CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

1 more judge must OK 2-year sentence in doomed nuke project

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former utility executive who after he found out a pair of nuclear reactors being built in South Carolina were hopelessly behind schedule lied to ratepayers and regulators costing billions of dollars is facing one final judge Monday before heading to prison for two years.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Former SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh is asking a state judge to approve the sentence his lawyers negotiated with prosecutors so he can head in December to a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, which includes a large hospital — rather than a state facility.

Marsh is the first executive to go to prison in the project, which lasted nine years and never generated a watt of power. He has cooperated with investigators, spending at least seven days talking to the FBI, prosecutors said.

A second former SCANA executive and an official at Westinghouse Electric Co., the lead contractor to build two new reactors at the V.C. Summer plant north of Columbia, have also pleaded guilty. A second Westinghouse executive has been indicted and is awaiting trial.

After Monday's plea, prosecutors are expected to turn their attention to Westinghouse. While Marsh lied about the lack of progress in the final years of construction of the reactors, Westinghouse knew of the problem long before and didn't tell Marsh or other SCANA executives, U.S. Assistant Attorney Brook Andrews said at Marsh's sentencing Thursday in federal court.

Federal and state prosecutors agreed to a two-year sentence and with Marsh's request that he serve his time in a federal prison instead of a state facility.

Marsh pleaded guilty in federal court in February to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, and in state court to obtaining property by false pretenses.

His sentencing is taking place in Spartanburg County, where Circuit Judge Mark Hayes is presiding.

The actions by Marsh and other executives took more than $1 billion from the pockets of ratepayers and investors, authorities said in an 87-page Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed against him and a second executive in 2020.

SCANA and its subsidiary, South Carolina Electric & Gas, were destroyed by the debt and poor management and were bought out by Dominion Energy of Virginia in 2019. State-owned utility Santee Cooper, which had a 45% stake in the project, ended up saddled with $4 billion in debt even though SCANA controlled management of the project.

Marsh has already paid $5 million in restitution. SCANA had paid Marsh $5 million in 2017, the year the utility abandoned the hopelessly behind-schedule project.

Marsh read a brief statement in court Thursday, saying he takes responsibility for the project’s failure even though he was misled by Westinghouse.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t regret these nuclear plants weren’t built for the citizens of South Carolina,” he said.

Marsh's original plea deal said sentencing would wait until the investigation was over to assure his full cooperation. But prosecutors relented after Marsh's wife of 46 years was diagnosed with incurable breast cancer.

Federal regulatory filings have documented the history of the doomed nuclear project begun in 2008. Those filings said Marsh never wavered from saying the two reactors being built at the V.C. Summer site north of Columbia would be finished by the end of 2020 — a deadline that had to be met to receive the $1.4 billion in federal tax credits needed to keep the $10 billion project from overwhelming the utility.

Prosecutors said Marsh lied and presented rosy projections on the progress of the reactors that he knew were false in earning calls, presentations and press releases to keep investors happy and pump up the company’s stock price.

U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis reluctantly accepted the deal even though she felt prosecutors and Marsh's lawyers made it sound like the executive made mistakes instead of intentionally misleading people for well over a year.

“Your crime was committed with a little more elegance and sophistication than many I see,” Geiger told Marsh on Thursday. “But you don’t get credit for that.”

___

Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.

Jeffrey Collins, The Associated Press

TAX THE SUPER RICH!
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are among the 156 billionaires on the Forbes 400 who have given less than 1% of their wealth to charity

dreuter@insider.com 

Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. 

Joe Raedle/Getty Images/Axel Springer

Billionaires including Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk reached new record levels of wealth last year.

Billionaires are also less generous than ever in terms of share of wealth they've given away.

Of the Forbes 400, a record 156 - including Bezos and Musk - have given less than 1%.

While Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk feud over who is wealthier and who is more litigious, the business titans are among a group of billionaires in the running for an even less desirable title: World's Stingiest Billionaire.

Although the pandemic era's surging stock market has ballooned the fortunes of billionaires to new heights, the wealthiest people in the world have chosen not to keep pace with their charitable giving, according to the Forbes Philanthropy Score.

The team at Forbes adds up all of the lifetime "out-the-door" giving a person has made, and divides that number by the sum of their total current wealth and the total giving amount. The results are categorized into five tiers: less than 1%; between 1% and 5%; between 5% and 10%; between 10% and 20%; and 20% or more.

Private foundations and donor-advised funds don't count for the Forbes measure, since those "donations" effectively remain under the control of the donor, and also come with generous benefits that enable wealthy people to avoid paying taxes.

If the median American household gave $1,200 to charity across their entire lives based on a present net worth of about $120,000, Forbes would consider that more generous than Bezos and Musk based on this metric.

Of the 400 billionaires on this year's list, just 19 have given away 10% or more of their wealth, while a record high 156 have given less than 1%. While Bezos and Musk have yet to crack out of the 1%, MacKenzie Scott has left them in the dust by giving away 13% of her fortune. Even with her pace of giving, Scott is wealthier now than she was last year.

Bezos did make headlines this summer with $400 million gifts to the Smithsonian, Van Jones, and Jose Andres, and has given $865 million from his pledge to fight climate change. But his actual gifts are a tiny fraction of the $22 billion gain he made this year alone, to bring his total net worth to $201 billion.

