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Bulletins and News Discussion from March 17th to March 23rd, 2025 - The Kafue River Dies - COTW: Zambia

Image is of the breach in the tailings dam near Kitwe.

On February 18th, 50 million liters of acidic waste from a copper mine was accidentally released into the Kafue River after a tailings dam collapsed. The Kafue River stretches for a thousand miles across Zambia and a majority of the country - millions of people - rely on it, for both the economy and drinking water.

The results have already been catastrophic. The water supply for the city of Kitwe, home to 700,000 people, was completely shut off. As the wave of contamination moved downstream, a wave of death accompanied it as dead fish dotted the river surface. The government is dropping lime into the river to try and counteract the acid with an alkali and neutralize the water, but the tailings also contain toxic heavy metals that will undoubtably seep into the nearby environment and affect the area for years to come.

A considerable portion of the media attention to the accident has been devoted to the fact that the mine was Chinese-owned, as well as China's broader influence and investment in the region. Western anti-China propaganda aside, it has been clear to those in the know that these mines have been badly managed and needlessly dangerous for years now, and it is disappointing - to say the least - to see disasters of this magnitude occur from Chinese businesses. Hopefully this prompts a wave of investigations into China-owned mine managers all around the continent, who will then hopefully face real consequences for their actions.

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994 comments

  • I'm usually yapping about Lebanese government formations and Iraqi shia cults here, but this time I want other nerds to yap here. What's going on in Zambia or Zimbabwe or Mozambique or Angola or Botswana or Malawi or any African nation that isn't under French financial strangulation like the ones in West Africa? How are their economies doing? Native corruption or European shenanigans? Are the Chinese cooking anything there? Are they producing anything interesting? Any cultural output that is interesting? How does an average day look in Maputo or Lusaka or Luanda or anywhere? I only hear about these nations whenever their football team is playing in the AFCON, but I literally haven't read anything interesting about these countries in a long time.

    • Austria’s new government—a mix of conservatives (ÖVP), centre-left (SPÖ), and liberals (Neos)—is basically pushing the same agenda the far-right FPÖ wanted. Massive social cuts, harsher migration policies, and a big boost for police and military spending.

      Refugees now have to sign a declaration recognizing Israel, and they must "voluntarily" work 10 hours a week in social projects or street cleaning or lose their measly €40 monthly pocket money. Meanwhile, welfare is slashed, family reunification is blocked, and surveillance is ramping up. A so-called centrist government, but the most right-wing Austria has seen in decades. The head of the SPÖ was called a Marxist just one year ago by the mainstream media. I cry.

994 comments