Friday, December 11, 2020

Netherlands museum exhibition to tell story of Dutch slave trade

Daniel Boffey in Brussels DEC 10, 2020 THE GUARDIAN

The Netherland’s national art institution, the Rijksmuseum, will open its first major exhibition telling the stories of slaves and the Dutch people who enslaved them, as its director backed a government initiative to return thousands of looted treasures to former colonial lands.\
© Photograph: Peter de Jong/AP
The national slavery monument by Erwin de Vries in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Using 140 objects, ranging from two Rembrandt portraits of slave owners borrowed from the Louvre to a display of ankle chains used to keep people captive, the exhibition will examine 10 lives caught up in the Dutch slave trade between the early 17th century and 1863, when it was finally made illegal in Suriname and the Antilles.

During an online press conference, curators at the museum noted the significance of the groundbreaking exhibition, following a year in which the killing of George Floyd in the US by a police officer sparked global protests. But also this year the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, refused to apologise for his country’s colonial past, claiming it would be “too polarising”.

The Rijksmuseum director, Taco Dibbits, said he supported efforts to educate Dutch people about their past, including through changes to the school curriculum. He also offered his support to a government committee that will look into restitution claims over 100,000 pieces of art said to have been looted from Dutch colonies.

“Slavery was an essential component of the colonial period in the Netherlands and many generations have suffered unimaginable injustices as a result,” he said. “We felt that slavery is of great importance to our society today. Black Lives Matter shows the urgency that this subject is addressed.”

One of the lives featured is a slave called Wali who, along with 255 others, attempted to flee a Surinamese sugar plantation only to be caught and sentenced to be slowly burned alive. He was given a reprieve for fear of a wider uprising, but Wali died a slave.

The exhibition also looks at the story of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, who were painted by Rembrandt in all their finery in 1634. Soolmans’ wealth came from a refinery in Amsterdam that sourced its raw sugar from plantations using enslaved labour in Brazil.

Valika Smeulders, the head of the department of history at the Rijksmuseum, said: “I’ve been working on slavery history for years, and to be able to do this from the national museum of the Netherlands was a really a beautiful chance to think through how you do this for an entire country where people don’t agree necessarily on how to deal with this history.”

The exhibition will run from 12 February to 30 May 2021 in 10 rooms featuring the trans-Atlantic slavery in Suriname, Brazil and the Caribbean, and the part played by the Dutch West India Company and Dutch colonial slavery in South Africa and Asia, where the Dutch East India Company operated.


Smeulders said: “We will be telling you, not just through objects, but also through oral history. Old songs and old interviews recorded in the early 20th century of people who talk about their ancestors their grandparents, so that already takes you back to the 18th century.”

Dutch national museum to stage 2021 exhibition on slavery

Thu., December 10, 2020



AMSTERDAM — To tell the troubling story of the Netherlands' deep historical links to the slave trade, the country's national museum is making it personal.

The Rijksmuseum will open a major exhibition on the subject in February, bringing slavery to life by pulling into sharp focus the lives of 10 people, from a man enslaved in Ghana and transported to work in Brazil, to a wealthy Amsterdam socialite whose portrait was painted by Rembrandt van Rijn.

Work on the exhibition started in 2017, long before the Black Lives Matter movement swept the world this year and acted as a catalyst for debate on racial inequality following the death of Black man George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis on May 25.

“Black Lives Matters shows the urgency that this subject is addressed," the museum’s general director, Taco Dibbits, said Thursday in an online presentation unveiling details of the exhibition.

“Slavery was an essential component of the colonial period in the Netherlands, and many generations have suffered unimaginable injustice as a result,” Dibbits added. “The past has long been insufficiently examined in the national history of the Netherlands, including at the Rijksmuseum.”

The stories of 10 lives spread across 10 rooms of the museum span some 250 years of Dutch colonial history and four continents — Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. Exhibits range from the grim: a set of rusty iron shackles and a wooden frame that was used to hold slaves captive by their ankles, to the gaudy: a portrait of a Dutch East India Company trader, his family and — in the shadows behind them — two of their slaves.

The exhibition scheduled to open Feb. 12 comes in a year when the Amsterdam municipality will be considering making a formal apology for its role in the slave trade. Many of the grandest houses that line the Dutch capital's historic canals were funded by profits generated at least in part by the use of slaves in plantations from Brazil to the Dutch East Indies, the country now known as Indonesia.

The municipality already is staging an exhibition focusing on the city and its relationship to the slave trade at City Hall.

With the likelihood of visitor numbers still being restricted early next year, the Rijksmuseum will also make its exhibition available in an online form to help it reach as wide an audience as possible. In the museum itself, about 70 objects that are not part of the exhibition will also be given a second label highlighting their links to slavery.

