It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, September 05, 2022
By stirring up nationalistic sentiment, Beijing wants to create a social echo chamber in China where there is no space for alternative voices, say experts.
Analysts say the timing of the rise of anti-foreign sentiments in China likely reflects Beijing's political needs
Nationalistic sentiment appears to be on the rise in China, at a time when countries in the Indo-Pacific region are already expressing concerns about Beijing's aggressive military posture.
Over the past week, two incidents associated with anti-Japanese sentiments have sparked widespread discussion on the Chinese internet.
On August 15, a video emerged of a Chinese woman being arrested by police for wearing a traditional Japanese kimono dress while taking photos in the city of Suzhou. She was reportedly cosplaying a character from a manga series.
In the video, the police official was seen shouting at the woman that if she had worn a Hanfu (traditional Chinese clothing), he wouldn't have stopped her from posing for photos. "But you are wearing a Kimono. Are you Chinese? If you don't comply, you are provoking trouble. Please come with us," the police shouted angrily at the woman.
The woman, who is an active user on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, later wrote that she was "educated" at the police station for five hours and police searched content on her phone. She was released around midnight the next day.
Negative sentiments toward Japan on the rise?
Millions of netizens in China viewed the video and some questioned whether the police has overreacted. "I would never imagine that someone could be arrested for wearing a Japanese kimono in Suzhou. This huge country can't tolerate a woman wearing a kimono," wrote one Chinese netizen on Weibo.
"Who is the one that's provoking trouble? If this (wearing a kimono in public) is provoking trouble, should they first close down all Japanese restaurants on the street?" another netizen wrote.
Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of China's state-run tabloid Global Times, wrote on Weibo that there is no legal reason to ban a kimono, but he also noted that given the rising tension between Japan and China over Tokyo's close cooperation with the US over issues related to Taiwan, negative sentiments toward Japan are rising in China.
While it's unclear if the police's arguments reflect China's official position, the fact that he wasn't disciplined for over-exercising his power shows that Beijing doesn't want to punish people within their own system, said Yaqiu Wang, a senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
"In order to ensure the loyalty of people in the system, Chinese authorities are willing to protect those who have violated regulations," she noted, adding: "This is one way for Beijing to protect the system."
Brand apologizes for suspected attempt to be 'Japanese'
On August 18, the Chinese retail brand Miniso, which has characterized itself as a product retailer inspired by Japan, apologized through a statement after its Spanish Instagram account posted a picture of dolls in which Chinese netizens argued the brand had mislabeled a doll wearing a traditional Chinese outfit called qipao as a "Japanese geisha doll."
Facing an intense online backlash, Miniso issued a lengthy statement, apologizing for "taking the wrong path" in the founding stage with its brand positioning and vowing to "do a good job of Chinese culture and values exportation."
The latest incidents reflect the anti-Japan sentiment that has existed in China for decades, Ting Guo, a Chinese Studies scholar at the University of Toronto. "This is not that new, as we have seen waves of anti-Japan sentiment played out in China," she underlined.
Analysts say the timing of the rise of anti-foreign sentiments in China likely reflects Beijing's political needs. "When the Chinese government needs anti-Japanese sentiment as a symbol of its declaration to the outside world, it will stir up such sentiment," said Teng Biao, a US-based Chinese human rights lawyer.
"Even when there is no specific incident, the Chinese Communist Party may need anti-Japanese sentiment to divert domestic political conflicts or the public's attention," he added. "It's a common practice in authoritarian regimes and the timing is often carefully chosen."
Since Miniso issued the statement, Chinese netizens have continued to question the sincerity of the brand's apology. "How about also clarifying the brand's country of origin? Why does a Chinese brand keep claiming that it is 'from Japan,'" one netizen wrote on Weibo.
"Even if the company thinks designing their package based on Japanese style can help with their sales, it is only a concept. Please don't pretend to be a Japanese company. Japanese style is not flawless. Our own culture is more beautiful," another netizen commented under Miniso's Weibo post.
Using nationalism to create a social echo chamber
Apart from using nationalism to achieve certain political goals, Teng Biao said Chinese authorities' attempt to interfere with citizens' personal choices is a phenomenon that typically happens in a totalitarian country. "While many people will resent the government's intervention, the majority of the Chinese people are unable to criticize the authorities' improper behavior," he stressed.
