CHINA 

Virus whistleblower doctor punished 'inappropriately': Chinese probe


AFP
3/21/2020

Police in China's virus epicentre Wuhan acted "inappropriately" by punishing a doctor who blew the whistle on the outbreak that has now killed more than 9,000 worldwide, a Chinese government investigation found Thursday.

© Mark RALSTON A memorial for Li Wenliang outside the UCLA campus in California

Li Wenliang, one of a group of doctors in Wuhan who shared posts on social media warning of a SARS-like virus spreading in the city in December, was reprimanded by police for sharing the information and made to sign a statement agreeing not to commit any more "law-breaking actions."

Li's death from the virus in February prompted a national outpouring of grief as well as anger at the government's handling of the crisis, and bold demands for freedom of speech.

The police issued an apology after the result of the investigation was published, drawing a new round of criticism on Twitter-like Weibo, with people saying it was too little, too late.

A central government investigation initiated after Li's death found that Wuhan police "acted inappropriately by issuing a disciplinary letter" and took "irregular law enforcement procedures," state broadcaster CCTV reported Thursday.


The investigators also found that Li's colleagues had repeatedly attempted to resuscitate the 34-year-old before he was declared dead because he was "very young," CCTV said.

State media said Li's colleagues told investigators, "as long as there was a bit of hope we were unwilling to give up, at the time there were no other factors."

The central government investigators "suggest" that Wuhan authorities "supervise and rectify the matter," and urged local police to revoke the disciplinary statement issued to Li, according to CCTV.
Wuhan police later issued a statement saying that the disciplinary statement had been "wrong" and they were revoking it, and that they "apologise to his family for the mistake".

The deputy director of the Zhongnan Road police station was given a "demerit" on his record and the officer on duty was handed an "administrative warning", it added.

- 'This apology is too late' -

It is rare for Chinese authorities to admit such wrongdoing, but Beijing has sought to direct criticism over the mishandling of the virus outbreak onto provincial officials, with several of the region's top Communist Party and health officials sacked.

Tens of thousands commented on the police's Weibo post, with some saying it was not good enough.



"Go and apologise in front of the person's grave," said one user.

Another wrote: "This apology has come too late, Wenliang can't hear it."

Li's death had initially been reported by state media before their reports were quickly deleted. Wuhan Central Hospital only confirmed Li's death hours later, after saying he was undergoing emergency treatment.

Social media users who immediately took to Weibo in droves to mourn Li -- before posts related to his death were scrubbed by censors -- had accused hospital authorities of inappropriately attempting to resuscitate Li after he had already died.

China reported zero domestic COVID-19 infections for the first time on Thursday, even as nations across the world have shut down in a desperate effort to contain the pandemic.

China's central government has sought to distance itself from the origins of the disease, initially by sacking local officials blamed for allowing the virus to spread, and recently by supporting the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 originated in the US.

tjx-mk-lth/mtp

BIDEN MIA
Bernie Sanders is considering several options as he ponders his campaign’s future

At 78, Sanders, a democratic socialist who long toiled on the fringes of the national political debate, might well be in his final national campaign. Unlike four years ago, when there was a clear incentive to keep running against Clinton and build a still-budding movement, he came into this race as a known entity with a proven following — making his current political aspirations less clear.

After suffering decisive losses in three more primaries Tuesday, and standing almost no chance of catching Biden in the race for the Democratic nomination, Sanders decided to return home to Vermont last week to assess his future.

The senator is expected to reach a decision about the way forward in consultation with his wife and closest adviser, Jane Sanders. Campaign officials have signaled that he is not in any rush.

In a sign of how close Sanders is keeping his deliberations, even longtime friends and associates have said in recent days that they have little idea of where he will come down. Those with knowledge of the private discussions said the conversations have been substantive and thoughtful and that they reflect how intensely the senator is grappling with his options.

Outside supporters have publicly suggested a range of different options, underlining the dilemma Sanders is confronting.