Warren Buffet continued as the list's most generous giver, having parted with $4.1 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock in June to bring his lifetime total to $44 billion. He's now halfway through his pledge to give away all his Berkshire shares.

The most prolific giver in the Forbes ranking was George Soros, whose $16.8 billion of giving has outsized his $8.6 billion net worth. Former president Donald Trump was not ranked, since he fell $400 million shy of making the top 400 list.

‘Life changer’: Saskatchewan amputee raising awareness about new procedure
 
By Kelly Skjerven & Taz Dhaliwal 

 Global News
Updated October 10, 2021 


A Saskatchewan man who had one of his legs amputated nearly four decades ago has now become the first patient in the province to undergo a surgery called osseointegration of limbs and now he wants to spread awareness about this life-altering procedure. Taz Dhaliwal has the details.

A Saskatchewan amputee wants to raise awareness about a procedure he says has greatly improved his quality of life.

Ron Patterson is now the first person in Saskatchewan to have had osseointegration limb replacement performed on his amputated leg, but he’s hoping that will quickly change.

Osseointegration limb replacement involves fusing the bone to a metallic implant.

Ron broke his ankle in 1978, months after marrying his wife, Shelly.

“I used to drive an earthmover, heavy equipment for building roads and I slipped on some frost on the ladder and went down and landed on a rock,” Ron said.

Ron’s ankle was put in a cast and later operated on and put back in a cast. He says a window wasn’t cut into the cast, so it couldn’t be cleaned. The wound bled and later become infected.

READ MORE: Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Labour Day Classic a first for amputee from Iran

Ron was given two choices; take drugs for the rest of his life that would cause him to lose his driver’s license, or lose part of his leg.

He decided to let doctors amputate his leg in 1984.

Ron wore a socket prosthesis for over 30 years. He said for about 20 years, the socket worked well for him, but then he developed sores around the stump, along with a reliance on prescription drugs.

“I was on morphine and it just got to the point, my body got used to morphine, so they put me on fentanyl and it was starting to get to the point my body was used to fentanyl and it wasn’t working as it was when it first started,” Ron explained.

He also developed neuroma, which Ron said was painful when he put pressure on it.

The pain got so bad Ron had to sell his cattle.

This is when Ron started looking into other options, including osseointegration limb replacement.

He was referred to a doctor In Alberta who had good and bad news for him.

“The bad news was that they were only going to do people from Alberta,” Ron said.

Ron was then referred to a surgeon in Montreal.

READ MORE: Montreal woman gets first osseointegration surgery in Canada

Dr. Robert Turcotte is an orthopedic surgeon at McGill Health Centre specializing in musculoskeletal cancer and osseointegration.

“By having this piece of metal anchored into the bone, sticking out through the skin, we allow the amputee to directly connect to the prosthesis through the metal implant, thus avoiding the discomfort and limitations of the socket prosthesis,” Turcotte explained.

The surgery is ideal for amputees who have experienced pain and discomfort when wearing a socket.

Turcotte said in the warmer months, stumps can become hot and wet from sweat, causing the socket to swivel, which makes walking difficult.

Socket prosthetics also take five to 10 minutes to put on, especially for mid-thigh amputees.

The osseointegration prosthetic takes 10 seconds to click on.

Turcotte says this is especially helpful for bi-lateral amputees.

Turcotte said the program in Montreal has the ability to perform 50 osseointegration surgeries a year, but COVID-19 has impacted how many patients they can operate on. He estimates there are 10 to 15 patients currently on the waitlist for the procedure.

5:42Amputee body builder inspires millionsAmputee body builder inspires millions – Aug 9, 2021

The surgery and prosthesis are also costly, Turcotte said.

At the moment, Quebec covers the surgery under its health-care system. Turcotte’s office needs to be granted permission to perform the surgery on Ontario residents from that province’s health-care system.

Ron had his surgery covered by a workers compensation fund from the government of Saskatchewan, although he said it took around five years for the province to finally give the green light on their end in order for him to be able to get the operation.

Turcotte explained that some provinces are reluctant to cover the surgery because they believe it to be experimental.

“It is not anymore. We know a bit about the complication and the short and mid-term result. For most of our patients, this is a life changer. It gives them a degree of liberty, of freedom, of the ability to wear their prosthesis all day long,” Turcotte said.

About 30 osseointegration surgeries have been performed in Montreal so far. The first procedure was completed three years ago. Turcotte added that demand is low for the operation.

“We don’t have hundreds of amputees waiting for the surgery.”

Turcotte said the surgery is more common for lower limb amputees but mid-arm amputees have also had osseointegration completed successfully.

READ MORE: New Alberta bandage technology could prevent amputations for diabetic patients

There are limitations on who can get the surgery, too. Patients need to be of normal body weight, not smoke, or have significant health conditions.

After going through with the procedure in November 2020, Ron said he’s sharing his story so other amputees can now about the procedure and decide if it’s something they want to pursue.

“I can pretty well do anything I could before with my leg,” Ron said.

“It’s like having your own leg again.”

He added he could even go back into raising cattle if he was younger.

Both Ron and his wife said although he missed out on playing several sports with their three sons when they were younger, however, they’re grateful he’ll at least be able to do more with his grandchildren now.