"Although many people feel very worried about the logic behind the kimono incident in Suzhou, such reflection and worry will not become mainstream. Fervent patriotism and anti-Japanese sentiment are much stronger," the lawyer added.
Wang from HRW and Guo from the University of Toronto both believe that by stirring up nationalistic sentiment, Beijing wants to create a social echo chamber in China where there is no space for alternative voices, say experts. "Many people are afraid of being targeted by nationalistic netizens online, so they choose to remain quiet," Wang said. "One of the effects of nationalism is the chilling effect."
Guo said that while support for China's MeToo movement and other similar issues remain active, pressure from the government, censorship, and control of the public sphere will still turn China into a more monotone civil society. "It cultivates an awareness of what you can do and what you can't do," she said. "That's one of the byproducts of top-down nationalism today."
Teng Biao said that the Chinese government will continue to reinforce nationalism and anti-West sentiment in the near future, and it also means that there will be more government intervention in Chinese citizens' everyday life, as the kimono incident has shown. "Authorities will do more to interfere with the Chinese people's thoughts and ideas, and there will be more and more of this in the future."
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru
UK's Liz Truss hopes to follow in the footsteps of Iron Lady Thatcher
Liz Truss wants to be British prime minister at all costs, and is wooing the right wing of the Conservative Party in her bid to get the job. But many have questioned her competence following several gaffes.
Liz Truss is looking to become the UK's next prime minister
She is certainly no stranger to making farcical appearances: At the Conservative Party Conference in 2014, Liz Truss, speaking as secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, addressed the quality of British food, and went into raptures over British wheat and the sale of Yorkshire Tea to China. But all of a sudden, she thundered out that Britain was importing two-thirds of its cheese from abroad: "That is a disgrace!" The delegates almost choked on their sandwiches.
Then there is what she once said during her tenure as justice minister, when she was asked in parliament about the measures being taken to combat drones used to smuggle drugs into prisons. There were now special patrol dogs at one of the prisons in question, Truss said, and they barked, which helped to deter the drones.
Social media is full of videos of this and similarly bizarre appearances by Truss that are used by her critics to call into doubt her intelligence and her suitability as a prime minister.
Steady rise
Truss has shown herself to be a survival artist during the Conservative governments of the past 12 years. Her career path has been unswerving in its upward trajectory, from positions at the Ministry of Justice, Treasury and Department of International Trade to her current job as foreign secretary.
While dozens of her colleagues have fallen victim to party infighting and intrigues, she even survived the wave of resignations after the downfall of Theresa May and emerged unscathed from Boris Johnson's last big Cabinet reshuffle. Truss has always been seen as loyal and hard-working, without anyone really scrutinizing whether she has achieved anything.
But her party colleague Rory Stewart, speaking of their time together at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in his political podcast The Rest is Politics, related that Truss' leadership style was like "IBM business management of the 1980s."
Among other things, he said, she liked to annoy her colleagues with random math problems because that was probably what her father, a professor of math, "did to her when she was at the breakfast table."
Stewart called his experience with Truss "traumatizing."
Nonetheless, she has always worked indefatigably on her public image. Since joining the Foreign Office, she has been a constant presence on Instagram and Twitter, with a photographer always at hand, whether posing with fur hat in Moscow's Red Square or sitting atop a tank in military gear while visiting British troops in Estonia.
And, if critics called her competence into question, for once confusing the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea, for instance, she hit back with photos of her visit to Ukraine and vowed to stand up to Putin. In the Conservative Party, that counts for more than the occasional rhetorical or factual slip-up.
180-degree turns
However, her career with the Conservatives was by no means a foregone conclusion. At her last campaign appearance in London's Wembley Arena, where Truss and her opponent Rishi Sunak presented themselves once again to a few thousand party members, she admitted that she did not have a "traditional Conservative background." Her father was a professor of mathematics, her mother a nurse, and the family was politically rather left-leaning.
As a child, Liz was taken along to anti-nuclear demonstrations — but she has long turned her back on this aspect of her past. The same goes for her first steps in politics, which she made as a student, into the centrist Liberal Democrats. She now dismisses this as youthful indiscretion.
