Saturday, July 24, 2021

 

Arabs Without God: Introduction

Introduction

ARABS, in popular imagination, are assumed to be Muslims and potential religious fanatics. The reality is a lot more complex. Islam is far from monolithic and has many strands: Sunni, Shia, Salafi, Wahhabi, Zaidi, Sufi, Alawi, Ibadi, Isma’ili and others. Nor are Arabs necessarily Muslims. There are millions of Arab Christians, plus smaller numbers of Druze, Yazidis, Mandaeans and Jews.

Added to this mix is a growing number of Arabs – mainly young – who openly declare themselves to be atheists, agnostics or sceptics. Non-believers have probably always existed in the Middle East, mostly out of sight, but now they have begun to find a voice. Social media have provided them with the tools to express themselves and the “Arab Spring” uprisings that began in 2010 emboldened some of them to speak out.

In countries where religion permeates most aspects of daily life, publicly challenging belief shocks families, society and governments. Many have been imprisoned merely for expressing their thoughts, others have been forced into exile and some threatened with execution. Many more keep their thoughts to themselves, for fear of the reaction from family, friends and employers.

For an established order that favours orthodoxy and conformity and is unaccustomed to questioning, these dissenting voices are a problem – especially for autocratic governments that base their claims to legitimacy on religious credentials. Regardless of attempts at suppression, though, what some see as the “problem” of disbelief is unlikely to go away; more likely, it will grow.

Thanks to the internet, along with satellite television and foreign travel, young Arabs today are far more aware of the outside world than previous generations and, when they hold up their own countries to the mirror, many dislike what they see. Rejecting religion is one response to that but it is also part of broader demands for political and social change. The inclusion of religion in this wave of disaffection was almost inevitable, since religion in the Arab countries – far from being a personal, private matter – has become heavily politicised and is responsible for many of the social restrictions that cause so much frustration, especially among the youth.

It is not the purpose of this book to make a case for atheism or to single out Islam among religions for particular criticism, though Islam happens to be the dominant faith in the region. Rather, the purpose is to look at non-belief as a social phenomenon – its causes and its consequences – and to argue for the right of non-believers to be treated as normal human beings.

Public discourse in the Arab countries has opened up considerably since the 1990s. Many of the old taboos have been broken and things can be said in public now that would have been unimaginable only a decade or two ago. Despite that, religion is still generally treated as sacrosanct: challenging it is the biggest and most untouchable of the remaining taboos.

This, in turn, raises important questions about how best to press for change. Some of the non-believers interviewed for this book could be described as activists who openly question and confront religion in all its forms (as is their right). Others simply want a quiet life; they see no need to advertise their disbelief but resent being forced to comply with rules imposed by believers. Both of these approaches are fraught with difficulties, however, and may also bring their adherents into conflict with the law.

The result is that Arab non-believers face two separate but related struggles. One is their dispute with religion itself; the other is with societies and governments that refuse to  recognise their disbelief. This broader struggle for personal rights – freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, and so on – is one that they share with millions of religious Arabs too, especially religious minorities. Anyone who does not conform to whatever happens to be the local religious orthodoxy is liable to fall victim to blasphemy and apostasy laws or sectarian prejudices. The irony of this is that while believers and non-believers are on opposite sides where religious ideas are concerned they may also find themselves on the same side in the struggle for freedom of belief. A substantial part of the discussion in this book is therefore concerned with broader questions of religious liberty which affect believers and non-believers alike.

Nevertheless, minority religious beliefs tend to be more accepted than atheism. There is some recognition of religious diversity, at least among the monotheistic faiths, even if prejudice and discrimination persist. Outright disbelief in God, on the other hand, tends to be greeted with general abhorrence. In lands where religion holds sway, the treatment of non-believers thus becomes the ultimate test: when an atheist can be accepted and respected as a normal human being, liberty will truly have arrived.

Continue reading >>>

Arabs Without God is available in paperback from Amazon (US) or Amazon (UK). It is also available in Arabic (online, free of charge) and in Italian under the title Arabi Senza Dio.

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Transgender issues in the Middle East

While there is much debate about the rights of women in the Middle East  and the rights of gay and lesbian people have also begun to attract some attention, consideration of transgender rights is long overdue. 

In a region where gender segregation is widespread and dress codes are sometimes enforced by law, the problems of transgender people are especially acute. When so much of the social structure is based around a clear-cut distinction between male and female, anything that obscures the distinction is viewed as a problem and sometimes even as a threat to the established order.

This is the first in a series of "long read" articles which aim to give a broad but detailed overview of transgender issues in the Middle East. 

The complete series can also be downloaded as a printable 23-page PDF.

