CLIMATE CHANGE

South Sudanese refugees homeless again after Sudan floods


Issued on: 22/09/2021 -

A South Sudanese refugee inspects a house damaged in floods in Al-Qanaa village in Sudan's southern White Nile state 

ASHRAF SHAZLY AFP

Al-Jabalain (Sudan) (AFP)

South Sudanese refugee Dawood Kour fled to Sudan to turn the page on a life of displacement, only to be forced onto the streets once more after floodwaters submerged his rickety shelter.

Kour crossed the border in November, fleeing years of conflict in his home city of Malakal -- itself prone to flooding.

South Sudan became the world's newest independent nation in 2011, seceding from Sudan. But in late 2013, it plunged into a devastating, five-year civil war that it has yet to fully recover from.

Since fleeing, Kour had lived in the Al-Qanaa camp, a growing community of around 35,000 refugees in the Al-Jabalain district of White Nile state.

But this month, Kour was displaced yet again as floodwaters inundated the camp. He moved to the nearest patch of dry land he could find -- the roadside.

The waters rose so fast that "we had no time to collect our belongings," Kour told AFP. "We only carried our children."

"We now have no food, medication or anything to fight the swarms of mosquitoes."

Over 288,000 residents and refugees have been affected in Sudan where heavy rains and flash floods have hit 13 of the 18 states, according to the United Nations.

Humanitarian needs have swelled, and been exacerbated by the disaster in neighbouring South Sudan too, where the deluge has affected and displaced about 426,000 people, the UN said.

In Sudan, thousands of refugees were relocated to different camps, while others took shelter in villages that were spared, but many are now living on the streets.

Over 288,000 residents and refugees have been affected by the heavy rains and flash floods in Sudan 

ASHRAF SHAZLY AFP/File

"They have become homeless," said Ibrahim Mohamed, a senior official at Sudan's refugee commission.

"We are facing a serious challenge of finding new land to relocate them to."

- No food, shelter –

Torrential rains pummel Sudan annually between June and October.

The downpours often leave the country grappling with severe flooding that wrecks properties, infrastructure and crops.

Last year, Sudan declared a three-month state of emergency as flooding that the UN has called the country's worst in a century left around 140 people dead and 900,000 affected.

Authorities say the floods have damaged or destroyed around 35,000 homes 

ASHRAF SHAZLY AFP

So far this year, the floods have killed more than 80 people nationwide and damaged or destroyed around 35,000 homes, according to Sudanese authorities.

In the Al-Jabalain district, neither Sudanese villagers nor the refugees were prepared for the inundation.

"Villagers say they have not witnessed such floods in 40 years," said Anwar Abushura, the head of Al-Qanaa camp.

Refugees desperately built a rudimentary dirt barrier to try to protect their shelters, Kour said.

"But the water arrived at such a fast pace, and the flood barrier collapsed within two days," he said.

Aid workers have warned of a looming outbreak of water-borne diseases among the doubly displaced refugees 

ASHRAF SHAZLY AFP/File

Many refugees had to make their way through the stagnant floodwater to salvage building materials and belongings from the collapsed shelters.

"We have no food or even rugs to sleep on," said refugee David Bedi, 45, whose shelter was engulfed.

"We just want to build roofs over our children's heads."

- 'Little chance' -

Aid workers have warned of a looming outbreak of diseases among the doubly displaced refugees.

AFP saw some people bathing in the floodwater and using it to fill drinking containers.

Al-Qanaa camp head Abushura said they were expecting a "medical disaster".

Around 150 refugees from Al-Qanaa and the nearby Al-Alagaya camp, including children, were diagnosed with malaria on Monday, according to figures compiled by Sudan's refugee commission.

Torrential rains pummel Sudan annually between June and October

 ASHRAF SHAZLY AFP/File

Darquos Manuel, 32, said food had been spoilt, "mosquitoes are eating the children and the rains continue to pour down even as we live on the streets".

"There is little chance for survival under these conditions," he said.

At Al-Alagaya camp, where many refugees were relocated, Nagwa James pointed to shelters that had buckled under the relentless torrents of water.