“I feel like a million dollars. I do. It’s just my quality of life is back and everybody that sees me and talks to me, the new me (versus) before and the drugs I was living on, they just said I look a lot better (and) I seem a lot healthier.”

Ron also said he’s happy to be drug free now and not have to take strong prescription medication like fentanyl or morphine.

“I can walk and do just as much as anybody else in the world.”

READ MORE: Toronto museum steps in to help preserve Mississauga man’s severed leg after collision

Ron called the day he had the operation “the best day of my life” and he hopes the surgery can become more available to other amputees.

He wishes he could have gotten it done 30 years earlier.

Ron said he’s more than willing to speak to anyone who wishes to reach out to him with questions about the procedure and his personal experience with it. He said he just want to helps others reach a more comfortable lifestyle as amputees with the possibilities that are out there.

Shelly is just as glad Ron had the procedure, saying he wasn’t the easiest person to live with earlier.

“He was really irritable and probably a lot of that was also due to the pain, but also because of the drugs. I know because he’s a totally different person since he’s off of (drugs),” Shelly said.

Shelly agrees with Ron that if an amputee qualifies for the surgery, they should look into it.

“I just wish it would have happened a long, long time ago. But that’s life,” Shelly said.

Key UN biodiversity summit to open in China

Issued on: 11/10/2021 

Around one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction amid human encroachment on habitats, over-exploitation, pollution, the spread of invasive species, and climate change

 Ekaterina ANISIMOVA AFP/File

Beijing (AFP)

A key UN summit tasked with protecting biodiversity officially opens in China and online Monday, as countries meet to tackle pollution and prevent mass extinction weeks before the COP26 climate conference.

Beijing, the world's biggest polluter, has sought to position itself in recent years as a world leader on climate issues after Washington's withdrawal from international commitments under the Trump administration.

The online session that begins Monday afternoon -- setting the stage for a face-to-face meeting in April -- will see parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) working out the details of a new document that will set targets for protecting ecosystems by 2030.

Up for debate are the "30 by 30" plan to give 30 percent of lands and oceans protected status -- a measure supported by a broad coalition of nations, as well as a goal to stop creating plastic waste.

China has not yet committed to the "30 by 30" plan.

This year's COP15 gathering, hosted in the southwest city of Kunming, was originally set for 2020 and postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Around one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction amid human encroachment on habitats, over-exploitation, pollution, the spread of invasive species, and climate change.

The CBD has been ratified by 195 countries and the European Union -- although not the United States, the world's biggest historical polluter -- with parties meeting every two years.

- Division over targets -

China said on Friday it has "given high priority to the protection of biodiversity by establishing a network of protected areas and national parks."

And this week Beijing is expected to unveil a statement known as the Kunming Declaration, which would set the tone for its environmental leadership.

But sharp divisions remain over the targets for urgent action over the next decade.

France and Costa Rica are among a coalition of support for the initiative to declare 30 percent of oceans and lands protected areas before 2030.

But when scientists called for more ambitious protection of half of Earth's biodiversity, Brazil and South Africa strongly opposed.

Other sources of tension surround financing, with developing nations asking rich countries to foot the bill for their ecological transitions.

These issues will be at the heart of negotiation sessions set to take place in Geneva in January 2022.

The biodiversity discussions at COP15 are separate from weightier COP26 summit set to begin next month in Glasgow, where world leaders are under pressure to act on the climate crisis.

The Glasgow summit faces a packed agenda dominated by efforts to persuade countries such as China and India to commit to binding "nationally determined contributions" towards net zero emissions.

China has pledged to peak carbon emissions in 2030 and reach zero emissions by 2060, but environmentalists have flagged the huge amount of coal-fired power being brought online in recent years by the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases.

© 2021 AFP

Colombia’s avocado boom shows the hidden costs of ‘green gold’

Hass avocados have replaced coffee crops in many rural economies in Colombia, but environmental scientists warn the move has consequences for local wildlife.

The avocado's rapid expansion in Colombia began in 2014 when farmers exported 1,408 tonnes of Hass avocados, and the industry has since exploded, reaching a record high of 544,933 tonnes exported in 2020, Colombian government figures show 

[Megan Janetsky/Al Jazeera]

By Megan Janetsky
8 Oct 2021

Sonson, Colombia – Coffee farming was the economic lifeblood of Riobardo Zapata’s family for generations until the industry seemed to dissolve around him. Extreme weather that scientists attribute to climate change – including extended droughts and heavy rains – began to ravage harvests over the past decade, jeopardising both the fate of the little bean that helped put Colombia on the map and the livelihoods of the farmers who cultivate it.

Unstable market prices, meanwhile, left 56-year-old Zapata subsisting during the best of crop seasons and sinking into debt during the worst.

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“I’d have to be taking money out from banks all the time. I couldn’t afford food or lots of basic necessities,” Zapata told Al Jazeera.

But seven years ago, an “avocado boom” swept across the South American country, prompted by skyrocketing global demand and prices for the fruit.

The boom transformed regions like Zapata’s, turning the forest-cloaked Andean mountains surrounding his small town into avocado farms that stretch as far as the eye can see.

Zapata was among countless Colombians who cashed in, ditching their crops for the lucrative “green gold”.

