Hong Kong celebrates its religious pluralism and fights for LGBT rights. Indigenous activists in the Amazon fight for the environment and feminism. And the Japanese city of Hiroshima celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy. It's Fiery Tuesday, our weekly segment on political and societal news from around the globe! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
The Pew Research Center recently declared Hong Kong one of the ten most religiously diverse polities in the world. Celebrating that listing, The Hong Kong Free Press argues Hong Kong's leaders should take it as a challenge to do even better and to improve rights for LGBT individuals in the city.
After a series of sexual assaults in Cologne around New Year's Eve, the German public has become more wary of and hostile towards foreigners in the country. But is the new swerve in public opinion fueled more by feminist outrage or racist xenophobia. The truth, as in many cases, is complicated.
In Ecuador, Yes! Magazine takes a look at some local heroes fighting for the twin causes of feminism and environmentalism. Read more behind the link to learn about how indigenous women are fighting to preserve both their culture and the environment against corporate inroads.
Myanmar recently celebrated some of its first open elections in years. However, the country still has a great deal of progress to make before it can truly be regarded as a democracy. One such challenge is the Buddhist majority's continued targeting of the country's Muslim minority.
Yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a national holiday in America. But while most celebrations of MLK's legacy are concentrated in the country of his birth and death, his leadership is an inspiration in other parts of the world as well. The Taiwanese newspaper The News Lens takes a look at how the city of Hiroshima in Japan remembers the black civil rights leader.
Top image by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office