Larry Cohen, a close ally who helms a nonprofit aligned with the senator, is advocating that Sanders do three things: Push for mail-in balloting for the remaining primaries to curb the risk to voters from the coronavirus; stay in the race to accumulate enough delegates to influence the party platform; and forge a working conversation with Biden that acknowledges that the former vice president, not him, has the path to a majority of pledged delegates.

“Just a dialogue with Biden, not attacks,” said Cohen.

RoseAnn DeMoro, a close Sanders friend and former nurses’ union head, said Sanders should not approach the race as a done deal and ought to treat a come-from-behind victory in future contests as a possibility given the volatility of the times.

“I think there’ll be openings that we don’t know” about, said DeMoro, warning that it would be foolish to concede to Biden.

Biden has made entreaties to Sanders and his supporters, embracing policies the senator has championed and nodding to his youthful movement in recent speeches. Aides from the two campaigns have been in close touch over the coronavirus, officials from both sides said recently, outlining a potential path for negotiations that could lead to an exit more acceptable to Sanders.

It’s not clear he would take it, however. Sanders appears as keen as ever on using his platform to advance his own ideas about how to combat the impact of the coronavirus, as he did Friday evening when he convened a virtual discussion.

“This a moment that history will look back on and say: How did the people of the United States respond?” Sanders said in his opening remarks. He has put forward a plan that draws on his longtime calls for a universal health care system and calls for sweeping new protections for working-class people.

On Saturday, Sanders continued to focus his campaign’s energy on the coronavirus. As he took to social media to renew his calls for $2,000 emergency cash payments to help Americans cope with economic setbacks, the campaign broadcast online a live “teach-in” on the virus.

The campaign also announced that its robust fundraising operation was still churning, collecting more than $2 million in 48 hours for five charities trying to mitigate the effect of the virus.

Those close to the senator say that in recent days he has immersed himself in finding ways to address the crisis. Many of his supporters point to the economic and public health problems arising from it as justification for the far-reaching reforms he has long advocated.

In other words, they say, it’s a moment that calls out for Sanders to stay onstage, not exit.

Some in the senator’s orbit pointed out another potential thicket: the disconnect between the officials spearheading the campaign and the legions of fans who have powered a movement that started when he rose to prominence in the 2016 campaign.

The two domains don’t always operate on the same wavelength, and in this case, some feel, there is far more passion among average supporters for him to stick around than there is among the campaign professionals around him.

On Saturday, Sanders was sounding like a candidate who was not yet ready to relinquish his platform to promote his ideas.

“Suspend evictions, foreclosures, and utility shut-offs nationwide,” he tweeted.

sean.sullivan@washpost.com

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bernie-sanders-is-considering-several-options-as-he-ponders-his-campaign-s-future/ar-BB11uRUv

Pesticide seed coatings are widespread but underreported

by Pennsylvania State University

Seed-coated pesticides, such as neonicotinoids, are increasingly used in the major field crops, but are underreported, in part, because farmers often do not know what pesticides are on their seeds, according to an international team of researchers. Credit: Alyssa Collins

Pesticide-coated seeds—such as neonicotinoids, many of which are highly toxic to both pest and beneficial insects—are increasingly used in the major field crops, but are underreported, in part, because farmers often do not know what pesticides are on their seeds, according to an international team of researchers. The lack of data may complicate efforts to evaluate the value of different pest management strategies, while also protecting human health and the environment.


"We reviewed existing evidence, as well as proprietary and novel government data, on seed treatment usage and found that many farmers either did not know what pesticides were on their seeds or falsely assumed that seed treatments did not include certain pesticides," said Paul Esker, assistant professor of epidemiology and crop pathology, Penn State. "This lack of knowledge could lead to overuse of pesticides, which could harm the environment and farmers' health."

