Advocates launch hunger strikes throughout US to push for voting rights

Advocates are taking action across the country as they hope to pressure members of Congress to pass voting rights legislation by Martin Luther King Jr. Day.


One of the actions being taken right now is a hunger strike by individuals in different parts of the U.S. as a form of protest to get the legislation passed.

Rev. Stephen A. Green, chair of Faith for Black Lives, organized a hunger strike that included him and 24 other faith leaders from across the country prompted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's "Dear collogues" letter released in early January.

"From Jan. 3, we noticed that there was a deadline or a date was identified for voting on or before Jan. 17," said Green. "And so, we decided to engage in this hunger strike to continue to apply pressure on the Senate to get it done on or before Jan. 17."

Green and the other faith leaders began their hunger strike on Jan. 6.

Un-PAC, a nonpartisan organization with a current mission is to get The Freedom to Vote Act passed, has restarted its hunger strike from last month and currently has members and allies protesting outside the U.S. Capitol.

"This is a last-minute push and a desperate plea because if this bill does not pass, by Martin Luther King Jr. Day or the end of January, it will be too late to implement many of the major facets of the bill [for the 2022 midterms]," said Callynn Johnson, a member of Un-PAC.

Last month, Un-PAC went on a hunger strike for just over two weeks outside the White House to push for voting rights legislation. The organization has more people joining them on their strike, including the faith leaders.MORE: Students go on hunger strike to push for voting rights

Another major event to support voting legislation will happen in Phoenix on Saturday, where there will be a voting rights mobilization.

"We will march over the 16th Street overpass here in Phoenix and march back to Eastlake Park," said Dr. Jannah Scott, a liaison and member of the leadership council with the African American Christian Clergy Coalition of Arizona. "Then, at the park part, we will have a program of speakers, of music, of people just coming together and giving their exhortation about why this is so important and about calling in Congress and the president to do what they need to do at this critical time in our history."

Eastlake Park has been a focal point for African American history. The park has traditionally been used for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration. The park has also held civil rights rallies, civil rights leaders' visits and is the starting point of all civil rights marches to the state Capitol.

© Pool/Getty Images, FILE Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-AZ, speaks during the Senate Finance Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, Oct. 19, 2021, in Washington.

Over the past year, the Arizona state legislature has passed state laws restricting voting access.

Arizona is also the home of Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., one of two key Democrats needed to end the filibuster and create a pathway for voting legislation. However, on Thursday, Sinema made it clear during her speech on the Senate floor that she does not intend to do that.MORE: Sinema, Manchin reject Biden push to change filibuster for voting rights

"There's no need for me to restate my long-standing support for the 60-vote threshold to pass legislation," said Sinema. "There's no need for me to restate its role protecting our country from wild reversals in federal policy is a view I've held during my years serving in both the U.S. House and the Senate and it is the view I continue to hold."

All these events lead up to Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday when over a 100 national and grassroots organizations will gather in Washington, D.C., for a march that will start at Potomac Avenue and end at Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge. A press conference will follow where Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King and other voting rights leaders and community organizers will speak on the urgency to pass voting legislation

.

© Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Un-Pac Daryl Jones and Barbara Arnwine of Transformative Justice Coalition joins hunger strikers and activists at a press conference in front of the Capitol Building to demand that the Senate pass the Freedom To Vote: John Lewis Act, Jan. 13, 2022.

Even after discussions with President Joe Biden and other Democratic colleagues, Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., are still not agreeing to end the filibuster. Without their votes, there is seemingly no pathway for voting legislation to pass before or on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but that is not stopping protesters and voting rights advocates from taking action.

"We will escalate our mobilization if our demands are not met to have legislation passed by [Martin Luther King Jr. Day]," said Green.

"We will continue the calling for [voting rights]," said Scott. "We will not rest until this gets done."

Opinion: The White moderates MLK warned us about

Opinion by Victor Ray

"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the White moderate who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice."

© ASSOCIATED PRESS The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in the auditorium of Oslo University in Norway on December 10, 1964.

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote these words in the isolation of a Birmingham jail, where he was imprisoned for defying a court injunction to protest the city's segregation ordinance. In an open letter, initially scrawled in the margins of a newspaper, Dr. King addressed a group of fellow clergymen who claimed to support the Black freedom movement but criticized nonviolent civil disobedience as a tactic to confront the evils of segregation.

In the letter, King differentiated between just and unjust laws, citing measures that prevented Black Americans from voting as a form of legalized injustice. At the time, Alabama, like many states across the South, was governed by a kind of racial authoritarianism that denied Black people a say in how they were governed. The clergymen's condemnation of King's activism belied their stated commitment to racial justice and provided cover for the denial of basic citizenship rights, including the right to vote.

By blocking voting reform today, Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are the White moderates Dr. King warned us about.

On Thursday, Sinema said that while she backs the Democrats' voting rights laws, she would not support an exception to the filibuster's 60-vote threshold to pass the legislation. Manchin later followed suit, saying he would not vote to "eliminate or weaken the filibuster."

