Tag: Burma

Background Briefing: December 6, 2021

 

The Attorney General Takes on Texas Republicans Over Their Brazenly Racist Redistricting

We begin with the announcement today by Attorney General Garland that the DOJ is suing the state of Texas over its brazenly racist redistricting maps. Following the new census that finds the population of Texas has grown by 4 million in the last 10 years with 95% of the increase Latino, African American and other minorities, yet the Republican legislature in Texas has engineered the state’s two new congressional districts into gerrymandered white majority seats. Joining us is Lydia Camarillo who serves as the President of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, a national non-profit non-partisan organization based out of San Antonio, Texas. She plays a key role in developing the tactical strategies for the SVREP nonpartisan voter registration, voter education and get out the vote campaigns and we will discuss whether her organization and others representing minority voters will prevail with the help of the DOJ under Section 2 of what is left of the Voting Rights Act.

 

Myanmar’s Military Mafia Sentences the Country’s Former Civilian Leader

Then, with the sentencing today of the former civilian leader of Myanmar on bogus charges by the brutal military junta, we will speak with Michael Beer, Director of Nonviolence International and a global activist for human rights and minority rights. Having trained activists in many countries, including Myanmar, Kosovo, Tibet, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Zimbabwe, and the United States, he travels to Myanmar frequently and has worked for 30 years supporting the nonviolent campaigns for peace, justice, and democracy in the country. We discuss how the Mafia of murderous and crooked generals stays in power with the help of a similar military Mafia in Thailand and the Communist government in China. 

 

The Diplomatic Boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics Announced Today

Then finally we examine the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics announced today by the White House because of the Chinese Communist government’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.” Joining us is Sean Roberts, a professor of the practice of international affairs and director of the International Development Studies Program at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. He is the author of the new book The War on the Uyghurs: China’s Internal Campaign against a Muslim Minority.