“We hope that through those individual stories, you see the universal relevance of this history, because this is history that we have not left behind yet," said Valika Smeulders, the museum's head of history. "The discussions that come out of this history are relevant until today.”

___

Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.

Mike Corder And Peter Dejong, The Associated Press


ERIC WILLIAMS Capitalism and Slavery

www.brucemakotoarnold.com/.../0/2/6/4026638/his-117-essay_1_doc… · PDF file

ERIC WILLIAMS from Capitalism and Slavery [19441 -----ERIC WILLIAMS (1911-1981) was born in Trinidad and Tobago, where he did his undergraduate work. He received his doctorate in history from Oxford and taught at Howard University in the United States before returning to his country. He led Trinidad and Tobago to independence within the British Commonwealth in 1962 and served as both …

Kids need media literacy education to match the rise of social networks: experts

IT SHOULD BE A COURSE IN SCHOOL
AT ALL GRADE LEVELS

Kids in Canada need greater access to up-to-date media literacy education to help them navigate what's real and what's fake or misleading online, experts say.
© Provided by The Canadian Press

The rise of social media has led to the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation, which is spread intentionally, said Dr. Ghayda Hassan, a clinical psychologist and the director of the Canadian Practitioners Network for the Prevention of Radicalization and Extremist Violence.

"Because of the speed of access to information, cognitively, people do not have time to process and to validate the kind of information they receive, so there are a lot of biases that interfere," said Hassan, who is also a UNESCO co-chair for the prevention of radicalization.

"The fact that information is often on social media propagated by individuals that we may like, that we may trust or that we may directly know, gives them more credibility," she said in an interview.

The COVID-19 pandemic is stoking fear and fuelling social and economic instability, creating conditions that intensify conspiratorial thinking, she said, adding she's concerned that young people are particularly vulnerable.

Hassan is calling for stronger standards for how social media companies manage content on their platforms and a national strategy and mandatory curriculums covering digital media literacy in schools.

"It has to become obligatory material, just as you teach math to kids."

School curriculums in each province and territory have included media literacy for nearly 20 years, but the material largely hasn't been updated to reflect how media has changed since the 1990s, said Matthew Johnson, the director of education for the Ottawa-based non-profit MediaSmarts.

"The model today is not of a distribution chain, but of a network that is functionally infinite," he said. "In theory, anybody on YouTube can have as large an audience as a TV news network or a world leader."

Tools and signals that may have worked on stories from traditional print and broadcast media in the past, such as bylines or photo credits, may not be as useful for authenticating information on social media.

Some of those signals or markers of reliability, such as a professional-looking website, may even be counterproductive, said Johnson.

"That's often extremely misleading," he said. "The people who intentionally spread misinformation or disinformation know that we look at that, and so they will put a lot of effort into making something that looks good."

The extent to which media literacy is actually taught varies by province and territory, said Johnson. For example, B.C. has what he called an excellent digital literacy curriculum, but it's not mandatory. In Ontario, where media literacy is part of the evaluated language arts curriculum, he said it receives the least classroom time among other components.

"We don't have any good recent data about what teachers are actually teaching and what students are actually learning at a national level."

MediaSmarts offers parents, teachers and students tips for authenticating information, from fact-checking tools to finding and verifying original sources and checking others to assess the veracity and intent of a story.

It draws on key concepts in media and digital media literacy, including that digital media has unexpected audiences, that online experiences are shaped by the social networks and search engines themselves, and that what we do online can have real-world impacts.

Joyce Grant is a freelance journalist and the co-founder of TeachingKidsNews.com, a website she describes as a transparent source of news for kids that also helps them understand how credible news is made and how to spot content that's deceptive or misleading.

"Fake news, as it gets better, starts to better mimic journalism. So, really, what it comes down to now is critical thinking," said Grant, who began delivering in-class media literacy workshops around a decade ago.

She aims to help youth recognize echo chambers or silos on social media and break out of them by seeking out diverse sources of information.

The goal is also a healthy skepticism that asks, "What seems off about this? What is missing? Where are the points of view? Why did this person write this article or post?" said Grant.

"All of a sudden the light comes on, and then, yeah, they're all over it ... nobody wants to be fooled, right?"

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2020.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press

'This is beyond a hate crime': Edmonton's Somali community reacts to attack on two women at Southgate Centre

Dylan Short POSTMEDIA

Members of Edmonton’s Somali community are raising concerns for their safety after an alleged hate-motivated assault occurred in broad daylight at a busy public area.
© Provided by Edmonton Journal Southgate Centre.

City police responded to an assault on two Somali women wearing hijabs who were sitting in their car in the Southgate Centre parking lot on Tuesday. Edmonton police said in a news release Wednesday that a man approached the car yelling racist obscenities before he smashed the passenger-side window. One of the women fled the vehicle, and he chased her down and assaulted her. When the other woman tried to help, the man pushed her to the ground.

