KENYA

Trump’s US treading dangerous path on democracy and polls

By KAMOTHO WAIGANJO | October 3rd 2020 THE STANDARD

US President Donald Trump takes a question during a news conference on the coronavirus outbreak at the White House in Washington, US, on February 29, 2020. [Reuters]

I have always been fascinated by the drama of American politics. Unsurprisingly, I woke up at 4am last Wednesday to watch the debate between President Trump and his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden. Before I discuss the debate, I am continually and profoundly disturbed that diverse America, where more than 70 per cent of the population is below 55, more than 50 per cent are women and 40 per cent are non-white, is choosing between two white men of 74 and 77 for its President.

A choice between an incendiary Trump and an obviously tired Biden to lead America in these tumultuous times feels creepy. But that is democracy so I will leave it at that. Back to the debate. I agree with those who recognise that this embarrassingly raucous debate, in its lack of discussion on substance, robbed the shrinking club of “undecideds” an opportunity to compare the candidates approach on issues and finally make up their minds.

For all its lack of substance however, the debate left a jarring concern in my mind that Trump’s America is heading dangerously along paths hitherto unimaginable except in “immature” democracies. This has to do with Trump’s allegations that the elections would be a fraud and were already being rigged because of the preponderance of mail-in ballots.

This narrative has an eerie and worrying resemblance to Kenya’s 2007 elections and has capacity to destroy the already feeble nation that America has become. In the run up to the 2007 polls, ODM vigorously denounced the Electoral Commission and indicated that PNU was planning to rig the elections. In ODM’s view then, as is Trump’s view now, a loss to PNU could only result from rigging.

Predictably, when the late Samuel Kivuitu announced a PNU win, ODM reminded its supporters of its prophecy and rejected the results. The infamous post-election violence, in which thousands died and hundreds of thousands were displaced, was the unfortunate result. While the subsequent Kriegler report affirmed that indeed the elections had been compromised, it made it clear that such compromise was not in the form alleged by ODM and that indeed both parties had liberally taken part in rigging activities, ending with the conclusion that it was impossible to confirm who won that election.

I remind us of this history not to re-litigate the 2007 elections, but to underline how dangerous Trump’s narrative is to America’s position as a beacon of democracy and hope to the world. The nature of America’s electoral process is that most states allow citizens to send in their ballots by mail.

Secondly, all ballots that are post-stamped any time before the 4th of November are accepted, even if they arrive after 4th. Thirdly, most states do not allow these ballots to be opened and verified before election day.

Fourthly and most importantly, the persons voting by mail are largely Biden supporters. Inevitably, the results of the in-person ballots will be announced before the mail-in ballots have been received, verified, collated and counted.

It is therefore possible that on the 4th of November evening, Trump may be leading, much like Raila Odinga was leading the polls by the 29th of December before the final count. Trump supporters, much like Odinga’s supporters in 2007, will start celebrating. As Biden’s votes continue to roll in and be counted that picture may change much like the counting of votes from Kibaki strongholds changed the picture in 2007.

If Biden then wins the elections, Trump’s “prophecy” will have come true and violence will be inevitable. Unfortunately, America’s passions are already at boiling point exacerbated by the racist police killings and the rise of both leftist and right wing militia groups.

In a country with 400 million guns in private hands, heavily outnumbering the population, post-election violence will damage that country irredeemably. For a country that has invested so much in the stability of volatile countries, it is shocking that the possible incinerating of this former beacon of democracy seems so real.

The greatest lesson for Kenya as we approach 2020; let us avoid propaganda that delegitimises our elections without any credible, independently verified basis. It takes so little to destroy a country.

-The writer is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya

Trump-touted hydroxychloroquine shows no benefit in COVID-19 prevention: study


(Reuters) - A malaria drug taken by U.S. President Donald Trump to prevent COVID-19 did not show any benefit versus placebo in reducing coronavirus infection among healthcare workers, according to clinical trial results published on Wednesday.

The study largely confirms results from a clinical trial in June that showed hydroxychloroquine was ineffective in preventing infection among people exposed to the new coronavirus.

Trump began backing hydroxychloroquine early in the pandemic and told reporters in May he started taking the drug after two White House staffers tested positive for COVID-19. Studies have found the drug to offer little benefit as a treatment.

In the study of 125 participants, four who had taken hydroxychloroquine as a preventative treatment for eight weeks contracted COVID-19, and four on placebo tested positive for the virus.

All eight were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms that did not require hospitalization, according to the results published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal.

The research shows that routine use of the drug cannot be recommended among healthcare workers to prevent COVID-19, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania said.

The study authors said it was possible that a trial conducted in a community with higher prevalence of the disease could allow detection of a greater benefit from the drug.

In the latest trial, which was terminated before it could reach its enrollment target of 200 participants, mild side effects such as diarrhea were more common in participants taking the malaria drug compared to placebo.

Fox News Is Taking Trump’s COVID Diagnosis Just Fine, Why Do You Ask?
By JUSTIN PETERS SLATE OCT 02, 2020

At 6 a.m., they were wondering why Joe Biden hadn’t said anything. Fox News

Early Friday morning, when the world learned that both President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump had been diagnosed with COVID-19, I went to bed with one question on my mind: How would Fox News cover the story the next day?

The network has been a key vector for bad coronavirus information all year. From initially claiming that COVID-19 was basically just the flu, to touting hydroxychloroquine as a remedy without any compelling scientific evidence for the claim, to amplifying the president’s sneering disdain for masks, state and regional shutdowns, and his own administration’s health experts, Fox News personalities speaking to the network’s vast and elderly audience have surely helped make the pandemic worse than it otherwise might have been. Now that their beloved leader has been hit by the virus, how would they react? By 9 a.m. Friday, after watching Fox & Friends, I had my answer: by pandering to the president, incessantly referencing hydroxychloroquine, and somehow still finding a way to make the story about Joe Biden, the Democrats, and the sickos in the liberal media.