She is similarly casual about her transformation from a pro-European before the 2016 Brexit referendum to one of the most ardent defenders of Britain's exit from the EU. In the past few years, Truss has been shifting more and more to the right and is now seen as one of the most convinced advocates of pure Conservative doctrine — something that goes down well with party members in traditional Tory constituencies in southern England.
Vague program
In Wembley, Truss made clear once more what she did not want: Tax hikes. Once again, she frustrated all those who tried to prise out of her how she intends to combat the multiple crises of rising energy prices and galloping inflation. While many in the country fear that a large number of Britons will have to choose between "heating or eating" this winter, Truss says only that she is against "handouts" from the state, maintaining that lowering taxes is the proven way to create growth.
The fight between the rival candidates has been a rough one
She sees herself as the successor to Margaret Thatcher, who put the British economy on course for growth in the 1980s by means of drastic privatizations and deregulation. Truss also wants to bring down the current rate of inflation by lowering taxes, even if the economists at the Bank of England reject the idea, fearing that it could push already spiraling prices even higher.
Economics researcher Simon Lee, of the University of Hull, also believes that it is "entirely reasonable to expect the UK government to provide millions of individuals, households and companies with the immediate direct financial support they need to survive the cost of living crisis." After all, he says, Britain spent more than 2 trillion pounds ($2.3 trillion; €2.3 trillion) during the financial crisis of 2008 and the recent coronavirus pandemic to prevent the country from falling into ruin.
Truss, however, has left open the question of how she intends to help impoverished families, saying that will be the task of the new treasurer. But he or she will only be able to raise the billions needed by taking on more debt. British national debt already shot up rapidly during the coronavirus crisis; if further large-scale aid programs now become necessary, the burden on the state will grow.
Iron silence instead of Iron Lady?
On this point, however, Truss simply makes no promises at all. She will present her budget when she is in office, she says curtly. Lower taxes will ensure that people have "more money in their pockets."
They are, however, of no use to the masses of low-earners who now have to find thousands of extra pounds to pay drastically higher gas and electricity bills. Here, Truss puts forward the idea that there simply has to be more supply on the energy market. She intends to award dozens of new exploitation concessions for oil and gas in the North Sea. Environmental concerns play no role for her — just as questions of reforming the energy market do not interest her.
With regards to foreign policy, however, it is clear that Truss, if she becomes prime minister, intends to seek a quarrel with the EU and immediately rescind the Northern Ireland Protocol from the Brexit treaty.
Rising energy prices have triggered several protests in Britain
Adam Harrison, of the think tank European Council on Foreign Relations, believes that Truss is looking to follow through on Brexit "with the zeal of a convert." Besides this, he says, her politics are "Reaganite in flavor, with a foreign policy world view in which Britain stands alongside America against Russia and China, unsupported by its wimpish European neighbors." Among other things, he says this is shown by her habit of spicing her comments on the international situation with references to the Cold War and liberty.
That might sound disturbing. But Truss does not have to convince a majority of Britons with her plans - only the 160,000 or so Conservative Party members, who represent around 1.5% of the British population. There will not be regular elections for another two years, even if many doubt whether a government led by Truss can survive that long. A majority of Conservative MPs would, in fact, prefer her rival, Rishi Sunak, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is unclear whether and how long they will submit to Truss — they have already shown in the cases of Theresa May and Boris Johnson how they deal with failing prime ministers.
The coming winter of discontent in Britain, with media headlines about hunger and poverty, the faltering health care system and waves of strikes that have been signaled, will be a major test for an inexperienced head of government. It remains to be seen whether Truss, when confronted with adversity, will jettison her conservative ideology as fast as she did her earlier convictions.
At any rate, the clash between her free-market principles and harsh reality will produce an interesting spectacle.
This article has been translated from German.
Plastic certificates: Greenwashing or a step to climate neutrality?
A new brand of offsetting allows companies to call themselves "plastic-neutral" while continuing to use plastic themselves. What's it all about?
Plastic waste has become a feature of seas and beaches around the world
Plastic waste and microplastics are everywhere. On Mount Everest, in Arctic ice and the deepest ocean trenches, in the stomachs of animals, in our food, drinking water and even our blood. Such ubiquity is a reflection of how much plastic we make, which is now 200 times more than back in 1950. And so far, we have only managed to recycle around 9% of it.