The team analyzed proprietary data from Kynetec, a third-party global marketing and research firm that maintains one of the most comprehensive datasets on pesticide use in the United States, collected from 2004-2014. They found that the use of seed treatments in the U.S. grew over the past decade, particularly in corn and soybean production. In the 2012 to 2014 period, 90 percent of corn acres and 76 percent of soybean acres were grown with treated seeds. Of the insecticides applied to seeds, neonicotinoids accounted for roughly 80%.

Next, the researchers analyzed farmers' responses to questions about pesticide-coated seeds documented in the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS)—the U.S. Department of Agriculture's primary source of information on the production practices, resource use and economic well-being of America's farms and ranches. Specifically, they examined farmer responses to the ARMS for cotton in 2015, corn in 2016, wheat in 2017 and soybean in 2018.

They found that around 98% of farmers were able to provide the names of the field-applied pesticides used on their cotton, corn, wheat or soybean crops. By contrast, only 84% of cotton growers, 65% of corn growers, 62% of soybean growers, 57% of winter wheat growers and 43% of spring wheat growers could provide the name of the seed-treatment product on their crops. The rest either did not answer the survey question or specified that they did not know.

The researchers also found that, in 2015, cotton growers reported that 13% of total acreage was not treated with an insecticide and 19% was not treated with a fungicide, while simultaneously reporting the use of products containing those types of pesticides on that acreage.


The results appear today (March 17) in the journal BioScience.

"One of the most important findings of this study is that farmers know less about pesticides applied to their seeds than pesticides applied in other ways," said Margaret Douglas, assistant professor of environmental studies, Dickinson College. "This is likely because seed is often sold with a 'default' treatment that contains a mix of different pesticide active ingredients, and the treated seed is exempt from some labeling requirements. Without knowing what is on their seeds, it is nearly impossible for farmers to tailor pesticide use to production and environmental goals."

Seed-coated pesticides, such as neonicotinoids, are increasingly used in the major field crops, but are underreported, in part, because farmers often do not know what pesticides are on their seeds, according to an international team of researchers. Credit: Alyssa Collins

According to the study's lead author Claudia Hitaj, research and technology associate, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, the lack of information on the use of pesticidal seed treatments means that a significant portion of pesticide use, particularly for active ingredients that are applied almost exclusively as seed treatments, is not captured in existing pesticide-use datasets.

"Reliable data on pesticide use is needed by regulators, farmers, and researchers to increase agricultural production and profitability and to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of pesticides," she said.

By comparing the data Kynetec collected during the 2004-2014 window to that collected in 2015, when Kynetec stopped offering information on seed treatments, the team found a significant drop in pesticide use for a number of pesticides known to be used as seed treatments. The researchers used clothianidin as an example of what can happen as a result of poor tracking of pesticide-treated seed use.

"The removal of data on treated seed makes clothianidin use appear to drop from more than 1.5 million kg/year in 2014 to less than a tenth of a million kg/year in 2015," said Aimee Code, pesticide program director, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. "Clothianidin is currently undergoing review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, so the lost data makes it difficult to ensure accurate risk assessment."

The team concluded that farmers, researchers and regulators could benefit from improved labelling of pesticide-treated seeds and posting of information about the active ingredients contained in treated seed products on public websites. In addition, information could be collected through sales data from seed retailers and other companies. And information about the planting location of treated seeds could help in assessing pest resistance and the local effects of pesticides on the environment.

"The lack of knowledge by farmers about the pesticides applied to seed is an example of why it is important to maintain a strong university extension system that can provide up-to-date information about different seed treatments, what these treatments do, and what the empirical data shows," said Esker. "This is also an opportunity for further collaboration among different disciplines, like agronomy, plant pathology, entomology, economics and environmental science, to address farm issues from a whole-system perspective."


Explore further

Rapid increase in neonicotinoid insecticides driven by seed treatments
Journal information: BioScience

10 countries are now tracking phone data as the coronavirus pandemic heralds a massive increase in surveillanceIsobel Asher Hamilton

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton


As coronavirus sweeps across the globe, governments are stepping up surveillance of their citizens.

A new live index from digital rights group Top10VPN is documenting which countries are introducing new measures to track people's phones.