Jibril Ibrahim, president of the Somali Canadian Cultural Society, said he has not heard of such an attack taking place in Edmonton before.

“It’s a disturbing event,” said Ibrahim. “It adds a little bit of, you know, additional anxiety that the community is experiencing at this moment.”

Ibrahim said he has spoken to the victims of the attack. He said they are dealing with a number of injuries, including one to the neck and both to their mental health.

“I think the intention was to kill them or something,” said Ibrahim.

Naima Haile, a well-known member of the Somali community, said the attack has left her feeling afraid and unsafe in Edmonton.

“I feel unsafe. I’ve never felt unsafe in Canada before,” said Haile. “Is it my skin colour? Is it my scarf? I don’t know which one I need to shed.”

Haile said the nature of the attack — that it took place in broad daylight in a busy, public area — makes it even more worrisome. She said she can recall one instance where a young girl had her hijab pulled off her head by a group of kids, but never has there been a violent assault by an adult.

“This is a grown man. This is beyond a hate crime. I don’t know what to say,” said Haile.

She said the community is going to hold a Zoom meeting to discuss how they can move forward and what steps can be taken.

Ibrahim said more education is needed to ensure that such an attack doesn’t happen again.

“I just had a conversation with Edmonton Public Schools the other day and was talking about having interfaith calendars. I told them that maybe we should start giving some kind of education about other cultures and other faiths to students,” said Ibrahim.

“We need to create some kind of a social harmony and education is a No. 1 priority. That’s where we need to concentrate on.”

Edmonton police chief Dale McFee addressed the attack during a Thursday police commission meeting, saying it is “not acceptable.”

“The message is quite simple: it has to stop, it’s not acceptable, it never has been acceptable. But more importantly now, this isn’t the way we treat people in the city of Edmonton, and if you do, you’re going to be charged,” said McFee.

Richard Bradley Stevens, 41, is facing two counts of assault and one count of mischief. Court documents show his next scheduled court appearance is Jan. 5.

— With files from Lauren Boothby

Biden in leaked audio says 'defund the police' being used to 'beat the living hell out of' Democrats

I GUESS DISARMING THE POLICE WOULD BE GOING TOO FAR

President-elect Joe Biden privately warned a group of civil rights leaders to curb rhetoric about police reform in America ahead of the Georgia Senate runoff elections in January.
© Getty Images Biden in leaked audio says 'defund the police' being used to 'beat the living hell out of' Democrats

The leaders had been urging Biden to be aggressive in rolling back some of the Trump administration's policies via executive order during his early days in office, including on matters of voting and police misconduct.

They also took issue with Biden's selection of Tom Vilsack as Agriculture secretary instead of choosing a person of color. That prompted Biden to warn the group that such forceful statements could backfire in the Georgia Senate election, which will determine party control of the chamber.

"I also don't think we should get too far ahead of ourselves on dealing with police reform in that, because they've already labeled us as being 'defund the police' anything we put forward in terms of the organizational structure to change policing - which I promise you, will occur. Promise you," Biden said during a a two-hour virtual meeting with civil rights leaders on Tuesday, audio of which was obtained by The Intercept.

"Just think to yourself and give me advice whether we should do that before Jan. 5th, because that's how they beat the living hell out of us across the country, saying that we're talking about defunding the police. We're not. We're talking about holding them accountable," Biden continued.

Since the death of George Floyd this summer, some progressives have been calling for a fundamental reshaping of the criminal justice system in America, including the reallocating of resources typically given to local police departments for other social programs.

Biden and the Democratic party's more moderate wing have pushed back or danced around the idea in the run up to the 2020 election.

Earlier this month, former President Obama cautioned party leaders that calls to defund police departments could cost Democrats voters.

"You lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you're actually going to get the changes you want done," Obama said. "The key is deciding, do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with?"

Biden told the civil rights leaders he does not intend to push the limits of his executive authority when asked to reverse some policies implemented during the Trump administration.

"There's some things that I'm going to be able to do by executive order," Biden reportedly said. "I'm not going to hesitate to do it, but what I'm not going to do is I'm not going to do what used to - Vanita [Gupta], you probably used to get angry with me during the debates, when you'd have some of the people you were supporting saying, 'On Day 1, I'm gonna have an executive order to do this!' Not within the constitutional authority. I am not going to violate the Constitution," Biden said.

In a statement to The Hill regarding the audio, a transition official said Biden "is the same person behind closed doors that he is public; honest, direct and realistic about the challenges facing our nation the day he is sworn in."

"As he made clear throughout the campaign, he believes in supporting bold and urgent reform to our criminal justice system while continuing to support law enforcement's mission to keep our communities safe," the official said.