“All my life, my family, my grandparents, my parents, everyone grew coffee,” Zapata said. “But now, coffee is disappearing and avocado is taking its place.”

Yet scientists warn that the overcultivation of the fruit poses an environmental threat in one of the most biologically diverse regions of the world, especially as climate conditions grow more extreme.
‘Disorganised growth’

The avocado’s rapid expansion in Colombia began in 2014 when farmers exported 1,408 tonnes of Hass avocado. The industry has since exploded, reaching a record high of 544,933 tonnes in 2020, Colombian government figures show.

The green fruit is exported to the United States, Europe and Asia. Today, Colombia is the third-largest avocado exporter in the world and the biggest exporter to Europe.

The boom has completely transformed economies in rural swathes of Colombia, explained Joaquin Guillermo Ramirez, a researcher at Colombia’s National University investigating the ripple effects of the trade

.

Gilberto Escalante Isaza, a 75-year-old fruit and vegetable vendor, sells everything in his shop except for Hass avocado, the crop that has transformed his small town. While avocado farmers profit from the lucrative avocado exports, he told Al Jazeera the industry has increased inequality in the area: ‘The rich get richer and the poor just get poorer’

 [Megan Janetsky/Al Jazeera]

“Now, they get a fair wage, health insurance, a pension, and their families get all the social services they need,” Ramirez told Al Jazeera. “That’s been fundamental for the quality of life in avocado-growing regions.”

In other regions of the world such as East Africa and Nigeria, farmers have hailed the crop as an antidote to poverty.

But what Ramirez described as “totally disorganised growth” has led to a number of concerning knock-on effects as farmers begin to cultivate the fruit in areas outside their ideal climate conditions.

“More and more, we’re taking [the avocado] to more extreme areas,” Ramirez said. “And in those zones, they require more resources … it’s going to affect the environment more and you’re going to be affecting other species.”

The fruit is already a big consumer of resources. It takes about 283 litres of water to produce one kilogramme of avocados in Chile, according to the Netherlands-based non-profit Water Footprint Network. That’s four times what is needed to produce a kilo of oranges and 10 times what’s required for tomatoes.

As the avocado expands further from the natural cold-weather environment in which it typically grows, farmers will have to use greater quantities of water to cultivate it and potentially damaging chemicals to control pests, Ramirez said.
Foreign interests moving in

In Sonson, the conflict between foreign avocado companies and environmental concerns has come to a head, said Christian Camilo Perez, an environmental engineer with the local mayor’s office.

On a recent day in late August, Perez climbed up the steep side of a mountain overlooking his small town in plastic mud boots that reached his knees. The path he walked led up to a nature reserve protecting two highly biologically diverse ecosystems: the bosque andino, or cold weather forest, which is key to mitigating climate change; and the paramo, high-altitude wetlands that act as a crucial water source for much of the region.

Environmental engineer Christian Camilo Perez points out where avocado farms are pushing up against a nature reserve in Sonson, Colombia

 [Megan Janetsky/Al Jazeera]

Perez paused on the side of the mountain, squinted and pointed to a patch of avocado trees high on the hillside.

“That’s one of the companies that’s given us the biggest problem,” Perez explained.

In recent years, Chilean and Peruvian companies cultivating avocados have climbed higher and higher into the Andes and their sensitive ecosystems.

By growing avocados higher in the mountains, the companies delay the harvesting dates of their crops past the standard avocado season, Perez explained, raking in greater profits on the global market when supply is lower.

Farmers and local officials also told Al Jazeera that other avocado producers have increasingly cut and burned down trees in the surrounding mountains to clear land for their crops.

In other regions of Colombia, namely the country’s coffee-growing region, avocado farming has contaminated water supplies and fuelled deforestation, communities say. This has included chopping down Colombia’s endangered wax palm, something that could have repercussions for other vulnerable species like the yellow-eared parrot, which depends on the tree to survive.

Avocado farms spread across the mountains near Sonson, Colombia 

[Megan Janetsky/Al Jazeera]

Ramirez, the avocado researcher, said if the plant continues to expand, it will affect wildlife, important biological corridors and water supplies for the region.

Environmental conflicts with avocado production have arisen across the world.

The most extreme example lies in Mexico, the world’s largest producer of the fruit, where research shows rising avocado prices have contributed to illegal deforestation. Drug cartels have also used avocado and lemon plantations as part of their money-laundering efforts in parts of the country.

In Chile, which has long suffered extensive droughts caused by climate change, the United Nations has expressed concerns about avocado growers’ water use.
Long-term concerns

In Colombia, the avocado industry seems only set to grow. Small-scale avocado growers, experts and coffee producers expressed concerns to Al Jazeera about what that may mean, especially as the climate crisis continues to push weather conditions to new extremes.

Melva Rodriguez is a coffee farmer in Colombia’s central coffee-growing region, where avocado production has swelled. Rodriguez’s coffee crops have already been disrupted by irregular rains, dry spells and pests aggravated by changing climate conditions.

“We don’t know what we’re going to do,” Rodriguez told Al Jazeera. “We’re honestly not prepared for the economy to change this way. We don’t even have a plan for, ‘Well, what do we do if we can’t produce?’”

