Precarious calm prevails one year after Gaza war

A devastating war erupted in Gaza between Israel and Hamas in May 2021. A year later, a tense quiet prevails. But people in Gaza and Israel's south are wary of the possibility of new hostilities.

The streets of Gaza City, one year since the May 2021 conflict between Hamas and Israel erupted

Melon and sunflower crops stretch toward the security fence that encloses the Gaza Strip. At a distance, the outskirts of Gaza City are visible. A year ago, during the war, the Nahal Oz kibbutz and its fields in the south of Israel were a closed military zone.

"We are here just 500 meters [about 550 yards] from the border with Gaza," says Daniel Rahamim, a kibbutz resident. "Last year, we were just staying in our [fortified] safe rooms most of the time."

A year later, calm mostly prevails — but the situation remains volatile. "It's quiet now, and in one minute there can be a war because something has happened in Jerusalem. But we live with it," he says.

In the early evening of May 10, 2021, Hamas and other Palestinian factions launched a barrage of rockets toward Jerusalem, Israel returned fire, and all-out war ensued for the following 11 days.

Palestinian Alaa Abu al-Ouf, 47, looks at pictures of his wife and two daughters who died following an Israeli airstrike last year on Wehda street in Gaza City

In Gaza, 261 Palestinians including civilians, children and militants died, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. While Israel's Iron Dome intercepted the majority of rockets from Gaza, 16 in Israel were killed including children, foreign workers and a soldier.

The conflict was preceded by weeks of confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli police at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City, the third-holiest site for Muslims. Other confrontations took place in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where several Palestinian families awaited a decision on whether they would be evicted from their homes to make way for Jewish settlers.
Uneasy calm prevails in Israel's south

For Nadav Peretz, a social worker at the Sha'ar Ha Negev Resilience Center near the town of Sderot, this past conflict was distinct from others. "It was very, very intense. We had hundreds of rockets in 11 days — I don't remember the exact number — that meant between 20 to 50 alerts every day," he says.

Over 4,000 rockets were fired by Hamas, Islamic Dshihad and other militant groups in Gaza towards Israel, according to the Israeli Defense Forces. Many headed towards the southern envelope and big cities like Tel Aviv. The Israeli military said it struck over 1,500 targets in the Gaza Strip, among them also an underground tunnel system.

Even now, at any moment, a so-called red alert could go off — a siren that warns residents of incoming rockets or mortar shells fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza toward Israel. People have only up to 15 seconds to seek shelter.

This photo shows rockets launched from Gaza City, towards Israel, early on May 16, 2021

At the Sderot resilience center in Israel's Southern District, trauma specialists work year-round to help residents and local communities deal with the stress of an ongoing threat. "We tell people, it is normal to have a reaction to an abnormal situation," says Peretz, who grew up and lives in the southern region.

So long as Hamas rules in Gaza, which belongs to the Palestinian Territories, and without a political solution, some residents here in the south say that uneasy periods of quiet alternating with periods of escalation are likely to continue. Just two weeks ago, a few rockets were launched once again at southern communities — and the Israeli air force retaliated in Gaza.

Most recently, Israel has been shaken by a series of deadly attacks allegedly perpetrated by Israeli Arab citizens or Palestinians in Israeli cities, which have left more than a dozen dead. While no Palestinian militant group claimed responsibility for the attacks, they have reignited tensions with neighboring Gaza.
Gaza still on hold after last war

On the other side of the fence, in Gaza, the memories and trauma of the intense fighting last May are felt to this day. Rola Dahmann, a young student in Gaza City, remembers this most-recent war as if it were yesterday. The apartment building where she lived with her family was destroyed. They had moved when the war erupted.

"When we left, we didn't take anything. It just happened before Eid, and all of a sudden, everything was gone," she says via Skype from Gaza City, which was closed to press and others in response to the recent attacks. Her father still pays the mortgage for the now nonexistent house and must work two jobs to cover the payments.


