DEMOCRATIC CENTRALISM

China, African Francophone countries hold virtual seminar on democracy

IS DEMOCRACY IN NAME ONLY

(Xinhua) 10:42, April 27, 2022

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday held a virtual seminar with 22 Francophone countries in Africa under the theme "Exploration and Practice of Democracy in the Legislatures of China and Africa."

Ding Zhongli, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), attended and addressed the two-day seminar's opening ceremony. He said that the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation has forged an unbreakable brotherhood and built a partnership of full coordination between China and Africa. It will also open up bright prospects for a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era, he said.

The NPC is willing to uphold the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, communicate frankly with the African side, learn from each other, build consensus and gather strength, and jointly explore the road of democracy in line with their own national conditions, said Ding.

He added that the NPC is ready to work with African legislatures to contribute to realizing true democracy and good democracy in relevant countries, continuously improving the welfare of people of all countries and promoting the democratization of international relations. 

OPINION | Democracy loses its glow for South Africans amid persistent inequality

27 April 2022 - BY JOLEEN STEYN KOTZE

THE CONVERSATION

After almost three decades of democracy, it is important to ask: What meaning do South Africans attach to the idea of democracy? Stock image

South Africans believed that the introduction of democracy in 1994 would transform their lives for the better through equality of opportunities. This hasn’t happened.

Socioeconomic inequality and job scarcity, as well as unequal opportunity to quality education have created a view that democracy has not delivered a better life for all.

The country celebrates 28 years of democracy at a time when democracy is under threat globally, in the context of growing inequality and mistrust in democratic institutions.

Increasingly, scholars focus on what makes democracy valuable amid its decline. This is important given the global rise in populist and anti-democratic politics and authoritarianism.

The Human Science Research Council’s South African Social Attitudes Survey, conducted annually, shows that South Africans are increasingly dissatisfied with democracy. In 2004, when the country celebrated a decade of democracy, 59% were satisfied with democracy. Now only 32% are satisfied with how democracy is working in SA.

Are South Africans giving up on democracy, as some are asking. And what’s to be made of some political elites who are speaking out against the value of the country’s constitutional democracy?

After almost three decades of democracy, it is important to ask: What meaning do South Africans attach to the idea of democracy? This is important considering that democracies endure when there is an intrinsic commitment to democratic values and principles, even during economic hardship.

Based on my research, as well as the results of recent surveys, it’s clear that there is a sense of disempowerment among South Africans, most notably among young people. This sense of disempowerment is premised on the view that their voice, life choices, and sense of freedom are undermined by a lack of equality of opportunity.

This inequality of opportunity is seen as a form of continued oppression informed by the view that the quality of life has not necessarily improved for most South Africans.

Views of democracy

South Africans attach an instrumentalist value to democracy. This is evident in the views that democracy does not deliver, most notably among the youth. Democracy is valued more because of delivering socioeconomic goods such as social welfare, housing, and income grants. They don’t necessarily view democracy as having intrinsic value as the best political system to achieve a just society based on human rights, dignity, freedom and equality.

In other words, they value democracy based on what it can do for them, not because they believe it is the best form of government. This is evident in the growing levels of institutional mistrust and growing political disengagement from formal democratic processes like voting. This creates a weak foundation for the sustainability of the country’s democracy in that in times of economic hardship, the legitimacy of democracy as a political system declines in the public view. Therefore, democracy becomes ‘illegitimate’ because it cannot deliver social and economic goods to create equality of opportunity.

It is not surprising that citizens place a high value on equality as an essential democratic principle given that SA is still the most unequal society globally.

Why do South Africans hold a strong instrumentalist attachment to democracy? The answer may lie in the expectations of what freedom and democracy meant in 1994, when apartheid came to an end.

Tales of despair

My research shows that the ‘Dream of 1994’ was the restoration of human dignity, something centuries of settler colonialism and apartheid had denied the black majority. Indeed, asked what 1994 meant for them, an interviewee said:

I was very happy. I felt extremely happy because this was the first time that black people gained freedom ... And it made me feel free as a person as well. Even just strolling around I felt free; I didn’t have to be so conscious around white people. There was no longer any fear ... I felt good, really good. What I was thinking. I was thinking that now we are free. That you can talk with everybody, you can walk with everybody. You know, that you can be friends with everyone that you want to be friends with. I thought that now that the party (the ANC) would take over, they’d know what we had gone through then.

Equality of opportunity was an essential characteristic of what the ‘Dream of 1994’ meant for South Africans. An interviewee reflected:

Talking of expectations, because I grew up in that old era, in that old regime. So my intention was, should Nelson Mandela be free, we would be living in a free country ... our expectations were that we would gain free education and that there’d be lots of jobs, that everyone would be employed, things like that. And that everyone would have his or her own house, things like that ... and those were the things that we expected, which I expected.

The sense that freedom and democracy remain an illusion was more palpable among the youth. An interviewee said:

I think, in my own opinion for those who lived before 1994, their aim of freedom was to free Mandela, then after it was to have their own black government. But for me, who was born in 1987, the word freedom for me is still an idea ... the reason I say that is because for me the word freedom is too big for SA. If education was free, then I would say yes, we have freedom.

Historical patterns

South Africans see a continuation of historical patterns of exclusion and marginalisation where equality of opportunity is not a lived reality for many. And, given that South Africans may continue to delegitimise democracy on the basis that it has not delivered on the expectations of the Dream of 1994, stronger populist and anti-democratic rhetoric are likely to take root in the future.

• Joleen Steyn Kotze: Chief Research Specialist in Democracy and Citizenship at the Human Science Research Council and a Research Fellow Centre for African Studies, University of the Free State

This article was first published by The Conversation.

Alwa: the Indigenous Bolivian rapper breaking down barriers




Alwa, Bolivia's first Aymara woman rapper, poses in front of a mural in her home town of El Alto (AFP/Aizar RALDES)

José Arturo CÁRDENAS
Tue, April 26, 2022, 

Alwa stands rigidly in front of a microphone, wearing a traditional puffy "pollera" skirt, a picture of serious concentration as Andean panpipe music starts up in the background.

The scene is set for a typical melancholic traditional Bolivian song but suddenly, the 26-year-old breaks out into a rap, lifting up her arms with jerky hand movements.

Alwa says she is the first Aymara rapper from Bolivia and one day wants to make a living from her voice.

"I don't care if people like my music. Just tell my mother that fear won't stop me. She won't beat me. Tell her also that I'm going to live off rap," she sings in her first song, "Endless Beginning."

Alwa, whose name means "dawn" in the Aymara language, has just performed her second concert in the atrium of La Paz's public university.

Her first album should come out in the middle of this year, she tells AFP.

Born in El Alto, the sprawling satellite town overlooking La Paz, Alwa is the first indigenous woman to dedicate herself to a style of music that has little in common with the melancholic sounds of traditional songs.

"In my lyrics I express my feelings about things, my opinion about the things we're going through right now, we've all suffered injustice," she tells AFP.

Even though indigenous people make up almost half of Bolivia's population, the community's women, or "cholas" still face discrimination and disdain from some parts of society.

"I think rap comes from this, feeling this rebelliousness, rebelling against something you disagree with, but it has to be coherent," says Alwa, who only uses her first name.

- 'Lifting up the name of Bolivia' -

Born into a traditional family, Alwa's mother "does not like rap" and her father wants her to continue studying marketing and advertising at the public university of La Paz.

But, she says, her "dream was always to sing."

During her performance at the university, a group of around 50 people approach the stage, lifting up their arms and applauding.

"She's great, she's an incredible artist, in her being, in the way she dresses," says Jesus Choque, 23, a student who is hearing Alwa for the first time.

"This is the first time I've seen a woman in a pollera singing on a stage, lifting up the name of Bolivia, it's awesome, it's really beautiful," adds Carlos Jonas Sirpa.

Alwa is starting to make a name for herself, and even gets stopped in the street by people wanting to take a selfie with her.

"She's brilliant, I heard her for the first time in Chile, I thought she was Peruvian but it turns out she's Bolivian, I saw her on Tik Tok and she's great," says Kevin Coronel, 22.

Alwa, though, believes she has a long way to go to emulate her rap heroes Warrior from Peru and Argentine Alika.

"I'm in the process of becoming a rapper, I'm not there yet," she says.

But she's adamant that there is no turning back from here.

"What I really want now is to make music."

jac/gbh/rsr/yow/bc/des

FEMICIDE
Healing by helping: Mexico's acid attack victims
 

After her ex-partner sprayed acid in her face, Mexican mother Carmen Sanchez 

set up a foundation to help fellow victims of such attacks

 

Yazmin lost an ear and suffered burns to her eyelids, neck, legs and one arm in 

an acid attack 

Martha Avila suffered burns on nearly half her body in an acid attack by her daughter's ex-husband, but is glad that she was the victim, not her daughter

Sofia Miselem
Tue, April 26, 2022

After Mexican mother Carmen Sanchez left her abusive ex-partner he attacked her with acid, leaving her severely scarred. As part of her healing process, she now helps fellow victims rebuild their lives.

In the eight years since her life was changed forever, the 37-year-old has undergone 61 operations, including skin reconstruction and grafts.

"Every day I endure it but I don't know if I will heal completely at some point," said Sanchez, who wears dark glasses to cover traces of the attack.

"It wasn't an accident. I wasn't born that way. He planned it, went and bought the acid and threw it at me. When I look in the mirror, I see him," she said.

Her Carmen Sanchez Foundation -- launched in 2021 to "put a stop to acid violence" -- believes that companionship and friendship are crucial for victims.

It faces challenges such as dealing with a public health system that guarantees only limited treatment for victims, and a judicial system beset by impunity and ineffectiveness, Sanchez said.

Gender-based violence is a major problem in Mexico, which registered around 3,750 murders of women in 2021, of which about 1,000 were classified as femicides.

The foundation has documented 31 acid attacks against women since 2001, of whom six died.

The crime is on the rise, with seven cases in 2021, compared with two on average in previous years, according to the group, whose goal is for victims to regain some enjoyment of life.

"The moments of leisure, the celebration of important dates, going out to eat or simply talking on the phone is a fundamental part of what can keep them on their feet," said its co-president Ximena Canseco.

- 'Remember forever' -

Sanchez, who has two daughters, reported her abusive ex-partner three times but he escaped punishment and sprayed acid in her face in 2014 after she left him.

"He told me that he was going to do something to me that I would remember forever," she said.

Sanchez spent eight months in a public hospital, after which she relied on private doctors who treat victims free of charge.

At the public hospital, "they told me I could live with my scars" and to "be thankful I survived," she said.

After the police failed to arrest her ex-partner, Sanchez tracked him down herself and he was finally captured in 2021.

"I was the one who did all the work," she said.

Yazmin, 34, is one of eight women whom the Carmen Sanchez Foundation helps to obtain free medical treatment, legal advice and psychological therapy.

A year and a half ago, when she was leaving her work, a woman threw a liquid on her, leaving her in agony.

Yazmin lost an ear and suffered burns to her eyelids, neck, legs and one arm.

She suspects her attacker was sent by her ex-partner.

"Days before, we argued on the telephone and he told me to be careful because he had a little surprise for me," said the woman, who did not want to give her full name.

- 'A global problem' -

Yazmin kept silent about her violent relationship for years before the attack, but now she feels liberated thanks to the foundation.

"We're not judged. They don't say: 'They did it to you for a reason.' You feel protected. I thought I was the only one, but I discovered that it is a global problem," Yazmin said.

Among other affected countries, hundreds of acid attacks are reported in India each year, although -- like in Mexico -- experts fear they are only the tip of the iceberg.

Colombia, where the crime is punishable by 50 years in prison, registered 50 cases in 2021, 28 of them against women, according to official figures.

Britain has one of the world's highest rates of recorded acid attacks per capita -- most apparently gang-related and targeting men, according to the charity Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI).

Martha Avila, 63, calls herself a "collateral victim" of acid violence in Mexico.

In March 2017, she was assaulted by her daughter's Argentine ex-husband.

"He came to attack her, but since he couldn't find her, he came for me. He said he was going to 'destroy what she loved the most,'" she said.

Despite suffering burns on nearly half her body, Avila is glad that she was the victim, not her daughter.

"I couldn't imagine what it's like to have your life destroyed so young, and even more so if he's the father of your children," she said.

sem/dr/sw/dva

Despite unrest, it's business before politics in West Bank town

Violence may rage elsewhere, but it's business before politics in the occupied West Bank town of Nilin where Palestinian merchants do a brisk trade with passing Israelis. Every day, hundreds of people from Israel and nearby West Bank settlements visit the town to take advantage of low prices on everything from groceries to car parts.

Nilin is no stranger to the realities of occupation – a number of the town's residents have been killed in past clashes with Israeli forces. The Jewish state's separation barrier cuts through its western edge, and Israeli settlements, regarded as illegal under international law, dominate the surrounding hilltops.

Yet despite a recent spike in violence elsewhere, in Nilin, about 20 kilometres west of Ramallah, it's business as usual.

"The majority of my clients are Israelis and from nearby Kiryat Sefer," a district of the Modiin Illit settlement, said Hassan Salim, 51, a mechanic for the past 30 years. "I can say that 80 percent of my clients are Israelis."

With a cigarette hanging from his mouth, he threw his arm around Yossi – a loyal customer from a nearby settlement, who asked not to be named in full. "I've known him for 25 years," said Salim.

The Israeli, who wore a yarmulke on his head, confirmed that "I've been coming here for 25 years, because the quality of work is better and it's cheaper.

"During all this time, I've been able to befriend Hassan and his brother Said," he said, as four Palestinian mechanics were busy working on his vehicle.

475,000 settlers

Nilin mayor Yousef al-Khawaja said that on an average day, about 1,000 Israelis visit Nilin for commercial reasons, though on Saturdays – the Jewish day of rest – this can reach 1,500.

The delicate local balance has been put to the test as a wave of attacks in the Jewish state by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, alongside deadly raids in response, have killed 14 in Israel, and 25 Palestinians including assailants since late March.

Violent clashes have also rocked east Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and its environs, wounding more than 250 – mainly Palestinian demonstrators at the hands of Israeli security forces.

Despite Nilin's generally good relations with Israelis, it still faces the grim reality of occupation.

Israeli forces have recently issued demolition orders for two buildings in the town, much of which sits in the Israeli-controlled Area C where Palestinians often build "illegally" as they find it almost impossible to get permits.

Khawaja adds that much of Nilin's market lies in Area C, beyond his jurisdiction.

Israel captured the West Bank in the Six Day War of 1967 and later started encouraging its citizens to live there, a policy seen as illegal under the fourth Geneva Convention.

Today, around 475,000 settlers live in communities across the West Bank, which often cut off Palestinian towns and villages from each other.

Palestinians argue that the settlements are one of the biggest hurdles to a peace deal giving them their own state.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is the former head of a settler lobbying group, and has unapologetically advocated settlement expansion – as did his predecessor, veteran premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

'Never talk politics'

Nilin residents are divided over the presence of Israelis in the town, even if the settlers are an important source of revenue.

Husni al-Khawaja, 22, told AFP that he didn't like seeing them, but Nilin's reliance on their trade meant there was nothing he could do.

"If we demonstrate and protest against the entry of the Israelis, the shop owners themselves will confront us before the Israelis will," he said. "The economy here depends on the Israelis – no Arabs come shopping here."

Others are less concerned about politics, and happy to do business with whoever comes to their shop. Mohammed Bitlo, 30, runs a car parts outlet and says business is only possible because he and his clients don't talk about politics.

"Settlers and (other) Israelis come here because prices are cheaper than inside Israel," he said. "For example, painting a car here costs about 2,000 shekels ($607), while inside Israel the price may reach 4,000 or 5,000 shekels."

"We never talk about politics."    

27.04.2022

  

(AFP)

Ukraine-Russia war: Greek government and public don't see eye to eye

The Greek government condemns Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine — but the Greek people are divided where Moscow is concerned. Leftists revel in Soviet nostalgia, while conservatives embrace the shared Orthodox faith.


Vladimir Putin visited a monastic community in Greece in 2016

Maria still can't believe Russia's President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. The 29-year-old Muscovite, who wishes to stay anonymous, has been living in the northern Greek metropolis of Thessaloniki for three years. The law student is married to a Greek and officially registered in Greece, just like about 15,000 other Russians.

Ties between the two predominantly Christian Orthodox countries are traditionally close. Maria learned Greek at university in Russia, even if she did not have concrete plans to move to Greece at the time. She is not particularly religious, but as an Orthodox Christian she feels less foreign in Greece than in other parts of Europe. "Religion connects us, also on a cultural level," Maria told DW. "I've traveled a lot, so I know that you have to adapt if you want to live abroad. But here I hardly had to change anything."

For many Greeks, the Orthodox faith is a link with Moscow

Since the war in Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, the economic situation in Russia has worsened, Maria says. "In Moscow, stores are closing," she says, adding there is, among other products, a shortage of medicine in the capital. That is a situation the rest of the country is used to, she says. "Maybe people elsewhere in Russia are even pleased to see the supply situation is becoming problematic in the big cities, too." Many of her relatives and friends have already left the country, her father traveled across the Finnish border, her mother via Belarus to Lithuania.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis met Vladimir Putin in 2016 but has condemned the Ukraine war

Maria does not doubt that when it comes to maintaining power, Putin knows no bounds. That is another reason why her home country no longer holds any promise for her. The propaganda-driven media and the increasingly harsh state measures against dissidents have shattered whatever hopes for a change for the better she may have had, she says. She cannot understand why many people in Greece find it difficult to condemn Moscow for the war against Ukraine. "The other day, a Greek said that everything is good in Russia. I contradicted him and explained how the situation really is. But he didn't believe me."

Russia, a traditional Greek ally

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis adheres to the EU's course of supporting Kyiv in the fight against Moscow. Greece has already supplied weapons to Ukraine. But recent opinion polls show that more than one out of two Greeks do not support the government's policies. While refugees from Ukraine are welcomed with open arms in Greece, many Greeks reject the EU measures against Russia. According to one survey, more than 60%t are decidedly opposed to arms shipments — they see culpability for the war in both Moscow and Kyiv.

One of the reasons for the ambivalent attitude is that Greek conservatives traditionally see Russia as an ally. In 2019, five years after the annexation of Crimea, Mitsotakis, who was opposition leader at the time, traveled to Moscow. Underlining a "relationship of trust" between his Nea Demokratia party and Putin's United Russia party, he promised Russia would always find Greece to be a "trustworthy dialogue partner."
Significance of a shared faith

Many Greeks' sympathize with Russia first and foremost because of their shared Orthodox faith, says Athanasios Grammenos. "The Russians for centuries presented themselves as the protectors of Orthodox Christians during the Ottoman Empire."

There's a myth of the great savior in the east, says Athanasios Grammenos

Moscow never actively helped, but the myth of the great savior in the east is strongly anchored in Greek culture, the political scientist at the University of Thessaloniki told DW. Many people with right-wing convictions, also members of the conservative party, still believe that for some magical reason the Russians are going to take Istanbul, formerly the Orthodox stronghold of Constantinople, liberate it and give it to Greece, fulfilling the dream of a new Byzantine Empire, he says.

The political scientist argues that Russia is trying to gain influence through the Orthodox faith in other Balkan countries, too, particularly in northern Macedonia and Serbia, where people are divided concerning the European Union. That's where Russia is using "the old strategy of the Orthodox Commonwealth."

That hasn't been as easy in Greece, Grammenos notes. The Greek Orthodox Church recognized the autocephalous church of Ukraine in 2019, clearly acting against the wishes of Russian Orthodox Church leaders. "In Greece, church is a reflection of society," he says, adding some priests are into strange conspiracy theories, which "has an impact on many believers."

Waning trust in Russia

Stavros Tzimas knows where his fellow countrymen's sympathies lie. In Greece, the journalist is considered an expert on the Balkans, Russia and the Orthodox Church. When it comes to Moscow, the Greek left still flirts with Soviet nostalgia, as do the conservatives with the Orthodox faith, he says. Such romantic notions, however, only partly explain why the Greek population is so reluctant to condemn Moscow's war in Ukraine, if they do at all.

Greeks fear the repercussions of measures against Russia, says Stavros Tzimas

Many Greeks seem to fear that supporting sanctions against Russia could hurt Greece, Tzimas told DW. Prices for certain products including electricity and gas have risen sharply in Greece, too, he says, adding that people far measures against Moscow will have an impact on their economic situation.

Greece's political ties with Russia have long been on a downward slide. Political disagreements — including on the 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the 2018 Prespa Agreement settling a long-standing dispute with northern Macedonia over the name of the country — played a decisive role, he says. In the case of the accord, he says, diplomatic relations saw a downturn when Athens expelled Russian embassy officials who had tried to lobby against the agreement.

This article has been translated from German.

Mexico's President Imitates Trump in 'Art of the Deal'

Former U.S. President Donald Trump cast himself as a master of “The Art of the Deal,” but his old buddy, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, may be taking over that title.

By Associated Press
April 27, 2022,

Mexican President Andres Manuel Obrador smiles as people applaud after the playing of the national anthem at the end of an event where he delivered a speech on economic figures, in Mexico City, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. On the third week of April, Lopez Obrador strong-armed a U.S. gravel company into agreeing to operate a tourist resort and cruise ship dock at rock quarries it owns on the Caribbean coast.
(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

For a leader once depicted as a leftist, López Obrador is in fact more of a populist and nationalist, and is quite conservative on some social issues. And he and Trump share an essentially transactional view of politics: two old-style bosses who like making deals.

On Monday, López Obrador became one of the few foreign leaders to say he genuinely liked Trump.

“We understood each other, and it was good for both countries,” López Obrador said of Trump’s time in office.

The examples of López Obrador’s pressure are many.

In 2020, he called a referendum that stopped a partly built, $1.5 billion U.S.-owned brewery in the border city of Mexicali, which had received all the needed permits but brought complaints from some residents that it would use too much water.

The Victor, N.Y.-based Constellation Brands, the company that brews Corona beer, wanted to be on the border in order to export Corona to the U.S. market. But López Obrador has a long-range goal of promoting investment in southern Mexico. That’s the region where he grew up, and where poverty is greater and water is more plentiful.

So last week, López Obrador said the governor of the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, who belongs to the president’s Morena party, smoothed the way with all necessary permits for Constellation to build a brewery there.

Some say the president may be scaring off foreign investment with such heavy-handed tactics.

“The critics and the pundits are complaining ... because he chases away investments. He doesn’t give a damn,” said Federico Estevez, a political science professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico. “That’s what they haven’t understood. He’s not after growth. He’s not after investment. He’s not a normal politician.”

In March, López Obrador issued an ultimatum to the U.S. energy company Sempra saying it had one month to sign an agreement to build a liquified natural gas export terminal in the Pacific coast port of Salina Cruz. Industry insiders say the project isn’t attractive for foreign investors, since it involves building pipelines to the port.

López Obrador has renovated the port as part of a plan to revive a 150-year-old dream of a rail line linking ports on the Pacific to the Gulf over Mexico’s narrow Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and he desperately needs commercial customers for the ports. Sempra hasn't yet responded to the demand.

Similar thinking — and practices — went into the president’s most surprising deal yet, the tentative agreement with Vulcan Materials to run a resort and port.

Vulcan wound up with a series of crushed-limestone quarries on Mexico’s Caribbean coast near the resort of Playa del Carmen in the 1990s, when the area wasn’t as popular as it now.

Vulcan would like to keep exporting gravel, but its export permits have been blocked since late 2018, leading the company to file a trade dispute arbitration case under NAFTA, which has yet to be resolved.

The quarries are near XCaret, a lagoon that private investors turned into a high-end theme park that charges $100 a day in admission. The Mexican president loves state-owned businesses and hates pricey private ones.

One of Vulcan’s gravel quarries was dug out to below the water table, and it filled with turquoise water. López Obrador wants to turn it into an artificial swimming and snorkeling lagoon.

His other pet project in the area is the Maya Train, a 950-mile (1,500- kilometer) rail line that will run in a rough loop around the Yucatan peninsula, connecting Caribbean coast resorts with archaeological sites inland.

Controversially, and with no environmental studies, the president decided to cut down a swath of low jungle between Cancun and Tulum, near the quarries, to build the train line.

The project needs huge amounts of gravel spread between rail ties to stabilize them, and it needs a seaport to get rails, cars and other train-building materials into the jungle.

Vulcan Materials has crushed limestone and it has a deep-water port, Punta Venado, that it uses to export shiploads of gravel to Florida for road projects. López Obrador also wants Vulcan to operate a cruise ship dock just across from Cozumel — the world’s busiest port of call for cruise ships.

So the president offered “a deal” to the company — run a water park and a cruise ship dock, or the government will shut down the quarries. And he threatened further action.

“I am waiting for an answer to the offer we made to them, because otherwise, we will take legal action,” Lopez Obrador said April 19, sounding a lot like Trump.

On Monday, Vulcan Materials issued a statement saying it had told Mexican officials "of its openness to supply construction materials needed for the construction of the Maya Train and other infrastructure projects and to make port capacity available for transfer of train-related construction materials.”

The company said it also told the government it was open to developing “a large-scale ecotourism project — suggested by the Government of Mexico — on land owned by the Company, as long as the Company can continue supplying its customers.”

Vulcan added that it is "also prepared to explore an expansion of the Punta Venado maritime terminal to receive passenger, freight and naval vessels in the coming years.”

A person privy to disputes with private firms during this administration, but not authorized to be quoted by name, said López Obrador often seeks to pile rhetorical pressure on companies, but doesn’t really appear to step over the line.

“You get the rhetoric, but you don’t get the strongarm,” said the insider. “It’s a lot more bark than bite.”

“One company was asked to do something they didn’t want to do, and they started getting calls from government agencies, saying we’ve been asked to review every contract we have with you … but nothing was cancelled,” he said. “Is that pressure? Sure, but is it illegal?”

SINGAPORE

First batch of prison inmates graduates with precision engineering skills to boost job prospects

All 17 who enrolled in the programme have graduated and will be employed, after their release, by members of the Singapore Precision Engineering and Technology Association. 

PHOTO: SINGAPORE PRISON SERVICE

Samuel Devaraj

SINGAPORE - He was a construction coordinator who lost his job after he was sentenced to three years' jail for unlicensed money lending.

With a criminal record, Amir (not his real name), 30, was concerned that it would be tough to find work after his release from prison later this year. But a programme he joined while serving time in prison has substantially eased his concerns.

On Wednesday (April 27), the first-time offender was part of the inaugural batch of 17 inmates who graduated from a precision engineering training programme under the TAP (Train And Place) and Grow initiative in a ceremony at the Changi Prison Complex.

The event was attended by Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim.

Through this initiative launched in 2020, Yellow Ribbon Singapore (YRSG) works with employers across various industries, training institutions and community partners to set up training academies in prison to help the inmates with employment assistance.

All 17 who enrolled in the programme have graduated and will be employed, after their release, in such roles as quality assurance technicians or machinists by members of the Singapore Precision Engineering and Technology Association.

Speaking to the media in a virtual interview on Tuesday, Amir, who hopes to eventually pursue a career in 3D modelling design, said: "I committed my offences because I was greedy and quite immature then. When the opportunity for easy money was in front of me, I didn't hesitate, I just took it.

"I never thought I would I get caught. But once I did, everything fell apart. I lost my full-time job, time I could spend with my family and even lost my partner... I feel blessed that I could get my life back on track."

Like the other inmates in the programme, Amir did not have direct experience in precision engineering but joined the programme to make the most of his time in prison and also because he felt it followed on from his experience in the construction sector.

The four-month programme contained more than 300 hours of training and included coding, data analytics and engineering mathematics modules.

In his opening speech at Wednesday's ceremony, Associate Professor Faishal said there were many opportunities in the precision engineering industry.

He said: "Precision engineering is a critical enabler for the manufacturing industry. It supplies crucial products and expertise to manufacture complex components and equipment for industries such as semiconductors, medical technology and aerospace.

"So, it is a very important industry, and you are very fortunate to be able to learn and go into this part of the industry."

MORE ON THIS TOPIC
Teochew Foundation commits $2m to Yellow Ribbon initiative to fund prison inmates' tertiary education

Around 780 ex-offenders employed under govt scheme to spur local hiring

The graduates, who were awarded the Workforce Skills Qualifications advanced certificate in precision engineering, can also apply to enrol in a part-time diploma programme in this field with Nanyang Polytechnicafter their release.

Another graduate, Xavier (not his real name), said he struggled with certain modules at the start but eventually managed to cope.

The 53-year-old, who was serving a 12-year jail sentence for drug-related offences, said: "I struggled with mathematics as it's been over 30 years since I last studied it... but some of the other inmates who are good in maths helped me and I was able to cope. Also, the lecturers were patient and good."

Xavier, who will be released later this year, hopes to become a machinist, as he is interested in machines and how they turn raw materials into finished products.

Mr Tan Yick Loong, assistant director at Partnership@YR in YRSG, said the programme participants gave feedback that the course had been an eye-opener.

Explaining the criteria for selection, Mr Tan said those who express interest must attain a certain grade in a literacy and numeracy assessment. Those who fall slightly short may be sent for a refresher course before attempting the test again.

Apart from precision engineering, the TAP and Grow initiative also works with partners from the media and logistics sectors. Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam told Parliament in March that the initiative will be expanded to the food services sector.

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Mr Tan said the food services industry provides an opportunity to upskill inmates to above entry-level jobs and that the sectors are chosen for TAP and Grow based on several factors, including how they fit with the profile of inmates, most of whom lack paper qualifications.

He added: "We are seeing the world moving from a more knowledge-based economy to a skills-based economy. So in that regard, we are looking out for industries that offer career and skills pathways that are suitable for our profile of ex-offenders.

"If you look at precision engineering as an example, you do not need to have diploma-level qualifications to enrol for this course. All you need is to be proficient up to a certain level in mathematics and English... to transit into this industry."

Thousands of shocking reports reveal extent of Australian aged care residents’ suffering due to understaffing

More than 6,500 reports of distressed and neglected residents and unsafe conditions the ‘tip of the iceberg’, union says

More than 6,500 reports of understaffing and unsafe conditions in the aged care sector are to be delivered to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission on Wednesday. 

Photograph: Richard Pasley - Doctor Stock/Getty Images/Science Faction


Caitlin Cassidy

Wed 27 Apr 2022 

More than 6,500 reports of understaffing and unsafe conditions in Australia’s aged care sector, including hundreds of reports of resident injuries, will be handed to the regulator on Wednesday.

The reports, from United Workers Union (UWU) whistleblower site Aged Care Watch, identified thousands of instances of aged care residents’ safety suffering due to unfilled shifts and understaffing.

Some 2,300 reports named a “distressed resident”, while 1,900 named a resident left soiled for an “extended period” and 600 said a resident was injured due to lack of care.

The findings will be delivered to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission on Wednesday.


Too little, too late: who will fix the home care crisis for Australia’s ageing population?

UWU aged care director Carolyn Smith said the findings, gathered from workers, family members and care residents, were only the “tip of the iceberg”.

“These reports come from every state of Australia and show the inside story of the aged care crisis that continues to impact the care of aged care residents,” she said.

“It’s a sad fact that even before Covid aged care was a shambles and now it’s even worse.

“The accounts from inside aged care facilities are horrifying.”

Aged care workers describe instances of incontinence pads unchanged for 16 hours, wounds left untreated and weight loss due to residents not being helped with their food.

Some 2,900 reports named a “stressed staff member” due to understaffing, with almost 10,000 unfilled shifts and more than 800 personal accounts of unsafe incidents resulting from lack of care time.

“These firsthand accounts from aged care workers provide extensive further evidence of the massive failure of the federal government in residential aged care,” Smith said.

“The failures … also show why thousands of aged care workers feel they have no option but to go on strike and hold their employers accountable.”

Aged care workers across Australia voted last week to take industrial action over acute staff shortages and continuing low rates of pay hitting the sector.

Members at five aged care providers collectively employing 7,000 workers voted overwhelmingly in favour of the industrial action, likely to take place prior to the 21 May election.

One aged care worker in the hospitality sector, based in Western Australia, said in the report they spent a large percentage of their shift running from the kitchen to answer cries for help from residents.

“There might be two to three [carers] on one wing for up to 48 residents,” they said. “I have found residents on the floor and no one about to come help them.”

Another aged care worker based in South Australia said they were suffering burnout, stress and anxiety due to the uncertainty of staffing.

“Many hospitality shifts are unfilled, training is absolutely minimal for new staff, agency is regularly unavailable,” they said.

“My colleague recently was hurt due to working above and beyond an acceptable workload to compensate.

“My mental health has suffered terribly and I’m now at breaking point.”

Both major parties have made major election pledges to better fund the sector including to uphold any pay rise awarded by the Fair Work Commission, which is currently hearing a claim to lift the pay of aged care workers 25% above the award.

Labor has promised to spend $2.5bn on aged care including a 24-hour registered onsite nurse in every facility. In response to the aged care royal commission, the Coalition vowed to boost the number of home care packages and deliver aged care workers an $800 bonus.

UKRAINE

‘Two months of terrorism’ A dispatch from Kherson, where Russian occupiers are poised to conduct a sham referendum

April 26, 2022
Source: Meduza

After the war in Ukraine began, the Russian army captured Kherson within days. Kherson residents were defiant; they continued flying the Ukrainian flag on the city council building and have held multiple protest rallies against Russian occupation. Meanwhile, the local media, now under Russian control, regularly reports that residents of the entire Kherson region will soon decide via referendum whether to create a Kherson “People’s Republic” (KNR) analogous to the Russian-backed puppet states in Donetsk and Luhansk. A journalist living in Kherson, who chose to remain anonymous, spoke to Meduza about what life is like there.

Kherson has been under Russian occupation for almost two months. That's been enough time for us to go through all of the stages of grief, from denial to acceptance. At first, we held out hope that the Ukrainian army would protect us. But that didn’t work out, and the Russian army now controls Kherson.

On March 2, the day after the Russian military arrived, the entire city began living on the hope that someone would come to our defense. But the battles near Kyiv, Mariupol, and Izyum needed reinforcements, and doing everything necessary to defend Kherson would have meant withdrawing troops from the capital, which nobody was going to do. That’s what happens to border towns: they’re the first to take a hit and the first to get occupied.

It took some time to get used to the idea that the city had fallen. We had to adapt to the new realities of life: constant explosions (fighting continues around the city); long lines in stores; the word “shortage,” which we thought we'd left behind long ago. Once we adapted, the agonizing period of waiting for “liberation” began.

A few days after the occupation, Russian soldiers came to Kherson’s mayor, Ihor Kolykhaiev, with a list of demands. For example, they put limits on how people could move through the city: no more than two people together at once, and a curfew was established. But nobody claimed to have any rights to the city; nobody was talking about setting up a military government. The city was still run by a Ukrainian administration under the Ukrainian flag. But it was effectively being blockaded.

Meanwhile, the media began to report on what would happen next. Some reports said they would create a KNR; others talked about a “Crimean scenario” — incorporation into Russia. All of the options entailed separation from Ukraine. It was like they were testing the waters to see how the city’s residents would react.

Despite the city’s pro-Russian reputation, thousands of people gathered in the city center for a rally they called “Kherson is Ukraine” after what was literally the first report suggesting they might create a Kherson People’s Republic. Residents expressed their opposition to any kind of referendum or incorporation into Russia at all. The city didn’t have any Ukrainian soldiers — there was no way to fight — but the population still wanted to send the message to Russian soldiers that they aren’t welcome here and nobody needs their “liberation.”

They started holding these rallies regularly. But when the SOBR [Special Rapid Response Units] and Rosgvardiya [Russian National Guard] units appeared in the city, the protests became dangerous. They started breaking protests up with batons and firing tear gas on the protesters. Anyone they managed to detain was herded away on mini-buses they stole from local businesses.

Russian soldiers figured out where protesters lived and started coming to them at night and in the morning — and taking them away. We still don’t know what happened to many of the victims. Overall, according to the Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff, around 400 residents of the Kherson region have been detained. Those who have been released have been reluctant to talk about their experiences and have stopped attending protests.

Local journalist Oleg Baturin was one of the people captured. After his release, he said his captors had beaten, tortured, and abused him; he’s been diagnosed with rib fractions. On March 30, Ukrainian Orthodox priest Serhii Chudynovych was taken directly from his church. During his one day in captivity, he was beaten.

Every few days, new rumors spread on the city’s Telegram channels that Kherson will become the next Mariupol or Bucha. In the last couple of weeks, reports have spread about men from nearby villages being forced to dig trenches for Russian military equipment, disguise the equipment, and load shells.

As a result, most of the city’s population started leaving in a panic — the city is almost empty. The occupying forces don’t usually prevent anyone from leaving, but they do check people’s documents, compare them to a list, and force them to strip down to their underwear to get checked for [nationalist] tattoos.

The streets became deserted; most of the cars disappeared. Soon, the only people left in Kherson were the ones who couldn’t leave for whatever reason or who stubbornly refused to leave their hometown.

After two months of this terrorism, it’s become clear that most of the people left in the city are so frightened that when they see a car marked with the “Z” symbol, they immediately try to hide so as not to be seen by a Russian soldier.

On the other hand, if you don’t go outside or go on the Internet, and just watch TV, which only shows Russian channels now, you’ll get a fairly positive impression of what’s going on in Kherson. It basically goes like this: “Russian soldiers came to the Kherson region and de-Nazified it; peace and order ensued. Russian soldiers are giving food to the starving people, and it’s arriving in humanitarian convoys from the caring Crimeans. Meanwhile, the fact that Kherson’s newfound freedom has angered the Ukrainian authorities, and they’ve started shelling the city, but Russian air defense is protecting the liberated, primordially Russian Kherson.”

On April 25, Russian soldiers took control of the city council building, which until then had still been run by a Ukrainian mayor under a Ukrainian flag. All of the Ukrainian symbols and flags were removed (though no Russian flag has been put up yet) and new Russian administrators moved in.

According to recent media reports, a “referendum” is planned for April 27. Kherson residents fear this means Kherson will follow the model of the LNR and DNR.

Their fears are not unfounded. A week ago, three dozen or so people carrying Russian flags gathered in the town of Kakhovka, not far from Kherson. The town is small enough that everyone knows each other, but nobody recognized these newcomers. Presumably, they were Russian soldiers dressed in civilian clothes.

Kherson residents have been planning to take to the streets again on April 27 to protest against the creation of a KNR and the region’s incorporation into Russia, but given how few people are left in the city, the protest could easily turn into a massacre. Everyone knows that perfectly well.