Sweden rejects WHO coronavirus risk warning 
 ANOTHER TRUMP MINI-ME

Sweden's head of virus response has denied the World Health Organization's claim that the country is experiencing "accelerated transmission." He says rising numbers are down to increased testing.
WHAT'S WITH THESE WHITE PEOPLE AND THEIR 

ARYAN SENSE OF INVINCIBILITY

A top Swedish official lashed out at the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday in response to a coronavirus risk warning issued by the organization.

"Unfortunately it is a misinterpretation of the data," said Anders Tegnell, the epidemiologist with the Swedish Public Health Agency told Radio Sweden.

"We find a rising number of cases in Sweden because we test a lot more than before." The WHO made a "total mistake," he added.

Read more: Sweden starts to doubt its outlier coronavirus strategy

Tegnell also noted a decline in intensive care cases and hospital admissions in Sweden. He said the WHO has been in touch to get a more "nuanced picture" of virus transmission rates in the country.

The WHO warning was issued on Thursday by Hans Kluge, head of the body's European regional office.

Kluge said that 11 countries within the Europe region, which includes parts of central Asia, including Armenia, Albania, Ukraine and Sweden had "accelerated transmission that if left unchecked will push health systems to the brink once again."

Sweden's high death rate

Tegnell says the claim that Sweden was experiencing a "very significant resurgence" was incorrect and that the country was being incorrectly categorized alongside countries that are experiencing their first serious wave of infections.

The epidemiologist has been a key figure in Sweden's virus response since the first cases were recorded in the country.

Read more: Architect of Sweden's coronavirus approach admits shortcoming

Sweden has courted controversy with its relative lax coronavirus restrictions and "herd immunity" strategy, with people enjoying far more freedom than its Scandinavian neighbors.

The country's death rate stands at over 5,000 — one of the highest in the world, in terms of size of population.

Numbers have declined in recent weeks with around 10 patients a day being admitted to intensive care units, while Sweden has more than doubled its COVID-19 testing rates in the past month.

ed/mm(AFP, dpa)

Gay Pride at 50: Celebrations go online due to coronavirus fears



Issued on: 27/06/2020 -

British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell (C) leads a march with veteran campaigners and supporters to mark the 50th anniversary of the London Gay Liberation Front's formation in 1970 in London on June 27, 2020. AFP - JUSTIN TALLIS

Text by:NEWS WIRES|

Video by:FRANCE 24Follow

Fifty years on from the first Gay Pride march, the LGBT community and their supporters took many of their events online Saturday, responding to the threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

While some activists took to the streets to mark the event, much of the movement's energy was channelled into Global Pride, a 24-hour online event broadcast live online.

London Pride, one of the biggest events in the Gay Pride calendar, was one major victims of the new restrictions imposed by the pandemic.

Online events replaced it under the slogan: "Postponed, but still united".

But veteran campaigner Peter Tatchell, wearing a rainbow-coloured mask, led a group of 12 fellow activists to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the London Gay Liberation Front.

"We are seeking to reclaim Pride as an event for LGBT+ human rights," said the 68-year-old campaigner.

Some events were broadcast on the giant screen in Piccadilly Square and London's mayor, Sadiq Khan, tweeted his support. "We may be apart, but we are still united, as neighbours, as allies, and as one city."

Here in London, you are free to be who you want to be, and love who you want to love.

Whilst our Pride celebrations this year are very different, they are more important than ever.#PrideInLondon #PRIDE2020 #LoveIsLove #Pridepic.twitter.com/818otDyDz2— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) June 27, 2020

In Berlin, police estimated that around 3,500 people marched in temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas tweeted a message of support to the Global Pride event: "Be proud of yourself! No matter who you love, no matter where you live."

In Vienna, around 200 cars and motorbikes decked out in rainbow flags and inflatable unicorns paraded down the city's famous Ringstrasse on Saturday afternoon.

Organisers said around 5,000 people turned out to watch the scaled-down event. Vienna's Rainbow Parade, which normally attracts hundreds of thousands of people, was otherwise replaced by online events.

