Friday, April 09, 2021

THAT SINKING FEELING

A PESSIMISTIC Opinion: Naive optimism threatens Myanmar protest movement

MYANMAR PROTESTS: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

The violence in Myanmar shows that the conflict between pro-democracy protesters and the military has reached an impasse. Protesters need to work on a new strategy, says DW's Rodion Ebbighausen.

Anti-coup protesters are optimistic they can defeat the military

Two narratives currently dominate social media in Myanmar: the sheer brutality and reprehensibility on part of the generals, and the protesters' willingness to struggle for the restoration of democracy. The link between these narratives is the idea that good will eventually triumph over evil.

Nobody doubts the courage and good intentions of the demonstrators, but the protest movement will not succeed if it continues to function on naive optimism.

No external support

The protesters must realize that they will not receive any outside support against the military. The UN, the US and Europe will condemn the violence in Myanmar and impose some targeted sanctions on the military, but they will not directly intervene in the conflict. Even the call by many former heads of states and governments will not change that. China and Russia will block every move in the UN Security Council that could allow the West to increase its clout in Myanmar. This means there are no levers at the international level to increase pressure on the generals.

DW's Rodion Ebbighausen

Even the silent diplomacy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will have little impact as the grouping is not united on the Myanmar issue. Bloc members Thailand, Laos and Vietnam even participated in the Armed Forces Day celebrations in Myanmar's capital over the weekend, which coincided with security forces killing more than 100 protesters.

Dream of a federal army

Some supporters of the protest movement and the opposition parliament hope there could be a federal army in the country. After decades of fighting against the central government, various armed ethnic groups are expected to join hands with the protest movement and fight against the military. A similar attempt was made in the early 1990s, but it failed.

Armed groups in Myanmar have different interests. At the same time, China has decisive influence on rebel armies such as the United Wa State Army.

It is also a misconception that a federal army would pose a serious challenge to Myanmar generals. Even if all rebel armies work together with an inexperienced protest movement, they cannot compete with the battle-tested and well-equipped "Tatmadaw" (the Myanmar army).

Although what's happening in Myanmar looks like a civil war, the military has not yet used heavy weaponry against the population. Tanks or helicopters are not yet firing at protesters in Yangon and Mandalay.

The 10-year-long Syrian war has shown how frightening civil wars can be. The dream of a federal army could easily turn into an endless nightmare.

Direct confrontation means defeat

The protesters cannot win through a direct confrontation with the military. There is a lack of international support, money, experience and unity between ethnic groups and the protest movement.

Instead of risking lives in hopeless street battles, pro-democracy supporters need to debate what small steps they can take in the long run. Instead of hoping for a quick victory, they need to work on a long-term strategy.

Joseph Beuys centenary exhibition explores the SOCIAL function of art

Is art purely decorative or should it actively question and rebel against social norms?

An event commemorating German artist Joseph Beuys ponders these questions.

Joseph Beuys was born on May 12, 1921

The felt hat and fishing vest were his trademarks; felt and grease, his favorite materials. He wanted to abolish capitalism and heal the world with art: This is how Joseph Beuys became Germany's best-known and most influential artist of the 20th century.

Beuys caused a stir in the art world for much of the past century, where to this day, he has his ardent admirers as well as those who think rather little of him.

Twelve museums along the Rhineland, all the way from the Bundeskunsthalle museum in Bonn to the Kulturhaus gallery in Kleve, which is where the sculptor, philosopher, art teacher and installation artist was born on May 12, 1921, are participating in this year's anniversary program, marking the 100th birthday of one of the biggest names in art to ever have come out of Germany.

Oak trees, coyotes and action art

One museum has already launched its anniversary program, titled after Beuys' famous guiding principle, "Everyone is an artist." The K20 museum, which is part of the Kunstsammlung NRW museums in Düsseldorf, has started showing 12 selected artworks and so-called "happenings" — performances by Beuys that were captured on film by his contemporaries roughly half a century ago.

Joseph Beuys planting trees with his team

Planting trees as an art performance: In 1982, Joseph Beuys combined his creativity with his environmental concerns

These images can be seen flickering across screens and canvases at the K20 as of March 27, 2021, and are accompanied by a myriad of pictures, words, sculptures and the bright lights of projectors filling the space and structured by a framework of steel rods.

The exhibition includes the 1974 installation "I like America and America likes Me" — a controversial work of action art in which Beuys was locked up in a New York gallery for two days alongside a live coyote. This performance not only earned him the reputation of being somewhat of a shaman but also caused a steep hike in the prices his works would fetch in the global art market at the time.

There are also photographs documenting Beuys' planting of "7000 Oaks" at the 1982 documenta7 exhibition in Kassel, which the artist used to propagate his need for "Stadtverwaldung statt Stadtverwaltung," a play of words in German amounting to "urban forestation instead of urban administration."

