In “The World Beyond OX1”, the The Blue’s Global Affairs team explores some of the most interesting stories from around the world.
Matt Hancock Joins I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
Confirmed to enter the Australian jungle as a late addition, former health secretary Matt Hancock has been suspended from the Conservative Party. Joining a line-up already consisting of England football star Jill Scott, Love Island Star Olivia Atwood, and pop icon Boy George, Mr Hancock has received much backlash from his Tory colleagues. Although Mr Hancock will be allowed contact with his team in the case of an urgent matter, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has released a statement that “MPs should be working hard for their constituents, whether that is in the House or in their constituency”.
Despite having lost the Tory whip and subsequent calls for his resignation as West Suffolk MP, Matt Hancock has defended his decision to join “I’m A Celeb”. Claiming in the Sun that he hasn’t “had one too many pina coladas”, Mr Hancock believes that the show will provide ample opportunity for public engagement and for the promotion of his dyslexia campaign, with TV being the key to reaching young people.
Itaewon Crush: South Korea Faces Halloween Tragedy
South Korea’s government is facing much criticism, following a deadly Halloween crush in Seoul, which saw 156 dead. A popular destination for many partygoers on Halloween, thousands visited Itaewon to partake in the celebrations. Accessing the strip of bars and clubs from the Itaewon subway station via an alleyway roughly 4m wide, crowds quickly formed with people slowly becoming unable to move. Becoming aware of the dangerous situation unfolding, numerous phone calls were made to 112, South Korea’s emergency number, with one caller telling the police that “many people are being crushed… it is chaos”.
Despite receiving 11 calls begging for help, officers were only mobilised as a response to four of them. Giving rise to questions of why police were not sent to control the situation, the public is demanding answers as to how this happened and how things were able to spiral so far out of control. The national police chief, Yoon Hee-geun, has since admitted the insufficiency of the police response and has announced a special investigative team tasked with looking into the incident. However, public demands for justice have led to the unfolding of several protests across South Korea, with many calling for the resignation of President, Yoon Suk-yeol’s, government.
Xi Jinping Announces New Chinese Politburo
Following the conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, President Xi Jinping announced his new 24-member Politburo in the symbolic revolutionary base of Yan’an. Fittingly, President Xi preached a wartime ethos, calling for China’s leaders to carry forward the “Yan’an spirit” of “pioneering self-reliance and arduous struggle“. This theme was echoed by Xi’s choice of senior leaders, reflecting a focus on developing advanced military and technological capabilities while further consolidating his paramount leadership over China.
Of the 13 individuals promoted to the Politburo, all either have strong personal ties to Xi, or considerable technical expertise or experience relevant to his policy priorities of advanced technologies, security and military power. Additionally, 15 of the Politburo members have strong ties to Taiwan, a heavily contentious issue as China seeks to further enforce territorial claims over the island amidst pressure from the United States and its allies. Beyond their credentials, the fundamental characteristic linking the new Politburo members is their political loyalty to Xi, with several prospective rivals with ties to the Communist Youth League, a rival faction, being removed entirely. Most notably, Li Keqiang, who was premier, and Wang Yang, who was widely see as a candidate for the next premiership, were both removed and sent into retirement.
Hu Jintao, former president of the Communist Youth League, was also removed from the committee, reluctantly being escorted from the stage at the closing of the party congress in a now viral video. Moreover, this marks the first Politburo in two-decades where there was not a single woman among the 24-member body. Following Sun Chunlan’s retirement, no women were promoted to take her place, despite several being tipped for this promotion given their extensive experience. Despite Xi’s pledge to, “adhere to the basic state policy of gender equality”, this decision heavily reflects the unfortunate persistence of the Chinese Communist Party’s roots as a patriarchal institution.
As Xi likely moves into his third term as president, his Politburo is an emphatic statement of his dominance over the party and a clear move to cement his status as the absolute leader of China and the guiding role of his political thought within the party.
