption of people in power have begun to reveal just how deeply entrenched sexual abuse is in our society, initiating a call for change.
Lastly, in England, two Russian men have been charged for the nerve agent attack against Salisbury resident, Sergei Skripal, which took place in March. When Sergei Skripal and his daughter came to the front door of his house on March 4, they were exposed to the military-grade nerve agent, Novichok, resulting in the hospitalization of both Skripal and his daughter. This appeared to be a planned attack against Skripal, as he is a former KGB agent who betrayed dozens of Russian agents to Britain’s MI6 spy service. The two men, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, have ties to the Russian spy service, yet they claim that they were in Britain at the time of the attack simply because they wanted to visit the various tourist spots. However, the British government does not believe these claims to be true and have enough evidence to charge Petrov and Boshirov with attempted murder and conspiracy to murder. British prosecutors have obtained a European Arrest Warrant and police have asked Interpol to issue warrants as well for the arrest of these two men. Throughout all of this, Russia has denied any involvement with Petrov and Boshirov or with the crime.
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