'Exist, persist, resist'

The online Global Pride event -- running with the slogan "Exist, persist, resist" -- got underway at 0500 GMT in London.

Fronted by singer and drag queen Todrick Hall, known for his role on the American Idol talent show, it also featured stars such as Kesha and Ava Max.

Politicians were also appearing, including Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado, whose country has just legalised gay marriage.

Global Pride, put together by the organisers of several of the major Gay Pride events around the world,was aiming to attract hundreds of millions of viewers around the world.

In the United States, former president Barack Obama released a video message paying tribute to the gay New Yorkers who rioted at the Stonewall Inn in 1969, effectively launching the modern gay rights movement.

"Because of the movement they sparked and the decades of work that followed, marriage equality became the law of the land five years ago and just this month the Supreme Court ruled that employers can no longer discriminate against LGBTQ workers," he said.

Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden issued his own message on video, in which he referred to a recent Supreme Court ruling reaffirming LGBT workers.

"Pride is particularly poignant this year," he said.

In Argentina, public buildings and monuments will be lit in the rainbow colours of the gay rights movement, and local activists have organised a week of online events, even though Gay Pride is normally celebrated there in November.

The first Gay Pride march was held in 1970 in New York, to mark the first anniversary of the city's Stonewall riots, a landmark event in the gay rights struggle.

(AFP)

Berlin holds substitute Pride parade

Despite the pandemic, more than 3,500 protesters took to the streets of the German capital to support freedom for LGBT+ people. Activists feel their rights are threatened in countries like Russia, Ukraine and Poland.


Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) rights activists marched through Berlin in a smaller version of one of the largest pride festivals in the world on Saturday.

The German capital's annual pride parade and festival, known as Christopher Street Day (CSD Berlin), routinely draws more than a million people but was canceled this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It was due to take place on July 25.

Berlin police expected more than 1,000 people to attend the demonstration but later estimated that about 3,500 people took part.

Parade organizers called on attendees to maintain a safe distance from one another and wear face masks while on the parade route.

Attendees mostly kept to organizers' requests.

March to Alexanderplatz

Marchers carried rainbow flags, the common symbol of LGBT+ rights, through Berlin's streets to Alexanderplatz.

They carried signs and placards with slogans including "No freedom until we are all equal” and "Black trans lives matter” in support of both LGBT+ rights and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Black Lives Matter also held a demonstration in Berlin on Saturday.

Attendees' demands focused primarily on the situation for LGBT people in Poland, Russia and Ukraine.

They also wanted to draw attention to what they called "the dramatic situation of the Berlin scene/community” as many clubs and bars frequented by LGBT persons have been threatened due to the pandemic.

June is considered "Pride Month” by LGBT+ rights activists, with parades and events taking place around the world.

Sunday is the 51st anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which is considered to be the catalyst for increased awareness of LGBT+ rights in the United States.

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EuroPride was to happen for the first time in the Balkans in June, a coup for an LBGTQI community facing embedded discrimination. Despite the cancellation due to COVID-19, artists from the region are still coming out. (20.06.2020)

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Date 27.06.2020
Author Kai Dambach
Related Subjects LGBT+ rights, LGBT+, Berlin
Keywords Gay Pride, Anti-homophobia, Berlin, LGBT+


Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3eRVO

BOYCOTTS WORK!
Facebook, Twitter shares drop as European consumer giant pulls ads

The company behind brands such as Ben and Jerry's, Dove and Marmite said it would halt US advertising on social media platforms. Ad boycotts have led Facebook to institute a ban on hateful conduct and false claims.


Shares of Facebook and Twitter plummeted 7% on Friday following a decision from European consumer giant Unilever to pull US advertisements until the end of the year.

The Anglo-Dutch company, which is behind brands such as Ben and Jerry's ice cream, Dove soap, Lipton tea and Marmite spread, said Friday it was halting ads on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in the United States due to the country's "polarized election period."

Twitter's vice president of global client solutions, Sarah Personette, said the company is "respectful of our partners' decisions and will continue to work and communicate closely with them during this time."