Experts have long been warning that we can't recycle our way out of the global plastic crisis, but some companies and NGOs are now offering companies the chance to become "plastic neutral" by offsetting. It's a growing industry.
How plastic offsetting works
Companies looking to offset their plastic pay a fee to NGOs and companies in the plastic offset sector. This money is used to collect a corresponding amount of plastic either from the service providers themselves or from third-party providers in developing countries. In some cases the plastic is also recycled.
Marine life is also endangered by plastic waste
These service providers offer their customers so-called plastic neutral certificates or plastic "collection credits."
One of the pioneers in the market is the New York-based company rePurpose Global. When companies invest in its collection and recycling programs, they receive a "plastic neutral” certificate which means they can then market their own products as such. Conversely, however, they can continue to use plastic at the same time.
In a statement to DW, rePurpose Global said it does not certify companies that don't share "a genuine commitment to reducing plastic use," and that it provides brands and companies with "ethically recycled plastic" from its "impact projects, to support their move towards 100% circular supply chains."
Alix Grabowksi, Director of Plastic and Material Science at conservation group WWF, says it would be logical to expect that products claiming to be plastic neutral have no impact in terms of waste. "But that's not really the case."
"I think it's quite misleading for a company to make a claim like plastic neutral when you could still find their products in nature," she says.
Companies certified as "plastic neutral" support better waste concepts,
but they can continue to use plastic packaging
Is plastic-offsetting just greenwashing?
Market analysis by the US NGO "The Circulate Initiative" sees a clear risk of greenwashing, above all due to a lack of transparency. Of 32 offsetting projects studied, just three make the connection between climate change and plastic consumption.
Tom Zoete from the environmental organization Recycling Netwerk Benelux is also skeptical.
"The entire life cycle of plastic is associated with resource consumption, petroleum and energy to produce plastic, transport and so on," Zoete told DW, adding that only those who do not consume plastic can be "plastic neutral."
What is not always clear with such offsetting schemes, is what happens to the plastic itself, and so far there have been no studies detailing the impacts.
rePurpose Global claims to collect seven million kilograms of plastic per year that would otherwise have ended up in the environment. Of that, it says 100% of the recyclable plastic is made into clothing, trash cans or materials for road and housing construction.
What can't be recycled is burned to create a source of energy for the cement industry, replacing coal in the process. Critics say this merely amounts to one dirty fuel being replaced by another, and that it adds to air pollution.
For Grabowski of WWF, the marketing tools are more of a problem than the actual projects, many of which she says are working to improve waste management and wages in the places most affected by plastic pollution.
This March, 200 countries reached the first ever consensus on mandatory rules for plastic production, consumption and disposal by 2024. WWF called the agreement historic.
Recycling 'myth'
Products and packaging made of plastic: The petrochemical industry earns as well
99% of plastic is made using fossil fuels, and the industries involved in its manufacture have a vested interest in continued manufacture. Not least since the International Energy Agency predicts that petrochemicals will soon be the biggest driver of petroleum demand.
This spring, Rob Bonta, the Attorney General of the State of California, launched a far-reaching investigation against ExxonMobil.
He has accused the oil giant of having known for decades about the dangers posed by plastics and of engaging in an "aggressive campaign" to perpetuate the "myth that recycling can solve the plastics crisis."
ExxonMobil denies the allegations.
This article was originally published in German.
GERMANY
Lufthansa pilots decide on second strike starting Wednesday
The two-day strike is set to start on Wednesday. However, unions have said industrial action could still be averted if Lufthansa presents a "serious offer."
Lufthansa pilots are ready for a second strike in a week
Pilots from Germany's Lufthansa airline have decided on a second round of strike action, the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union said on Monday night.
The union said Lufthansa could avert the two-day action, set to start on Wednesday, with a "serious offer." Another round of talks will take place Tuesday, according to media reports.
Pilots already paralyzed Lufthansa's core operations on Friday last week after negotiations on a new collective agreement had failed.
"We very much regret that the union is continuing on the path of escalation," a Lufthansa spokesperson said following the announcement.
Which flights will be affected?