Trump’s diagnosis was the only story that Fox & Friends covered on Friday, but the potential leadership vacuum left by an ill executive was hardly on the anchors’ minds. After noting that the president’s case of COVID appeared mild, citing a statement from Trump’s personal physician, co-host Steve Doocy came around to the real story: “It is unclear whether or not Joe Biden even knows this has happened yet, because famously, out on the trail, he has said a number of times, ‘I get up at 8.’ You got to wonder whether or not his aides woke him up early to tell him the news.”

“Well, you have a good point, Steve,” correspondent Griff Jenkins responded. “It’s interesting: [It’s] now after 6 a.m. on the East Coast and the former vice president has not responded. No statement, no Twitter.” Even now, the message was that slugabed Biden is hardly a match for our vigorous president, who gets up with the crows (to spend many, many hours watching morning television each day).

Next came Fox News medical contributor Marc Siegel, who reassured viewers—especially the program’s most important viewer—that the president’s lack of comorbidities, such as diabetes or heart disease, bode well for his recovery, despite his age and his obesity. To be clear, Trump does have moderate heart disease, and Siegel’s assessment of his health was, to be generous, rosy. Anyway, the Friends wanted to know about possible pharmaceutical remedies. What about the fact that the president had at one point been taking hydroxychloroquine as a prophylactic measure? Would that impact anything?


Fox's Dr. Marc Siegel on hydroxychloroquine: "Research has not really backed that up" as a covid treatment but "I don't think it's ever been ruled out. We're in the middle of a pandemic here. Things are going at lightning speed." pic.twitter.com/xZb8Ai93Bg— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) October 2, 2020

Even now, Fox News still just can’t let go of Trump’s favorite discredited miracle cure.

“Well, listen, Steve, I think early in the pandemic we all thought that that was a really good treatment,” Siegel said. (We did not all think that.) “As time has gone on, research has not really backed that up. But it’s still being used in many places around the world with zinc. And I would have to tell you honestly, I don’t think it’s ever been ruled out.” (A recent study showed that the drug “did not show any benefit versus placebo in reducing coronavirus infection among healthcare workers,” according to Reuters.)

Later, we heard from Dr. Qanta Ahmed, from NYU Langone Medical Center, who advocated blasting the president with remdesivir while also noting that Trump is “constitutionally incredibly strong. He operates more like a 45-year-old than a 74-year-old in terms of his stamina. He has no underlying comorbidities. He will naturally resolve this quickly.” Ahmed also suggested the president’s early dabbles with hydroxychloroquine may well “have conferred him some protection” and that hydroxychloroquine has been ”unfairly vilified.” It is remarkable that even now, after most rational people have decided Trump’s early fixation with hydroxychloroquine was bizarre and possibly suspect, Fox News still just can’t let go of this discredited miracle cure.

At the top of the 7 a.m. hour, Doocy recapped the headlines for viewers who were just tuning in and reiterated that “we do not know at almost 7 Eastern time whether or not Joe Biden has been told that the president tested positive for COVID. You know, the president and first lady sent out tweets in the 1 a.m. hour, and Joe Biden has famously said out on the campaign trail that he doesn’t get up until 8 in the morning. So, it’s interesting.” (It was not!)

Fox & Friends is the president’s favorite show, in part because the three hosts spend much of each program talking directly to him. The synergy loop between Trump and the show’s three hosts has been well documented, and the stories on any given episode of Fox & Friends can set the president’s Twitter agenda for hours thereafter. You can’t really say that Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade use their power wisely or responsibly, but they do use it. At one point on Friday, Doocy and Earhardt also lobbied hard for a check-in call from the program’s most famous viewer. “I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if the president did phone in something today or put something else on Twitter,” said Earhardt.

“He knows our number,” said Doocy.

“Exactly,” Earhardt said. “Because, just to assure the American people.” Trump didn’t take the bait—he hasn’t been heard from in daylight hours on Friday, even on Twitter—and the program soon turned to another favorite pastime: giving airtime to hacky Trump cheerleaders.

On Fox News, almost all criticism of the president is inevitably interpreted as a sign of moral depravity on the part of his critics. “I was disappointed—genuinely disappointed—to see the glee with which some people responded to this news,” said Fox contributor Mollie Hemingway later. “There is a proper way to respond to this news. For people who pray, it is a good time to pray. You should be praying for your world leaders, your leader of your country every day, but this is a good time to do it.”

Such affected incredulity over the mainstream media’s purportedly unfair treatment of Trump was a theme throughout the morning. Germ truther Pete Hegseth echoed Hemingway soon thereafter, shaking his head at the gall of those people who have expressed schadenfreude on Twitter. “Would you expect anything else at this point?” Hegseth asked. “The level of hatred for this president that they have has dehumanized him. Cue the wild conspiracies at this point. Cue the rabbit trails. Cue the vitriol.” Hegseth also noted that people who attended Trump rallies “made their own risk calculation as human beings who can make choices as free individuals to go to a rally to wear a mask or not. There will be conversations about that. I get it. But I like respecting people, and the president has respected people at every turn in this case.” (He has not!)

Chris Wallace, who came on the show in the 8 a.m. hour, had a different stance on the mask matter. Wallace noted that, at Tuesday’s debate in Cleveland, the Biden side of the room wore masks while Trump’s family did not—even after staffers from the Cleveland Clinic came up and offered the Trumps masks, in case they’d forgotten to bring them. “There was no sign during the debate of any problems with the president in terms of his health, but it is worth noting that different people treated the safety rules inside the hall differently,” Wallace said, and the Friends let him say it.

Wallace is one of the few hosts in the network’s stable who is consistently free to deviate from the network’s standard positions on any given issue. Geraldo Rivera also fits into this “loose cannon” category, and as soon as he came on Fox & Friends Friday morning, he noted that,“politically, there will be scorn heaped on the president, as soon as he is out of danger, about his cavalier attitude toward masks.” Rivera then essentially decided to speak directly to the president.

“I want the president of the United States to take a break. Take a break, for goodness’ sake,” said Rivera. “We want you to get better. We don’t want you holding, you know, little pocket campaign rallies. I think the American people would look at that askance.” It was good, sound advice—so of course Kilmeade disagreed with it.

