Thousands protest over soaring prices across Spain


Many are angry at the government for not taking more decisive action to lower prices (AFP/JORGE GUERRERO)


Sat, March 19, 2022

Thousands of demonstrators hit the streets across Spain on Saturday in protest at the soaring cost of food, light and fuel, which have been exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The rallies, which took place in Spain's main cities, were called by the far-right Vox party which sought to tap into growing social discontent over the spiralling cost of living that has left many families struggling to pay their bills.

Outside City Hall in Madrid, a crowd of several thousand people gathered, waving hundreds of Spanish flags and chanting angry slogans calling for the resignation of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

"Sanchez, you're rubbish, bring down our bills!" they shouted, between patriotic cries of "Long live Spain!" at a rally demanding government action to lower prices.

"We have the worst possible government.. It's not even a government, it's a misery factory... which plunders and extorts workers through abusive taxes," Vox leader Santiago Abascal told the rally to rousing cheers.

"We will not leave the streets until this illegitimate government is expelled."

This government "is taking everything from us", said Anabel, a 56-year-old demonstrator who didn't give her surname.

"They hike the light and gas prices and say it's because of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, but that's a lie. It was like this before," she told AFP.

"Light prices really affect (my family) because some of us work from home, and we can hardly put the heating on because the price of gas has almost doubled over the past six months."

- 'Abandoning the people' -

Many said government should be lowering taxes to help those struggling.

"A country that raises prices in this way and doesn't help its citizens by partially lowering taxes, is abandoning its people," said Francisco, 53, who is unemployed and didn't give his family name.

"We have to force the government to act -- or remove them, for Spain's sake."

Spain's main right-wing opposition Popular Party (PP) has also demanded the government immediately lower taxes.

"Taxes must be lowered at once! We can't live with prices that are over 7.0 percent and growing," said incoming PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo on Saturday, referring to Spain's annual inflation, which jumped to 7.6 percent in February, its highest level in 35 years.

Last year, energy prices soared by 72 percent in Spain, one of the highest increases within the European Union, and costs have surged even higher since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a crisis that comes hot on the heels of the pandemic.

On Monday, Spanish lorry drivers declared an open-ended strike over fuel prices which soon mushroomed into multiple roadblocks and protests, triggering supply chain problems.

Rising prices have also prompted the UGT and the CCOO, Spain's two biggest unions, to call a national strike on March 23.

Government minister Felix Bolanos pledged the government would unveil its planned steps to reduce the cost of energy and fuel on March 29, accusing Vox of seeking to profit from a difficult situation.

"The far-right is always stirring up problems and complicating things, no matter how difficult they are... They are not patriots they are troublemakers," he told Spain's public television.

Sanchez is currently on a European tour to lobby for a common EU response to soaring energy prices.

Madrid has for months urged its European partners to change the mechanism which couples electricity prices to the gas market, but its pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears, despite support from Paris.

 Vatican: Women to benefit as Pope Francis unveils reforms

Pope Francis delivered on the reforms promised years ago by allowing any baptized Catholic — man or woman — to lead major departments at the Vatican.

The new constitution will take effect on June 5, replacing one approved in 1988 by Pope John Paul II

Pope Francis on Saturday issued a new constitution for the Vatican's central administration, known as the Curia, stating that any baptized lay Catholics, including women, can head Vatican offices.

Until now, most Vatican departments have been headed by male clerics, usually cardinals.

The new 54-page constitution, called Praedicate Evangelium (Proclaiming the Gospel), took more than nine years to complete.

It replaces the founding constitution Pastor Bonus penned by St. John Paul II in 1988 and will take effect on June 5.

"The pope, bishops and other ordained ministers are not the only evangelizers in the Church," the preamble says, adding that lay men and women "should have roles of government and responsibility."

Another section says "any member of the faithful can head a dicastery (Curia department)" if the pope decides they are qualified and appoints them.

It makes no distinction between lay men and lay women.

The text says choices will be made based on people's professional competence, spiritual life, pastoral experience, sobriety and love for the poor, a sense of community and "ability to recognize the signs of the times."

Years in the making

Francis was elected pope in 2013 in large part on his promise to reform the bulky and inefficient Vatican bureaucracy, which acts as the organ of central governance for the 1.3-billion strong Catholic Church.

He named a Cabinet of cardinal advisers who have met periodically since his election to help him draft the changes.

Much of the reform work has been rolled out piecemeal over the years, with offices consolidated and financial reforms issued.

