In the wake of rising fuel prices caused by Trump’s war with Iran, massive protests broke out led by farmers in Ireland. Long convoys of trucks and tractors have blocked streets, ports, and oil refineries across the island in response to carbon and fuel taxes. These protests have since been calmed by economic relief packages including reduction of said taxes. Nevertheless, they reflect an increasingly global opposition to the war on farmers against elitist tyranny. Farmer protests conducted in similar ways have occurred all across Europe, in the Netherlands, France, and Germany, against other authoritarian measures in recent years. Particularly, Dutch farmers were protesting their government’s efforts to seize numerous family owned farms and their livestock. French farmers sprayed manure on government buildings to express their disapproval of hiked taxes on fuel. Similarly, German farmers had the same goal two years ago. These increased taxes and regulations on farming have been implemented largely under the guise of environmental sustainability and mitigating climate change. But what will calm weather and a slightly cooler planet mean if millions of farmers lose their jobs, and prices surge for food, energy, and housing? Investigating the perpetrators of this war on farmers, we seem to find a common denominator: The World Economic Forum. The WEF, founded by Klaus Schwab, is widely known for bringing together notable politicians, business leaders, and celebrities to Davos in Switzerland each year to discuss the most important political issues. This organization has a so-called “Great Reset” agenda, which calls on governments to implement many of these so-called sustainability measures, recommending the United Nations’ 2030 agenda. And with the organization’s infiltration into governments around the world, its goal is likely to become reality. Many of the WEF’s Young Global Leaders, awarded the title for being longtime contributing members of the organization, have become presidents, prime ministers, cabinet ministers, or influential business people around the world. These include former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and much of his cabinet, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris, and French President Emmanuel Macron. Additional proposals from the WEF to fight climate change include 15-minute cities, mass production of lab-grown meat, and most delicious of all, eating insects. But the true intention of each of these measures is to reduce the prosperity and liberty for most citizens of the world, so that the billionaire members of the WEF can own everything and be happy. Does it still sound like a coincidence that climate tyranny has infested every country the WEF touches? Acknowledgement: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author, not necessarily Our National Conversation as a whole.
By Edward Kim
Ever since I first saw Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, I fell in love with history. Unfortunately, as a woman-of-color, history has only ever been a space of erasure for “mystory.” If history in academia is to truly be the narrative of time, we must expand—yes, buzz word of the century expand—the narrative beyond white perspectives, white legacy, and “theirstory.” In high school U.S. History, I learned of the 1992 L.A Riots. However, I quickly learned that my preconceptions of what actually catalyzed the riots were not true. This uproar against police brutality, turned-uproar, was also a resistance against institutionalized race wars. At its root the protest was also a result of the 1991 shooting of Latasha Harlins by Soon Ja Du, a store owner. If Latasha Harlins was 1. defenselessly murdered, 2. by a deadly weapon, and 3. a victim of Du who was found “guilty of manslaughter” by a jury of Harlins’ and Du’s peers. . . Then why does our society prioritize anthropological, sociological, psychological, historical, scientific, and technical information for the sake of asserting loose constructs over detailed, historical facts? Not only this, but by the time I was exposed to urban history spanning the 1920s through the 1970s, I realized our nation has altered cultural diversity into cultural alienation. Common verbiage used to describe this era of urban history, like “ghettos,” “lower-class,” or “maintaining the ‘homogenous’ nature of the U.S. population,” has added onto this realization for me. Despite the proposal of a “melting pot population,” in reality, our nation only furthers a white, Christian, Eurocentric, upper-class, male-oriented narrative. This form of systemic erasure against minority races is why violence is catalyzed, as seen in 1992. This ongoing “race war” was a fight for the Black body, not Black domination. Not even Black power, just Black lives and our right to exist—and matter. Unfortunately, even in university, I still felt like I was in the margins because cultural coursework is always an “optional elective.” Even within core curriculums, our story and role in history is told from a context of suppression and/or oppression. Thankfully, as an English Literary Studies major, I was immersed in social discourse from an academia perspective. My professor and mentor, Dr. Burton, allowed me to understand reform and social justice instead of experiencing it alone. Essentially, my professors encouraged me to think about communities outside of my own. By reconfiguring my understanding of history as human history instead of biography, my historian mindset from primary and secondary education was rewired. To learn about all perspectives is to ensure that no one’s story is erased again. For any form of social justice concerning the quality of life for minorities, it must start with our engagement, what we promote politically, and what knowledge we pass onto the next generation. However, if we manipulate and erase historical narratives, our nation cannot achieve social reform. History is our mosaic that can be beautifully told. Because the story never truly has a beginning or an end, a living archive saves space for every narration, not just the narrator, so we must begin to tell the story.