Framing Beuys in today's context

But what message does Beuys have today that would resonate with younger generations who were born after his death in 1986?

In order to explore this question, the curatorial team of Isabella Malz, Catherine Nichols and Eugen Blume added 34 works and ideas by contemporary artists, authors, thinkers and activists to the Beuys retrospective. Though these may not refer directly to Beuys and his art, they help the audience enter into a dialogue with the artist — and with each other.

For the audience's search for answers to the pressing questions of our time is not only reflected in Beuys' work: for example, there are quotes by climate activist Greta Thunberg, an interview with controversial philosopher Michele Houllebecq and insights from US civil rights activist Angela Davis, Indian ecofeminist activist Vandana Shiva, and Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh.

A different 'Coyote Ugly': Beuys spent two days locked up with a coyote as an action artworks

These voices are juxtaposed with Beuys' quotes, which are stuck all over the walls, creating a polyphony of sounds, words and impressions — something that the artist would probably have enjoyed himself. The exhibition almost becomes a work of action art in its own right.

However, this perhaps is also the weakness of the show in Düsseldorf: It reduces the artist to his action art, while his drawings, sculptures and mixed material creations are omitted entirely. The show is, therefore, rather less of a typical exhibition than a racecourse through Beuys' history as an artist against today's backdrop.

Expanding the meaning of art

Then again, this approach is quite in keeping with Beuys' understanding of the concept of art. With his works, his actions and his statements, Joseph Beuys always posed questions that went beyond art and creativity, using art to start debates on the fundamental structures of society and bringing his audiences into communion with each other.

His artworks challenge established ideas: What is democracy? Has capitalism come to an end? What purpose does art serve in society? For Beuys, art did not mean individual works that one could hang up at home or in a museum but included events, conversations and thought processes.

After all, the famous Beuys quote "Every person is an artist" means that every person is a social being who has the creative power to change themselves and the world.

The Beuys exhibition in Düsseldorf can be seen until August 15, 2021

A complex artist

While Beuys' works may reflect many questions about society, they provide little information about the artist himself. For example, Beuys would routinely make up details about his own biography to stir up the bureaucracy that is part and parcel of the global art market. This eventually led to his dismissal as an art professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy.

Still, this is seen as an outstanding example of his talent for self-promotion, but it is unclear where the self-promotion ended and Beuys' authentic self began: For example, Beuys was a co-founder of Germany's Green Party, while hanging out in neo-Nazi circles. He promoted the cause of environmentalism while driving a big Bentley. He was staunchly against capitalism while rubbing shoulders with bankers with sketchy pasts.

Was Joseph Beuys a visionary, as his ardent admirers believe — or a charlatan hiding under a hat, as his critics say?

The Düsseldorf exhibition does not address such questions. It rather confirms the fact that Joseph Beuys was a complex artist in post-war Germany. As the Beuys anniversary year has only just begun, there might be answers to questions relating to his person elsewhere in the many events and venues highlighting and celebrating the artist's life.

This article was adapted from German.

GUILTY OF WAR CRIMES
Israel refuses to work with ICC on war crimes probe, says 'no authority'

Muhammad Abu Jazar, 34, shows his daughter Maisam, 12, a picture of his children who were killed during the 2014 Gaza war

SAID KHATIB AFP

Issued on: 08/04/2021

Jerusalem (AFP)

Israel on Thursday said it has formally decided not to cooperate with an International Criminal Court war crimes investigation into the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The ICC's chief prosecutor announced on March 3 that she had opened a full investigation into the situation in the Israeli-occupied territories, infuriating Israel, which not a member of The Hague-based court.

The ICC sent a deferral notice on March 9, giving Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) a month to inform judges whether they are investigating crimes similar to those being probed by the ICC.

Had Israel informed the court that it was in fact carrying out its own probe into alleged war crimes perpetrators, it could have asked for a deferral.

Ahead of the deadline, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement saying the government had agreed "to not cooperate" with the ICC.

Israel would instead send a letter to the court "completely rejecting the claim that Israel commits war crimes", it said.

The letter would also "reiterate Israel's unequivocal position that The Hague tribunal has no authority to open an investigation against it".

"The state of Israel is committed to the rule of law... and expects the court to refrain from violating its sovereignty and authority," the statement reads.

- 'Hypocrisy' -

The PA, based in the occupied West Bank, has been a state party to the ICC since 2015.

The Palestinians have welcomed the investigation and said they will not seek any deferral.

The world's only permanent war crimes tribunal, the ICC was set up in 2002 to try humanity's worst crimes where local courts are unwilling or unable to step in.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has said her probe will cover the situation since 2014 in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

It will mainly focus on the 2014 Gaza war but also look at the deaths of Palestinian demonstrators from 2018 onwards.

After a five-year preliminary probe, Bensouda said there was a "reasonable basis" to believe crimes were committed by both sides -- by the Israeli military, Hamas Islamists who have controlled Gaza since 2007 and Palestinian armed groups.