Some countries are collecting anonymized data to study movement of people more generally, while others are providing detailed information about individuals' movements.



Governments across the world are galvanizing every surveillance tool at their disposal to help stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Countries have been quick to use the one tool almost all of us carry with us — our smartphones.

A new live index of ramped up security measures by Top10VPN details the countries which have already brought in measures to track the phones of coronavirus patients, ranging from anonymized aggregated data to monitor the movement of people more generally, to the tracking of individual suspected patients and their contacts, known as "contact tracing."

Other countries are likely to follow suit. The US is reportedly in talks with Facebook and Google to use anonymized location data to track the spread of the disease — although Mark Zuckerberg subsequently denied this. And the UK's top scientist has endorsed the use of contact tracing.

Samuel Woodhams, Top10VPN's Digital Rights Lead who compiled the index, warned that the world could slide into permanently increased surveillance.


"Without adequate tracking, there is a danger that these new, often highly invasive, measures will become the norm around the world," he told Business Insider. "Although some may appear entirely legitimate, many pose a risk to citizens' right to privacy and freedom of expression.

"Given how quickly things are changing, documenting the new measures is the first step to challenging potential overreach, providing scrutiny and holding corporations and governments to account."

While some countries will cap their new emergency measures, otherwise may retain the powers for future use. "There is a risk that many of these new capabilities will continue to be used following the outbreak," said Woodhams. "This is particularly significant as many of the new measures have avoided public and political scrutiny and do not include sunset clauses."
Here's a breakdown of which countries have started tracking phone data, with varying degrees of invasiveness:


South Korea gives out detailed information about patients' whereabouts.

South Korean soldiers in protective gear sanitize a shopping street in Seoul, South Korea, March 4, 2020. Reuters

South Korea has gone a step further than other countries, tracking individuals' phones and creating a publicly available map to allow other citizens to check whether they may have crossed paths with any coronavirus patients.

The tracking data that goes into the map isn't limited to mobile phone data, credit card records and even face-to-face interviews with patients are being used to build a retroactive map of where they've been.

Not only is the map there for citizens to check, but the South Korean government is using it to proactively send regional text messages warning people they may have come into contact with someone carrying the virus.

The location given can be extremely specific, the Washington Post reported a text went out that said an infected person had been at the "Magic Coin Karaoke in Jayang-dong at midnight on Feb. 20."

Some texts give out more personal information however. A text reported by The Guardian read: "A woman in her 60s has just tested positive. Click on the link for the places she visited before she was hospitalised."

The director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jeong Eun-kyeong, acknowledged that the site infringes on civil liberties, saying: "It is true that public interests tend to be emphasized more than human rights of individuals when dealing with diseases that can infect others."

The map is already interfering with civil liberties, as a South Korean woman told the Washington Post that she had stopped attending a bar popular with lesbians for fear of being outed. "If I unknowingly contract the virus... that record will be released to the whole country," she said.

The system is also throwing up other unexpected challenges. The Guardian reported that one man claiming to be infected threatened various restaurants saying he would visit and hurt their custom unless they gave him money to stay away.


Iran asked citizens to download an invasive app

A man wears a protective face mask as he takes a picture of blossom trees, ahead of the Iranian New Year Nowruz, March 20, at Mellat Park, in Tehran, Iran March 19, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Ali Khara via REUTERS

Vice reported that Iran's government endorsed a coronavirus diagnosis app that collected users' real-time location data.

On March 3, a message went out to millions of Iranian citizens telling them to install the app, called AC19, before going to a hospital or health center.

The app claimed to be able to diagnose the user with coronavirus by asking a series of yes or no questions. The app has since been removed from the Google Play store.


Israel passed new laws to spy on its citizens

A man wears a face mask as he walks along a main street in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, March 15, 2020. AP Photo/Oded Balilty

As part of a broad set of new surveillance measures approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 17, Israel's Security Agency will no longer have to obtain a court order to track individuals' phones. The new law also stipulates all data collected must be deleted after 30 days.

