Gen Z protests coupled with social media is becoming a powerful force for change

The Gen Z protests across the developing world are becoming 2025's Arab Spring.

In a bunch of countries, from Nepal to the Philippines to Peru, Indonesia, Madagascar, Bulgaria and Morocco, young people have been leveraging social media to foment what can only be described as revolution. And very successful they have been too.

In Nepal, in response to government corruption, wealth inequality, and a clampdown on social media, young people took to the streets, organizing through platforms like Discord, Reddit, TikTok and Instagram. The protests turned violent after some poor decisions by security forces, but ultimately the social media ban was overturned, the unpopular prime minister resigned, and the young people got to choose his replacement through a poll on Discord (a popular gaming platform). Extraordinary scenes, indeed.

Just a few days later, young people in Madagascar protested against chronic water and power shortages, high unemployment, and underfunded universities. Once again, the protests turned violent and several people were killed. But, in the end, the unpopular president fled, and the military took control of the country. This may not play out quite so well for the protestors, but the power of young voices amplified by social media is undeniable.

Elsewhere, Gen Zers have been galvanized against different local problems - parliamentary salaries, corruption and a police crackdown in Indonesia; pension plans, extortion and crime in Peru; public services, unemployment and government spending decisions in Morocco; flood control projects and corruption in the Philippines; corruption, taxes and social sevices contributions in Bulgaria. But many of the protest strategies are similar, and many of them have even taken to using a common symbol - a pirate with a toothy grin and straw hat, taken from a Japanese manga series. 

The protests are a weird mix of the playful and the deadly earnest, but they have been undeniably effective. However, whether these young people know what they want now (as opposed to what they don't want from before) is an open question.

An embarrassing criticism by Canadian linguistics boffins

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is having his very own "SpellingGate". A group of Canadian linguistics professors and the editor-in-chief of the Canadian English Dictionary, who operate under the moniker Editors Canada, have written an open letter to Carney, taking him to task for his too-English and not-Canadian-enough spelling habits. Like Carney doesn't have enough on his plate right now...

The group takes issue with Carney's tendency to use some English spellings like "catalyse" (instead of the more usual Canadian spelling "catalyze") and "globalisation" (instead of "globalization"). They say it's "a matter of our national history, identity snd pride", and that it "could lead to confusion about which spelling is Canadian". Carney spent seven years in the UK, working as the governor of the Bank of England, and "he obviously picked up some pretension while while was there".

"Pretensions"? Are they serious? Do these people have nothing better to do as the world goes to hell in a handbasket? 

They of all people should know that Canadian spelling is an illogical hybrid mishmash of British and American spelling, not some pure monolithic thing. We use some English spellings like "colour", and some American spellings like "analyze". It even varies across the country, with the East tending towards more English spellings and the West more American. 

And these esteemed professors are insisting that Carney - who, I'm pretty sure, is not the person who actually types out the budget document and PMO news releases - take the more American and less English route with words like "globalization" and "catalyze". How do they see that as "taking an 'elbows up' stance" in the face of American imperialism and trade disputes, as they claim?

The whole thing seems pretty poorly-conceived and badly-timed to me. They should be embarrassed.

Netanyahu tries to exploit Sydney massacre

The horrendous Hanukkah shooting in Sydney, Australia the other day deserves to be treated very carefully. Nerves are frayed and tensions are high. Yes, it seems to be a targeted act of terrorism by two Muslims on a Jewish group. They were driven by Islamic state ideology, but (like so many IS attacks) were essentially lone wolf actors. And yes, this is antisemitism; there seems little doubt of that.

But trust Benjamin Netayahu to stir the flames higher and to milk the situation for his own political ends. No-one does that better than he. The Israeli Prime Minister blamed the episode squarely on the shoulders of Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese for formally recognizing a Palestinian state. "Your call for a Palestinia state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire".