Hamas has welcomed the ICC probe and argued that its attacks on Israel were justified acts of "resistance".

Netanyahu, a vocal critic of the ICC, on Thursday accused the court of "hypocrisy" for targeting Israel troops who "fight with high moral conduct against terrorists".

The long-serving premier has previously lambasted the decision to open the probe as the "essence of anti-Semitism" and declared Israel was "under attack".

Thursday's statement marked the first time that Netanyahu had made it clear Israel would not directly engage with the ICC.

The United States has also criticised the ICC investigation and voiced support for its ally Israel.

The ICC last week welcomed US President Joe Biden's lifting of sanctions imposed by Donald Trump on Bensouda, saying it signalled a new era of cooperation with Washington.

The Trump administration imposed the financial sanctions and visa ban on Bensouda last year after she launched an investigation into alleged war crimes by US military personnel in Afghanistan.

© 2021 AFP

Opinion: Jair Bolsonaro's unpredictability is more of a threat than ever

Brazil is sliding deeper and deeper into crisis. But its president's course of action is a calculated one. It has an internal logic and consolidates his power, says Philipp Lichterbeck.

Brazil has one of the highest COVID death rates in the world

Jair Bolsonaro thrives on chaos. He needs confrontation, provocation, contradiction. Constant conflict is what energizes him. This was the already true of him during his time as an army officer, when he allegedly planned to detonate a bomb in the bathroom of his barracks as part of his campaign for an increase in military salaries.

The pattern continued when he entered parliament in the early 1990s: It became his trademark to glorify the military dictatorship and wish death, violence and torture on others, in particular leftists and members of minority groups.

As president, Bolsonaro has perfected his taboo-breaking methodology. He and his sons, along with some members of parliament, advisers and propagandists, have bombarded Brazil with fresh lies and provocations on a weekly basis.

This serves to create the sense that the country is in a constant state of emergency. Petyr Baelish, the eminence grise behind those in power in the TV series "Game of Thrones," remarks that "Chaos is a ladder." This is the guiding principle of Bolsonarism. The ladder of the chaos Bolsonaro has incited is what he uses to climb ever higher, and to extend his power.

DW's Philipp Lichterbeck reports from Rio de Janeiro

The logic of Bolsonarism

It is in this context that we must consider this week's forced resignation of the three heads of the Brazilian armed forces. Right now, many observers talk about "chaos in Brazil" and predict the imminent end of Bolsonaro's presidency.

The most common interpretation at the moment is as follows: Courageous generals resisted Bolsonaro's attempt to instrumentalize the armed forces for his own purposes. The president wanted to deploy the army to challenge the COVID-19 lockdowns imposed by regional governors, but, by resigning, the heads of the army, navy and air force demonstrated that the military is not Bolsonaro's tool. Even the Brazilian left rejoiced at the generals' supposed good sense.

In fact, the internal logic of Bolsonarism is at work here. These events are part of a continual intensification of the crisis. In the midst of the worst phase of the coronavirus pandemic — on average, around 3,000 Brazilians are dying of COVID-19 every day — Bolsonaro has provoked a conflict with the top ranks of the military.

It is not a break with the military per se, but with the old guard, the men in its high command. It also sends a signal to the lower ranks, who are also more politically radical. "This is your chance" is the message to the younger officers, who have been more enthusiastic about Bolsonaro from the beginning; the generals regarded him as an outsider.

Watch video03:04 Brazil: Politicization of pandemic compounds crisis

Hauling the three military chiefs over the coals indicates that Bolsonarism is becoming even more radical. It is no longer enough for the president to seek external enemies; now he is also eliminating those who are insufficiently Bolsonarist. This has already happened with various ex-ministers, and the approach is now being extended to veteran military leaders. Anyone who hesitates or voices criticism is considered a "traitor."

The definition of what constitutes Bolsonarism is thus becoming increasingly narrow, and the movement is likely to become even more paranoid, unpredictable, and dangerous.

Tactical considerations

On the other side of this week's events is the military, which is seen as showing a sense of political responsibility. In truth, the military continues to enable the Bolsonarian circus. More than 6,000 of its members are part of the government; around 340 are in paid positions. The military also runs almost a third of Brazil's federal companies.

The supposed rift between Bolsonaro and the military is therefore nothing of the sort. They agree on the main points: The interpretation of military dictatorship as a necessary revolution in order to thwart communism. The rejection of a judicial investigation of the dictatorship. The continued occupation and exploitation of the Amazon region.

The military chiefs' resignations were therefore prompted not so much by fundamental differences of opinion as by tactical considerations. The military is trying to distance itself from Bolsonaro's disastrous coronavirus policies. The generals have realized that they too may be blamed for the mounting daily death toll. So far, many observers have wanted to see the military as a pragmatic, counterbalancing force in the Bolsonaro government.