The strike was expected to affect passenger flights out of Germany on Wednesday and Thursday, while Lufthansa's cargo subsidiary was set to be affected just on Wednesday.
For legal reasons, the strike only applies to Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo departures from German airports. Lufthansa subsidiaries such as Swiss, Austrian, Brussels and Eurowings were not included in the strike.
The all-day pilots' strike on Friday brought most flight operations to a halt. Around 130,000 passengers were affected by the cancellation of more than 800 flights. Lufthansa said the action cost it €32 million ($32 million).
What are the pilots demanding?
Vereinigung Cockpit said last week it was demanding a 5.5% pay rise for its more than 5,000 pilots alongside automatic inflation adjustments for 2023.
Spokesperson Matthias Baier said they hadn't received a "sufficient offer" on Thursday, calling it a "sobering and missed opportunity" on side of Lufthansa.
Lufthansa published details of the offer it said the trade union had walked away from. The last offer proposed a blanket increase of €900 per employee.
The company said this would signify an increase of 15% for pilots early in their career and 5% for experienced captains, based on salaries from the latest 18 months.
The airline was arguing that VC's demands would increase staff costs in the cockpit by 40%, describing the increase as "unreasonable," as it doesn't take into account the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
dh/rt (dpa, Reuters)
SEP 4, 2022,
PERPIGNAN, France - Ukrainian photojournalist Evgeniy Maloletka won the Visa d'Or, one the profession's most prestigious prizes on Saturday, for his work during the devastating Russian siege of Mariupol.
Maloletka, visibly moved, dedicated his prize to the Ukrainian people, at a ceremony in the southern French city of Perpignan.
The 35-year-old journalist, who works for the Associated Press news agency, was - along with his AP colleague video journalist Mstyslav Chernov, one of the first journalists to enter Mariupol on Feb 23, an hour before the first Russian bombs fell.
He was also one of the last to leave, finally quitting the city on March 15, by which time it had been almost entirely destroyed by Russian shelling.
Those 20 days he spent there, he told AFP, were like one long, unending day, "becoming worse and worse".
His pictures showed the full horrors of the conflict there: children killed during the siege, heavily pregnant women lying among the ruins of bombed-out buildings, hastily improvised common graves
The Russian bombardment of this port city of 400,000 inhabitants, in particular a direct hit on a maternity hospital, provoked outrage around the world.
The other two photographers nominated were Daniel Berehulak, an Australian of Ukrainian origin, for "People lived here", his reportage for the New York Times on the massacre of civilians in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv; and Marcus Yam's assignment for the Los Angeles Times: "The fall of Afghanistan."
The war in Ukraine has been one of the dominant themes at the International Festival of Photojournalism, which opened on Aug 27. AFP
Cyrielle CABOT - Sunday
Mayyu Ali is one of the 700,000 or so Rohingya who had to flee Myanmar in the summer of 2017 following abuses committed by the Burmese army. Five years later, the 31-year-old poet continues to give voice to his people through his writings.
‘When I write, I exist and so does my community,’ says Rohingya poet Mayyu Ali© Munir Uz Zaman, AFP
"The earth revolves around two very different worlds; hell and heaven. I left one to discover the other." One year ago, in September 2021, Mayyu Ali wrote these words as he walked through the door of his new flat in Ontario, Canada, with his wife and young daughter. It marked the end of a long ordeal for the 31-year-old Rohingya poet, who had spent four years in the world's largest refugee camp, Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.
By chance or a twist of fate, he will be heading to university to study committed literature (littérature engagée) on September 6, five years to the day since he left Myanmar – like 700,000 other Rohingya – to flee army persecution. Since adolescence, he has dreamed of becoming a spokesperson for his community and telling its story. He has already published dozens of poems and, more recently, an autobiography in French, "L'Effacement" (Éditions Grasset), which he co-wrote with journalist Émilie Lopes. "Discrimination, flight, violence... I have seen and experienced everything. It is my duty to tell the world about it," he tells FRANCE 24 from Canada.
'To the Burmese government, I don't exist'
Ali was born in 1991 in Maungdaw, Arakan, a Burmese region on the Indian Ocean. The son of a fisherman and the youngest of six children, he recalls "a joyful childhood" spent bathing in the river and playing with his Buddhist and Hindu friends.