Netanyahu described the new security measures as "invasive" in an address to the nation.

"We'll deploy measures we've only previously deployed against terrorists. Some of these will be invasive and infringe on the privacy of those affected. We must adopt a new routine," said Netanyahu.

Singapore has an app which can trace people within 2m of infected patients

An old woman wears a surgical mask while buying flowers on the eve of Chinese New Year in Singapore, January 24, 2020. Maverick Asio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Singapore's Government Technology Agency and the Ministry of Health developed an app for contact tracing called TraceTogether which launched on March 20.

Per the Straits Times, the app is used: "to identify people who have been in close proximity — within 2m for at least 30 minutes — to coronavirus patients using wireless Bluetooth technology."

"No geolocation data or other personal data is collected," TraceTogether said in an explanatory video.

Taiwan can tell when quarantined people have left the house

People pray at the popular Longshan Temple in Taipei, Taiwan, Thursday, March 12, 2020. Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo

Taiwan has activated what it calls an "electronic fence," which tracks mobile phone data and alerts authorities when someone who is supposed to be quarantined at home is leaving the house.

"The goal is to stop people from running around and spreading the infection," said Jyan Hong-wei, head of Taiwan's Department of Cyber Security. Jyan added that local authorities and police should be able to respond to anyone who triggers an alert within 15 minutes.


Austria is using anonymized data to map people's movements

Police officers speak to a visitor in Stadtpark as they patrol on a sunny spring day during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria March 20, 2020. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

On March 17 Austria's biggest telecoms network operator Telekom Austria AG announced it was sharing anonymized location data with the government.

The technology being used was developed by a spin-off startup out of the University of Graz, and Telekom Austria said it is usually used to measure footfall in popular tourist sites.

Woodhams told Business Insider that while collecting aggregated data sets is less invasive than other measures, how that data could be used in future should still be cause for concern.

"Much of the data may remain at risk from re-identification, and it still provides governments with the ability to track the movement of large groups of its citizens," said Woodhams.


Belgium is using anonymized data from telcos

A passenger on a metro in Brussels after Belgian government imposed a coronavirus lockdown in an attempt to slow down the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Brussels, Belgium March 19, 2020 REUTERS/Yves Herman

The Belgian government gave the go-ahead on March 11 to start using anonymized data from local telecom companies.


Germany is modeling how people are moving around

An unusually empty scene in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on March 13, 2020. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

Deutsche Telekom announced on March 18 it would be sharing data with the Robert Koch Institute (Germany's version of the CDC).

"With this we can model how people are moving around nationwide, on a state level, and even on a community level," a spokesperson for Deutsche Telekom told Die Welt.


Italy has created movement maps

A man wearing a face mask walks on a deserted street in Venice, Italy, on March 18, 2020 during the country's lockdown due to the coronavirus crisis. Andrea Pattaro/AFP via Getty Images

Italy, which has been particularly hard-hit by the coronavirus outbreak, has also signed a deal with telecoms operators to collect anonymized location data.

As of March 18 Italy had charged 40,000 of its citizens with violating its lockdown laws, per The Guardian.


The UK isn't tracking yet but is considering it

 A commuter covers her face in London, Monday, March 16, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Associated Press

While nothing official has been announced yet, the UK is in talks with major telecoms providers including O2 and EE are in talks to provide large sets of anonymized data.

Like other European democracies, the UK doesn't seem to be exploring the more invasive method of contact tracing. However, it is considering using aggregated data to track the wider pattern of people's movements.

25 organizations call on Trump administration to loosen crippling sanctions regime on Iran

"With hospitals overrun and Iranian doctors struggling to procure necessary equipment, the U.S. must be part of the solution rather than part of the problem."

