For weeks, Beijing has harassed Hong Kong’s democratic opposition, which includes the arrest of Martin Lee, leader of the Democratic Party and other activists. Chinese officials are now openly discussing taking steps to supersede the Basic Law, the constitution which governs local affairs in Hong Kong. Chinese authorities have recently denied visa applications from foreign journalists, activists and academics, including Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
(“Hong Kong Security Law: What Is It and Why Is It Worrying?” BBC, May 22, 2020; “One Country, One System: The Week China Shredded Its Promise to Hong Kong,” Washington Post, May 24, 2020; “Businesses Fret That China’s Clampdown May Drive Commerce Out of Hong Kong,” New York Times, May 22, 2020)
Fear of deadly police violence is escalating in Rio de Janeiro’s impoverished favela neighborhoods. By last count, five people a day are murdered by the city’s police, who are largely immune from prosecution. At the same time, the overall level of violence in Rio is declining, even as right-wing politicians like Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro declared an all-out war against drug gangs.
Decades before the COVID-19 pandemic drew attention to the exploitation and inequality in America’s food supply chain, the archetypical midwestern American family farm began a slow but steady decline. While mechanization, genetically modified crops, information technology and advanced management practices have multiplied the wealth creation from American farmland, large parts of rural America have been hollowed out. Suicide rates among farmers are high. More than half of farm households now lose money from farming. They keep going only because family members work other jobs.
(“Rural America Doesn’t Have to Starve to Death,” The Nation, Feb. 18, 2020)
This week’s News Summary was narrated by Anna Manzo.