Avocado farmer Diego Perez Jimenez inspects a leaf on an avocado tree for pests after recently fumigating his farm near Sonson, Colombia. Researchers have expressed worries about how such fumigations are affecting the environment 

[Megan Janetsky/Al Jazeera]

Rodriguez said she has seen a massive swarm of mosquitos cloak her farm, something a biologist told her was likely caused by the chemicals used by the avocado farm that recently popped up on the hill overlooking her coffee crops. She said she and other small-scale farmers worry about how the industry will impact the local resources they depend on for their coffee cultivation.

“If [avocado] continues to grow like it has, well, resources have the tendency to run out,” she said.

Meanwhile, in Sonson, Ramirez, the researcher, and Perez, the local official, forecast that the climate crisis will prompt longer droughts in a normally rainy region.

Perez said this would likely mean that avocado growers will have to consume water from the sensitive paramo ecosystem to sustain their trees.

Even Zapata, the avocado farmer, said local growers fret about what that could mean long term.

“We worry that down the line, it’s going to affect the environment or the water,” he explained as he sat in a cafe in the centre of town.

“You don’t feel the change in the moment because the economic situation gets better, so you’re happy,” he reflected. “But after, you don’t know what could happen down the line.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Burkina Faso to open trial of alleged killers of left-wing idol Sankara


Issued on: 11/10/2021

Former president Blaise Compaore is one of 14 men accused of assassinating Burkina Faso's revolutionary hero, Thomas Sankara

 Fabrice COFFRINI AFP/File

Ouagadougou (AFP)

The trial of 14 men, including a former president, was set to begin in Burkina Faso on Monday over the assassination of the country's revered revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara 34 years ago.

The slaying of Sankara, an icon of pan-Africanism, has for years cast a dark shadow over the poor Sahel state, fuelling its reputation for turbulence and bloodshed.

Sankara and 12 others were riddled with bullets by a hit squad in October 1987 during a putsch that brought his friend and comrade-in-arms Blaise Compaore to power.

Compaore ruled the country for the next 27 years before being deposed by a popular uprising and fleeing to neighbouring Ivory Coast, which granted him citizenship.

He and his former right-hand man, General Gilbert Diendere, who once headed the elite Presidential Security Regiment, face charges of complicity in murder, harming state security and complicity in the concealment of corpses.

Burkina Faso AFP

Compaore, who has always rejected suspicions that he orchestrated the killing, will be tried in absentia by the military court in the capital Ouagadougou.

His lawyers last week announced he would not be attending a "political trial" flawed by irregularities, and insisted he enjoyed immunity as a former head of state.

Diendere, 61, is already serving a 20-year sentence for masterminding a plot in 2015 against the transitional government that followed Compaore's ouster.

Another prominent figure among the accused is Hyacinthe Kafando, a former chief warrant officer in Compaore's presidential guard, who is accused of leading the hit squad. He is on the run.

A young army captain and Marxist-Leninist, Sankara came to power in a coup in 1983 aged just 33.

He tossed out the country's name of Upper Volta, a legacy of the French colonial era, and renamed it Burkina Faso, which means "the land of honest men".

Sankara, a devoted pan-Africanist, remains a revered figure in left-wing circles

 DOMINIQUE FAGET AFP/File

He pushed ahead with a socialist agenda of nationalisations and banned female genital mutilation, polygamy and forced marriages.

Like Ghana's former leader Jerry Rawlings, he became an idol in left-wing circles in Africa, lauded for his radical policies and defiance of the big powers.

Burkina Faso has long been burdened by silence over the assassination -- during Compaore's long time in office, the subject was taboo -- and many are angry that the killers have gone unpunished.

"The trial will mark the end to all the lying -- we will get a form of truth. But the trial will not be able to restore our dream," Halouna Traore, a comrade of Sankara and survivor of the putsch, said in a TV interview.

© 2021 AFP

Burkina Faso: Justice for Thomas Sankara

In Burkina Faso, a historic trial is taking shape for the death of iconic leader Thomas Sankara in 1987. But the main defendant and former president, Blaise Compaore, will be absent.

    

Thomas Sankara's memory looms large over Burkina Faso

Justin Sogbedji looked up in awe at the 5-meter (16.5-foot) statue of Thomas Sankara. Erected last year in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, the impressive monument attracts thousands of visitors every month. Sogbedji can't seem to get enough pictures with Sankara's statue.

"Thomas Sankara is a fighter. Ever since my childhood, I liked what he did," said Sogbedji, who moved to Burkina Faso from neighboring Benin three years ago. Now he can visit the statue and memorial to his hero in peace.

"He fought so much for Burkina Faso," Sogbedji said. "It's amazing."

For days Sankara, who came to power in Burkina Faso — then called Upper Volta — after a coup on August 4, 1983, has been a hot topic in Ouagadougou again. On Monday, a historic trial will finally begin to shed light on how he and 12 other military officers were killed on October 15, 1987. 

Jean-Hubert Bazie, a retired journalist, and the communications officer for the Thomas Sankara Memorial, is also eagerly awaiting the trial. "We hope the truth sees the light of day," he said.

Place of execution

The truth is tightly bound to the location of the statue, which, together with a tower, should become the centerpiece of a future park covering almost 10,000 square meters (107,000 square feet). Bazie walked along a path towards two houses. One served as the headquarters for the National Revolutionary Council (CNR), which catapulted Sankara to power.