Unspeakable Love

Unspeakable Love: Gay and lesbian life in the Middle East

by Brian Whitaker

New edition, 2011
Expanded and updated
ISBN-10: 0863564836
ISBN-13: 978-0863564833

Available from amazon.com or amazon.co.uk 

Homosexuality is still a taboo subject in the Arab world. While clerics denounce it as a heinous sin, newspapers, reluctant to address it directly, talk cryptically of ‘shameful acts’ and ‘deviant behaviour’. 

Amid the calls for reform in the Middle East, homosexuality is one issue that almost everyone would prefer to ignore. In this absorbing account, Guardian journalist Brian Whitaker calls attention to the voices of men and women struggling with gay identities in societies where they are marginalised and persecuted by the authorities. He paints a disturbing picture of people who live secretive, often fearful lives; of daughters and sons beaten and ostracised by their families or sent to be ‘cured’ by psychiatrists.

Deeply informed and engagingly written, Unspeakable Love reveals that, while repressive prejudices and stereotypes still govern much thinking about homosexuality, there are pockets of change and tolerance. This updated edition includes new material covering developments since the book's first publication.

Brian Whitaker, a former Middle East editor of the Guardian, is also the author of What's Really Wrong with the Middle East, The Birth of Modern Yemen (e-book), and Arabs Without God.



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South Africans Demand Justice For 'Massacre' of 300 by Private Guards Amid Zuma Protests



© REUTERS / SIPHIWE EMACOUS MOYO SNR

21:32 GMT 23.07.2021
RT/SPUTNIK
by James Tweedie


South African media reported this week that mortuaries in Phoenix, an area predominantly inhabited by the Indian minority ethnic group, had been overwhelmed after more than 300 bodies were brought in. Most remained unclaimed by relatives.

Senior members of South Africa's ruling party have called for charges over the alleged killings of some 300 people by private security guards during protests against the former president's jailing.

Leading African National Congress (ANC) members in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province also called for former president Jacob Zuma to be freed from the Estcourt prison, where he began a 15-month sentence for contempt of court imposed by the Constitutional Court.

Around 100 members of ANC branches in the eThekwini metro municipality marched or dove in a motorcade to the the party's provincial offices in central Durban in Friday to present a memorandum of demands to leaders over recent violence in the town of Phoenix, some 15 miles northwest of the city.

Ntando Khuzwayo, a spokesman for provincial legislator Zandile Gumede, delivered the statement to ANC KZN Provincial Working Committee member Kwazi Mshengu — who is also the education chief on the KZN Provincial Executive Council (PEC).
It said "racists" had "used the recent unrest to kill our people, deny them access to shops and in some cases have stopped them from going home". Khuzwayo called the violence “worse than the apartheid Group Areas Act which relied on barbaric ethnic polarisation”.



© REUTERS / SUMAYA HISHAM
South African Radio Host Denied Bail Hearing Over Support for Former President Zuma

National media reported this week that mortuaries in Phoenix, an area predominantly inhabited by the Indian minority ethnic group, had been overwhelmed after more than 300 bodies were brought in. Most of the bodies remained unclaimed by relatives.

Police Minister Bheki Cele visited the area twice this week and said a team of ten detectives were investigating the killings there. Police said 38 murder probes had been opened so far and one suspect arrested.

“It’s important to understand that there are people who have been killed," Cele said on Thursday. "If it’s an Indian who killed an African, we must find the killer, if it’s an African who killed an Indian we must find the killer. We are not looking for an Indian or an African but we want to find the killers”.

But the ANC members in Durban on Friday blamed private security firms for the killings.
“Such action cannot go unpunished. Racism is still rife in the country and the racists have an upper hand as the system is designed to protect them,” Khuzwayo said. “The PEC must ensure that the SAPS suspends the firearm licences of all security companies that participated in the blockades and attacks on our people”.

Free Zuma Demand

The memorandum also called on the provincial ANC leadership to take the lead and organise protests for Zuma's release as a peaceful outlet of anger over his imprisonment and the killings in Phoenix.

“It is no secret that this entire unrest was triggered by the unconstitutional arrest of the former president without trial," it read. "We understand that the law must take its course, however the ANC as the ruling party must also make a pronouncement against the unconstitutional jailing of the former president”.

“We came here before everything started and told the PEC this would happen," Khuzwayo pointed out. "There are counter-revolutionary forces who may take up this Jacob Zuma thing. We were like prophets,” shortly before he read the memorandum."

Mshengu later backed the calls for Zuma's release in an interview with state broadcaster the SABC



Phoenix in KwaZulu Natal was the site of a multi-ethnic settlement founded by anti-apartheid activist and later Indian independence leader Mohandas K Gandhi in the early 20th century, where he developed his ideas of non-violent resistance. The settlement was burnt down in 1949 during anti-Indian violence instigated by the National Party government among the black majority.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, Zuma's former deputy who has supported the Constitutional Court's decision, has ordered 25,000 army soldiers onto the streets to crack down on the unrest. The troops have been used to cut off illegal electricity connections in informal settlements — in the cold of the southern hemisphere winter — and seize looted goods from homes to be destroyed rather than returned to businesses.