By prioritizing an arcane Senate rule over the protection of voting rights, Manchin and Sinema have chosen "order" over justice. The clergymen Dr. King addressed in his letter similarly elevated procedural and strategic complaints over the urgent need for racial equality, even though city officials in Birmingham secured an injunction against civil rights demonstrations and were negotiating with civil rights activists in bad faith. By claiming the movement should continue negotiating with those who were unified in their opposition to racial progress, the clergymen were effectively siding with segregation and suborning Black rights to White whims.

Manchin and Sinema's procedural complaints about the filibuster are reminiscent of the clergymen Dr. King was confronting. Manchin has expressed his concerns that an exception for voting rights legislation would lead to a slippery slope of rule changes. But he fails to grasp that disenfranchisement creates another slippery slope for those who are denied ballot access -- a more dangerous one that allows their other rights to be more easily abridged. Sinema says she is similarly worried that changing the filibuster would erode Americans' faith in government and increase political division. But what is a greater threat to faith in government than being denied the right to vote?

Together, these senators' stance conveniently ignores the fact that Republicans and Democrats have changed Senate rules when it serves their political agenda. Mitch McConnell changed the filibuster in 2017, paving the way for three conservative Supreme Court Justices to be confirmed with simple majorities. Democrats also changed the rules in 2013, moving to eliminate the filibuster for most presidential nominations. Given that both parties have shown their willingness to change the Senate rules to reach their goals, Manchin and Sinema's refusal prioritizes fealty to the filibuster over minority voting rights. Fidelity to anti-democratic procedures that target minority rights is always reprehensible. But this is especially true when the United States faces an assault on voting rights that hasn't been seen since the end of Reconstruction.

Sen. Reverend Warnock of Georgia, an intellectual and spiritual heir to Dr. King as a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, has laid out the stakes for months, noting the filibuster protects Republican senators' minority rights while those same senators block the rights of minority voters. Warnock also noted, in a bipartisan move, senators used a filibuster carve out to raise the debt ceiling in December, but were unwilling to do so for basic democratic rights.

Even the events of January 6th, 2021, haven't been enough to convince Republicans of the need for voting and electoral reforms. Commentators disagree if the attack on the Capitol was an insurrection, an attempted coup, an uprising or a riot. But experts increasingly warn the threat to our multiracial democracy has only increased since the attack on the Capitol.

Following January 6th, many congressional Republicans have refused to break with former President Donald Trump and call out his lies about election fraud for fear of retaliation. Fearful of electoral repercussions and with no legislative agenda going into the 2022 midterms, Republicans seem preoccupied instead on securing their power by gaining an unfair advantage through voter restriction laws.

Even Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who has spoken out against Trump's "big lie," has shied away from criticizing voter restriction laws Republican-led state legislatures have passed, casting it instead as a state's rights approach to voting that empowers the very anti-democratic forces she claims to oppose.

In 2021, more than 440 bills that include provisions that restrict voting access were introduced in 49 states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Many of these voting procedure changes came about after a decades-long campaign to push back against voting rights. There was the Southern Strategy, which used neutral-sounding "colorblind" rhetoric and policy to turn back civil rights movement gains and target the Voting Rights Act. Then in 2013, the Supreme Court overturned a provision of the Voting Rights Act that required states to receive clearance from the Justice Department or a federal court in Washington before making changes to voting procedures. This cleared the way for the current wave of voter suppression.

Republican voters have also taken an anti-democratic turn. Only 28% of Republican voters -- stoked by a conservative media infrastructure rife with misinformation -- believe Biden's 2020 win was legitimate.

Republicans' assault on democratic norms hasn't stopped at state level attempts to undermine voting rights; they have also attacked local voting administration. Conspiracy theories about election irregularities and in-person voter fraud inspired a crop of conservative activists to run for election administration roles at the state and local levels. It didn't help that some officials who were committed to fair elections were subject to a number of violent threats after Trump repeatedly spread lies about election fraud. Understandably, in the face of these threats, some officials have chosen to step down rather than put themselves and their families at further risk.

The voting rights bills Manchin and Sinema are blocking would help to alleviate some of the most egregious problems with the country's current anti-Democratic push. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would update provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act weakened by the Supreme Court, once again requiring preclearance for potentially-discriminatory election changes. The Freedom to Vote Act would expand voting access by, among other things, establishing minimum periods of early voting and making Election Day a national holiday. These reforms are non-partisan, and it appears Republican opposition is based on the recognition that democracy itself hurts the party's electoral chances.

America's multiracial democracy is a recent, and fragile invention. Dr. King was, after all, protesting for the protection of rights supposedly guaranteed by the 15th Amendment but denied for nearly a century through anti-democratic schemes that barred Black Americans from voting. The passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act finally guaranteed Black voting rights and led to dramatic increases in both voting and substantive representation. But conservatives on the Supreme Court have substantially undermined that law and now voting rights are once again under attack by Republicans in a bid to maintain and secure power.

Manchin and Sinema's claim they want a bipartisan solution to voting rights is, at best, a refusal to face political reality. At worst, their so-called moderate position of defending the filibuster gives cover to an anti-democratic extremism reminiscent of many of the worst moments in American history. To paraphrase Dr. King, by choosing order over justice, they remain the nation's great stumbling block in the stride toward a fully inclusive democracy.

