Sunday, July 25, 2021

This is the third picture of a series of the Licorne thermonuclear test in French Polynesia. This is a scan of a (digitally restored) hard copy of a picture taken by the French army. Photo and caption by Flickr user Pierre J. (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

More than 1,000 people gathered in the Tahiti capital of Papeete to condemn the failure of the French government to take full accountability for its nuclear testing program in the South Pacific.

France conducted 193 nuclear tests from 1966–1996 in Mā’ohi Nui (French Polynesia). France's 41st nuclear experiment in the Pacific led to catastrophe on July 17, 1974, when France tested a nuclear bomb codenamed “Centaure.” Because of weather conditions that day, the test caused an atmospheric radioactive fallout which affected all of French Polynesia. Inhabitants of Tahiti and the surrounding islands of the Windward group were reportedly subjected to significant amounts of ionizing radiation 42 hours after the test, which can cause significant long-term health problems.

The July 17, 2021 protest was organized under the banner of #MaohiLivesMatter to highlight the continuing fight for nuclear justice. Campaigners said that despite the statement of former French President François Hollande in 2016 recognizing the negative environmental and health impact of the nuclear tests, the French government has done little to provide compensation or rehabilitation to French Polynesia.

After analyzing 2,000 pages of declassified French military documents about the nuclear tests, in March 2021 a group of researchers and investigative journalists from INTERPRT and Disclose released their findings on the health implications of the experiments.

According to our calculations, based on a scientific reassessment of the doses received, approximately 110,000 people were infected, almost the entire Polynesian population at the time.

The report has revived public awareness in France about the impact of their nuclear testing program. The French government held a roundtable discussion about the issue in Paris in early July. Though some criticized the French government for their alleged lack of transparency around the clean-up efforts in French Polynesia, officials denied these claims.

Protesters in Tahiti insisted that the French government should do more to address the demands of French Polynesian residents. Some noted that if French President Emmanuel Macron was able to seek forgiveness for the role of France in enabling the Rwanda genocide in 1994, he should at least make a similar apology for the harmful legacy of the nuclear tests in the Pacific.

The #MaohiLivesMatter protest has inspired solidarity in the Pacific.

Community leaders of West Papua expressed their support for the protest:

Youth activists from Pacific island nations also took part in the protest:

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons (ICAN) Australia issued this statement of support:

As you gather in Maohi Nui on the 17th July we offer our deep respects to your leaders and community members who have long spoken out against the harms imposed by these weapons. We have heard your calls for nuclear justice. We continue to listen closely when you speak of the lived experience of the testing years and the on–going harms.

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to tackle the legacy of nuclear testing during his visit to Tahiti this month.

Macron to discuss legacy of nuclear tests in

French Polynesia

Issued on: 25/07/2021 -

President Emmanuel Macron (C) is making his first official trip to French Polynesia Ludovic MARIN AFP

Papeete (AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron was greeted with flower garlands and Tahitian dancers on the tarmac as he touched down Saturday night for his first official trip to French Polynesia.

While in the South Pacific territory, he plans to discuss its strategic role, the legacy of nuclear tests and the existential risk of rising seas posed by global warming.

Residents in the sprawling archipelago of more than 100 islands located midway between Mexico and Australia are hoping Macron confirms compensation for radiation victims following decades of nuclear testing as France pursued atomic weapons.

The tests remain a source of deep resentment, seen as evidence of racist colonial attitudes that disregarded the lives of islanders.

"During this visit, the president intends to establish a strong and transparent dialogue by encouraging several concrete steps, on the history with the opening of state archives as well as individual compensation," said a French presidential official, who asked not to be named.

French officials denied any cover-up of radiation exposure at a meeting earlier this month with delegates from the semi-autonomous territory led by President Edouard Fritch.

The meeting came after the investigative website Disclose reported in March that the impact from the fallout was far more extensive than authorities had acknowledged, citing declassified French military documents on the nearly 200 tests.#photo1

Only 63 Polynesian civilians have been compensated for radiation exposure since the tests ended in 1996, Disclose said.