The official death toll from protests, rioting and opportunistic looting since Zuma's jailing reached 337 on Thursday.


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6 million renters face eviction in 8 days when a Trump-era ban expires. Biden is poised to let it happen.

jzeballos@businessinsider.com (Joseph Zeballos-Roig) 17 hrs ago




Both a federal eviction ban and a moratorium on foreclosures expire in eight days.

Some advocates are pushing for an extension of the eviction ban as new virus cases pile up.

The Biden administration is poised to allow both relief programs to expire on July 31.

On July 31, a set of pandemic-relief measures for renters and homeowners enacted under President Trump will end - and the Biden administration doesn't appear interested in renewing them.

A federal eviction ban is ending on July 31 after an extension last month. It's the same for a moratorium on foreclosures. But the Biden administration rolled out a new measure allowing homeowners to refinance their mortgages and cut monthly payments in an effort to aid 1.8 million Americans still in forbearance.

Still, some groups are pushing for the White House to take more aggressive steps to prevent people from losing their homes.

On evictions, advocates say the emergency measure's end threatens 6 million renters who are at risk of losing their homes at a moment new infections are rising and a federal program to help them has been slow to provide rent relief.




"The CDC eviction moratorium is a necessary public health measure to lessen spread of/deaths from COVID-19," Diane Yentel, the president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, recently tweeted. "The need clearly remains as Delta surges & 6m renter households remain behind on rent & at risk of eviction when moratorium expires."


Paul Williams, a fellow at the Jain Family Institute, projected that 80% of all households struggling with rental debt were in counties experiencing a surge of virus cases because of the Delta variant.

"Letting county courts kick people onto the street next week is probably the worst Delta variant strategy I can think of," he tweeted.

Around 11.4 million renters - or 16% overall - have fallen behind on rent payments, an analysis of Census data from the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found. Around 3 million people said they could be evicted within two months. Some courts ruled the ban unconstitutional earlier this year, Insider's Ayelet Sheffey reported.

Separately, the Biden administration is allowing homeowners to extend the length of their mortgages. The White House said on Friday that homeowners with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can still delay their payments until September 30.





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Architect who designed the collapsed Surfside condo was previously suspended after toppling of other structures

William Friedman was suspended for six months in 1967 due to the collapse of sign pylons during a hurricane\

Miami / July 23, 2021 
By Keith Larsen and Lidia Dinkova


The Florida State Board of architecture’s order to suspend William Friedman for six months

More than a decade before William Friedman designed the collapsed Surfside condominium, Florida’s board of architecture suspended him for six months for designing structures that toppled during Hurricane Betsy.

Sign pylons that were “an integral part of the structure” of a Miami commercial building failed during the 1965 storm, according to documents from the Florida State Board of Architecture, obtained by The Real Deal.

The pylons were “insufficient and grossly inadequate” to withstand the wind pressure of the hurricane force winds, and were not in accordance with building code for the location or “to accepted standards of architectural practice,” the Florida Board of Architecture wrote in its order suspending Friedman.

In 1966, the five-member architecture board found Friedman in violation of Florida law and guilty of “gross incompetency, in that he negligently, improperly, and carelessly” designed the pylons. Friedman’s suspension started on June 1, 1967 and ended on December 1, 1967.

The details of Friedman’s suspension were revealed after a public records request filed by TRD.

The revelations add to the list of controversies tied to the development team of the Champlain Towers South. So far, there is no evidence that any of the original development team, including the developer, the architect or the engineer, played a role in the collapse.

Still, the findings could provide another element for investigators as they try to piece together the cause of the collapse of Champlain Towers South that killed 97 people.

County, cities rush to inspect older buildings in wake of Surfside collapse

At least one indicator of a “major error” has so far been discovered in the original project plan prepared by Friedman and the project engineer, according to a 2018 engineer’s report on the 12-story condo. The inspection found that a concrete slab at a part of the building was not sloped for water to drain.

Surfside Condo That Collapsed Had Major Structural Damage

“The question comes down to: Was it a design error or deferred maintenance that was the approximate cause for the collapse?” said Frank Schnidman, a retired urban planning professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

“A drafting error”

The collapsed pylons came after Friedman had practiced architecture for about a decade, documents show. Licensed in 1955, Friedman led the eponymous Coral Gables-based firm William M. Friedman & Associates Architects. He died in 2018 at 88.

On Sept. 16, 1965, a week after Hurricane Betsy tore through the area, the director of Miami’s building department reported the pylon issue to the board of architecture.

Robert Ferencik’s letter to the board noted that a building under construction at 2625 Southwest 22nd Street included a sign pylon about 20 feet above the roof line. The sign pylon had failed at the roof line and “collapsed along side of the building.” The director also found that a single-story commercial building, recently constructed at 7001 Southwest 88th Street, also had a sign pylon failure.