"But the joy soon turned to fear," he says. Since a 1982 citizenship law, the Rohingya, who are mostly Muslim, have been stateless, as Myanmar considers them to be illegal migrants from Bangladesh. This status has resulted in them being targeted by the army and Buddhist religious extremists. "One day, when I was about 10 years old, the military raided the homes of all the Rohingya in my neighbourhood. Including my house," he says. "They had a gun in their hands, it was terrifying. That's when it hit me: when I learned that they had not gone to my Buddhist or Hindu friends' homes, I realised that we were being discriminated against."
In the years that followed, the list of injustices faced by his family and friends seemed endless. "My brother was beaten and then thrown in jail for allegedly not paying a tax on his house, my grandfather's land was confiscated. People around me were prevented from working for no reason," he says.
In 2010, Ali was banned from studying English at university because of his ethnicity. Introduced to poetry by his high school English teacher, he had developed a passion for Shakespeare and the Indian author Rabindranath Tagore. The teenager, who had been writing secretly and for pleasure, thus began to take his writing more seriously.
"At the beginning, I wrote a lot about nature, friendship, family...", he explains, immediately smiling again at the mention of his profession. "And then, little by little, I understood that writing could be an act of rebellion. I am Rohingya. To the Burmese government, I don't exist. I am a human being without citizenship, without rights. But when I write, I exist and so does my community."
At a time when abuses against the Rohingya were increasing in Arakan in 2012, this young man took on the challenge of publishing his texts, which he wrote in English and Burmese. A few months later, one of his poems appeared in an English-speaking Burmese literary magazine. "I experienced it as a rebirth. All of a sudden, I became a recognised person with a name."
"That year was a turning point," he explains. "The Rohingya had always been discriminated against, but now the authorities' aim was to make us disappear," he says. He remembers violent riots, deadly fires, the first villages destroyed and the first people that fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. He decided to stay and get involved with associations, notably Action Against Hunger, to help the local population.
A collection of work
Things changed on the evening of August 25, 2017. "I was living in Maungdaw at the time, which was a two-hour bus ride from my parents' home. I was sleeping when my mother called me," he says. "Crying on the phone, she explained to me that the military had set fire to the village. Everything was destroyed." In the days that followed, he witnessed what he describes as "ethnic cleansing". "There was smoke everywhere, bullets were flying, screams were heard, women were being raped," he says, his voice full of emotion.
Like 700,000 other Rohingyas, Ali and his family resigned themselves to fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh. They had to cross a river and walk for three days. "We had to swim among the dead bodies in the river I used to play in as a child," he recalls. Even today, every August 25th, the Rohingya commemorate those days of violence.
As a refugee at Cox's Bazar, Ali kept up his writing. But his verses began to take on another dimension, as he also wanted to remember everything he was seeing. Through his work with humanitarian organisations and journalists, whom he guided through the makeshift shelters, he collected hundreds of testimonies. "I wrote everything down in notebooks. Little girls raped, murders, corruption, hunger, deplorable sanitary conditions," he says. "And I hope that one day it will serve to bring justice."
Because of these actions, armed militias stationed within the camp threatened to kill him. "I had to hide for several months," he says. "But it was also thanks to this that I was able to leave Bangladesh. The associations mobilised to offer me a way out."
Keeping the Rohingya culture alive at all costs
Even though Ali was able to reach Canada a year ago, he continues to be reminded of his experiences at Cox’s Bazar every time he speaks to his relatives. "My parents and siblings are still there," he says. "They tell me that conditions are getting worse month after month. There is more and more insecurity. Every time there is bad weather, the shelters are destroyed. Diseases are proliferating," he says.
According to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), cases of dysentery have increased by 50% compared to 2019 in the camps and skin infections, such as scabies, are exploding. The Rohingya are also concerned about the increase in crime, as around 100 murders have been committed in five years, according to an AFP count. Some of the victims include community leaders who are probably targeted by insurgent vendettas. Young people, with no prospects for the future, are not allowed to leave the camps or to work. To relieve the camps, the Bangladeshi authorities have transferred some 30,000 refugees to Bhashan Char, an island off the Bay of Bengal.