This myth is no longer sustainable. Brazil is facing self-inflicted disaster in its health care system. The military clearly wants to act as if it bears no responsibility for this. For Bolsonaro, the resulting confusion is an opportunity to fill important positions in the military apparatus with his henchmen.

This article was translated from German.

Brazilian pilot survives 38 days in Amazon after crash

"Despite the circumstances that led me to that flight, being found by a family of gatherers who work in harmony with nature, who don't damage the forest -- that was magical," he said.

Issued on: 09/04/2021 -

Brazilian pilot Antonio Sena speaks to AFP at his home in Brasilia, Brazil, on April 7, 2021 EVARISTO SA AFP

Brasília (AFP)

Antonio Sena was flying a single-prop Cessna 210 over the Brazilian Amazon when the engine suddenly stopped, leaving him minutes to find a spot in the jungle to crash-land.

He survived with no injuries, but was stranded in the middle of the world's largest rainforest -- the start of a 38-day trek he says taught him one of the biggest lessons of his life.

Sena, 36, was hired to fly a cargo run from the northern town of Alenquer to an illegal gold mine in the rainforest, known as the "California."

Flying at an altitude of about 1,000 meters (3,000 feet), he knew when the engine stopped halfway there he would not have much time.

He managed to bring the plane over a valley, and landed as best he could.

Covered in gasoline, he grabbed whatever seemed useful -- a backpack, three bottles of water, four soft drinks, a sack of bread, some rope, an emergency kit, a lantern and two lighters -- and got out of the plane as fast as possible.

It exploded not long after.

That was January 28.

The first five days, he told AFP in an interview at his home in Brasilia, he heard rescue flights overhead, searching for him.

But the vegetation was so dense the rescuers didn't see him.

After that, he heard no more engines, and assumed they had given him up for dead.

"I was devastated. I thought I would never make it out, that I was going to die," he said.

He used what battery he had on his cell phone to find where he was with GPS, and decided to walk east, where he had spotted two air strips.

- Jaguars, crocodiles, anacondas -

He followed the morning sun to stay on course, and dredged up what he remembered of a survival course he had once taken.

"There was water, but no food. And I was vulnerable -- exposed to predators" like jaguars, crocodiles and anacondas, he said.

He ate the same fruits he saw the monkeys eating, and managed to snag three precious blue tinamou bird eggs -- the only protein of his entire ordeal.

"I had never seen such untouched, virgin rainforest," he said.

"I discovered the Amazon isn't one rainforest, it's like four or five forests in one."

The thought of seeing his parents and siblings again kept him going, he said.

Sena was born in Santarem, a small city at the junction of the Amazon and Tapajos rivers.

He calls himself a native "Amazonian" and lover of the rainforest.

But he says the coronavirus pandemic left him with little choice but to take a job working for one of the thousands of illegal gold mines scarring the forest and polluting its rivers with mercury.

A trained pilot with 2,400 hours of flight time, he had opened a restaurant in his hometown several years ago in a change of pace.

But Covid-19 restrictions forced him to close it.

"I had to make money somehow," said Sena.

"I never wanted to (work for an illegal mine), but that was the option I had if I wanted to put food on the table."

- 'Never again' -

In all, Sena walked 28 kilometers (17 miles), losing 25 kilos (55 pounds) on the way.

On the 35th day, he heard the sound of something foreign to the rainforest for the first time since the rescuers gave up looking for him: a chainsaw.

He started walking toward it, and finally came to a camp of Brazil nut collectors.

Startled by his unexpected apparition from the forest, they helped contact his mother to tell her he was alive.

The matriarch of the camp was Maria Jorge dos Santos Tavares, who has been gathering and selling nuts in the forest with her family for five decades.

"She gave me food and clean clothes," Sena said.

"I have tremendous affection for them."

He found meaning in the fact he was saved by a family that lives "in harmony" with the forest, after working for people who are destroying it.

"Despite the circumstances that led me to that flight, being found by a family of gatherers who work in harmony with nature, who don't damage the forest -- that was magical," he said.

"One thing's for sure: I'll never fly for illegal miners again."

© 2021 AFP

Five things to know about Djibouti

FIRST; IT IS HAVING AN ELECTION

Djibouti heads to the polls with Guelleh seeking a fifth presidential term (france24.com)

Issued on: 09/04/2021 -

Djibouti has styled itself as a trade hub, launching a massive free trade zone in 2018

Yasuyoshi CHIBA AFP/File

Nairobi (AFP)

Djibouti, which is one-tenth the size of England with a population of just one million, is one of Africa's smallest countries.

But the nation, which holds a presidential election on Friday, has used its strategic position along one of the world's busiest trade routes to its economic and political advantage.

- Foreign military bases -

Djibouti is situated at the mouth of the Bab al-Mandab strait, between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, giving it a unique geographical location between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

Its stability in an often volatile region has drawn foreign military powers to establish bases in the country.