"We fear... we will get flooded the same way Al-Qanaa did," the South Sudanese refugee said.

Neither Sudanese villagers nor the refugees were prepared for the inundation 

ASHRAF SHAZLY AFP

Conditions were already poor, "mosquitoes are everywhere and there are a lot of infections", she added.

Mohamed Ali Abuselib, head of the camp, said refugees had been moved from low-lying areas.

But most are in the open, he added, "and we are expecting more floods".

© 2021 AFP

Missing wind variability means future impacts of climate change may be underestimated in Europe and North America

by University of Reading

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Extratropical winds have a strong influence on climate in extratropical regions, and are known to vary from decade to decade. However, their variability is currently not factored into climate models making predictions for future climates in these regions. Researchers inserted these into predictions for how extratropical climates will change by the middle of the century, and found uncertainty increased significantly, meaning unusually hot, cold, dry or wet decades are likely to be more frequent here than previously thought.

Climate models may be underestimating the impact climate change will have on the UK, North America and other extratropical regions due to a crucial missing element, new research has shown.

Scientists at the University of Reading have warned that current projections of how a warming world will affect regional temperatures and rainfall do not take into account the fact that extratropical winds—which have a strong influence on climate in the mid-latitudes—vary greatly from decade to decade.

The research team used observations of these winds over the 20th century to better represent their variability in climate model predictions of the future. They found that this made the predictions of future climate less certain in the extratropics—particularly in the North Atlantic region and particularly in winter—and that unusually hot, cold, wet or dry decades are projected to be much more likely by the middle of the century in this region than existing climate simulations suggest.

Dr. Christopher O'Reilly, a Royal Society University Research Fellow in the University of Reading's Department of Meteorology, said: "Variations between decades in the strength of winds in the more temperate regions of the world are a crucial missing ingredient in projections of the future climate of those regions.

"By adding this extra variability into climate models, we showed that these winds may be an additional source of uncertainty on top of climate change. This could mean that within these regions, temperatures are pushed to relatively extreme highs or lows more often. While in some decades they could counteract increases to temperatures and heavy rainfall caused by climate change, in other periods they could make these extremes even more extreme.

"This is yet another reminder that preparation will be crucial as we face up to more variable regional climates as an impact of climate change in the future."

The team used wind observation data from the Met Office, Copernicus Climate Data Store and NOAA, among others, to carry out their analysis and bolster the climate model predictions.

The range of temperature and rainfall most likely to occur in future decades increased by 50% across Northern Europe, Northern America and the Mediterranean—with uncertainty nearly doubling in some cases.

This strengthens previous research that suggests rainfall and temperatures that are very unlikely today will fall within the likely range in future due to climate change.

The updated projections showed that the Mediterranean would see a higher frequency of drier-than-average winters. As studies show that dry winters in this region make heatwaves in Europe more common the following summer, this has health and infrastructure implications for several countries.

The study is published in Communications Earth & Environment.Rainfall becomes increasingly variable as climate warms

More information: Projections of northern hemisphere extratropical climate underestimate internal variability and associated uncertainty, Communications Earth & Environment, DOI: 10.1038/s43247-021-00268-7

Journal information: Communications Earth & Environment 

Provided by University of Reading 

Cyclones could soon devastate Europe, warns ‘storm chaser’ climate scientist

Cyclones could soon devastate Europe. - Copyright Canva

By Inva Hasanaliaj MA Journalism • Updated: 20/09/2021 - 

Meteorologist Nadia Bloemendaal can see into the future and it’s looking rough.

For now, she models data on extreme weather in the Global South but it’s already revealing trends that could shape life in Europe in the next 50 years.

Many young people worried about the climate crisis take up activism, but Bloemendaal prefers being behind a computer screen. This is where she says she can really make a difference.

Her work combines meteorology, mathematics and physics to produce a real-world picture of our changing weather. It’s the kind of scientific evidence informing climate policy debates worldwide.

