• In Germany, the far-right anti-immigrant, climate change denying party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is rising rapidly in the polls ahead of next year’s state elections. AfD could overtake mainstream parties in some regions in eastern Germany, where the extremist party has a strong following amid high levels of economic frustration.
(“Germany’s Far-Right Rides High on Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Green Agenda,” Reuters, June 7, 2023)
• A year after the murder of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous researcher Bruno Pereia in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, Brazilian prosecutors arrested the alleged mastermind of the killings, Ruben Dario da Silva Villar, the head of an illegal armed international fishing operation. Phillips and his guide Pereia were on a trip reporting on the efforts of Amazon locals to defend the rainforest from criminal gangs that were illegally catching and selling fish from Brazil’s protected Indigenous lands, before selling them in neighboring towns in Colombia and Peru.
(“Brazil Police Arrest Alleged Mastermind Behind the Murders of Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous Expert Bruno Pereira,” Guardian, June 4, 2023; “Journalism Mustn’t Be Sidelined: Colleagues To Complete Slain Reporter’s Book,” Guardian, June 5, 2023)
• Earlier this spring hundreds of festive party goers packed the Metro night club in Chicago for a “Chicago Loves Drag” fundraiser as many Republican controlled states like Tennessee were passing laws to ban drag performances. The event was a fundraiser for drag performers and groups fighting the current GOP culture war attack on the LGBTQ community.
(“You Can’t Crush a Movement,” In These Times, June 2, 2023; “Judge Finds Tennessee Law Aimed at Restricting Drag Shows Unconstitutional,” New York Times, June 3, 2023)
This week’s News Summary was narrated by Anna Manzo.
