On the docks of the industrial harbor of Port Louis, Mauritius, stands a solemn monument in remembrance of where the British government stranded Chagos islanders a thousand miles from their native land. Barred from returning home, destitute, and resigned to live in abject poverty in a hellish slum, Chagossians say their family and friends, young…
Author: Paul F.J. Aranas
Tragic Folly: Supporting Death and Destruction in Yemen
Last year, in the Yemeni village of Dahyan, a Saudi airstrike targeted a bus of schoolboys on a field trip, killing 54. Forty-four were children. The Guardian and CNN identified the munition as an MK-82 (500 lb.) bomb; experts stated it was “a laser-guided Paveway, manufactured by the U.S. company Lockheed Martin,” one of the…
Climate Elephant in Our Room
An elephant is in the room. It’s right here in front of us all, whether we like it or not. Is it Exxon or Shell? No, that’s the orangutan in the building: a central problem, but widely talked about and well known. Attend almost any climate rally, and you might notice cardboard signs opposing the…
Addressing the Climate Crisis
Yesterday, Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, addressed Congress and told legislators to get their act together on climate change. ‘I want you to listen to the scientists, and I want you to unite behind the science, and then I want you to take real action,’ she said. Last year, after the Parkland massacre,…