Bloemendaal developed her cyclone early-warning system for communities in the Global South, and it’s now ringing alarm bells much closer to home. Recent bouts of extreme weather in Europe could be a sign of things to come.

In July floods hit Germany and Belgium, killing at least 180 people but storm warnings allowed the Netherlands to avoid casualties. These storms were a clear signal that Europe needs to start adapting to extreme weather, setting up “..early warning systems and adequate communication … that can save lives,” says Bloemendaal.

Look at climate change as the fuel for tropical cyclones she says, and if seawater reaches a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius that’s a lot of ‘cyclone fuel’.

“Climate change is the fuel for the tropical cyclone if we are going to have water that is 30 degrees Celsius that’s a lot of fuel for tropical cyclones to keep going and keep intensifying”.

Researcher Nadia Bloemendaal working at her desk at VU University Amsterdam

Nadia Bloemendaal

The scenario is set to get worse as temperatures increase and sea levels rise in the south. The effect of this could be temperatures in northern coastal regions reaching up to 27 degrees Celsius. Based on the science she is seeing, Bloemendaal says parts of the world that don’t see tropical cyclones now, may see them in the next 30 to 50 years.

She adds that we’re already experiencing the effects of climate change in Europe, arguing that based on the scientific data she’s seeing, the world has only a couple of years to stall its progress.

“There is research out there suggesting that we are going to see more hurricane-force storms which were once tropical cyclones and have moved into Europe,” Bloemendaal warns.

The 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report underlines this. Even at a targeted 1.5 degrees Celsius level of global warming, heavy rains and flooding are likely to increase in Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America.

The IPCC report says observational data from North America, Europe and Asia signals clearly that ‘human influence’ is the key factor in driving extreme weather.

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What's it like being a 'storm chaser'?

Bloemendaal is keen to communicate her research in terms people without a scientific background can understand and has been fascinated by weather since she was a child.

“The way I got into meteorology is watching the movie Twister,” she says.

“That’s what started my interest in severe weather. That was the moment I was like, OK, I’m going to be a meteorologist. I want to be a storm chaser. I want to hunt those tornadoes.

"I want to find out more about them and I want to come up with a mechanism to basically save people from severe weather.”

Based at Amsterdam University’s Faculty of Science, Water and Climate Risk, Bloemendaal’s work is attracting a lot of attention from the wider scientific and business community.

I want to hunt those tornadoes - I want to find out more about them and I want to come up with a mechanism to basically save people from severe weather.

In the last two years, she has received prizes for her work on climate risk from Allianz and Lloyd’s. In 2020 she was part of the team awarded the Dutch Data Prize for their STORM dataset, which models tropical cyclone risk.

STORM uses historical records of all cyclone locations, adding meteorological data and current risk factors like climate change. It then models predictions of when the next tropical storm is going to hit and how intense it will be.

Rich nations like the US experience tropical cyclones and have sophisticated warning systems, but STORM is designed to be used everywhere. It can help protect people at the most basic level, by asking questions like “How big are the chances that your house is gone get hit by a tropical cyclone?” says Bloemendaal.
On the frontline of the climate crisis

For those living on the frontlines of the climate crisis, it’s only too clear cyclone warnings could save lives and livelihoods.

Kartik Chandra Mandal, 42, a farmer from Hajatkhali in Bangladesh, has twice seen his life devastated by tropical storms. In 2009 he was forced to abandon rice paddy fields which turned saline when flooded by seawater.

Mandal then had a job on a shrimp farm which was also ruined by extreme weather and ended up as a factory worker. In 2020, Cyclone Amphan swept his house away and now the family live perched precariously on a flood embankment.

Kartik Chandra Mandal, 42 years old

Rafiqul Islam Montu

“Frequent cyclones and other natural disasters make chaos of my life,” said Mandal.

“Natural disasters brought my life to zero, made me poorer, crippled me financially. I lost everything. My living expenses and debt burden increased a lot, now I make my living by borrowing.”

When Cyclone Amphan hit Sreepur in central Bangladesh, it brought saltwater flooding which left Sufia Begum’s village house underwater for the next ten months.