By Ashley Curtin-March 20, 2020 SOURCE NationofChange


As Iran continues to combat the coronavirus pandemic, 25 organizations urged the Trump administration to ease sanctions against the country and instead, aid the Iranian people’s fight against the virus. According to a press release, NIAC Action—a grassroots, civic action organization committed to advancing peace and championing the priorities of the Iranian-American community—and combined groups representing millions of Americans recommend suspending many of the sanctions imposed by the administration since May 2018 for 120 days.

The open letter reads “COVID-19 is a shared threat, requiring global solutions. Easing sanctions is one simple step that can be taken to serve the interests of the Iranian people and public health across the globe.”

With Iran an “epicenter for the outbreak,” hospitals are overrun and Iranian doctors struggle to procure necessary equipment as more than 20,000 Iranians have become infected. The open letter from the combined groups calls on the U.S. to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

“As COVID-19 rips through country after country, Iran’s experience has been particularly devastating,” Jamal Abdi, executive director of NIAC Action, said. “While advanced medical systems across Western Europe seem to be collapsing under the weight of patients infected with the virus, Iranians have had to contend with both their own government’s negligence and crushing sanctions that slow the response and punish ordinary Iranians.”

The groups advocating for Iranians said easing sanctions will offer significant relief to “secure basic goods and services to weather the crisis” at a critical time.

“Humanitarian assistance shouldn’t come with strings attached, and we are all at risk from the pandemic regardless of nationality,” Abdi said. “We call on the administration to ease its sanctions policy so that all resources are available to fight the pandemic in this dark hour for the Iranian people.”


March 20, 2020

Dear President Trump, Sec. Mnuchin and Sec. Pompeo

Containing the deadly COVID-19 pandemic will require a global effort with nations deploying all available resources at their disposal. Iran has become an epicenter for the outbreak, with 1,433 deaths and nearly 20,000 infected. To help stem the continued spread of the virus inside Iran and beyond, we urge you to issue a time-bound suspension of those U.S. sanctions that make it harder for ordinary Iranians to secure basic goods and services to weather the crisis. Doing so would not just serve U.S. interests in helping contain the further spread of the virus, but would also be a powerful humanitarian gesture to the more than 80 million Iranians suffering under the pandemic.

We appreciate that some limited steps have already been taken, including licensing humanitarian trade with the Central Bank of Iran and encouraging foreign banks and governments to establish humanitarian channels with Iran. Yet, sanctions have harmed the public health sector in Iran by slowing or entirely blocking the sale of medicine, respirators, and hygienic supplies needed to mitigate the epidemic, and broad sectoral sanctions continue to negatively impact ordinary Iranians by shuttering civilian-owned businesses and decimating the value of the rial, making it harder to procure food, medicine, and other basic needs.

As a result, we recommend suspending many of the sanctions imposed by your administration since May 2018 for a period of at least 120 days, including those sanctions affecting Iran’s financial and oil sectors and its civilian industries. Doing so would offer significant relief for the Iranian people at a critical time.

COVID-19 is a shared threat, requiring global solutions. Easing sanctions is one simple step that can be taken to serve the interests of the Iranian people and public health across the globe.

Sincerely,

American Friends Service Committee
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
CODEPINK
Council for a Livable World
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Defending Rights & Dissent
Demand Progress Education Fund
Foreign Policy for America
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Greenpeace USA
Institute for Policy Studies, New Internationalism Project
J Street
Just Foreign Policy
MoveOn
Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
National Iranian American Council Action (NIAC Action)
Peace Corps Iran Association
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Ploughshares Fund
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Progress America
Project South
Project Blueprint
Truman Center for National Security
Win Without War
Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND)

Trump administration’s attempt to log largest national forest in US denied by federal judge

“This is a huge win for wildlife, climate, and all people’s voices on the most biologically diverse and vulnerable island in the Alaska Tongass National Forest.”


By Amanda Mills -March 19, 2020 SOURCE NationofChange


A federal judge has recently rejected the Trump administration’s plan to open logging in part of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.

If it had been approved it “would have been the largest timber sale on any national forest in 30 years, allowing for 164 miles of new road construction and the logging of enough trees to equal a forest three times the size of Manhattan, or 67 square miles,” says EarthJustice.