But the publication of the new document, for now only in Italian, finalizes the process.

The document was released Saturday, the ninth anniversary of Francis' installation as pope.

The Catholic Church has struggled to deal with several scandals of alleged sexual abuse by clergy.

mm/dj(AP, Reuters)

Pope in 'tectonic' shake-up of Vatican

bureaucracy

Issued on: 19/03/2022


Francis, 85, put together a group of cardinals to advise him on how to enact reforms 

Tiziana FABI AFP

Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis on Saturday followed through on a promise made ahead of his 2013 election and published a much-anticipated shake-up of the Vatican's powerful governing body.

The new constitution, which comes into effect on June 5, restructures parts of the unruly Roman Curia, and makes increasing the world's 1.2 billion Catholics the church's number one priority.

Among the most significant changes are the possibility for lay and female Catholics to head up Vatican departments, and the incorporation of the pope's sex abuse advisory commission into the Curia.

"Pope Francis has been working on a new organizational structure for the Vatican for nine years. It's a major aspect of his legacy," Joshua McElwee from the National Catholic Reporter said on Twitter.


'Tectonic shift'

Cardinals gathered for the conclave to elect a new pope in 2013 were divided between those who believed there were deep-rooted problems in the Curia and those who wanted to preserve the status quo.

Ex-pope Benedict XVI, who had just resigned, was reported to have tried and failed to clean up a body some even blamed for preventing the church from properly tackling the child sex abuse scandal.

Francis, 85, put together a group of cardinals to advise him over the years on how to reform the Curia, and has already enacted many changes as he moves to modernise the centuries-old institution.

The 54-page text entitled "Proclaiming the Gospel", which replaces a constitution drawn up by pope John Paul II in 1988, creates a new department for evangelisation, to be headed up by Francis himself.

Making himself "Chief Evangelizer" encapsulates a "tectonic shift to a more pastoral, missionary church," David Gibson, director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, said on Twitter.

In that vein, Francis says every baptised Christian is a missionary.

"One cannot fail to take this into account in the updating of the Curia, whose reform must provide for involvement of laymen and women, even in roles of government and responsibility," he said.
'Significant'

The constitution, released on the ninth anniversary of the inauguration of Francis' papacy, makes the pope's charity czar, currently Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, head of a department in its own right.

It also brings the Vatican's Commission for the Protection of Minors -- a papal advisory body -- into the office which oversees the canonical investigations of clerical sex abuse cases.

In doing so, the pope is "effectively establishing the Vatican's first safeguarding office", the Tablet's journalist Christopher Lamb said.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who heads the Commission, said it was a "significant move forward", which would give institutional weight to the fight against a scourge which has plagued the church globally.

But Marie Collins, an Irish survivor of clerical abuse who served on the commission before resigning in outrage in 2017 over the church's handling of the crisis, slammed it instead as a clear step back.

"The Commission has now officially lost even a semblance of independence," she said on Twitter.

© 2022 AFP

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan a boon for women

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan is the country's first female president and Africa's only female leader. As she marks one year in office, women in the region judge her performance.

Samia Suluhu Hassan is not only the first female leader of Tanzania, she's also

 Africa's first ever Muslim woman president

When Samia Suluhu Hassan became Tanzania's president a year ago after the sudden death of her predecessor John Magufuli, many women had high hopes.

It wasn't just President Suluhu Hassan's enormous potential as a role model — upon her inauguration on March 19, 2021, she became Tanzania's first female president, as well as the only woman head of state in Africa.

It was also that the late President Magufuli made frequent comments belittling women while supporting policies that curbed their rights. For example, he banned pregnant teenagers from going back to school.

Now, one year on, many women are applauding Suluhu Hassan for her leadership style and promotion of women.

They also praise the president for steering her country out of the economic and health crises triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Suluhu Hassan has also boosted Tanzania's regional standing since taking office.

Diplomacy pays off

The 62-year-old leader has given Tanzania a diplomatic face-lift after the isolation during the Magufuli era. She has visited several African and European countries and the United Arab Emirates in the past year.

"Issues around economic diplomacy and trade relations have improved so much [under President Suluhu Hassan]," Ugandan human rights and woman's rights advocate Stella Nyanzi told DW.

This has allowed Tanzania to secure funding and sign contracts for several large projects, including a €178 million ($196 million) concessional loan for bus rapid transit, financing to refurbish the international airport, and €450 million in EU COVID-19 relief funds, according to the Tanzanian daily, The Citizen.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame is among the heads of state 

President Suluhu Hassan has met in the past year

Increased intra-African trade

Under Samia Suluhu Hassan, Tanzania is rapidly opening up to its neighbors.