Begum 38, lost everything and she is certain the cause is climate change.

“We are tackling crises caused by climate change,” said Begum. ”Natural disasters have put an end to our normal livelihoods, we have to fight to make a living.”

Bangladesh has a small carbon footprint compared to other nations, including those in the Global North, but sees a much greater impact from the effects of global warming.

Sufia Begum is busy in front of the flooded house.

Rafiqul Islam Montu

Making a case for climate action

The experience of people like Begum and Mandal may feel abstract to voters in Europe. Bloemendaal’s risk modelling, however, makes a powerful real-world case for politicians here to take action.

The message is starting to filter through and young European voters have put the climate crisis firmly on their agenda. Data from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report in 2020 reveals over 72 per cent of people in the Global South are worried about climate change. But in Northern Europe, still only half this number voice concern and in the Netherlands, the figure is 5 per cent.

Dutch student Kim van Wijngaarden, 23, wants a tougher approach to the crisis from her country’s political leaders. She runs social media for Jongeren Milieu Actief or ‘Youth for Climate’ (JMA), publicising the group’s climate manifesto.

Drawn up with veteran Dutch politician and physicist Jan Terlouw alongside a group of other political youth organisations, the manifesto set out nine key actions JMA wants the government to implement. One of those was calling for a ‘green’ vote in the elections of March 2021.

With current policy, both in the Netherlands and worldwide, we are not going to stop the effects of harmful climate change.

Van Wijngaarden joined other young activists who staged a public climate debate in front of the panel of judges in a lower court in the Hague.

“I know we need to take radical action,” says Van Wijngaarden, “I want a future, a future to be happy about. With current policy, both in the Netherlands and worldwide, we are not going to stop the effects of harmful climate change.”

General elections were held in the Netherlands from 15 to 17 March 2021 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives. The winner was the current Prime Minister, Mark Rutte and his People's Party for Freedom and Democracy.

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Court action on climate change

Perhaps more effective was the court case climate activists, including JMA, brought against Royal Dutch Shell. On May 26 this year a Dutch court ruled Shell must cut its carbon emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, to meet targets set out in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

The law has become a more powerful tool than mainstream politics in the fight against global warming, says Marjan Minnesma. She is the director of the Urgenda Foundation, which recently won another court case - this time against the Dutch state.

Urgenda and 900 individual Dutch citizens sued their government to require it to do more to prevent climate change. They won the case and the Dutch state is now legally obliged to limit Greenhouse gas emissions to 25 per cent below 1990 levels, by 2020.

The bikers at the Hague 26th May 2021 after winning the case against Shell.Kim van Wijngaarden

Minnesma points to the fast reaction by political leaders to Covid-19. She’d like to see the same decisive action on climate but isn’t optimistic.

“The Coronavirus is much more tangible than CO2 emissions due to its directly measurable consequences. The link between coal-fired power plants and flooding is difficult for many people to see,” she explains.

Guided by her scientific modelling and seeing clearly the predicament her own generation faces, Bloemendaal shares this sense of urgency.

“This pandemic hopefully will be sorted out in the next year or two, but climate change is going to happen over the next 20 to 30 years,” she argues.

“If you don’t do something right now you are going to see devastating effects in the future.”

It’s not only up to young people to act she adds.

"Just because you don’t live to see it doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen."

This article is a part of a 2021 series between Euronews Green and Falmouth University.

Inva Hasanaliaj is studying for an MA in Journalism at Falmouth University. In this piece she shares how lessons learnt in the Global South could encourage Europeans to take action on climate change.

Additional sources • RAFIQUL ISLAM MONTU

 

SEAMS WORLD CULTURE TAROT

Death and rebirth : a story from Myanmar of the 37 NATS

RowenCreator

September 21, 2021

Card: Death

Artist Maitreya Lim

Country: Myanmar

The story of Maha Giri Nat and Sister Saw Meiyar Nat.

