Germany today celebrated Holocaust Memorial Day with a speech from Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who warned of the rise of neo-Nazi networks around Germany. The speech comes at a critical juncture in German politics, where the country must decide to how to handle the far-right movements springing up in their midst. 

This past wednesday, there was a landmark ruling from Germany's constitutional court which cut state funding and tax breaks for the right-wing extremist party, Die Heimat. This is the first time Germany has cut state financial support for a party without outright banning it. Currently, there is much discussion about banning far-right parties such as Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is currently polling second nationally at 20%. 

Germany's problems in some sense mirror our own, as we attempt to grapple with the wave of far-right sentiment which accompanies any election with Trump in it. It is important to remain vigilant, and stand up against right-wing extremism at home and abroad. 

Israel this week was forced to reckon with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) preliminary verdict that Israel may be committing genocide in Gaza. The decision has been heavily criticised by hawkish commentators, including Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. He refers to the allegation of genocide as "outrageous" and highlights the proximity of Holocaust Remembrance Day in his response. 

However, this response is not altogether shocking from Netanyahu, who is as extreme as any of our most right-wing politicians. He has compared the Palestinians to the biblical enemy of the Jewish people, the Amalek, against whom God sanctions total annihilation, including the murder of women and children. Part of South Africa's case against Israel involves incidents of IDF soldiers invoking Netanyahu's metaphor when slaughtering women and children, as well as other instances where far-right politicians seem to be truly leading Israel astray. 

The extreme violence of Israel's response to the October 7th attack has understandably led to international scrutiny. The panel of judges at the Hague wa comprised of representative judges from many different nations, including Israel and South Africa. The Israeli justice, 87-year-old Holocaust survivor Aharon Barak, voted in favor of the emergency measures ordering Israel to curb incitements to genocide and additionally to allow aid to pass into Gaza. 

Protests have risen across Kenya in support of women and protesting the rising cases of femicide and violence against women across the country. The protests were sparked by the particularly gruesome murder of Rita Waeni, whose remains were found in a plastic bag in an Airbnb rental on January 14. 

Kenya has long been troubled by discriminatory practices against women, and Amnesty International has recorded over 500 cases of femicide – the killing of women as a hate crime – between 2016 and 2023. Activist groups standing up for women's rights have called on the Kenyan government to declare the rise of woman-directed violence a national emergency. 

This year has already seen four women murdered for their gender, often by men who they have met online. Earlier this month, Kenyan Instagram influencer, Starlet Wahu was found stabbed in her hotel room by a man she met through the social media app. Femicide Count Kenya, which monitors killings across local news, reported that 2023 saw at least 152 femicides – the highest number in 5 years. 

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