Overcoming Impact Of Pandemic And Climate Crises Crucial, Says Eminent Buddhist Preacher

SGI president Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun

 April 3, 2022

By Ramesh Jaura

2022 marks seven years since the United Nations adopted 17 interlinked global goals, termed as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all” by 2030.

Looking closely at what has been achieved so far, eminent Buddhist philosopher, peacebuilder and educator Daisaku Ikeda, who is also president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), says: “Progress toward the realization of the SDGs has been greatly hampered by the [COVID-19] pandemic.”

In order to “restart and accelerate that progress”, Dr Ikeda considers it “important to flesh out the core spirit of the SDGs—the determination to leave no one behind—by adding a further vision of building a society where all can savour the joys of being alive”.

SDGs, also known as Global Goals, comprise an important part of Dr Ikeda’s latest—and the 40th—peace proposal titled “Transforming Human History: The Light of Peace and Dignity“, released on January 26.

The SGI president discusses from three different perspectives, what he sees as essential to overcoming not only the COVID-19 crisis but also the other challenges that confront our world, thus opening a new chapter in human history.

The first is to face head-on the issues the pandemic has exposed and reweave the social fabric so that it can support people’s lives in the years and decades to come. “Now more than ever, we need to construct a society where people can confront and together overcome even the most severe challenges, a society in which the palpable sense that it is good to be alive, is shared by all,” says Dr Ikeda.

His second perspective relates to creating a consciousness of solidarity that extends to the entire world.

The SGI president finds that the global pandemic measures should focus on how governments can work together to overcome the COVID-19 threat—not on how each individual state can escape the crisis. “The G7 countries should lead efforts to negotiate a pandemic treaty that will establish international protocols for responding to future pandemics, and proactively develop the frameworks of international cooperation that can serve as a basis for such a treaty,” adds Dr Ikeda.

He calls for “an economy that inspires hope in young people and enables women to shine with dignity”.

The SGI president further pleads for looking for ways to eliminate gross disparities in impact of and recovery from the pandemic, and refers in this context to a lecture given by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in July 2020, some four months after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

Speaking at an event celebrating the birth anniversary of the late South African president Nelson Mandela (1918–2013), whose life was dedicated to the causes of human rights and social justice, the Secretary-General focused his analysis not on the dangers and threats posed by the pandemic but on the people who are actually impacted. He noted that the virus poses the greatest risk to the most marginalized, including those living in poverty, older people and people with disabilities and pre-existing conditions.

Describing how COVID-19 can be “likened to an x-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built,” the UN chief called for the development of a new social contract for a new era.

He cited the following words President Mandela addressed to the people of South Africa, which offer a direction for the realization of that vision: “One of the challenges of our time . . . is to re-instil in the consciousness of our people that sense of human solidarity, of being in the world for one another and because of and through others.”

Dr Ikeda stresses the importance of climate change. “With every passing year, the damage caused by extreme weather events has intensified and become more widespread,” he says. During COP26, the US and China agreed to strengthen measures for cooperation on climate action. And  “strongly” urges Japan and China to reach a similar agreement.

He also calls for strengthening the framework of partnership between the UN and civil society and propose the establishment of a venue within the UN where civil society, led by youth, can freely discuss the comprehensive protection of the “global commons”, the resources required in order to survive and flourish. “A UN youth council would be a perfect vehicle for this,” he adds.

On environmental issues, the SGI president calls for more coordinated efforts in implementing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity and Convention to Combat Desertification, stating: “Climate change, biodiversity and desertification are deeply intertwined, and solutions are likewise interconnected.”

Concerned about the impact of disruptions to education, the SGI president suggests that the UN Transforming Education Summit planned for September focus on education in emergencies, inclusive education and learning for global citizenship.

Dr Ikeda is convinced that nuclear weapons abolition is the key to a sustainable global future. “The first step is to find a way of ‘detoxifying’ ourselves from current nuclear-dependent security doctrines.”

His second proposal pertains to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). In this context, he “strongly” calls both for Japan and other nuclear-dependent states and for the nuclear-weapon states to participate as observers in the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW when it is held.

Japan will host the G7 Summit in 2023. The SGI president proposes that a high-level meeting on reducing the role of nuclear weapons be held concurrently in Hiroshima, in which the leaders of non-G7 countries could also participate.

IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses and viewpoints on topics that impact the world and its peoples. IDN-InDepthNews serves as flagship of the International Press Syndicate Group, partner of the Global Cooperation Council.