“Geraldo, you’ve got it wrong,” Kilmeade said, creating a little angel-devil dichotomy jockeying for position in Trump’s eardrums. He argued that asymptomatic COVID patients—Trump was assumed to be one Friday morning—could actually “get a lot done” as long as they stayed away from people during their infection. “I think there’s no reason to isolate and not do anything if you’re OK,” Kilmeade said.

Geraldo lost it: “This disease kills old people, Brian. Period. And if you take it in a way that ‘Oh, I can handle this cause I’m a tough guy,’ then shame on you. I want him to be prudent now. Enough about, you know, ‘I have a mask in my pocket.’ Why wasn’t the mask on your face, Mr. President?”

It was a question too difficult for the three hosts to answer, which is perhaps why they chose to wash away Rivera’s words with a visit from congressional motormouth Jim Jordan, the Ohio representative who earlier this week had flown on Air Force One with Trump. Jordan reminded everyone of the real issue here: Joe Biden’s ongoing silence on Donald Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis. “Look, it doesn’t surprise me that he hasn’t said anything for 12 hours,” Jordan said. “He goes days after days where he’ll close his campaign down first thing in the morning. I think he gets up, has a cup of coffee, and then calls it a day.” The president might have COVID-19, but Joe Biden is a lazy bum. Take that, Democrats!

By the time the Friends were ready to sign off for the day, the narrative they’d been peddling had taken a turn. Doocy noted that, according to the New York Times, “the president is said to have minor symptoms,” meaning that he was not actually asymptomatic, as had been the program’s assumption. Still, Kilmeade hastened to praise the president’s preternaturally robust immune system, noting that Trump “hasn’t had a cold” since entering politics several years ago. “I’m certain he’s had a cold in the last four to five years,” said Fox contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier. (In response, Kilmeade blinked.) “That being said,” Saphier continued, “it’s great news going forward right now. I have every feeling of optimism that he is gonna get through this just fine.” Just like every morning, from their mouths to Trump’s ears.

Barbados just renounced the Queen. 

Now it’s time for Canada to follow suit


ADNAN KHAN
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
 OCTOBER 2, 2020

Britain's Queen Elizabeth

Adnan Khan is the author of the novel There Has to Be a Knife.

When I came to Canada from Saudi Arabia as a child in the winter of 1993, I was surprised by many things: signage written in two languages, the depth of cold, and the weak sleet on the ground (Hollywood had promised me fluffy snow – this was a major betrayal). No one had mentioned the Queen to me, or that her image would appear non-stop in classrooms, on TV and even in our pockets, her portrait on our bills and coins. I was 7 and endlessly curious about this ubiquitous figure, prim and matronly, absolutely distant, but also everywhere. I learned if you laid enough coins down you could trace her age throughout the years, and admire the small fluctuations of her regal bearing and steady profile, forever glancing right.

At the time, Princess Diana was also in the news – her dissolving marriage to Prince Charles, her outfits and her various affairs piqued even the interest of a child mostly concerned in finding the perfect composition of snowball. I was surprised to find the grip of the monarchy so strong in Canada, as the West was portrayed as the “new” land full of fresh ideologies – so why was Canada clinging to its past? As I grew older, I understood in a vague way that the relationship between the Commonwealth countries and Britain was difficult, but it seemed bizarre to me that Canada would so willingly serve as an appendage to the Royal Family. In Grade 6, when I attended my citizenship ceremony, I balked at having to pledge allegiance to the Queen and mumbled my way through the incantation, worried about what I was binding myself to. The dissonance in the hall was palatable – a space full of migrants, many coming from countries with long, disastrous legacies of British colonialism, asked once again for this corrupt loyalty. It seemed unfair, like a trick being played on us.

Barbados, a former British colony, recently renounced the Queen as head of state. It seems due time for Canada to take this step. Many of the immigrants in Canada – many who make up the work forces deemed “essential services” – can easily trace our lineages back to the destruction the British Empire wrought. My parents were both born within seven years of Indian Independence, and it’s not difficult to track the migratory patterns and search for economic stability in their families to the havoc caused by the British. In 2018, Indian economist Utsa Patnaik published a study determining that over two centuries the British plundered as much as US$45-trillion from India; this historical weight of the crown still presses down on Indians. Certainly, the economic shambles the British left India in is what led to my family’s migratory arc from India, to Saudi Arabia, to Canada. This is a journey replicated by many new Canadians from former colonies, and in contrast with white Canadians settled for many generations, for whom a full reckoning of history is still not encouraged.

A poll released this year shows the Queen’s approval rating in Canada is 81 per cent – up 8 per cent from 2010. While 62 per cent of Canadians agree the role should be informal, we cannot say that it has been recently: from the 2008 prorogation of Parliament, to the 2011 decision to restore the “Royal” moniker to our navy and air force, Canada is not immune from the occasional flex of colonial power. Still, the same Ipsos poll sparks optimism, as it reports 53 per cent of Canadians believe the grip of the monarchy should end with the current Queen.



The Queen’s power largely remains in her strength as an icon; her image is, of course, on our money. A celebration of the monarchy is a celebration of whitewashed British glory. It’s tempting, in a time of fluctuating ideologies, to clench harder on to an image of former grandeur, but to do so risks further turning our back on our bedrock of multiculturalism. The strength of this iconography is perhaps what new Conservative leader Erin O’Toole hints at with the slogan, “Take Canada Back,” and points to the struggle Canada is having with reconciling an immigrant population that is demanding more say in industry, more representation in government, and access to the cultural forces that shape Canadian thinking. Immigrants are unveiling a core hypocrisy of anti-immigrant sentiment – come here for your labour, but leave no cultural mark.

We’ve started seeing the physical manifestation of these icons torn down: statues of Edward Colston in Bristol, England; Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Va.; and John A. Macdonald in Montreal. As the movement ebbs and flows, it seems like a worthy time for Canada to embrace symbolism beyond the monarchy, toward something that truly embraces the pluralism to which we are always gesturing, but never fully embracing. This kind of image-making is a fundamental project of nation building, as it asks how we wish to see ourselves, and therefore, make ourselves. As the American empire threatens to crumble under its embrace of regressive, Trumpian politics, there is a lesson to be learned about looking back while trying to move forward.

