TW: A murder in France
We approach the home stretch, and boy are we exhausting. This week saw with it a deluge of American news, but it didn’t completely drown out international happenings. COVID cases are beginning to spike again in several countries, including the UK, while China begins trials on an experimental vaccine. French cities are implenting a curfew to cut down on their numbers, and Gov. Chris Christie told Republicans to wear a mask. Let’s see which countries end up lowering cases.
Outside of COVID (is that even a thing?) Jacinda Arden (I love her)’s labor party looks likely to win New Zealand’s elections. Her COVID response has been phenomenal and–oh, COVID related. Let’s see… The UK holds fast on ending any EU talks and is I guess headed straight off a cliff into the unknown. It seems like a great time to mess with healthcare workers, really. And freedom of movement? More like they managed to fuck up freedom of religion by having lockdowns during several other holidays and then making a loophole for Christmas. No, I’m not hanging out in England twitter to avoid American issues (I actually am not, my mentions have never quite recovered from one time I shit talked JK Rowling and the terfs descended on me like bees).
The latest news as of this time seems to be the Paris beheading (though I am always hesitant to pick a “latest” topic because it just seems to invite something else to happen) For those of you who don’t remember, in 2015 a magazine called Charlie Hebdo that published controversial cartoons was attacked for doing so, and there was a whole thing about “Je Suis Charlie” and freedom of press that reached international audiences. The trial has finally begun. A teacher discussing the case in class upset several Muslim parents for including the controversial Muhammad cartoons (Muslims believing Muhammad should not be shown) and was murdered, according to the official statement by Macron, though as investigations are still ongoing and it’s 2020 I’m not labelling anything anymore. So far 9 have been arrested in connection with the attack, the second to make international news since the trial. The first occured three weeks ago outside the Charlie Hebdo office.
These bits of information are then followed by, and this is only a slight exaggeration, twenty million articles regarding the election, WHICH I WENT TO THE BBC TO AVOID. It is not an understatement to say the world is watching. The amount of countries currently struggling with freedom of speech (and press, and religion, and assembly, and protest (no notes needed for that)) COVID, and waiting for the US to set a tone for the next four years all seems to be drawing to a head.
Which brings us to a very serious matter with international implication; if Trump leaves, where is he going to go? Surely no other country wants him–even places like Russia don’t like him, they’re just willing to use him. Where on Earth will he go?