Argentina's brutal dictatorship dug its own grave with Malvinas ‘military adventure’

The junta's gambit was initially successful, yet the misadventure ultimately failed to breathe new life into the dictatorship floundering under mass human rights violations, social unrest and economic crisis, serving instead to precipitate its demise.

Argentina's brutal 1976-1983 military dictatorship was on its last legs when it sought to secure a lifeline with an invasion of the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands, 40 years ago this week.

The gambit was initially successful as the attack was feted by a previously hostile public. Yet the brief misadventure ultimately failed to breathe new life into the dictatorship floundering under mass human rights violations, social unrest and economic crisis, serving instead to precipitate its demise.

Eight days after the invasion of the South Atlantic archipelago on April 2, General Leopoldo Galtieri, the head of the military junta, addressed fevered throngs from the balcony of his palace overlooking the central Plaza de Mayo square in Buenos Aires.

"If they want to come, let them come, we will give them battle!" he trumpeted to the cheering crowds in a direct challenge to the British military as a task force travelled south to free the islands.

Read more...
Forty years after

The public support was a coup by the junta given that just 10 days earlier, tens of thousands of Argentines had filled that same square in the biggest mobilisation against the dictatorship since it took power in 1976, chanting: "Elections now!"

The junta thought that by claiming the Malvinas – which Buenos Aires argues it inherited from Spain when it gained independence in the 19th century – it would be able to turn the tide of public opinion in its favour.

"It was pure political opportunism, without an ounce of patriotism," said historian Felipe Pigna, a prolific author and TV host. "Galtieri had political pretensions to go down in history."

Read more...
New charges added to Argentine Armed Forces torture case during Malvinas war

Edgardo Esteban, the director of the Malvinas Museum in Buenos Aires, said the invasion was ultimately futile.

It "was the desperate act of a drowning person trying to remain in power forever," said Esteban, who made a film, Iluminados por el fuego (“Illuminated by Fire”), about his experiences as a soldier on the disputed islands.

Geopolitical misstep

Invasion plans had been drawn up months earlier, with two symbolic dates proposed: May 25, marking the 1810 uprising against the Spanish Crown, and July 9, the date of Argentina's independence in 1816.

But under pressure from a slide into "a severe economic crisis, with a background of large scale human rights violations," according to Pigna, Galtieri's regime needed a publicity victory in short order.

"Faced with social unrest, the dollar jump [against the peso] and financial panic, they brought forward their plans," said Pigna.

But major miscalculations were made. One key mistake by the junta was its reading of geopolitics, in particular, the expected support from Washington.

"They thought the dictatorship was a 'policeman' for the United States, who would support them," according to Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize winner. "They had not taken into account that the United States has no friends, no allies, only interests. They supported the United Kingdom."

Worse still, said Pigna, was that the initial plan was merely "to occupy, negotiate and leave" the islands in a bid to force Britain to discuss the question of sovereignty, as required by a 1965 United Nations resolution. "But seeing the Plaza de Mayo full of people from his balcony, Galtieri decided to stay."

Almost 15,000 Argentine soldiers were sent to occupy an archipelago with a population of less than 2,000 at the time and no standing army.

Then-British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, herself facing internal strife, was initially reluctant to act, but finally decided to send an expeditionary force to liberate the islands.

It was a masterstroke for her popularity.

Britain enjoyed "huge military superiority" that was underestimated by the Argentines, who compounded their impetuousness with tactical errors, said Pigna. “London got the support of NATO, Washington and the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile.”

Mistakes

The Rattenbach report, commissioned by the junta and declassified in 2012, revealed the use of conscripts that had yet to finish training and came from "diametrically opposed" climates to an archipelago battered by icy winds even in summer. Added to that was poor management of resources that led to "serious malnutrition problems" for the troops.

Dozens of former soldiers have filed a case against their superiors for mistreatment, humiliation and even torture during the conflict that left 649 Argentines and 255 British soldiers dead.

At the announcement of Argentina's surrender on June 14, Plaza de Mayo was filled once again with citizens fuming at their country's capitulation. Galtieri resigned three days later, installed a transitional general, Reynaldo Bignone, and the junta called elections for 1983.

"The military adventure" of 1982, as it is called in the Malvinas Museum, produced the opposite of the expected effect and set back decades of diplomatic efforts by previous Argentine governments.

But while the brief and bloody conflict quickened the fall of the dictatorship, 40 years on, Buenos Aires still harbours ambitions of one day making the islands part of Argentina.