Unilever has joined a growing number of advertisers that have pulled back from online platforms after the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called for the boycott as part of the "Stop the Hate for Profit" campaign.

On Thursday, American telecoms company Verizon joined a boycott on Facebook advertising. Last week, North Face, an outdoor clothing brand, became the first major marketer to participate in the boycott.

According to Axios, Unilever spent $2 million (€1.8 million) on Facebook advertising in June. The American news website said Proctor and Gamble, Unilever's main competitor, spent 10 times that amount this month and has yet to announce a similar boycott.

Later on Friday, Coca-Cola said it would suspend ads on social media for at least 30 days due to concerns about racist content on the platforms.

Facebook bans 'hateful conduct' in ads

Later Friday, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced his platform will flag all "newsworthy" posts from politicians that break its rules, including those from US President Donald Trump.

The new policy on hateful content will "prohibit claims that people from a specific race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, gender identity or immigration status are a threat to the physical safety, health or survival of others," Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page.

"We're also expanding our policies to better protect immigrants, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from ads suggesting these groups are inferior or expressing contempt, dismissal or disgust directed at them."

Facebook is also banning false claims intended to discourage voting in the 2020 US elections. Zuckerberg had previously refused to take action against Trump posts suggesting that mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud.

Social media companies have come under increasing pressure to monitor inflammatory posts and misinformation. Last month, Twitter put labels on Trump tweets for the first time, which drew ire from the US president.

'Slight' radioactivity rise in Nordic countries

Slightly raised radioactivity levels across northern Europe have put the spotlight on western Russia. But its nuclear power operator says plants near St. Petersburg and Murmansk have been operating "within the norm."

RUSSIA HAS RAMPED UP ITS LEAKY RADIATION PROGRAM OF NUCLEAR POWER OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS INCLUDING A FLOATING PLANT IN THE ARCTIC

Russia's power operator Rosenergoatom has downplayed observations by Nordic nuclear safety agencies of slightly increased levels of radioactive isotopes across parts of Finland, southern Scandinavia and the Arctic in recent days.

The Netherland's public health agency said Friday it analysis of Nordic data showed that radionuclides had come "from the direction of Western Russia," indicating "damage to a fuel element in a nuclear power plant."

Aside from Russia, Finland and Sweden operate nuclear power generation plants but have not reported safety incidents.

On Saturday, the Russian news agency Tass quoted a Rosenergoatom spokesman as saying radiation levels at the Leningrad plant near St. Petersburg and Kola near Russia's northern city of Murmansk "have remained unchanged in June."

On Friday, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) tweeted that its sensors had detected "harmless" isotopes, identified as Caesium 137, Caesium 134, and Ruthenium 103, "very much probably of civilian origin."

According to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency based in Vienna, Western Europe has 108 reactors and Central and Eastern Europe 73 reactors.

Chernobyl remembered

Memories remain of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster when the fourth reactor at the-then Soviet nuclear plant, north of Ukraine's capital Kyiv, exploded.

It polluted swathes of Europe and prompted control attempts by thousands of Soviet emergency personnel, often fatal long-term.

A giant protective dome, financed internationally, was put in place in 2016.

Chernobyl's three other reactors generated power until they closed in 2000.

Read more: Moscow residents fight back against 'second Chernobyl'


The site of the Chernobyl reactor was covered by a protective dome in 2015

France closing Fessenheim

On Friday, France ruled out any further full closures of nuclear sites after next Monday's planned shutdown of its second, remaining reactor at Fessenheim, near the German border

France plans to reduce its share of atomic power in its electricity mix to 50% by 2035 from the more than 71% currently, sourced from 18 nuclear plants.

Shutting down Fessenheim became a key goal of anti-nuclear campaigners after the catastrophic meltdown at Fukushima in Japan in 2011.

Read more: Fukushima: How the ocean became a dumping ground for radioactive waste

12% in Germany

Nuclear power makes up only 12% of Germany's electricity generation, with its six last nuclear stations to go offline by late 2022.