In Myanmar Nats are deities who are venerated in conjunction with Buddhism. There are 37 Great Nats as well many minor deities which may be spirits of trees, elements, or animals. Of the 37 Great Nats, they were mostly human beings who met with violent deaths and may also be call Nat Sein (“green Deities”).

Nat Deities are termed like saints and may inhabit the six heavens of Buddhism.

King Anawrahta of Bagan designated an official pantheon of 37 Nats after he had failed to enforce a ban on Nat worship. His strategy succeeded to combine Na worship with Buddism as the 37 Nats were shown worshipping Gautama Buddha and the head of the Nat, Thagyamin is a Buddhist protective deity.

For the Death card and the nature of death, we would portray the ending of one life and the beginning of another life which is the nature of Nats. The story centres on Maha Giri Nat and his sister Saw Meiyat Nat.

In his previous live, Maha Giri Nat was the son of the great U Tint Dor of Tagaung, a Master Blacksmith. He was known as Maung Tint Dei. He had great strength and was able to break the tusk of an elephant with his bare hands. He aided the villages in their work and was well liked and popular among the common folk.

On hearing about his fame, the king was afraid of the strong man and afraid that one day Maung Tint Dei would attack him and seize the throne. He tried to capture the strong man; however, due to his popularity among the common folk, he always was able to escape.

Hence the King tried another strategy. He picked Maung Tint Dei’s sister Saw Meiyar as the queen. While Saw Meiyar was in the palace, the king coxed her and told her that he wanted to give her brother a position in the palace. Believing the King’s words, Saw Meiyar invited her brother to the palace. Trusting that since his sister is the queen, he would be safe, Maung Tint Dei came to the palace. However, upon arrival at the court, the king tricked Maung Tint Dei into drinking a potion of deep sleep and had him arrested.

The king tried using various weapons and means of torture to kill Maung Tint Dei. Yet none of the weapons were able to harm him. In desperation, the king tied Maung Tint dei to a Sagawa tree and set him on fire.

The queen was kept in the dark while all this was happening until the day she saw her brother being tied to the tree and set on fire. She abruptly jumped into the fire and died together with her beloved brother.

In that instance both sister and brother became Nats and their abode was the Sagawa tree. Thereafter, any creature which came under the tree would die in a bad way. Thinking the tree to be cursed, the king dug up the tree by the roots and floated it down the river Ayarwaddy.

The Tree came to rest at the kingdom of Bagan. The two Nat spirits of Maha Giri Nat and Saw Meiyar Nat appeared in a dream to the king of Bagan. They promised to watch over the king and fulfill his wishes and bring prosperity to his kingdom if he would provide a shrine for them.

The King agreed and picked up the Sagawa tree from the water and requested a master sculptor to use the wood from the tree and make statutes of the brother and sister. Thereafter he held a grand gala celebration of Nat worship at Mount Poppa every year.

In addition, the King of Bagan led an army and defeated the king who murdered Maha Giri and Saw meiyar Nat. in the battle both brother and sister Nat aided the king of Bagan and his troops.

Mount Poppa being a holy mountain called Maha Giri.

Maha Giri is the Domestic lord of house hold issues and Nat Saw meiyar was the lord of the great mountain

AFTER BLACK SEPTEMBER CARLOS THE JACKAL BECAME IMPERIALISM'S GO TO TERRORIST BAD GUY 

Carlos the Jackal seeks shorter jail term at French trial

Issued on: 22/09/2021 - 

The 71-year-old Venezuelan militant, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, has been behind bars in France sinc e 1994 

STAFF, JACK GUEZ, Bertrand GUAY AFP/File


Paris (AFP)

Carlos the Jackal, who was behind some of the biggest terror attacks of the 1970s and 1980s, will attempt to have one of his three life sentences cut at a trial starting Wednesday in Paris.

The 71-year-old Venezuelan militant, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, has been behind bars in France since his arrest in Sudan in 1994 after two decades on the run.

"I am a professional revolutionary; revolution is my job," the left-winger who fought alongside radicalised Palestinians, Germany's Red Army Faction and the Japanese Red Army, told a French appeals court in 2018.