Chile's Boric visits Argentina in first foreign trip as president

Chile's President Gabriel Boric will travel to Argentina on Sunday in his first international official visit.

Chile's new leftist leader Gabriel Boric makes his first foreign trip as president on Sunday with a visit to Argentina, where he is expected to sign a number of bilateral agreements with his counterpart, Alberto Fernández.

Boric is travelling to Buenos Aires with a large delegation: five of his ministers while be travelling, including Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola and Defence Minister Maya Fernández. The presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, the president of the Supreme Court and six businessmen from important Chilean business associations will also travel.

"The visit is not only protocol, President Boric is making a gesture and is going with an important entourage. It is the beginning of a working trip, so it is logical that he is going with more ministers. It is a sign of the importance he gives to the relationship with Argentina," José Antonio Viera Gallo, who was Chile's ambassador to Argentina between 2015 and 2018 under Michelle Bachelet's second presidency told AFP.

Boric will meet privately with Fernández on Monday at the Casa Rosada, who will then be joined by ministers from both countries to sign agreements on "culture, trade, human rights, energy, gender," a statement from the Chilean government said.

He will later meet with the leaders of the Argentina's Congress and Supreme Court. The day will conclude with a concert.

On Tuesday, Boric will attend a meeting with some 50 businessmen from both countries, followed by a meeting with Buscarita Roa, the only Chilean member of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo human rights group, and finally with Chilean residents.

The gestures of unity are reciprocal: during Boric's inauguration as president on March 11 at the Chilean Congress in Valparaíso, Alberto Fernández arrived accompanied by a large entourage of ministers, legislators, governors of provinces bordering Chile, and even renowned artists such as Víctor Heredia and Pedro Aznar.

"We have a common view on many problems and we think alike," said Fernández on that occasion, who also highlighted the "great expectations" generated by the youthful Boric's arrival in office.

Chile's new ambassador to Buenos Aires, psychologist and philosophy professor Bárbara Figueroa, a former Communist Party trade union leader who was the first woman to preside over the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile (CUT), the country's main trade union confederation, is making her debut on this trip.

Figueroa's appointment sparked controversy, especially among businessmen and Chile's right-wing opposition, who criticised her lack of diplomatic and political experience to occupy such a strategic post.

Meanwhile, Boric was accused of improvising and appointing ambassadors as "consolation prizes" for left-wing politicians who were not appointed to public office.

For former ambassador Viera Gallo, "a gender vision is taking precedence in Chile's foreign policy, and there has been a lot of talk about feminist foreign policy, and one of the elements of this foreign policy is the appointment of female ambassadors."

"President Boric and Minister Urrejola must have decided that an emblematic place for Chile is Argentina and they have appointed a female trade union, political and significant leader," he added.

Despite the criticism, Boric still confirmed the appointment of the feisty 42-year-old trade unionist, who on Thursday presented her credentials to Argentina's Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero.

"There is no doubt that the Peronist trade union movement is very strong, and Ambassador Figueroa knows them well for their work in the international field of the CUT, and if they have a relevant role in the internal politics of Argentina, her appointment is also effective," added Viera Gallo.

President Boric said that this trip to Argentina should not only be "symbolic" but also translate into "concrete collaborations," such as addressing common borders and bilateral investments, he said in a meeting with the foreign press in Chile in mid-March.

Another relevant issue for the bilateral relationship is the export of Argentine natural gas to Chile, especially since the government in Buenos Aires approved the sale of 4.23 million cubic metres per day of gas to Chile between January and April, in addition to the six million cubic metres per day of exports already authorised previously.

"It is very important for us the capacity that Argentina has or retains to sell natural gas to Chile," Viera Gallo said.

UPDATED

Sri Lanka blocks social media sites amid protests against economic crisis

The country’s defence ministry has issued the order to ban the platforms.

Scroll Staff

Image for representation. | STR/ AFP

The Sri Lankan government on Saturday blocked social media sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter amid protests in response to a major economic crisis, the BBC reported.

Several mobile phone users received messages stating that WhatsApp was down “as directed by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission”.

The commission stated that it restricted access to social media platforms in response to a request by the country’s defence ministry, according to Daily Mirror.

Several people in Sri Lanka said that social media platforms had been blocked, and that many people were accessing them through virtual private networks, or VPNs.

NetBlocks, a global internet watchdog that tracks shutdowns, also cited real-time network data to show that the country had restricted access to Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram, among other platforms, after midnight on April 3.