The difficulty and scale of this task shouldn’t be misunderstood. It asks Canadians to fundamentally alter their approach to history and their belief in how this country was formed – with the first step a reckoning with Indigenous communities. It calls for a kind of understanding that leaves room for celebration while acknowledging that you simply cannot ask immigrants to bolster your work force without allowing them a say in how the country is imagined. The monarchy’s reputation is of their own doing and their eventual disappearance from Canadian public life should be celebrated and fast-tracked, not mourned.

The celebration of the monarchy is a commemoration of a heritage in which subjugation of the many for the sake of the few was the primary mode of operation. The ramifications of this are still felt by billions across the globe and by Canadians today. It is not a weakness for a country to acknowledge the harm the past has done. As the Queen’s reign comes to a close, it’s embarrassing to imagine Canada celebrating a successor, or to even ask why we might. While fully establishing Canada as a republic is a daunting task, it feels necessary for a country to truly embrace its future.

The International Brigades by Giles Tremlett review – fighting fascism in Spain

This overarching history of the Brigades who fought in the Spanish civil war is a remarkable collection of testimonies and captivatingly readable

British volunteers in the International Brigade, 1937. Photograph: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Dan Hancox
Sat 3 Oct 2020 

“We shall not forget you,” promised the famous Spanish communist known as La Pasionaria, addressing the surviving International Brigades as they departed Barcelona in October 1938, with Franco’s victory in the Spanish civil war nearly complete: “And when the olive tree of peace is in flower … return!” In mid-September 2020, the Spanish cabinet made a remarkable gesture in the same spirit: approving a draft of a new “democratic memory” law, which would offer citizenship to the descendants of those same volunteers. “It is about time we said to these heroes and heroines of democracy: thank you for coming,” Deputy PM Pablo Iglesias wrote.

A government spokesperson later rowed back on this highly unusual idea, but its spirit speaks to a unique moment in 20th-century history, where the engine of political change was in overdrive across Europe, to the point that volunteers travelled in their thousands to fight fascism and defend democracy in a foreign land, in the face of their own government’s indifference. There exist few parallels either before or since, although the journey of some volunteers to help the Kurds fighting Islamic State is one notable exception. For the late academic and writer David Graeber, whose father volunteered to fight fascism in Spain, the resonance was especially painful; he argued in the Guardian that the west’s abandonment of the struggle in Rojava, Syria, was tantamount to letting history repeat itself.

The Spanish civil war has long been valorised by the European left, documented, debated and commemorated in incredible detail – in many thousands of books, but also in film, in song, in musical theatre, in poster exhibitions, badges and T-shirts. And while there are many tales of selfless sacrifice, solidarity and idealism, there is also much in the story that is inglorious – the boredom, unpreparedness and terrible equipment, the panic, internal arguments and betrayals, lice, accidental deaths and injuries and Franco’s eventual triumph.
Sculpture of ‘La Pasionaria’ in Glasgow, Photograph: Peter Marshall/Alamy

Imposing order on a history that is both chaotic and contentious can be tricky, but like the volunteer army itself, Giles Tremlett’s epic new book is greater than the sum of its many parts. It comprises 52 time-specific chapters, discrete moments, battles, battalions and tales, building into a narrative of astonishing scope. Tremlett is known for his reporting and several books, among them the excellent Ghosts of Spain, which looks at the shadows cast by the “memory wars” in a country otherwise riding high, pre-financial crash. This latest study is a remarkable act of scholarship, as well as being captivatingly readable. The first overarching history of the brigades in English, it is alive with the testimonies of those who fought, and so much richer for stretching far beyond the obvious and famous Anglophone accounts of men of letters.

It is true the brigades drew an astonishing array of international literary figures – Orwell, Hemingway, Spender, Auden – and also great photographers, artists, and politicians in the making. But above all, it attracted working-class men and women from across Europe and beyond: many of them already refugees, those fleeing or fearing persecution, unemployment and degradation. There were French, Poles, Germans and Italians in their thousands, but also brigaders from Ethiopia, Argentina, Indonesia, Japan and Pakistan. A good half of those who volunteered were communists, and they did so alongside socialists, anarchists, liberals, democrats, people of all faiths and none, even a few conservatives and politically agnostic adventurers, from 65 countries, with only one thing uniting them: anti-fascism. Remarkable individual lives fly past in a single tantalising line: the three Jewish tailors from Stepney who had “arrived by bicycle”, for example.

In one of many unforgettable vignettes, a trainload of new volunteers from “all the nations in Europe, and some from outside Europe as well” crossing the border into Spain with no common language, join together to sing the “Internationale”, but each doing so in their own tongue. “I find it extremely difficult to explain how exhilarating this was,” recalls a British volunteer. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt the same feeling at any other time in my life.”
   

Photograph: Photo 12/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

For too long the volunteers were fighting an amateur war in defence of the republic; they were a ragtag collection of militias in mismatched uniforms, who looked, in the words of artist Felicia Browne, “like pirates”. In October 1936, when the first official brigade departed from a base in Albacete for the front, the British writer John Sommerfield recalled that their uniforms and equipment had arrived that very afternoon. “Everyone got something and no one got everything. We marched off looking like a lot of scarecrows, and in filthy tempers.”

Bad weapons, lack of training, the urgency of the conflict and, in the minds of some brigaders, “absurd democratisation” weakened discipline in the ranks. Tremlett records the distrust and tensions, especially in the anarchist and Poum ranks, over the Soviet Union’s semi-professionalisation of the initial anti-fascist militias: “Discipline was something that the fascist army in front of them used to oppress its working-class soldiers,” Tremlett writes. These were internal suspicions that would last almost throughout the three-year conflict.