The country ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) last year, giving Tanzania access to a market of 1.2 billion potential customers.

Just last month, her administration agreed to join the rest of the East African Community in signing a trade deal with the European Union, which Magufuli had previously blocked. Tanzania also recently removed dozens of trade barriers with Kenya.

The country is now reaping the benefits of these policy changes.

Exports of manufactured goods from Tanzania to its neighbors have shot up by a third, "the highest recorded trade historically," Frannie Leautier, a Tanzanian-born international investment consultant, pointed out. She has held senior leadership roles at the African Development Bank and the World Bank Group.

Tourism, which before the pandemic made up 10% of Tanzania's GDP, is yet to recover

For Leautier, one of President Suluhu Hassan's key achievements is how she has "spearheaded Tanzania's role" both with the East Africa region and elsewhere, and on the continent following AfCFTA's launch.

Tanzania's national poverty rate fell in 2021, despite the effects of the pandemic, Leautier said, adding that the Tanzanian shilling is also the most stable currency in East Africa.

Dar es Salaam resident Monica Patric told DW's Kiswahili service that the "great things [President Suluhu Hassan] is doing in and out of the country" is why she's happy as a woman with her performance.

"There are so many changes since President Samia took office," she said. "So many people and I are proud of her."

Women in power

Having a woman president has great symbolic value beyond Tanzania in showing that African women can govern, says Ugandan women's rights advocate Stella Nyanzi.

"I celebrate President Samia Suluhu Hassan because she has echoed the importance of giving women governance," she said. "She is not perfect, but she is doing a good job."

Nyanzi added that she thinks many underestimated the president because she is a Muslim woman and wears a hijab.

Another Dar es Salaam resident, Mary Sandi, said she appreciates seeing more women advance into influential political positions.

"Our parliamentary speaker is a woman and is doing a great job at the parliament, which is a great achievement because the parliament is stable and doing well," she told DW.

Tanzania has more women cabinet ministers than ever before. After several cabinet shuffles in the past year, nine out of 25 ministries, or 36%, are currently headed by women.

Stergomena Tax is Tanzania's first female defense minister

This includes the appointment of Stergomena Tax to lead the ministry of defense,  the first time in the country's history that the critical position has gone to a woman.

"It seems that she is privileging professionalism, capacity, and ability, and that's meant a lot more female appointments," said Tanzanian political commentator and feminist blogger Elsie Eyakuze.

Younger appointees

President Suluhu Hassan also seems to be giving younger women a chance to demonstrate their leadership skills. For example, Tanzania's ambassador to the US, former economist Elsie Sia Kanza, is only 46.

"[President Suluhu Hassan] has appointed young women, and women in general, to non-traditional roles by looking at their competency and capability and setting them up for success," financial consultant Leautier said.

The president herself has highlighted that 13 women were among the 28 new judges she recently named.

Neighboring Rwanda, where just over half of the cabinet ministers and judges are women, shows that traditionally male-dominated African nations can put women into leadership roles.

But this isn't something that Tanzania can do overnight, experts say.

"I'd be concerned if she tried to drive for parity immediately because we need time as a society to get used to certain things," political commentator Eyakuze told DW.

"If she's seen to favor women absolutely and completely and be a feminist, that might actually arouse backlash instead of creating a constructive situation."

Not all smooth sailing

That doesn't mean President Suluhu Hassan is supportive of all women. Last year, she triggered an outcry when she described the country's female footballers as having "flat chests" and being unattractive for marriage. 

At the time, women's rights activist Mwanahamisi Singano called President Suluhu Hassan's statement a humiliation to women.

"Especially African women, as we know their female body has been objectified for so long," Singano told DW in August 2021.

"We have been pushed to fit certain categories of beauty. So it is really sad to hear that the president is uttering those words in a manner that says: If you do not have these qualities, you are not woman enough. You are not attractive."

In addition, the seven-month imprisonment of opposition Chadema politician Freeman Mbowe, who was released two weeks ago, fueled concern among rights groups whether President Suluhu Hassan was returning to the repressive techniques of the late John Magufuli. But in an exclusive interview with DW, she rejected the allegations of oppressing her political opponents.

"As for complaints by political parties to be allowed to hold rallies, which is their legal right. We have asked them to discuss and let the government know how they intend to conduct those meetings without chaos, destroying people's property, or causing mayhem in the country," Suluhu Hassan said. "They should sit and discuss and let the government know what they have decided. We shall respond and allow them."

