• In Argentina’s mountainous Patagonia region home to the indigenous Mapuche people, fracking wells dot the harsh landscape. The land shook on Sept. 14th when a fracking well there exploded and burned for 24 days, spewing natural gas and other toxic elements into the air. According to the Guardian newspaper, fracking accidents occur regularly in Vaca Mueta, one of the world’s largest shale oil and gas reserves. In 2018, the area experienced over 900 fracking incidents.
(“Indigenous Mapuche Pay High Price for Argentina’s Fracking Dream,” Guardian, Oct. 14, 2019)
• In early 2019, the Trump administration laid out its strategy to deny China’s pick to lead the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) based in Rome. In the spring, as the US and European Union split over which candidate to back, China’s candidate Qu Dongyu captured a majority of votes to lead the FAO.
(“Outfoxed and Outgunned: How China Routed the US in an UN Agency,” Foreign Policy, Oct. 23, 2019)
• In April, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put together a blacklist of campaign consultants who were working for insurgent Democrats challenging incumbents. In These Times magazine reports that the Democratic Campaign Committee’s directive stated that any consultant, polling firm, communications strategist or field operative that helped insurgent challengers would be ineligible for future work with the DCCC—practically forcing them to steer clear of any insurgent, if they ever wanted to work on a Democratic congressional campaign again.
(“How the DCCC’s ‘Blacklist’ Could Blow Up in the Democratic Establishment’s Face,” In These Times, Oct. 9, 2019; DCCC Blacklist [form to join the Blacklist])
This week’s News Summary was narrated by Anna Manzo.