As recounted in one horrifying chapter, the Sans Nom, or “nameless” battalion of Poles, Serbs and other miscellaneous non-French volunteers, went to the southern front in Andalusia after just five days of training, having fired only six practice shots each, with only four of their 36 machine guns working. They were sent into battle on Christmas Eve without maps, mostly on foot, right into a Francoist assault. Abandoned by their commander to the fascists’ Moroccan cavalry, they fled chaotically – rather than beating an organised retreat – across the substantial Guadalquivir river, where some drowned, and others were picked off with ease on the other side. On Christmas Day, unarmed groups and individuals wandered the olive groves, lost, clothes in tatters, eating bitter olives and grass for sustenance; only half of the 700 Sans Nom volunteers made it back alive.

Betrayal is a thread that runs throughout the Spanish tragedy. The brigades were often let down by their Soviet and Spanish commanders, but also by their own governments, who left both their lives and that of Spanish democracy to the fate of the aerial assault of Hitler and Mussolini. On returning to their own countries – those who did make it home; one-fifth of British volunteers died in Spain – many were treated as dangerous dissidents, spied on and prevented from fighting fascism in the second world war. But they were not abandoned by the establishment in its entirety: it is notable that both Clement Attlee and the anti-appeasement Edward Heath were among the crowd at Victoria Station to welcome home the returning British volunteers.

A memorial to anti-fascist dead in Valladolid. Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters

The International Brigades arrives at a critical point in more ways than one. It would be useful for some contemporary pundits and politicians to be reminded that “horseshoe theory”, which places anti-fascist activity in the same category as the fascists they oppose, is dangerous nonsense. But it is also a critical point for the legacy of the brigaders: the last British veteran, Geoffrey Servante, died last year at the age of 99; there are at most a couple of other survivors left in the world.

Fortunately, Tremlett is a worthy custodian of their stories. He has created a dazzling mosaic of vignettes and sources, of lives lived and lost, of acts of heroism, solidarity, betrayal and futility, that builds to a grand picture of a conflict that drew idealists from across the world. The war left many of them in despair, injured or dead – but also hardened many more in their determination to defeat fascism. This book is as close to a definitive history as we are likely to get.

• The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War is published by Bloomsbury (£16.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

1400 CANADIANS FOUGHT WITH THE INTERNATIONAL BRIGADES 


The Spanish civil war: a primer


Jules Paivio, right, is the last surviving veteran of the Mackenzie-Papineau Batallion. This photo shows him with two other briadistas, Briton Frank Graham and American Harold Smith, during the Spanish Civil War.

KATE TAYLOR

Spanish Civil War: Deep divisions in Spanish society between the army, church and monarchists, and the democratically elected reformist Republican government supported by democrats, anarchists, socialists and communists led to a military coup in 1936. Russia and Mexico supported the Republicans; Italy, Germany and Portugal supported the Nationalists. The bloody conflict that ensued ended with the Nationalists' victory in 1939 and the collapse of the government: General Francisco Franco took power in a military dictatorship that lasted until his death in 1975, after which King Juan Carlos established a constitutional monarchy.

International Brigades: In the absence of armed support for Spain from the Western powers, the Communist International headquartered in Paris organized a volunteer army, with Soviet approval. About 60,000 men and women from more than 50 countries, including France, Italy, Germany, Britain, Canada and the United States, volunteered for combat and non-combat roles. They were soldiers, nurses, doctors (includijng Norman Bethune) and journalists (such as George Orwell). At any given point in the war, it was estimated that 20,000 volunteers were fighting. The brigades were discharged by the Spanish government in 1938, shortly before it fell. In recent years, Spain has awarded honorary citizenship to the remaining brigadistas.

The Mackenzie-Papineau Batallion: In 1937, Canadian volunteers, who first fought in the two American battalions, formed their own unit and fought in Spain until 1938. They took their name from William Lyon Mackenzie and Louis-Joseph Papineau, two heroes of the 1837 Rebellion. Library and Archives Canada records the names of 1,546 Canadians who fought in Spain, and estimates that about 400 of them were killed, although some researchers put the death toll higher. Because of the brigades' association with communism, the veterans had difficulty getting recognition at home, even as thousands more Canadians were soon fighting fascism in Europe during the Second World War. A monument to their memory was finally erected in Ottawa in 2001.

RADIO
The Mac-Paps get the last word

Spain; 1937-1938--Spanish Civil War-- Soldier of the Mackenzie-Papineau Batallion in a trench.
(CP PHOTO) 1999 (NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF CANADA)

KATE TAYLOR
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 9, 2012

At the click of a mouse, a frail and cracked old voice fills the office of a CBC radio producer. "I have been a very lucky guy … I was lined up to be shot," says 95-year-old veteran Jules Paivio as he recalls his last-minute escape from a fascist firing squad during the Spanish Civil War.

CBC producer Steve Wadhams is also lucky: To create The Spanish Crucible, a two-hour radio documentary filled with the voices of veterans of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, he didn't have to rely solely on his recent interview with Paivio, the last living Canadian volunteer to have fought in Spain in 1936 to 1938. Instead, he could draw on 150 hours of interviews with dozens of hearty middle-aged men that were recorded in the 1960s, but never aired.

"Forty-plus years of doing radio, and I have never stumbled into a treasure trove like this," Wadhams said.

The producer of Living Out Loud, a weekly program on CBC Radio One devoted to oral stories submitted by the public, Wadhams read about Paivio in a newspaper when the veteran was honoured with Spanish citizenship earlier this year. He asked CBC archivist Ken Puley to hunt for any interviews that might be on file. Puley found there was a 90-minute one with Paivio as well as "a few more." Puley handed over a stack of written summaries and "my jaw hit my chest," Wadhams said.

Puley had discovered the tapes from an oral history project conducted by CBC producer Mac Reynolds in 1964-65. Reynolds interviewed about 60 of the Mac-Paps, as the soldiers were known, a group of about 1,600 Canadian volunteers who, out of political conviction hardened by the Great Depression, went to the rescue of Spain's Republican government when it was under attack from the Spanish army lead by General Francisco Franco. Reynolds had recorded the stories of the often poor or unemployed Canadians who went to Europe to form an ill-equipped, amateur army fighting a bloody and ultimately unsuccessful battle against professionals backed by fascist governments in Italy and Germany.