A year earlier, a lower court had given him a third life sentence over a grenade attack at a store in the French capital in 1974 that killed two people and injured 34 others.

In 2019, France's top court of appeal upheld his murder conviction but ordered a new trial to reconsider his sentence, saying that he should not have been convicted of both carrying and using a grenade because it amounted to being convicted twice of the same offence.

The trial is scheduled to last three days.

Carlos has always denied responsibility for the attack at the Publicis Drugstore at Saint-Germain-des-Pres in the heart of Paris's Left Bank.

No DNA evidence or fingerprints were found after the bombing but a former comrade-in-arms linked Carlos to the attack, which investigators believe was designed to pressure France into freeing a jailed Japanese militant.

Carlos is also serving life sentences over the 1975 murders of two French policemen and a police informer as well as for a series of bombings in Paris and Marseille in 1982 and 1983, which killed a total of 11 people and left dozens injured.

He became one of the world's most-wanted men after leading a brazen attack on a meeting of the OPEC oil cartel in Vienna in 1975.

Carlos and five other gunmen took 11 oil ministers and dozens of others hostage.

Three people were killed before Austrian authorities agreed to supply Carlos with a plane to fly him and his team to Algiers with around 40 hostages who were later released in return for a hefty ransom.

© 2021 AFP

Carlos the Jackal - Wikipedia

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

• Overview
• Biography
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Ilich Ramírez Sánchez , also known as Carlos the Jackal (Spanish: Carlos el Chacal), is a native Venezuelan convicted of terrorist crimes, and currently serving a life sentence in France for the 1975 murder of an informant for the French government and two French counterintelligence agents. While in prison he was further convicted of attacks in France that killed 11 and injured 150 people and sentenced to an additional life term in 2011, and then to a third life term in 2017.

Wikipedia · Text under CC-BY-SA license

The Day of the Jackal (1973) - IMDb

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069947

1973-07-30 · The Day of the Jackal: Directed by Fred Zinnemann. With Edward Fox, Terence Alexander, Michel Auclair, Alan Badel. A professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" plots to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France.

• 7.8/10

  (39K)

• Director: 

1. The Jackal (1997 film) - Wikipedia

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jackal_(1997_film)
   • Overview
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   The Jackal is a 1997 American political action thriller film directed by Michael Caton-Jones, and starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, and Sidney Poitier. The film involves the hunt for a paid assassin. It is a loose remake of the 1973 film The Day of the Jackal, which starred Edward Fox and was based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Frederick Forsyth. Although the film earned mostly negative reviews from critics, it w…

   Wikipedia · Text under CC-BY-SA license

2. Carlos (TV Mini Series 2010) - IMDb

   https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1321865

   2010-10-11 · Carlos: With Edgar Ramírez, Alexander Scheer, Fadi Abi Samra, Lamia Ahmed. The story of Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, who founded a worldwide terrorist organization and raided the 1975 OPEC meeting.

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Leon Trotsky: Why Marxists Oppose Individual Terrorism (1911)

https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1911/11/tia09.htm

2006-12-17 · Leon Trotsky Why Marxists Oppose Individual Terrorism (November 1911) ... Our class enemies are in the habit of complaining about our terrorism. What they mean by this is rather unclear. They would like to label all the activities of the proletariat directed against the class enemy’s interests as terrorism. The strike, in their eyes, is the ...

Leon Trotsky: Terrorism and Communism (Chapter 4)

https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1920/terrcomm/ch04.htm

Terrorism. T he chief theme of Kautsky’s book is terrorism. The view that terrorism is of the essence of revolution Kautsky proclaims to be a widespread delusion. It is untrue that he who desires revolution must put up with terrorism. As far as he, Kautsky, is concerned, he is, generally speaking, for revolution, but decidedly against terrorism.

THE REAL FAST & FURIOUS
'Joe Ferrari' case lifts lid on Thai police corruption

Issued on: 22/09/2021 - 

The case of 'Joe Ferrari' has spotlighted police corruption that experts say infects almost every level of society in Thailand 

Krit Phromsakla Na SAKOLNAKORN THAI NEWS PIX/AFP

Bangkok (AFP)

A flashy cop with a taste for fast cars falls from grace following the leak of spine-chilling footage of a brutal interrogation gone wrong.

