Monday, March 29, 2021

Russia Offers Egypt Assistance in Freeing Ship Blocking Suez Canal


This satellite imagery released by Maxar Technologies shows the MV Ever Given container ship in the Suez Canal on the morning of March 28, 2021. (Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies/AFP)

Asharq Al-Awsat

Monday, 29 March, 2021 

Russia’s ambassador to Egypt on Sunday offered the country “any possible assistance”, as efforts continue to free a megaship that has been blocking the Suez Canal for nearly a week.

The MV Ever Given has been stuck diagonally across the span of the canal since Tuesday, blocking the waterway in both directions.

In comments to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, Russian ambassador Georgy Borisenko said that Moscow is ready to help any way it can.

“We hope that this problem will be overcome in the very near future, that the work of the channel will be restored, and, naturally, we are ready to provide our Egyptian friends with any possible assistance from our side,” the ambassador said, AFP reported.

Borisenko added that Egypt has not reached out to Moscow for support, but said Russia “empathizes with what’s happening now in the Suez Canal,” describing it as “an important waterway for the whole world.”

On Saturday, Suez Canal Authority chief Osama Rabie had told reporters that the massive ship could be afloat by Sunday night.

The jam has crippled international trade and forced companies to reconsider re-routing vessels around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, a longer and more expensive way to travel between Asia and Europe.

Another Russian ambassador had earlier this week seized on the Suez Canal blockage to promote Russia’s northern shipping route as a reliable alternative, part of a broader push by Moscow to develop the Arctic and capitalize on climate change.

Moscow has invested heavily in the development of the Northern Sea Route that allows ships to cut the journey to Asian ports by 15 days compared with the conventional route via the Suez Canal.
Iran Envoy: Suez Canal Blockage Highlighting North-South Corridor as Sub



2021-March-29 13:43

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's Ambassador to Moscow Kazzem Jalali said that the blocking of the Suez Canal by a huge container ship has necessitated once more the accomplishment of the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC), adding that the incident has caused over 9 billion dollars of daily loss for the global economy.

According to the Twitter account of Iran’s mission in Moscow, Jalali reiterated the necessity of completing the INSTC as an alternative as the Japanese large cargo ship has blocked the Suez Canal resulting in over $9 billion loss for the world economy.

He added that the INSTC cuts the transport time by 20 days and reduces costs by 30 percent compared to traditional route currently used.

The diplomat stressed that the event represented the necessity of low-risk alternative to the traditional route.

INSTC is an international multi-mode of ship, railway and road route which connects Russia and Eastern Europe to India and China through Iran.

Iran is expected to complete 170 kilometers of the railroad between the cities of Rasht and Astara to create a connection with Russia and Finland in Europe.

The Suez Canal – an important global shipping route accounting for about 15% of world shipping traffic – has been blocked since Tuesday.


A giant container ship remained stuck sideways in Egypt’s Suez Canal for a fifth day Saturday, as authorities prepared to make new attempts to free the vessel and reopen a crucial East-West waterway for global shipping.


The Ever Given, a Panama-flagged ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground Tuesday in the narrow canal that runs between Africa and the Sinai Peninsula, Euronews reported.

The massive vessel got stuck in a single-lane stretch of the canal, about six kilometres North of the Southern entrance, near the city of Suez.

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the technical manager of the Ever Given, said an attempt Friday to free it failed. Plans were in the works to pump water from interior spaces of the vessel, and two more tugs should arrive by Sunday to join others already trying to move the massive ship, it added.

An official at the Suez Canal Authority stated they planned to make at least two attempts Saturday to free the vessel when the high tide goes down. He noted the timing depends on the tide.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief journalists.

Egyptian authorities have prohibited media access to the site. The canal authority announced its head, Lt. Gen. Osama Rabei, would hold a news conference in the city of Suez, a few kilometres from the site of the vessel.

Shoei Kisen President Yukito Higaki told a news conference at company headquarters in Imabari in Western Japan that 10 tugboats were deployed and workers were dredging the banks and seafloor near the vessel’s bow to try to get it afloat again as the high tide starts to go out.