Watch video 42:31From enemies to friends

During the war, Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire destroyed or damaged hundreds of housing units. In Gaza City, several high-rise buildings that shaped the city's skyline were flattened and some main streets were damaged.

A year later, reconstruction efforts of the blockaded enclave are advancing slowly. Tens of thousands of tons of rubble have been cleared and recycled to repair roads, according to figures from the UN Development Agency (UNDP).

While there has been no apparent progress in mediation toward a long-term ceasefire, the "quiet for quiet" formula has been relatively stable over the past year, says Mkhaimar Abusada, a professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza.

In 2021, the Israeli government began easing some restrictions on movement and allowed about 12,000 Gazans to work in Israel. Abusada calls this "unprecedented."

"Since Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005, Israel has closed the gates for Palestinian laborers to work in Israel."

Palestinians gatherered on May 21, 2021, in Khan Yunis, Gaza, to celebrate the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, which was brokered by Egypt
Constant worries over new hostilities

For more than 15 years, the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza has been tightly controlled by Israel, and partly by Egypt, due to security concerns. The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which rules the isolated territory, is considered a terrorist organization by the US and Europe. Frequent hostilities with Israel and political division among Palestinians have taken their toll on everyday life in the Gaza Strip.

The recent tensions worry Rola Dahmann and her sister Lina. The two belong to a generation of young Gazans who have experienced four full-blown wars and several brief rounds of military escalation. The fear of new hostilities with Israel is always in the back of their minds; there are no shelters in Gaza, and nowhere else to go in times of crisis.

"We don't feel safe," says Lina.

"We still feel what happened last year," adds Rola. "And I am afraid that it might just happen again."

Hazem Balousha contributed reporting from Gaza City.

Edited by: Sonya Diehn and Stephanie Burnett

A history of the Middle East peace process

For over half a century, disputes between Israelis and Palestinians over land, refugees and holy sites remain unresolved. DW gives you a short history of when the conflict flared and when attempts were made to end it.

 

Palestine, International Law, and Territorial Annexation

WAR/PEACE  •  May 3, 2022  •  Khaled Mouammar

Israel has been illegally occupying East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Syria’s Golan Heights since 1967. Israel later illegally annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 and the Golan Heights of Syria in 1981.

The occupation of these territories and the annexation of some of them have long been defined by the United Nations Security Council and International Court of Justice as flagrant violations of international law and the United Nations Charter.

The United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have indisputably documented that Israel has been committing war crimes and large-scale human rights violations in both annexed and occupied territories, and have further recognized that Palestinians are living under an oppressive Israeli apartheid system that is designated by the United Nations as a crime against humanity.

Colonial Settlements

Since 1967, Israel has illegally transferred more than 200,000 Israeli Jews into 12 colonial settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, 490,000 Israeli Jews into 256 colonial settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank, and 23,000 Israeli Jews into 32 colonial settlements in the occupied Golan Heights of Syria.

By transferring more than 700,000 Israeli Jews into these 300 illegal colonial settlements, Israel is violating Article 49 of the Geneva Convention and is committing a war crime according to the International Criminal Court which is investigating Israel’s war actions in the occupied territories. This population transfer also shows that Israel’s objective is keeping these territories permanently occupied, and either de jure or de facto annexed.

Canada’s Foreign Enlistment Act makes it illegal to induce or recruit for a foreign military and Canada Revenue Agency guidelines state that “supporting the armed forces of another country is not” a charitable activity. Yet, according to 2017 statistics from the Israeli army, 230 Canadians served in the Israeli military, with periods of service usually lasting around two years, and some registered Canadian charities support the Israeli army.

Since 1967, indigenous Palestinian Semites in annexed East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank have had to face army and police shootings, settler assaults, deaths, injuries, mass arrests, evictions, home demolitions, land seizures, movement restrictions and intrusive surveillance. During 2021, Israeli occupation forces killed over 350 Palestinians – including 90 children, 60 women and 20 elderly – while injuring more than 16,000.

Currently, the Israeli occupation regime continues to detain 4,450 Palestinians, including 32 female prisoners, 160 children, and 530 administrative detainees are held without charge or trial.