Renewables, mainly wind power, deliver roughly half of Germany's electricity, with 19% from lignite (brown coal) and 9% from hard coal. Still uncomplete are controversial high-capacity electricity cables foreseen to conduct electricity from Germany's windy north to industry in its south.

ipj/dr (AP, AFP)

China sent martial artists to India border before deadly clash: state media

NOT JET LEE MORE LIKE JACKIE CHAN


Issued on: 28/06/2020

An Indian fighter jet flies over Leh, the joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, on June 25, 2020, part of a show of strength after a border showdown between Delhi and Beijing Tauseef MUSTAFA AFP

Beijing (AFP)

China reinforced its troops near the Indian border with mountain climbers and martial arts fighters shortly before a deadly clash this month, state media reported.

Tensions are common between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in the mountainous border terrain, but this month's fighting was their deadliest encounter in over 50 years.

Five new militia divisions including former members of a Mount Everest Olympic torch relay team and fighters from a mixed martial arts club presented themselves for inspection at Lhasa on June 15, official military newspaper China National Defense News reported.

State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of hundreds of new troops lining up in the Tibetan capital.

Tibet commander Wang Haijiang said the Enbo Fight Club recruits would "greatly raise the organization and mobilization strength" of troops and their "rapid response and support ability," China National Defense News reported, although he did not explicitly confirm their deployment was linked to ongoing border tensions.

Chinese and Indian troops clashed later that day in the most violent confrontation between the two powers in decades, in the Ladakh region 1,300 kilometres away.

India says 20 of its own soldiers were killed in brutal hand-to-hand combat that day, while China suffered an unknown number of casualties.

Both sides have blamed each other for the battle, which was fought with rocks and batons without any shots fired.

India said Thursday that it had reinforced troops in the contested Himalayan border region, saying it was matching a similar buildup by China.

Chinese state media have in recent weeks highlighted military activity including high-altitude anti-aircraft drills in the Tibet region bordering India.

The new troops were recruited with the aim of "strengthening the border and stabilizing Tibet," China National Defense News said.

India claims Chinese troops ambushed Indian soldiers and forced them down a ridge where they had gone to remove a Chinese "encroachment".

A bilateral accord prevents the use of guns, but the fighting was still fierce, with rudimentary weapons.

China has in turn accused Indian soldiers of twice crossing the Line of Actual Control, the unofficial boundary, provoking its troops.

The two countries fought a war over the border in 1962. There is an understanding between the nuclear-armed neighbours that their troops in the disputed and inhospitable region will not use firearms.

© 2020 AFP

A couple stands in front of Prague's "Lennon Wall" where a face mask has been attached to John Lennon, 

in April 2020 Michal Cizek AFP/Fi

US athletes, Carlos call on IOC to end protest ban
Issued on: 27/06/2020

John Carlos has joined calls from US Olympians to end rules banning athletes from protesting at the Olympics RONALDO SCHEMIDT AFP

Los Angeles (AFP)

United States athletes and 1968 Mexico Games  icon John Carlos on Saturday called for the International Olympic Committee to scrap rules barring athletes from protesting at the Olympics.

In a letter sent to the IOC, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee's athlete council requested that Olympic chiefs abolish its anti-protest regulation.

The letter was sent in partnership with former US sprinter Carlos, who was famously kicked out of the Mexico City games in 1968 for raising his fist on the medal podium in a black power salute along with compatriot Tommie Smith.


"Athletes will no longer be silenced," the US athlete council wrote in the letter.

"The IOC and International Paralympic Committee cannot continue on the path of punishing or removing athletes who speak up for what they believe in, especially when those beliefs exemplify the goals of Olympism," the letter reads.

"Instead, sports administrators must begin the responsible task of transparent collaboration with athletes and athlete groups to reshape the future of athlete expression at the Olympic and Paralympic Games."

The issue of athlete protests at the Olympics came under renewed scrutiny following the wave of protests which erupted across the United States and around the world following the death of unarmed black man George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.

The USOPC had been criticised after issuing reprimands to US hammer thrower Gwen Berry and fencer Race Imboden, who both protested on the podium during last year's Pan-American Games in Lima to draw attention to social injustice.