She also ruled out a constitutional review soon, saying Tanzanians had more pressing issues. "Citizens expect good schools where their children can go to learn. They are waiting for health centers to be built, water supply, and rural electrification. This constitutional [amendment] exercise is very costly." 

However, the Tanzanian leader stressed that she understood the importance of the constitution. "It is vital. So we shall wait for recommendations from the political parties and see the way forward, but for now, we want to focus on the needs of the citizens," she told DW.

Chadema Chairman Freeman Mbowe was released after the prosecution

 dropped terrorism charges against him

Calmness a welcome respite

Above all, President Suluhu Hassan seems to be appreciated by women in the region for her calm and considered leadership, which contrasts with the self-promotion and blustering often associated with other political figures in the region.

"I think she's a role model for both men and women in terms of her style of listening and engaging and in steadily moving things forward," said political commentator Elsie Eyakuze.

International investment consultant Frannie Leautier wholeheartedly agrees.

"She's got more of a quality of listening and deliberating before she speaks and when she speaks, she's usually very well prepared," Leutier said.

"So I feel like we're moving back towards a proper professional approach to public service rather than the cult of personality."

Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu

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President Suluhu Hassan talked to DW about COVID vaccines, climate change and ties with the EU. But she declined to be drawn on the terrorism charges the leader of the opposition will now have to face.  

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Tanzanian region lowers maternal death rate   

High seas treaty talks fail to 

reach a deal

60 percent of the ocean is 'high seas' beyond national jurisdiction 

(AFP/Frederic J. BROWN)

Marine LAOUCHEZ, Marlowe HOOD

Fri, March 18, 2022

The clock ran out Friday at UN talks to forge a legally binding treaty to protect open oceans beyond national jurisdictions, with no schedule set for prolonging the discussions.

This fourth round of negotiations since 2018 -- preceded by a decade of preliminary talks -- was meant to create vast marine reserves to prevent biodiversity loss, oversee industrial-scale fisheries and share out the "genetic resources" of the sea.

"We have not come to the end of our work," said conference president Rena Lee, a diplomate from Singapore, noting that the Covid pandemic had caused major delays.

"I believe that with continued commitment, determination and dedication, we will be able to build bridges and close the remaining gaps," she said at the end of Friday's session.

It now rests with the United Nations General Assembly to give the green light for another round of talks.

"All efforts must be devoted in the coming months to secure this long-awaited treaty in 2022," said Peggy Kalas, president of the High Seas Alliance, a coalition of more than forty major NGOs and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

A so-called High Ambition Coalition of European Union nations and 13 other countries, including India, Australia, Canada and Britain, have endorsed the same goal.

Some nations and many environmental groups have called for at least 30 percent of the world's oceans to be granted protected status, a target also to be on the table at UN biodiversity talks later this year.

Currently less that one percent of open ocean enjoys that status, according to the High Seas Alliance.

Oceans produce half the oxygen we breathe, regulate the weather and provide humanity's single largest source of protein.

But they are being pushed to the brink by human activities.

- Marine genetic resources -

Carbon dioxide emissions and global warming drive devastating marine heatwaves and acidification.

The UN's climate science advisory body has projected that more than 99 percent of shallow water corals will die if average global temperatures rise more than degrees above preindustrial levels.

"The oceans as a whole are becoming warmer, the salinity levels are increasing. There's less oxygen for marine life," said Liz Karan, an expert with The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Humans have also fished some marine species to the edge of extinction, and used the world's waters as a garbage dump.

Today, a patchwork of agreements and regulatory bodies govern shipping, fishing, and mineral extraction, while the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, negotiated in the 1970s, lays out rules for how far a nation's zone of influence extends beyond its shores.

But despite two decades of consultations, there is still no treaty protecting international waters beyond national jurisdiction, accounting for about two-thirds of the world's oceans.

Another contentious question is who gets a share of the benefits from the exploitation of what are known as "marine genetic resources".

Poorer countries fear they will be sidelined as wealthier nations scour the seas for the next wonder ingredients for the pharmaceutical, chemical or cosmetic industries, and lock up the spoils in trademarks and patents.

Will McCallum, head of oceans for Greenpeace UK, said wrapping up a deal by the end of this was crucial.

"We're not disappointed to have a 5th session," he told AFP. "But if a deal is not concluded in 2022 the chances of having a solid treaty are practically zero."