By Raven W. M.
On April 7, 2026, in Ontario, California, a 1.2-million-square-foot Kimberly-Clark warehouse was destroyed in a suspected six-alarm arson fire. The fire was allegedly started by 29-year-old employee, Chamel Abdul Karim, after not being paid enough by the company. Karim posted a video of himself intentionally setting the fire to pallets of toilet paper on social media while repeatedly saying, “All you had to do was pay us enough to live.” The average salary for warehouse workers in that area is $18 per hour, while the CEO of Kimberly-Clark earns around $15.3 million. In his video, Karim argued that if he had been compensated more for his work, he would not have set the building on fire. Karim works for NFI Industries, a third-party distributor for Kimberly-Clark. The fire broke out around 12:30 am at the Kimberly-Clark facility at 4815 S. Hellman Avenue. The massive distribution center, which served as a primary hub for tissue and other paper products, supplied about 50 million people, according to authorities, and has now been utterly destroyed. The fire ripped through the warehouse, escalating into a six-alarm emergency, with video footage revealing the total devastation of the 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse, causing an estimated $500 million in damage, according to prosecutors. It required over 170 firefighters and 20 engines to contain the flames, and while the structure is a total loss, no fatalities were reported. Karim is currently being held without bail and now faces several felony arson charges. He is pleading “not guilty,” and has reportedly compared himself to Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. After the initial arson, several other fires have erupted throughout the country. On April 10, 2026, in Ontario, multiple fires were intentionally set inside the Ontario Mills Mall, only three days after the Kimberly Clark fire, resulting in the arrest of another suspect. In another instance, a man by the name Daniel Moreno-Gama was allegedly caught on video surveillance throwing a Molotov cocktail outside of CEO Sam Altman’s house. Moreno-Gama was arrested about an hour later outside OpenAI’s headquarters, where he allegedly threatened to burn down the building. Meanwhile, on April 11-14, 2026, in Bakersfield, California, multiple fires occurred at a warehouse complex near 99 Washington Street, involving highly combustible material. A massive five-alarm fire had also erupted at a lumber pallet facility in Wayne County, Ohio. At the moment, it is speculated that there could be somewhere between 9 and 11 new fires since the initial Ontario one. However, the situation has divided many people online. Some argue in favor of the fires and support the arsonists, while others stand firmly against them. Many of those celebrating it online say they are fed up with low wages and corporate greed, and some say that if there are no changes, there will likely be more fires. Some even speculate that this may be the beginning of a working-class revolution and that it is even inevitable. Many have also begun pointing to a video of Tim Gurner, an Australian property developer and millionaire CEO, saying that they need unemployment to rise to about 50% to “remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around.” Videos like this have caused many online to say that billionaires and CEOs have it coming. Some hope that if warehouse fires continue, insurance companies may be persuaded to stop paying out to companies that underpay their employees. Meanwhile, on the opposite side, people are stating that these arsonists are massively dangerous and could get people killed from the destruction they are causing. People are reminding those celebrating that the fires have destroyed necessities for many people and cost other workers their jobs. They argue that these actions are reckless and selfish, and it would have been better if these employees had quit their jobs. It also harkens back to the BLM fires during 2020 over the death of George Floyd, where protestors set fires to trees, cars, and many small businesses, causing massive damage and violence. Overall, this situation is very serious and stems from long-standing dissatisfaction among blue-collar workers and the middle class with the current state of the economy, and it does not appear to be slowing down.
By Alexandra Miskewitz
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