German Conservative leader Friedrich Metz, who leads the Christian Democratic Union/ Christian Social Union alliance, failed in an attempt to pass legislation that would tighten border security and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers just weeks before the nation’s federal election on February 23rd. Metz’s alliance with the far-right Alternative for Germany Party or AfD, linked with neo-Nazis, fueled outrage and massive protests. Germany’s former Conservative Party Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the alliance with the AfD, as did holocaust survivors, faith leaders, journalists and opposition politicians.
(“Migration Deals Leave German Party Reeling,” New York Times News, Jan. 31, 2025; “Germany’s AfD Migration Bill Fails,” Foreign Policy, Feb. 1, 2025)
New Zealand’s political leaders gathered at the Waitangi treaty grounds in the country’s far north on February 5th to celebrate the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, considered New Zealand’s founding document, and instrumental in upholding the Māori people’s indigenous rights.
(“Māori Protesters Turn Their Backs on Government Ministers at Waitangi Day Event,” Guardian, Feb. 5, 2025)
Days before the Super Bowl game is played in New Orleans, nurses at the city’s University Medical Center called a two-day strike in an effort to win their first contract. The strike, organized by National Nurses United, which represents more than 600 nurses at the hospital, has expressed concern over what they describe as management’s “union-busting stall tactics” and an unwillingness to make progress in contract talks.
(“In Wake of the Bourbon Street Attack, the Super Bowl Arrives and So Does a Major Strike,” In These Times, Feb. 4, 2025)