 University of Iowa Victor Ray

ISRAEL
Gantz overcomes Bennett's veto to launch Netanyahu 'submarine affair' inquiry

By YONAH JEREMY BOB 

© (photo credit: BAZ RATNER/REUTERS) 

Defense Minister Benny Gantz has reportedly overcome resistance by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to move forward with a state commission of inquiry into Case 3000, the so-called “submarine affair” involving former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several of his top aides.

An announcement by Gantz and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Friday said the issue would be brought before the government on Sunday.

“The establishment of the commission of inquiry is a necessary step in maintaining Israel’s security,” said Gantz. “This is a national necessity, and I thank the prime minister, the foreign minister, the justice minister and all those who support the raising of the motion for a resolution.

“We promised the Israeli public that we would not give up on investigating the affair, and we held up our promise,” said Lapid. “The submarine and vessel affair is the most serious security corruption case in the history of Israel, and every stone must be turned in order to reach the investigation of the truth. This is our commitment to IDF soldiers, to the citizens of Israel.”

Notably, Bennett was not part of the joint message. Multiple New Hope MKs have attacked Bennett for stalling the inquiry until now. Walla reported on Friday that Bennett had been the key player holding up the inquiry since October 31 when Gantz again proposed the idea

.

© Provided by The Jerusalem Post PRIME MINISTER Naftali Bennett sits at the government table in the Knesset plenum with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz. Might Bennett go the way of Sharon, Olmert and Livni

(credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH 90)

A spokesman from the Prime Minister’s Office did not comment on the Walla report, however, it has also been noteworthy that Bennett and Yamina have generally been lukewarm about initiatives directed against Netanyahu.

While the criminal trial for Case 3000 has proceeded forward against several of Netanyahu’s former top aides, the former prime minister was never a suspect, which means a state inquiry would be the first time he would truly face any major public consequences for his personal role in the affair.

Unlike two previous attempts by Gantz to move forward on the issue, by October 31, Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar was fully supporting the inquiry and many believed it would be approved in November.

However, according to Walla, Bennett blocked the forward movement of the inquiry in order to delay its start date until after other military deals in the works would be signed with Germany.

Case 3000 involves allegations of a mix of criminal misconduct and general policy-making misconduct in a series of deals regarding nuclear powered submarines and other sea vessels with Germany.

New Hope MKs have also implied that Bennett was problematically delaying the inquiry.

Bennett and Yamina have at times alluded to not wanting to disenfranchise right-wing voters by going after Netanyahu personally.

Gantz has been pushing hard for such an inquiry since mid-2021, but was thwarted by Netanyahu under the previous government because Netanyahu was prime minister.

The defense minister had also been rebuffed by Sa’ar in the early days of the current government because the justice minister said that rolling out such a commission was his purview.

In the end, it appears that Sa’ar did not oppose Gantz’s idea as much as he wanted control over the powers and setup of the commission.

Some of the core questions the commission are expected to examine are whether Netanyahu acted appropriately in completing aspects of the submarine deals with Germany behind the backs of the defense minister and top IDF officials, and whether the submarines were necessary to Israeli security.

Gantz’s rollout also comes around a week after Sa’ar proposed his multiple bills that could block Netanyahu from running for prime minister whenever the next elections come about, due to his being under indictment and in the middle of a trial for public corruption charges.

If earlier in the new government’s term there seemed to be hesitance to use official governmental powers to undermine Netanyahu on these multiple vectors, with the budget having passed, the coalition seems to have concluded that the politics of going after Netanyahu have shifted.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

AUTHORITARIAN CAPITALI$M

Tesla asked law firm to fire attorney who worked on Elon Musk probe at SEC, report says

Jacob Pramuk 


A lawyer for Tesla asked a law firm to fire one of its attorneys or risk losing its work for the electric automaker, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The lawyer at Cooley LLP worked at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission during a probe of Tesla CEO Elon Musk that led to a $20 million fine and Musk's removal as Tesla chairman.

Tesla and Musk's rocket company SpaceX started to draw back their work with Cooley LLP starting in December, according to the Journal.

© Provided by CNBC Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk unveils a new all-wheel-drive version of the Model S car in Hawthorne, California October 9, 2014.

A lawyer for Tesla asked a law firm to fire one its attorneys or risk losing its work for the electric automaker led by Elon Musk, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

The lawyer that Tesla wanted Cooley LLP to fire previously worked at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The attorney interviewed Musk in the agency's probe into the Tesla CEO's 2018 claim that he obtained funding to take Tesla private, according to the publication. The investigation led to a settlement under which Musk and Tesla agreed to pay a $20 million fine each and Musk agreed to step down for three years as Tesla chairman.

Tesla's lawyer late last year asked Cooley to fire the attorney who worked on the SEC investigation, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The firm did not remove the associate.

Tesla has moved to replace Cooley or hire additional lawyers on several cases since December, according to the Journal.