Sankara was a "diamond," says Bazie, spokesperson for the Thomas Sankara Memorial

"Look at the one on the left. Thomas Sankara and 12 comrades were executed there," Bazie said.

A large portrait and a wreath of plastic flowers commemorate the scene of the execution. On that Thursday, Sankara — then 38 years old — met here with members of his Cabinet to discuss the founding of a political party. Suddenly, gunshots rang out outside. As the men tried to escaped the building, they were gunned down. Only one, Alouna Traore, survived.

The main defendant in the trial is Blaise Compaore, Sankara's former companion and eventual president of Burkina Faso. Compaore, now 70, remained president until his resignation on October 31, 2014.

"Down with Blaise" recalls the 2014 uprisings against former President Blaise Compaore

After leaving office, Compaore went into exile in the Ivory Coast, becoming an Ivorian citizen in 2016. Nobody expects him to attend the trial. His lawyers say he has not been summoned for questioning. As a former head of state, he also enjoys immunity. But Bazie believes Compoare has simply wanted to avoid accountability for Sankara's death for decades.

"Sankara's father always said he's waiting Compaore to pay him a visit and tell him exactly what happened that day," Bazie said. "He's long dead now. But Compaore never made that visit."

Benefiting young people

In the Ouagadougou suburb of Wayalghin, where the citizens rights movement Balai Citoyen is headquartered, the trial is eagerly anticipated.

"It would be better of course if Compaore were here to face the justice system of his country," Eric Ismael Kinda, spokesperson for Balair Citoyen, said of Compaore's absence.

"He fled and has no trust in the system he is largely responsible for," Kinda said.

"Thomas Sankara remains a hero for the youth," Eric Ismael Kinda says

That the trial is taking place at all is mostly thanks to Burkinabe civil society, said Canada-based political scientist Aziz Salmone Fall, who coordinates the international Justice for Thomas Sankara campaign.

"The younger generation that Sankara never knew overthrew Compaore's regime," he said.

Weeks of demonstrations in October 2014 toppled Compaore's rule, and forced him to step down. Under the transitional government of Michel Kafando, Sankara's body was exhumed and the government launched an investigation. Among other things, a military doctor certified that the body was "riddled with bullets." Previously, Sankara was said to have died of "natural causes."

French role

Fall does not want to participate in the trial in protest of Compaore's no-show. But he also believes the role of France, Burkina Faso's former colonial power, needs to be fully investigated. Only in 2017 did President Emmanuel Macron declassify all French documents regarding the death of Sankara.

"I don't think it was merely a locally conceived plot. It was international. The last revolution on the African continent ended with Sankara's death," said Fall.

Sankara is revered for his modesty by admirers. His vision for Burkina Faso included the country's producing its own goods and becoming self-reliant. Sankara was also a thorn in the side for many who did not want to see an independent African state succeed. 

Blaise Compaore, left, will not attend the trial for the death of Thomas Sankara

In Ouagadougou, Sankara is still a hero for young people.

"He fought against the forces that undermine society, like corruption, injustice, unemployment, illiteracy, poverty. We know the youth are particularly hit by poverty," Kinda said.

No politician in Burkina Faso, or even Africa, has come so close to the heroic aura that Sankara has had domestically since his death.

Back at the memorial to Thomas Sankara, Justin Sogbedji thought about the leaders who have followed. "No," he said, "I haven't seen anyone like him yet."

Digital technology: friend or foe against climate change?

Issued on: 11/10/2021 -

Could digital technology be part of the solution to climate change, as well as the problem? 

ARUN SANKAR AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

From the energy that goes into making smartphones to the fact that even emails create carbon emissions, the world's internet addiction comes with costs to the climate.

But could digital technology be part of the solution to climate change, as well as the problem?

Ahead of next month's COP26 climate talks, AFP looks at five ways in which tech could help to limit the impact.


- Artificial intelligence -

Among the many items on the COP26 agenda, countries are preparing a roadmap for using artificial intelligence (AI) to fight climate change.

AI relies on complex calculations by high-powered computers that can eat up vast quantities of energy.

Training a single AI algorithm system can use nearly five times the emissions produced by a car over its lifetime, according to University of Massachusetts researchers.

But AI is already helping to make a wide range of industrial processes more energy-efficient, simply by making calculations that humans can't.

Consultancy PwC estimates that greater AI use in four key sectors of the economy, including agriculture and transport, could cut global emissions by four percent.

Peter Clutton-Brock, co-founder of the Centre for AI and Climate, said artificial intelligence was not "a silver bullet" that could reverse climate change.

"But there are some really interesting and exciting applications that are emerging," he said.

These include using AI to analyse data on deforestation and melting sea ice, to better predict which areas will be affected next.

- Apps and search engines -

Sceptics may argue that a single person can only have a limited impact, but the eco-conscious have various apps at their disposal to monitor their personal carbon footprints.

Various apps estimate the emissions produced by a car or plane ride, while others allow shoppers to scan items and see information on how eco-friendly they are.

Google last week announced tweaks to its search tools to show drivers the most fuel-efficient routes and display emissions information for flights.

The search engine Ecosia, meanwhile, uses the profits from its ads to pay for reforestation, with more than 135 million trees planted so far.

- Remote work -

Has the shift towards remote work during the pandemic been good for the environment? It's still unclear, say researchers.