On Saturday, Sri Lanka declared a 36-hour nationwide curfew from Saturday 6 pm to Monday 6 am amid a series of protests over the island country’s worst economic meltdown since its independence. During the curfew, Sri Lankans are not allowed to step out of homes, except for essential services.

Earlier, some people on social media had urged people to take part in protests on Sunday.

On Friday, citizens had staged protests in Colombo as well as different parts of the country demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation over the government’s handling of the country’s economic crisis.

Economic crisis in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is facing the economic crisis as its foreign reserves have hit rock bottom. The country had declared an economic emergency in August. Sri Lankans are now facing shortages of petrol, diesel, milk powder, cooking gas, kerosene and other essential items.

Authorities have imposed 13-hour daily power cuts from Thursday due to shortage of fuel. The state electricity regulator extended Wednesday’s 10-hour power cut by another three hours.

Government-run hospitals are running out of life-saving medicines due to a shortage of foreign exchange needed for imports. Several state-run hospitals have stopped conducting surgeries too.

On March 30, the Sri Lankan government imposed 10-hour daily power cuts across the country. Since the beginning of March, there had already been seven-hour power cuts in the island country. The duration was subsequently increased by three hours.

No gas, no medicine, no food: What life's like in crisis-hit Sri Lanka | Exclusive

Speaking to India Today, 69-year-old Thomos from Colombo said citizens are finding it difficult to get petrol, medicines and even food in crisis-hit Sri Lanka.


Ashutosh Mishra 

Colombo

April 2, 2022


Residents wait in long lines to buy kerosene oil in Colombo, Sri Lanka. (Photo: AP)

As the economic crisis in Sri Lanka spirals out of control, 69-year-old Thomos from Colombo told India Today that petrol is unavailable, medicines are difficult to find and essential food items are being sold at extremely high prices in the country.

"At the moment, we don't have any gas, petrol or kerosene oil. There are no medicines. I am 69 but this is the first time in my life that I have seen something like this happening," Thomos said.

He added, "We are not able to manage. There is no money and salaries. If we have money, there are no goods. When we go to some shops in Colombo, they say there's no dal, no rice, no bread. Or one pound of bread costs 100 Sri Lankan rupees. One cup of tea costs 100 Sri Lankan rupees. The prices of important things have gone up."

Further, long power cuts in Sri Lanka have affected the communication networks in the country.

ECONOMIC CRISIS IN SRI LANKA

With huge debt obligations and dwindling foreign reserves, Sri Lanka has found itself unable to pay for imports, leading to shortages of several goods including fuel.
Sri Lanka's economic woes are blamed on successive governments not diversifying exports and relying on traditional cash sources like tea, garments and tourism, and on a culture of consuming imported goods.
The Covid-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to Sri Lanka's economy, with the government estimating a loss of $14 billion in the last two years.

PROTESTS
To protest against the economic crisis, Sri Lankans have taken to the streets.
On Friday, angry protesters demonstrated near President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's home and demanded he resign. The protests turned violent - two army buses were stoned and one was set on fire. The police fired tear gas and a water cannon and arrested 54 people.
He declared a state of emergency in the island nation on Saturday.

Sri Lanka Declares Public Emergency After Inflation Protests

Protesters hold banners and placards during a demonstration against the surge in prices and shortage of fuel and other essential commodities in Colombo on April 1, 2022. 

© Ishara S. Kodikara, AFP

Jeanette Rodrigues, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a public emergency late on Friday after citizens protesting spiraling inflation and widespread power cuts clashed with police outside the Sri Lankan leader’s private residence.

The declaration gives Rajapaksa sweeping powers to suspend laws, detain people and seize property. The step was essential for the protection of public order and maintenance of supplies and services, he said in an extraordinary gazette. 

The move comes after police fired tear gas and water cannons at hundreds of protesters who surged past barricades screaming “Go home Gota” near Rajapaksa’s home on Thursday, after data showed inflation accelerated to almost 19%, the highest in Asia. Sri Lankans subsequently took to social media to call people to gather in Colombo and surrounding areas on Sunday afternoon to peacefully protest against the economic crisis. The island nation is undergoing a severe shortage of food and fuel as it runs out of dollars to pay for imports. 

Shock Waves From War in Ukraine Threaten to Swamp Sri Lanka (2)

Rajapaksa’s elder brother Mahinda serves as prime minister while Basil, the youngest, holds the finance portfolio. The eldest Rajapaksa brother Chamal controls the agriculture ministry while nephew Namal is the sports minister. These family members enjoy two-thirds majority support in parliament while the opposition remains divided. National elections will be held in 2023 at the earliest. 