Shoei Kisen stated in a statement Saturday the company was considering removing containers to lighten the vessel if refloating efforts fail, but that would be a difficult operation.
GLOBALIZATION & DISASTER CAPITALI$M
Stranding of Ever Given in Suez canal was foreseen by many

Analysis: As ships ballooned in size, worst-case scenario was flagged up by organisations such as OECD


Big ships require more time to salvage and more tugboats and
 dredgers than what has been required in the past with smaller
 vessels. Photograph: Maxar Technologies/AP


Michael Safi
@safimichael
Sun 28 Mar 2021


Authorities have blamed strong winds, possible technical faults or human error for the stranding of the Ever Given in the Suez canal.

But the running aground of the “megaship” – which salvage teams continued to try to free on Sunday as preparations were made for the possible removal of some of its containers – and the disruption of more than 10% of global trade, has been in the making for years longer according to analysts, who say an accident of this magnitude was foreseeable and warnings were ignored.

Over the past decade, out of the sight of most consumers, the world’s container ships have been quietly ballooning in size. A class of vessels that carried a maximum of about 5,000 shipping containers in 2000 has doubled in capacity every few years since, with dozens of megaships now traversing the ocean laden with upwards of 20,000 boxes.

Container ships have become huge fast, especially over the past decade. Other than the result of technological advances, analysts say the trend is a hangover from the high oil prices of the 2000s – which led shipping outfits to seek to maximise economies of scale – and the low-interest rates that followed the 2009 financial crash, which allowed companies to borrow the vast sums required to build vessels as long as skyscrapers are high.


Tugs, tides and 200,000 tons: experts fear Ever Given may be stuck in Suez for weeks
Read more


When the trend of ever-growing ships received popular attention, it was often through colourful press releases and awestruck news stories lauding the size of the vessels, the many Eiffel Towers’ worth of steel they required and the profits they promised the world’s shipping giants.

Comparatively less attention was granted to warnings of the risks such gigantic ships entailed, says Rory Hopcraft, a researcher at Plymouth University’s maritime cyberthreat research group.

“The ships are not just larger, they’re carrying more goods,” he said. “So rather than spreading the risks over three or four smaller ships, all your eggs are in one basket – it’s all tied up in one big ship.”

The ships’ rapid growth has outstripped the capacity of marine infrastructure to follow. The Panama canal was expanded at a cost of more than $5bn (£3.6bn) more than a decade ago to meet the size of new container ships – only to be left behind as even larger vessels rolled out of Asian shipyards.

“Half the world’s ports can’t even deal with ships this size,” Hopcraft said, describing a trend that leaves the overall supply chain more exposed to a range of threats including piracy and cyberattack. “If those terminals that can [accommodate megaships], aren’t able to service them for whatever reason – local power cuts or military action – then these ships can’t be serviced at all.”

The Suez canal has been in the process of expansion to allow for larger ships and two-way traffic at its northern end. But its southern side was still one-way and narrower: vulnerable when one of the largest container ships in the world tried to pass through on a windy morning.

Megaships have been described as a “bet on globalisation” made in the heady days of the mid-2000s, as a rising China and a US apparently at ease with outsourcing helped to drive a boom in global trade. Shipping companies expected the era would last and invested in new, vastly larger ships to accommodate it.



Then came a financial crash, a populist western backlash against free trade and a lingering coronavirus pandemic that has put millions out of work.

Yet shippers have increased their bet, continuing to order giant new vessels that allow them to move more stuff with less fuel and crew, even as organisations such as the OECD have questioned the rationality of the trend.

There was a “complete disconnect of ship size development from developments in the actual economy”, the organisation said in a 2015 report, pointing out that ships were growing larger in “an economic climate that is generally depressed and at best stagnating”.

“The trade growth to absorb ship developments is currently absent,” the OECD paper said. “Shipping lines are building up overcapacity that will most likely be fatal to at least some of them.”


