8 NEWS The world at a glance ...
Aalst, Belgium
Parade of anti-Semitism: Rejecting inter-
national criticism of the rampant anti-
Semitism in its 2019 Carnival parade, the
Belgian town of Aalst doubled down this
year with participants dressed in Nazi
SS uniforms and as Orthodox Jews with
insect bodies. UNESCO dropped the event
from its list of heritage events—a first in
the agency’s history—last year over a float
bearing caricatures of Orthodox Jews with
hooked noses surrounded by bags of money. Town officials said
they wouldn’t let foreigners tell them how to celebrate. “It’s our
parade, our humor—people can do whatever they want,” said
Peter Van den Bossche, spokesman for the mayor’s office.Trosly-Breuil, France
‘Future saint’ an abuser: The late
founder of a French charity who
was seen as a likely candidate for
sainthood in the Catholic Church has
been exposed as a serial sexual predator.
Jean Vanier, who died last year at age 90,
was the founder of L’Arche International,
a nonprofit that helps people with learning disabilities in 38 coun-
tries. But in a report released this week, L’Arche said that the
devoutly Catholic Vanier had coercive sexual relationships with six
women—none of them disabled—from 1970 to 2005, leaving them
psychologically and spiritually harmed. One woman said Vanier
told her: “This is not us, this is Mary and Jesus. You are chosen,
you are special, this is secret.” The director of L’Arche in the U.S.,
Tina Bovermann, said she shared the news with sorrow but added,
“We stand today on the side of those who have been harmed.”Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Cops vs. troops: Haiti canceled its Carnival festivities this week
after police and soldiers fought an hours-long gun battle outside
the presidential palace. One soldier was killed and three police were
wounded. Haitian cops have for months been demanding higher
pay and better conditions, and their anger boiled over when five
officers were dismissed for their
unionization efforts. Police took to
the streets of Port-au-Prince, setting
blazes and shouting “No money for
police officers but enough money for
Carnival!” Gunfire erupted when the
officers were stopped by soldiers at
the palace. The Haitian government
called the violence an attack on free-
dom and democracy.Mexico City
President downplays femicide: After a rash of protests over
Mexico’s epidemic of violence against women, President
Andrés Manuel López Obrador has drawn fierce criticism
for dismissing the demonstrations as a conser-
vative conspiracy. An average of 10 Mexican
women and girls are killed every day, mostly by
current or former partners, and the past few weeks
have seen a series of particularly gruesome murders:
Ingrid Escamilla, 25, was skinned and disemboweled by her boy-
friend, and Fátima Aldrighett, 7, was kidnapped from school and
tortured to death. Activists have spray-painted the national palace
with anti-femicide slogans and called for a women’s strike on
March 9. López Obrador, a leftist, said that his conservative oppo-
nents were exploiting the issue to harm him. “Conservatives have
now become feminists,” he said, “and just as there are women who
protest freely out of conviction, there are also opportunists.”Tyendinaga, Canada
Blockade broken: Canadian police have broken up a blockade by
First Nations members at a rail crossing in Ontario that had
snarled passenger and freight trains between Toronto and Montreal
for two weeks. Ten protesters were arrested at the encampment set
up by members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, who were
protesting in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en activists trying to block
a natural gas pipeline in British Columbia. “Canadians have been
patient; our government has been patient,” said Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau. “The barricades need to come down.” New pro-
tests quickly broke out. A day after the Mohawks were arrested,
activists erected a new blockade in Ontario, while Wet’suwet’en
supporters in the west temporarily blocked the Port of Vancouver
and rallied on the steps of the British Columbia legislature.London
No Sussex Royal: Prince Harry and Meghan
Markle have reluctantly agreed to drop
their “Sussex Royal” brand after the queen
forbade them from using the word “royal.”
The couple—who have given up their royal
titles and moved part-time to Canada—said
in a statement that they would no longer use
the term, although they pointedly noted that
“there is not any jurisdiction by the Monarchy
or Cabinet Office over the use of the word
‘royal’ overseas.” The two had used Sussex Royal on their popular
Instagram profile and other social media accounts and had applied
for many trademarks under the name. Harry and Meghan plan to
eventually become financially independent of the royal family and
have been searching for ways to monetize their brand.Reuters, AP, Reuters (2), APLópez ObradorHarry and Meghan Mocking Orthodox JewsHaitian police shoot at the army.
Vanier: No saint