Berry, who raised a clenched fist on the podium, and Imboden, who knelt down, were given a year's probation by the USOPC and warned they could face severe sanctions if they carried out similar protests again.

International Olympic Committee rules bar any "demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda" at the Games.

In the weeks since the protests over George Floyd's death erupted, the USOPC has said it will review rules regarding athlete protests, saying officials had "failed to listen and tolerated racism and inequality."

The IOC, which in January issued an updated set of guidelines regarding athlete activism, outlawing any kind of demonstration on the medal podium or field of play, has hinted it may be willing to soften its stance.

The IOC is backing discussions led by the Olympic Athletes Commission to consider ways of allowing "dignified" shows of support for anti-racism initiatives.

- 'fundamental human right' -

The USOPC athlete council and Carlos had requested abolishing the rule against protests during a conference call with the IOC's Athletes Commission on Thursday.

In its letter to the IOC released Saturday, the US Olympians said freedom of expression was a "fundamental human right."

"The Olympic and Paralympic movement simultaneously honors athletes like John Carlos and Tommie Smith, displaying them in museums and praising their Olympic values, while prohibiting current athletes from following in their footsteps," the letter read.

"Carlos and Smith risked everything to stand for human rights and what they believed in, and they continue to inspire generation after generation to do the same. It is time for the Olympic and Paralympic movement to honor their bravery rather than denounce their actions."

© 2020 AFP

Olympic civil rights icon John Carlos turns 75

Posted by Athletics Weekly | Jun 5, 2020 |

USA’s 1968 Olympic 200m bronze medallist, who made history alongside Tommie Smith in Mexico City, continues to campaign for equality

As the United States witnesses continuing mass Black Lives Matter protests across the nation, one of the most iconic figures in the struggle for equality in America today turns 75, writes Malcolm McCausland.

John Wesley Carlos (pictured above, right) was born in Harlem, New York, to Cuban parents, on June 5, 1945. He shone as a high school athlete and was awarded an athletics scholarship to East Texas State University (now Texas A&M), but after an outstanding first year on the track he transferred to the more prestigious San Jose State University in California where he was trained by famed coach Lloyd (Bud) Winter.

Carlos won the 200m in the 1968 US Olympic Trials at Lake Tahoe, clocking 19.92, beating Tommie Smith and surpassing Smith’s world record by 0.3 seconds. The mark was never ratified because Carlos was wearing brush spikes (with multiple needles) but the performance still marked his arrival as a world-class sprinter.

Political from an early age, Carlos became a founding member of the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR). He advocated a boycott of the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games unless four conditions were met: withdrawal of South Africa and Rhodesia from the Games, restoration of Muhammad Ali’s world heavyweight boxing title, Avery Brundage to step down as president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the hiring of more African-American assistant coaches.

The IOC withdrew invitations from South Africa and Rhodesia, diminishing the support for a boycott, but the other three conditions were not met. Nevertheless, he and Smith decided to compete but stage a protest if either, or both, won a medal.

As it happened, Carlos took third behind Smith and Australian Peter Norman in the 200m and they took to the presentation podium wearing black socks and no shoes, depicting the poverty suffered by many African-Americans in the US. They then made history by raising black-gloved fists in protest during the American national anthem.

After the Olympics, Carlos played American football in Canada, (THERE IS NO AMERICAN FOOTBALL IN CANADA CANADA HAS IT'S OWN LEAGUE) worked for Puma and the US Olympic Committee before becoming a track and field coach. He has remained a champion for human rights and in 2006 was a pallbearer and gave an oration at the funeral of Norman in Australia.

In 2008 he and Smith, who by coincidence celebrates his 76th birthday tomorrow, accepted the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage for their salute. Three years later, Carlos spoke and raised his fist at the Occupy Wall Street protest to highlight social and economic inequality, greed, corruption and the undue influence of corporations on government.

“Today I am here for you. Why? Because I am you,” he said. “We’re here forty-three years later because there’s a fight still to be won. This day is not for us but for our children to come.”