"They were mainly working-class guys, a lot of them recent immigrants to Canada, 10-year immigrants. Loggers, miners, restaurant workers, out of work, in the relief camps. Some intellectuals, a university student, an accountant, a nurse, the only woman I've got," Wadhams said, referring to the interview with Rosaleen Ross, who worked on the mobile blood-transfusion team established by Canadian doctor Norman Bethune during his time in Spain. The volunteers were leaving the Depression behind, Wadhams said: "They were riding the rails, having a hard time in Canada, and they were politicized. Some were from Europe and saw what was happening."

The democratically elected reformist Republican government in Spain faced a military revolt, igniting the civil war, and anti-fascist volunteers were recruited abroad and sent to Spain. After the Canadian government passed a law in 1937 banning citizens from fighting in foreign wars, only the Communist Party was willing to flout the law and continue recruiting. Many of the volunteers were themselves Communists or at least sympathizers: The recruiters tried to weed out men who were seeking adventure or looking to escape a family.

Their politics and their decision to support a foreign government before Canada had entered the Second World War to join the battle against fascism in Europe were often held against them when they returned home. Discharged honourably by the Spanish government in 1938, shortly before its collapse in 1939, the Mac-Paps were regarded with suspicion by the RCMP, sometimes had trouble volunteering for the Canadian armed forces and were not recognized with their own monument in Ottawa until 2001.

Those politics may also explain why the CBC didn't use the tapes earlier: Wadhams speculates that during the Cold War years, the public broadcaster wasn't comfortable with, or at least not interested in, a project that might lionize the Mac-Paps. Reynolds is dead, but his daughter has told Wadhams that he was a Communist sympathizer, and may have regretted not going to Spain himself.

Wadhams says many documentaries about the International Brigades are clearly on the side of the boys, but he is trying to tell the story of these ill-paid and idealistic mercenaries more neutrally.

The details themselves are harrowing. The interviews include Paivio's description of climbing the snow-covered Pyrenees in dress shoes as the volunteers snuck into Spain from France. Others in a group that sailed to Barcelona narrowly escaped drowning when their ship was torpoed by an Italian submarine. They had arms supplied by the Russians – they often complained about their quality – and had to dig trenches in hard Spanish soil with helmets and spoons because they had no shovels. Their ranks were decimated in battles with the Nationalist army; more than a quarter of the battalion did not make it home.

If caught, they were treated to summary justice. But at the moment when Paivio and his comrades were about to be shot, an officer pulled them out of the firing line, perhaps recognizing that foreign nationals might prove useful hostages. When the war ended with the fascist victory, the foreigners were expelled while Spanish Republicans were relentlessly pursued by the regime that lasted until Franco died and democracy was restored in the 1970s.

"I'm lost in wonder," Wadham says of their experiences. "I can't imagine doing this, but they did … I feel an honour putting this on the radio, a responsibility. It's now or never."

In February 1965, almost 30 years after he set out for Spain, Paivio told a CBC interviewer: "The main thing was a terrible fear of fascism taking over. I didn't expect to come back … but it seemed a worthwhile thing."

Susie Dent 'gutted' after new book Word Perfect printed with host of typos

Lexicographer and Countdown personality says she can now attest to the power of ‘lalochezia’: swearing to alleviate stress

Susie Dent, on Good Morning Britain in February. Photograph: Ken McKay/ITV/Rex/Shutterstock

Alison Flood

Fri 2 Oct 2020 

Countdown’s resident lexicographer Susie Dent has testified to the effectiveness of lalochezia, or “the use of swearing to alleviate stress and frustration”, after discovering that her new book Word Perfect was printed with a host of typos.

Dent said on Thursday that she had just found out that the initial printing of Word Perfect, which is described by its publisher as a “brilliant linguistic almanac”, had been completed using an early version of the text. “I’m so sorry about this. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can with details on how we’re going to fix it,” said Dent on Twitter, where she described herself as “gutted” over the error.

Her publisher John Murray also apologised. “We’re very sorry that, due to a printing error, early copies of Word Perfect are not word perfect. We’re taking urgent steps to recall these copies, reprint and resolve this swiftly,” it said, adding that customers needing a replacement should get in touch. However, copies have already made it to many UK bookshops.

Dent told the Times: “I just opened it up and saw there was something wrong in the acknowledgments. And then I had to close it because I felt a bit sick. There are quite a few errors. I haven’t counted them and I don’t really want to.”

Dent has appeared in the Channel 4 quiz show Countdown’s Dictionary Corner since 1992. In Word Perfect, she provides the stories behind a word for every day of the year, from why May Day became a distress call, to the meaning of “snaccident” – unintentionally eating a whole packet of biscuits.

SHE IS NOT THE ONLY ONE I HAVE BEEN FINDING MORE AND MORE TYPOS AS HUMAN PROOF READERS ARE REPLACED BY AI

A universal wage will reduce poverty for First Nations people and for all Australians
By Megan Krakouer | 2 October 2020
Indigenous people living below the poverty line suffer even more without a financial safety net (Screenshot via YouTube)

Working at the coalface with the poorest, Megan Krakouer argues the importance of a minimum living wage for everyone.

A UNIVERSAL WAGE, even for the unemployed, is not only fundamental to a just society but it is in society’s best interests, including fiscally. We can reduce the number of Australians incarcerated, we can reduce the horrific numbers of my First Nations people incarcerated. We can reduce the suicide toll and reduce domestic violence.

Not only must there be a greater increase to Centrelink support payments, but there must also be a living wage that makes life for all Australians dignified. Crime will decrease — this is a no-brainer.

I work only for people living below the Henderson Poverty Line and therefore I work at the coalface of the grimmest settings.

Recently, Centrelink confirmed to us that here at the National Suicide Prevention & Trauma Recovery Project (NSPTRP), we are the lead agency in Western Australia in the last year – September 2019 to August 2020 – to have supported more First Nations Western Australians through Centrelink’s Indigenous Services Unit.