Last year the huge drop in commuting was hailed as a contributor towards a drop in global emissions, as much of the world hunkered down.

But signing in online still means employees use energy at home -- and in the winter, heating individual dwellings can be less efficient than a single office for a whole team.

The International Energy Agency found that if all white-collar workers stayed home one day a week, global emissions could be cut by 24 million tonnes -- roughly equivalent to London's emissions in a year.

Workers with long car commutes could certainly cut their carbon footprints by staying home, the IEA said.

But it concluded that drivers with a daily commute of less than six kilometres (3.7 miles) might actually use more energy by staying home with the heaters on.

- Cloud computing -

For years it was feared that the giant, energy-hungry data centres the internet depends upon could become a major contributor to climate change.

But a study published in the journal Science last year suggests these fears have not been realised, thanks to unexpected leaps in efficiency.

By 2018 data centres were still only consuming about one percent of the world's electricity, despite rocketing demand for data storage.

Tech giants' desire to cut their electricity bills is partly to thank for this.

Google, for instance, used AI to reduce the costs of cooling its data centres by 40 percent.

- Smart cities -

The United Nations estimates that cities account for 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

And with the population forecast to grow ever more urban, designing energy-efficient cities is a top priority.

The Internet of Things (IoT) -- connecting objects with sensors that can communicate and make intelligent decisions -- is already being used in urban design.

A pilot project in Amsterdam, for example, used IoT to guide drivers to empty parking spaces, reducing the time spent driving around the city searching for one.

© 2021 AFP

The world's slow transition to cleaner energy

Issued on: 11/10/2021 

The transition towards cleaner energy has made progress but not quick enough to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, as agreed in the 2015 Paris climate agreement

Paris (AFP)

The transition towards cleaner energy has made progress but not quick enough to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, as agreed in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

While the Covid-19 pandemic initially caused a drop in greenhouse gas emissions as economic activity dropped, the pandemic may not have accelerated the shift to renewables:

- Renewables boom -

Renewables are now the number two source of electricity in the world with a 26 percent share in 2019 -- behind coal, but ahead of natural gas and nuclear.

Wind and solar power have grown at annual rates of 22 and 36 percent, respectively as their prices have plunged since 1990.

Even during the pandemic, 26 gigawatts (GW) of capacity was added last year, setting a new record, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

But the use of fossil fuels in final consumption (electricity, transportation fuel, heating and factory production) has held steady.

At 80.3 percent in 2009, it was still 80.2 percent in 2019, as overall energy consumption increases thanks to population growth as well as rising incomes in Asia.

- Sharp turn by automakers -

Pushed by tighter pollution regulations, leading automakers are aiming to scrap internal combustion engines within the next decade or sharply cut their production as they shift towards all-electric futures.

Roads are still crowded with polluting cars: Electric vehicles only make up five percent of new units sold.

The International Energy Agency says consumers continue to prefer big SUVs -- they accounted for 42 percent of sales in 2020 -- that pollute more than smaller models.

- Hydrogen -

From Australia to China to the EU, more and more nations are setting their sites on green hydrogen for lorries and factories.

While burning hydrogen as a fuel emits just water, most of the gas is made in a process that produces harmful emissions.

Finding cost effective ways to produce hydrogen cleanly and developing the infrastructure for its use will require more effort, with the IEA urging a quadrupling of investments in the sector.

- Carbon pricing -

In mid-2020 some 44 countries and 31 cities accounting for 60 percent of global economic output had carbon pricing (taxes or quotas) schemes in place, according to the I4CE think tank.

Carbon prices aim to make polluters pay for some of the social costs of emissions such as health care costs due to poor air quality and crop damage due to climate change.

Experts say the price needs to be between $40 and $80 per tonne of CO2 to push polluters to increase efficiency or shift to renewable energy sources.

However, the price is under $10 for 75 percent of covered emissions.

- Pandemic investment -

The Ren 21 think tank said the coronavirus pandemic provided an opportunity to shift public policy, but countries provided six times as much investment money to fossil fuel than renewable energy projects in their economic recovery plans.

After dropping by seven percent thanks to the pandemic, CO2 emissions are expected to hit new records by 2023 if those investments are not shifted.

- Emerging difficulties -

Investment in renewable energy has been sliding for several years in emerging and developing nations except for China, and the coronavirus pandemic has done nothing to change the situation.

These countries hold two-thirds of the world's population and are responsible for 90 percent of the growth in emissions, but they are receiving only 20 percent of investments into clean energy, according to the IEA.

- King coal still reigns -

Long ago baptised "king coal" for its outsize role in powering the world economy, the fuel remains in wide use in Asia to meet the growing needs for electricity in the region.

The global economic recovery means that coal demand is likely to surpass its 2019 level and thus also retain its crown of being the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions.

China, which has been a major financer of coal projects in other nations, announced in September it is halting the practice.

© 2021 AFP

Gravedigger and philosopher: the double life of Osmair Candido

Issued on: 11/10/2021

Osmair Candido has laid to rest more than 3,000 people in his three-decade gravedigging career in Brazil 

Miguel SCHINCARIOL AFP


Sao Paulo (AFP)

For Osmair Candido, who has worked as a gravedigger for the past 30 years, the pandemic was worse than a nightmare, an ordeal the Brazilian overcame only with the help of a few old friends -- Kierkegaard, Kant and Nietzsche.

