Opinion Editorial July, 2026: North South Right Left
Our opinion on selected news stories from June 2026.
The world is all-too-familiar with historic north-south divides and their consequences. A wealth divide has characterized the northern and southern hemispheres for centuries. Indigenous people are at the forefront of Southern Hemisphere poverty. The Civil War in the United States was fought along a broadly north-south divide. Until emancipation, it was the indigenous peoples of Africa who had suffered inhumane treatment. It took a brutal war for Vietnam to be reunified from a political north-south divide. Even two generations after forced "re-education," the indigenous population in the former South continue to be marginalized.
The island of Ireland has been divided for over a century despite the original intention for eventual reunification. It was on the southern part of that island (County Kerry in the Republic of Ireland) that I took this month's photo almost forty years ago. It shows something that was confirmed in last month's publication of the 2026 Global Peace Index: Ireland is one of the most peaceful (and safest) countries in the world.
Not so its insular neighbor Northern Ireland. Part of the United Kingdom, its capital Belfast saw the opposite of peace and safety last month. Associated for decades with a sectarian divide, it is now divided by its population's tolerance of immigrants. The anti-immigration protesting and violent rioting that took place there was reminiscent of the decades-long "troubles."
It was also reminiscent of anti-immigration protesting and violent rioting that took place across the UK two summers ago. While the exact details differed, my prediction at that time was realized last month when UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation. The country is about to get its seventh leader in the decade since it became divided from the European Union. (Wimbledon has had only five men's singles champions in the same period.) If the new incumbent fails to learn the lessons of division, I predict they will last less than a year in office.
The UK is far from the only country experiencing division related to immigration. In South Africa, recent anti-immigration protesting came to a climax after yesterday's unofficial deadline, announced by anti-immigrant organizations, for all undocumented migrants to leave that country. Such trends reveal an increasing global left-right political division. We saw that play out in elections in Peru and Colombia last month.
It seems we constantly seek new ways to divide ourselves. Last month's record heatwave in Europe has left people divided there on whether human-induced climate change is real. It has also left people divided on how to address climate change — whether human-induced or not.
Like humans, cats and dogs sometimes fight for territory. Yet on that afternoon forty years ago, this cat and dog found a peaceful way to divide the simple territory of a doorstep. The 2026 Global Peace Index found that many countries became less peaceful and less safe in the last year. Bombs, missiles and drones rained down in many parts of the world like it was raining cats and dogs.
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