The Portable Heater That Has Taken The World By StormSEE MORESponsored by ALPHA HEATER

Musk's rocket company SpaceX has also stopped working with the law firm on regulatory issues, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Tesla has its own ties to the SEC. The company hired David Misler, a former trial attorney for the agency, as a managing counsel.

Musk has clashed with more regulators than the SEC. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has investigated whether Tesla's Autopilot driver assistance system is at least partly to blame for crashes in which Tesla cars ran into parked first responder vehicles.

The agency brought on Missy Cummings – a Duke University professor, automated systems expert, former Navy fighter pilot and Tesla critic – as an advisor in the probe. Musk in October tweeted that "her track record is extremely biased against Tesla," sparking an outcry among his followers.

The NHTSA later required Cummings to recuse herself from Tesla-specific matters, the Journal reported Saturday.

Tesla, SpaceX and Cooley did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests to comment.

Read the full Journal report here.

— CNBC's Lora Kolodny contributed to this report

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to show that Musk and Tesla each agreed to pay a $20 million fine and Musk agreed to step down temporarily as Tesla's chairman."

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

CRYPTOCAPITALI$M

Inside the metaverse economy, jobs and infrastructure projects are becoming real

Cameron Costa 


New job creation will be taking place inside the metaverse in 2022, from developers working on gaming and NFT transactions for luxury brands and social media platforms, to gamers monetizing their skills.

The venture capital community will continue to make investments that bridge the world of gaming and the metaverse economy.

A new global infrastructure based on massive computing power needs should support leading chipmakers like Nvidia and Intel.

© Provided by CNBC Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg AVATAR is seen fencing 

If 2021's word of the year was "NFT," Avery Akkineni says 2022's will be "Web 3.0."

As president of VaynerNFT, Akkineni spends much of her time consulting with brands looking to get a piece of the metaverse action. The notion of a "corporate metaverse strategy" is new — VaynerNFT itself was founded less than 6 months ago — but it's building momentum. The company's first client was Budweiser, and Akkineni foresees plenty of other major brands following its lead.

In fact, the baseline, widely agreed-upon prediction for 2022: more major brands will get involved in Web3 projects.

"2022 will be the year major brands embrace NFTs in a big way," says Lin Dai, CEO of music NFT platform OneOf. The Quincy Jones-backed start-up is behind the near $1 million auction for an NFT of a never-before-heard Whitney Houston song, and has collaborated with The Recording Academy for an exclusive Grammy Awards partnership.

But this year, digital assets built on the blockchain will likely continue to expand well beyond the music and art industries.

Luxury fashion brand Balenciaga has already teamed up with Fortnite to deliver to users designer "skins" to wear inside the game. Gucci has done the same with Roblox, and Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren have launched their own Roblox experiences. Brian Trunzo, metaverse Lead at Polygon Studios, which focuses on gaming, NFTs and Web3 efforts linked to the polygon digital currency and ethereum blockchain network, says nimble, smart streetwear brands are already in the space as well. "The players have finally taken the field, and the game is about to truly start," Trunzo said.

Akkineni says that the focus for brands, at least at this point, isn't to win but simply to get involved. So far, brand engagement with blockchain projects has been about building community and staying relevant. The Nike and Adidas NFT drops, for example, generated more buzz than cash, but they lent legitimacy to a still-nascent space.

More direct commercialization strategies could be coming. Cathy Hackl, CEO and chief metaverse officer for the Futures Intelligence Group, a metaverse consultant, points out that for luxury brands in particular, the metaverse could be an access point for a secondary market. "When someone sells their Birkin bag on The RealReal, Hermes does not see a cut of that. But through blockchain and NFTs, they are eventually going to get a cut of the secondary market," Hackl said.
There will be more jobs in the metaverse

As more companies seek a foothold in the digital universe, hiring opportunities for candidates comfortable with Web3 will grow. Hackl says her title may become more common.

"Even if you look at job boards, you're increasingly seeing demand for Solidity developers and Discord managers," Akkineni said.

Solidity is a computer language used in conjunction with the ethereum blockchain to build and deploy smart contracts. Discord is a social media platform favored by many gamers and the crypto community.

Big brands will naturally help drive Web3 job creation, but a new kind of employment might take center stage. The play-to-earn gaming model gained popularity in the Philippines with Axie Infinity four years ago, and now the game has over 1.8 million daily active users, some reporting an income of about $10 a day, and up to $1,000-$2,000 a month from solely playing the game.

"It's kind of like a universal basic income experiment mixed with an e-sport," says Vance Spencer, a DeFi venture capitalist and co-founder of Framework Ventures.
Gaming and metaverse crossover investments grow

There has been controversy within the gaming world about virtual monetization, but the math that supports more investments linking the metaverse to gaming is simple, according to Spencer.