Macron, who arrived in the South Pacific after a visit to the Olympic Games in Tokyo, will also lay out his strategic vision for the strategically valuable territory, where China has made no secret of its push for military and commercial dominance.

One of three French territories in the Pacific, French Polynesia has a population of around 280,000 over a huge swath of island groups spanning an area comparable in size to Western Europe.

Tahiti is the most densely populated of the islands.

Macron "will present the Indo-Pacific strategy and the position France intends to maintain in this increasingly polarised zone", the Elysee official said.

Macron also plans to address risks for the islands from rising sea levels as well as cyclones that some scientists warn could become more dangerous due to climate change.

But his first visit will be with hospital workers racing to combat rising Covid-19 cases with vaccines.

Many Polynesians remain wary of the jabs, with just 29 percent of adults vaccinated, compared with almost 49 percent across France nationwide.

© 2021 AFP

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2006/07/blogger-freedom-in-southern-world.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2021/07/reparations-now-france-owes-french.html

LETS NOT FORGET FRANCE'S WAR ON GREENPEACE FOR PROTESTING NUCLEAR TESTING IN POLNESIA

Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior

The sinking of Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Opération Satanique, was a bombing operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure (DGSE), carried out on 10 July 1985. During the operation, two operatives sank the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, Rainbow Warrior, at the Port of Auckland in New Zealand on her way to a protest against a planned French nuclear test in Moruroa. Fernando Pereira, a photographer, drowned on the sinking ship.

Wikipedia · Text under CC-BY-SA license

The Day French Secret Agents Bombed a Greenpeace Ship

https://brand-yourself-better.medium.com/the-day-french-secret-agents...

2021-05-19 · In 1985, French secret service agents planted two bombs and sank the Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior. Docked in Auckland, New Zealand, Greenpeace was preparing for …

Author: Daniel Hopper

Dalai Lama's Senior Advisors, Tibetan Officials Listed in Leaked Pegasus Scandal

Tenzin Gyatso, known as the 14th Dalai Lama.

Dalai Lama's Senior Advisors, Tibetan Officials Listed in Leaked Pegasus Scandal

INDIA

19:29 GMT 22.07.2021Get short URL

by Sangeeta Yad

Around 50,000 people including politicians, diplomats, activists and journalists across the globe have reportedly been snooped on by governments using spyware programme Pegasus, made by an Israeli firm NSO Group that hacks phones. NSO Group claimed that the programme was only sold to governments to prevent crime and terrorist attacks.

In yet another shocking revelation, top advisers to the Tibetan religious leader and laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Dalai Lama, including New Delhi envoy Tempa Tsering and senior aides Tenzin Taklha and Chhimey Rigzen, have reportedly been targeted by the Indian government through the Israeli spy malware Pegasus, which hacks cell phones and extract calls, messages, and location of the user.

A report published in the British newspaper The Guardian also revealed that the mobile phone of Samdhong Rinpoche, the head of the trust that has been tasked with overseeing the selection of the Buddhist leader’s successor, was also chosen by the government for snooping.

Since the Dalai Lama, who has spent the past 18 months isolating in his compound in Dharamsala, India, isn't known to carry a personal phone, these senior advisers reportedly became the main targets of the Pegasus spy malware.

TIFA BIT MOHAMMED BIN RASHID AL MA

"Other phone numbers apparently selected from Delhi were those of the exiled government president Lobsang Sangay, the office staff of another Buddhist spiritual leader Gyalwang Karmapa, and several others activists and religious who are part of the community in exile in India,” the report said.

Traces of Pegasus were found on 37 of the 67 phones in the data that were analysed by Amnesty International’s security lab. Of the 48 iPhones examined that had not been reset or replaced since they appeared in the records, 33 carried traces of Pegasus or signs of attempted infection.

The data may provide a glimpse at the relationship between Tibet’s exiles and the Indian government, which has provided refuge for the movement since its leaders fled a Chinese crackdown in 1959.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Code_on_computer_monitor_(Unsplash).jpg

Days after a global investigation titled the Pegasus Project exposed how an intrusive software, called Pegasus, was used to target journalists, rights defenders, activists, and political leaders across the world, one country that utilized this technology has remained quiet. Authorities in Azerbaijan have so far refrained from making any statements about its surveillance policies or ties to the Israeli surveillance company that sells Pegasus software, NSO Group. According to leaked data, around 1,000 phone numbers belonging to users in Azerbaijan were identified — among them, prominent journalists, editors, rights defenders, lawyers, and political activists, as well as their friends and family members.