So far this month in annexed East Jerusalem, more than 200 Palestinians have been wounded by police shootings and drones and more than 500 have been arrested; and the sanctity of and access to Muslim and Christian holy sites, the Al Aksa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, have been violated during Ramadan and Easter.

Canadian Double Standard

Canada was quick in imposing sanctions on Russia when it occupied and annexed Crimea in 2014 by banning the import, purchase or acquisition of goods from the region or from any person in that region. Canada did the same thing with respect to the on-going Russian occupation of the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk in Eastern Ukraine this year.

Successive Liberal, Conservative and Progressive Conservative governments have affirmed that Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal.

While Canada was quick to impose sanctions on Russia when it annexed Crimea in 2014, it has not taken any action since Israel annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights of Syria in 1980 and 1981 respectively.

While Canada recognizes that Israeli settlements are illegal, it still does business with them. The Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) that was renegotiated in September 2018 permits goods and services from illegal Israeli colonial settlements to enter the Canadian market tariff free.

UN Security Council Resolution 465 of 1980 and UN Security Council Resolution 2334, both adopted unanimously, instructed UN member states not to assist Israeli settlements, yet Canada continues to trade with them, even if it recognizes that they are illegal.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also affirmed that states have an obligation to ban imports from illegal settlements.

Business With Colonialism

• By not banning goods from Israeli colonial settlements, and flagrantly allowing those goods to enter the Canadian market tariff free, Canada is undermining international law.
• By trading with illegal Israeli colonial settlements Canada is providing them with support. By doing so, Canada is helping perpetuate the illegal situation.
• By refusing to ban colonial settlement goods, Canada is contributing to their expansion by enabling Israel to consolidate its colonization of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights of Syria which is resulting in large-scale human rights violations of the indigenous Palestinian and Syrian Semites.

By continuing to trade with illegal Israeli colonial settlements, allowing Canadians to serve in the Israeli army and allowing tax deductible donations to be sent to the Israeli army, Canada is knowingly assisting apartheid Israel’s war crimes and the violation of Palestinians’ and Syrians’ human rights and fundamental freedoms, including their religious freedom.

Trade with illegal colonial settlements should not be taking place at all. The fact that it does take place means Canada is violating its international law obligations and reflects a double standard when compared to Canada’s prompt reaction to Russia’s occupation and annexation in Ukraine.

Canada must consistently abide by international law and help end apartheid Israel’s impunity in committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. •

Khaled Mouammar is a Christian Palestinian Canadian who was forced to flee his hometown Nazareth in 1948. He is one of the founders of the Canadian Arab Federation and a former member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

The Bullet (socialistproject.ca)

Azerbaijan refugees vow 'Great Return' to Karabakh




We're back: A huge Azerbaijani flag hangs from Shahbulag castle outside Aghdam as returning refugees visit their former homes

 (AFP/Tofik BABAYEV)

Emil GULIYEV
Wed, May 11, 2022,

Ali Hasanov looked over the overgrown ruins of his hometown in Nagorno-Karabakh and vowed to return and rebuild it.

"Whatever time it might take, we will return to Aghdam," said Hasanov. "We want to live here... we belong here."

Aghdam has been a ghost town since June 1993 when Armenian separatist forces took it from Azerbaijan, sending its entire population of 28,000 people fleeing for their lives.

The 65-year-old metalworker returned to the disputed region for the first time since on a Azerbaijan government bus tour of "liberated lands" its army retook from Armenia after six weeks of fighting in 2020.

The latest war -- in which more than 6,500 people were killed -- saw energy-rich Baku take back much of the territory it lost in the conflict in the early 1990s with its old Soviet neighbour in the aftermath of the collapse of the Communism.

Some 30,000 died in that bitter war and hundreds of thousands were forced from their homes.

Hasanov said he "couldn't sleep a wink" the night before he travelled to Aghdam, which was Karabakh's biggest town before it was razed by the Armenians.

He said his "soul was itching to get to Aghdam" ever since he and his family fled the city after it was shelled.

