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As Landmines Kill Kids, How Do Queer Writers Expose and Counter Cruelty?
A Prism & Pen writers prompt
I woke up this morning to news so cruel I had trouble accepting the reality. The U.S. government under the leadership of Donald Trump and Elon Musk (my government whether I like it or not) has shut down land-mine clearing in Cambodia. This is part of Musk’s war on USAID, the world’s largest distributor of food aid to hungry people.
I’ve been following that story closely, because the right-wing war on USAID has already snatched HIV meds out of the hands of more than 20 million people worldwide, including over 6 million children. Since I wrote a story about that last week, Propublica has further revealed that, “[The] stoppage could lead to an estimated 136,000 babies acquiring HIV... Since HIV testing services are also suspended, many of those could go undiagnosed.”
Also, former USAID officials have revealed that all their tuberculosis clinics have been shuttered.
The cruelty is staggering.
Back to the land mines:
The U.S. destabilized Southeast Asia with our cruel war in Vietnam. After North Vietnam won their war against us, they transformed their reunified nation into a bastion of peace and relative prosperity. They stepped in to stop the atrocities…