The NSPTRP has logged more than 1,000 support payment assists in that year-long period to my First Nations brothers and sisters and already more than 100 in the few weeks since. According to Centrelink, this is more than ten times any other service. We have also assisted non-Indigenous Western Australians.


Australia's invisible Indigenous left behind

Megan Krakouer promises to hold governments and institutions to account as a vital suicide prevention program remains unfunded.

In the last year, we have assisted more than 10,000 individuals across the nation. Eighty per cent have been First Nations, but we also have many migrant-born and other Australians walk through our doors or call us. We know what poverty looks like. I walk into the homes of our most vulnerable and we support those without a home, the street-present, those who sleep in cars or wherever they can.

Gerry Georgatos, national co-ordinator of NSPTRP, said:
“It is indisputable, support payments, the only means of income for the majority of our most vulnerable, are often encumbered by reporting requirements and interruptions to payments hit far too many.”

In fact, on average each month, hundreds of my First Nations people in Western Australia have their support payments stopped. For the poorest, with little light on the horizon, they often feel broken, kicked in the gut and do not have the will to look for support. Many will finish in a police lockup or gaol. Many will meltdown. Many will leave behind their families.

Gerry Georgatos said:
We support many individuals fleeing domestic violence, many with relationship breakdown and who have taken full care of the children, many leaving juvenile detention and prison without their support payments arranged.

It is a long-established fact and also identified by the Productivity Commission that the two most risk-riddled stressors are housing security and support payment interruptions.

Someone leaving prison without support payments arranged is at elevated risk of offending, at elevated risk of finishing up homeless. A family where support payments have been interrupted are at risk of negative aberrance, displaced anger and domestic violence. The lowest quintile of income comprises the most significant proportion of suicidality and therefore, to be without any income dramatically escalates risk.

Dickensian Australia — homeless orphans and ten-year-old children gaoled

Instead of offering assistance, our political system is one that would sooner incarcerate children in desperate need.

There is not a day that goes by without a support payment assist. Our service assists both First Nations and the non-Indigenous. We work only with people living in proximity to and below the poverty line. My First Nations people are dramatically disproportionally impacted by poverty. I know that assisting with support payments can save a life.

I have had highly stressed and agitated individuals, families with children in tow, leave a Centrelink queue after the restlessness of their children and visit our offices so we can sort their payments while the children are busied by colleagues.

Centrelink’s Indigenous Services Unit is a huge affirmative action for my First Nations People. I am surprised that our small national service, with only several personnel in Western Australia, is the lead agency in the support payment assists. In fact, it is only three of us out of the Western Australia office who do the support assists — myself, Gerry Georgatos and his daughter, who is our invaluable support admin, Connie Georgatos. I encourage other social services to utilise Centrelink’s Indigenous Services Unit so together we can meet needs.

The Indigenous Services Unit is of such high calibre that without fail, for every single individual we have sought assistance we had a same-day outcome. This is a vital validation to those in need and of an immediate significant reduction of what in the end is preventable distress.

To incarcerate a youth in juvenile detention on an annual basis costs $300,000. To incarcerate an adult on an annual basis costs $200,000. Support payments on a per person basis annually are less than $30,000. To lose someone to suicide because of their poverty comes at a greater cost than money alone can describe.

We should be doing everything we can to address support payment interruption, to ensure that everybody has that safety net at all times. We should ramp up the calls for a significant universal living wage. In one of the nation’s richest economies, we should leave no one behind.




Megan Krakouer LLB is a Mineng Noongar woman from Mt Barker in Western Australia’s southwest. Presently, Megan is the Director of the National Suicide Prevention & Trauma Recovery Project and also works as a human rights legal practitioner for the National Justice Project.

Protests rumble in India over alleged gang rape of young woman

HINDUTVA MISOGYNY, CASTISM, NATIONALISM AND RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY


By Saurabh Sharma, Danish Siddiqui


LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Galvanised by the alleged gang rape of a young woman who died of her injuries earlier this week, political parties representing India’s downtrodden Dalit community held protests in several cities on Friday.

In Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, the state where the crime took place, police baton-charged more than 100 activists from the Samajwadi Party, who held placards demanding justice for the dead woman.

The Bhim Army, a party championing Dalit rights, protested at the historic Jantar Mantar monument in central Delhi.

The chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, also joined the protest attended by around 3,000 people, including political party workers and non-profit organisations representing the Dalit community.

“The whole country would like to appeal to the Uttar Pradesh government that the culprits be given stringent punishment and must be hanged till death,” Kejriwal said.


The family of the dead woman has accused four high caste Hindu men, who have been arrested but not charged by police. Caste still plays an influential role in the politics of Uttar Pradesh, where the current state government is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

Dalits, once known as “untouchables”, are at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

The 19-year-old victim, who was allegedly attacked on Sept. 14 in a field near her home in Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh, died on Tuesday. The incident sparked nationwide protests.

While the family say the woman died as the result of a brutal sexual assault, senior state police officer Prashant Kumar told ANI News on Thursday the woman died due to a neck injury. “No sperm was found in samples,” said Kumar.


Bhuri Singh, the uncle of the victim, said her “dying declaration said she was raped”.

India is one of the world’s most dangerous places for women with a rape occurring every 15 minutes, federal data shows. In December 2012, the gang rape of a 23-year-old woman sparked nationwide outrage and led to a tough new anti-rape law.

Public criticism mounted in recent days after the family of the latest victim said her body was cremated by police without their consent, an allegation officials deny.

On Friday, members of a regional opposition party, the Trinamool Congress, were stopped close to the victim’s house while some leaders were roughed up by police officers, video footage from ANI showed.

And in the eastern city of Kolkata, activists from the main opposition Congress Party also protested. On Thursday, police barred Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi, siblings and leaders of Congress, from visiting the dead woman’s family in their village.