"Ministers and heads of state need to step up ahead of the next round of negotiations to ensure we land the strong treaty," he added.

The treaty covers the so-called high seas, which begin beyond national exclusive economic zones that extend 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from their shores.

mla/mh/jfx

East Timor votes for a new president amid political deadlock

Nearly a million East Timorese voted for a new president amid a protracted political crisis and economic uncertainty in Asia's youngest nation. Leading candidates have vowed to end the political impasse.

East Timor's incumbent president Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres said he would work

 with whoever wins the presidential election

Polls have closed in East Timor's presidential election, dominated by concerns over the young nation's stability.

More than 835,000 of the country's 1.3 million people were registered to vote on Saturday.

Incumbent leader Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres faced stiff competition from Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta and 14 other candidates.

"I am confident that I will win the election again," Guterres told reporters after casting his vote in Dili, the capital.

"I call on people to accept whatever the result, and I am ready to work with whoever wins this election," he added.

Ramos-Horta has promised voters a change of course. "We have voted based on our own wish for a new president who is able to maintain stability, to develop our economy and to change the current situation," he said.

The winner of the election will assume power May 20, on the 20th anniversary of East Timor's independence from Indonesia, which had invaded the country, a former Portuguese colony, in 1975.

Protracted political crisis and economic uncertainty

East Timor's brief democratic history has been rocky, with leaders facing widespread poverty, unemployment and corruption. Its economy relies on offshore oil revenues that are currently shrinking.

Under the current political system, the president appoints a government and has the power to veto ministers or dissolve parliament.

In 2018, Guterres refused to swear in some ministers from the National Congress of the Reconstruction of East Timor (CNRT), the party that backs Ramos-Horta.

So the government was composed of ministers from two smaller parties, while several portfolios remain vacant.

CNRT has accused Guterres and Fretilin of acting unconstitutionally, while Freitlin his party said Horta was not fit to be president, accusing him of causing a deadly crisis when he was prime minister in the early 2000's.

Huge challenges ahead

In 2020  Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak threatened to quit after the government repeatedly failed to pass a budget.

His government has since lacked an annual budget, relying on monthly payments from its sovereign fund savings, the Petroleum Fund.

East Timor depends on revenues from its offshore oil and gas reserves, accounting for 90% of its gross domestic product. 

But experts say the sovereign fund, worth nearly $19 billion (€17 billion), could run out within a decade as the government's annual withdrawals are now higher than its investment returns.

Early election results were expected late on Saturday. If no candidate wins an outright majority, the two most-voted contenders will move on to a run-off on April 19.

lo/jcg (AP, Reuters)

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East Timor: 12 Years on from Independence   

'Iron army' of COOKS AND grocery runners feeds Shanghai as Covid hits




Food runners report they are currently making up to 100 deliveries a day, which are often left outside housing complexes to avoid human contact

 (AFP/Hector RETAMAL)

Vivian LIN
Fri, March 18, 2022

As many Shanghai residents shelter from Covid at home, a common sight on the megacity's suddenly subdued streets is the racing, swerving scooters of food-delivery riders.

Firms including Meituan, Alibaba-owned Ele.me, Pinduoduo and Dingdong Maicai are struggling to keep up with a rush of orders from sequestered citizens in need of groceries and disinfectants.

At a sorting centre in central Shanghai run by Dingdong Maicai, staff are working overtime to handle double the demand of a week ago, when the metropolis of 25 million people began battening down the hatches.

Shanghai has so far avoided a citywide lockdown but authorities have closed school campuses, sealed off some residential compounds and launched a rigorous round of mass testing.


Dingdong Maicai has hired 300 additional staff across the city in recent days, some of them restaurant workers left idle by closures.

China's hordes of scooter delivery drivers were hailed as national heroes two years ago when they kept untold millions fed during huge lockdowns when the virus first emerged.

The lessons learned from 2020 -- and no small amount of bravado -- have helped companies stay on top of the crush this time around.

"We are an iron army. Whatever artillery fire we face, we react quickly," said Zhang Yangyang, manager of the bustling yet tidy Dingdong sorting depot.

Since its initial outbreak faded two years ago, China has largely kept the virus under control through a tough zero-Covid strategy.

Although its national daily case number -- 4,365 reported Friday -- is unremarkable globally, it represents the country's worst uptick in infections since the start of the pandemic.

With the highly transmissible Omicron variant spreading, authorities have imposed stay-at-home orders or other restrictions in several cities.