It is unclear from the documents if the sign pylons were attached to the building or next to it. Schnidman, who reviewed the records at TRD’s request, said it seems the pylons were attached.

Fort Lauderdale architect Kaizer Talib told TRD the description of the sign pylon sounds like it was a promotional sign perched atop the building’s roof.

A 20-foot pylon is not a simple design, added Talib, owner of Kaizer Design Group. “It means that where the roof is, this pylon was going up and broke down from the slab, so the connection may have been poorly” done, he said.

The collapse was also serious enough for at least one prominent Miami architect to alert the Florida State Board of Architecture.

Edward Grafton, a principal at Pancoast, Ferendino, Grafton, Skeels and Burnham, asked the board to “give serious consideration” to the structural failures caused by Friedman’s design.

“This matter has, and will, receive the consideration of one of the newspapers and various citizens,” Grafton wrote in his letter dated Sept. 21, 1965.

The board found Friedman guilty of two charges in May 1966, with concurrent sentences of six months. Friedman appealed to the Florida District Courts of Appeal, which overturned the second charge. He then appealed the remaining charge to the Florida Supreme Court, but was unsuccessful.

Friedman’s lawyer, Harry Smith of Miami Beach, also tried to persuade the board to reduce the architect’s sentence, but again, he was unsuccessful. He claimed the punishment was “tantamount to nearly a complete destruction of his name and reputation, as well as his architectural practice.”

Smith added that there was no “premeditated design” aimed at creating harm “to any person or persons.”

Instead, he called the design flaw a “drafting error.”

A Serious Offense

Talib, the Fort Lauderdale architect, called a suspension a “serious thing.”

“Most of the time you end up getting a letter of warning from the state department or something,” he said. “If you had done something small wrong, in the process of permitting, then you might get a warning letter. But a suspension is a bigger thing because it’s decided by a committee. It’s not decided by an individual.”

Still, suspensions carry few real world consequences, industry experts say.

“Some people know about [the suspension], but the general public doesn’t know,” Talib said. An architect “just keeps quiet and he is not going to tell anyone except his wife.”

Schnidman said that although records show Friedman’s pylons designs were “inadequate,” the onus still falls on the jurisdictions that approved the plans.

“You have to wonder about the level of local government review, because if in fact these did not comply with the regulations at the local level, how did it get past inspection?” he said.

Records reveal that the pylon issue was not the first time Friedman faced questions from the state’s architecture board. It also received “certain information concerning alleged plan stamping” by Friedman, according to records provided to TRD. But they do not indicate how this claim unfolded, nor do they provide specifics on the allegation.

Talib said plan stamping is an illegal practice in which a licensed architect stamps plans and drawings created by someone else, often someone who does not have a license or is not an architect. This is “very unethical and very illegal,” Talib said. “That is the worst an architect could do.”

He said the custom was common in the past, but oversight has increased, and it is less common now. He said architects who do it should have their licenses revoked.

None of these allegations seemed to have impacted Friedman’s career. His obituary described him as a “very unique architect” who designed many “unusual properties” in Miami including a hospital, shopping center, apartments, townhouses and residences.

Among those properties was Champlain Towers South, developed by Nathan Reiber. When it was built in 1981, it marked one of the largest condo projects in Surfside’s history.

Talib said developers generally do not dig deep into an architect’s background, since they are not familiar with the suspension process. He imagines that was the case for Friedman in Surfside.

“As long as the developer and clients like him,” he said, “then he could get hired again.”
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RSF’s recommendations for those who could be spied on by Pegasus


ORGANISATION
RSF_en

In the wake of the “Pegasus Project” revelation that nearly 200 journalists around the world have been Pegasus spyware targets, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has compiled recommendations for journalists who could themselves be the targets of those who buy this high-performance surveillance software.

Pegasus’s strength is due above all to the fact that, “there is no effective way for a user to counter this type of attack,” explains Claudio Guarnieri, an IT security expert at Amnesty International’s Security Lab. Designed by the Israeli company NSO Group, this high-performance spyware is capable of sucking up a phone’s entire content – messages, emails, photos, contacts and so on – without requiring any particular user action and without leaving easily detectable traces.

As they cannot guard against such an attack, journalists working on sensitive subjects in connection with any of NSO Group’s 11 known governmental clients (the governments of Mexico, India, Morocco, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Togo, Rwanda and Hungary) should take the following steps if they suspect a potential Pegasus infection:

Stop using your smartphone at once and buy a new one to continue communicating.

 Keep the potentially infected device as evidence but keep it far away from yourself and your work environment.

Disconnect all accounts from the potentially infected phone and change all the passwords from another device.

Contact Forbidden Stories or IT experts such as those at Amnesty International’s
 Security Lab to see if your number is on the leaked list of 50,000 numbers. The Amnesty International expert group has also developed a tool, the Mobile Verification Toolkit (MVT), which can be used to find out if a smartphone has been infected with Pegasus.