YOU WANT SAFE COMMUNITIES DISARM THE POLICE!
DISARM & DEFUND 
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ripped into GOP Sen. Mike Lee after he blocked the creation of Latino and women's history museums during a dramatic Senate session

kvlamis@businessinsider.com (Kelsey Vlamis) 
 Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said Americans didn't need "separate but equal" museums. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

US Senator Mike Lee blocked two proposals that would establish new Smithsonian museums for American Latino and women's history.

Both bipartisan bills passed the House of Representatives earlier this year, but the Republican senator said Americans didn't need "separate but equal" museums.

Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez and GOP Sen. Susan Collins both pushed back at Lee during a dramatic Senate session on Thursday.

US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ripped into Lee's remarks on Twitter, saying, "good to know Utah Sen. Mike Lee is spending his time today giving speeches about why Latinos shouldn't have a national history museum."

US Senator Mike Lee blocked two proposals that would establish new Smithsonian museums for American Latino and women's history during a dramatic Senate session on Thursday.

Both bipartisan bills passed the House of Representatives earlier this year, but Lee said Americans didn't need "separate, siloed" museums. Instead, he said the existing American History museum could be expanded to include the stories of all groups that make up US history.

"But the last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation with an array of separate but equal museums for hyphenated identity groups," the Republican senator from Utah said.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ripped into Lee's remarks on Twitter.

"No movement on COVID in the Senate but good to know Utah Sen. Mike Lee is spending his time today giving speeches about why Latinos shouldn't have a national history museum and oh, while we're at it, why there shouldn't be a women's history museum either," she said in a tweet.

Lee prompted a livid response from Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat and longtime advocate of establishing a Latino museum.

"One Republican colleague from Utah stands in the way of the hopes and dreams and aspirations of seeing Americans of Latino descent having their dreams fulfilled in being recognized, just being recognized," he said during the sessi
on. "It's pretty outrageous."

Smithsonian museums for African-American history and Native American history already exist, but Lee said those groups were exceptions because they were "systematically excluded" from the nation's history.

"We have been systematically excluded," Menendez said of American Latinos. "And the only righteous way to end that exclusion is to pass this bill."

GOP Sen. Susan Collins also expressed support for the American Latino museum. Collins co-sponsored the bill for the women's history museum, which was also blocked by Lee during Thursday's session.

"It seems wrong that one senator can block consideration of a bill that would have overwhelming support by a majority of this body," she said in response to Lee.

"It is extraordinary to me that not 100 years ago not every woman in this country was allowed to vote in every state," she said. "That story is one of the stories that needs to be told."

After Lee blocked the women's history museum, Collins said, "I regret that that will not occur this evening, but we will not give up the fight."

Read the original article on Business Insider


Utah Sen. Mike Lee blocks votes to establish Smithsonian museums for Latinos and wome
n
By Paul LeBlanc, CNN 


Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah on Thursday blocked consideration for legislation to establish a National Museum of the American Latino and an American Women's History Museum as part of the Smithsonian Institution, reasoning that the US does not need "separate but equal museums."© Ken Cedeno/Pool/Getty Images

The National Museum of the American Latino legislation had passed the House by voice vote in July following decades of efforts to establish the museum.

"I understand what my colleagues are trying to do and why. I respect what they're trying to do. I even share their interests in ensuring that these stories are told. But the last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation with an array of segregated, separate-but-equal museums for hyphenated identity groups," Lee said.

"At this moment in the history of our diverse nation, we need our federal government and the Smithsonian Institution itself to pull us closer together and not further apart."

The Smithsonian Institution, Lee maintained, "should not have an exclusive museum of American Latino history or a museum of women's history or museum of American men's history or Mormon history or Asian-American history or Catholic history. American history is an inclusive story that should unite us."

There are museums dedicated to African Americans -- the National Museum of African American History and Culture -- and Native Americans -- the National Museum of the American Indian.

Video: Utah senator blocks legislation to establish Latino and women's museums (CNN)


Lee's opposition to the bill drew immediate scorn from Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and longtime advocate for a Latino museum, who called his approach "pretty outrageous."

"The House of Representatives passed this on voice. The Rules Committee passed it on voice in a bipartisan manner. And tonight, one colleague stands in the way. One Republican colleague from Utah stands in the way of the hopes and dreams and aspirations of seeing Americans of Latino descent having their dreams fulfilled and being recognized," he said.

 "Just being recognized."

That message was echoed by GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who said, "I could not help but wonder as I heard the comments of my colleague from Utah whether he also tried to block the museum celebrating and telling the history of African Americans."

She added: "It seems wrong that one senator can block consideration of a bill that would have overwhelming support by a majority of this body."