France has its biggest military base on the continent in Djibouti, counting some 1,500 troops, while China, Japan and Italy also have soldiers in the country.

Djibouti is also home to the only permanent American military base in Africa, with some 4,000 soldiers supporting anti-terrorist operations on the continent, notably in Somalia.

- Final mandate -

Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh, 73, has been in power since 1999 and is only the second leader of the country since independence in 1977.

In Friday's election he is seeking a fifth term in office -- his last, given a 2010 constitutional amendment that enshrined an age limit of 75 for presidential candidates.

The amendment also removed presidential term limits, which allowed him to remain in office at the time.

In 2020 Guelleh faced an unusual wave of opposition protests -- which were brutally suppressed -- after the arrest of an air force pilot who had denounced clan-based discrimination and corruption.

- Port economy -

Djibouti is the main maritime outlet for landlocked Ethiopia, and has styled itself as a trade hub, launching a massive free trade zone in 2018.

In 2020, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Djibouti's economy contracted for the first time in 20 years with growth of minus one percent, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

However it is expected to rebound in 2021 with seven percent growth.

The GDP per capita is about $3,500, higher than much of sub-Saharan Africa, but some 20 percent of the population lives in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank.

- Renewable energy and water -

Situated at the junction of three tectonic plates, and blessed with year-round sunshine, Djibouti has the potential to develop solar, geothermal and wind energy.

The country is currently working on its first geothermal energy plant in Lake Assal -- a saline crater lake at some 150 metres (500 feet) below sea level.

In March 2021 the arid nation also launched its first desalination plant, expected to provide potable water to 250,000 people, a quarter of the country's population.

- Climate change -

The majority of the population lives in the capital Djibouti City. The country has a surface area of 23,200 square kilometres (9,000 square miles) and is 90 percent desert.

Less than 1,000 square kilometres are arable, and there is less than 130 millimetres of rainfall annually.

Like much of the region, Djibouti has faced worsening climate extremes. In 2019 rare floods hit the country after massive downpours.

Some areas received the equivalent of two years of normal rainfall in only a day, and at least nine people died in floods in the capital.

2021 AFP

"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"
Iraqi youth see little hope 18 years after Saddam's fall

Issued on: 09/04/2021 -

Hussein, a young Iraqi activist born in 2000, never experienced the brutality of Saddam Hussein's regime Asaad NIAZI AFP

Baghdad (AFP)

Eighteen years ago Saddam Hussein's brutal rule came to an end, but the prospects for young Iraqis who never witnessed his dictatorship remain blighted by insecurity, rampant corruption and joblessness.

When American troops seized Baghdad on April 9, 2003, a different Hussein was barely three years old. Living in Nasiriyah, a cradle of revolts throughout history in the country's south, he recalls people speaking of a "bloody regime".

It was one which "embroiled Iraq in wars that wasted many lives and resources," alongside crippling sanctions from the 1990s, said the political sciences student.

But today the American promises of democracy and freedom made when Saddam was toppled ring hollow, added Hussein, who did not want to give his second name, as he deplored today's "incapable" political parties and a "rotten system".

Educated initially in a small mud-brick school, since his earliest memories he has known an Iraq beset by "hospitals in ruins and zero job prospects."

Despite the country's oil wealth, the promise of a booming future has remained beyond grasp for most, especially those now coming of age.

The country has grappled with a toxic cocktail of endemic corruption and bloody sectarian episodes, culminating in the Islamic State jihadist group occupying large swathes of the country for three years from mid-2014.

Iraq remains in a state of "total collapse," Hussein lamented.

- 'Poor can't live' -

Ibrahim, a young resident of the Shiite holy city of Karbala, was equally dismissive of his prospects in contemporary Iraq.

"The poor cannot live in this country," said the 21-year-old, who said he had "dreamt of joining the military academy".

"But I had to stop (studying) before middle school" in order to scrape by financially, and today he is stuck, still hawking pink candy floss from a small cart.

Hussein, meanwhile, has tried -- with some success -- to juggle both the demands of study and work, taking odd jobs from as early as 13.

These youngsters' stories are far from uncommon, as 37 percent of Iraqi children live below the global poverty threshold, according to the UN's children's agency UNICEF.

After finishing his day's university classes, Hussein rushes to meet his younger brother, the two of them hustling daily to find a trader who will give them tasks, in order to feed their seven-strong family.

He will soon become the first in the family to hold a degree. But he finds little joy in the prospect of graduating, in a country where 700,000 new graduate entrants to the job market compete for public sector employment every year.

Opportunities in the private sector are minimal, while the Saddam-era policy of guaranteeing all graduates a job became unviable long ago.

All this intertwines with devastating levels of corruption and patronage.

"It is only by joining a political party or a militia that you can get public sector" jobs," Hussein explained.

Some 60 percent of the country's 40 million people are under 25, and the unemployment rate in that age group is a staggering 36 percent. Many therefore turn to armed groups for jobs, attracted by steady salaries, even as the state regularly pays its civil servants late due to depressed oil revenues.