It also warned of what is becoming clear on the banks of the Suez: that bigger ships are harder to salvage, requiring more time and more tugboats and dredgers than what has been required in the past with small vessels.

Should floating cranes be required to lighten the Ever Given by removing some of its 20,000 containers, they too would need to be large and work for longer, extending the salvaging process – and the blockage of one of the main arteries of global trade – for weeks at least.

It is a worst-case scenario that many saw coming. “As the ship gets bigger, everything just gets a little bit more complicated,” Hopcraft said.
Increase in Americans’ desire to pressure Israel, Gallup poll reveals

The majority of those favoring pressure on Israel to resolve the Palestinian conflict are Democrats, while 17 percent of Republicans and 31 percent of independents support doing so.

(March 21, 2021 / JNS) Americans continue to favor Israel over the Palestinians, yet their support for the Palestinian Authority has increased to 30 percent, according to a Gallup annual World Affairs poll published on Friday.

Favorability of Israel remains high, at 75 percent, the poll revealed.

The poll also indicated that since 2018, the percentage of Americans wanting more pressure placed on the Palestinians to resolve their conflict with Israel has dropped from 50 percent to 44 percent, while that of Americans wanting more pressure exerted on Israel has increased from 27 percent to 34 percent.

The majority of those  declined from 21 percent to 14 percent.

Gallup says that this is the highest level of demand for pressuring Israel since 2007. Over the same pe
riod, the percentage in favor of the United States putting more pressure on both parties, or on neither, favoring pressure on Israel are Democrats, while 17 percent of Republicans and 31 percent of independents favor doing so.

The poll was conducted from Feb. 3 to Feb. 18.



UN: Israel Demolishes or Seizes 26 Palestinian Structures in Only Two Weeks


TEHRAN (FNA)- Israel demolished or seized 26 structures belonging to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds in only two weeks, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.


In its “Protection of Civilians Report”, which is covering the period between March 2 and 15, the office said “the Israeli authorities demolished or seized 26 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem (al-Quds), displacing 42 people, of whom 24 were children, and otherwise affecting about 120”, presstv reported.

“Seventeen of the structures, and all of the displaced people, were recorded in Area C” of the West Bank, whose management of resources, planning, and construction are under the full control of Israel.

The Area C accounts for more than 60 percent of the West Bank, and forms a significant part of a future Palestine state under the so-called two-state solution.

According to the OCHA, the demolitions were carried out under the pretext of the lack of construction permits.

The UN office added that a vegetable stall near the city of Qalqiliya was demolished, affecting the livelihood of 20 people, while 16 were affected by the demolition of two uninhabited houses and the confiscation of one metal container in Isteih in the province of Ariha (Jericho).

According to the report, authorities forced the owners of two of the nine structures targeted in East Jerusalem al-Quds to demolish their property.

The so-called construction permit is nearly impossible to obtain.

Israeli authorities sometimes order Palestinian owners to demolish their own homes or pay the demolition costs to the municipality if they do not.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

Lebanese Mothers March against 
Ruling Class

Saturday, 20 March, 2021 - 

Lebanese women hold placards as they protest against the country's political paralysis and deep economic crisis in Beirut on the eve of Mother's Day in the country. (AFP)
Asharq Al-Awsat

Around one hundred women demonstrated in crisis-hit Lebanon on Saturday on the eve of Mother's Day in the country, expressing outrage at the ruling class.

The mothers, some with their children, marched from an area once on Beirut's dividing line during the 1975-1990 civil war, to the city's port, which saw a catastrophic explosion last year -- blamed on official negligence -- that killed more than 200 people and injured thousands.

Chanting anti-government slogans, they held signs addressing the ruling class.

“You have stolen our money and our children's futures,” several placards read.

“The best gift would be your leaving,” read another.


Lebanon is battling its worst economic crisis in decades. The national currency has lost almost 90 percent of its value against the dollar on the black market and consumer prices have soared.

Some 55 percent of Lebanese now live below the poverty line, the United Nations says, and unemployment stood at 39.5 percent late last year.

