IT’S MIDWAY THROUGH the week and you want to get up to speed on the latest news topics and catch up on opinions and insights.
We’re here to help you do just that, with our three midweek longreads:
Carmen Quintana was just 18 years old when she was set on fire during an anti-government protest in Chile. It was during the first of two days of nationwide strikes against Augusto Pinochet, and saw Carmen seriously injured by his police force. She tells the BBC what happened next. This weeks marks 40 years since his military coup. (BBC)
Approximately 7 minutes reading time – 1449 words
“They grabbed Rodrigo first and threw him to the ground, kicking him. They put me up against the wall and searched me. I could see Rodrigo lying there, bleeding. They said to me, ‘What were you doing, where were you going?’ I said, ‘Going to the university, to study.’ They swore at me and hit me with the butt of their machine guns. I began to cry.”
Tom Woods fought in the Iraq War, but on his return he fought another battle. Grappling with alcoholism, and struggling with life without war, he and his wife Candy found their relationship at risk. A journalist and photographer from the LA Times followed their lives for 18 months to see how things progressed. (LA Times)
Approximately 33 minutes reading time – 6663 words
She knew he drank too much, but she also knew he had experienced terrible things during his 14 months in Baghdad in 2007 and 2008. As part of the “surge,” the 1-4 Cavalry patrolled bomb-laden roads and went door-to-door hunting insurgents. She understood only a little of what he’d seen.
Mark Vincent Healy writes about the hurdles that survivors of child sexual abuse face when seeking justice. He tells Opinion & Insight that they are not met with understanding or sympathy in Irish courts, and that survivors of clerical abuse, for example, are at risk if they remain silent and at risk if they break silence. (TheJournal.ie)
Approximately 4 minutes reading time – 846 words
So many re-traumatised by the very procedures of their redress are suffering premature death and suicide. Is there justice in exposing such survivors to the high risks of suicide or attempted suicide as evidenced from such tragic cases? It is time to end the silence and abject failures to relieve those suffering life-long distress from clerical child sexual abuse.
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