But unclear messaging about their plans has sowed public confusion, helping to fuel binge-buying and the resulting burden on business managers like Zhang.

"I don't have a weekend," Zhang said.

China has one of the world's biggest and most developed ready-meal and grocery delivery sectors.

Slick smartphone apps enable users to place one-click orders from virtually any restaurant or food store within a several-kilometre radius, with the apps even displaying the delivery rider's body temperature.

Food runners report they are currently making up to 100 deliveries a day, which are often left outside housing complexes to avoid human contact.

Dingdong Maicai staffer Li Yawu has found himself suddenly working up to 15 hours a day, after which he goes home to "soak my feet".

"It would be untrue to say I wasn't scared in the beginning," he said of delivering to neighbourhoods where Covid has taken hold.

"But when you deliver food into a user's hands and there is that much gratitude in their eyes... I don't feel scared anymore."

llc-viv/dma/apj/axn

Burkina's 'Opera Village' by its groundbreaking architect


Francis Kere is the first African to win the Pritzker Prize

 (AFP/Odd ANDERSEN)



Aerial view of the groundbreaking Opera Village project

 (AFP/OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT)

Schoolchildren attend a lesson in a classroom at the Opera Village school

(AFP/OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT)

The roofs overhang the walls and ventilation keeps the temperature in the rooms down, even when it's more than 40 degrees Celsius outside 

(AFP/OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT)


Burkina: Inside 'opera village' by Pritzker architecture prize winner Kere 

(AFP/Olympia DE MAISMONT)



Armel BAILY
Sat, March 19, 2022

With its imposing, angular proportions made out of clay, laterite and other local building materials, the Opera Village cultural and educational project, designed by Burkina Faso-born architect Francis Kere, blends into the landscape.

It overlooks Laongo, a rural community not far from Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, and is the sort of groundbreaking design that helped Kere scoop architecture's most prestigious award, the Pritzker Prize, this week.

In so doing, the 56 year-old, who holds dual Burkina and German nationality, became the first African to win the honour in its more than 40-year history.

Built on 20 hectares (almost 50 acres) of a granite plateau, the Opera Village is shaped like a spiral, with 26 buildings housing workshops, a health centre, guest houses and a school.


Eventually, at its centre will be a performance venue and covered exhibition area with 700 seats.

Built in the early 2010s with the aim of combining art, education and ecology, the project was the brainchild of late German theatre director and filmmaker Christoph Schlingensief.

- 'The simplest material' -

Kere was hailed by the Pritzker's sponsors on Tuesday for designs that are "sustainable to the earth and its inhabitants -- in lands of extreme scarcity".

His Opera Village used local construction materials, such as clay, laterite, granite and wood to allow it to withstand the extreme heat of the region, the site's administrator Motandi Ouoba said.

"These are local materials that the architect found on site: blocks of compressed earth, bricks taken from the site, paving stones made from granite," he said.

Kere "starts with the simplest material, which we commonly share... which our parents used, and he makes something noble out of it," he added.

"It's the earth, it's all that's around us, when he brings them together, he brings to life something that is magnificent."

It also blends well with local vegetation, contributing to a sense of harmony.

- 'Bioclimatic buildings' -

The immense roofs overhang the walls and ventilation keeps the temperature in the rooms down, even when it's more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) outside.

Kere ensured that "our buildings are bioclimatic, with a double ceiling and openings to dissipate hot air," Ouoba said.

The health centre's consultation and treatment rooms have dozens of long windows that slide upwards.

"With so many openings, patients feel less isolated by hospitalisation. They have a view of the landscape," doctor Issa Ouedraogo said.

The stylish classrooms filled with daylight are a far cry from the makeshift decor of many of the schools in Burkina Faso, a country battling a jihadist insurgency since 2015 that swept in from neighbouring Mali.

"The architecture of the buildings changes everything. We are in perfect classrooms because it is very hot here and not everyone can afford fans or air conditioning," said headmaster Abdoulaye Ouedraogo, who is also an actor and playwright.

Six classrooms can accommodate 181 pupils -- and there's a separate space for music, dance, theatre, plastic arts, photography and audiovisual lessons.

- 'Durable and functional' -

Opera Village also serves as a creative residency site for artists, according to Ouoba.

"It reminds us that we can get something beautiful, durable and functional from local materials," he said.

With its unique architecture, the centre attracts around 2,500 visitors every year.

Ouoba hopes that international recognition of Francis Kere will help maintain the curiosity of visitors.

"This very prestigious prize is the pride of everyone, especially in these times when Burkinabe news is dominated by terrorist attacks.