Sri Lanka, whose trade deficit doubled to $1.1 billion in December, had about $2.3 billion of foreign-exchange reserves in February and faces a $1 billion dollar bond repayment in July. 

Rajapaksa’s administration in recent weeks has devalued the rupee, raised interest rates, placed curbs on non-essential imports, and reduced stock-trading hours to preserve electricity and foreign currency. He has also dropped resistance to seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund and is simultaneously in talks with nations including India and China for bilateral aid. 

The IMF last month said Sri Lanka faces a “clear solvency problem” due to unsustainable debt levels, as well as persistent fiscal and balance-of-payments shortages.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Sri Lanka president declares public 

emergency after protests against economic

crisis

Declaration comes after hundreds of protesters clashed

 with police and the military

A man shouts anti-government slogans during a protest outside the president's private residence on the outskirts of Colombo. Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP


Reuters
Sat 2 Apr 2022

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has declared a nationwide public emergency, following violent protests over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Rajapaksa said in a government gazette notification late on Friday that he took the decision in the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and essential services.


Hundreds of protesters clashed with police and military on Thursday outside Rajapaksa’s residence in a suburb of the capital, Colombo.

Police arrested 53 people and imposed a curfew in and around Colombo on Friday to contain sporadic protests that have broken out over shortages of essential items, including fuel and other goods.


Sri Lanka: 50 injured as protesters try to storm president’s house amid economic crisis

The Indian Ocean island nation of 22 million people faces rolling blackouts for up to 13 hours a day as the government scrambles to secure foreign exchange to pay for fuel imports.

The country’s lucrative tourism industry and foreign workers’ remittances have been sapped by the pandemic, and public finances were hit further by deep tax cuts promised by Rajapaksa during his 2019 election campaign.

Ordinary Sri Lankans are also dealing with shortages and soaring inflation, after the country steeply devalued its currency last month ahead of talks with the International Monetary Fund for a loan programme.

An alliance of 11 political parties has urged Rajapaksa to dissolve the cabinet and form a government with all parties to deal with the crisis, local media said, in a nation where both India and China are competing to build influence.

Police used teargas and water cannon to disperse crowds near Rajapaksa’s residence on Thursday, after they torched several police and army vehicles.

At least two dozen police personnel were injured in the clashes, an official said, declining to comment on the number of protesters hurt.

Tourism minister Prasanna Ranatunge warned such protests would harm economic prospects. “The main issue Sri Lanka is facing is a forex shortage, and protests of this nature will hurt tourism and have economic consequences,” Ranatunge said.

The United Nations representative in the country, Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, called for restraint from all groups involved in the clashes. “We are monitoring developments and are concerned by reports of violence,” she said on Twitter.

India starts supplying rice to Sri Lanka in

first major food aid

The island nation is struggling to pay for essential imports

 after a 70 percent drop in foreign exchange reserves.

Indian traders are sending 40,000 tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka as the country faces its worst economic crisis in decades

 [Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters]

Published On 2 Apr 2022

Indian traders have started loading 40,000 tonnes of rice for prompt shipment to Sri Lanka in the first major food aid since Colombo secured a credit line from New Delhi, two officials told Reuters news agency on Saturday.

The Indian Ocean island nation of 22 million people is struggling to pay for essential imports after a 70 percent drop in foreign exchange reserves in two years led to a currency devaluation and efforts to seek help from global lenders.

The shipment of the staple comes before a key festival in Sri Lanka.

Fuel is in short supply, food prices are rocketing and protests have broken out as Sri Lanka’s government prepares for talks with the International Monetary Fund amid concerns over the country’s ability to pay back foreign debt.

India, the world’s biggest rice exporter, last month agreed to provide the $1bn credit line to help ease crippling shortages of essential items, including fuel, food and medicine.

The rice shipments could help Colombo bring down rice prices, which have doubled in a year, adding fuel to the unrest.

“Rice loading has started in southern ports,” said BV Krishna Rao, managing director of Pattabhi Agro Foods, which is supplying rice to Sri Lanka State Trading (General) Corp under the Indian Credit Facility Agreement.

“We are first loading containers for prompt shipments and vessel loading will start in a few days.”

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a nationwide public emergency late on Friday following violent protests over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.