The government resigned after the port explosion, but endless haggling between the main ruling parties has delayed the process of forming a new cabinet.

“They are all war criminals, warlords,” protester Nada Agha told AFP, referring to the fact that several politicians were militia leaders during the civil war.

“They have been dividing up the pie among themselves (for 30 years)... and have blown us up and stolen our money. We want them to leave!” she said.

Another demonstrator, Petra Saliba, in her fifties, said “no solution is possible while they are in power”.

“We want to destroy them as they have destroyed us.”

Commission of Detainee Affairs: 12 Palestinian Mothers Held in Israeli Prisons

Sunday, 21 March, 2021

A Palestinian woman mourns the death of Atef Yussef Hanaysheh, 42, wwas killed by Israeli soldiers in Beit Dajan village, near Nablus, on Friday, March 19, 2021. (AP)
ho Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat


Palestinian mothers make up 12 of the 39 prisoners held in the Damon and Hasharon Israeli jails, said the Commission of Detainees And Ex-Detainees Affairs.

In a statement on Saturday, it pointed to the suffering they endure in detention and their deprivation from seeing their children on the occasion of Mother’s Day, which falls on March 21.


The detained mothers are Isra Jaabis, Khalid Jarrar, Fadwa Hamadeh, Amani Hashim, Hilweh Hamamreh, Nisreen Hassan, Inas Asafreh, Aya Khatib, Inman Awar, Khitam Saafin, Shurouq Badan and Anhar al-Hajjeh, who is pregnant.

“Children of the imprisoned women miss their mothers on this day and every day,” the statement noted.

They are forbidden from visiting their mothers under false security pretenses, it added. The situation has become more difficult due to restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, which forced authorities to bar family visits.

The detained mothers are suffering mentally as a result of the severe anxiety they have over the wellbeing of their children, the statement explained.

The Commission, which is affiliated with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), accused Israeli jailers of subjecting the prisoners to “all forms of pressure and severe arbitrary measures,” such as poor medical care.

Israeli security forces have arrested more than 17,000 Palestinian women since 1967, it said, highlighting their major patriotic role, alongside Palestinian men, in confronting the occupation.

It called on the international community to free Palestinian mothers and women and provide them with adequate support to protect them and their children from Israeli forces.

It further stressed the need to work on all levels to and stop their suffering in Israeli jails.


Freedom Day March Highlights Challenges Facing Belarusian Opposition


By Tony Wesolowsky

March 26, 2021 
A man is detained in Minsk on March 25, one of at least 170 detained in the capital

As pro-democracy supporters marched down the streets of Minsk on March 25, a reporter did a video interview with Nina Bahinskaya, a frail yet fiery veteran of protests in Belarus for decades.

As Bahinskaya speaks while she walks, a chilling scene plays out a few meters behind her. A woman -- later identified as film student Maria Tsikhanava -- is quickly approached by what appears to be a black-clad, balaclava-wearing Belarusian security officer, who grabs her and whisks her away, all in a few seconds and all unbeknownst to Bahinskaya, who marches on.

Belarusian leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya had hoped the rally on March 25 -- or Freedom Day, as it is also the day commemorating the founding of a short-lived democratic Belarusian republic more than 100 years ago -- would breathe new life into the country's protest movement demanding Alyaksandr Lukashenka, in power since 1994, step down.

The country has been rocked by protests since Lukashenka claimed a landslide victory and a sixth straight term in an August presidential election that many Belarusians believe was rigged in his favor. Supporters of Tsikhanouskaya, a political novice who was buoyed by big crowds at campaign rallies, was the actual winner. She is now in exile in neighboring Lithuania.

Tens of thousands marched in the wake of the disputed vote, but those numbers have dwindled in the last few months. Winter weather and weariness have contributed, but the incident filmed on the streets of Minsk on March 25 highlights the huge risk Belarusians take in coming out to voice opposition to Lukashenka.