After Lee blocked the legislation to establish the American Women's History Museum, Collins said, "Surely in a year where we're celebrating the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage, this is the time, this is the moment to finally pass the legislation unanimously recommended by an independent commission to establish an American Women's History museum in our nation's capital."

"I regret that that will not occur this evening, but we will not give up the fight," she said.

The National Museum of the American Latino bill is a culmination of efforts dating back more than 20 years. In 1994, in a 60-page report entitled, "Willful Neglect: The Smithsonian Institution and U.S. Latinos," a task force found that the Smithsonian displayed a pattern of excluding and ignoring the presence and contributions of Latino Americans in both its workforce and exhibition halls.

And in 2011, a 23-member presidential commission established to study the creation of a National Museum of the American Latino delivered a report that detailed the museum's feasibility.


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams Mitch McConnell for opposing $1,200 stimulus checks in Instagram live session

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Monday, August 24, 2020. 
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images/Pool

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over his opposition to stimulus checks on an Instagram livestream on Thursday night. 

Ocasio-Cortez has repeatedly called for a $1,200 direct payment to be included in the relief bill Congress is aiming to pass during the lame-duck session.

The freshman congresswoman also argued that Republicans haven't been "in a rush" to pass additional stimulus legislation because Wall Street was already given a massive bailout last spring.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez briefed her followers on the state of Congress' COVID-19 relief bill negotiations and slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over his opposition to stimulus checks during an Instagram livestream on Thursday night.

Ocasio-Cortez has repeatedly called for a $1,200 direct payment to be included in the relief bill Congress is aiming to pass during the lame-duck session. She pointed out that some Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley, also support stimulus checks, but argued that Sen. McConnell is leading the resistance.

"This is a matter of Mitch McConnell not wanting a check," she told nearly the nearly 40,000 people who tuned in to watch her "Cooking and Q&A" session.

Congress is currently negotiating a bipartisan $908 billion proposal - a far less aggressive package than the $2.2 trillion bill Democrats passed in October. But many Republicans are still demanding a slimmer aid package that focuses on small businesses and vaccine distribution and includes a liability shield to protect corporations from virus-related lawsuits. GOP lawmakers are also largely opposed to sending additional funding to strapped state and local governments.

Ocasio-Cortez called the liability shield proposal a "corporate bailout." She argued that allowing Republicans to include the liability protections in the bill in exchange for stimulus checks or state and local government funding would be a bad deal for workers.

Video: Biden urges Congress to pass $900 billion stimulus package (NBC News)


"You may get a $1,200 check on one hand, but you may also get a multi-million hospital bill with no recourse and no ability to protect yourself from a negligent corporation or employer," she said. "Why do we need to exchange people's well being and ability to survive for yet another corporate bailout?"

Other progressive lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders' have also demanded stimulus checks in the bill and decried the liability shield.

The freshman congresswoman also argued that Republicans haven't been "in a rush" to pass additional stimulus legislation because Wall Street was already given a massive bailout last spring. About one-fifth of the $4 trillion in stimulus that the federal government has spent since the pandemic hit has gone to workers and families. About $2.3 trillion went to businesses, many of which didn't have to show that they were hurt by the pandemic or they would use the money to prevent layoffs.

Democrats in the House passed the $2.2 trillion HEROES Act in May and then again in October. Ahead of the November election, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to negotiate a slightly smaller stimulus backed by the White House, while in October the Senate proposed a slimmed-down $500 stimulus package that was blocked by Democrats.

"What keeps me up at night was that it was short-term relief that was really important and really necessary ... but what we gave away to Wall Street was so large and so structural that, frankly, that's why Republicans and Mitch McConnell has not been in a rush," she said.

President-elect Joe Biden has promised to pass an additional stimulus when he takes office in late January, but Americans are in desperate need of help before then. If Congress fails to pass a new relief bill in the next nine days, almost 12 million Americans could lose their unemployment benefits in late December, millions could be evicted from their homes, and millions more will again be on the hook for student loan payments after January 31.
Read the original article on Business Insider

 CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M FOR BEGINNERS

Chick-fil-A and Target sue chicken processors over alleged price fixing

Chick-fil-A and Target are accusing meat processors of fixing prices for the chicken they buy.