New Zealand Suspends Human Rights Dialogue with Iran
In a statement released on Monday, New Zealand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nanaia Mahuta, announced that New Zealand has suspended its official bilateral human rights dialogue with Iran, the dialogue first being established in 2018 with the stated hope of advancing human rights issues and concerns. However, New Zealand has decided that bilateral approaches on human rights were no longer tenable because of Iran denying basic human rights and violently suppressing protests following the death of Mahsa Amini.
In her statement, Mahuta said, ‘violence against women, girls or any other members of Iranian society to prevent their exercise of universal human rights is unacceptable and must end”, strongly condemning the Iranian government’s actions and relatively poor track record of upholding women’s rights. This follows the United Nations human rights experts releasing a statement on 26th October condemning the use of force in Iran against protestors and calling on the Human Rights Council to urgently take necessary action to address the situation. New Zealand now joins the EU in outrightly condemning the Iranian government for their actions against protestors, the bloc introducing sanctions against Iran such as a travel ban and an asset freeze on 17th October. The New Zealand government had so far been quiet on the issue, but following the statement, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is now urging United Nations member states to remove Iran from the UN Commission for the Status of Women. Beyond that, New Zealand is considering further action, with Green Party foreign affairs spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman calling for a freeze on the assets, bank accounts and travel of those supporting violence in Iran, though it remains to be seen what course of action Prime Minister Ardern will take.
Affirmative Action Takes the Stand in US Supreme Court Hearings
Monday brought with it the newest tide of the US Supreme Court’s conservative-backed scrutiny of American institutions. Affirmative action took the stand, and the court heard opening arguments for two cases brought forward by anti-affirmative action non-profit, Students for Fair Admissions, against both Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. SFFA, led by a veteran anti-affirmative action campaigner Edward Blum, claimed that both universities’ affirmative action programmes violate the 14th amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. As is becoming uncannily familiar to observe, the justices expressed views as polarised as American society itself, with the 6-3 conservative-liberal split placing considerable power with the affirmative-action-sceptic conservative majority.
Implications of overruling the landmark affirmative action case, Grutter vs. Bolinger (2003), would stretch from the erosion of the diversity of university student bodies, exposition of the systemic racism in the American schooling system, and transformation of the face of corporate America in reversal of any progress towards racial equality for black, Latino and First Nations people since the Civil Rights movement. Like in Roe vs. Wade, restrictions on the EPA’s emission capping abilities, and the June 23rd gun rights ruling, the Supreme Court is again the site of a reckoning between conservative and liberal America where historical tensions over race, gender, and class are colliding.
A New “Democratic Ecosystem“
Environmentalism is a cornerstone of Brazilian politics and leadership, with threats to the Amazon rainforest painting this cornerstone bright red. Comprising over 40% of Brazil’s total landmass, the Amazon is a global centre of biodiversity – 3 million species constitute the ecosystem – and it stores 76 billion tonnes of locked away carbon. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s 50.9% win in Brazil’s elections against incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro, therefore, represents an opportunity for a retreat from destructive practices and reconstruction of the rainforest’s defence mechanisms. Far-right populist Bolsonaro’s premiership was hallmarked by its condoning of increased deforestation; an illegal gold-rush in the Yanomami territory, which infringed on indigenous rights; and the freezing of the conservationist Amazon Fund’s governing body.
Conservationists have subsequently expressed hope for Brazil’s new leadership, both because of the ending of Bolsonaro’s destruction, and potential for da Silva to reinstate the environmentalist-minded policy making of his previous presidency in 2003-2010. In cooperation with incoming environmental minister Marina Silva, Lula has promised that, “Brazil is to retake its leadership in the fight against the climate crisis”, to the cheers of conservationists world-wide. Action behind these words also appears to be starting early, with Lula sending a high-level delegate to COP27 in the next week as well as pledging a zero-deforestation policy. A majority of lawmakers close to Bolsonaro in the Brazilian congress, alongside a large number of minority voters in Brazilian society do pose threats and resistance to Lula’s promises. Nevertheless, the termination of Bolsonaro’s destructive practices alone can be seen as a conservationist win, and environmentalists hope that fundamental steps in the right direction will be made under da Silva’s left-wing leadership.