You may have never heard of Eta, Europe’s last insurgency but today they have agreed to formally disarm the BBC reports. They are Handing an inventory of their weapons over to the French judicial authorities during a ceremony in the French city of Bayonne.
Eta, or Euskadi Ta Akatasuna (Basque Homeland and freedom) first emerged in the 1960s as a student resistance movement opposed to General Franco’s regime. Their aim? to create an independent Basque state that would straddle France and Spain. They have waged a bloody campaign for this goal over the past few decades. More than 800 people have lost their lives to Eta and thousands more have been wounded. The transition to democracy in 1975 may have granted the Basque people a great of autonomy but Eta and its hard line supporters have always remained determined to push for full independence. This push has led to the deaths of many of members of the Spanish national police force and a number of politicians opposed to Eta’s goals.
Aftermath of Madrid airport bomb – Credit – Telegraph
In recent years Eta has been in decline. Eta’s violent methods have alienated many of their supporters. On top of this French and Spanish police actions have squeezed their resources and their political wing has been banned. This has reduced the flow of funds to Eta and prevented them from gaining any political power. Over the last decade Eta has lost much of its support and many of their traditional supporters believe that they are out of touch with public opinion.
The moment that marked Eta’s decline was in July 1997. They kidnapped a 29-year-old local councilor, Miguel Angel Bianco. In return for his release they demanded that 460 prisoners across Spain be returned to the Basque region, the Spanish government refused. Eta responded by shooting him twice in the head. The reaction of the Spanish people was one of abject horror. 6 million people across Spain took to the streets to demand an end to Eta’s violence. Even some of Eta’s own supporters condemned the killing.
This latest move will likely be met with wary skepticism by the Spanish. This is not the first time that Eta have agreed to end the violence. In 1998 they declared a ceasefire in the wake of the outrage at the death of Mr Bianco. This was broken a year later in December 1999 when the Spanish government refused to discuss Basque independence. In 2006 Eta announced a ceasefire that was broken in the same year with the bombing of a car park in Madrid that left 2 dead. In 2011 Eta declared a permanent, internationally verifiable, ceasefire that seems to have held, but it maintained its weapons, until now.
Only time will tell if Eta has truly lain down their arms, bringing an end to the last 50 years of violence. For now, we can celebrate this step towards peace and hope that this time, it holds.
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, is traveling to Washington, D.C., to meet with Republican lawmakers who will probably lead committees that regulate the tech sector.
Republican representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio, Darrel Issa of California, and Cathy McMorris Rogers of Washington are among those with whom Cook has booked meetings.
The meetings were probably planned several weeks, if not months, beforehand. Top conservatives have criticized Apple since the beginning, and many of them have joined with Twitter CEO Elon Musk in their recent dispute with Apple.
Jordan has publicly expressed his support for Elon Musk, as Bloomberg notes.
When the GOP wins over the House in 2023, Jordan is also set to serve as chair of the House Judiciary Committee. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s chairman is most likely to be McMorris Rodgers.
They both will play a key role in developing the GOP’s technology policy agenda for 2023.
What is particularly on the agenda is unclear. Even when he is not called to testify about big tech, Cook travels to Washington, DC, on several occasions each year.
The goal is to make sure marginalized people are considered in environmental decisions.
According to Reuters, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established a new office to assist underserved communities in coping with the additional responsibilities of pollution and climate change. 200 EPA workers from the Washington headquarters and 10 regional bureaus will work in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.
“The establishment of a new office dedicated to advancing environmental justice and civil rights at EPA will ensure the lived experiences of underserved communities are central to our decision-making while supporting community-driven solutions,” remarked Kamala Harris, vice president of the US.
As part of a $60 billion investment in environmental justice, one of the main responsibilities of the new office will be to supervise the distribution of $3 billion in grants for environmental justice that were made possible by the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act. Additionally, it will ensure that other EPA initiatives adhere to President Biden’s Justice40 initiative, which aims to ensure that 40% of certain government spending go to underserved communities. Finally, it will assist localities in obtaining funds, upholding human rights legislation, and resolving environmental disputes.
The opening of the new office took place in Warren County, North Carolina, the scene of demonstrations against the disposal of toxic waste there in 1982. While the 22-acre dump was not stopped as a result of the civil disobedience actions and arrests that followed, the current environmental justice movement was born. Participants remembered the protests’ 40th anniversary last week.
The competition between Pewdiepie and T-Series has been going on for quite a while. I say this mostly because if Pewdiepie was in the middle of a smear campaign, I would certainly believe that it was all a ploy by T-Series in order to make him lose popularity. However, it seems like T-Series doesn’t have to do much as Pewdiepie is no stranger to getting himself into trouble.
So, what did Pewdiepie do this time? Well, in his most recent edition of “Pew News,” a semi-satirical series where Pewds offers his own take on news events or YouTube discussions, he dedicates the last portion of the video to shouting out smaller YouTube creators he enjoys watching. One of those creators is E;R (otherwise known as “EsemicolonR”), an essayist who often includes anti-Semitic, sexist, homophobic, and cruel language in his videos.
At least that’s what TheVerge and so many outlets/other YouTubers are saying. I took a look at E;R’s content and saw mostly meme videos about political stuff. The guy even made a tribute to Tay AI. You can see a whole documentary made about this by Internet Historian down below:
However, the subjects tackled in the videos can be a bit more problematic because of the current political climate with Pewdiepie. As such, we can assume that a lot of people don’t find this very funny and even reprehensible. Especially when the US is caught in the middle of tension thanks to laws like FOSTA, which are an indirect cause of Tumblr’s collapse right now.
Ever since Pewdiepie has made the shoutout, the channel has gained over 15,000 Subscribers. Of course, this also means that the ire of the people who are against him has risen even more. As such, we’re in this situation where Pewdiepie has gotten himself into trouble yet again despite knowing that the current situation is tense. I guess some people will never learn.
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