 Note that its use requires good IT skills. Journalists can also send their phone number to Share@amnesty.tech to be checked.

If you cannot replace your phone:

Restart the phone. Amnesty’s experts have established that, on an iPhone, a restart can temporarily stop Pegasus from functioning on iOS.

Perform a factory reset of the smartphone even if this does not guarantee Pegasus’s removal. Note that this may also destroy evidence of an infection.

Update the system software and all of the apps on the phone.

Remove all unknown devices connected to the various messaging and online account apps (Signal, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).

Compile a list all the passwords that have been entered and stored in the smartphone. Then change them and never reuse the old ones.

If any of your close contacts has been infected, they should follow the same recommendations.

While there is to date no reliable countermeasure against Pegasus, certain actions and good practices can complicate the task of spyware trying to access a journalist's smartphon

Secure your smartphone:

Protect your smartphone with a PIN. Use a six-digit PIN at least or, even better, a strong and unique sentence (different from your other passwords). Using an easy PIN such as "0000" or "1234" or your date of birth – whether for the phone itself or the SIM card – provides absolutely no security.

Update the smartphone’s system software frequently.

Install a VPN. (But be aware that a VPN does not protect against certain types of attack.)

Install antivirus software (Avast, McAfee or Kaspersky).

Delete apps that are not used.

Turn your smartphone off at least once a day. This simple measure may be enough to thwart the operation of many spyware apps.

Secure your messaging service and social media accounts:

Enable two-factor authentication on your most important accounts (Twitter, Google, Facebook, etc.).

Disable iMessage and FaceTime (which are known to be Pegasus points of entry).
Avoid using Google Home or any other voice assistant.

On an iPhone, uninstall such Apple apps as Apple Music, FaceTime, iMessage and Mail. Note that you must disable iMessage before uninstalling it.

When using your smartphone:

Whenever possible, use a VPN when browsing the Internet.

Never click on links in a message from an unknown number.

Do not use Wi-Fi in unreliable places, or use it only after previously activating your VPN.
Only install apps from the App Store (on an iPhone) or Google Play (on an Android phone).

Block notifications and requests for permission to access the address book.
Do not allow your smartphone to save passwords. Use a secure password manager such as LastPass.

Use Signal to communicate with your sources. For journalists dealing with very sensitive information, it may be a good idea to use a phone that is not connected to the Internet – an old mobile phone or a smartphone with no access to data.

Other useful resources:

The Access Now digital security helpline can diagnose your problems and provide helpful technical advice in nine languages.

The Digital First Aid Kit gives advice about a device that is behaving suspiciously, as does Surveillance Self-Defence.


IF ALL ELSE FAILS GET A BLACKBERRY THE ONLY TRULY ENCRYPTED PHONE
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Why Cubans took to the streets

It is no surprise that the young are confronting an old revolution that refuses to accept its failure in bringing development and equality to the Caribbean island

Rut DiamintLaura Tedesco
23 July 2021

Social criticism on a wall by graffiti artist Fabián López on a street in Havana, Cuba 
Eric Laudonien / Alamy Stock Photo

The spontaneous protests by Cubans on 11 July are the culmination of years of frustration, but what really led thousands to take to the streets shouting “libertad”?

Cuba, a country whose revolution was praised by the world’s progressives, has become an autocracy that has failed to bring about economic and social development.

These protests are not organized. There is no leadership mobilizing the people. Rather, they are the desperate expression of people who have been left exhausted by a failed revolution. Factors such as the arrival of the internet on cell phones in 2018, and the desperate economic and health crisis, have played a leading role in uniting protesters.

In early 2021, the Cuban economy was fragile. Food and other basic resources were scarce and the government undertook monetary reform. Until then, the Caribbean island had two currencies – the peso Cubano and the convertible Cuban peso. The new measures cancelled the convertible peso, while the government also opened Free Convertible Currency Shops, or ‘dollar stores’. Cubans can use only convertible currency to buy products from those stores, even though their salaries are paid in peso Cubano. According to the government, these measures were intended to increase the availability of foreign currency and to fight against the scarcity of basic resources, such as food and medicine. However, the devaluation of the peso meant a significant loss of money for ordinary Cubans.

Faced with COVID-19, Cubans were forced to wait in long lines to buy essential items such as food, medicines and personal cleaning products. The government continued to insist that the pandemic was under control and that the Soberana and Abdala vaccines – Cuba’s homegrown jabs – were very effective. While World Health Organization data confirms that COVID-19 infections and deaths in Cuba were stable until March, deaths increased markedly in April and infections soared from May onwards.
Twitter: the freedom to speak up

Cubans have been allowed to use social networks since 2018 to recount, often with humour, the daily hardships of their lives. This development was crucial because it ended the regime´s monopoly on information and communication. Of late, online conversations have been about the endless queues to buy food or the arbitrary detention of ordinary people by security forces without an arrest warrant.