Pegasus Project

A successful Pegasus infection gives NSO customers access to all data stored on the device. An attack on a journalist could expose a reporter’s confidential sources as well as allowing NSO’s government client to read their chat messages, harvest their address book, listen to their calls, track their precise movements and even record their conversations by activating the device’s microphone.
Pegasus infections can be achieved through so-called “zero-click” attacks, which do not require any interaction from the phone’s owner in order to succeed.

For months Paris-based journalism non-profit Forbidden Stories, Amnesty International Security Lab, and more than 80 journalists from 17 media outlets collaborated to establish the identities of those targeted by the intrusive NSO software after leaked data revealed that some 50,000 phone numbers across 50 countries were potentially targeted. So far, the groups have established where Pegasus was put to use: Bahrain, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates; and have identified 14 world leaders plus 180 journalists, editors, and freelancers who were targeted.

Not all of the 50,000 numbers were subject to an attempted or successful hack. And in the absence of a forensic examination, it is impossible to tell whether a device was hacked. Amnesty International Security Lab was able to carry out forensic examinations on 67 phones so far, out of which 37 showed signs of Pegasus.

The NSO Group

NSO Group insists that it sells its software only to governments, suggesting that the clients in these countries represent intelligence services, law enforcement agencies, or other official bodies.

NSO Group was set up in Israel in 2010 by Niv Carmi, Shalev Hulio, and Omri Lavie. On its website, the company claims to develop technology “to prevent and investigate terror and crime” but the surveillance technology appears to have been used against dissidents, journalists, and activists across the world. Citizen Lab investigations reveal that NSO's Pegasus was used against dissidents at least since 2016 in numerous countries.

In 2019, the company came under fire when accusations emerged that it was infecting users’ devices with malware by hacking WhatsApp. In response, WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook sued the NSO Group. In July 2020, a U.S. federal court judge ruled that the lawsuit against NSO Group can proceed despite the company's defense that “its business dealings with foreign governments, granted it immunity from lawsuits filed in U.S. courts under the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act (FSIA).” In December 2020, Microsoft, Google, Internet Association, GitHub, and LinkedIn joined as parties in Facebook's ongoing legal battle against NSO. The most recent hearing took place in April 2021 and according to Politico the NSO Group appeared “unlikely to prevail.” Josh Gerstein, Politico's Senior Legal Affairs Reporter noted:

Even if the firm’s effort to head off the suit fails, it could continue to fight the case in the trial court, but will likely be forced to turn over documents about its development of Pegasus and make executives available for depositions.

In April of this year, nine international human rights and press freedom organizations penned a letter to Chaim Gelfand, Vice-President for Compliance at NSO Group, asking the company “to deliver on its commitments to improve transparency about sales of its advanced spyware, and due diligence to protect human rights.” The letter also rejected the NSO Group's claims “of their unverified compliance with human rights standards.”

Ron Deibert, Director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, considers NSO's claims that they adhere to human rights standards as “pure theater.”

The spectacle might be a mildly entertaining farce were it not for the very real and gruesome way in which its spyware is abused by the world’s worst autocrats. NSO’s irresponsible actions have proven their words are nothing more than hand-waving distractions from the harsh reality of the unregulated marketplace in which they, and their owners, thrive and profit.

Two years ago, the then-UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, David Kaye, called for a moratorium on the sale of NSO-style spyware to governments until viable export controls could be put in place. Despite his warnings, the sale of surveillance software continued without any transparency or accountability.

The most recent investigation not only brings the company to the spotlight but also highlights the importance of control mechanisms imposed on spyware companies.

Azerbaijan chapter

According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which was among the 17 media partners involved in the global Pegasus investigation, out of the 1,000 phone numbers from Azerbaijan, the project researchers were so far able to identify 245 phone numbers that were targeted, a fifth of which belonged to reporters, editors, or media company owners. The list also includes activists and their family members.