Initially the back-gloved salute was not taken well. Both athletes were ordered to leave the Olympic village and Mexico within 48 hours for violating the spirit of the Olympic movement. However, in the fullness of time, the image has become one of the most stunning, meaningful and revealing in history.

Andrzej Duda: Polish president loyal to ruling right-wing

THAT FELLA THAT VISITED TRUMP THIS WEEK

FIGURED YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT HIM

Issued on: 28/06/2020 -

Andrzej Duda on the campaign trail JANEK SKARZYNSKI AFP/File

ANTI-LGBTQ RIGHTS , ANTI-ABORTION,

ANTI-FEMINIST ANTI-HUMANIST ANTI-SEMITE

ANTI JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE 

Warsaw (AFP)

Polish President Andrzej Duda, the frontrunner in an election Sunday that was delayed several weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic, is a loyal ally of the EU member's ruling conservatives.

Though Polish presidents wield limited power, a second five-year term for the 48-year-old lawyer would likely cement the governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party's chances of moving ahead with its agenda.

Duda, who is predicted to be forced into a second-round run-off, has rarely said no to powerful PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and is known for waving through government policies like generous social benefits and controversial judicial changes.


"He's a party man, carrying out its orders," Warsaw-based political analyst Stanislaw Mocek said.

The one time Duda broke from the party came in 2017, when he vetoed two judicial reforms he believed gave too much power to the attorney general, who is also the justice minister, and curtailed his own.

The surprise veto left the PiS stunned and earned Duda applause from the liberal opposition and the European Union.

- Spiritual heir -

Born in 1972 to a family of professors in the southern city of Krakow, Duda was a choir boy and Boy Scout before earning a law degree from the Jagiellonian University in 1996.

When PiS first came to power in 2005, Duda was named deputy justice minister, a job he gave up in 2008 to become an aide to then president Lech Kaczynski, Jaroslaw's twin.

A devout Catholic, Duda was close to Lech Kaczynski -- who in 2010 died when his presidential jet crashed in Smolensk, Russia -- and often calls himself his "spiritual heir".

Duda also has the backing of the present-day incarnation of the Solidarity trade union that brought a peaceful end to communism at home in 1989.

He was elected to the Polish parliament in 2011, then to the European Parliament in 2014. But he only became well-known after Jaroslaw Kaczynski crowned him presidential candidate.

Duda went on to win the presidential election in May 2015, after promising voters social benefits galore in fiery campaign speeches always featuring his ready smile.

- Judicial changes -

Like Poland's powerful Catholic Church, Duda opposes in-vitro fertilisation and the 2011 Istanbul Convention, the world's first binding legal instrument to prevent and combat violence against women, which Poland ratified in 2015.

He is also in favour of tightening tPoland's anti-abortion law -- already among Europe's most restrictive -- and recently likened "LGBT ideology" to communism, drawing criticism at home and abroad.

On Duda's watch the retirement age for men was lowered from 67 to 65. The PiS also began giving parents a monthly allowance of 500 zloty (110 euro, $130) for every child.

In terms of foreign policy, Duda has worked on strengthening ties with NATO. Since he became head of state, the Western defence alliance and the United States have deployed their troops in the region in response to Russia's activity in neighbouring Ukraine.

Just four days before the election, Duda visited US President Donald Trump, who was lavish with his praise of his Polish "friend' -- the first foreign leader invited to the White House since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Without going so far as to call himself a eurosceptic, Duda has in the past described the European Union as an "imaginary community from which we don't gain much."

Duda's critics fault him for his role in bringing to heel the Constitutional Court and other judicial institutions.

In 2017, the EU launched unprecedented proceedings against Poland over "systemic threats" posed by the reforms to the rule of law that could see its EU voting rights suspended.

An avid skier, Duda is married to German language teacher Agata. They have an adult daughter.

© 2020 AFP

Poles choose president in election delayed by pandemic
Issued on: 28/06/2020 -

Polish President Andrzej Duda is a key ally for the government Wojtek RADWANSKI AFP/File

Warsaw (AFP)

Concerns over democratic standards and bread and butter issues top the agenda as Poles vote on Sunday in round one of a tight presidential race that had to be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Incumbent Andrzej Duda, 48, is campaigning for re-election in a vote that could determine the future of the right-wing government that supports him.