- 'Future decided by us' -

Few take the option of seeking work abroad, since Iraqi degrees are treated with disdain by employers outside the country -- in stark contrast to the early 1900s, when the University of Baghdad had a formidable reputation.

Hussein's determination to restore Iraq's regional credibility drives him forward, he says.

Defying tribal and wider societal pressure, he has protested regularly since the age of 16 -- whenever he has earned enough to feed his family.

Protests mushroomed from October 2019, when hundreds of thousands of mainly young Iraqis took to the streets in multiple cities in a months-long mobilisation seeking to overturn the post-Saddam political class, viewed as corrupt and beholden to foreign powers.

Rawan, 18, was among those protesters, and this year fled to Iraq's northern Kurdistan region, after being threatened in her home region of Babylon.

Her story of flight has a certain unwelcome symmetry -- under Saddam, her father fled with the family into exile in Libya, only to return once the dictator was gone.

Dozens of other activists of the "October revolt" have received threats. Around 600 protesters were killed, mainly in street confrontations.

Intimidation, abductions and even killings of activists continue, despite the street protests fizzling out.

"But our generation is different, due to the new technologies," Rawan noted.

Nowadays, "we can compare what we have here with what others have abroad."

And despite the fear and the shortages, she, like Hussein, is determined to force "a change of regime".

"It is not easy. But the future of this country will be decided by our generation."

Former school principal in Australian court on sex abuse charges

Malka Leifer, a former Australian teacher accused of dozens of cases of sexual abuse of girls at a school, was extradicted from Israel in 2018

Issued on: 09/04/2021 -

AHMAD GHARABLI AFP/File

Melbourne (AFP)

A former principal of a Jewish ultra-orthodox school accused of child sexual abuse will remain in custody ahead of her pre-trial hearing in September after appearing in an Australian court Friday.

Malka Leifer, a dual Israeli-Australian citizen who was extradited to Australia in January, faces 74 charges of sexually abusing children while working as a religious studies teacher and principal at the Adass Israel School in Melbourne.

Appearing via video link at Melbourne Magistrates' Court, Leifer did not apply for bail and will remain in custody ahead of a five-day committal hearing which was set to begin on September 13.

Wearing a white headscarf, Leifer only spoke once to confirm that she could hear proceedings.

The scheduled hearing, which will determine whether Leifer faces a criminal trial in a higher court, will hear evidence from 10 witnesses, with some appearing remotely from Israel, the court heard.

According to official documents, the charges against her include rape, indecent assault and child sexual abuse alleged to have occurred between 2004 and 2008.

Her alleged victims are three sisters Nicole Meyer, Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper who publicly identified themselves in their push for Leifer to face charges.

Leifer, now in her 50s, fled Australia for Israel after allegations against her surfaced in 2008, moving with her family to the Emmanuel settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Australian authorities laid charges in 2012 and requested her extradition two years later.

She arrived in Melbourne on a flight in late January after six years of legal wrangling in Israel, including over whether she was feigning mental illness to avoid standing trial in Australia.

The Israeli Supreme Court rejected her lawyers' final appeal against extradition last December.

A first extradition attempt failed after Leifer was admitted to mental health institutions and experts declared her unfit to stand trial.

Undercover private investigators later filmed her living a normal life, prompting Israeli authorities to probe into whether she was faking mental illness, leading to her re-arrest in February 2018.

© 2021 AFP

BREXIT FALLOUT

Belfast in turmoil as Brexit stokes tensions in Northern Ireland
Issued on: 09/04/2021 -

A week of unrest in Northern Ireland showed no sign of letting up Thursday night

Paul Faith AFP

Belfast (AFP)

Rioters waged a running battle with police in Belfast on Thursday night -- tossing petrol bombs, setting fires and dodging jets from water cannon as a week of unrest showed no sign of letting up.

Hundreds of boys and young men gathered from early evening in a western neighbourhood in the Northern Ireland capital, which has been riven by violence over Brexit and domestic politics.

Masked and in hooded tops, they hurled rocks, bricks and glass bottles at police barricades where riot officers formed ranks with armoured Land Rovers.

Petrol bombs burst into flames in the street and fireworks were aimed into police formations, exploding and smothering their lines in thick smoke.

Behind riot shields and with batons drawn, police drove back the surging crowds late into Thursday night, as locals peered out of their windows to witness the spectacle.

When one group tried to push a vandalised car into the police barricades, a lumbering water cannon forced them away with powerful spraying jets.

A police loudhailer warned crowds to disperse or face arrest.

"Force may be used," the female voice rang out.

Northern Ireland was the site of "The Troubles" sectarian conflict, which wound down in 1998 -- but Brexit has been partially blamed for igniting old tensions.

The unrest started last week in the pro-UK unionist community, where tensions are high because of new post-Brexit rules some feel are dividing the region from Britain.