Meydan TV, a Berlin-based online news platform, spoke with some of the targeted community members. “Anyone who is engaged in civil society work in Azerbaijan is aware they are under surveillance. But this program is a spyware. And its capabilities such as turning on microphone and camera, while in an intimate setting with friends or family members, without the owner's awareness, is a direct violation of privacy,” said Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, a political activist.

Among the dissident family members targeted by the spyware is Shura Amiraslanova, the mother of former political prisoner Giyas Ibrahimov, known as one of the “graffiti prisoners” who was jailed after spraying graffiti on the statue of the former Azerbaijan President Heydar Aliyev and later sentenced to ten years in jail on questionable drug possession charges. “I guess they thought that if I fully stand behind my son, I should be watched too. But why? What can I do?” said Amiraslanova in an interview with Meydan TV.

Speaking to Azerbaijan Service for Radio Free Europe, Elshad Hajiyev, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior Affairs, dismissed the investigation as “baseless” assuring that “the ministry is willing to investigate any allegations upon request.”

In the meantime, the NSO Group denies all of the accusations, “the report by Forbidden Stories is full of wrong assumptions and uncorroborated theories that raise serious doubts about the reliability and interests of the sources,” read a company statement published on its website. In another statement issued on July 21, 2021, the group said, “enough was enough,” and that it will no longer respond to media queries, participating in “the vicious and slanderous campaign.”

Global phone hacks expose darker side of Israel's 'startup nation' image

By Hadas Gold, CNN Business
Updated Sun July 25, 2021

See how 17 news outlets are coming together to expose Pegasus spyware 02:12

Jerusalem (CNN)Audacious Mossad spy operations around the world. The plucky "startup nation" home to reams of billion-dollar ideas. These are two drivers of Israel's image abroad that its political and business leaders have long been happy to push.
That slick image appears to have taken a hit with new reports that once again Israeli-founded technology, like the Pegasus software from the firm NSO, has been used by governments around the world to allegedly hack the cellphones of human rights activists, journalists and others.

NSO and its defenders say its software is meant only to catch terrorists and other criminals, saying it regularly saves lives and operates under strict export controls.
The company says it doesn't control what its clients do with the software, but follows Israeli laws on exporting military-grade technology, is selective in vetting its customers and cuts off access if it discovers misuse.

But the recent revelations by an international consortium of media and human rights groups about Pegasus, have thrown the spotlight back on both the company and Israel. Now, as many consider the morality and legality of such programs, there are calls from both inside Israel as well as in the international community about how better to regulate the cyber-espionage market.

A perfect marriage of spycraft and technology

Israel's dominance in the cybersecurity field did not occur in a vacuum. The country's intelligence and covert operations divisions, especially its Mossad security force, have long had a storied reputation for engaging in cunning, daring and ruthless espionage, burnished by Hollywood depictions.

As Israel's prominence as a hub of technological innovation and startup grew, the two areas converged to give the tiny country an outsized influence in the cybersecurity industry.

The country's well-resourced education system, plus the compulsory military service, brings scores of young Israelis into high-level training in cybersecurity and cyberwarfare before many of them even go to university, according to Tal Pavel, Head of Cybersecurity studies at The Academic College of Tel-Aviv Yaffo. Much of the country's most cutting-edge technology has its roots in military development, Pavel noted.

Daughter of detained man behind 'Hotel Rwanda' says she was spied on by Israeli software

One of the most elite units of the Israel Defense Forces is the secretive Unit 8200, the cyber spy agency that has produced some of the country's biggest tech super stars.
"One of the unique things in Israel, is the 'cynergy,' the bringing together of cyber and synergy between industries," Pavel told CNN, before alluding to a characteristic he says is perhaps rooted in the Israeli psyche.
"There is also something here ... maybe there is also the struggle to survive. If everything is happy and you're not constantly trying to survive (against people trying to destroy you), you don't have to innovate, to cope."