"To me, it was the most beautiful city in the world," he said, standing in the middle of a wasteland that stretched out to the faraway bluish mountains.

The Azerbaijan government began the regular bus trips to the "liberated lands" in January, the first time its former inhabitants have been able to set foot in the mountainous enclave in three decades.

- Dream come true -

It is the first step in what Baku calls the "Great Return", an ambitious government plan to repopulate remote Karabakh with its former Azerbaijani population.

Escorted by police armed with automatic rifles, buses to Aghdam and Karabakh's recaptured cultural capital, Shusha, depart Baku twice a week for day-long trips that only give visitors two and a half hours to see their former homes.

Hasanov said the visit was a dream come true.

"Our house stood behind that fence," he said as tears welled up in his eyes.

"There was an alley of huge plane trees over there, under which we'd play backgammon or dominoes, and over there -- a football stadium, the favourite place for our neighbourhood's lads."

Such was the destruction, that another refugee from Aghdam, Gulbeniz Jafarova, couldn't even find the ruins of her house.

"But (the) native spirit is hovering here. It feels like I spent 30 years in a prison cell and was just freed," the 55-year-old dressmaker added.

At Aghdam's cemetery she visited the grave of her brother who was killed aged 27, defending the town from Armenian separatist forces who controlled the region until the latest war.

"My mother's last words before she died were, 'My son.' I promised her that I would visit his grave."

- 'We belong here' -

Azerbaijan's government has vowed to spend billions of petrodollars on the region's reconstruction, with $1.3 billion allocated in last year's budget for infrastructure projects such as new roads, bridges and airports.

Baku has pledged to transform Aghdam into one of the country's biggest cities and plans to set up an industrial park.

Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said in January that "very shortly we will witness the first families returning to their homes" in Karabakh.

But the "Great Return" of refugees remains a distant prospect, given the scale of devastation of towns like Aghdam and the dangers from landmines, which were used extensively in the conflict, which regularly flared up over the decades.

"Whatever time it might take, we will return to Aghdam," Hasanov insisted. "We want to live here. My sons say we belong here."

eg-im/fg/spm

Russians fleeing Putin face lukewarm welcome in France

Anna SMOLCHENKO
Thu, 12 May 2022,



Kashnitsky staged an anti-war protest in central Moscow and spent a night in jail 

(AFP/-)

Artyom Kotenko's world collapsed when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Born to a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, he lived in Russia for most of his life.

"I was crushed. I could not live or breathe," the 50-year-old artist and graphic designer, who is a Russian national, told AFP in Paris.

A week after President Vladimir Putin sent troops to pro-Western Ukraine, Kotenko left behind his old life in Saint Petersburg and went to Helsinki. From there he made his way to Paris, which he says "healed his wounds".

"I stopped feeling like I was suffocating, like I was dying every day. I was able to breathe again," he said in the 13th district of Paris where pro-Ukrainian graffiti adorns the streets.

But much to Kotenko's disappointment, Paris appeared indifferent to his plight.

Kotenko, who worked at Saint Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum, the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater and the Higher School of Economics, realised he could not get a job in France.

He wanted to draw on his extensive teaching experience to work with the children of Ukrainian refugees but found out that those jobs were reserved for EU citizens.

"This is strange. This has to change because there are a lot of people like me and there is work for us," he said.

- Political exiles -

French President Emmanuel Macron has led diplomatic outreach to the Kremlin over the war in Ukraine, and Ukrainian refugees are welcomed with open arms in France.

But Russians fleeing Putin's regime realise they are left to their own fate in one of the wealthiest EU countries.

Since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands of Russians have fled the country in protest over Putin's policies and out of fear for their children's future.

Observers point out that most of Russia's new political exiles are liberal-leaning well-educated professionals in their prime.

Some even draw parallels with the departure of intellectual elites from Soviet Russia in 1922 in a phenomenon that has come to be known as the "Philosophers' Ships".

Some leading Western democracies have indicated their willingness to tap into the professional knowledge and experience fleeing Russians have to offer.