Ten candidates are vying to replace him, but opinion polls show that Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, a liberal from the main Civic Platform (PO) opposition party, will enter a neck-and-neck run-off on July 12.

Victory for Trzaskowski, also 48, would deal a heavy blow to the Law and Justice (PiS) government, which has relied on its ally Duda to endorse polarising legislation, especially judicial reforms.

While the PiS insists the changes are needed to weed out judicial corruption, critics and the European Union insist they erode judicial independence and democracy just three decades after Poland shed communism.

US President Donald Trump, who regards the populist PiS administration as a key European ally, gave Duda his blessing this week.

Trump invited him to the White House on Wednesday as the first foreign leader to visit since the coronavirus pandemic began, just four days ahead of election day.

Originally scheduled for May, the ballot was postponed due to the pandemic and a new hybrid system of postal and conventional voting will be in place on Sunday in a bid to stem infections.

While official figures show over 33,000 confirmed cases and more than 1,400 deaths, the health minister has admitted that there are likely up to 1.6 million undetected cases in Poland, an EU country of 38 million people.

- Anti-gay rhetoric -

Duda has promised to defend the governing party's raft of popular social benefits, including a child allowance and extra pension payments -- a key factor behind the populists winning a second term in October's parliamentary election.

Bread and butter issues are weighing heavily on voters' minds as the economic fallout of the pandemic is set to send Poland into its first recession since communism's demise.

"I'm happy. I can't complain; I get an extra pension payment and children are getting 500 zloty," Irena, a 63-year-old pensioner, told AFP in the central Polish town of Minsk Mazowiecki.

"I'd like this to continue," she added, declining to provide her surname.

Duda has also echoed PiS attacks on LGBT+ rights and Western values, something analysts see as a bid to attract voters backing a far-right candidate.

Campaigning with the slogan "Enough is Enough", Trzaskowski promises to use the experience and contacts he gathered as a former European affairs minister to "fight hard" for a fair slice of the EU's 2021-27 budget, and to repair tattered ties with Brussels.

He has however vowed to keep the PiS's popular welfare payments.

While many see his PO party as a weak and ineffectual opposition, Trzaskowski supporters regard him as a bulwark against the PiS's drive to reform the courts, something they insist risks destroying any notion of an independent judiciary.

"I'm a lawyer and this (PiS justice reforms) affect me directly," Marek, 60, told AFP in Minsk Mazowiecki, also declining to provide his surname.

"It's as if a blacksmith would go to a watchmaker's shop and try to put things in order. People might support it, but in the long run these reforms will have to be reversed."

- 'Budapest model'? -

Since winning power in 2015, both Duda and the PiS have in many ways upended Polish politics by stoking tensions with the EU and wielding influence through state-owned companies and public broadcasters.

Some analysts view the election as a crucial juncture: a second five-year term for Duda would allow the PiS to make even more controversial changes while defeat could unravel the party's power.

FASCISM BY ANY OTHER NAME 

A win for Duda would pave the way to "bolstering 'Eastern' tendencies, like the rise of oligarchs... and a drift to the Budapest model (of Hungary's Viktor Orban) – that's the danger," Warsaw University political scientist Anna Materska-Sosowska told AFP.

Polling stations will be open between 7:00 am and 9:00 pm (0500-1900 GMT) with an exit poll expected as soon as voting ends.

© 2020 AFP

Israeli settlers back annexation, oppose Palestinian state

ILLEGAL ZIONIST COLONIAL OCCUPATION FORCE

Issued on: 28/06/2020 -

Above the West Bank settlement of Itamar, the wildcat outpost Givat Arnon is home to 27 Israeli families, both secular and observant Jews MENAHEM KAHANA AFP

Givat Arnon outpost (Palestinian Territories) (AFP)

The 450,000 Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank are a diverse group, ranging from ultra-Orthodox to secular moderates, who hold varying views on Israel's impending decision on annexation.