NSO fallout
NSO was founded in 2009, but it wasn't until 2016 that the power of NSO's technology came under scrutiny.
It was in that year that reports emerged that Emirati human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor received suspicious text messages with links, that researchers at Citizen Lab in the University of Toronto revealed contained malware from NSO that would have hacked his iPhone. (In 2018 Mansoor was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "damaging the reputation" of the UAE on social media.)

Pegasus Project: Why 17 news outlets are working together to cover spyware on a mass scale

Pegasus software was also allegedly connected to the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi via fellow dissident Omar Abdulaziz, whose phone was allegedly hacked through Pegasus software. Abdulaziz sued NSO in 2019, accusing the company of violating international law by selling the software to oppressive regimes. Early last year an Israeli judged rejected NSO's request to dismiss the lawsuit, which NSO had argued was lacking "good faith," according to The Guardian. NSO has repeatedly denied its software was used to monitor Khashoggi or his family.

The recent investigation by the international media and human rights consortium found evidence of Pegasus software on 37 phones belonging to people who, based on the company's own description of the software's purpose, shouldn't have been targets of NSO software, like journalists and human rights activists.

CNN has not independently verified the findings of that investigation, named Pegasus Project, which was organized by Forbidden Stories. In a statement to CNN, NSO strongly denied the investigation's findings saying it found fault with many of its assertions.
As a result, countries like France have announced probes into the use of the technology, while Amazon announced they had "shut down the relevant infrastructure and accounts" linked to NSO that used Amazon services.

Tip of the iceberg

NSO is simply one part of a vast industry of cyber espionage, according to Israel Bachar, a strategy and communications consultant who has worked with many of Israel's top political leaders, including former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and current Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

"Let's be honest, intelligence is being gathered by states against each other constantly. Everyone spies on everyone. And when it comes to an Israeli company there's a lot of hypocrisy," Bachar said, pointing to previous revelations about the US National Security Agency spying on world leaders and its own citizens. "NSO is another tool but there are many other tools."

Amazon Web Services disables cloud accounts linked to NSO Group

Beyond its actual capabilities, companies like NSO also help Israel diplomatically, Bachar said, as Israel has for years quietly, and now publicly, cultivated relationships with former adversaries.

"One of the tools that Israel uses diplomatically is its ability in intelligence. It's not a secret that Israel is sharing sensitive intelligence even with Arab countries because we have an interest in protecting them," Bachar said.

But Professor Yuval Shany, chair of the public international law department at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, says the tactic is starting to backfire on Israel's image.
"The logic is Israel may be willing to turn a blind eye to transactions that are conducted with friendly regimes in the sense that they are friendly to Israel but not necessarily friendly to human rights," Shany said. "I think this recent scandal, which is quite embarrassing both for NSO but also for Israel, would lead at least in the short run to some tightening of export controls standards."

How to control the uncontrollable

Unlike conventional weapons, software is often intangible and can easily be sold and transferred across the globe, making attempts to control technology like the Pegasus system difficult.

NSO and similar military-grade technology is regulated by an export control structure within Israel's Ministry of Defense, Shany said. This system looks both at the technology and the target; which entity -- either state or non-state -- is purchasing this technology including its human rights record, he added. But, Shany said, looking at the allegations around NSO's Pegasus software, "the results are not impressive, it's quite concerning."

In response to the most recent allegations around NSO technology, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said they are "studying" the claims, while an interministerial team has been appointed to look into the current process and whether Israeli-made technology was being misused abroad, according to Reuters.

Just spyware? It's a potential 'cyberweapon' 14:36

A quick fix, Shany said, would be for Israel to formally sign onto the Wassenaar Arrangement between 42 countries, which tries to bring transparency to the export of military and dual-use technology and attempts to prevent such technology from being acquired by dangerous elements. Shany said Israel currently adheres to the agreement but is not a formal member.

But the most important reforms to help controlling such technology will come from within, said Karine Nahon, a professor at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and President of the Israel Internet Association.

"If Israel doesn't export it someone else would, if you don't give those engineers and startup licenses and provide a kind of supervision nothing stops them from moving to another country and selling it from there," she said.