This decision only affects a part of the national forest called Prince of Wales Island.


Alaskan Judge Sharon Gleason ruled the project’s approval violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Both acts look at environmental factors on federal projects.


“By not developing actual site-specific information, the Forest Service limited its ability to make informed decisions regarding impacts to subsistence uses and presented local communities with vague, hypothetical, and over-inclusive representations of the project’s effects over a 15-year period,” wrote Gleason.


According to The Hill, this decision delays U.S. Forest Service plans to open logging in more than 1.8 million acres over the next 15 years, a project that would have also green-lit the construction of 164 miles of road through the forest.


“This is a huge win for wildlife, climate, and all people’s voices on the most biologically diverse and vulnerable island on the Tongass National Forest. This ruling protects ancient forests that are crucial to mitigating climate change impacts in Alaska and across the globe,” says Natalie Dawson, executive director of Audubon Alaska.


Back in October of last year, the Trump administration was working to exempt the Tongass from the 2001 “Roadless Rule” which would prevent logging by banning any road construction and timber harvesting in federal forests. “Alaska’s use of federal grant funds to help lobby on changes to the Roadless Rule is now under investigation by the inspector general at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service,” continues The Hill.

FORGET ELBOW BUMPS LET'S ALL BOW

WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE 2

SOCIAL DISTANCING IN THE EU

Not fit for purpose: Neoliberalism and Covid 19

At this time of crisis, we will still need to raise our voices to call on governments to use their resources to care for ordinary citizens, not cater to the whims of industry and the wealthy.

By Derek Royden-March 20, 2020 SOURCE NationofChange


With news of the arrival early this year of a new strain of coronavirus, which is already responsible for the common cold and other more serious ailments, a growing panic has ensued in the fear that it could be a disaster on the scale of the 1918 flu that killed more people over a much shorter period of time than the First World War. One of the differences between the current crisis and that earlier one is that while that influenza early last century mainly affected the young, this one appears to be a bigger threat to those over 65, many of whom already have compromised immune systems.

The new virus is reportedly a relative of SARS, a viral respiratory disease, “sharing almost 80% of its genetic sequence… another coronavirus that swept through China and other countries in 2002 and 2003, eventually killing more than 800 people around the globe.”

Governments at all levels in the west have been scrambling to respond to what the World Health Organization has declared a pandemic. Despite this, until very recently, the current occupant of the White House seemed more concerned about the health of the stock market than the country’s citizens, at one point taking to Twitter to write, “The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant.”

Although some in the corporate press have begun to praise the current occupant of the White House’s late response, Beth Cameron, who served as senior director of the National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which would have been at the front line in reacting to the virus but was dissolved in 2018, explained in an editorial in the Washington Post on March 13th, “In a health security crisis, speed is essential. When this new coronavirus emerged, there was no clear White House-led structure to oversee our response, and we lost valuable time.”

As it has spread, the virus, named Covid 19, has shown many of the vulnerabilities in the neoliberal economic system that has ruled most of the world since the late 1970s. From supply chains to the herd mentality of stock markets, the flaws are becoming more glaringly obvious by the day. Worse, after almost a decade and a half of increasing austerity imposed by the 2008 financial crisis throughout most of the world, systems designed to promote social welfare have faced massive cuts, hampering the response in many places.

Showing the danger of a system that promotes the profit motive over everything else, rather than marshaling all of its resources to call for and join an international effort to find a vaccine, the current administration in Washington, D.C. attempted to pay out as much as a billion dollars to a German company, CureVac, that has been working on one, to selfishly make it available only to American citizens on a “for profit” basis.

On the other side of the country’s political divide, the public health emergency led to unusual measures such as holding last Sunday’s Democratic debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders without an audience at CNN’s Washington studios.

One of the most irresponsible things we have seen in this contest so far occurred at the event, when the former vice president argued that Italy’s universal healthcare system, which is currently at the center of the pandemic in Europe, has been ineffective at combating the crisis and demonstrates that such systems don’t work.