Gaming is the biggest segment of the entertainment industry, with nearly 3 billion regular participants. Sky Mavis, Axie Infinity's developer, was the first to monetize NFTs in a gaming environment, but it won't be the last. Investors are recognizing the potential in crypto-gaming crossover. In October, Sky Mavis raised $152 million from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz and Mark Cuban. Developers looking to do the same are likely to be successful, although for Spencer, the most upside is for developers making AAA-quality games that can be played on PC, like Take-Two Interactive's Grand Theft Auto and EA's FIFA. Roblox, though, and even Minecraft, have found substantial success despite not being AAA games.

GameStop is making the same bet, announcing plans to launch its own NFT marketplace. It's likely that GME will need to make a slew of Web3 hires to execute the plan.

Brands are likely to tap into the gaming revenue streams, too.

"There's a direct commercialization opportunity in the gaming space. … People are very used to paying $20, $50, $100 per skin," Akkineni said.

And gamers are indeed willing to shell out for their virtual avatars: the digital version of Gucci's Dionysus bag sold on Roblox for more than the bag's IRL retail price.
Metaverse will be one of the world's biggest infrastructure projects

The bigger the corporate plans for the digital world, the more computing power we'll need. As more brands leverage NFTs to build their communities in virtual worlds and as more consumers follow them in, technological and physical infrastructure moves into the foreground of the metaverse landscape. At the end of 2021, Intel estimated that Web3 metaverse projects will eventually demand at least 1000x the computing power we have now.

"The amount of concurrent users online within a single server or 'node' in all virtual worlds will continue to increase," Trunzo said, and with that, advancements in the physical components to make the kind of consistent traffic possible and reliable. It's a natural and necessary part of tech's maturation, and it keeps the semiconductor mainstays like Intel and Nvidia in a solid position, whatever becomes of the metaverse.
A boom for now, but winter is coming

The world of NFTs and blockchain-based digital assets is, for now, a hot one. But winter could be coming. Akinneni said, as demand will likely cool off and by the end of 2022, we may find fewer projects and fewer drops.

"This probably won't be the year where we have a 90% drawdown in teams that are working on projects, but this will be the start of the end of the beginning," Spencer said.

Not every blockchain project has the team to push it into the mainstream, and Spencer expects a maturation shift, and healthy consolidation. This consolidation could emerge in legacy brand M&A strategies. Akkineni points to Nike's acquisition of RTFKT as a pivotal moment in blockchain legitimacy beyond the crypto-native crowd. For big Fortune 50 or Fortune 500 brands, it's not too early to consider making similar deals, Hackl said.

The biggest hurdles for the digital worlds of 2022 are scalability, in the form of computing power and interoperability between discrete metaverses, and security. Both of which, Akkineni points out, are typical for emerging technologies.

Christine Lee: UK government promoted firm at center of alleged Chinese influence operation for years

By Nina dos Santos, CNN 4 hrs ago


The British government had been directing investors towards the law firm run by a woman accused by the country's own intelligence service of political interference on behalf of China for years, documents from its trade department show.

© EyePress News//Reuters/FILE File photo of Christine Ching-Kui Lee, the suspected agent named by British national security service MI5 on a security alert sent to all MPs by Speaker\'s Parliamentary security team on behalf of MI5 on Thursday Jan 14, 2022. Parliamentarians were told Christine Lee has been monitored by the security services for some time but has not been arrested and is not being expelled as it stands. An attached alert saying she was knowingly engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party. 

(British Chinese Project handout photo)

On Thursday Britain's domestic counter-intelligence service, MI5, issued an "interference alert" about a "potential threat" posed by Christine Ching Kui Lee, a lawyer with offices in China and the UK.

The alert said Lee "acted covertly" with the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in UK politics by cultivating links with parliamentarians "across the political spectrum" and facilitating donations "on behalf of foreign nationals," MI5 said.

Lee's firm was advertised on a website of the Department of International Trade (DIT) as recently as Friday, before being taken offline.

In a statement a DIT spokesperson told CNN: "The department has no record of any relationship with Christine Lee."

CNN has contacted Lee for comment but has not received a reply. On Friday, China's Foreign Ministry denied that Lee was a Chinese "agent" and said Beijing "has no need and will not engage in so-called interference activities."

"We urge relevant British officials to refrain from making groundless remarks or hyping up the 'China threat' theory for ulterior political purposes," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

A CNN analysis of Britain's parliamentary register, by which lawmakers record donations, shows Lee gave at least £461,000 ($639,000) to Barry Gardiner, an elected member of the opposition Labour party between 2014 and 2020, mostly through funding of his staff. Her son even worked in his office and had a parliamentary pass.

Lee also donated £5,000 ($6,800) to the leader of the Liberal Democrat party Sir Ed Davey in 2013.

It is not illegal for Lee to make the donations as the UK does not yet have a foreign agents registration act like the United States, nor is it illegal for a British citizen or foreign national working in the UK to be affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party. Lee is listed as a British national in the UK's corporate registry.

In a statement to CNN, Gardiner said he had not benefited personally from Lee's donations in any way. The money had been properly reported and its source verified.

"I will continue to work closely with our security services in this and all other matters that relate to the security of our country," Gardiner said.

Davey told CNN his local association had accepted the donation, that it was reported properly, and that "this was the first time he had been given cause to be concerned."

"The government must make it a national security priority to protect the UK's democracy from threats and interference by foreign actors," Davey said.

Lee's services advertised on UK government portal

The payments were made through Lee's eponymous law firm Christine Lee & Co Solicitors, which since at least 2016 has been included in the directory of the "UK Advisory Network" -- a list of business services compiled by what is now the Department for International Trade to, as the directory says, "provide an accessible route" "to foreign investors setting up in the UK."

A preface to the directory says it is "facilitated by invitation from the UK government" and that "members go through a robust vetting procedure to join."

"The Network provides a forum for feedback to the government on issues affecting the business environment and ultimately informs efforts to make the UK even more business friendly," it says.

Lee's services could still be accessed through the Department of International Trade on Friday via a government portal recently revamped to attract overseas investment for UK projects.

The advertisement for Lee's firm on the UK's great.gov website offered the first hour of legal advice for free, as did the other firms listed.

A disclaimer on the site said the department does not "endorse the character, goods, services or ability of the members of the directory" and that there is no legal relationship between the department and the service providers listed.

The Department of International Trade said in response to CNN it had to do a "fair amount of digging" on the matter and that the great.gov.uk page was no longer live, although the site was up on the web until the close of business on Friday.

"This case shows is an abject failure of government vetting, and shows extraordinary naivety on the part of the government when it comes to the purpose of these kinds of institutions and individuals," said Luke de Pulford of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which is pushing for tougher rules on China.

To have somebody who MI5 published an alert about "advertising their services on the government website truly is remarkable and needs to be dealt with as soon as it possibly can be," he said.

Photographed with prime ministers

Lee, a former legal adviser to China's embassy in London, has been active in political circles for 15 years.

She first set up the British Chinese project in 2006 to encourage British citizens with Chinese ancestry to vote in the UK. From 2011 onwards she was involved in a now-defunct All Party Parliamentary Group called Chinese in Britain.

She has been photographed with former Conservative Prime Ministers David Cameron and Theresa May. The latter even gave her an award two years ago for her work with Britain's Chinese community.

According to the UK's Companies House register, Lee has a web of property, legal, cultural and educational ventures under her name.

A copy of a letter sent by the Lords Speaker in the House of Lords, the UK's upper chamber, and obtained by CNN said Lee has facilitated donations "on behalf of foreign nationals based in Hong Kong and China. This facilitation was done to covertly mask the origins of the payments."

"This is clearly unacceptable and steps are being taken to ensure it ceases." the letter reads.

The Home Office launched a consultation last year on new legislation designed to shore up safeguards against hostile state action. Parliamentary sources told CNN the bill is expected be presented to the House of Commons during the early part of this year.

When CNN visited the London office of Lee's law firm, in the heart of Soho, it appeared to have been shuttered for some time with the windows thick with dust. It was empty with a notice in the window saying it had closed because of the pandemic. Emails and calls to the contact details provided in the sign went unanswered.

In a piece written for the UK's Daily Mail in 2020, the firm said: "Christine Lee & Co is proud of its record of public service and the support it has provided to the democratic process. We have never sought to influence any politician improperly or to seek any favours in return for the support that we have provided."

Ian Duncan Smith, the former leader of the ruling Conservative party and a fervent critic of China, raised the alarm about Lee in Parliament on Thursday, saying MI5 had warned the House Speaker Lindsay Hoyle that "an agent of the Chinese government" had been actively working to "subvert" the process of parliament.

"This is a matter of grave concern," he said.

© Rob Pinney/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images The London offices of Christine Lee and Co.

Opinion: UCP should look to the recent past to guide dealings with Alberta teachers

Frank Bruseker

 1 day ago

EDMONTON JOURNAL

I had the privilege of serving as president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) from 2003 to 2009. I also served as a vice-president of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, and I attended three World Congress meetings of Education International with representation from 172 countries around the globe. I mention all of these because, over the years, I have had the opportunity to speak with many teacher leaders about their organizations and then compare those organizations to the ATA. Those comparisons lead me to conclude that the ATA is one of the best organized and most effective teacher organizations in the world.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Left to right, Alberta Education Minister Ron Liepert, ASBA President Heather Welwood and Alberta Teachers' Association President Frank Bruseker smile as they conduct a press conference at University Elementary School today to talk about the historic $2.2 billion deal teachers' pension agreement. File photo.

What makes the ATA such an effective organization? Simply, it is a unified professional association. All teachers who work in public schools in Alberta must be members of the ATA. The ATA is also responsible for professional development and bargaining for teachers and, when necessary, the discipline of its members. All of these are outlined in the Teaching Profession Act (TPA) which was first passed in 1935. During my tenure as president, the ATA effectively fulfilled its responsibilities outlined in the TPA.

The ATA’s effectiveness has come about through hard work between government and the ATA. Just as when buying a diamond, one looks for the four important Cs, so too in building a strong relationship with government, the ATA has used four important Cs: communication, consultation, co-operation and collaboration.

It is important to note that these are all two-way characteristics that help both the association and government. During my time as ATA president, I worked with four different ministers of education through regularly scheduled, face-to-face meetings, to discuss the issues of the day. This process built a positive working relationship between the government and the ATA that, by the end of January 2008, produced a five-year agreement that resulted in major fiscal savings for the government and labour peace with teachers for the term of the agreement. Four days after this agreement was achieved, then-premier Ed Stelmach called a general election that resulted in a 72-seat majority government for the PCs.

Contrast that process with the current government, which doesn’t employ any of the four Cs with teachers, but rather guts their pension plan and moves the money from a highly effective management/investment organization to one that is less effective. This is success? Now we have a minister of education talking about unilaterally making amendments to the Teaching Profession Act that would make the association a less-effective organization than it is currently. All this without any consultation with the ATA.

During my eight years as an MLA, I learned that the role of an MLA is to represent their constituents in the legislature. To do that, MLAs need to speak with their constituents regarding their concerns.

True representative government is providing leadership for the people. It is not imposing unwarranted legislation on the people. One of the first ways to ensure that MLAs have a clear understanding of the needs of Albertans is by open, honest and clear communication with the people they represent. This government could learn from the successes of the Stelmach government and employ those strategies to build an even better education system and a much better relationship with the ATA, rather than continue on the destructive path it seems intent on following.

Frank Bruseker is a former president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association.

EDMONTON

Concordia University administration reaches tentative agreement with faculty union

A faculty strike at Concordia University that lasted more than a week has come to an end

.

© Dave Carels, Global News File: Concordia University of Edmonton pictured on Friday, Oct. 16, 2020.

Jessika Guse

On Saturday, the Concordia University of Edmonton Faculty Association (CUEFA) said 89 per cent of its members voted in favour of ratification of a new tentative agreement.

According to a news release posted on the CUEFA website, the new agreement will allow for classes to begin again on Wednesday.

"This new agreement is a win for faculty, students and the community because it will enable the University to recruit and retain excellent faculty and lays the foundation for a stronger learning environment," said CUEFA president, Glynis Price.

Video: Concordia University of Edmonton students feel impacts of faculty strike

"Collective action is what made it possible, and CUEFA is grateful to the students, parents, other associations and allies across Canada who rallied in support of this strike."

The strike first began on Jan. 4 and was the first in Alberta history when it comes to a faculty association taking job action. The union claims more than 1,350 people from across Canada showed their support for the union while a student petition garnered more than 500 signatories supporting the faculty.

According to the union, salary gains will begin the process of bringing CUE faculty and academic service officers into line with other institutions. The news release states CUE faculty salaries are ranked at 68 out of 70 Canadian universities.

The new agreement will also improve working conditions for CUEFA members by moving toward manageable workloads for professors, laboratory instructors, librarians and field placement coordinators. It will also add job security to its members along with preserving their ownership of their intellectual property.

CUEFA represents the interests of all probationary and permanent faculty members, professional librarians, laboratory instructors, and field placement coordinators

Global News has reached out to Concordia University for comment, but as of the time this article was posted, hadn't heard back.

WINNIPEG

City students plan walkouts Monday over safety concerns

Teenagers are organizing walkouts at public and independent schools across the city in protest of the few virus-safety protocols that will be in place when they return to in-person classes Monday.

Shortly before lunchtime Monday, the first day of face-to-face learning after an extended winter break, students at more than 30 schools are planning to protest the provincial government’s response to the fast-spreading Omicron-variant COVID-19 surge.

“I want to go to the movies, I want to go to school, I want to do all of that, but doctors and scientists are saying that it’s not safe and they’re saying that 40 per cent of us already have COVID,” said Cooper Vint, a Grade 10 student at Grant Park High School.

“I don’t want (anyone else to get seriously sick) and I don’t want to be responsible for that happening.”

The students — taking action under the MB Student Walkout for COVID Safety 2022 banner — want an option to enrol in remote learning indefinitely so physical classroom attendance numbers can be reduced. They also want the province to ensure teens have immediate access to booster shots, N95 masks and rapid tests, as well as reassurance they will continue being notified when there is a positive case in their school, in order to feel comfortable returning to K-12 buildings.

The initiative, devised by 15-year-old Kelvin High School student Ava Byrne, was inspired by similar action taken in New York earlier this week.

“(The premier) basically told us that, ‘We’re just going to have to deal with it because everyone’s going to get Omicron,’ which was careless,” said Byrne, a 10th grader. “So I thought it’d be a good idea to show the government that students have a voice and we’ll use it when they’re putting us in danger.”

The Winnipeg School Division is aware of the walkout plan and will monitor the situation Monday to ensure both participants and non-participants remain safe, said Radean Carter, senior information officer for Manitoba’s largest district.

“This protest action is not organized by WSD; however, we support students’ right to peacefully protest and put their education of the democratic process into action,” Carter wrote in an email Friday.

Education Minister Cliff Cullen was asked about the planned demonstrations earlier in the week and encouraged students to “have a second thought,” discuss the situation with their parents and reach out to individual teachers about the new safety protocols in schools.

Cullen said he has heard from pediatricians who say school closures have severely impacted some students’ mental health, as well as teachers, who’ve told him students learn best when they can do so in a classroom.