German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said in early May that Berlin might simplify visa procedures and help find jobs for Russians fleeing Putin's regime.

"We want them to be aware that we could really use them," he told reporters.

US officials are also considering ways to lure highly educated anti-Kremlin Russians.

The French interior ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

- 'Support them' -

Many political emigres say France should do the same.

"If people seek an opportunity to move here, you need to support them," said Daniel Kashnitsky, a 41-year-old Muscovite, pointing to France's notorious bureaucratic hurdles.

He, his wife and their four children -- two of them adopted -- applied for asylum in France in April and met with AFP in the 18th district of Paris. After a long day at the prefecture the children appeared exhausted.

"We have nowhere to live," said Kashnitsky's 38-year-old wife Natalya. "It's stressful."

The family arrived in Paris more than a month after the war in Ukraine broke out. A public health specialist who previously lived in Sweden, Lithuania and Israel, Kashnitsky said he did not want to leave his "beloved" Moscow.

The war changed everything. First, Kashnitsky staged an anti-war protest in central Moscow and spent a night in jail. He also gave interviews to Swedish media. Then he realised it was time to leave.

"It was important to me to take the kids out," Kashnitsky told AFP, adding that his eldest son was turning 18 in May and could be drafted.

When they arrived in Paris, they had nowhere to go, and airport officials took them to a centre for Ukrainian refugees.

Kashnitsky said they could not stay at the centre. They eventually found a budget hotel outside Paris for which they paid themselves.

Two weeks after arriving in France the family received temporary housing in the southern town of Ales. The future is uncertain but Kashnitsky is optimistic. "I am hoping to be able to start working as soon as possible."

- 'Catastrophic situation' -

After the start of the Ukraine war French university lecturer Antoine Nicolle helped create an association to help Russians fleeing the regime.

"We've created an association because we saw that nothing was being done for Russians," he told AFP.

He said they wanted to set up a fund to raise money for the emigres but due to Western sanctions they could not open a bank account "because of the word 'Russian'" in its name.

"This is messed up," he said.

After more than a month in Paris Kotenko left for Seville where he legalised his relationship with his Spanish boyfriend and hopes to put down roots.

Stressing that Ukrainians need to receive all the support they can get, Kotenko said anti-Kremlin Russians should not be forgotten, too.

"More and more people like me will appear here and they need to be given a chance to gain a foothold, work officially, to be issued humanitarian visas," he said.

"The situation is catastrophic and something needs to be done about it. Otherwise these Russians will simply settle here as illegal immigrants."

hmn-as/del/imm

 

Why Should Ukraine’s Debt be Cancelled?

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS  •  May 6, 2022  •  Éric Toussaint and Sushovan Dhar

Sushovan Dhar (SD): How much is the Ukrainian public debt and who are the main creditors?

Eric Toussaint (ET): Ukraine’s external debt, public and private, is about $130-billion, half of this debt is owed by the government, and the other half by the private sector. The government also has an internal debt of over $40-billion. Public external debt in the form of sovereign securities amounted to $20-billion in 2021, all of which (there were 14 issues of securities) are governed by English law and in the event of a dispute, the British courts can be called upon. In 2021, the debt to the IMF amounted to more than $13-billion. The debt to the World Bank (WB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and finally the European Investment Bank (EIB) amounted to more than $8-billion. The amounts to be repaid in 2022 for both the external and internal debt are enormous and unsustainable in view of the war situation. And finally, there is Ukraine’s bilateral external debt to China, France, Germany, other EU countries, the United States and a $3-billion debt to Russia.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s public debt has increased significantly because the IMF and the World Bank have granted a new credit of $5-billion, and other multilateral financial institutions have also granted emergency credits. And the government issued more than $2-billion in new debt securities, called war bonds.

SD: What is the background of Ukraine’s indebtedness?