This year, there have been reports of nearly a thousand intimidating and repressive actions by the authorities against members and supporters of the San Isidro and 27N movements, two recently formed artists’ groups demanding freedom of expression for all Cubans.

This year, there have been reports of nearly a thousand intimidating and repressive actions by the Cuban authorities

The security forces routinely position themselves outside locations where critics of the regime plan to meet or even outside their homes, preventing them from leaving. A few weeks before the biggest protests since 1959 erupted, there was an escalation in the number of arrests being made. The Cuban Observatory for Human Rights registered 114 arbitrary detentions in June alone.

International reaction to the repression in Cuba has been rather limited, other than from the Cuban-American community or Cubans living in exile elsewhere. While some academics, journalists and progressive groups have spoken out, it was only after the protests earlier this month that the news began to make international headlines, though accounts of what triggered events on the island are not always entirely accurate.
#SOS Matanzas #SOS Cuba

In the first week of July, the province of Matanzas, roughly 80km east of Havana, became the epicenter of the pandemic. It reported 1,327 new cases on a single day, 7 July, representing nearly half the country’s total infections.

The hashtags #SOSMatanzas and #SOSCuba started to trend on Twitter. Cubans asked for a ‘humanitarian corridor’ to bring international aid into the country. Yet the government continued to claim that all the hardships were due to the decades-old US trade embargo, saying “our doctors grow in adversity”. While it is true that the US trade embargo increased economic strain on Cuba – and that the Trump administration’s tighter sanctions reduced visitors and foreign exchange, worsening the situation – Cuba’s problems stem from the failure of the revolution.

The country has suffered from years of economic stagnation. Unlike other communist countries, most notably China, Cuba has hesitated to adopt market-oriented reforms. The inefficiency of a group of men (there are almost no women in the Cuban government) who lead the country has brought Cuba to the desperate situation it faces today. The government first partnered with the former Soviet Union and then with Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez in order to keep alive a failing political and economic model.

The inefficiency of a group of men (there are almost no women in the Cuban government) has brought Cuba to today's desperate situation

For those who follow Cuban contemporary history, it is difficult to argue that the model is economically efficient. Inequality is manifested between the different neighborhoods of Havana, the capital. For instance, in Vedado, Havana’s business district, are beautiful and well-maintained mansions that offer a striking contrast to the dirty, aging buildings in Old Havana, which are on the point of collapse.

Moreover, for decades, Cubans have remained cut off from each other, forced to endure a reality where there is no freedom of opinion and political representatives are imposed upon them. This is because of the inefficiency of an ossified system and government. The US embargo is not responsible for all of the above.

Now, Cuba’s government is faced with a difficult situation. It no longer has a monopoly on communication; Fidel Castro, the leader of the revolution, is long since gone; and the flow of Venezuelan dollars has dried up. President Miguel Diaz-Canel is dealing with the biggest crisis the regime has faced without charisma, legitimacy or dollars.

The young people who spontaneously took to the streets did not live through the revolution. Many were very young five years ago when Castro died. They were never convinced of the sacrifices made for the revolution, which in 62 years has achieved neither equality nor development. The lack of leadership and the clumsy communication skills of Diaz-Canel were the final spark that lit the rebellious fire of 11 July.
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#BEN&JERRYS  #BDS
Five US states take aim at Ben & Jerry’s over settlement boycott

Officials in Florida, Texas, New York, New Jersey and Illinois reviewing whether move requires divestment from parent company Unilever under their various state laws

By JTA and JACOB MAGID

Pedestrians walk on Church St., past the Ben & Jerry's shop, in Burlington,
 Vermont, March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)


Five US states have begun examining whether Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling its ice cream in Israeli settlements triggered laws passed in recent years to combat the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel.

Officials in Florida, Texas, New York, New Jersey and Illinois are reviewing whether the move will require divestment from Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever under their various state laws.

There are 34 states in total that require their governments to stop doing business with companies that boycott Israel — and 21 of those explicitly include West Bank settlement boycotts in their definitions.

Of those 21 states, 12 are required to remove companies that engage in boycotts from state employee retirement investment funds — an action that experts say is far more damaging than simply ending contracts with a company for its goods and services.

Here’s a look at the five states that have launched actions so far:

Florida

Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, on Thursday wrote to the State Board of Administration, which manages the state’s retirement funds, asking that it place Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever on the “Continued Examination Companies that Boycott Israel List.”

“Continued Examination,” under Florida law, means that at least one piece of evidence has come to light that a company is taking an action that would, according to Florida law, cut it off from state business. Should it determine that the company is indeed in conflict with Florida requirements, it would go on the Scrutinize Company List, which would mandate that Florida divest its funds from the company.

Florida law explicitly extends to companies that boycott West Bank settlements, and it extends its purview to the state retirement funds.