More than 33,000 have been detained, hundreds beaten on the streets or in detention, some described by rights groups as torture, at least four people have been killed, and independent reporters targeted in the government crackdown. "The Belarusian authorities are conducting a targeted campaign of intimidation against civil society in an effort to silence all critics of the government," Human Rights Watch said on March 18 in a statement.


Anatomy Of A Cover-Up? Why Belarus's Denials In Death Of Protester Don't Ring True

Crushing Protests


Ahead of the planned action, the commander of Interior Ministry troops, Mikalay Karpyankou, described Belarusian protesters as "enemies of our state," before vowing to "deal with them quickly," and harshly as in the past "with pleasure."

Crisis In Belarus


Read our coverage as Belarusians continue to demand the resignation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka amid a brutal crackdown on protesters. The West refuses to recognize him as the country's legitimate leader after an August 9 election considered fraudulent.

Ivan Tertel, the head of the KGB, told Lukashenka on March 9 that foreign actors were applying "unprecedented pressure on our state," claiming -- without providing evidence -- that plans had been discovered to "destabilize the situation" in Belarus on March 25-27.

State-run TV had aired footage of Interior Ministry forces drilling ahead of the planned demonstrations. On March 25, police and army officers, police vans, military vehicles, were out in force across Minsk in a not so subtle hint to the public to stay away.

Lukashenka's government has justified its actions by casting protesters as pawns of foreign forces and being bent on causing havoc.

To avoid being swept up in any mass police crackdown, the Nexta Telegram channel, which has mobilized and coordinated demonstrations, had urged protesters to march through courtyards and organize flash mobs.

Even with less-concentrated crowds, the Belarusian human rights monitor Vyasna said a total of 245 people were detained in 23 cities and towns across Belarus on March 25, including 176 in Minsk.

Franak Viacorka, an adviser to Tsikhanouskaya, said there had been "hundreds of actions," including fireworks, flash mobs, performances, and courtyard rallies, but acknowledged the "tanks and armored vehicles" deployed by Lukashenka, had "frightened" people along with the earlier repressions and beatings. "It is clear this all had an impact on the number of people [who turned out on March 25]," Viacorka told Current Time, the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.

Growing International Pressure

While Lukashenka may for now "control the streets," as Tsikhanouskaya herself acknowledged in February, he is losing what leverage he had left on the international stage, at least in the West.

The UN's top human rights body on March 24 voted to investigate allegations of widespread human rights abuses in Belarus. Russia, which has close ties to Belarus and has helped prop up Lukashenka since the disputed election, was one of the countries to vote against the measure.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has been asked to lead the investigation aiming to bring alleged perpetrators to justice. The rights council authorized a budget of $2.5 million and the hiring of 20 experts and staff to carry out the investigation.


SEE ALSO:
Is China Cooling On Belarus's Lukashenka?


Washington, subdued in its criticism under former President Donald Trump, has become more vocal under President Joe Biden. On March 25, the U.S. State Department demanded the immediate release of the more than 290 political prisoners in Belarus, and highlighted the plight of Ihar Losik and Maryya Kalesnikava.

Kalesnikava, who faces national-security charges that supporters say are absurd, had her pretrial detention extended on March 22. Arrested in September, Kalesnikava, a key aide to Tsikhanouskaya and a senior member of the opposition's Coordination Council, was ordered to remain in detention until May 8.

Losik, a popular blogger and RFE/RL consultant, has been held since June on charges his supporters say are trumped up. He had been charged initially with allegedly using his popular Telegram channel to "prepare to disrupt public order" ahead of the August 9 presidential election.

Losik, 28, tried to slit his wrists and launched a four-day hunger strike on March 11 after being informed he faced new unspecified charges.

The statement by State Department spokesman Ned Price came a day after the top two members of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee also called for the release of all political prisoners in Belarus and pledged their support for the pro-democracy movement in the country. "We will continue to support the Belarusian people's democratic aspirations until the illegitimate Lukashenka steps down, all political prisoners -- including RFE/RL consultant Ihar Losik -- are released and, new free and fair elections are held," Representatives Gregory Meeks (Democrat-New York) and Representative Michael McCaul (Republican-Texas) said in a statement.

