South Sudan, with a population of 11 million people gained independence in 2011 with the help of the United States. But two years later, the country was in a bloody civil war fueled by ethnic violence. The two leaders at the center of the conflict, South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir and the nation’s vice president Riek Machar formed a unity government in 2020 with the goal of organizing a future election.
(“South Sudan Conflict Escalates,” Foreign Policy, May 7, 2025; “South Sudan: UN Security Council Must Renew and Enforce Arms Embargo to Protect Civilians,” Amnesty International, May 14, 2025)
There were three quarters of a million unhoused persons in the United States in 2024, up 18 percent from the year before according to The Economist. The high costs and shortage of affordable houses is a major cause, along with cuts in rental assistance which will only intensify under Trump and the Congressional Republican’s proposed budget cuts on domestic spending. 35% of homeless people in the U.S. sleep outdoors rather than in shelters, a higher proportion than in most other wealthy developed nations.
(“American Cities Are Criminalising Homelessness. Will That Help?” Economist, May 7, 2025; “Gov. Gavin Newsom Urges Calif Cities and Counties to Ban Homeless Encampments,” Associated Press, May 14, 2025)
Beyond the Bars is a Miami-based member-led worker center for people with criminal records and their families—the first labor organization of its kind in the United States. The focus is teaching temporary workers who left the criminal justice system, how to advocate for themselves and improve their working conditions. Typically, workers with criminal records were seen as ‘unorganizable,’ observed Richard Wallace of the Chicago-based group Equity and Transformation, who organizes black workers in the informal jobs market.
(“Building Bridges and Erasing Jail Debt,” In These Times, May 1, 2025)