SOURCE: REUTERS

 

SRI LANKA: Asian Human Rights Commission Writes To The UN Secretary-General About The Situation In Sri Lanka

Saturday, 2 April 2022, 7:46 pm
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission

Mr. António Guterres
Secretary General of the United Nations
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-233
New York
NY 10017
USA

A letter to inform about the possible catastrophic economic and social crises emerging in Sri Lanka and to seek the intervention of your office to bring about a solution to avoid the country falling into anarchy.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is a regional human rights organization associated with the UN human rights mechanisms for over 40 years and one which has worked very closely for the protection and promotion of human rights in Sri Lanka for the same period of time, we have the spirit and obligation to inform you and the relevant UN agencies about the rapidly developing, extremely critical situation, which if unaddressed, could lead to a serious collapse of the State and also the development of anarchy within the society at large.

As your good office will already know, Sri Lanka is now faced with the payment of debt related crisis may be the worst that it has ever experienced in its entire history. Many economists, bankers and people involved in businesses and enterprises as well as social organizations such as trade unions and other organizations associated with farmers and also all civil society organizations have been expressing their deepest fears about the developing situation in the country. As we write this, almost every day, massive demonstrations are taking place in Colombo, as well as in all other areas in the country, demanding an early solution to some of the pressing problems such as the problem of ever-increasing prices of essential goods, and the cutting down of the availability of power supplies, gas and almost every other basic essential of life. The acuteness of the problem could be reflected in the fact that the exams which were due to be held for school children were recently cancelled due to the inability of the authorities to provide papers for the students to write on during the exam. In every area of life, there is the reflection of a breakdown as the Government is unable to pay the prices for imports due to the scarcity of United States Dollars. All the predictions are that this crisis is going to continue unless there is some genuine and credible intervention to get support from the international community, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other agencies, for the rescheduling of the payment of debts and at the same time, working out an extensive plan for bringing back stability to the country and to ensure a non-recurrence of the situation which caused this problem in the first place.

The present crisis comes as a result of a considerable period of neglect of the principles of good governance, as the result of which, the overview and supervision of financial institutions have also suffered very severely. In fact, the entirety of the State bureaucracy has been brought into an unprecedented crisis over several decades due to the centralization of power in the Presidential system, as the result of which, much of the governance related bureaucracy has been disempowered. Direct deregulation of almost every area of life has made it difficult to conduct any kind of rational management of the society. Among other things, this has also affected the administration of justice, the institutions of policing, prosecutorial institutions as well as the Judiciary itself. It is indeed a crisis of such magnitude already. The question that is commonly discussed by the Government, as well as the Opposition parties and also economists, all intellectual layers of society, as well as ordinary people is: what is the way out of this terrible debt trap?

Discussions are now focused on the way to seek the assistance of the IMF and also possibly other international agencies. However, the major problem that is thwarting the move towards this goal is the complete breakdown of the people’s faith in the political system as a whole. And this too is not just the product of a single act but is the result of a process that has developed over a long period of time. This loss of credibility in the political establishment as a whole has created a distrust on the one hand between the Government and all the Opposition parties, and on the other hand, the political establishment and the people as a whole.
It is at this juncture that an intervention by your Office and other UN agencies would help, for by playing a mediating role you could assist Sri Lanka to develop short-term and long-term plans for the recovery of the stability of the country and also to prevent the country falling into a situation of anarchy. If this opportunity is lost, what might happen in the immediate future is difficult to project.

A huge amount of information made available by many persons including persons who have played key roles in the past in the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, as well as in other financial institutions and the State bureaucracy and many others in the media and civil society are freely available now for anyone who would undertake a serious study into this tragic situation now faced by Sri Lanka. Under these circumstances, we urge you as the Head of the UN, which has played many good roles on behalf of Sri Lanka over a long period, to negotiate with the Sri Lankan Government as well as the Opposition parties and others to work out a sustainable plan to overcome this present situation and to ensure stability for this country.

As an important country situated in the Indian Ocean from the point of view of geopolitics, instability in Sri Lanka is also a matter of concern in international politics which gives further reasons as to justify a proactive role that could be played by the UN under these circumstances.
The AHRC is a nonpartisan organization not affiliated to any political body and has no other agenda except the protection and promotion of the rights of the people.

Thank you
Yours sincerely

Basil Fernando
Director for Policy and Programmes
Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong

© Scoop Media

 

Robert Reich: Amazon Workers’ Astounding Win, And How Corporate America Is Trying To Take Back Power – OpEd

 April 3, 2022  

By Robert Reich

On Friday, Amazon – America’s wealthiest, most powerful, and fiercest anti-union corporation, with the second-largest workforce in the nation (union-busting Walmart being the largest), lost out to a group of warehouse workers in New York who voted to form a union.

If anyone had any doubts about Amazon’s determination to prevent this from ever happening, its scorched-earth anti-union campaign last fall in its Bessemer, Alabama warehouse should have put those doubts to rest.

In New York, Amazon used every tool it had used in Alabama. Many of them are illegal under the National Labor Relations Act but Amazon couldn’t care less. It’s rich enough to pay any fine or bear any public relations hit.

The company has repeatedly fired workers who speak out about unsafe working conditions or who even suggest that workers need a voice.

As its corporate coffers bulge with profits — and its founder and executive chairman practices conspicuous consumption on the scale not seen since the robber barons of the late 19th century — Amazon has become the poster child for 21st-century corporate capitalism run amok.

Much of the credit for Friday’s victory over Amazon goes to Christian Smalls, whom Amazon fired in the spring of 2020 for speaking out about the firm’s failure to protect its warehouse workers from COVID. Smalls refused to back down. He went back and organized a union, with extraordinary skill and tenacity.

Smalls had something else working in his favor, which brings me to Friday’s superb jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report showed that the economy continues to roar back to life from the COVID recession.

With consumer demand soaring, employers are desperate to hire. This has given American workers more bargaining clout than they’ve had in decades. Wages have climbed 5.6 percent over the past year.

The acute demand for workers has bolstered the courage of workers to demand better pay and working conditions from even the most virulently anti-union corporations in America, such as Amazon and Starbucks.

Is this something to worry about? Not at all. American workers haven’t had much of a raise in over four decades. Most of the economy’s gains have gone to the top.

Besides, inflation is running so high that even the 5.6 percent wage gain over the past year is minimal in terms of real purchasing power.

But corporate America believes these wage gains are contributing to inflation. As the New York Times solemnlyreported, the wage gains “could heat up price increases.“

This is pure rubbish. But unfortunately, the chair of the Federal Reserve Board, Jerome Powell, believes it. He worries that “the labor market is extremely tight,” and to “an unhealthy level.”

As a result, the Fed is on the way to raising interest rates repeatedly in order to slow the economy and reduce the bargaining leverage of American workers.

Pause here to consider this: The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that corporate profits are at a 70-year high. You read that right. Not since 1952 have corporations done as well as they are now doing.

Across the board, American corporations are flush with cash. Although they are paying higher costs (including higher wages), they’ve still managed to increase their profits. How? They have enough pricing power to pass on those higher costs to consumers, and even add some more for themselves.

When American corporations are overflowing with money like this, why should anyone think that wage gains will heat up price increases, as the Times reports? In a healthy economy, corporations would not be passing on higher costs — including higher wages — to their consumers. They’d be paying the higher wages out of their profits.

But that’s not happening. Corporations are using their record profits to buy back enormous amounts of their own stock to keep their share prices high, instead.

The labor market isn’t “unhealthily” tight, as Jerome Powell asserts; corporations are unhealthily fat. Workers don’t have too much power; corporations do.

The extraordinary win of the workers of Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse is cause for celebration. Let’s hope it marks the beginning of a renewal of worker power in America.

Yet the reality is that corporate America doesn’t want to give up any of its record profits to its workers. If it can’t fight off unions directly, it will do so indirectly by blaming inflation on wage increases, and then cheer on the Fed as it slows the economy just enough to eliminate American workers’ new bargaining clout.

Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies, and writes at robertreich.substack.com. Reich served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written fifteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and"Beyond Outrage," and, his most recent, "The Common Good," which is available in bookstores now. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, "Inequality For All." He's co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism," which is streaming now.

Gallup: 76% of Americans disapprove of Congress' performance

LOWER THAN BIDEN'S

April 1 (UPI) -- The job approval rating for the U.S. Congress remained low in March with 21% of Americans approving of lawmakers' performance and 76% of Americans disapproving, according to the latest Gallup poll.

Those figures have remained relatively constant since October amid falling Democratic support for Democrats in Congress, Gallup noted. The overall congressional approval rating had reached a 12-year high of 36% in March 2021 after the party took control of both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

The approval rating among Democrats alone had surged to 61% between December 2020 and February 2021 but fell to 26% by January and has since increased to 35%.

Five percent of Republicans approve of the congressional job performance while 93% disapprove.

The poll was conducted before the tumultuous Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.

President Joe Biden's approval rating has also fallen to the lowest levels of his presidency over concern for his handling of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and rising inflation, an NBC poll found Sunday.

Forty percent of those who responded to the survey said they approved of Biden's job performance overall, the poll results show. His job approval rating has gradually fallen since April 2021 when 53% of Americans said they approved of his performance.

However, that poll was conducted between March 18-22 before Biden criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he "cannot remain in power" during a speech in Poland last weekend amid the war in Ukraine.

Experts warn Black Sea mines pose serious maritime threat

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of laying naval mines recently found in the Black Sea. Global shipping has been disrupted — and prices are rising.

'Mines are and remain big balls full of explosives' that can easily disrupt international shipping at bottlenecks like the Bosporus, creating supply shortages and driving up consumer prices

Since last weekend, the Turkish navy has detected and defused several drifting naval or sea mines. It said one had been neutralized near the crucial Bosporus channel, which links the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, and ultimately the Mediterranean. The strait was briefly closed to traffic. The Romanian military also said that it had destroyed a sea mine detected by fishermen at the beginning of the week.

The mines are reported to be sea anchor mines that do not float on the surface of the water but rather just below it. A steel cable connects the buoyant mine to an anchor, which keeps the device below the water to conceal it. The explosive detonates when it comes into contact with the hull of a ship.

Russian-Ukrainian blame game

Early last week, Russia's defense ministry and its state security agency, the FSB, warned against floating Ukrainian mines off the coast of Odesa, which had reportedly come adrift after a storm. The first reports spoke of several hundred mines. Later, the Russian defense ministry said that the anchors of an estimated 10 mines out of 370 had broken off.

Ukraine rejected the allegations, calling them "disinformation." It said that the mines were from Ukrainian stockpiles and had been used in Sevastopol off the coast of Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014. The Ukrainian government accused Russia of deliberately allowing the mines to float in the Black Sea to damage Ukraine's international reputation.

Old Soviet models

"Both versions are plausible," said Johannes Peters, an expert for maritime strategy at the University of Kiel. He said that from the images released it was clear that the mines in question were old models that could be identified as being Ukrainian but that they probably dated back to the Soviet era. Turkish authorities have also hinted at this. What is certain is that "since the annexation of Crimea, the Russian navy has had access to such mines, too," he said.

There is no international agreement banning sea mines, as there is for land mines. However, the Hague Convention on submarine mines, which is part of international humanitarian law, binds states to follow certain rules. Among them is the law that mines must not be allowed to drift in international waters.

On the other hand, states are allowed to lay sea mines in their own waters to protect themselves from attack. According to the German Defense Ministry manual on the Law of Armed Conflict, "any form of mine laying, […] is subject to the principles of effective monitoring, risk control and warning." Ukraine did warn ships accordingly when it mined large parts of the waters in the northeast of the Black Sea. According to the Hague Convention, the Ukrainian government should also have warned of any mines that had broken loose.

Bosporus blocked

After the Turkish navy defused the mine and closed the Bosporus, authorities also banned fishing activities at night until further notice. Since it links the Black Sea with the Mediterranean, the strait is an essential trade route for all the states neighboring the Black Sea. But it also creates a bottleneck for wheat exports from Russia and — usually — Ukraine. If blocked, it could drive wheat prices even higher.

Many shipping companies are already under pressure because of the war in Ukraine: The German Shipowners' Association (VDR) estimates that at least 60 cargo ships belonging to international merchant fleets are currently stuck in Ukrainian ports. Now, the drifting mines are making an already critical situation worse.

"We are very worried," as Gokhan Ozcan of the Turkish shipowners' association KOSDER told the Turkish daily newspaper Dünya. Ozcan said he had received several phone calls from partners, particularly in Mediterranean countries, who wanted to know whether they could take the risk of sending their container ships via the Bosporus.

On top of this, insurance companies are currently effectively refusing to cover damages caused by war. Shipping companies thus take a substantial financial risk if they decide to send ships to Romania, Moldavia, Bulgaria, Russia or Georgia.

States are allowed to lay sea mines off their coast to protect from attack

Naval mines: 'Big balls full of explosives'

The threat of the sea mines may be less significant than originally believed last week because only a small fraction of the mines laid are actually drifting. There is also doubt as to whether the devices are operational. "From the pictures, it seems that they are in a poor state of maintenance and some of them do not even seem to be activated," said naval expert Johannes Peters.

However, Peters pointed out that this "does not mean that they are not dangerous." On the contrary, their age and the salty waters in which they are adrift could lead to their being detonated even by light contact, even just an air mattress. The danger must not be underestimated: "Mines are and remain big balls full of explosives."

This article was translated from German.