The European Union, United States, Canada, and other countries have refused to recognize the 66-year-old as the legitimate leader of Belarus and have slapped him and senior Belarusian officials with sanctions in response to the "falsification" of the vote and postelection crackdown.

Angry Neighbors

On March 25, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania imposed travel bans on another 118 Belarusian officials. The first round of bans since November expands the list of the sanctioned, already containing Lukashenka, to a total of 274, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said.

Lukashenka also faces worsening relations with Poland, which accuses Belarus of persecuting the ethnic Polish community.

Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist and a member of the Association of Poles in Belarus was detained in Hrodna early on March 25, two days after the association's leader, Andzelika Borys, was arrested and sentenced to 15 days in jail. The arrest came amid a worsening standoff following tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions this month, including the heads of the Polish consulates in Brest and Hrodna.

And while Belarusians may be for now reluctant to return to the street, more than 750,000 have added their signature to an online campaign launched by Tsikhanouskaya to demand Lukashenka enter internationally mediated talks on ending the political crisis.

Nexta has called for mass protests on March 27, casting it as "the day we start the second wave of street protests."

Despite the fear instilled by the Lukashenka government crackdown, Viacorka is convinced it is only a matter of time before Belarusians turn out in larger numbers.

"People need to be shoulder to shoulder with one another, to see again that they are the majority, to feel that energy they got from those large marches," he said.


With reporting by Current Time and RFE/RL's Belarus Service

Tony Wesolowsky is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL in Prague, covering Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and Central Europe, as well as energy issues. His work has also appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists.
‘You will not have your seat again’: how the Fight for $15 movement gained new momentum

Congress’s failure to raise the federal minimum wage last month dealt a blow, but advocates are pressuring lawmakers to bring the issue back


Activists appeal for a $15 minimum wage near the Capitol in Washington DC on 25 February. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP


Lauren Aratani
Sun 28 Mar 2021 

For Terrence Wise, a McDonald’s employee from Kansas City, Missouri, the battle for a raise in the federal minimum wage is far from over.

Joe Biden campaigned on a raise, the first since 2009, and the majority of Americans of both parties support an increase. And yet, last month, Congress blocked an increase from the paltry $7.25 an hour where it has been stuck since 2009. Now there are signs of new momentum for change.

If Washington can’t find a solution, Wise had a warning for politicians of both sides. “If you’re not going to make $15 a reality for workers, if you’re not going to create an environment for workers to join a union and make that possible, you will not be re-elected. You will not have your seat again,” Wise said, an organizer with the Fight for $15 movement. “We will not continue to choose representatives who are truly not representing us or who are out of tune with the working class.

“We say don’t take it as a threat – take it as a promise.”


Senate minimum wage battle could play out in midterm elections
Read more


High hopes that the federal minimum wage would be lifted for the first time in over 10 years came with the introduction of Biden’s $1.9tn stimulus package. The wage hike, which Biden tucked into his original stimulus plan, would have been the largest victory for the Fight for $15 movement since it started to mobilize fast-food workers in 2012.

But when the bill hit the Senate, the wage increase faced two major hurdles: moderate Democrats who said that $15 was just too high and a ruling from the Senate’s parliamentarian on whether including an increase in the spending bill would break Senate rules.

Ultimately, both factors stopped the increase from going into law.

While Congress’s failure to raise the minimum wage dealt a blow to the Fight for $15 movement, advocates say there is still enough momentum behind the issue to build pressure on lawmakers in DC to bring a $15 minimum wage back to the table. Activists also say the Democratic party risks losing the support of some of its base if a new minimum wage fails to pass.

“It’s such a core priority for so many organizations, for so many people, so many of the voters that put a lot of these elected officials into office,” said Tsedeye Gebreselassie, director of work quality at the National Employment Law Project. “It’s the top economic policy priority this year.”