“We’ve taken as many precautions as we can to really try to mitigate this risk as we have to work with COVID,” Cullen told a news conference, noting the province has been distributing rapid tests and medical-grade masks to schools.

“We’ve got to get back to some form of normalcy, whatever that may look like.”

In response to rising Omicron cases, the province announced a phase-in return to school in 2022 after the winter break, and adjusted measures to ensure staff wear medical-grade masks, students wear three-ply face coverings and educators reorganize classrooms to expand physical distancing.

Sports tournaments and overnight trips have been suspended indefinitely. Some schools will soon receive portable air-filtration units as part of a new initiative to improve ventilation.

Grade 12 student Weldon Scott, however, wants to know how many politicians have physically set foot inside a school recently.

“They don’t know what we’re going through,” the 17-year-old said during a Zoom call with the Free Press and a half-dozen student organizers.

Many of the teens on the Friday video call indicated physical distancing of two metres is not possible in their classrooms, lunchtime protocols require students to remove their masks all at once in poorly ventilated areas, and not all of their peers or teachers strictly follow mask rules.

Grade 12 student Brie Villeneuve said remote learning is not, in and of itself, the cause of mental-health issues, no matter how many times government officials and walkout critics might suggest that it is. In fact, the 18 year old at Grant Park said learning of the province’s back-to-school plans only raised anxiety and depression.

“We’re struggling with mental health because there’s a global pandemic. Everyone is,” Villeneuve said.

There have been at least 4,642 cases — 77 per cent of which are among students — and more than 30 outbreaks connected to schools since Labour Day thus far.

Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press

Western Canadian teachers call for more protection after schools reopen

Elementary and secondary schools across Western Canada have reopened following the Christmas break as provincial governments faced criticism from teachers over what they say is a lack of protective measures against the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

Schools in British Columbia and Alberta reopened on Monday with health and education officials stressing the need for in-person learning. Schools in Saskatchewan returned the previous week as scheduled.

The leaders of teacher unions in Saskatchewan and British Columbia have been critical of how the reopening of schools has been handled and the stress it has placed on staff.

"We have situations where learning assistants, or learning resource teachers, who are specialized teachers are being pulled out of their duties into classrooms to cover staff shortages," said Patrick Maze, the head of the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation. "The learning program suffers when you have this many transitions going on in the schools."

The president of the BC Teachers' Federation agreed with those concerns. Teri Mooring said teachers want greater access to N95 masks in schools as well as priority for booster vaccines.

Four B.C. schools announced functional closures this week, meaning there was not enough staff to teach students.

"We're concerned there will be a lot more functional closures. It's hard for us to understand why the additional safety measures we're calling for aren't being put in place," Mooring said in an interview.

She said refusing to accommodate the union's requests could lead to a staffing shortage in schools.

"We think with those safety measures teachers and support staff are more likely to stay healthy," she said. "This whole issue of doing the bare minimum has always been a problem in education. We'd like to see a more preventive approach rather than a bare minimum approach."

B.C. Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside said in an interview that teachers would not be prioritized for vaccines and the government has taken steps to manage risks posed by the virus.

"It is a balancing act. One thing we have been very determined about in B.C. ... is to ensure we keep children and youth at the centre of our decision-making. We know how important it is to have access to in-person learning," said Jennifer Whiteside.

But Cameron Phillips, a parent and Vancouver secondary school teacher, said he questions if the B.C. government is thinking about the long-term health effects facing students.

Phillips said he and his wife, who is an elementary school teacher, decided to keep their kids home this week as they assess the COVID-19 situation in schools.

"As a parent, I'm concerned about the future health of my children," he said. "As a teacher, I love my kids. I love my students. I know the school I teach at has many multiple generation families. There are so many students in my classes who are terrified of taking it home to auntie or grandma and causing suffering or havoc in their families."

Phillips said he's "baffled" by the reluctance to provide N95 masks to students and staff, and would like to see improved ventilation in schools.

Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said schools have done a commendable job of continuing in-person learning in a safe way.

"One thing we've seen is how important it is to maintain in-class learning as much as possible while accepting some higher transmission, which is not just unique to school, this is happening in health care, schools, all workplaces," he said.

In Alberta, as the number of Omicron infections hit a record high this week, the president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association said he’s concerned about students’ future in classrooms because "community spread is echoed in schools."

“I anticipate we're going to have more of what we saw this year but it might be intensified so we'll see more absences, we'll see more inabilities for schools to fill absent teachers,” Jason Schilling said Friday.

Alberta has left it up to schools to contact trace infections.

Hundreds of students and dozens of teachers were reported absent on the Edmonton Public Schools board website on Thursday. Out of 105,151 students under the division, 3.16 per cent were absent due to COVID-19 and 3.56 per cent were absent due to other illnesses.

The Calgary Board of Education also said its absent rate for kindergarten to Grade 12 students was 20.2 per cent on Wednesday.

— With files from Fakiha Baig in Edmonton and Mickey Djuric in Regina.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2022.

—

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Nick Wells, The Canadian Press