The two chains filed separate lawsuits in court on Friday. Each suit names over a dozen chicken sellers. A number of them, including Tyson (TSN), Perdue and Pilgrim's Pride, appear in both cases.
Chick-fil-A said in its lawsuit that after a 2014 commitment to serve antibiotics-free chicken, meat processors colluded on prices to bid for the new business.
Chick-fil-A paid "artificially inflated prices for chicken" because of the alleged illegal price fixing, the company said in its complaint. The lawsuit says that Chick-fil-A has joined a 2016 class action suit also alleging price fixing among chicken processors. It is asking the court for an unspecified amount in damages as part of that judgment, among other things.
    Target's suit didn't go into much detail, but also stated that Target (TGT) has joined the 2016 class action and seeks unspecified damages.
    Allegations of price-fixing have been plaguing the chicken industry for some time.
    In June, executives, including Pilgrim Pride's then-CEO, were indicted for allegedly conspiring to fix prices and rig bids on "broiler chickens," which are sold to grocery stores and restaurants.
    Tyson wasn't named in that indictment, but the company said at the time that it was served with a grand jury subpoena from the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division in April of last year.
    With regard to Friday's lawsuits, a Tyson (TSN) spokesperson said that "follow-on complaints like these are common in antitrust litigation," adding that such complaints don't alter Tyson's position that price-fixing claims are "unfounded," and that "we will continue to vigorously defend our company."
    Perdue issued a similar statement with regards to both lawsuits, saying "we believe these claims are unfounded and plan to contest the merits."
    Pilgrim's Pride did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
      Chicken is big business in the United States. The chicken sandwich has fueled sales at restaurants in recent years. America's taste for chicken has helped Chick-fil-A's incredible growth over the years.
      --CNN's Clare Duffy contributed to this report


      Exxon faces $20 billion hit from 'epic failure' of a decade ago


      New York (CNN Business)

      ExxonMobil's nightmarish 2020 just got worse.

      The embattled energy company announced Monday that it will dramatically mark down the value of its natural gas properties. Exxon also promised to sharply scale back its spending ambitions as it braces for a more muted oil price recovery.
      Exxon (XOM) plans to take a non-cash charge of $17 billion to $20 billion -- a massive hit for a company that was long opposed to taking writedowns. It's believed to be the largest such writedown in Exxon history.


      The climate crisis is looming large on Wall Street

      It's yet more evidence of how badly Exxon erred when it acquired natural gas giant XTO Energy for $41 billion in late 2009. Roughly half of that deal's value has now been erased.


      The natural gas market is depressed, with gas trading at about $3 per million British thermal units -- less than half the price at the time Exxon swooped in to buy XTO. Natural gas peaked in late 2005 at more than $15 per million BTU.
      But today the world has a glut of natural gas due to the shale boom that unlocked vast amounts of fossil fuels in the United States.
      Exxon's "colossal gas asset impairment" is management's "clearest acknowledgement to date that the XTO deal was an epic failure -- not that any reminders of this are needed," Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov wrote in a note to clients Tuesday.
      The bulk of the writedown covers properties in Appalachia, the Rockies, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas that were acquired in the XTO deal. The rest of the charge is for overseas gas properties in western Canada and Argentina.

      Exxon is hardly the only oil company forced to whittle down the value of its fossil fuel properties. Over the past year, Chevron (CVX), BP (BP) and Shell (RDSA) have all taken massive writedowns.
      But not only is Exxon slashing the value of its natural gas portfolio, the company has completely removed some of these gas properties from its development plan. Exxon said in a statement that it may sell some of these assets, "contingent on buyer valuations."

      Shrinking the budget

      Instead of plowing more money into natural gas, Exxon is promising investors it will "prioritize near-term capital spending on advantaged assets with the highest potential future value."
      Specifically, Exxon said it will focus on developing its vast oil resources in Guyana, accelerating production in the Permian Basin of West Texas and some exploration in Brazil.
      Exxon is also retreating from its bold plans to ramp up investment despite weak prices. The company now expects to spend $19 billion or less in 2021 and between $20 billion and $25 billion a year through 2025. That's a far cry from Exxon's March projection that it would spend $30 billion to $35 billion a year through 2025.


      Trump said the stock market would crash if Biden won. The Dow just had its best month since 1987.

      Exxon is scrambling to cut costs -- and jobs. The company reiterated that it plans to shrink its global workforce by 14,000, or 15%, by the end of next year. That includes cutting about 1,900 jobs in the United States, mostly at its Houston headquarters.
      The pandemic and crash in oil prices has exposed Exxon's weakened financial state. The company posted quarterly losses for the first time in decades and it got kicked out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average after 92 years in that index.
      As recently as 2012, Exxon was the world's most valuable company. But today it is valued at just $161 billion -- smaller than T-Mobile US (TMUS), AbbVie (ABBV), Nike (NKE) or Adobe (ADBE). Exxon's market valuation has crumbled by more than half to a staggering $285 billion since peaking at $446 billion in mid-2014.

      'Precarious position'

      Wall Street is hoping the belt-tightening and a more conservative budget will be enough to save Exxon's dividend, which is critical to its appeal to investors. But analysts are skeptical. This year marks the first time since 1982 that Exxon failed to increase its dividend.
      Molchanov, the Raymond James analyst, warns that "Exxon cannot fund its dividend in 2021" without additional borrowing or asset sales.
      For now, the capital markets are wide open and Exxon should be able to borrow to fund the dividend. But that can't last forever.


      Trump's coal rescue was doomed from the beginning
      "It's a question of how much debt they want to take on," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Biraj Borkhataria. "The dividend looks challenged."
      And even if Exxon avoids a dividend reduction, its sharp spending cuts raise questions about the company's long-term future.
      Oil companies need to continually plow money into drilling -- otherwise production dries up, hurting cash flows.
      "The company is in a precarious position because of the deals they've done and the fact they've underspent for many years," said Borkhataria. "They have to execute on their existing projects to protect the long-term viability of the business."



      Europe's social safety net is often considered the gold standard. Coronavirus has exposed its holes


      By Emma Reynolds, CNN Business Sun December 6, 2020

      London (CNN Business)Ros Davies is usually busiest at Christmas, building magnificent sets and stages for London's most sparkling parties and events.
      This year, the fairytale is canceled. Davies, a self-employed carpenter hasn't worked since March because of the pandemic and has no idea when she may do so again.
      She's living in temporary accommodation found for her in the city by St. Mungo's, a homelessness charity, while a plan to get her into permanent housing is on hold.
      "I was hoping to move on and sort my life properly but ... here we are," the 50-year old told CNN Business. "I wouldn't have believed if you had said a year ago that your job's going to stop in March and that's it, you might never work doing that again."


      Closed stores in Borough market in Gravesend, England, on Wednesday, December 2 as a national lockdown came to an end but the Kent region remained under stringent restrictions.
      Davies did some retraining in painting and decorating, but with England just coming out of a second lockdown it hasn't led to any work. She has gone from regular jobs that paid enough for her to take vacations, to complete reliance on UK social security payments of just over £400 ($530) a month.
      "I've really had to lower all of my expectations of life," she said. "If I knew that in a month I'd be working again, or even in spring ... but there doesn't seem to be anything to look forward to."
      Coronavirus has revealed gaping holes in European social safety nets that are often seen as the gold standard. While many countries introduced support programs for workers affected by the pandemic, people are falling through the cracks. Most often, those who were already suffering the effects of inequality are hit the hardest — lower-income workers, those in insecure jobs, young people, women and minority ethnic groups.

      A closed cafe terrace on Piazza Vittorio Veneto in downtown Turin, Italy, in November.

      "Some of the social security systems in Europe are more extensive, better developed [than in the United States]," Michael Spence, a Nobel Laureate and former dean of Stanford Business School, told CNN Business.
      He said that during the 2008 financial crisis, pre-existing programs involving governments and businesses helped many European countries avoid too many layoffs.
      "But I think in the pandemic economy, the shock's so big that they kind of overwhelm the systems," he said. "The systems weren't built to withstand nearly overnight contractions of 25% in economies."
      Unemployment was up by 2.18 million year on year in the European Union in October 2020, rising from a rate of 6.6% to 7.6%. The UK unemployment rate was an estimated 4.8% in the three months to September, up 0.9 percentage points year on year, and 782,000 jobs were lost between March and October, according to the Office for National Statistics.

      Insecure work
      Lockdowns have seen economies come to an abrupt halt, and benefits systems in many countries have not been able to cope, according to Mike Brewer, chief economist at the Resolution Foundation, a British think tank aimed at reducing inequality.
      He said the UK welfare state was "inadequate" for this type of crisis, a downturn far beyond the "natural ebbing and flowing of economic activity" of typical recessions.

      Women in the UK already earn less than men. The coronavirus is making that worse

      The British welfare system was "not very generous" and relied on a fast-moving labor market, he said. "So it wasn't so much the scale of the pandemic, it was the fact that the pandemic just shut down the labor market ... that's destroyed the premise on which the UK welfare system has been designed."
      Since self-employed and casual workers had few protections under pre-crisis systems, many governments have had to come up with emergency measures — but even these programs are inadequate.
      The United Kingdom introduced an employee furlough scheme and a self-employment grant. But many workers who are partly or recently self-employed, freelance or on zero-hours or flexible contracts are ineligible for either.
      The programs were "designed in a hurry," Brewer said; as the pandemic drags on, the gaps are becoming more evident, and more of a problem.
      Hospitality, retail and leisure have been worst affected by lockdowns, sectors in which many informal jobs are held by young, low-income or migrant workers.
      The disproportionate impact on these workers, coupled with a lack of government support, means the gap between rich and poor is only widening. Members of low-income households are more likely to be out of work and running down their savings, while those in higher-income households, who are more likely to be in secure jobs that can be done from home, grow wealthier as they spend less, said Brewer.

      The people worst affected
      Countries that are reliant on tourism, such as PortugalGreece, Spain and Cyprus, have also faced a battering. The sector is often an entry point into work for women, young people, migrant workers and rural populations — and low-skilled, casual and temporary workers are likely to be the first to lose their jobs, according to a United Nations report.
      Youth unemployment increased by 404,000 year on year in the European Union in October, according to Eurostat. The most complete recent data for all countries, from August, shows youth unemployment was highest in Spain, at 41.6%, up almost 9 percentage points. Greece hit 39.3%, Italy 31.4% and Portugal saw an 8.7 percentage point rise to 26.8%.
      Brewer says it is "harmful to be out of work for long periods" and can have a long-term impact on future employment prospects so "young people now are going to be carrying that scar as they grow older."


      Informal workers are falling through social safety nets, particularly in sectors such as tourism. Pictured, the Acropolis in Athens on November 12 during Greece's second lockdown.
      Migrant workers across Europe disproportionately face precarious work and employment conditions, according to the European Federation of Public Service Unions. Joblessness can mean they lose their income, their right to stay in a country and even their homes without access to social benefits — so they are particularly likely to have to risk their health by continuing work. Undocumented migrants do not qualify for any protections.
      Abigail Adams-Prassl, an associate professor in economics at the University of Oxford, told CNN Business that women and Black, Asian and other minority ethnic workers were also more likely to slip through the cracks.
      "Insecure work and work in vulnerable sectors such as social care is disproportionately done by non-White groups in Britain," she said, adding that there was good evidence that "people who identify as non-White face a bigger economic shock than those identified as White."
      This is coupled with the fact that they are more likely to become seriously ill or die from Covid-19.
      Adams-Prassl said the ability to work from home also depends on domestic duties.

      These families cherished multi-generational living. But Covid-19 has wrecked it

      Childcare falls disproportionately on women, and the virus has often meant that children cannot attend school or childcare, says Adams-Prassl. She said the pandemic has exacerbated the financial shortfall for many UK childcare providers and there had been "nothing in terms of a targeted package of support for that sector or thinking about how to really support the employment of caregivers."
      Women's groups have repeatedly raised the issue that social security systems can be problematic for those in abusive relationships, she added. "If you've got a partner who didn't lose their job, or who might have savings of their own, that can mean that you're ineligible for these forms of government support," said Adams-Prassl, adding that these patterns were also seen in France and Italy.
      "All of these things existed beforehand," she said. "It's the fact that I guess it has affected many more people over the pandemic and it's just been so stark has made many, many more people aware of these issues. I think there's still a very long way to go in terms of thinking about what the policy response is."

      Increasing existing inequalities
      In Italy, this inequality can be seen in stark relief along geographical lines. While the richer north of the country was initially hit the hardest by the pandemic, the financial damage has been worst for the poorest households, which are more widespread in the south, according to the Bank of Italy.
      Employment has dropped more in the south, where people are more likely to be in temporary jobs or roles that are more exposed to the effects of the pandemic, the November report found.
      The government launched loans, subsidies and wage supplementation programs in March, but Valentina Meliciani, director of the Luiss School of European Political Economy in Rome, says high levels of public debt gave the country "a limited capability to respond to the crisis" and reach everyone.

      Borrowing is dirt cheap. These countries are cashing in

      "Government interventions worked in the formal sector but less so with informal sector workers," she said, citing the examples of the tourism sector and migrant workers. "The problem is that it is very difficult to catch these people because they do not show up at all in the statistics."
      She said Italy was already a "quite divided country" with the North and the center on one side, and the Mezzogiorno (south) on the other.
      The southern region is fast becoming poorer. Public policies are less effective, students are lagging behind in education and fewer homes have fast broadband.
      Meliciani said the southern regions "will suffer the most" in the long term. She said that to stop poverty increasing after the pandemic, government policies must address structural problems in the south, including the digital divide.
      She said companies in the south needed incentives or tax relief to allow them to invest in digital technologies or other areas that could help them survive the crisis.
      Modeling led by Oxford University in July found that two months of lockdown plus six months of restrictions would result in a mean wage loss rate for the poor of up to 16.2%. Cyprus was the European country where inequality increased most under several different pandemic scenarios, with a loss rate of up to 22.4% for the poor.
      "There is considerable inequality in Cyprus in terms of income, wealth, employment, opportunities, and what I would call intergenerational gaps," Leslie Manison, a former senior economist at the International Monetary Fund and ex-advisor in the Cyprus Ministry of Finance, told CNN Business.
      He said the government had introduced measures such as subsidizing salaries of employees in companies that had suspended their operations, and people in the informal sector often weren't eligible despite being worse affected by Covid.
      "The subsidies haven't been connected, you could say, with active labor policies on retraining and so on, compared with a country like Germany," he added.