ET: Let me give you a short history of Ukraine’s indebtedness since its independence, a little more than thirty years ago when the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of 1991. Ukraine did not inherit any debt from the Soviet Union, so it started in a favourable situation, but in the process of a brutal capitalist restoration, the Ukrainian bureaucrats who restored capitalism benefitted at the expense of the state coffers. Oligarchs got extraordinarily rich at the expense of state assets just as it happened in the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, etc. While a number of oligarchs were getting extraordinarily rich, they were supported by members of the government, who allowed them to acquire public property for a pittance.

The government financed a large part of the budget with debt because the richest people in Ukraine were hardly taxed, they hardly paid any taxes. The Ukrainian government systematically resorted to borrowing, including from private banks created by the oligarchs. While the oligarchs benefited from all kinds of aid from the state, they lent part of this money to the same state with an interest rate that allowed them to make large profits.

SD: Did the government resort to external borrowing as well?

ET: Yes, the government resorted to external borrowing. It issued debt securities on the international financial markets and also, borrowed from foreign banks. It borrowed from the IMF and the World Bank. The debt steadily increased from the 1990s to the 2000s. The IMF set conditionalities while extending loans to Ukraine. The application of the shock strategy, with typical neoliberal measures: liberalization and promotion of foreign trade, removal of price control of essential commodities, reduction of subsidies of basic items consumed by working people, the deterioration of a whole series of essential services. The IMF also promoted the rapid privatization of state-owned enterprises. It set newer and newer targets for the reduction of public deficit.

The IMF has compounded the insecurity of the labour market by facilitating lay-offs in the private and public sectors. The effects of the policies recommended by the IMF have been disastrous – an extreme impoverishment of the population, so much so, that in 2015 Ukraine was at the bottom of the ladder of all European countries in terms of real wages.

SD: Is there an important part of the Ukrainian debt illegitimate?

ET: The answer is yes: the overwhelming majority of the Ukrainian debt, if not the entire part, is illegitimate. It was not contracted in the interest of the population, it was accumulated in the interest of the richest 1% and international creditors; at the expense of a dramatic deterioration in the social rights and living conditions of the population. This took place before the outbreak of war and the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory which took place twice, in 2014 and in February 2022.

Already before the two aggressions committed by the Russian Federation led by Vladimir Putin in 2014 and 2022, the debt claimed from Ukraine was a debt that did not benefit the population and it was absolutely normal to consider that this debt should not be repaid by the population.

SD: Which parts of the debt should be cancelled as a priority?

ET: The debt claimed by the IMF, which is by far the largest among multilateral debts, should be cancelled as it has played a direct role in the process of gradual destruction of the Ukrainian economy and in the drastic deterioration of the living conditions of a large section of the Ukrainian population. The IMF has also favoured the enrichment of the richest one percent and fostered the rise of inequality.

A particular chapter must be opened in the context of the debt claimed by Russia from Ukraine. In December 2013, when Ukraine had Viktor Yanukovych as its president, who was closely linked to Putin’s regime, the Russian Federation convinced Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance to issue securities on the Dublin Stock Exchange in Ireland for an amount of $3-billion. This was the first issue that was supposed to be followed by others to gradually reach $15-billion. So the first issue of securities amounted to $3-billion and all the securities sold in Dublin were bought by the Russian Federation through a private company it had set up in Ireland. The interest rate was 5%. The following year, Russia annexed Crimea, which until then had been part of Ukraine. The Ukrainian government changed as a result of popular mobilizations, the exact nature of which is debatable as there was both a genuine popular rebellion and intervention by the right and extreme right. There was also the will of Western powers to take advantage of popular discontent. It’s all quite complicated and I’m not in a position to make an analysis of the so-called Orange Revolution. The new government continued for a while to pay back the debt to Russia. In total, $233-million of interest was paid to Russia. Then in December 2015, the government decided to suspend the payment of the debt.

In brief, the Ukrainian government justified the suspension of payments by explaining that it had the right to take countermeasures against Russia because the latter had attacked Ukraine and annexed Crimea. And indeed under international law, a state has the right to take countermeasures and suspend the fulfilment of a contract in such circumstances.