Not the plot of a blockbuster thriller, but the vivid reality of a story that has gripped Thailand in recent weeks and spotlighted police corruption that experts say infects almost every level of society in the kingdom.

The case of Thitisan Utthanaphon, a former police station chief in a rural province -- nicknamed "Joe Ferrari" for his extravagant lifestyle -- has fired up calls for reform.

The 41-year-old stands accused of murder, abuse of power and other offences after a drug suspect was suffocated with six plastic bags wrapped around his head in an alleged attempt to extort about $60,000.

The incident was initially hushed up and recorded as an amphetamine overdose until a lawyer revealed the cause of death in a Facebook post.

In a move typical of the networks of patronage that critics say underpin systemic corruption, Thitisan was then transferred to a regional police bureau in a nearby province -- commanded by the father of his television-presenter girlfriend.

But worse was to come for him: another lawyer released a chilling video leaked by a junior policeman that appeared to show Thitisan suffocating the handcuffed suspect while other officers held him down.

The footage went viral, shocking the kingdom and prompting police to arrest Thitisan and several other officers.

Thitisan denies all the charges against him.

Sittra Biabungkerd, the lawyer who released the video, told AFP he did it to stop police "helping each other to get away" with murder.

"Many people may think that interrogating suspects using black plastic bags no longer goes on because times have changed," he said.

"But this case shows that in reality it still goes on in secret."

- Flash cop, fast cars -

Revelations about Thitisan's wealthy lifestyle and a string of celebrity relationships made headlines after his arrest.

Investigators told local media he owned a luxury mansion in Bangkok, a fleet of 42 top-end cars including a $1.5 million Lamborghini Aventador and had a personal fortune estimated at $18 million -- all on a police superintendent's salary of around $1,300 a month.

Activist Srisuwan Janya told AFP the anti-money laundering authority has been asked to investigate Thitisan's wealth.

In a press conference last month, Thitisan Utthanaphon answered questions from the media over a mobile phone held up to a microphone 

Krit Phromsakla Na SAKOLNAKORN THAI NEWS PIX/AFP

"It is impossible that a man with some 40,000-baht salary can have 40 cars including luxury cars," Srisuwan said.

Some of Thitisan's substantial wealth came from auctioning hundreds of imported luxury cars seized by Thai customs, according to senior officers quoted in local media.

Investigators are due to hand over their findings to the National Anti-Corruption Commission on September 24 before deciding whether to forward the case to the state prosecutor.

- Uphill reform -

After taking power as army chief in a 2014 coup, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha vowed to eradicate corruption.

Seven years on, the Joe Ferrari case shows how little has been achieved in stamping out police malpractice, and observers hold out little hope of serious change.

Reform has been a "spectacular failure" because those connected to the top are shielded by "protection and favouritism" and whistleblowers are punished or silenced, said analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University.

In an attempt to kickstart police reform, the government approved a draft amendment to the National Police Act early this year.

But the draft remains under deliberation in parliament, moving at a snail's pace as committee members -- some of them former policemen -- haggle over the details.

Since the Prayut administration depends on police support, it is careful about reform, said lecturer Paul Chambers of Naresuan University.

"The only change which the Joe Ferrari case will likely spur is that rogue cops take greater care to hide the illegal activities in which they engage," Chambers told AFP, pointing to repeated past efforts to reform the police.

"None have worked and none are likely to anytime soon."

Royal Thai Police Chief Suwat Jangyodsuk has blamed the current scandal on "one bad apple".

But public trust in the khaki-uniformed police force has long been eroded.

Almost every Thai entrepreneur, whether their business is legal or not, is familiar with paying local police just to operate -- from motorcycle taxi riders and street food hawkers to brothel owners and drug traffickers.

