What’s up with Malawi? Is there some ultra pro west government in charge or something?

  • Large Bullfrog@lemmygrad.ml
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    4 days ago

    Their whole “b-but Russia” excuse for voting no is what’s called a genetic fallacy. There is never an excuse for defending nazism.

    • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
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      3 days ago

      Grey could be an abstaining vote as Taiwan is allowed to be an observing nation. But I genuinely cant find a source to this either.

  • SpaceDogs@lemmygrad.ml
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    4 days ago

    Canada’s excuse for voting “no” is because they believe it would help “legitimize” Russia’s special military operation, they think its too convenient for this resolution to be brought up now (and I believe it was also Russia who made the resolution). This is not defending Canada btw

  • Redcuban1959 [any]@hexbear.net
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    4 days ago

    Hastings Banda

    was the leader of Malawi from 1964 to 1994. He consolidated power and later declared Malawi a one-party state under the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). In 1970, the MCP made him the party’s President for Life. In 1971, he became president for Life of Malawi itself. A renowned anti-communist leader in Africa, he received support from the Western Bloc during the Cold War.

    However, he presided over one of the most repressive regimes in Africa, an era that saw political opponents regularly tortured and murdered. Human rights groups estimate that at least 6,000 people were killed, tortured and jailed without trial. As many as 18,000 people were killed during his rule, according to one estimate. His rule has been characterised as a “highly repressive autocracy.” He also received criticism for maintaining full diplomatic relations with the apartheid government in South Africa.

    Banda was one of the few African leaders to support the United States in the Vietnam War, a position he adopted in part due to his hatred of communism. During Banda’s presidency, Malawi initially refused to establish diplomatic relations with any of the communist governments of Eastern Europe or Asia.

    Following independence in Malawi, Banda strengthened his relationship with the Portuguese colonial government by appointing Jorge Jardim as Malawi’s Honorary Consul in Mozambique in September 1964. He also worked against Liberation Front of Mozambique (FRELIMO) forces in Malawi in continued support of the Portuguese colonial forces. By the 1980s, Banda supported both the government and the guerrilla movement during the Mozambique civil war. He successfully gave the Malawi Army and Malawi Young Pioneers opposing missions in Mozambique from 1987 to 1992.

    By 1993, amid increasing domestic and international pressure, he agreed to hold a referendum which ended the one-party system. Soon afterwards, a special assembly ended his life-term presidency and stripped him of most of his powers. Banda ran for president in the democratic elections that followed and was defeated. He died in South Africa in 1997.

    In 1995, Banda was arrested and charged with the murder, ten years previously, of former cabinet colleagues. He was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Banda remained quite unrepentant in his opinion of Malawians, calling them “children in politics” and saying they would miss his iron-fisted rule.

  • 🏳️‍⚧️ 新星 [she/they]@lemmygrad.ml
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    4 days ago

    Can you provide a source for the vote? The best I can find is 78/190 from last year (source: https://research.un.org/en/docs/ga/quick/regular/78) and that resolution had contained this unfortunate clause, which many of the countries had spoken after their vote to disassociate from:

    1. Notes with alarm that the Russian Federation has sought to justify its territorial aggression against Ukraine on the purported basis of eliminating neo-Nazism, and underlines that the pretextual use of neo-Nazism to justify territorial aggression seriously undermines genuine attempts to combat neo-Nazism;

    Excerpt of China’s statement, for instance:

    We are deeply concerned about the practice by a small number of countries of politicizing certain agenda items in the Third Committee. In view of that, China dissociates itself from the consensus on paragraph 4 of resolution 78/190.

    In addition, that vote doesn’t match the map you provide.

    Also the United States’ remarks on 78/190 were very telling:

    We also do not need to repeat our long-standing position on this annual resolution. We have been one of several countries to vote against it from the very beginning.

  • davel [he/him]@lemmygrad.ml
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    4 days ago

    What’s up with Malawi?

    🤷 Micronations tend to lack de facto sovereignty, so they often vote seemingly against their interests at the UN.