Exactly how this was supposed to have triggered such an atrocity was not explained. I have tried, and failed, to imagine his logic. But, of course, logic doesn't come into it. This is just Netanyahu doing his usual "everybody is antisemitic, but I can do no wrong" schtick. The man has no shame.

I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking that Netanyahu's own actions in his excessive and genocidal reaction to Hamas' terrorist attack is as likely as anything to have been the catalyst behind the cowardly Sydney massacre. But that is not the stuff of official public comments. (I don't count this blog, as next to no-one reads it.)

And can we also take a moment to register that the hero of the day, the man who singlehandedly disarmed the gunman and probably saved many lives, was Ahmed al-Ahmed, a 43-year old fruit shop owner and an Australian Muslim originally from Syria. I'm not suggesting that his actions somehow cancel out the actions of the two Muslim gunmen, but credit where credit is due. Not all Muslims are crazy, violent extremists.

One story among many about immigrants in the USA

I'm sure everyone has read more than they want or need about the immigration clampdown in the USA. I've certainly written more than I wamt or need about it. But this particular story on the BBC News website was especially poignant, I thought.

A woman, originally from Iran, moved to the US a decade ago. She is currently living with her husband (a US citizen) in Oregon. She has gone through all the right channels, step by step, and passed all the various tests, approvals and security vetting for citizenship. She was two days away from her naturalization ceremony which would officially make her a US citizen.

That was the point where the Trump government, in its wisdom summarily cancelled the oath-taking ceremony with no explanation or apology. It turns out that the only reason for the cancellation is the woman's Iranian origins. America is cancelling the citizenship ceremonies of all immigrants hailing from any of the 19 (mainly Muslim) countries that are already subject to a travel ban in the USA.

The woman is, understamdably, distraught. Not only is she not a US citizen, but she is now in the position of considering moving back to Iran, a country she feels little or no connection with, despite being married to a US citizen, having spent a decade or so in the country, and having jumped through all the required hoops.

And hers is far from the only such story.

The world's coldest capital cities

We're going to be visiting Mongolia next summer - pleasure not business :) - and I thought I remember reading somewhere that the capital city, Ulaanbaatar (sometimes written as Ulan Bator), was the coldest capital city in the world. Knowing how cold Ottawa can be, I thought I would look it up, and it turns out the comparison is not even close.

Ulaanbaatar is indeed the coldest capital city in the world, followed by Astana (Kazakhstan), Moscow (Russia), Helsinki (Finland), Reykjavik (Iceland), and Tallin (Estonia). Ottawa (Canada) is only the seventh coldest capital, which is certainly food for thought.

Ulaanbaatar - which sits at 1,350m above sea level, so that's kind if cheating :) - has an average year-round temperate below zero (-1.5°C). Although temperatures during its short summer (when we will be there) are quite pleasant - in the 20s - winter temperatures in January are in the -36°C to -40°C range. Ouch!

I wonder if they mollify themselves by saying "it's a dry cold" like we do here?

Should Canadians be worried about travelling to the USA

Many Canadians are in a mild panic over the "new" border requirements when crossing to the USA. US Customs and Border Protection say that travellers from countries that don't need a visa - which (for now, at least) includes Canadians - may be required to show five years worth of social media information to border agents before they are allowed in to Fortress America. The (unstated) assumption is that, if anything scurrilous is discovered - say, God forbid, a less-than-copacetic reference to Donald Trump - the travellers may be denied entry.

Thing is, this is not really a new policy. People who do need a visa (e.g. Chinese/Indian/etc visitors) have been subject to that for years, when they apply in advance for their visas. Even those visa-free visitors, like Canadians, could have been subject to such an online search any time in the last 20 years or so. In practice, though, it is extremely rare that such a search would be triggered, and you would have to be very suspicious in a whole bunch of other ways before it was.

Well, even with the new edict, the same applies. According to immigration experts, most people should just swan through customs and passport control, just as usual, with only the normal disapproving stares and snide comments of the border agent to bear. Only if you are otherwise suspect in some way would you be yanked of into secondary screening and potentially subjected to social media assessment. Of course, that "suspect" description applies to many more people nowadays than it used to, but we are assured that the "new" rules are not in fact new, they are just more likely to be strictly applied.

And, in case you were thinking about it, don't try and wipe your social media accounts from your phone before travelling, or travel with a clean, disposable "burner" phone. If there's one thing that will make you look suspicious, and raise a glaring red flag, that is it.

As for me, I have no intentions of travelling to the US any time soon, despite having a sister-in-law in New York, who we regularly used to visit. Which is probably just as well, because I don't have any social media accounts. I haven't had Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok, or anything else of that ilk, for decades now, and certainly nothing really suspicious like BlueSky or Mastodon. Truth Social? Uh, no. I guess I do use WhatsApp to communicate with family, and there is probably some defamatory stuff on there. And if they were to find this blog - is this "social media"? - I would be well and truly sunk.

US senator endorses the use of bleach as magical cure

Good news! There's a simple and cheap chemical that can cure cancer, malaria, autism and COVID-19!

It's called chlorine dioxide, a chemical usually used for disinfecting and bleaching. It is routinely employed by food processing plants and hospitals for sanitizing surfaces and equipment, and by paper mills for whitening wood pulp. People who use it work in well-ventulated spaces and wear protective gloves. Even small concentrations in drinking water can be harmful to children and pregnant women (as even the EPA cautions). But, we are told, this same chemical has almost magical curative properties!

If you are thinking that this sounds very much like Donald Trump's pandemic-era cure for COVID - regular, everyday bleach - you'd be right. But this is the startling conclusion of a book called "The War on Chlorine Dioxide: The Medicine That Could End Medicine" by Dr. Pierre Kory. 

Unfortunately, Dr. Kory, who worked for years in Wisconsin hospitals, is no longer a doctor, having been struck off the medical register for promoting these very claims. However, that didn't stop MAGA Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin from publicly endorsing Dr. Kory's work. Johnson has propounded various conspiracy theories and misinformation on vaccines and COVID over the years. In his recent endorsement of Kory's book, he is clearly convinced that there is a globally-coordinated cover-up against the medical uses of chlorine dioxide, by health agencies, drug companies and the media. Kory describes this dastardly cover-up in his book, including assassination attempts on doctors who have tried to release the truth about the miracle drug/bleaching agent.

I imagine that the current US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., would approve of Senator Johnson's stance.

The USA is a prime example of competitive authoritarianism

We routinely talk about America sliding into authoritarianism these days. It seems to be a done deal, with little anyone can do to check it. After all, Trump was legally and democratically elected, even if most of his supporters really should have seen where this was headed long before election day. But, bafflingly, most of them still seem pretty happy with the way things are going. Many Americans WANT an authoritarian government, it seems.

But, however much we may kvetch about it, this is not the same deal as Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia (not yet anyway). A thoughtful and deep article on the Foreign Affairs website introduced me to the concept of "competitive authoritarianism", which sounds like an oxymoron, but which actually describes pretty well what is going on here.

Competitive authoritarianism is "a system in which parties compete in elections, but where incumbents routinely abuse their power to punish critics and tilt the playing field against their opposition". It's what we see happening in Chávez snd Maduro's Venezuela, Bukele's El Salvador, Erdogen's Turkey, Orban's Hungary, and Modi's India. (Russia and China are a little further along the continuum to full-scale dictatorships.)

The USA under Trump is just such a competitive authoritarian country. Arguably it's democratic decline has proceeded faster (and less subtly) than any of the other examples given. However, that does not mean that the slide is irreversible. Democratic channels still exist whereby Trump's slide can be checked and even reversed. Recent Democrat Party gains in by-elections indicate that all is not lost, although the 2026 mid-terms will be the litmus test. 

It requires the American public to recognize the twin dangers of complacency and fatalism, but the authors of this article, at any rate, believe that this will happen.