From July 1, the Israeli government aims to take its first steps toward implementing part of a US-proposed Middle East peace plan that paves the way for annexing key parts of the West Bank, including settlements long considered illegal by the majority of the international community.

The controversial plan also envisions the creation of a Palestinian state, but on reduced territory and the Palestinians have rejected it outright.


From Yitzhar to Efrat, AFP asked Israeli settlers how annexation would change their lives.

- Yakov Sela, settlements 'fulfil destiny' -

Above the West Bank settlement of Itamar, the wildcat outpost Givat Arnon is home to 27 Israeli families, both secular and observant Jews.

The peace plan put forward by the United States could see it annexed by Israel, but surrounded by an independent Palestine.

Yakov Sela, a 33-year-old father of three, said living in an outpost fulfils a "destiny to build the land and settle it".

Part of the outpost site is owned by the Israeli state and part is private Palestinian land, Sela said.

"As far as we're concerned, it's all ours."

Sela described his "elation" in January when US President Donald Trump unveiled his controversial plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace, which opened the door to Israel annexing West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley.

"We were thrilled," he said.

But Sela is concerned that Israel will be compelled to approve the establishment of a Palestinian state, which would turn the outpost into an Israeli enclave.

"We can't really accept the recognition" of Palestinian statehood, he said.

- Tzvi Succot, opposes Palestinian statehood -

To Tzvi Succot, an Israeli presence in the biblical Jewish homeland, including his settlement Yitzhar, goes beyond temporal politics.

"We're here because of the bible, because of the belief that God gave us this territory," he said from his backyard, where his four young daughters played on swings and a trampoline.

The 29-year-old son of an ultra-Orthodox family in a West Bank settlement near Jerusalem, Succot wears a knitted skullcap, curly sidelocks and a short beard.

Yitzhar, on a hill just south of the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Nablus, is notorious for residents' clashes with the neighbouring Palestinians and also occasional confrontations with Israeli security forces.

"We want this place to be owned by Jews," he said of what brought him to Yitzhar some 15 years ago.

Relations with the Palestinians in the towns below are tense and often violent.

"They don't want us to be here, we don't want them to be here, but meanwhile we're both here," Succot said with a chuckle.

As for annexation, "we're obviously in favour", he said, while remaining opposed to Palestinian statehood.

"I don't think there's one person in the world who thinks there will be a Palestinian state here, in two days or two years."

- Shmil Atlas, favours dialogue -

Shmil Atlas, 51, works for the Efrat local council.

A government-recognised settlement in the southern West Bank, Efrat is adjacent to the Palestinian city of Bethlehem and about 15 kilometres (9 miles) south of Jerusalem.

Efrat is home to about 11,000 Israelis. Like the residents of Givat Arnon, they are a mix of secular and observant Jews.

Atlas has lived in Efrat since leaving Jerusalem in 2015, lured by the settlement's lower property prices.

The father of three said he bought a four-bedroom house in Efrat for the price of a studio apartment in the city.

"My wife and I work in Jerusalem, we were looking for a place close to the city," he said.

Atlas favours annexation but also dialogue with the Palestinians.

"I firmly believe that if we can sit down and negotiate on a common future, life will be better for them and for us," he said.

- Carine Suissa, fears further bloodshed -

French-born Carine Suissa, 53, immigrated to Israel in 1992 and moved the following year to the West Bank settlement of Kfar Adumim.

"I came... with the aim of being able to raise my children in a place with nature, with a quality of life, living in a small village, nothing ideological," she said.

Kfar Adumim lies on the edge of the Judean desert between Jerusalem and the ancient Palestinian city of Jericho.

The location, she said, has few reminders that it is in occupied territory.

"Here it's a bit like living on the moon with empty spaces like landscape paintings... I would never have gone to live in a locality with barriers or surrounded by Arab villages."

But she remains ambivalent about the potential fallout from annexation.

"This plan is not going to lower tensions and I do not see how it could advance peace," she said.

"I fear that we are on the verge of years of fresh conflict and that the blood will continue to flow on both sides."

© 2020 AFP