The young writer remains keen to help. When he is not lobbying the international community to recognise the "genocide" of his people, he is working hard to provide access to education for the children of Cox's Bazar, some of whom were born inside the makeshift camps. "Some of the children have been there for five years, during which time they have been deprived of an education. I refuse to let this be a sacrificed generation," he says. He has managed to set up two schools, with the help of local associations, where the pupils study the Burmese curriculum. "If one day, by some miracle, they return to Burma [Myanmar], they will be able to go back to school," says Ali.
"When we talk about the massacre of the Rohingya, we think of the physical abuse and violence. But our culture and language are also being attacked," he says. "By being refugees, we lose our cultural roots. We have to fight against that. If our culture survives, so does our ethnicity."
Ali continues to devote the rest of his time to his passion – filling in pages. "I want to continue writing, be published in several countries, continue fighting for my people and encourage the international community to act," he says. In March 2022, the US was the first country to recognise the "genocide" perpetrated by the Burmese army against the Rohingya. The poet concludes : "A people, for decades, for being a Muslim minority, still remain under the blade and the bullets. Still and always oppressed, still and always raped and imprisoned. Again and again burned and terrified. Ah, what violence!"
This article is a translation of the original in French.
Nothing can sink Nirvana.
On Friday, a California judge dismissed a child pornography lawsuit filed by Spencer Elden — who was photographed naked as a baby for the cover of the band's 1991 album, Nevermind — once again because Elden did not file the suit during the 10-year statute of limitations, Reuters reports.
"In short, because it is undisputed that [Elden] did not file his complaint within 10 years after he discovered a violation… the court concludes that his claim is untimely," U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin wrote in an eight-page ruling obtained by Rolling Stone.
The list of defendants in Elden's initial August 2021 complaint included former Nirvana members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Chad Channing; Kurt Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, and two other managers of his estate; album cover photographer Kirk Weddle and art director Robert Fisher; and Geffen Records, Warner Records, and Universal Music Group. Per legal precedent, Elden was asking for $150,000 in damages from each defendant.
Spencer Elden on the cover of Nirvana's album 'Nevermind'
This isn't the first time Olguin has tossed out Elden's suit against the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" stars. The judge previously shut down the case back in January but "with leave to amend" should Elden file another complaint addressing the "defects" in the defendants' motion to dismiss.
Now, the judge has given his final verdict on the matter. He added, "Because plaintiff had an opportunity to address the deficiencies in his complaint regarding the statute of limitations, the court is persuaded that it would be futile to afford plaintiff a fourth opportunity to file an amended complaint."
In his original filing, Elden claimed that the defendants "knowingly produced, possessed, and advertised commercial child pornography depicting Spencer, and they knowingly received value in exchange for doing so."
In return, attorneys for Grohl; Novoselic; Weddle; Love; Cobain; Nirvana, L.L.C.; MCA Records; UMG Recordings, Inc.; Universal Music Group, Inc.; the David Geffen Company; and Geffen Records filed a motion to dismiss the case in December, per Variety.
They reportedly claimed that the statute of limitations had since expired and that Elden — who recreated the cover for the album's 25th anniversary back in 2016 — had "spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed 'Nirvana Baby.'"
Following the verdict, Bert Deixler, a lawyer for Nirvana, told Reuters, "We are pleased that this meritless case has been brought to a speedy final conclusion."
Elden's attorney and representatives for Nirvana and Dave Grohl did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment on the court's decision.
Remote work debate intensifies as companies mandate return to office after Labour Day
Brett Bundale, The Canadian Press
A return-to-office showdown is unfolding in Canada and pitting some bosses and workers against each other as the back-to-school season brings with it a renewed push to get employees back into office buildings.
It's a battle experts say could end a years-long experiment in flexible, remote work — or spark a sweeping worker revolt.
"We’re seeing some evidence of a broad pushback," said David Zweig, professor of organizational behaviour and human resources management at the University of Toronto.
"Until this pandemic is dead and gone, going back to the office is going to be a hard sell."
It's not the first time white-collar workers have been recalled to cubicles.
Yet previous return-to-office plans were derailed — repeatedly — by fresh outbreaks and new variants of COVID-19.
This time, however, some companies appear to be drawing a line in the sand.
Rather than voluntary return-to-office guidelines, employers are mandating office attendance through corporate policies.
Some big banks and Bay Street law firms appear to be leading the charge, issuing memos mandating a set number of days a week in the office following Labour Day weekend.
Law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP said in a statement that on Sept. 6 its offices will move to a hybrid working model where most employees will work three to four days a week in the office, subject to operational requirements and local public health guidance.
The head of Royal Bank of Canada recently said organizations need to find the right balance between remote and on-site working.
"It won’t just happen organically," RBC's president and chief executive Dave McKay said in a LinkedIn post. "We’re asking teams across the bank to start coming together in person more often to work and collaborate."
For many managers, the office is about culture. It's a place of collaboration, face-to-face teamwork and, yes, even office cooler chit-chat.
"We're hearing from organizations that the value of creative collision that happens in offices just cannot be recreated virtually," said Tara Van Zuiden, Deloitte Canada’s human capital partner and leader of workforce transformation for Western Canada.
"They want the connection and collaboration that happens in person."
For many workers, the preference for working from home is about flexibility and the lack of distractions. They want a better work-life balance and an end to lengthy commutes.
"People want to hold on to the autonomy and flexibility that they've gained around their work schedules during the pandemic," said Zweig.
Of course some employees never worked remotely and others are clamouring to get back to the office five days a week. Some companies have already moved to a hybrid model permanently — or quit office leases and told workers to stay home.
In May 2020, Canadian tech giant Shopify Inc. shifted to a fully remote, "digital by design" company — saying in a press release its location was not its Ottawa headquarters but "Internet, Everywhere."
The company does most work remotely and "occasionally we gather in person in highly intentional ways to build trust with our teams and connect to our mission. We call these 'bursts,'" spokeswoman Jackie Warren said in an email.
But other companies are rolling out new guidelines for returning to the office this fall, a situation that could lead to a standoff between managers and workers, some observers say.
"If they're going to call people on back en masse, every day as it was before, they're going to get employee pushback," said Adam Savaglio, an employment lawyer and partner with Scarfone Hawkins LLP in Hamilton.
"We could see a mass revolt."
Many workers have argued that their productivity has remained strong or even improved while working from home. They say their quality of life is better as they spend more time with kids or pets or doing activities that improve their mental and physical wellbeing.
They bristle at the idea of a rigid work day, long commutes and expensive downtown coffee and lunches.
"We're on a bit of a collision course," said Mike Shekhtman, a regional director with recruitment agency Robert Half. "Some employers believe the office is the best place to see a high level of productivity. They still believe they have to see and hear their teams in order to feel like they are collaborating and innovating.
"But some workers are really questioning that."
Companies that issue strict policies around returning to the office this fall could face a wave of workers quitting.
It's a significant threat in a tight labour market with a rock-bottom jobless rate.
"Some employees will find the more prescriptive return-to-work policies won’t work for them and they will vote with their feet," said Van Zuiden with Deloitte.
Yet it's not just about retention.
Job hunters are often searching for flexible work arrangements. Positions with strict office attendance rules are becoming harder to fill, experts say.
"The biggest challenge for employers will be that if they mandate a hard return to the office, employees might feel like they have been treated unfairly and are losing control," Zweig said.
"When that happens, people often try to restore a sense of fairness and equity by engaging in less work, like 'quiet quitting,' or worse."
This more subtle form of dissent has different definitions, but at its core it's about workers setting boundaries and not taking on additional work for which they aren't paid.
In other words, they clock in when expected, do their assigned tasks and leave on time.
Meanwhile, one of the potential pitfalls of a full return-to-office plan is the upcoming cold and flu season, coupled with another potential wave of COVID-19.
"As you call people back, you can expect productivity to drop as people become sick in the fall," Savaglio said. "You're in a confined and limited space conducive to transmitting COVID-19."
Even if some Canadians are ready to put the pandemic behind them, he said there's a difference between personal life choices and conditions they are subjected to in the workplace.
"In your personal life, you can choose what you feel comfortable with, you select your risk of harm to some extent," Savaglio said. "When you go to the workplace, you submit to your employer's terms and conditions ... if employees aren't comfortable with the health and safety standards there could be a backlash."
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