The soft-spoken 60-something -- whose occupation necessitates spending most of the day in a small cemetery in Sao Paulo -- is not just a laborer but also a man of letters, a philosopher.

During the pandemic he says he sometimes cried, overwhelmed by the rampant death, but adds that philosophy kept him from fainting with distress and fatigue like his colleagues near the graves he was digging.

"Before we only had one burial a week," but at the worst of the pandemic "it was up to 18 a day," he tells AFP, comparing the scene to something from Dante.

With the help of the philosophers Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Kant, Hegel and Diderot, he was able to "accept death."

But above all it was the works of Nietzsche and the ancient Greeks that helped him "a lot in the most difficult moments."

When Candido left his house each morning, he did not know whether he would return from the Penha Cemetery "alive or dead, contaminated or not."

Each evening he took "one, two, three or four showers."

Six months ago, "the hearses were arriving back-to-back and there were 100 to 200 coffins piled up waiting to be buried.

"Nobody wanted to touch them, to take the risk," says Candido, who adds that he never caught Covid-19.

In addition to his work as a gravedigger, Brazilian Osmair Candido is a philosophy teacher, is writing a book and teaches future autopsy experts at a school in Sao Paulo Miguel SCHINCARIOL AFP

The worst was the burial of a teenager: "From behind a wall, I heard a woman scream. The scream came before her son's body." She then clutched his coffin, preventing his burial.

- Master of philosophy -

Candido has buried more than 3,000 people in his three-decade gravedigging career.

"During all of these years, I have seen very few people prepared for death. Death requires a lot of respect, attention and silence," he says.

Wandering among the graves in the wooded cemetery, Candido recounts how he came to philosophy.

Birdsong fills the air. Faded, plaster Virgin Mary statues, archangels, and weathered yellow photos of loved ones serve as the backdrop. Cats, signatures of cemetery, abound.

It all began, he says, when he took German classes at Uniban university in Sao Paulo, after being a boxer and window washer.

He stopped his studies, however, to become a gravedigger. Today he earns about 3,000 reais ($540) a month.

"I loved literature, but I couldn't buy books," he recalls. "So they gave me some. And then I decided to study philosophy. I really liked it."

COVID-19 has claimed more than 600,000 lives in Brazil, and Osmair Candido has often wept as he buries the dead in a Sao Paulo cemetery 

EVARISTO SA AFP

Thanks to a scholarship he was finally able to graduate with a master's degree from Mackenzie Presbyterian University in Sao Paulo, during which time he communicated via email with French philosopher Jean Baudrillard.

If he is now able to stare death in the face, it is only because he is already living a second life -- Candido is now also a philosophy teacher.

In the evening, wearing a white lab coat emblazoned with the National Association of Necropsy emblem, Candido teaches ethics to young autopsy technicians.

They take notes as the slender Black man, who has white hair and rimmed glasses, quotes from Aristotle and the likes.

Candido, who usually gets up at 3:00 am, is also currently finishing a three-volume book on philosophical thoughts, two of which are devoted to the pandemic. Several publishing houses have said they want to publish it.

- Adoration for Kant -

"Philosophy has made me grow up, get out of myself, understand and consider others and other ideas. It was a big step," Candido says.

While he "adores" Emmanuel Kant, the gravedigger had a bit of trouble with his "Critique of Pure Reason."

"I read it up to 100 times, until I understood it! In Portuguese, but some parts in German," he says.

The rampant death in Brazil during the coronavirus pandemic often overwhelmed Osmair Candido, but the gravedigger says he took strength from philosophers like Nietzsche and Kierkegaard 

Miguel SCHINCARIOL AFP

Candido believes that it was thanks to the philosophers that he did not have to go to "psychiatric hospitals for treatment" as his fellow cemetery workers did.

"I studied philosophy, loved philosophy and so I will die," he says with a smile.

© 2021 AFP

18 hurt in Chile clashes between indigenous protesters and police


Issued on: 10/10/2021 - 

Mapuche indigenous people protest in downtown Santiago, on October 10, 2021 

MARTIN BERNETTI AFP

Santiago (AFP)

Riot police clashed with protesters Sunday during a rally by the indigenous Mapuche community, leaving 18 people injured and 10 arrested, authorities said.

About a thousand activists marched in the center of Santiago, many wearing ponchos and traditional head ornaments, demanding autonomy for the Mapuche, when police moved in to disperse the protest with water cannons and tear gas.

Protesters responded with sticks and stones in a confrontation that lasted about 40 minutes, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.

Chilean police later said in a statement that one woman and 17 police officers were injured in the confrontation and 10 people were arrested.

The Chilean state has long been accused of discrimination against the Mapuche people, the country's largest indigenous group, who centuries ago controlled vast areas of Chile but have since been marginalized.

Considered the earliest inhabitants of parts of Chile, the Mapuche fought against the Spanish conquerors and later the Chilean army after the country's independence in the 19th century.

Clashes erupted between demonstrators and riot police during a protest by the Mapuche indigenous people in downtown Santiago, on October 10, 2021

 Martin BERNETTI AFP

Their numbers were reduced to only 700,000, a fraction of Chile's current population of 17 million.

© 2021 AFP