IWD BREAD & ROSES

Bread and Roses

As we go marching, marching, in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing: Bread and Roses! Bread and Roses!

As we go marching, marching, we battle too for men,
For they are women's children, and we mother them again.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses.

As we go marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient call for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too.

As we go marching, marching, we bring the greater days,
The rising of the women means the rising of the race.
No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposes,
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses, bread and roses.

Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
hearts starve as well as bodies; bread and roses, bread and roses

Saturday, March 08, 2008

100 Years Of Bread and Roses

Today marks the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day one of two Internationalist Workers Holidays begun in the United States. And it is one that recognized women as workers, that as workers women's needs and rights are key to all our struggles hence the term Bread and Roses.

Women have led all revolutions through out modern history beginning as far back as the 14th Century with bread riots. Bread riots would become a revolutionary phenomena through out the next several hundred years in England and Europe.

It would be bread riots of women who would lead the French Revolution and again the Paris Commune, led by the anarchist Louise Michel.

Bread riots occurred in America during the Civil War.

It would be the mass womens protest and bread riots in Russia in 1917 that led to the Revolution there. The World Socialist Revolution had begun and two of its outstanding leaders were Rosa Luxemburg and Clara Zetkin, both who opposed Lenin's concept of a party of professional revolutionaries leading the revolution and called for mass organizations of the working class. Their feminist Marxism was embraced by another great woman leader of the Russian Revolution; Alexandra Kollontai.

Women began the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 by shutting down the phone exchange.

Women began the Winnipeg general sympathetic strike. At 7:00 a.m. on the morning of Thursday, May 15, 1919, five hundred telephone operators punched out at the end of their shifts. No other workers came in to replace them. Ninety percent of these operators were women, so women represented the vast majority of the first group of workers to begin the city-wide sympathetic strike in support of the already striking metal and building trades workers. At 11:00 a.m., the official starting point of the strike, workers began to pour out from shops, factories and offices to meet at Portage and Main. Streetcars dropped off their passengers and by noon all cars were in their barns. Workers left rail yards, restaurants and theatres. Firemen left their stations. Ninety-four of ninety-six unions answered the strike call. Only the police and typographers stayed on their jobs. Within the first twenty-four hours of the strike call, more than 25,000 workers had walked away from their positions. One-half of them were not members of any trade union. By the end of May 15, Winnipeg was virtually shut down.

Again it would be mass demonstrations of women against the Shah of Iran that would lead to the ill fated Iranian revolution.

Today with a food crisis due to globalization bread riots are returning.

When women mobilize enmass history is made.

March is Women's History Month, March 8 is International Women's Day (IWD), and March 5 is the birthday of the revolutionary Polish theorist and leader of the 1919 German Revolution, Rosa Luxemburg. It was Rosa Luxemburg's close friend and comrade, Clara Zetkin, who proposed an International Women's Day (IWD) to the Second International, first celebrated in 1911.

Clara Zetkin, secretary of the International Socialist Women's Organization (ISWO), proposed this date during a conference in Copenhagen because it was the anniversary of a 1908 women workers' demonstration at Rutgers Square on Manhattan's Lower East Side that demanded the right to vote and the creation of a needle trades union.

The demonstration was so successful that the ISWO decided to emulate it and March 8 became the day that millions of women and men around the world celebrated the struggle for women's equality.

Actually, International Women's Day is one of two working class holidays "born in the USA." The other is May Day, which commemorates Chicago's Haymarket martyrs in the struggle for an eight-hour day.

Clara Zetkin

From My Memorandum Book

 

CLARA ZETKIN & ALEXANDRA KOLLONTAI

“Agitation and propaganda work among women, their awakening and revolutionisation, is regarded as an incidental matter, as an affair which only concerns women comrades. They alone are reproached because work in that direction does not proceed more quickly and more vigorously. That is wrong, quite wrong! Real separatism and as the French say, feminism à la rebours, feminism upside down! What is at the basis of the incorrect attitude of our national sections? In the final analysis it is nothing but an under-estimation of woman and her work. Yes, indeed! Unfortunately it is still true to say of many of our comrades, ‘scratch a communist and find a philistine’. 0f course, you must scratch the sensitive spot, their mentality as regards women. Could there be a more damning proof of this than the calm acquiescence of men who see how women grow worn out In petty, monotonous household work, their strength and time dissipated and wasted, their minds growing narrow and stale, their hearts beating slowly, their will weakened! Of course, I am not speaking of the ladies of the bourgeoisie who shove on to servants the responsibility for all household work, including the care of children. What I am saying applies to the overwhelming majority of women, to the wives of workers and to those who stand all day in a factory.