But the pro-Ireland nationalist community has begun to respond in scenes like those of Thursday night.

Nationalist and unionist communities in Belfast are often separated by towering "peace walls" to guard against projectiles.

On Wednesday there were ugly scenes when warring groups from unionist and nationalist communities faced off at a gate in the peace wall between their neighbourhoods.

The doors are etched with a slogan reading: "There was never a good war or a bad peace."

But the gates were pried open and rioters traded missiles in vicious confrontations.

- Spiralling situation -

"It's deep rooted, it's not just about Brexit although Brexit has done something as well obviously," Belfast native Fiona McMahon told AFP earlier on Thursday.

"We have been scuppered big time," she said, voicing the sense of exasperation many here feel over Britain's split from the EU.

The rising unrest has caused a political crisis in Northern Ireland, with the regional assembly recalled to address the violence on Thursday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his Irish counterpart Micheal Martin and US President Joe Biden have all called for calm.

Meanwhile police have pleaded to those with "influence" in the community to hold back the crowds from participating in riots.

On Thursday dozens of older men and women stood at the gates where violence had flared the previous night and refused to let rioters approach.

A small number of men dismantled a fire being started and blocked others approaching the gate with projectiles.

Two amongst the crowd told AFP they were concerned figures from the surrounding community -- a sign that those who still remember "The Troubles" are unwilling to let the region slide back into its dark past.

© 2021 AFP

Riots flare again in Northern Ireland despite calls for calm

Issued on: 09/04/2021 -

Text by: NEWS WIRE

Northern Ireland police faced a barrage of petrol bombs and rocks on Thursday, an AFP journalist said, as violence once again flared in Belfast despite pleas for calm.

Riot police on the republican side of the divided city were pelted with projectiles as they tried to prevent a crowd moving towards pro-UK unionists.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Irish counterpart Micheal Martin had earlier called for “calm” following days of violence that included a petrol-bomb attack on a moving bus.

Martin and Johnson held telephone talks in which they stressed that “violence is unacceptable” and “called for calm”, the Irish leader’s office said.

But their calls went unheeded as night fell in Belfast, with unrest breaking out on the republican side of the capital.

Rioting over the last few days—the city’s worst unrest in recent years—had mainly stemmed from its unionist community, leading to joint condemnation from political leaders in the British province.

Unionists are angry over apparent economic dislocation due to Brexit and existing tensions with pro-Irish nationalist communities.

“Destruction, violence and the threat of violence are completely unacceptable and unjustifiable, no matter what concerns may exist in communities,” said the Northern Ireland executive—made up of unionist, nationalist and centrist parties.

“While our political positions are very different on many issues, we are all united in our support for law and order.”

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis visited Belfast to meet leaders from the main parties, including unionist First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein, as well as faith and community advocates.

He called the joint condemnation “a very clear statement”, adding “there is no excuse for violence, we’ve got to make sure we take things forward in a proper democratic and political way.”

In Washington, the White House also expressed concern over the violence and urged calm.

‘Sectarian violence’

In the disorder on Wednesday, gates were set alight on a “peace line”—walls separating pro-Irish nationalist and unionist communities—and police said crowds from either side broke through to attack each other with petrol bombs, missiles and fireworks.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) temporary assistant chief constable Jonathan Roberts said the scale and nature of the violence was unprecedented in recent years.

“The fact that it was sectarian violence and there was large groups on both sides... again is not something we have seen for a number of years,” he told reporters.

Before Thursday, six nights of unrest left 55 police injured, Roberts noted, as well as a press photographer and the driver of the bus fire-bombed Wednesday.

He said children as young as 13 were suspected of involvement following encouragement from adults, and the large volume of petrol bombs used suggested “a level of pre-planning”.

The PSNI is probing if Northern Ireland’s notorious paramilitary groups were involved in the unrest.

‘Deep rooted’

Northern Ireland endured 30 years of sectarian conflict that killed 3,500 people.

Unionist paramilitaries, British security forces and armed nationalists seeking to unite the territory with the Republic of Ireland waged battle until a landmark peace deal in 1998.

The accord let unionists and nationalists coexist by blurring the status of the region, dissolving border checks with fellow European Union member Ireland.

But Britain’s 2016 vote to quit the EU revived the need for border checks. A special “protocol” was agreed that shifted the controls away from the land border to ports trading with the UK mainland, prompting many unionists to accuse London of betrayal.

There was also recent outrage among unionists after Northern Irish authorities decided not to prosecute Sinn Fein leaders for attending a large funeral last year of a former paramilitary leader, in apparent breach of Covid restrictions.

Few people in central Belfast on Thursday wanted to discuss the sensitive situation.

“It’s deep-rooted, it’s not just about Brexit,” said Fiona McMahon, 56, before adding Britain’s EU withdrawal had had a “massive impact”.