Footage that appeared to show Thitisan Utthanaphon suffocating a handcuffed suspect went viral, prompting his arrest

 Krit Phromsakla Na SAKOLNAKORN THAI NEWS PIX/AFP

Nearly half of Thais said they had paid bribes to the police in the previous 12 months, according to a study by Transparency International published in November 2020.

And Thailand's economic crisis, fuelled by the pandemic, has only made corruption worse, with police given more power to enforce Covid-related laws.

Thailand has lost 19 places in Transparency International's corruption ranking since 2014, and now stands 104th out of 180 countries.

© 2021 AFP

Indigenous Mexicans find little cheer in independence bicentennial

Issued on: 22/09/2021

Mexican woman from the Otomi indigenous community are seen in the occupied National Institute of Indigenous Peoples building in Mexico City

 PEDRO PARDO AFP

Mexico City (AFP)

Two centuries after their country won independence from Spain, indigenous Mexicans like Fidel Flores say that poverty, marginalization and territorial disputes mean there is little reason for them to celebrate.

Some even say that indigenous Mexicans suffer more today than during colonial times.

In the central state of Puebla, Flores and hundreds of indigenous Nahua residents last month took over a well operated by a foreign-owned bottling company they accuse of overexploitation.

The water coming up from the ground in the shadow of the majestic Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl volcanoes "is a divine gift" and not the property of a private firm, said the 74-year-old.

"Whoever tries to profit from the water will receive the punishment of the people!" a banner warns at the site, where protesters have put up barricades using car tires.

Flores said that before the "peaceful seizure" of the spring, the residents reported the case to the authorities because other wells were drying up, but they were ignored.

"We're suffering more than in colonial times," because at least then indigenous people did not have to fight to protect natural resources, he said.

Bottling company Bonafont, owned by the French group Danone, told AFP that the well's operation was not connected to the surface water sources used by the community.

- Chronic poverty -

Nearly 70 percent -- 8.4 million -- of Mexico's indigenous people live in poverty, and 28 percent are in extreme poverty, according to the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy.

That is far above the figure for the non-indigenous population, 39 percent of which lives below the poverty line and around five percent in extreme poverty, in a country of 126 million.

Members of Mexico's indigenous communities guard a bottling plant they have occupied in the central state of Puebla

 PEDRO PARDO AFP

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office in 2018 with an indigenous ceremony, has apologized for historical wrongs and emphasizes that states with large indigenous populations receive more social investment than many others.

But some communities complain that their situation has worsened due to the president's mega infrastructure projects like the Tren Maya rail link through the Yucatan Peninsula.

"It will destroy the environment, but the president is determined. Our opinion doesn't matter to him," said indigenous activist Pedro Uc.

"All this talk of ending marginalization of the indigenous people is still just talk" because the people still face "poverty, marginalization, racism and contempt," he said.

Uc, who has received anonymous death threats in the past, is adamant that his people have "nothing to celebrate" during the government's bicentennial events this month.

Lopez Obrador has asked Spain and the Catholic Church to apologize for the abuses committed during the conquest and evangelization.

But the president's rhetoric "contradicts his search for economic development in conventional capitalist terms," said Federico Navarrete, an expert in indigenous issues at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

After the armed uprising of the Zapatista guerrillas in the impoverished southern state of Chiapas in 1994 to fight for more rights, reforms allowed the creation of autonomous indigenous governments.

Nearly 70 percent of Mexico's indigenous people live in poverty, according to the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy 

PEDRO PARDO AFP

However, rights such as access to education in indigenous languages are still not recognized in some parts of the country.

To make themselves heard, hundreds of families from the Otomi community in need of housing have occupied the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples building in Mexico City for nearly a year ago.

The bureaucrats' cubicles now serve as dormitories, a tortilla oven has been set up in the parking lot and a handicraft workshop has been installed.

"The government has never wanted to listen to us," said 54-year-old Isabel Valencia from the town of Amealco in the central state of Queretaro.

No government spokesperson responded to AFP's requests for an interview about the matter.

"There have been years of waiting and knocking on their doors while they pretend to listen to us," Valencia said.

© 2021 AFP