“So few men – even among the proletariat – realise how much effort and trouble they could save women, even quite do away with, if they were to lend a hand in ‘women’s work’. But no, that is contrary to the ‘rights and dignity of a man’. They want their peace and comfort. The home life of the woman is a daily sacrifice to a thousand unimportant trivialities. The old master right of the man still lives in secret. His slave takes her revenge, also secretly. The backwardness of women, their lack of understanding for the revolutionary ideals of the man decrease his joy and determination in fighting. They are like little worms which, unseen, slowly but surely, rot and corrode. I know the life of the worker, and not only from books. Our communist work among the women, our political work, embraces a great deal of educational work among men. We must root out the old ‘master’ idea to its last and smallest root, in the Party and among the masses. That is one of our political tasks, just as is the urgently necessary task of forming a staff of men and women comrades, well trained in theory and practice, to carry on Party activity among working women.”

SEE:

IWD: Raya Dunayevskaya

IWD Economic Freedom for Women

Feminizing the Proletariat

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LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY 

#IWD

Women in Afghanistan worry peace accord with Taliban extremists could cost them hard-won rights


Homa Hoodfar, Professor of Anthropology, Emerita, Concordia University 

and Mona Tajali, Assistant Professor in IR and WGSS, Agnes Scott College
Fri, March 5, 2021, 


Audience members listen to Afghan parliamentarian Fawzia Koofi speak in 2014. Women's access to politics increased greatly after the Taliban's 2001 ouster. 

Sha Marai/AFP via Getty Images

Three Afghan women who worked at a media company were gunned down in Jalalabad in early March. In January, unidentified gunmen killed two female Supreme Court judges in Kabul.

These are the latest victims on a long list of assassinations and attempted assassinations of female politicians and women’s rights activists. Such attacks have intensified since the government began peace negotiations with the Taliban militant group in September 2020. In the past year, 17 human rights defenders have been killed in Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 was the darkest time for Afghan women. Assuming an austere interpretation of Islamic Sharia and Pashtun tribal practices, the group limited women’s access to education, employment and health services. Women were required to be fully veiled and have male escorts in public.


We are scholars of women’s rights in Muslim majority countries, including in Afghanistan. We have been following Afghanistan’s peace talks with an eye on gender, seeking to understand how Afghan women view the prospect of their government striking a power-sharing agreement with the group that oppressed them.


Sunny, blue-painted classroom full of smiling Afghan boys and girls

Seat at the table

Women are a pale presence in the on-again, off-again, U.S.-brokered Afghanistan peace process underway in Doha, Qatar. The Taliban, which still controls roughly 30% of Afghanistan’s territory, has no women on its negotiating team. Only four of the Afghan government’s 21 negotiators are women – even though several women play prominent roles within the national government.

The past six months of talks have demonstrated the contradictions between each side’s stance on women’s equality and other central issues.

The government intends to preserve Afghanistan’s democratic institutions and constitution, which guarantees the rights of women and minorities as equal citizens of an Islamic republic.

The Taliban, on the other hand, is pushing for an Islamic emirate controlled by a nonelected council of religious leaders who rule based on their conservative interpretation of Islam, according to unpublished analysis by the nonprofit Women Living Under Muslim Laws, where we are board members.

Men, some in suits and other in traditional Pashtun clothing, stand in a hotel conference room at a distance from each other, wearing face masks

Roya Rahmani, the Afghan ambassador to the United States, says having women on its team gives the Afghan government more leverage to negotiate on women’s rights. That’s important because our research indicates that the Taliban maintain their extremist stance on women.

“The Taliban live in their 1990s universe and they refuse to see the reality of Afghanistan and in particular the young generations today who see themselves entitled to human rights, education, and an open public sphere,” Palwasha Hassan, an Afghan women’s rights activist, told us in an interview in December 2020.

The Taliban claims its views on women have evolved. But in some Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan girls are barred from getting an education after puberty – in violation of the Afghan constitution. And while women are elected and appointed to high-level posts nationally, their political participation is restricted in Taliban-controlled regions.

There is a “gap between official Taliban statements on rights and the restrictive positions adopted by Taliban officials on the ground,” according to the international nonprofit Human Rights Watch.

Veiled women and some children stand on the street

Women and war

Armed conflicts may be primarily fought by men, who are killed or injured, but women are war victims in a different way – and therefore have different needs when it ends. Many lose their husbands and children, and thus their income, and are disproportionately displaced by violence. Rape is one weapon of war, and in some places women may be sexually assaulted en masse.

In 2000, the United Nations adopted a resolution emphasizing that women should be included in all post-conflict reconstruction efforts.

Colombia was the first country to ensure gender equity in its peace process. In its landmark 2016 accord with the FARC insurgents, which was mediated by Sweden, women were on both the insurgent and government negotiating teams, and the final accord included a chapter outlining what assistance women in conflict zones would need to start businesses, participate in politics, thrive in rural areas and the like.

Afghanistan, the first big globally brokered peace deal to follow Colombia’s, does not follow this model.

In interviews with more than 15 Afghan women’s rights leaders, we heard frustration over women’s exclusion from the peace talks given that women are the main victims of Afghanistan’s 40-year conflict.

These women support the effort at national reconciliation. But they cited the targeted killings of women over the past year as reason for concern that the Taliban’s disregard for human rights jeopardizes the longevity of any peace deal.

As one interview subject put it, “Taliban’s win is a win for ISIS, Boko Haram and other extremist groups.”
Targeting women

Outspoken critics of the Taliban’s undemocratic vision of peace have been threatened or killed.

In August 2020, Fawzia Koofi, an Afghan government negotiator and long-time Afghan parliamentarian, was shot in the arm in an attempted assassination. The attack is an instance of the gendered violence that women often face as a way to deter them from participating in politics.

Koofi refused to be silenced. Just days after her injury, she flew to Doha to attend the peace talks.

The Afghan government has made recent missteps on women’s rights, too.

In 2020, the Afghan government dissolved the State Ministry of Human Affairs, led by Dr. Sima Samar, a key advocate for women’s rights with nearly two decades of experience at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

Woman in hijab sits at a table with microphones between two men in sits, with international flags behind them

This ministry, as the main body documenting and reporting on Afghanistan’s human rights status, could have played an instrumental role in the negotiations.

After the fall of the Taliban in the 2001 U.S. invasion, women eagerly embraced every opportunity to advance professionally in diverse sectors, from politics to social services. Today women compose around 27% of the Afghan Parliament, one of the highest rates of women’s political representation in the region.

“There is no going back,” Zarqa Yaftali, a women’s rights activist told us. “Women intend to guide their country towards peace and stability.”


Read more:

Afghanistan peace talks begin – but will the Taliban hold up their end of the deal?


The Taliban are megarich – here’s where they get the money they use to wage war in Afghanistan

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Mona Tajali, Agnes Scott College and Homa Hoodfar, Concordia University.

Mona Tajali is affiliated with Women Living Under Muslim Laws, a transnational feminist research network.

Homa Hoodfar is affiliated with the organization Women Living Under Muslim Laws, a transnational Feminist Research Network

Unions call for total strike in Myanmar; 

Suu Kyi party official dies in custody


By Reuters Staff


(Reuters) - Myanmar’s major trade unions called on members to shut down the economy from Monday to back a campaign against last month’s coup, raising pressure on the junta as its forces fired weapons and occupied hospitals in the main city Yangon after a day of massive protests.

Witnesses reported sounds of gunfire or stun grenades in many districts of the commercial capital after nightfall, as soldiers set up camp in hospitals and university compounds, local media reported. It was not clear whether anyone was hurt.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a non-profit, said the army was “intentionally terrorizing residents” in Yangon.

The show of force came after some of the largest nationwide protests since the Feb. 1 coup, and an alliance of nine unions said they planned a “full extended shutdown” of the economy.

“To continue economic and business activities as usual...will only benefit the military as they repress the energy of the Myanmar people,” they said in a joint statement. “The time to take action in defence of our democracy is now.


A spokesman for the military did not answer calls seeking comment and Reuters was unable to reach police for comment. The army has said it is dealing with protests lawfully.

An official from the party of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi died overnight in police custody. National League for Democracy (NLD) official Khin Maung Latt had worked as a campaign manager for one of two Muslim MPs elected in 2020.

Ba Myo Thein, a member of parliament’s upper house which was dissolved after the coup, said reports of bruising to Khin Maung Latt’s head and body raised suspicions that he had been abused.

“It seems that he was arrested at night and tortured severely,” he told Reuters. “This is totally unacceptable.”

Police in Pabedan, the Yangon district where Khin Maung Latt was arrested, declined to comment.

STUN GRENADES

Sunday saw some of the biggest protests in recent weeks. Police fired stun grenades and tear gas to break up a sit-in by tens of thousands of people in Mandalay, the Myanmar Now media group said. At least 70 people were arrested.

Police also launched tear gas and stun grenades in the direction of protesters in Yangon and in the town of Lashio in the northern Shan region, videos posted on Facebook showed.

A witness said police opened fire to break up a protest in the historic temple town of Bagan, and several residents said in social media posts that live bullets were used.

Video posted by Myanmar Now showed soldiers beating up men in Yangon, where at least three protests were held despite overnight raids by security forces on campaign leaders and opposition activists.

Sithu Maung, the NLD MP who worked with Khin Maung Latt, said soldiers and police detained his father on Sunday night.

“They broke into the house… and point with guns, I was told,” he said in a Facebook post, adding that his father was also beaten.

The United Nations says security forces have killed more than 50 people to quell daily demonstrations and strikes since the military overthrew and detained Suu Kyi on Feb. 1.

“They are killing people just like killing birds and chickens,” one protest leader said to the crowd in Dawei, a town in Myanmar’s south. “What will we do if we don’t revolt against them? We must revolt.”

State-run Global New Light Of Myanmar newspaper quoted a police statement as saying security forces were dealing with the protests in accordance with law. It said the forces were using tear gas and stun grenades to break up rioting and protests that were blocking public roads.

CONDEMNATION

Well over 1,700 people had been detained under the military junta by Saturday, according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group.

The killings have drawn anger in the West and been condemned by most democracies in Asia. The United States and some other Western countries have imposed limited sanctions on the junta.

China, Myanmar’s giant neighbour to the northeast, said on Sunday it is prepared to engage with “all parties” to ease the crisis and is not taking sides.

Australia said it suspended a bilateral defence cooperation program with the military following the coup and its development program would engage only with non-government organizations.

Myanmar protests: Demonstrators 'fired on' amid funeral of political organiser said to have died in custody

A ward chairman from Aung San Suu Kyi's party is said to have been found dead in a military hospital on Sunday morning.

Philip Whiteside
SKY News reporter
Sunday 7 March 2021

People attend a funeral of U Khin Maung Latt a National League for Democracy (NLD)'s ward chairman

Witnesses have said police have opened fire on protesters in Myanmar, amid reports at least one political organiser from the democratically elected government's party has died in custody.

Several people were wounded in the historic temple city of Bagan, according to witness accounts and videos on social media, while demonstrations were held in at least half a dozen other Myanmar cities.
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Residents in the southeastern city of Dawei said soldiers and police moved into several districts overnight, firing shots. They arrested at least three people in Kyauktada Township, residents there said.

Protesters create a shield formation in Nyaung-U

One protest leader said to the crowd in Dawei: "They are killing people just like killing birds and chickens. What will we do if we don't revolt against them? We must revolt."

A ward chairman from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party was found dead in a military hospital on Sunday morning by people who lived in his Yangon neighbourhood, according to a post on Facebook by NLD MP Sithu Maung.

Several on social media speculated that U Khin Maung Latt, 58, died after being beaten in custody after being taken from his home, but no official cause of death was immediately announced.

Reuters news agency said it saw a photograph of his body with a bloodstained cloth wrapped around the head.

Another Facebook poster said he had been arrested on Saturday in 30th Street in Pabedan Township.

There were emotional scenes in Yangon as his funeral was held in accordance with Islamic tradition later on Sunday.

At least three protests were held in Yangon, despite overnight raids by security forces on campaign leaders and opposition activists, and video posted by media group Myanmar Now showed soldiers beating up men.

Meanwhile, police fired tear gas to break up a sit-in demonstration by tens of thousands of people in Mandalay on Sunday.

Protesters run away from tear gas in Mandalay

Security forces continued to crack down on many of the other protests, which have erupted following last month's coup.

The United Nations says more than 50 people have been killed by security forces since the military overthrew and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on 1 February.

A junta spokesman did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The state-run Global New Light Of Myanmar newspaper reported that police said security forces were dealing with the protests in accordance with law.

Protesters set up a makeshift shield formation in preparation for potential clashes in Yangon

More than 1,700 people have been detained by the police and military in Myanmar, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group said. The latest figure did not include overnight detentions.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's authorities claimed an activist who was shot dead could not have been killed by police because the wrong sort of projectile was found in her head.

They had exhumed the body of 19-year-old Kyal Sin, who died during the protests in Mandalay on Wednesday wearing a T-shirt that read "Everything will be OK".

Play Video - Moment nun stands up to Myanmar military

State-run MRTV said a surgical investigation showed she had been shot from behind, while police were in front.

Photographs taken on the day showed her head turned away from security forces moments before she was killed.

Opponents of the coup accused the junta of attempting to cover-up their responsibility.

Protesters have demanded the release of Ms Suu Kyi and that military leaders respect the result of November's election - which her party won in a landslide.

Play Video - Myanmar soldier points gun at hidden resident

The army has said it will hold more elections at a date in the future yet to be set.

Israeli-Canadian lobbyist Ari Ben-Menashe, hired by Myanmar's junta to act as a spokesman, told Reuters the military leaders want to leave politics and improve relations with the United States and to distance themselves from China.

He said Ms Suu Kyi had grown too close to China.

More from Aung San Suu Kyi

• Myanmar coup: Footage of protest brutality leads to calls for stronger international response

• Myanmar: Bloodiest day since coup as '38 killed' in military crackdown

• Myanmar coup: Court files fresh charges against Aung San Suu Kyi after 18 killed in protests

• Myanmar: 18 protesters killed after police open fire during latest unrest

• Myanmar coup: Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to ramp up pressure on military to step aside

• Myanmar determined to keep protests alive as country faces isolation, UN envoy says

#IWD

Iran releases British-Iranian aid worker Zaghari-Ratcliffe from house arrest

Supporters hold a photo of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe during a vigil for British-Iranian mother imprisoned in Tehran outisde the Iranian Embassy on January 16, 2017 in London, England [Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images]

March 7, 2021 


Iran has released British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from house arrest at the end of her five-year prison sentence, but she has been summoned to court again on another charge, Reuters reported quoting her lawyer on Sunday.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at a Tehran airport in April 2016 and later convicted of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who served out most of her sentence in Tehran's Evin prison, was released last March during the coronavirus pandemic and kept under house arrest, but her movements were restricted and she was barred from leaving the country.

On Sunday the authorities removed her ankle tag.

"She was pardoned by Iran's supreme leader last year, but spent the last year of her term under house arrest with electronic shackles tied to her feet. Now they're cast off," her lawyer Hojjat Kermani told an Iranian website. "She has been freed."

Read: Britain says it's appalled by Iran's new case against Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Iran's judiciary was not immediately available to comment about the release. Her family and the foundation, a charity that operates independently of media firm Thomson Reuters and its news subsidiary Reuters, deny the charge.

Kermani said a hearing for Zaghari-Ratcliffe's second case has been scheduled on March 14.

"In this case, she is accused of propaganda against the Islamic Republic's system for participating in a rally in front of the Iranian Embassy in London in 2009 and giving interview to the BBC Persian TV channel at the same time," Kermani said.

He said he hoped that "this case will be closed at this stage, considering the previous investigation".

The detentions of dozens of dual nationals and foreigners have complicated ties between Tehran and several European countries including Germany, France and Britain, all parties to Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with six powers.

The release come as Iran and the United States are trying to revive the deal, which former U.S. president abandoned in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran. Tehran responded by scaling down its compliance.

British-Iranian aid worker released after five years: lawyer

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was detained in 2016 and later convicted of plotting to topple the government and sentenced to five years in jail. A British lawmaker said she was, however, summoned again to court.

 British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has ended for five-year sentence in Iran, her lawyer Hojjat Kermani said on Sunday.

Her ankle bracelet was removed, but she has been summoned again to court, according to British lawmaker Tulip Siddiq. 

"I have been in touch with Nazanin's family. Some news: 1) Thankfully her ankle tag has been removed. Her first trip will be to see her grandmother. 2) Less positive - she has been summoned once again to court next Sunday," Siddiq, who is the member of parliament for where Zaghari-Ratcliffe used to live, said on Twitter.

It was not immediately clear whether Zaghari-Ratcliffe was allowed to leave Iran. Kermani was quoted as saying that "a hearing for Zaghari's second case has been scheduled at branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran."

Ankle bracelet removed for first time

The aid worker was able to remove her ankle bracelet for the first time since being released from prison on furlough because of the pandemic last year, her lawyer said. She has been under arrest at her parent's home in Tehran since. 

Iran's semi-official news agency ISNA reported on Sunday that Zaghari-Ratcliffe would be summoned to court on March 13 over the new charges, which were not specified. No other Iranian media immediately confirmed the new court date. 

UK calls for immediate release

In response, the UK government called for the immediate release of Zaghari-Ratcliffe, as the looming court date dashes hopes from her family, friends and colleagues of an immediate return home. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the government in London welcomed the removal of her ankle bracelet. 

However, he said her treatment by Iranian authorities was "intolerable."

"She must be allowed to return to the UK as soon as possible to be reunited with her family," Raab tweeted. 

It remained unclear what would happen in court next week. Her family and supporters fear the worst, due to tattered political relations between Iran and the UK, and other world powers. 

'More sleepless nights ahead'

"We don't know how to interpret being summoned ... Is it that they're just going to finish off all the paperwork and release her and give her passport back? Or Is it that they are going to whack her with that second sentence?'' her husband's sister, Rebecca Ratcliffe, told Sky News. The uncertainty means "there are a few more sleepless nights ahead of us," she said. 

The move comes as tensions escalate over Iran's atomic deal with world powers. Since former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, Iran has been accelerating its breaches of the agreement by enriching more uranium than allowed, along other violations. 

Additionally, Britain and Iran are negotiating a row over a debt of around £400 million (€465 million) ($530 million) owed to Iran by London, for a payment the late Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi made for Chieftain tanks that were never delivered. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested at a Tehran airport in April 2016 as she prepared to return to Britain with her daughter after a family visit.

She was later sentenced to five years in jail after being convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran's clerical establishment. 

India is called the pharmacy of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic with its vast experience and deep knowledge in medicine

The rollout of COVID-19 vaccine is "India's gift" to the world in combating coronavirus and will be remembered as a time when the country stepped up in a major way as a global player in innovation, a top American scientist has said.

FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2021, file photo a medical staff member prepares the Pfizer-BioNTech 

COVID-19 vaccine at Tudor Ranch in Mecca, Calif. (AP)

07 Mar 2021

India is called the pharmacy of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic with its vast experience and deep knowledge in medicine. The country is one of the world’s biggest drug-makers and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring coronavirus vaccines.

Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston during a webinar this week said that the two mRNA vaccines may not impact the world's low and middle income countries, but India’s vaccines, made in collaboration with universities across the world such as BCM and Oxford University, have “rescued the world" and its contributions must not to be underestimated.

During the webinar, “COVID-19: Vaccination and Potential Return to Normalcy - If and When", Dr Hotez, an internationally-recognised physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development, said that the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is "India's gift' to the world in combating the virus.

India’s drugs regulator gave emergency use authorisation to Covishield, produced by Pune-based Serum Institute of India after securing licence from British pharma company AstraZeneca, and Covaxin, indigenously developed jointly by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and Indian Council of Medical Research scientists.

The webinar was organised by Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston (IACCGH).

“This is something very special and I see it myself because I'm on weekly teleconferences with our colleagues in India, you make a recommendation, and within days it's done and not only done, but it's done well and with incredible rigor and thought and creativity," Dr Hotez said, stressing that he felt compelled to make this statement because "India's huge efforts in combating global pandemic is a story that's not really getting out in the world."

Dr Hotez, considered as the authority on vaccinations, is working on an affordable coronavirus vaccine in collaboration with Indian pharmaceutical companies.

UK COVID-19 lockdown provides boom towns for rats

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown up all sorts of problems and challenges. Controlling a rodent infestation may not be top of the agenda, but it’s becoming a, er, gnawing issue in the UK.



Rats are becoming more enterprising as the lockdown leaves streets and shops empty

Rats, and other members of the rodent family, have a lousy reputation. They crop up regularly in our everyday language to describe bleak situations and sentiments (Rats!, caught in a rat race, someone with rat-like features — you get the drift).

Much-maligned, they're often associated with the plague — somewhat apposite given our current predicament.

They seem to be omnipresent in the best of times, but now, they're having a, er, field day.

The Boomtown Rats

They're certainly more visible than in pre-pandemic times, but nothing to panic about — yet

In London and other major cities across the UK, rat sightings have soared during the pandemic. The British Pest Control Association (BPCA), which represents 700 vermin catchers across the country, said its members reported a 51% hike in rodent activity during the first lockdown last spring, and a 78% increase in November after the next lockdown.

Typically, rats avoid humans and make drains and sewers their homes. However, as a result of shuttered businesses and deserted high streets, the creatures are out in full force and making restaurants, pubs and empty buildings their new habitat as they look for other sources to satisfy their dietary needs.

"It seems their lifestyle patterns are changing. Rats, in particular, are also becoming more visible in areas of population. With less footfall across cities and towns, there is less associated food waste being left in bins and on the floor. Also, bin areas behind restaurants and pubs are empty and free of food waste making it unavailable for the local rat population," Natalie Bungay, technical officer with the BPCA, told DW via email.

AMID CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC, ANIMALS RECLAIMING EMPTY CITIES

Trip into town

In the coastal Welsh town of Llandudno, usually timid mountain goats have ventured into the empty streets to take a look around. They've become an online favorite thanks to Twitter posts by video producer Andrew Stuart. "There's hardly anyone around to scare them or anything … they just don't really care and are eating whatever they can," he said. The UK has been on lockdown since March 23.

PHOTOS 12345678

Food for thought

As a result, rats are also moving further afield to find other food sources. "Rats seem to be moving from cities closer to residential areas, where we're still filling our bins with food waste," says Bungay.

So what can be done to address the problem?

A much-peddled notion is that cats are a rat's worse enemy. However, research has shown that our feline friends are embarrassingly poor at catching and killing them due to the rats' size and ferocity.

Even Larry, the chief mouser at 10 Downing Street, is not having much success at hunting down the different types of vermin.



Pest control, which is provided by the BPCA's members, has been deemed an essential service during the pandemic. "There has still been access to COVID-19 secure, professional services in the pandemic, even in lockdown. If pest management visits have been maintained, then properties and businesses should be in a good position to reopen safely," says Bungay.
Taking precautionary measures

The BPCA says there several measures the public can take to prevent rodent infestations, such as safely securing all food sources, checking that access points, such as air vents, are properly sealed, and performing thorough cleaning and hygiene processes.

Hygiene is the operative word here. Rodents are known to carry and transmit diseases such as "Leptospirosis [a bacterial disease ], Salmonella, Listeria, Toxoplasma gondii [a parasite that forms cysts and can affect a number of body organs], and Hantavirus [which can cause potentially deadly diseases such as hemorrhagic fever or a pulmonary syndrome]," as Bungay points out.

As off-putting and worrying as that may sound, it should be remembered that rats try to avoid contact with humans. With less of us out and about "they're perhaps getting a little bolder and possibly being seen in areas they normally wouldn't," says Bungay.

There's no need to panic just yet about the increased sightings. Still, the public should remain vigilant. "If you spot the signs of a rodent infestation, don't ignore it and get some professional help," says Bungay. "We don't want to see loads of businesses open back up and find a nasty surprise waiting for them."

Biden signs executive order to expand voting rights: ‘If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to

‘Every eligible voter should be able to vote and have it counted’

Chris Riotta
New York@chrisriotta

President Joe Biden marked the 56-year anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” march in Selma, Alabama by signing an executive order to protect and strengthen nationwide voting access, while calling on states to expand voting rights for all eligible Americans.

The order was described by the White House as an “initial step” towards securing voting rights just days after the passage of HR1, legislation focusing on expanding access to mail-in voting and making it easier for Americans to register to vote.

In prepared remarks, the president said: “Every eligible voter should be able to vote and have it counted.”

He added: “If you have the best ideas – you have nothing to hide. Let more people vote.”

Mr Biden’s latest order sought to modernise the government voter registration website Vote.gov and directed federal agencies to begin sharing additional information about mail-in voting access and voter registration across social media and on their own sites.

The action comes as civil rights advocates and Americans across the country reflect on the anniversary of the 1965 march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge that descended into violence as demonstrators were attacked by white Alabama state troopers.

The peaceful demonstrators were attempting to begin a march in support of voting rights from Selma to Montgomery. Many have attributed the day with sparking national outcry and a focus on the issues that eventually led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

On Sunday, Mr Biden attended the annual Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast in Selma, where he delivered the remarks before signing the executive order. 

“In 2020 – with our very democracy on the line – even in the midst of a pandemic – more Americans voted than ever before,” Mr Biden said. “Yet instead of celebrating this powerful demonstration of voting, we saw an unprecedented insurrection on our Capitol and a brutal attack on our democracy on January 6th. A never-before-seen effort to ignore, undermine and undo the will of the people.”

QUANTUM BIOLOGY

Quantum physics can cause mutations in our DNA, study

An innovative study has confirmed that quantum mechanics plays a role in biological processes and causes mutations in DNA.

BYAMIT MALEWAR

MARCH 6, 2021 

Credit: GETTY


Using advanced computer simulations, scientists from Surrey’s Leverhulme Quantum Biology Doctoral Training Centre determined the role of proton tunneling in spontaneous mutations inside DNA.

Proton tunneling is a type of quantum tunneling involving the instantaneous disappearance of a proton in one site and the same proton’s appearance at an adjacent site separated by a potential barrier.

Scientists found that hydrogen bonds hold the two strands of the DNA‘s double helix together. Under certain circumstances, the hydrogen bonds can behave like spread-out waves that can exist in multiple locations at once, because of proton tunneling. This prompts these atoms to occasionally being found on the wrong strand of DNA, prompting mutations.

Despite having a short lifetime, these mutations can survive the DNA replication mechanism inside cells.

Dr. Marco Sacchi, the project lead and Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Surrey, said: “Many have long suspected that the quantum world—which is weird, counter-intuitive and wonderful—plays a role in life as we know it. While the idea that something can be present in two places at the same time might be absurd to many of us, this happens all the time in the quantum world, and our study confirms that quantum tunneling also happens in DNA at room temperature.”

Louie Slocombe, a Ph.D. student at the Leverhulme Quantum Biology Doctoral Training Centre and co-author of the study, said:

“There is still a long and exciting road ahead of us to understand how biological processes work on the subatomic level, but our study—and countless others over the recent years—have confirmed quantum mechanics are at play. In the future, we are hoping to investigate how tautomers produced by quantum tunneling can propagate and generate genetic mutations.”

Journal Reference:
L. Slocombe et al. Quantum and classical effects in DNA point mutations: Watson–Crick tautomerism in AT and GC base pairs, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (2021). DOI: 10.1039/D0CP05781A

Singapore builds huge floating solar farm at sea in bid to tackle climate crisis

Oceans are ‘new frontier’ in electricity production, says firm tasked with carrying out project

Chantal da Silva@chantaladasilva

3/7/2021

A worker checks cables on a floating solar power farm at sea off Singapore’s northern coast on 22 January, 2021. 

(AFP/Getty)

A growing push in Singapore to reduce the city-state’s greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change has seen a sea of glimmering solar panels built off the country’s northern coast.

Reaching into the Johor Strait, which lies between the city-state and Malaysia, construction of the solar farm has seen 13,000 solar panels laid out at sea, according to a report from AFP.

With the ability to produce up to five megawatts of electricity, the solar panels can provide enough energy to power at least residential 1,400 flats year-round.

Shawn Tan, vice-president of engineering at Sunseap Group, the Singaporean firm tasked with carrying out the project, told AFP that the sea had presented a solution for a country with limited space on dry land for producing renewable energy.

“The sea is a new frontier for solar to be installed,” Mr Tan said.

“After exhausting the rooftops and the available land, which is very scarce, the next big potential is actually our water area,” said Jen Tan, senior vice-president and head of solar in southeast Asia at Sembcorp Industries, a business working on another solar project for Singapore.

The new effort comes as Singapore seeks to address its record as one of Asia’s biggest per-capita carbon dioxide emitters.

With limited space, along with a lack of options for hydro-electricity and wind power, Singapore has faced logistical challenges in the push towards renewable energy.

Environmental advocacy groups have long accused the country of failing to do enough to address climate change, even as rising sea levels have become a growing threat to Singapore’s future.

Climate Action Tracker (CAT) said in its analysis that while Singapore has strengthened its efforts to combat climate change, its 2020 and 2030 targets have been “weak”.

“Singapore updated its 2030 target in March 2020, but the updated target is not an increase in climate action, contrary to the Paris Agreement requirement to scale it up,” CAT states on its website.

Furthermore, CAT says that while Singapore released a long-term low emissions development strategy in April last year, aimed at halving emissions from their peak in 2030 by 2050, the plan “shows a lack of commitment to reaching net-zero emissions, aiming to achieve net zero ‘as soon as viable’ in the ‘second half of the century’.”

“Singapore needs to substantially strengthen its 2030 Paris Agreement target, which could form the basis for a more ambitious long-term target,” CAT states.

Despite the country’s expansion of its renewable energy capacity, natural gas is still the primary energy source in Singapore, accounting for 96 per cent of electricity generated, the organisation said