November 20, 2019 | Written By - Sophia Casa '23
On October 30th, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Parliament decided that citizens would go back to the polls on a date around December 12th to vote for a new Parliament. Johnson believes that the current Parliament is the problem and that a new group could get his Brexit plan through. However, this is a big gamble, with perhaps the biggest risk being that Johnson could lose his parliamentary post as Prime Minister. Finally, Boris Johnson has accepted an offer from the EU to move Brexit’s deadline to January 31st 2020. But with all the unknowns the new elections pose, Britain’s fate in the EU is still up in the air.
On October 14th, nine Catalonian politicians were sentenced to 9-13 years in prison. Among them was former vice-president of Catalonia, Oriol Junqueras. Later that day, thousands of protesters took to the streets. The explanation requires some history on Catalonia. Catalonia is an autonomous region of Spain. Back in June 2017, the President of Catalonia declared that a referendum would be held on October 1st, on whether Catalonia should be independent or not. In response, the Spanish Government seized ballot forms and arrested activists; as a result, less than half of the population of Catalonia participated. While the verdict showed 90% of voters wanted Catalonia’s independence, the vote was declared illegal by the Spanish Government and was therefore invalid. As of now, Catalonians are still holding out for another referendum for independence.
An 84-year-old man was seen attempting to light the doors of the Bayonne Mosque, in France, on fire. After being interrupted by two men in their 70s (74 and 78 respectively) he opened fire on them. Finally the gunman set fire to a car in the parking lot before fleeing the scene. Police later arrested the perpetrator at his home and he was identified as Claude Sinké, a man who was a candidate in local elections in 2015. Sinké had been a member of France’s far right party, the National Rally, but had been expelled from that group, cited as being an extremist. In response to the incident, France’s president Emmanuel Macron, tweeted that, “The Republic will never tolerate hatred”.
Northern Ireland hasn’t had a government since January of 2017. Guidelines were laid out stating that if a government wasn’t formed by October 21st 2019, pro same-sex marriage and abortion laws would be legislated. At the very last minute, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) attempted to stop the new laws from going into place but the meeting ended with no new revelations and at midnight on October 21st, the 158 year old abortion ban was lifted and deadlines for legislation on abortion and same-sex marriage were made. In all of the UK, Northern Ireland was the only place that did not allow same-sex marriage. Additionally, since 2017, women have had to travel to England for abortion access, since Northern Ireland makes nearly all cases a criminal offense (even in cases of incest or rape).
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