Texas

On Thursday, Texas state comptroller Glenn Hegar announced that he had launched an inquiry to determine if Unilever meets the standard for being delisted from companies with which the state does business.

“I’ve directed my staff to determine whether any specific action has been taken by Ben & Jerry’s or Unilever would trigger a listing under Chapter 808 of the Texas Government Code,” he said.

Texas law also includes West Bank settlements in its Israel boycott definition and also applies its law to the restriction of state retirement funds

.
New York

Liz Gordon, the executive director of Corporate Governance for the New York State Common Retirement Fund, on Friday wrote to Unilever saying that State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is “troubled and concerned about reports suggesting that Ben & Jerry’s, a Unilever wholly-owned subsidiary, is involved in BDS activities.”

“This letter serves as notice that the Fund intends to include Unilever on our list of companies participating in BDS activity if these reports are correct,” the letter says.

New York has yet to pass any BDS-related laws, although some are under consideration. However, in 2016, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order still in effect that bars the state from doing business with companies that participate in the BDS movement, and extended it to investment funds as well. The executive order does not explicitly address whether more targeted boycotts of settlements are included.

Illinois

Illinois law requires that state employee retirement funds divest from companies that promote BDS, including firms that restrict their actions to Israel’s settlements.

Daniel Goldwin, the executive director of public affairs at Chicago’s Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the process of review by the independent Illinois Investment Policy Board was underway. The board wrote to Unilever, giving them 90 days to “explain why their reported actions are not a violation of Illinois law.”

“At the next quarterly meeting, the board will review the company’s response and/or invite them to testify and answer questions. Then, if it’s determined that state pension divestment is warranted, the actual divestment will occur in a ‘timely way that does not lead to a material loss of value,’” Goldwin said.

New Jersey

New Jersey law also requires state employee retirement funds to divest from companies backing BDS, also including companies who only boycott Israel’s settlements.

Jewish Insider on Friday quoted an official in the State Treasurer’s office as saying that “the Division of Investment is aware of the situation and is working to determine whether any actions must be taken to ensure continued compliance with the State’s anti-BDS law.”

Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, was “disappointed” in the decision, a spokeswoman said.

“The governor believes we must continue working toward the shared goal of peace and mutual respect,” the spokeswoman told USA Today.
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Private equity swoops on British defence giant: Ministers told to block £2.6bn takeover of Ultra Electronics by Cobham owner Advent

The defence group's board said it was minded to back the offer of 3500p per share from US buyout firm Advent

The approach by Advent came through Cobham, another UK defence firm it bought last year in a bitterly-contested deal

Any deal is likely to trigger an official review due to the highly-sensitive technology Ultra supplies to the armed forces, particularly the Royal Navy

In a bid to ensure the deal goes through, Advent has said it is prepared to make national security undertakings

By MATT OLIVER FOR THE DAILY MAIL

PUBLISHED: 23 July 2021

Ultra Electronics could become the latest British firm to fall into private equity hands after it was targeted in a £2.6billion takeover swoop.

The defence group's board said it was minded to back the offer of 3500p per share from US buyout firm Advent.

The approach by Advent came through Cobham, another UK defence firm it bought last year in a bitterly-contested deal.

Swoop: Ultra's 'sonobuoys' can be dropped from Merlin helicopters (pictured) and Poseidon planes to help detect objects in the ocean

Under the proposal, Ultra chairman Tony Rice and chief executive Simon Pryce stand to get about £700,000 and £770,000 respectively for shares they own.

However, any deal is likely to trigger an official review due to the highly-sensitive technology Ultra supplies to the armed forces, particularly the Royal Navy.

Also a key supplier to the US armed forces, the firm's pioneering maritime systems are used by the Navy to patrol British waters, hunt submarines and protect aircraft carriers, among scores of other things.

In a bid to ensure the deal goes through, Advent has said it is prepared to make national security undertakings.

But the firm's ruthless dismantling of Cobham after buying the company just 18 months ago is likely to trigger fear for jobs at Ultra and Britain's defence supply chain, should the sale be approved. The swoop on Ultra comes as private equity groups scour the UK for deals with supermarket chains Asda and Morrisons and security firm G4S among those targeted.

Sir Gerald Howarth, a former Tory defence minister, said the takeover went 'to the heart of the UK's defence capabilities' and needed to face tough scrutiny from the Government.

He said: 'This is a company that is critical to the Royal Navy and to the protection of our aircraft carriers. When it comes to the defence of the realm, we simply cannot have a free-for-all where City financiers are pouncing on critical businesses, breaking them up and then flogging them to the highest bidder.

'So ministers absolutely must step in. Given everything that has happened at Cobham, we have got to be very tough.'

Admiral Lord West, the former head of the Royal Navy, also warned of 'giving up on the UK having sovereign capability in areas that are important to the security of the nation'. 'Ultra makes some really important stuff, technology at the cutting edge that allows us to beat our opponents,' he told the Telegraph. 'It's extremely troubling that the Government talks about us having sovereign capability - whether it's defence or areas such us the ability to make medicines in times of emergency - but yet again it looks like ownership that will go to the Americans.'