"We are happy for Mr Kere but also for us who are among the first beneficiaries of his work," he said, in congratulating the architect.

ab/pid/blb/nb/kjm/ach

Netflix series helps heal wounds of Turkey's Jews


Secrets of old Istanbul: Izzet Bana, musician and adviser to the hit Netflix series 'The Club' (AFP/Yasin AKGUL)
Yasin AKGUL

Burcin GERCEK
Fri, March 18, 2022, 7:19 AM·4 min read

A groundbreaking Netflix series set among Turkey's Jews has been an unexpected hit there, challenging taboos and enthralling audiences with its glimpse into a long-overlooked community.

The global success of Turkish television series -- often with government-pleasing narratives -- has made the country a small-screen superpower.

But "The Club" and its sumptuous recreation of 1950s Istanbul is a first, not least because some of the dialogue is in Ladino, the language of Istanbul's Jews which derives from medieval Spanish.

While minorities once flourished in the cosmopolitan capital of the Ottoman Empire, they suffered persecution as it fell and discrimination ever since.

Jews have generally kept their heads down to protect themselves, sticking to the Turkish Jewish custom of "kayades", meaning "silence" in Ladino.

But "The Club" -- which is set around a nightclub in Istanbul's historic European quarter -- puts an end to that silence.

- Pogrom against minorities -

The attacks and persecution that drove many Jews, Greeks and Armenians to leave Turkey in the 20th century are dealt with, including a crippling 1942 tax on non-Muslims and a pogrom against Greeks in 1955 which also unleashed violence against all the other minorities.

"Silence has neither protected us from anti-Semitism nor prevented migration to other countries," said Nesi Altaras, editor of Avlaremoz online magazine run by young Turkish Jews.

"We need to talk, including on political issues that previous generations wanted to avoid," he told AFP.

Less than 15,000 Jews remain in Turkey, down from 200,000 at the beginning of the 20th century.

The majority are Sephardic, whose ancestors fled to the Ottoman Empire after they were expelled from Spain in 1492.

In a rare case of life imitating art, "The Club" became Netflix's number one show in Turkey just as Ankara tried to repair ties with Israel.

While both countries have been historically close, relations have soured badly over Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and remarks by the Turkish president criticised as anti-Semitic.

Indeed until recently, Turkish pro-government dailies regularly published stories seen to be anti-Semitic.

But Israeli President Isaac Herzog made a landmark visit to Turkey earlier this month, where he held talks with his opposite number, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Herzog even visited the Istanbul district in which "The Club" is set.

- Fierce debate -

The show -- and particularly the scenes of the pogroms on Istanbul's Istiklal Avenue in September 1955 when mobs lynched minorities and ransacked their shops -- has also sparked a fierce debate in the Turkish media and online about the need to confront history.

"No other TV show featured the anti-Semitic incidents of this period in such a remarkable way," said Silvyo Ovadya, president of the Jewish Museum of Turkey.

"We don't teach this part of history in schools in Turkey. Many Turks have learnt it thanks to the series," Altaras said.

"The series invites us to question the official narrative and ask ourselves, 'What happened to the Jews of Turkey?'" said Pinar Kilavuz, a researcher on Sephardic Jews at Paris-Sorbonne University.

Altaras believes the series has influenced domestic Turkish politics.

"It is no coincidence that the leader of the main opposition party has just included 'healing the wounds of the past' in his campaign, referring to the attacks against minorities," he said.

- 'We're part of this country' -

For Izzet Bana, a musician and an advisor to the series, the show accomplished a "miracle" by recreating the Jewish quarter of his childhood.

"I was worried at first because other shows caricatured Jews. But the series reflects real characters, far from cliches," Bana said.

Despite this progress on screen, Kilavuz said, more needs to be done for Turkey's Jews to feel equal.

"There is a myth about the Ottoman Empire welcoming Jews expelled from Spain in the 15th century," she said.

"It is used to stigmatise anyone asking for equal rights as showing ingratitude," she argued.

Even if everyone is considered equal before the law in Turkey, in practice non-Muslim minorities face huge obstacles, from getting government jobs to opening or repairing churches or synagogues.

It is also rare to find a senior minority figure in government or in state institutions where Sunni Turkish Muslims still dominate.

For Altaras, the series, which is due to come back with a third season, shows Turkish society that Jews were part of "the story of this country".

"We already knew that, but it's good that the Turks realise it too."