Reporting by Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow and Danish Siddiqui in New Delhi; Writing by Nupur Anand; Editing by Aditya Kalra & Simon Cameron-Moore

Massive Layoffs Are Underway Across the U.S.,

 Threatening the Already Frail Recovery

Airline industry workers hold signs during a protest in Federal Plaza in Chicago, Illinois, on September 9, 2020.
Kamil Krzaczynski—AFP/Getty Images

BY EMILY BARONE TIME
OCTOBER 2, 2020

U.S. employers brought back 661,000 workers in September, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released Friday. The unemployment rate clocked in at 7.9%, down from 8.4% in August. About half of the jobs lost to the pandemic have returned.

The problem, economists say, is that the pace of recovery is slowing. Going forward, we may see only incremental employment gains at best, at least until the virus is completely under control. “It will be hard to get a full recovery before we get a vaccine or big advancement in therapeutics,” says Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo. “The second half of the recovery will be a lot longer.” Massive layoffs planned by major companies in the coming days and weeks are also likely to take a toll.

The big job gains over the summer were the result of furloughed workers coming back to their jobs when local economies reopened. For example, the Cheesecake Factory announced at the end of August that it had brought back just about all of the 41,000 staffers who were unable to work when lockdowns began in March. The company’s permanent layoffs totaled just 175.

But employment gains from reopening were easy. Now, companies that are suffering deeper fundamental impacts from the pandemic—in sectors like travel, hospitality and energy—are now adjusting to a new normal. In many cases, that means permanent cuts. Several major corporations announced huge layoffs in recent days: 28,000 at Disney. 3,600 at Ralph Lauren. 3,800 at Allstate insurance. 2,000 at Marathon Petroleum. 31,000 at American Airlines and United Airlines, combined.

“These numbers are worrisome,” says Betsey Stevenson, professor of public policy and economics at University of Michigan. “When they let people go, it’s not temporary layoffs. These are companies struggling to keep people on and thought could get to the other end [of the pandemic]. But the end is not in one or two months. And maybe not in six months.”

The labor market is losing momentum as 10.7 million Americans are still out of work compared with February. About 1.5 million people filed initial unemployment claims last week, according to BLS data released yesterday, either through their state or through the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which was designed for gig workers like Uber drivers. Those who have lost their jobs may find it even tougher than usual to find a new one, given that they’re competing with more than 10 million other unemployed Americans.

Some businesses had been using federal stimulus programs like the CARES Act, passed in March, as a backstop. But provisions of the law have expired or will expire by year’s end, including layoff protections for aviation workers that ran through the end of September. As a result, airlines that accepted Washington’s financial help have been free to lay off workers since Thursday. Air carriers have urged Congress to pass another round of aid; both American Airlines and United Airlines have pledged to reverse course on their furloughs if such help materializes. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday asked airlines to pause layoffs, promising industry-specific help is on the way.

But even if the airlines get more help, it’s unlikely a broader relief bill will pass Congress. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which includes some aid for small businesses. But the legislation, which doesn’t have bipartisan congressional support and is opposed by the White House and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, is a nonstarter in the Republican-led Senate.

“If they don’t get additional support, which is our expectation with our forecast, companies need to put that in their calculus in terms of their revenue forecasts and staffing needs,” notes House.

The continued unemployment crisis, compounded by massive layoffs, could have serious economic consequences even for those Americans fortunate enough to remain employed. If people don’t get back to work, it could dampen consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of U.S. GDP. Less spending could in turn trigger even more layoffs, potentially causing a downward spiral. “There’s still some firepower among consumers, but so long as this goes on, then the gains we’ve seen thus far are in jeopardy,” says House.

“We’re at an inflection point,” Stevenson adds. “Half the people who were temporarily laid off have come back. It was always clear that we weren’t going to get 100%. We may only get to 70.”

Signs of life on Venus may have been found decades ago

  

The planet Venus. Image source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
By Mike Wehner @MikeWehner
October 2nd, 2020 

NASA found the clues to life on Venus almost four decades ago but never realized it.
A probe that was sent to Venus back in 1978 returned readings that showed the presence of what appears to be phosphine, which may be produced by biological processes.
The data supports the recent research that found phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere, though we still don’t know if life actually exists there.

There’s been a whole lot of talk recently about the possibility of life existing in some form on Venus. The planet is a toxic hellscape, but upon scanning its atmosphere a compound called phosphine was detected, which can originate from organic processes. It’s big news, and space agencies are already talking about how they might further probe the mystery with missions to Venus, but is this really news? Shockingly, it might not be.

As LiveScience reports, a now-ancient NASA mission to Venus way back in 1978 may have detected the presence of phosphine decades before this more recent discovery. The data is examined in a new paper that was published to arXiv.

When the news began to circulate that phosphine was discovered in the atmosphere of Venus, researchers began to wonder if a similar signature might be lurking in data collected by the Pioneer 13 mission which included a probe that cruised down to the planet’s surface while collecting data about its atmosphere and other conditions.

The probe was supported by a parachute, giving it time to collect samples and analyze them, beaming the data back to Earth as rapidly as possible. At the time, the researchers didn’t mention anything about phosphine or other phosphorus-based compounds, but the data was still available to be studied, and that’s exactly what a team of researchers did.

So, what did they find? Well, the data shows the presence of phosphorous compounds, and based on the readings and a little bit of math, it seems likely that the data indicates the presence of phosphine.

“We were inspired to re-examine data obtained from the Pioneer-Venus Large Probe Neutral Mass Spectrometer (LNMS) to search for evidence of phosphorus compounds,” the researchers write. “The LNMS obtained masses of neutral gases (and their fragments) at different altitudes within Venus’ clouds. Published mass spectral data correspond to gases at altitudes of 50-60 km, or within the lower and middle clouds of Venus – which has been identified as a potential habitable zone. We find that LMNS data support the presence of phosphine; although, the origins of phosphine remain unknown.”

So, yeah, NASA’s probe detected what is likely phosphine nearly four decades ago and never realized it. That’s pretty wild, and it kind of makes you wonder what other discoveries have been unknowingly made over the decades that NASA and other space agencies have been conducting missions in space.