Nahone is calling for the ethical consideration and the possibility such technology will be exploited to become a more significant part an export decision. And, she suggested, the companies should place more limitations on the software's use and have more oversight into how their clients are using the software -- something NSO says it has little control over.
"NSO does not operate the system and has no visibility to the data," the company said in a statement last week, saying it will continue to investigate "all credible claims of misuse and take appropriate action based on the results" of such investigations.

WhatsApp sues Israeli company over cyberattack that it says targeted journalists, dissidents and diplomats

"It makes it more complicated in terms of the responsibility of these companies and Israel but on the other hand it might minimize the number of countries this software is being exported to," Nahone said.

Even though it may seem like NSO and Israel's image is being dragged through the mud for its connection to such alarming surveillance, Bachar said overall it could have a positive effect for those who want to continue burnishing Israel as a leader in advanced technology and intelligence operations.

"I think sometimes people come to curse and the outcome is there is a blessing because what happened at the end of the day, people remember that the best technology is Israeli technology, NSO," Bachar said. "That's what people three months from now will remember."

WATCH: Angry constituent curses out Rand Paul during town hall meeting

Bob Brigham
July 23, 202

Rand Paul on Fox News (screengrab).

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) faced off against an angry constituent during a virtual town hall meeting broadcast on TikTok.

A staffer who was moderating the event introduced a woman who had called in to the meeting.

"You are live with the senator, you can go ahead and ask your question," the staffer said.

"Hi senator, I am a proud Kentucky citizen and I just wanted to tell you get f*cked," she said.

Paul is being challenged by former Kentucky state legislator Charles Booker in the 2022 election.

S. African women risk assault to reach work as taxi violence surges

by Kim Harrisberg | @KimHarrisberg | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Friday, 23 July 2021 15:58 GMT

Activists say women are particularly vulnerable in a country where a sexual offence is committed every 10 minutes

* Violence between taxi firms has left thousands stranded

* Women are at risk walking long distances to and from work

* Activists have called for more police and community engagement

JOHANNESBURG, July 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - South African language tutor Debbie Odumuko has already survived a shootout in a grocery store since fighting between rival taxi drivers resurfaced in Cape Town in early July.

But walking alone at night alongside the highway to get home now that most taxis have stopped running has left her equally terrified of being assaulted.

Getting to and from work has become risky for Odumuko, 49, but the thought of staying home and not being able to feed her four children kept her up at night as she lay in bed listening to gunshots fired between taxi gangs.

"I feel overwhelmed and angry ... I fear for my safety, but I have to put bread on the table," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on the phone.

Odumuko is one of thousands whose lives have been impacted by a recent spate of violence in South Africa's Western Cape province, fuelled by repeated territorial disputes between different taxi associations.

In South Africa, informal minibus taxis complete about 15 million trips daily, according to government data, a service that commuters say is marred by harassment and high risk of accidents.

Research shows that in Sub-Saharan Africa "transport poverty" - when inaccessible transport negatively impacts a person's quality of life - disproportionately affects women and girls in terms of harassment and getting to school and work.

During this recent bout of taxi violence around the Western Cape, activists say women are particularly at risk in a country where police statistics show a sexual offence is committed every 10 minutes.

"I know of women walking up to 50 km through the night, or in the rain, to get to work. If they don't go, they bear the brunt of having to look in the eyes of hungry children," said Joanie Fredericks, a local women's rights activist.

At least 83 people have been killed since January in the intermittent clashes, according to the province's Department of Transport and Public Works.

The government has said it will close the contested taxi route for two months starting Monday and has upped security and the number of buses to try to control the violence.

"This is not only about a taxi route, this really speaks to the core of our community's struggle to feel safe," said Fredericks, who also runs a women-only taxi service from the gang-ridden Cape Flats of the Western Cape.

DIVIDED CITIES

Apartheid spatial planning that physically divided cities according to racial groups left many Black and mixed-race South Africans on the outskirts of town and far from economic opportunities.

"Because of this distance from townships to the city centre, some women are walking to their places of work and then try to find a place to sleep there - but what about their children? Who protects them?" asked Fredericks.