Multiple polls have shown there is broad support for a $15 minimum wage. One Pew Research poll from 2019 found that 67% of Americans support a minimum wage increase. An Amazon/Ipsos poll released this month found approximately the same percentage of support.

With inaction from Congress, 29 states have increased their own minimum wage above the federal rate. Seven states have passed legislation increasing their minimum wage to $15 gradually, Florida being the most recent state to pass the measure by a ballot initiative. A few companies have also taken things into their own hands, with Costco, Amazon and Target increasing their minimum wage to at least $15 in recent years.

People take part in a demonstration to raise the minimum wage outside of McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Chicago on 15 January. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

The increase in positive public opinion and the adoption of a $15 minimum wage by states and companies are hard-fought achievements for the Fight for $15, but federal legislation would force states and companies who refuse to increase their minimum wage to adapt.

In recent weeks, the White House and Democrats in Congress have said they will continue to push the issue forward, though how the party plans to get legislation through the Senate remains unclear. Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, told MSNBC on 14 March “we’re in the fight for $15”.

“We are going back at it to try to find a legislative strategy to get the votes together to pass the minimum wage,” Klain said. “We are going to talk to our allies on Capitol Hill, our allies in the broader Fight for $15, and try to figure out how we get the votes.”

Reports have indicated that Democratic senators who pushed for the $15 minimum wage are meeting with their colleagues who voted against it to talk about next steps to increase the minimum wage.

All Republicans and eight Democrats voted against the inclusion of the wage increase in the stimulus bill. Most of the Democratic senators who voted against it voiced concerns over the rushed way the raise was being passed and its potential impact on small businesses and restaurants, but indicated they were open to some kind of increase.

One Democratic senator, Joe Manchin, who is considered the most conservative Senate Democrat, was the star holdout during the minimum wage debate. Manchin said that he supports an increase that is “responsible and reasonable”, citing an $11 figure as something he would support.

In addition to getting all party senators on the same page, Democrats will either have to overrule the Senate parliamentarian, who in February ruled that a wage increase cannot be included in a bill passed with a simple majority, or get support from at least 10 Republican senators to pass the bill.

Support to overrule the parliamentarian as the stimulus bill went through Congress was weak, with Biden saying that he was “disappointed” in the decision but that he would “respect” it.

Another way to bypass the parliamentarian’s ruling would be if Democrats agree to do away with the filibuster, which would allow them to pass legislation with a simple majority. Legislation protecting voting rights has recently shed a more prominent spotlight on the debate over the filibuster, though some Democrats have voiced hesitancy over getting rid of the procedure.

THIS IS HOW IT WAS DONE BY THE NDP IN ALBERTA IN 2015
THE BIG LIE IS THAT IT'S $15 ALL AT ONCE
Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, holds a news conference on raising the federal minimum wage. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EP
THIS SHOULD BE SENT AS A POSTCARD TO EVERY AMERICAN

Meanwhile, some moderate Republicans have come out with minimum wage increase plans of their own, showing that there is some support for an increase as the party tries to appeal to more working-class voters, though they are scaled back compared to what progressive Democrats want.

One plan, created by Republican senators Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton, would increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour by 2025 and include a crackdown on employers hiring undocumented workers. Another plan, from Republican senator Josh Hawley, would increase the minimum wage to $15 for corporations who make more than $1bn a year.

Though it appears compromise could be made on an increased minimum wage that is lower than $15, progressive Democrats and advocates for a $15 minimum wage are refusing to budge to anything below that.


'We need $15': US minimum wage ruling a personal blow for millions of workers


Progressive House Democrats, in an attempt to pressure their colleagues in the Senate to take on a $15 wage, have started to renew demands for legislation. On a recent call with the press, a dozen House Democrats, labor leaders and activists demanded that a $15 wage increase be passed by the end of the year.

Representative Ro Khanna, who organized the call, said that Democrats can include the increase in must-pass legislation, such as the annual defense spending bill. Khanna, along with other progressive Democrats, have also advocated for overturning the parliamentarian to raise the minimum wage to $15 if it comes to it.

“[We’re] making the case now that we’ve got to be prepared to overturn the parliamentarian if it comes to that, and that we have to get it done,” Khanna said. “This time we realized that we have to mobilize to make this clear months in advance, so it’s not like we’re doing this a week before the parliamentarian decision or right when the parliamentarian rules.”

Khanna said the number of groups on the call demonstrates the widespread support for a $15 minimum wage in the Democratic party.

“There could be real disappointment if we don’t get it this time,” Khanna said. “The Democratic party is unified around this in the House, among groups and, candidly, [among] the people who helped us win the election

Fear turns to fury in Myanmar as children shot by military

Bloody crackdowns and massacres initiate anger and stronger desire for a future without the Tatmadaw



Funeral held for 13-year-old boy shot by military in Myanmar – video

Global development is supported by

About this content

Guardian reporter
Sun 28 Mar 2021


From soldiers randomly shooting passersby in the street to imminent economic collapse, anxieties have been plentiful in Myanmar since its military seized power on 1 February.

But unease was surging ahead of Armed Forces Day on Saturday when the military was expected to meet protesters with a brutal crackdown.

These expectations were more than realised. A one-year-old baby playing outside survived a rubber bullet to the eye, but other children, including a 13-year-old girl, were killed.


While the night sky in the purpose-built capital of Naypyidaw was momentarily aglow with a drone display of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, his troops burned alive a snacks vendor in Mandalay. A witness said the man screamed for his mother as the flames enveloped him.


At least 114 civilians were killed on the day, according to news portal Myanmar Now, taking the overall number of those reported killed since the coup to more than 440.


On Sunday, Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, was stunned – not for the first time in recent weeks. Besides the odd ice-cream seller, the streets were muted, as the trauma of recent days surfaced in pedestrians’ reactions when a taxi backfired, or a brick hit the ground at a construction site.


Myanmar: more than 90 reported killed on 'day of shame' for armed forces

An eerie silence hung over a usually bustling area of central downtown, where the previous day police had dragged a passenger from a car, reportedly because he raised the three-finger salute – a symbol of defiance against the military that, ubiquitous only weeks ago, can now put you at risk of harm and arrest.

Yet underneath the scorching sun, the padauk trees that line the streets are blooming their golden flowers, which represent strength in Myanmar. People are afraid, but so are the police. They have erected barricades around their stations in fear of retribution.

For some, the fear that has defined March has turned into fury at the military’s inhumanity, impunity and incompetence. A realisation has dawned that fighting and defeating the military, known as the Tatmadaw, is the only way out of this dictatorship. Some protesters have already moved to territory held by ethnic rebels for combat training while a group representing Myanmar’s elected government has hinted at the formation of a federal army comprising ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy supporters.

“The regime will fail,” said a 24-year-old protester, whose two friends were arrested on Saturday and who wished to remain anonymous for safety reasons. “The federal government will win.”

While many foreigners and locals were attempting to exit the country before more violence, infrastructure breakdowns, and the possibility of a civil war, those who were staying had strengthened their resolve.

A 19-year-old man described the bloodiest crackdown yet this weekend as “a loss for the future”, given the young people who were killed. “There is so much anger and an even stronger desire for the junta to be removed,” he said, but there is confusion about what should be the next steps for the pro-democracy movement.

Min Aung Hlaing’s long-term plan is unclear, if it exists. Rather than intelligence and rationale, large sectors of the public believe the general is driven by ego and cruelty.

“Everyone is disgusted to see the military leaders celebrating with a big parade and a dinner party when earlier that day they massacred well over a hundred people,” said a university student.

Min Aung Hlaing has unleashed unimaginable violence on Myanmar. But his coup has also had the unintended consequence of creating new leaders who are willing to correct the mistakes of the past, such as discrimination against the Rohingya, and lead a new, united country. They are showing the population that a future without the Tatmadaw is possible.

“The military’s actions are only making people angrier,” said the student. “We are furious more than scared.”