A World on Fire
Wildfires in Australia and widespread cultural unrest in China
A photo taken by the New York Times of the Australian Wildfires
January 10, 2020
So, Australia, as of currently, is on fire.
Twenty-five people have reportedly died and many more have been injured.
An article on Vox reports the following: “Australia is one of the great biodiversity hotspots in the world. The island continent was isolated from the rest of the world for millions of years, allowing evolution to take strange new paths, and until fairly recently, with little human influence. Around 244 species of mammals are found only in Australia.The loss here is almost hard to fathom. A staggering one billion animals are now dead, though there’s a good deal of uncertainty in that figure. Other animals have not been burned alive but have faced death due to the destruction of their natural environment, which they rely on for food and shelter. Regardless of the exact numbers, this is a crisis for biodiversity in Australia, which is home to some of Earth’s most distinctive animals, like marsupials.”
When things are on fire, smoke resides. Smoke is a pollutant that causes respiratory sicknesses and heart problems. Small particles can lodge themselves into the walls of the lungs and get into the bloodstream.
Volunteer firefighters have been working so hard to help put out the flames. “The pace at which the bush fires have spread and the subsequent heavy smoke have made it difficult for emergency services to access and evacuate some communities, at times forcing residents to flee to beaches and other water bodies to avoid impact and await rescue,” the Red Cross reports.
In China, Muslim children are being separated from their homes and families
Children being taken from their mothers and put into boarding schools. Around 400 kids have lost one or both parents to internment camps, or prison.
John Sudworth of the BBC News claims, “The Chinese authorities say the Uighurs are being educated in ‘vocational training centres’ in order to combat violent religious extremism. But evidence shows that many are being detained for simply expressing their faith—praying or wearing a veil—or for having overseas connections to places like Turkey.”
Mothers that have been separated from their children have voiced their concerns, according to Sudworth.
1) “‘Thousands of innocent children are being separated from their parents and we are giving our testimonies constantly,'” one mother tells me. “‘Why does the world keep silent when knowing these facts?'”
2) “‘I don’t know who is looking after them,” one mother says, pointing to a picture of her three young daughters, ‘there is no contact at all.'”
3) “‘Another mother, holding a photo of three sons and a daughter, wipes away her tears. “I heard that they’ve been taken to an orphanage,’ she says.”
This is a blatant form of racism. These children are being ripped from their homes, and put into boarding schools. The government is re-homing this children after taking away their parents, why? So that they don’t practice their religion. So that these kids won’t grow up connected to their roots or culture.
Dr. Adrian Zenz, a German researcher who has worked to expose how government officials have targeted certain groups for such reindoctrination, has named the issue outright.
“I believe the evidence points to what we must call cultural genocide,” he says.
Sources and Donations:
To help koala’s and other animals, you can donate: https://donate.wwf.org.au/donate/koala-crisis/koala-crisis?t=AP1119W03#gs.rle5sa
To donate to help people affected: https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-donate