Odumuko said she usually wakes up at 4am to find transport to cover her 50-km commute and get to work by 8am, moving between taxi and bus ranks to find the quickest available ride.

"I wish my colleagues could see what I go through just to get to work on time," she said.

Community activism groups have called for increased police presence and emergency accommodation for those stranded by the violence, and asked the local government to engage with communities impacted by the transport breakdown.

"We can no longer be held hostage by a criminal few who ... threaten both the lives and livelihoods of our residents," said Daylin Mitchell, provincial minister of transport and public works, in a statement announcing the route closure on Friday.

For now, Odumuko says her options are limited.

The coronavirus pandemic has decimated South Africa's economy, with the first total lockdown in 2020 causing 3 million job losses within months, with women in the informal sector hit particularly hard.

"I feel traumatised from all the violence, but what can I do? We need to get our children to school, to feed them. We are trying to survive," Odumuko said. (Reporting by Kim Harrisberg @KimHarrisberg; Editing by Jumana Farouky. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Nurses’ pay in England to fall 7% in a decade even after government offer

Latest NHS salary plan fails to offset past drop, as teachers and police furious at wage freeze

NHS staff, trade union members and health campaigners protest about pay on July 20 in Whitehall. Photograph: Barcroft Media/Getty

Toby Helm
Sun 25 Jul 2021

THE GUARDIAN

Pay for nurses and other NHS staff in England will have fallen in real terms by more than 7% since 2010, even if they accept the latest offer from the government, according to new analysis that will fuel rising anger about public sector pay deals.

Figures produced by the TUC show that remuneration for nurses, community nurses, medical secretaries, speech therapists, physiotherapists, paramedics and radiographers will have dropped by between 7.3% and 7.6% in real terms in just over a decade, even after factoring in the 3% rise offered last week.

The Royal College of Nursing, which represents 450,000 nurses, is to consult its members next month for their views on the offer and, if they are overwhelmingly negative, may proceed to an “indicative ballot”, opening up the possibility of some form of industrial action. A senior RCN source said that while this was a remote possibility, it was “not completely off the table”.

The 3% offer for NHS workers was an improvement on an initial figure of just 1% submitted by ministers to the NHS pay review body. But it still caused dismay among many workers who believe their role in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic deserves more.

Last week, unions representing teachers also reacted with fury after it was announced that pay for most of their members would be frozen, while the Police Federation of England and Wales said it no longer had confidence in the home secretary, Priti Patel, after she announced their pay would also be frozen.

The issue of public-sector pay is now building into a political headache for the government, as ministers face up to the huge costs of the pandemic, and look for savings across departmental budgets.

The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, told the Observer: “It’s easy to understand the anger from NHS staff when you see what’s been done to their pay. It’s not just about the 3% – it’s the way their wages have been held back year after year.

“All our key workers deserve a decent standard of living for their family. But too often their hard work does not pay. And after the hardest year of their working lives, they deserve better.

“The prime minster must follow through on his promise to ‘build back fairer’ with fair pay for all key workers. It’s not only about valuing them properly. The spending boost from pay rises will help our businesses and high streets recover faster. It’s the fuel in the tank that our economy needs.”

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) last week highlighted how the decision on teachers’ pay went back on previous pledges from ministers, and risked damaging recruitment into the profession. The IFS said: “At the last election, the Conservative party manifesto committed to increasing teacher starting salaries in England to £30,000 per year by September 2022.

Pay freeze for England’s teachers a ‘slap in the face’, say unions

“However, to ease pressure on school budgets and the public finances, the government has now announced a freeze on teacher pay levels in England for September 2021, and pushed back starting salaries of £30,000 to September 2023.

“The level of teacher pay is important. It plays a big part in determining the recruitment and retention pressures faced by schools. With the cost of employing teachers accounting for over half of school spending, what happens to salary levels also has a large bearing on the overall resource pressures faced by schools. And it is a key determinant of material living standards for over 500,000 teachers in England.”

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Following a year in which teachers and leaders have worked flat out on managing a battery of Covid control measures, as well as assessing students following the government’s decision to cancel public exams, the decision to implement a pay freeze is an absolute insult.”

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment