#UK: London Park Named For Prime Minister Could Be Renamed After Black Politician

[world politics news]

 

A London park named after William Gladstone could be rebranded Diane Abbott Park as part of a slavery review by a Labour-run council in the capital.

Gladstone Park, in north west London, got its name from the former prime minister in 1899.

But now the London park’s name could be changing after Brent council asked schoolchildren aged five to 13 to come up with a shortlist of ideas for a rebrand.

The name of the black Labour Party politician was raised by the children.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#USA: San Francisco School District Wants Abraham Lincoln Name Removed - "Did Nothing" For Blacks

[world politics news]

San Francisco may remove Abraham Lincoln’s name from a high school, because a district committee says the 16th president — who abolished slavery — did nothing to demonstrate that “black lives mattered to him.”

Lincoln is one of dozens of historical figures who the city school district’s renaming committee argued led lives so rife with racism, oppression or abuse that their names should not grace its buildings, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SPAIN: Francisco Franco Is Still Dead, But Spain's Socialist Gov't Has Exhumed And Reburied Him

[world politics news]

Cries of “long live Franco!” accompanied the coffin of Francisco Franco this past week as Spain removed the remains of its former dictator from the state mausoleum where he was buried in 1975.

His exhumation and reburial is the most significant move in years by Spanish authorities to lay the ghost of the general whose legacy still divides the country he dominated for nearly four decades.

The ruling Socialist Party, which faces a national election next month, has long sought to move Franco’s remains from the huge monument, built on his orders and containing the remains of combatants from both sides of the 1936-39 civil war.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#GERMANY: Parliament Votes To Move E. German Secret Police Records Into National Archives

[world politics news]

Germany's parliament has voted to move the vast files of the former East German secret police, the Stasi, into the nation's Federal Archives, despite the concerns of and objections from some historians and dissidents of the former East Germany.

The Bundestag vote came just a week before German Unity Day, which commemorates the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of the east and west in 1990.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#GREECE: President Renews Claims Against Germany's Nazi Past; Says Reparation Demand Is "Legal"

[world politics news]

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos has defended his nation's claim that it is owed war reparations from Germany. He made the comments after meeting last week with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was in the capital, Athens, on an official visit.

The demands of Greece regarding the reparations for crimes of the "inhuman" Nazi invasion and occupation of Greece during World War II are "legal" and "legally enforceable," Pavlopoulos told reporters.

Merkel, for her part, said Germans are aware of the crimes that Nazis had committed in Greece. However, German officials have in the recent past rejected claims for reparations from Greece, Poland and other nations.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#CANADA: Statue Of Canada's First Prime Minister Removed From Victoria, BC City Hall Steps

[world politics news]

The City of Victoria took down a bronze statue of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister and an architect of the country’s residential school system, from the steps of its city hall on Saturday, calling it a gesture of reconciliation toward Indigenous groups that have long called for its removal. City Councillors voted seven to one in favor of removing the statue earlier this week, a decision that has inflamed debate about how best to reconcile Macdonald’s role in shaping the country and his legacy of mistreatment of Indigenous peoples.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#SPAIN: Socialist Opposition Passes Non-Binding Motion To Remove Franco From Tomb

[world politics news]

Spain's opposition parties have voted to move the remains of fascist dictator Francisco Franco out of a state-funded mausoleum, in a non-binding parliamentary motion the government is likely to resist. The motion, backed by parties on the left and center, reflected growing pressure from campaign groups and politicians to turn the site into a broader memorial honoring those who died on both sides of Spain's 1936-1939 civil war.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#CANADA: Commons Heritage Committee To Review Depictions In TV History Drama

[world politics news]

The controversy surrounding CBC's history miniseries Canada: The Story of Us continues, as the parliamentary standing committee on Canadian heritage has requested a meeting with the public broadcaster to explain the show's "mistakes." The series has been blasted by viewers, including many notable politicians, particularly for snubbing Nova Scotia and for its portrayal of francophones. CBC apologized to those who "felt misrepresented" last week but said it won't be updating or correcting any of the episodes, as critics had called on it to do.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#GERMANY: Turkey Recalls Ambassador After German Parliament Calls 20th Cent. Slaughter of Armenians "Genocide"

[world politics news]

After facing days of protests from Turkey, German MPs voted through a resolution to label the killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire a genocide. Turkey slammed as "null and void" and a "historic mistake" the German parliament's resolution recognizing the World War I killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide. In response, Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Germany, Hüseyin Avni Karslioglu, a traditional diplomatic signal of displeasure.