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'Never again war': Käthe Kollwitz's masterpieces

The German graphic artist used her art to advocate against social injustice, war and inhumanity. As war rages again in Europe, her work remains tragically relevant.



A call for the arts

German artist Käthe Kollwitz was born on July 8, 1867 as the fifth child of Katharina and Carl Schmidt in Königsberg (today Kaliningrad). She already knew as a child that she wanted to be an artist, but being a girl, she was denied access to formal art education.

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Overshadowed by Ukraine war, Yemen on brink as pledges fall short



In this photo taken on August 7, 2021, a health worker measures a malnourished child at a clinic in the province of Hodeida. The WFP has said levels of hunger in Yemen could become catastrophic if the Ukraine crisis pushes up food prices 

(AFP/Khaled Ziad)


Dana Moukhallati
Fri, March 18, 2022

The United Nations and aid groups have warned of grave consequences for Yemen after an international pledging conference failed to raise enough money to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the war-torn country.

Overshadowed by the conflict in Ukraine, aid-starved Yemen -- already suffering the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN -- is on the verge of total collapse.

With the country almost completely dependent on imports, aid groups say the situation will only worsen following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which produces nearly a third of Yemeni wheat supplies.

Some 80 percent of its around 30 million people depend on aid for survival, after seven years of a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, directly or indirectly.

The UN voiced disappointment after Wednesday's conference raised less than a third of the target to help 17.3 million of Yemen's needy.

It has repeatedly warned that aid agencies are running out of funds, forcing them to slash "life-saving" programmes.

"A shortfall in funding means the needs of people will not be met," Auke Lootsma, the UN Development Programme's resident representative to Yemen, told AFP.

"The outlook for next year looks very bleak for Yemen. This is the bleakest situation we've had so far in the country."

- Famine conditions -

The violent struggle between Yemen's internationally recognised government, supported by a Saudi-led military coalition, and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels has pushed the country to the brink of famine.

The UN's World Food Programme has said the levels of hunger risk becoming catastrophic as the Ukraine crisis pushes up food prices.

Even before Russia invaded its neighbour, the WFP said Yemeni food rations were being reduced for eight million people this year, while another five million "at immediate risk of slipping into famine conditions" would remain on full rations.

"Clearly, pressing concerns over events in the Ukraine cast a shadow on (the pledging) event," Abeer Etefa, a WFP spokesperson for the Middle East and North Africa region, told AFP.

UN agencies had warned before the conference that up to 19 million people could need food assistance in the second half of 2022.

"The $1.3 billion committed at the pledging conference out of just over $4 billion requested was a disappointment," Etefa said.

"We'd hoped for more, particularly from donors in the region who have yet to step up and commit funds for a crisis in their backyard.

"If we act now, we can avert what could be a point of no return and we can save millions."

The UN was seeking $4.27 billion but raised only $1.3 billion, with some major donors going missing -- including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who were among the top three at last year's conference.

The two oil-rich Gulf countries are leading members of the military coalition that intervened in the Yemen war in 2015, shortly after the Huthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa and subsequently much of the north.

The UAE withdrew troops from the country in 2019 but remains an active player.

- 'Lives will be lost' -

"Some of Yemen's affluent neighbours, also parties to the conflict, have so far pledged nothing for 2022. We hope this will change," Erin Hutchinson, the Norwegian Refugee Council's Yemen country director, told AFP.

"It is a catastrophic outcome for the humanitarian response in Yemen. More people are in need this year in Yemen than in 2021. More lives will be lost."

During Wednesday's pledging conference, representatives from Saudi Arabia and the UAE stressed the need to stop the Huthi's "terrorist" actions, with the Emirati official saying the rebels "obstruct and deviate aid".

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, said it has provided more than $19 billion in aid and development to the country in the past few years.

"Coalition partners appear now to prefer to control their own funding for Yemen, rather than leave it to the UN," Elisabeth Kendall, a researcher at the University of Oxford, told AFP.

"This may be because Yemen's worst-hit areas are under Huthi control, so it may be unpalatable to see their aid flowing into the very areas over which they are fighting."

According to Abdulghani al-Iryani, a senior researcher at the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, the coalition partners "appear to make their humanitarian response in the way that reaps greater political benefit, through their own organisations".

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council said Thursday it seeks to host discussions between Yemen's warring sides in Saudi Arabia, despite the Huthi rebels' rejection of talks in "enemy countries".

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CANADIAN RED CROSS 

ACCEPTS DONATIONS FOR UKRAINE, PALESTINE AND YEMEN