“The British do whatever the hell they want to do and we get landed with everything afterwards,” she told AFP.

PM Johnson tweeted overnight that he was “deeply concerned”, saying “the way to resolve differences is through dialogue, not violence or criminality”.

Johnson and Martin agreed during their call that “the way forward is through dialogue and working the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement,” according to Dublin.

(AFP)

At least 27 police officers injured in Northern Ireland unrest as politicians call for calm

Police said a care home was damaged in the during the violence causing ‘untold fear and distress’ to residents

In Belfast two boys, aged 13 and 14, were among those arrested in connection with riots in a loyalist area of the city

Loyalists and unionists are angry about post-Brexit trading arrangements which they claim have created barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

DPA
Published: , 4 Apr, 2021

A car burns after it was hijacked by Loyalists in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Saturday. Photo: PA via AP

A total of 27 police officers have been injured in unrest in Northern Ireland as political leaders call for calm over the Easter weekend.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said 15 officers were injured in Belfast and 12 officers were hurt in Londonderry during riots in both cities on Friday evening. Eight people have been arrested.

Derry City and Strabane Area Commander Chief Superintendent Darrin Jones said police received reports on Friday night of youths gathering in the areas of Nelson Drive and Tullyally in the city.

“On their arrival, they came under sustained attack from a large group of youths and young adults throwing masonry, bottles, petrol bombs and fireworks,” he said

“As a result 12 officers sustained injuries including head, leg and foot wounds.

Jones also said a care home was damaged in the city during the violence causing “untold fear and distress” to residents. He said it was “totally unacceptable” that Friday was the fifth successive night of disturbances in the unionist Waterside area of the city.

“It is vital that we all send out a message to those responsible that such behaviour will not be tolerated,” he said.

“The people of Derry/Londonderry deserve to feel safe within their own homes and be able to walk the streets without fear.

“I would ask that anyone who has any influence in communities – whether parents, guardians, community or elected representatives – please, use that influence to ensure young people do not get caught up in criminality and that they are kept safe and away from harm.”

A boy looks on as flames and smoke rise behind him at the scene of violence in Newtownabbey, north of Belfast, Northern Ireland on Saturday. Photo: AFP

In Belfast, two boys, aged 13 and 14, are among eight people arrested in connection with riots in a loyalist area of Belfast.

Police said 15 officers were injured on Friday night after being targeted by a crowd of mainly young people in Sandy Row, throwing stones, fireworks, flares, manhole covers and petrol bombs.

Belfast District Commander, Chief Superintendent Simon Walls, said “a small local protest quickly developed into an attack on police officers” and that at points there were up to 300 people of all ages on the streets.

He called for calm, urging anyone with influence in the loyalist community to dissuade young people from causing violence and harm. He said: “I’m not going to enter into dialogue about political commentary.

“What I would ask is that people with influence, people in local communities, would dissuade young people, or anyone else, intent on causing violence or intent on harming police officers.”

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster. Photo: Reuters

He described it as a “real tragedy” that children as young as 13 and 14 were among those arrested.

“I think it’s a tragedy that any child in Northern Ireland is sitting in a custody suite this morning and facing criminal investigation, possibility of being charged and possibility of facing a criminal conviction,” he said.

“It shouldn’t happen. And that’s why I’m very keen that people with influence try to ask anyone intent on violence to please step back. It’s not the way to resolve tensions or arguments.”

Political leaders have also called for calm over the Easter weekend following the riots.

Stormont’s First Minister Arlene Foster urged young people “not to get drawn into disorder,” saying violence “will not make things better”.

I appeal to our young people not to get drawn into disorder which will lead to them having criminal convictions and blighting their own lives

Arlene Foster, Stormont’s First Minister

The DUP leader said: “I know that many of our young people are hugely frustrated by the events of this last week but causing injury to police officers will not make things better.

“And I send my strong support to all of the rank-and-file police officers that are on duty over this Easter weekend.

“I appeal to our young people not to get drawn into disorder which will lead to them having criminal convictions and blighting their own lives.

“I also ask parents to play their part and be proactive in protecting their young adults.”

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis. Photo: Reuters

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis described the unrest as “completely unacceptable.”

Lewis said: “Violence is never the answer. There is no place for it in society.

“It is unwanted, unwarranted and I fully support the PSNI appeal for calm.”

He added that his thoughts were with the officers injured.

The disorder has flared amid ongoing tensions within loyalism across Northern Ireland.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland comes under attack by Loyalists in Newtownabbey, Belfast, Northern Ireland on Saturday. Photo: PA via AP

Loyalists and unionists are angry about post-Brexit trading arrangements which they claim have created barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Tensions ramped up further this week following a controversial decision not to prosecute 24 Sinn Fein politicians for attending a large-scale republican funeral during Covid-19 restrictions.

All the main unionist parties have demanded the resignation of PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne, claiming he has lost the confidence of their community.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment