Culture Currents 

 Cowgirl of the sky

Welder Josie Lucille Owens was one of the crew building the SS George Washington Carver during World War II. In our neighborhood of Bayview Hunters Point, men and women alike found work in the shipyard and were able to purchase homes and raise families. – Photo: Office for Emergency Management, 1942

‘I learned that green and white plastic union card was my ticket’

by Deborah Turner, Positive Directions Equals Change

Being as high as 100 feet off the ground secured only by a safety harness takes nerves of steel and muscles of iron to build structures that push up to merge with the clouds. There’s nothing like ironwork. The higher you get, the closer you are to God, so you feel safe.

My journey is one of female empowerment and determination in the face of addiction, incarceration and motherhood. Growing up straight, rigid and judgmental, there was a corresponding pressure that I had to behave in a certain way – not to mess up – that led to pain, insecurity and doubt.

I was raised by a single mom with Louisiana roots – my role model of strength, dignity and faith. I am the youngest girl of six siblings; the only one born in San Francisco, educated in Catholic schools and first-generation college.

Growing up in the Hunters Point projects, I was a good girl and a tomboy. My 12-year-old Catholic school self by day and project girl by evening; the sacred and the secular.

We later moved to a home in Sunnydale. My outlet was sports because it was an escape from real life troubles, a sense of belonging, and connection to the wider world. In high school I was a standout basketball guard.

I moved on to junior college with my first-year drive to be the best guard on the court. At the second-year mark, realizing I lacked the proper guidance to pursue collegiate athletics, my dream deferred and I was lost.

After losing my way in sports, I lost interest in school. I was unhappy, feelings of emptiness and deep sadness. I experimented with drugs and eventually was introduced to crack cocaine. My life took a downward spiral. It seemed it could not happen to me, who came from good stock, truly an all-American girl. I fell hard.

Like many types of progress, my improvement did not always happen in a straight line. I caught a case in 1988 that eventually sent me to prison in 1989 with a 3-year sentence, although I served only 18 months.

In 1992, I became pregnant while using. I lost custody of my child to the courts a few days after giving birth. Fortunately, my mother gained custody while I was in prison. I missed my child’s first and second birthdays. I was too busy to cuddle my baby – pushing forward trying to make it to the next day.

“In order to maintain sobriety, you need to change people, places and things.”

I caught a second case in 1993, did another 2-year prison sentence and was released in 1995. I became sober while in prison and remained sober for six years. During that time, I was introduced to a program called Facts on Crack. I started working in the non-profit sector, helping other women who were struggling with dependency issues, letting them know they mattered.

Here we go again: I relapsed and got busted. My parole officer sent me to a program called Milestones in 1998. After seven months clean, I picked up old habits and old friends. That popular adage is true: “In order to maintain sobriety, you need to change people, places and things.”

I thought I was strong enough to fix me and them at the same time. I reached out for help. Back then and even now, people had to wait for an opening in detox, let alone a program. The cold part about it was while you were waiting, the desire to use was strong, I went back to getting high.

Three times is a charm. An awakening came in 1999, I surrendered all – I was spiritually broken and could not live that lifestyle anymore. In that jail cell I realized this was the moment to change my life.

I started looking at my child’s picture on the side of my wall. I vividly remembered holding him as he fell asleep in my arms, reminding me when he was a newborn and all the time I had missed. I had to rethink life. I did six months in county and a year in Walden House, with credit for time served for a total of 16 months.

In 2000, I was introduced to Positive Directions Equals Change, and my journey became easier with mentors, like members Na’im Harrison, Nitra Williams and Cedric Akbar. It really was all the members of the organization who wrapped their arms around me and showed me some love; I owe a debt of gratitude.

They helped me to change my circumstances and change my life. I was forced to grow up in that moment. I began engaging in groups and classes. I started taking suggestions and let someone help change my life.

In 2004, when my son was 12 years old and had graduated from middle school, I gained custody of him. I vowed to be the best parent I could be. I sent him to S.R. Martin College Preparatory here in the community with the help of Ms. Mary Martin.

By this point, I was no longer in and out of substance abuse programs for repeated cocaine use or wrecking my life from parole violations. Finally, I had turned my life around. There were strong women and men along the way to sobriety who guided and supported me, some still to this day.

After working some gigs, I wanted a career. My mom’s career path working as a riveter and then as a key punch operator at the Hunters Point Shipyard influenced my decision to pursue non-traditional work with a good salary and benefits. I ventured to the construction industry through City Build.

The construction industry is a male dominated field and they needed me. I was a woman, African American, resident of San Francisco, educated and willing to do the hard labor to be successful. I checked all the boxes since diversity on the job site was important.

I paved the way and opened doors for the next generation of female, African American, journeyman ironworkers. I had a cowgirl mentality; tough as nails, physically strong, unafraid of great heights, agility, courage and a good sense of balance.

Deborah Turner – ironworker, healer and mother. Deborah’s been up 100 feet above the ground tying rebar, fixing walls, sending bundles of steel up 30 floors and carrying 20-40 pounds on her shoulder around job sites.

My work involved looking at blueprints, installing metal pieces into columns, girders or other structural frameworks for buildings, bridges and towers as well as welding and cutting iron.

On my first day on the job as an apprentice, the supervisor asked me to climb a 20-foot column. I had the courage but lacked the training; I did it anyway. Afterwards, I complained, and was temporarily reassigned to the job of picking up trash and wire around the jobsite.

I was intrigued watching the crane operator lift and position structural and reinforcing iron and steel and how to communicate with him through hand signals. I have been up 100 feet above the ground tying rebar – the steel bars used to reinforce concrete – fixing walls, sending bundles of steel up 30 floors and carrying 20-40 pounds of rebar on my shoulder around the job site.

In San Francisco, I worked on renovation projects like the Golden Gate Bridge and new construction projects, like the18-story federal building south of Market Street, the Infinity high rise towers on Spear Street and the high-rise apartment buildings by the ballpark.

The struggle is real and you have to surrender.

I learned that green and white plastic union card was my ticket. I did this hard labor for 10 years and earned a pension.

Once I left the construction industry, I went back to the nonprofit sector, becoming certified as a drug and alcohol counselor, a domestic violence trainer, later working as a case manager building resources throughout the Bayview community. As a co-founder of Solutions for Women, we have aided countless women and their families struggling with addiction.

My athleticism, incarceration, education, addiction and sheer will to succeed were roadblocks and bridges in my journey. Recovery is possible and life can change! Anything is possible if you believe and have faith that you can beat addiction. The struggle is real and you have to surrender.

The shame of everything I have done not according to the plan I set for myself is no longer a barrier to my success. As the years passed, I began to feel a quiet confidence as worthy. I exercise continuous service and stay positive and optimistic.

I have been in recovery for over two decades, helping others and providing services for justice involved clients. In hindsight, seeing my mom, back bent and weary in fatigue, never complaining and never giving up on me, has shown me how to foster empathy, honesty, self-reliance, self-control and kindness.

It’s especially hard for women to speak out about our addiction, although I have found a purpose to help people by speaking about my past struggles. My favorite scripture is Psalms 23: “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

Positive Directions Equals Change is a unique and powerful bond. The unconditional tough love and support I have received from this organization showed me I could stand up and be accountable. Positive Directions loves those who cannot love themselves and until they can love themselves. Their life saving approach and cultural connection works!

The recovery Zoom classes are open to everybody, in love and healing.

If you or someone you know needs help for addiction or co-occurring disorder issues, please give us a call. Positive Directions Equals Change, a community-based organization in the Bayview, offers classes and support groups each day of the week. If we aren’t the best fit for you or your loved one, we will take the necessary time to work with you to find a treatment center or provider that better fits your needs.

Please give us a call at 415-401-0199 or email our team at recoverycorner@pd4life.org. The schedule is pictured and all are welcome.

THE PROSPECT
All of Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates with a statue of Mark Twain in 2015.
Courtesy of Joyce Carol Oates

 
Joshua Yang
May 1, 2022 | 

Content warning: The following article contains references to sexual assault, rape, and police brutality.

As a high school senior traipsing through AP English Literature class, I was regularly assigned passages of notable literary prose — one, two paragraphs at most — to scrutinize and analyze. It was in this way, somewhat unexpectedly, that I first stumbled upon the work of the great American novelist — and famed Princeton faculty member — Joyce Carol Oates.

The prose in question was an excerpt from Oates’ 2004 short story “Spider Boy,” originally published in The New Yorker and republished in the collection “High Lonesome”; the paragraph in question painted a portrait of the protagonist’s father, a (former) New Jersey state senator.

Perhaps it’s because I was assigned to painstakingly close read that paragraph at least 10 times, but something about Oates’ writing lodged itself in my mind: the text was snappy, supple, and eagerly rhythmic; the repetition of sentence structures was joyfully symmetrical, yet the paragraph contained a hint of something darker, something more pernicious in the esteemed senator. Oates’ opening sentence was “Here was a man to be trusted” — and the unsettling details in the following sentences screamed reasons why the man was not, in actuality, to be trusted.

I’m sad to say that “Spider Boy” was the only fraction of Oates’ writing I had read until I arrived at Princeton. One may be forgiven for only being familiar with a paragraph of Sylvia Plath (who only wrote a single novel) or Harper Lee (who I’d like to pretend only wrote a single novel). However, this isn’t the case for Oates, an amazingly prolific writer with well over 50 novels — not to mention countless short stories, poems, and book reviews — to her name. Indeed, I long viewed only being familiar with a single paragraph of Oates’ as an egregious oversight on my part.

Yet perhaps that one paragraph contained enough of Oates that my unfamiliarity didn’t matter as much as I thought it would. Oates is a master at finding horror in the ordinary: her most famous short story, the 1966 “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” describes a girl kidnapped (and then presumably sexually assaulted) on a perfectly normal, sunny Sunday afternoon. Despite the fact that “Spider Boy” and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” were written decades apart, the sense of dread and dark foreboding carries over seamlessly between the two stories: namely, in “Spider Boy,” our erstwhile senator rapes and murders homeless young men between legislative sessions at the state capitol. The excerpt of “Spider Boy” I had read, then, seemed quintessentially Oates.

The darker tones that Oates weaves in her stories are also often grounded in societal issues. Oates’ 2020 novel, “Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars.” for example, details a family reeling in the aftermath of the murder of one of its members at the hands of police brutality.

In a series of emails I exchanged back and forth with Oates in February of this year, I was curious about how the author views and addresses the world around us. Is Oates trying to make explicitly political statements through her body of work?

Oates doesn’t think so — but her approach to social and cultural issues has changed significantly through her career. One of Oates’ earliest novels, “them,” also details racial injustice, but against the backdrop of the 1967 Detroit Riots instead of a police stop. “them” is written in an almost apathetic third-person narrator’s voice, whereas “Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars.” focuses on one character at a time, describing much of a character’s inner monologue. The choice is no coincidence — and reflects Oates’ evolving approach to writing about current issues.

“I no longer ‘narrate’ a work of fiction in my own voice but rather through mediated voices — the distinctive voices of the characters who inhabit the fiction,” Oates told me. “Whether the fictional perspective is first-person or third-person, the ‘voice’ is mediated through the particularity of character; it is not an objective or omniscient voice.”

Indeed, thanks to a narrative voice centered around specific characters, Oates has subtly shifted how she discusses social issues: her work no longer appears to comment on humanity as a whole, but rather on individual humans.

“My focus is on persons, ‘characters,’ and not on political or cultural issues,” she said. “I am not a journalist or propagandist; I am keenly interested in human personality.”

Yet examining human personality without considering the wider world — and its systemic failings — can often fail to capture the full context behind an issue. In looking toward a new generation of writers, Oates recognized and acknowledged the need to address political and cultural issues head-on: “If there is anything advantageous about this time in our history, it’s that undergraduates are forced to acknowledge their place in the world — in the ‘real’ world of climate change, unpredictable pandemics, bitter political division & the endangerment of democracy — [and] think [and] write with passion about such issues, which previous generations were inclined to ignore,” she said. “I am always impressed with student writers [who] can absorb into their works of fiction such impersonal or transpersonal issues as these.”

Oates should know about the next generation of writers; she has taught in the Program in Creative Writing at Princeton since 1978, mentoring and guiding students for well over four decades. Although Oates formally retired in 2014, she continues to run much-coveted, 10 person seminars. She will teach yet another fiction writing class next fall.

What changes, then, has Oates seen throughout her years teaching creative writing? The answer surprised me: not much, apparently.

“It may be surprising to say this but writers are so individual, [and] talent [is] so highly specialized, there is really not much difference between my students of the 1980s [and] students in 2022,” she said. “The ‘born writer’ is a certain sort of personality, [and] resists generalities or reductive classification. The very best students in any generation have more in common with one another than they do with their larger cohort.”

The only change, Oates said, is a willingness to face “distressing facts of contemporary life” — such as climate change, pandemics, and political upheaval.

At the same time, though, just as her students and the University have learned much from Oates, Oates has learned much from the Princeton community.

For one, living in Princeton has undeniably influenced her writing. Not only is Oates’ 2013 novel “The Accursed” explicitly set in the town, but her 1989 novel “American Appetites” and 2001 novel “Middle Age: A Romance” also both have settings strongly resembling Princeton, as Oates herself pointed out. “A Princeton Idyll,” a short story, is also set in Princeton and centers around the Institute for Advanced Study.

Beyond her writing, Oates remains an active participant in Princeton’s literary community. She lamented that “much has been lost” during the course of the pandemic and reminisced over public readings from the likes of Stephen King to Margaret Atwood. Oates is cautiously optimistic for the return of the community’s pre-pandemic vitality — but conceded that “any expectation of large, public events in McCosh 50 may be quixotic right now.”

And, perhaps most importantly, Oates’ students have managed to leave their own mark on the author. “I have been impressed by the idealism of Princeton students, as well as their wonderfully diverse imaginations [and] determination,” she said.

I would be remiss, finally, not to mention this fortuitous coincidence: one of my favorite short story collections is Ted Chiang’s imaginative and dazzling sci-fi anthology, “Exhalation.” I was delighted to find out that, at one point, Oates had reviewed Chiang’s collection in The New Yorker. Oates is not traditionally known as a science fiction writer, but as I read her review of “Exhalation,” I found myself falling in love with Chiang’s writing — and sci-fi as a whole — all over again. Through Oates, I found new joy in the same, old writing. I discovered new observations I had neglected to realize before; I considered each short story with a more critical eye in light of Oates’ assessments.

In that moment, I found myself wondering if I was admiring Oates’ ability to explain, analyze, and criticize a body of work — to teach it, essentially — or if I was admiring Oates’ sharp, marvelously enjoyable writing within the review itself.

Then I realized perhaps it didn’t matter: Oates the teacher and Oates the writer are one and the same. It is, after all, our utmost privilege to have all of Joyce Carol Oates.

Joshua Yang is a Contributing Writer for The Prospect at the ‘Prince.’ He can be reached at joshuayang@princeton.edu or on Twitter at @joshuaqyang.

Western multinationals congratulate Hong Kong's new leader

AUTHORITARIAN CAPITALI$M WEST & EAST

Jerome Taylor and Su Xinqi
Sun, 8 May 2022, 

JOHN LEE CEO OF HK, APPOINTED NOT ELECTED

LEE AND LAM

Western multinationals and local tycoons published newspaper adverts congratulating John Lee on becoming Hong Kong's next leader (AFP/Peter PARKS)More

Western multinationals and local tycoons published newspaper adverts on Monday congratulating John Lee on becoming Hong Kong's next leader, following a rubber-stamp selection process condemned by critics as anti-democratic.

Lee, 64, a former security chief who oversaw the crackdown on Hong Kong's democracy movement, was anointed the business hub's new leader on Sunday in a near unanimous vote by a small committee of Beijing loyalists.

He was the sole candidate in the race to succeed outgoing leader Carrie Lam at a time when Hong Kong is being remoulded in China's authoritarian image.

Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po, two newspapers that answer to the office which sets Beijing's Hong Kong policy, were filled with adverts on Monday from leading companies and business figures praising Lee's selection.

The majority were from Chinese and Hong Kong businesses as well as community organisations.

The "Big Four" accountancy firms -- KPMG, Deloitte, EY and PwC -- were among western multinationals placing adverts, as were city carrier Cathay Pacific and conglomerates Swire and Jardine Matheson.

Messages were also carried by Hong Kong's family tycoon-dominated property giants, including Sun Hung Kai and Henderson Land Development.

Western businesses have found themselves in an increasingly precarious position in Hong Kong, especially as geopolitical tensions have risen with China.

Many have embraced progressive political causes in western markets, such as the anti-racism Black Lives Matter movement, same sex equality and ridding supply chains of labour abuses.

But they usually steer clear of any criticism of China's policies towards hotspots like Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet and Taiwan.

Some companies such as HSBC, Standard Chartered, Swire and Jardine Matheson publicly backed Beijing's national security law, which was imposed on Hong Kong after 2019's democracy protests to curb dissent.

- Can Hong Kong reopen? -

The elevation of Lee, who is under US sanctions, places a security official in Hong Kong's top job for the first time after a tumultuous few years for a city battered by political unrest and economically debilitating pandemic controls.

Despite the city's mini-constitution promising universal suffrage, Hong Kong has never been a democracy, the source of years of protests since the 1997 handover to China.

After the 2019 rallies, Beijing responded with a crackdown and a new "patriots only" political vetting system that eradicated the city's once outspoken political opposition.

Lee faced no rivals and won 99 percent of the votes cast by the 1,461-strong committee that picks the city's leader -- roughly 0.02 percent of the city's population.

Beijing hailed the process as "a real demonstration of democratic spirit".

European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell countered that the selection process was a "violation of democratic principles and political pluralism".

Lee, a former police officer, has vowed strengthen Hong Kong's national security and integrate the city further with the mainland.

He wants to reboot the city's economy and slowly reopen its pandemic sealed borders at a time when rivals have moved to living with the coronavirus.

But it is unclear how he can do that given China has doubled down on its strict zero-Covid strategy.

On Monday morning, Lam met her successor Lee and both gave short speeches stressing that they would prepare for an orderly transition between their administrations.

Lee, who takes over on July 1, was Lam's security chief and then her deputy.

Lee said his first port of call would China's top agencies in Hong Kong -- the Liaison Office, the national security committee, the foreign ministry's office and the People's Liberation Army garrison.

jta-su/lb

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS

Former colony resists direct British rule

by Staff reporter
01 May 2022 

The British Virgin Islands' acting premier says "draconian measures" would undermine the "historical constitutional progress"

The acting premier of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has expressed deep concerns over London's plans to assume direct governance of the Caribbean territory, following the arrest of its leader in a US drug sting operation and a highly-critical report into alleged systemic corruption.

On Friday, shortly before the premier of the BVI, Andrew Fahie, appeared before a US judge on charges of cocaine smuggling and money laundering, a commission of inquiry led by Judge Sir Gary Hickinbottom hurriedly published its final report, urging the UK to dissolve the islands' elected government, suspend their constitution, and impose direct rule for at least two years.

"What this would mean in real terms is that there would no longer be elected representatives who represent the people of the districts and the territory in the house of assembly where laws are made for our society," Natalio Wheatley, who assumed the post of acting premier after Fahie's arrest, said.

UK seeks direct control of ex-colony

London dispatched a Foreign Office minister, Amanda Milling, to meet the territory's governor, James Rankin, and other senior figures and discuss the terms of direct rule, ahead of a formal decision expected next week.

The acting premier acknowledged "very serious matters highlighted in the report, which spanned successive Administrations," and did not question the British Crown representative's authority and responsibility to maintain order – but said the proposed reforms "can be achieved without the partial or full suspension of the constitution," under already existing emergency powers.

"I urge you the public to read the report with an objective eye in terms of strengthening our systems of Government under a democratic framework of governance, as opposed to draconian measures that would set back the historical constitutional progress we have made as a people.

Hickinbottom's commission was established in 2021, amid claims of corruption and wasteful government spending, as well as rumors that the island's leadership was engaging in drug trafficking. According to The Guardian, the British government was aware of the US undercover investigation, and decided to "rush out" the 1,000-page Hickinbottom report after Fahie was arrested.

Named by Christopher Columbus, the Virgin Islands are divided between the UK, the US, and the US territory of Puerto Rico. Around 35,000 BVI residents have been British citizens since 2002. While they enjoy limited self-governance under a 2007 constitution, the state is officially designated as one of the British Overseas Territories, known as crown colonies prior to 1983.

French court to probe deadly Yemenia Airways crash


The Yemeni national airline, whose representatives will not be in the dock due to the country's still-raging civil war, faces a maximum fine of 225,000 euros 

(AFP/Ibrahim YOUSSOUF) 

Anne LEC'HVIEN
Sun, May 8, 2022

A French court will open hearings Monday in the case of the 2009 crash of a Yemenia Airways flight that killed 152 people but miraculously left a 12-year-old girl alive.

The Yemeni national airline, whose representatives will not be in the dock due to the country's still-raging civil war, faces a maximum fine of 225,000 euros ($240,000) for involuntary homicide and injuries in a trial expected to last four weeks.

On June 29, 2009, flight Yemenia 626 was on approach to Moroni, the capital of the Comoros islands between Mozambique and Madagascar. Part of the archipelago is controlled by France as the overseas department of Mayotte.

Among the 142 passengers and 11 crew were 66 French citizens who had transferred at the airport in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Rather than landing safely, just before 11:00 pm the Airbus A310 plunged into the Indian Ocean with its engines running at full throttle, killing everyone on board except Bahia Bakari, then just 12 years old.

In interviews and a book of her own, Bakari remembers "turbulence" during the approach, before feeling what seemed to be an electric shock and then blacking out -- only to find herself in the sea.

She survived by clinging to debris for 11 hours until she was found by a fishing boat the following day.

Although the black boxes were found weeks after the crash, France accused the Comoros government of dragging its feet in the investigation, while victims' families accused Yemen of lobbying to hinder a trial of the national carrier.

"Thirteen years is a very long time, it's psychologically and morally exhausting, even physically," said Said Assoumani, president of a victims' association.

"But after 13 years of waiting and impatience, the criminal trial has finally come."

Investigators and experts found there was nothing wrong with the aircraft, blaming instead "inappropriate actions by the crew during the approach to Moroni airport, leading to them losing control".

But Yemenia Airways has been attacked by prosecutors for pilot training "riddled with gaps" and continuing to fly to Moroni at night despite its non-functioning landing lights.

"Yemenia remains deeply marked by this catastrophe... nevertheless it maintains its innocence," the company's lawyer Leon-Lef Forster said.

Around 560 people have joined the suit as plaintiffs, many of them from the region around Marseille in southern France, home to many of the victims.

Survivor Bakari is expected to testify on May 23.

jp-alv/tgb/gw

Jetliner aborts landing in Mexico to avoid another plane


Two planes from budget Mexican carrier Volaris nearly collided on a Mexico City runway Saturday night 

AFP/PEDRO PARDO

Sun, May 8, 2022

A jetliner attempting to land in Mexico City aborted its approach at the last second to avoid hitting a plane taxiing on the runway, an airline official said Sunday.

Video circulating on social media showed the near-miss involving two Airbus jets belonging to low-cost Mexican carrier Volaris Saturday night at Benito Juarez Airport, the busiest in Latin America.

The airline did not disclose the flight numbers, exact model of aircraft or how many passengers were aboard.

"Thanks to the training of our pilots ... no passenger or crew member was at risk during the incident reported the night of May 7," Volaris CEO Enrique Beltranea wrote on Twitter.

Mexican news organizations said Victor Hernandez Sandoval, a senior communications ministry official who redesigned air traffic patterns over the sprawling city so it could operate two airports, had tendered his resignation.

The video shows one plane about to land when it suddenly pulls up to avoid hitting the jetliner taxiing on the ground.

Because of saturation at the current facility, the previous government began construction of a second airport in Texcoco, a suburb of the city.

But President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador scrapped that plan after taking office in favor of turning an existing military base into an airport. It is now operating on a limited basis, with a few flights on mainly domestic routes.

Aviation experts have questioned the idea of operating two airports in a city surrounded by mountains and located 2,200 meters above sea level.

The International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations last week said crews would face problems if the city's air space pattern were changed to handle two full-sized airports.

Among other things, planes would spend a long time in holding patterns and land with little fuel, the federation said.

In May of 2021, the United States downgraded its air safety rating for Mexico City, citing what it called inadequate oversight.

sem/atm/dw/cwl

Video: Plane aborts landing in Mexico to avoid colliding with another plane ready for take-off on runway

Videos showed incident between two Volaris planes on Saturday

Published: May 09, 2022 

AFP

Image Credit: Twitter

Mexico City: A jetliner attempting to land in Mexico City aborted its approach at the last second to avoid hitting a plane taxiing on the runway, an airline official said on Sunday.

Video circulating on social media showed the near-miss involving two Airbus jets belonging to low-cost Mexican carrier Volaris on Saturday night at Benito Juarez Airport, the busiest in Latin America.

The airline did not disclose the flight numbers, exact model of aircraft or how many passengers were aboard.

"Thanks to the training of our pilots ... no passenger or crew member was at risk during the incident reported the night of May 7," Volaris CEO Enrique Beltranea wrote on Twitter.

Mexican news organizations said Victor Hernandez Sandoval, a senior communications ministry official who redesigned air traffic patterns over the sprawling city so it could operate two airports, had tendered his resignation.

The video shows one plane about to land when it suddenly pulls up to avoid hitting the jetliner taxiing on the ground.

Because of saturation at the current facility, the previous government began construction of a second airport in Texcoco, a suburb of the city.

But President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador scrapped that plan after taking office in favor of turning an existing military base into an airport. It is now operating on a limited basis, with a few flights on mainly domestic routes.

Aviation experts have questioned the idea of operating two airports in a city surrounded by mountains and located 2,200 metres above sea level.

The International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations last week said crews would face problems if the city's air space pattern were changed to handle two full-sized airports.

Among other things, planes would spend a long time in holding patterns and land with little fuel, the federation said.

In May of 2021, the United States downgraded its air safety rating for Mexico City, citing what it called inadequate oversight.

Mexico's transport authority promises safety after allegations of risky incidents


The control tower is pictured from an area of the new Felipe Angeles international airport, in Zumpango


Fri, May 6, 2022 

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's transport ministry pledged on Friday to insure safety for planes crossing the country's skies, responding to a recent report of risky incidents issued by a pilots association as the capital's new airport gears up.

A safety bulletin issued by the IFALPA international pilots association on Wednesday reported "several incidents" involving aircraft arriving in Mexico with low fuel, ground proximity warning system alerts in which one crew almost collided unintentionally with terrain, as well as what it described as flights arriving with excessive delays.

The association pointed to the March opening of the capital's Felipe Angeles commercial airport, build on land once belonging to an adjacent air force base, as a possible factor.

"It would appear that with the opening of this newly converted airport, air traffic control has apparently received little training and support," the bulletin said.

In its statement, the transport ministry defended its oversight performance and pointed to what it described as proper handling of its only reported safety incident from last June. It added that it would immediately convene officials to further evaluate the bulletin's assessment.

Mexico was downgraded to a Category 2 rating in 2021 by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), due to lacking the "necessary requirements to oversee the country's air carriers in accordance with minimum international safety standards."

 [L2N2NC22K]

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Michael Perry)

Yazidis* displaced anew by north Iraq violence
 

Thousands of Yazidis were again forced to flee their homes this month, after fierce clashes between the army and local fighters in their Sinjar heartland 
 

The Yazidis are a monotheistic, esoteric community who were massacred by the Islamic State group when the extremists swept across Iraq in 2014 
 

Some 960 Yazidi families have settled in a displacement camp in the neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan region, while others have sought shelter with relatives, according to the UN

 

Some 960 Yazidi families have settled in a displacement camp in the neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan region, while others have sought shelter with relatives, according to the UN 

The Yazidi heartland of Sinjar has also been a target of Turkish strikes on rear bases of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Ankara considers a terrorist organisation

 (AFP/SAFIN HAMED)

Shvan Harki
Sun, May 8, 2022, 9:24 PM·3 min read

Iraqi policeman Jundi Khodr Kalo was among thousands of Yazidis again forced to flee their homes this month, after fierce clashes between the army and local fighters in their Sinjar heartland.

"Last time we were displaced because we were afraid of the Islamic State" jihadist group, said Kalo, 37, from the non-Arab, Kurdish-speaking minority.

The Yazidis are a monotheistic, esoteric community who were massacred by IS when the extremists swept across Iraq in 2014.

Two days of fighting broke out on May 1 in northern Iraq's Sinjar region between the army and Yazidi fighters affiliated with Turkey's banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

A local official said the violence forced more than 1,700 families, or over 10,200 people, to flee.

Some 960 families have settled in a displacement camp in the neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan region, while others have sought shelter with relatives, according to the United Nations.

Kalo, his wife and their five children took refuge in the crowded Chamisku camp, home to more than 22,000 people, near the city of Zakho.

- 'Not an ideal solution' -

Like many Yazidis, the Kalo family suffered long years of displacement after IS overran swathes of their country.

"We lived in a camp for six years," he said, only returned to their home village two years ago.

Going back "was not easy... but we managed to get by".

"But lately, the situation got worse," he told AFP.

Sinjar is the site of sporadic skirmishes between Iraqi security forces and the Sinjar Resistance Units -- local fighters allied with the PKK separatists.

"Every day we would hear the sound of shooting and explosions. We were afraid for our families," Kalo said.

But life in Chamisku, like in other camps, is tough, too.

Residents take shelter in tarpaulin tents, where foam mattresses line the ground.

AFP journalists saw dozens of people queueing for handouts of rice, tea, sugar, flour and milk.

"The situation in these camps is crowded," said Firas al-Khateeb, a spokesman for the United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR).

He cited "a risk of limited access to basic services due to a reduction of humanitarian funding".

Living in displacement camps "for long periods of time is not an ideal situation", he added.

"But any return (home) must be voluntary, maintain human dignity", and be to a "peaceful environment", Khateeb said.

- 'Need security, stability' -

Iraqi authorities say calm has returned to Sinjar following the fighting, which killed an Iraqi soldier.

Each side has blamed the other for starting the clashes in the region, the scene of simmering tensions and multiple actors.

The army is seeking to apply an agreement between Baghdad and Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region for the withdrawal of Yazidi and PKK combatants.

The deal is seen as crucial for the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which has been looking to restore its former influence in Sinjar.

It is also key to facilitating the return of Yazidis displaced years ago by IS.

But the Yazidi fighters, who are affiliated with the Hashed al-Shaabi -- a pro-Iran former paramilitary organisation -- accuse the army of trying to take control of their stronghold.

Iraqi security forces said military reinforcements were dispatched to Sinjar to "impose state authority".

"We will not allow the presence of armed groups," the forces said in a statement Thursday.

The Sinjar region has also been a target of Turkish air strikes on rear bases of the PKK, which Ankara considers a terrorist organisation. WHICH THEY ARE NOT

In such a complex and dangerous atmosphere, Yazidi civilians say they feel like collateral damage.

"We need security and stability, otherwise we will not go back to Sinjar," said labourer Zaeem Hassan Hamad.

The 65-year-old took refuge in Chamisku with more than a dozen family members, including his grandchildren.

IS forced him to flee once before, and he said he did not want to keep repeating that traumatic experience.

"We cannot go home and be displaced again," he said.

"If the Hashed, the PKK and the army remain in the region, the people will be afraid," he added.

"No one will ever go back."

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* SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for YAZIDI 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for YEZEDI 

 LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for YEZIDI 

Protest by other means: Lebanon activists run in election
 

Lawyer Verena El Amil is one of a growing number of independent candidates

 running in a parliamentary vote in crisis-hit Lebanon 

(AFP/Joseph EID)

 

Lebanese expats voted abroad in countries around the world, including the United Arab Emirates, 

ahead of the start of polling in the country

 (AFP/Karim SAHIB)

Activist, writer and director Lucien Bourjeily emerged as one of the key figures 

of the 2019 protest movement and is running for a seat in the legislature for the second time

(AFP/Joseph EID)

Hashem Osseiran
Sun, May 8, 2022

As a law student in late 2019, Verena El Amil joined mass street protests against Lebanon's political elite. Now she wants to fight them at the ballot box.

At age 25, she is one of a growing number of independent candidates running in a May 15 parliamentary vote in the crisis-torn country.

"We are going to fight," the young lawyer, dressed in a black leather jacket and combat boots, said at a coffee shop outside Beirut.

"The slogans we screamed during the protests are the ones we want to carry into campaigns and into parliament."

The vote will be the first major electoral test since a youth-led protest movement from October 2019 vented its rage at Lebanon's graft-tainted political class.

The revolutionary fervour has been sapped since by cascading crises, from a financial collapse and the pandemic to the 2020 Beirut port blast that killed more than 200 people.

While most of her fellow graduates have fled abroad, Amil honed her political skills in student activism and spent all her savings on the campaign.

"Running for parliamentary elections for me is a continuation," said Amil, one of the youngest candidates to stand.

"After the 2019 protests, we all grappled with defeat and the reality of a massive emigration wave.

"But in spite of this, we still need to try, and I am running for the elections to show that we are still trying."

- 'Election as protest' -

The number of independent candidates running against established parties has more than doubled since the last vote in 2018.

Beirut-based think tank the Policy Initiative said opposition and independent candidates make up 284 of the 718 hopefuls -- up from 124 four years ago.

They are running in 48 different electoral lists across Lebanon, including in peripheral regions where traditional leaders have seldom faced a challenge.

Also in the race this time is Lucien Bourjeily, an activist, writer and director who emerged as one of the key figures of the 2019 protest movement.

Running for a seat for the second time, Bourjeily said he sensed more engagement from the public this time around.

But the opposition is mainly gunning for accountability, not a major win, he said, urging voters to document any signs of electoral fraud.

"The way we documented people getting beaten and losing their eyes and getting killed on the street, we should document how votes will be stolen," he said.

"People should treat election day as a protest."

- 'Haphazard, disorganised' -

Even in a clean election, opposition candidates would face an uphill challenge, lacking the funds and campaign machines of the traditional parties.

Lebanon's electoral law is designed to benefit established players, and the opposition is far from united.

"You have competing opposition lists in most districts, and this is unacceptable," said Carmen Geha, a professor of public administration at the American University of Beirut.

"We needed hope, and hope would have come from a national campaign."

Voter turnout may be low, in part because high fuel prices deter travel to ancestral towns and villages where constituents are required to cast their vote.

An Oxfam report last month said only 54 percent of over 4,600 people surveyed said they intended to vote, a trend it blamed largely on widespread "disappointment and hopelessness".

Most of those planning to abstain cited a lack of promising candidates, while nearly half of those who plan to vote said they would choose an independent candidate, the British-based charity said.

Veteran activist Maher Abou Chakra, who ran briefly for the election before pulling out, criticised the opposition for lacking a coherent strategy to rock the establishment.

"Lebanon's political regime is hundreds of years old... and it is deeply entrenched," he said.

"You can't challenge it in a haphazard and disorganised way."

ho/fz

Court to rule on former French PM Fillon's fake job row


Former French prime minister Francois Fillon was convicted by a lower court in 2020 and sentenced to five years in jail, three of them suspended 

AFP/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN


Anne LEC'HVIEN
Sun, May 8, 2022

Former French prime minister Francois Fillon will learn Monday whether an appeals court has upheld his conviction for setting his wife up with lucrative fake jobs.

Revelations about the probe torpedoed conservative Fillon's 2017 presidential campaign, leaving the way clear for centrist Emmanuel Macron -- re-elected to a second term last month.

The 68-year-old was convicted by a lower court in 2020 and sentenced to five years in jail, three of them suspended.

At the November appeals hearing, prosecutors said there was clear evidence that Fillon and his stand-in as MP for the Sarthe department, Marc Joulaud, employed Fillon's wife Penelope in an "intangible" or "tenuous" role as a parliamentary assistant between 1998 and 2013.


On top of jail time and fines, the Fillons and Joulaud were ordered in 2020 to repay more than one million euros ($1,055,000) to France's National Assembly lower house.

The court also barred Fillon from holding public office for 10 years, while Penelope -- a serving local councillor -- received a two-year ban.

Penelope also had a job as "literary consultant" at the Revue des Deux Mondes magazine owned by Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere, described by the prosecution as an "indulgence" for his friend Fillon.

Ladreit de Lacharriere himself pleaded guilty in a 2018 trial in which he acknowledged the job was partially fake.

Prosecutors have called for Fillon to face still harsher punishment in the appeals hearing, including five years' jail and a fine of 375,000 euros for the charges of abuse of public funds, collusion and concealing abuse of company assets.

They also want a two-year suspended sentence for Penelope Fillon and a fine of 100,000 euros.

Before the appeals court, the Fillons stuck to their defence that Penelope's "on-the-ground" work in Sarthe was "immaterial" but very "real".

Their lawyers attacked the "media frenzy" around "Penelopegate", as the scandal was dubbed when it emerged.

Neither is expected to attend the court on Monday.

Since withdrawing from politics, Fillon had held jobs on the boards of Russian petrochemicals giant Sibur and hydrocarbons firm Zarubezhneft.

His has quit both posts since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

abb-alv/tgb