The lack of beds and equipment in Italy, especially in the hard hit north of the country, is not, as Biden seems to think, the fault of universal coverage but rather of an aging population and even more so an austerity regime, largely imposed from above by the EU. Similar worries about the availability of beds, ventilators, respirators and other equipment have been voiced in many E.U. countries, where similar crises are expected to play out. The argument that the United State’s mostly privatized healthcare system, in which initial tests for the virus could cost as much as $1400 with insurance, is better than a Medicare for All system is not just patently absurd, it’s dangerous. As Senator Sanders has noted many times during the primary campaign, almost 70,000 Americans die every year due to a lack of medical care, including many with private insurance that they avoid using because of the cost. This is many more than have died worldwide during this Covid 19 crisis at present.

If the idea to hold the last Democratic debate behind closed doors was a wise one, yet, inexplicably, despite the risks to both voters and poll workers, three states, Florida, Illinois and Arkansas, held their Democratic primaries as scheduled on Tuesday, March 17th. This directly contradicted the advice of both state authorities and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommended that citizens avoid gatherings of more than 10 people.

In Florida alone, many polls needed to be closed as 800 volunteers backed out or didn’t show up, with just 100 offering to replace them, meaning that voters were forced to travel if they were even able to find a place to vote at all.

Worse, the Democratic National Committee, after Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine defied the courts and made the decision to cancel primary voting in the state, released a memo insisting that the primaries go on as scheduled despite the crisis, telling state parties that unless they have voted by June 9thrd they risk losing half of their delegates and thus much of their voice at the convention scheduled to be held in Milwaukee from July 13-16. While the excuse being given, that the DNC is just following party rules and will need to hold these primaries before that date to ensure the selection of delegates is smooth, it also seems like a cynical act on the part of party insiders to speed up the process and ensure that Joe Biden has a fast track to the party’s nomination.

On the international economic front, it’s become increasingly obvious that besides hurting tourism and business travel, the disruption to global supply chains will be felt for months, if not years, to come. If this were merely a matter of ‘just in time’ automobile parts, it would be bad for some workers but hardly the end of the world.

What’s been exposed, however, is that many countries, including the United States, no longer produce much of what they will need to confront such a crisis on their own, including vital medicines such as penicillin, which hasn’t been mass-produced in the U.S. since 2004, part of the move towards ‘globalization’ that now looks more than ever like a greedy and stupid race to the bottom.


As a result, even in the event that Covid 19 is not as bad as most scientists and medical professionals warn it may be, many people will face difficulty and even the risk of death from a lack of medicine unrelated to the pandemic.

Typical to crises exacerbated by neoliberalism, working people and those with the fewest resources will be hardest hit. Bar and restaurant closures will increase the precariousness of contemporary life, especially for the younger workers who tend to fill these jobs and have little in savings. Those with school and daycare age children will have to figure out what to do in the event that schools close; the old stand by, having older relatives care for them could create new dangers because, as noted above, this is the group most at risk from the virus and many children don’t show symptoms of it.

One of the few silver linings of the crisis has been the decreased amount of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere, especially as air travel has come to a virtual halt in many places. Even the usually fetid canals of Venice have cleared in a short amount of time and some animals have returned (although experts claim that this is mainly due to constant traffic unsettling the sediment below them).

Even in the best case scenario, how we respond to this unprecedented crisis as individuals says a lot about our societies, and selfish runs on items like toilet paper and price gouging for items like hand sanitizer and surgical masks are not showing us at our best. At the same time, many people have shown kindness to others, with citizens in many countries purchasing and delivering needed supplies to elders.

Solidarity is more than a word or part of a slogan for the progressive left, it is the realization of an essential truth: people are at their best (and, we might also argue, at their most natural) when we work together, especially in difficult times. It has required a great deal of effort to kill this basic instinct toward cooperation, to make us, as individuals, retreat into ourselves and define ourselves by what we buy.