Following its latest approach, Cobham has until August 20 to make a formal offer for Ultra under 'put up or shut up' rules.

Shares in Ultra surged 32.4 per cent, or 800p, to a record 3270p.


Advent says it wants to merge Ultra and Cobham, which makes devices used in electronic warfare and missiles, to create a 'global defence electronics champion'.

Responding to the 3500p a share offer, Ultra said that after considering the proposal 'the board has indicated to Cobham that it is at a value the board would be minded to recommend to Ultra shareholders, subject to consideration and satisfactory resolution of other terms and arrangements'.

The Ultra spokesman said Cobham 'has indicated that it is minded to offer the UK government appropriate undertakings in respect of national security'.

Howard Wheeldon, an independent defence analyst, said it was likely that a review by the UK and other governments would have to be carried out before the deal could go ahead.

A Cobham spokesman said: 'Cobham welcomes the announcement from the board of Ultra Electronics. We have offered assurances that appropriate national security undertakings will be offered to the UK Government.'
World leader

Ultra Electronics is world leader in sonar, radar and torpedo technologies which are widely used by western countries in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partnership.

Set up in 1920, the company's sonar systems are used on a plethora of ships and aircraft to hunt submarines and patrol British waters.

Ultra's 'sonobuoys' can be dropped from Merlin helicopters and Poseidon planes to help detect objects in the ocean.

And the business's pioneering maritime systems are used aboard the Royal Navy's Type 23 frigates, Type 45 destroyers and the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.
'Step up and protect the industry'

Lady Cobham last night called on the Government to step up and protect what's left of Britain's manufacturing base.


Plea: Lady Cobham

Cobham, the company set up in 1934 by her father-in-law, the celebrated aviator Sir Alan Cobham, was bought by Advent last year.

The deal was opposed by Lady Cobham who warned the takeover would result in the break up of the company and the loss of key technologies to foreign owners.

Her grim prediction has since come to pass.

Advent has broken Cobham into nine pieces and sold many of them off, including the once-prized air-to-air refuelling business.

Last night Lady Cobham said: 'Advent carved up Cobham and sold most of it off, despite undertakings to government that it would invest in the company and protect jobs. Now is the time for the Government to step up and protect what's left of our defence manufacturing base.'

Advent insists Cobham has 'performed strongly' under its ownership and that it has invested more than £250m in research and development.


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Seaweed: The answer to the plastic crisis?

In the global move to replace plastic packaging, seaweed represents an untapped opportunity.

© wollertz - stock.adobe.com


In coming years, seaweed may revolutionise the packaging industry as we know it.

Researchers and scientists in Norway and Indonesia have taken big strides with regards to developing seaweed-based packaging, eschewing the need for plastic.

Nory Mulyono, head of the Food Technology Department at the Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, has been working on the concept for the past 10 years. The scientist, who is also co-founder and chief of research and development at Evoware, a sustainable packaging start-up, created the company’s bespoke red algae packaging. It can last up to two years and is also edible. So far, 200 companies across the food, cosmetics and textile industry have been testing said product.

Similarly, stakeholders in Europe have started pooling their know-how and their experiences in order to develop their own seaweed-based packaging.

British start-up Notpla has developed a range of food and drink packaging that uses seaweed as its base.

Referred to as Oohos, these are flexible packages for beverages and sauces with a capacity ranging from 10 to 100 ml. These packages can also be eaten as well as disposed of in your regular household rubbish, being set to degrade in a natural environment within 6 weeks.

Last used during the 2019 London marathon, Notpla envisaged these seaweed-based solutions to be used on an individual, case by case basis rather than as an attempt to wholly replace plastic as an all-for-one solution. As such, the company has partnered with Unilever in order to test the concept of edible sauce sachets.

Co-Founder of Notpla, Pierre Paslier said: “Takeaway sauce sachets are one of the hardest single use plastics to deal with. They’re easy to litter and have low residual value which limits the recycling potential.” Notpla’s ketchup sachets, in the end, were able to reduce CO2 emissions by 68% compared to plastic ones.

Seaweed used by Notpla for its products derives from a mix of farming and wild harvesting. The brown algae which is used comes from farms with good sustainability credentials while the harvesting of wild seaweed is conducted in a way that helps preserve individual marine environments.
Suitability for packaging

As bioplastics go, seaweed makes for one of the best alternatives to conventional plastic packaging.

Seeing as its cultivation is not based on land-sourced materials, it does not give any fodder to the usual dispute on carbon emissions. Also, seaweed does not require the use of fertilizers. It serves to restore the health of its immediate marine ecosystem and is not only biodegradable but also home compostable, meaning it does not need to be broken down via chemical reaction in an industrial facility.
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