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Global
Edition - Today's top story: How disappearance became a global
weapon of psychological control, 50 years on from Chile's
US-backed coup View
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Global
Edition | 11 September 2023 | |
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Morocco
was hit by a devastating earthquake at the weekend that has
claimed more than 1,000 lives. Abbey Stockstill, of Southern
Methodist University in the US, has been living on and off in
Marrakech since 2014, completing research on a book about the
development of the city as a medieval metropolis. Here
she writes about the tragedy.
For
the searching mothers of Calama in Chile’s Atacama desert,
today has a special meaning that has nothing to do with the
attack on New York’s twin towers. Fifty years ago, in the
early hours of September 11 1973, a US-backed coup led by
General Augusto Pinochet laid the groundwork for an economic
project that would inspire both Ronald Reagan and Margaret
Thatcher. But Chile under Pinochet was also a catalyst for the
torture and enforced disappearance of hundreds of thousands of
people throughout South and Central America – using techniques
honed at the infamous School of the Americas, a US Defense
Department training facility in Georgia.
In
our latest Insights investigative long read, Brad Evans,
co-director of the State of Disappearance project, traces
the modern use of disappearance as a psychological weapon
of control. Its currency, he writes, is emotional fear that
infects the population like a virus, creating a climate of
suspicion and betrayal. Some of those left behind still roam
the land for signs of their loved ones. Decades of searching
mean they can easily tell the difference between white stones
and human fragments. Then they insert a thin metal pole or
varilla into the ground, testing for the telltale stench of
death. And for readers
of Spanish we have a special series on the anniversary of
the Pinochet coup.
Elsewhere
in the world, Greece
was recently hit by devastating flash floods caused by
Storm Daniel. So, who better than Ioanna Stamatak, a Greek
expert in this type of flooding, to explain why this is part
of a pattern of more dangerous weather throughout the
Mediterranean region. And Nitasha Kaul explains why G20 host
India
has also been going by the name “Bharat”. |
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Mike Herd
Investigations Editor,
Insights | |
Relatives of those who disappeared under the
Pinochet regime demand information about their loved ones in
Santiago, Chile, in 2000. Frans Lemmens/Alamy
Brad Evans, University of Bath
State-sponsored
disappearance plays into the most primal of human fears – to
vanish without a trace. The modern era started with Chile’s
US-backed coup on September 11 1973 |
The earthquake has damaged many homes in
Ijjoukak village, near Marrakech, Morocco. AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy
Abbey Stockstill, Southern Methodist University
A
scholar who has been working in Marrakech writes about the
artisan communities, which have maintained the city’s
architectural rich heritage for generations and have been hit
hard by the earthquake. |
EPA-EFE/Alexandros Beltes
Nitasha Kaul, University of Westminster
The
move to rename India as ‘Bharat’ is part of a push by the
Hindu nationalist right to create an ideologically pure state
that in reality never existed. |
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Alison Kock, South African Institute for
Aquatic Biodiversity; Alison Towner, Rhodes
University; Heather Bowlby, Fisheries and Oceans
Canada; Matt Dicken, Nelson Mandela University; Toby
Rogers, University of Cape Town
South
Africa’s white shark population is not in decline but
migrating to survive.
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Ioanna Stamataki, University of Greenwich
One
village recorded 1.5 year’s rain in 18 hours.
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Hyunseon Lee, SOAS, University of London
Loving
portrait of an unrequited love and a cultural
divide.
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Gerhard Maré, University of KwaZulu-Natal
If
Mangosuthu Buthelezi had not opposed the apartheid
state’s plans for an ‘independent’ Zulu kingdom, South
Africa’s history would have unfolded very
differently.
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Juan S. Morales, Wilfrid Laurier
University
Two
recent studies shed light on how seemingly simple
social media features can have complex effects on user
attitudes and beliefs.
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Shasha Wang, Queensland University of
Technology; Xiaoling Guo, The University of Western
Australia
While
Temu employs common sales promotion tactics seen on
other e-commerce platforms, it uses what is arguably
the broadest range of these
techniques. | |
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Sent: Monday, September 11, 2023 10:38 AM
Subject: Morocco earthquake – community
report
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