The Russian Federation took the case to the UK courts in London. Indeed, it was provided that the securities were issued in accordance with English law and that in case of dispute the British courts would have jurisdiction. Therefore, Russia filed a complaint against Ukraine asking the UK courts to order Ukraine to resume payment. The proceedings started in 2016. At the moment, the British courts have not yet delivered a final judgement, which should be pronounced in the next weeks or months.

There was a first judgment, followed by an appeal against the judgment. Then finally a session in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom took place on November 11, 2021 (this session can be viewed in its entirety on the website of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom).

It is worth noting that at first the British magistrates, notably the principal magistrate who was in charge at the beginning of the proceedings, was none other than William Blair, Tony Blair’s brother, who had until recently very close business links with Putin’s Russia. He tended to rule in favour of Russia since the UK judiciary wants to remain attractive to investors. Tony Blair’s brother issued a judgement in March 2017 in which he did not accept a series of obvious arguments put forward by Ukraine.1 William Blair considered that there had been no real coercion of Russia by Ukraine. He considered that this was not a conflict between states. He accepted Russia’s claim that the company that bought the Ukrainian securities (The Law Debenture Trust Corporation PLC) is a private entity. However, in reality, this company is acting directly on behalf of Russia and it is Russia that actually bought all the securities.

Subsequently, the Court of Appeal challenged William Blair’s ruling and now the case has reached the final stages in the Supreme Court.

As Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February 2022 with a huge loss of life and war crimes, it is difficult to foresee the Supreme Court siding with Russia against Ukraine in this case. The judgement will be heavily influenced by the dramatic turn of events in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. If the Court recognises that Russia has exercised duress against Ukraine and that Ukraine has the right to take counter-measures, this will set a precedent and other states will be able to invoke this precedent in their dispute with creditors. So it’s an important issue.

SD: What is the CADTM’s position on the cancellation of the Ukrainian debt?

ET: The CADTM considers that all the debts claimed from Ukraine should be cancelled. These are the debts that are in the hands of private creditors and which represent 80% of the external debt, the debts that are claimed by the IMF and the World Bank and other multilateral organizations, and the debts claimed by the states, which are called bilateral debts. The CADTM in demanding the cancellation of the Ukrainian debt in this manner joins an international petition which was launched after the invasion of Ukraine by social movements and individuals who are in Ukraine and resisting the invasion. The signatories of this petition rightly state: “Chaotic borrowing and antisocial debt conditionality was a result of total oligarchization: unwilling to fight the wealthy, the state rulers kept getting deeper in debt. Loans were issued under conditions of social spending cuts, and their repayment forced to economize on vital needs and apply austerity to foundational economy sectors.” This is enough to demand the cancellation of the Ukrainian debt.

SD:What is the Ukrainian government doing?

ET: It is indeed very important to ask this question: what is the Ukrainian government doing? Instead of suspending all debt payments in order to meet the needs of the population and to resist external aggression, the Ukrainian government, in a purely neoliberal approach, is maintaining debt repayments, except for the debt claimed by Russia. We are therefore in an extremely serious situation. While the government ought to suspend the payment of the debt, it is absolutely determined to remain credible in the eyes of the financial markets and the various lenders, and so it continues to allocate considerable sums of money from its budget to pay off the interest on the debt.

What this government also does is borrow more money. It issues war bonds that are sold on the financial markets. So the Ukrainian government is increasing the debt, it has also increased its requests for credit from the IMF, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and bilateral creditors. It continues to implement neoliberal policies of anti-social austerity, arguing that extraordinary efforts are needed to achieve resistance to the Russian invasion. The government has decreed that workers must work longer; that they must take less leave; and it has made it easier for employers to lay off workers in the midst of a war situation. I think that the policy of the existing government needs to be denounced. We should adopt a completely different approach: suspending the payment of the debt, asking the country where the assets of the Ukrainian oligarchs are located to expropriate these assets and return them to the Ukrainian people.

Of course, it is also necessary to expropriate the Russian oligarchs and transfer their assets to a reconstruction fund for Ukraine under the control of social movements. But, while the international press focuses precisely on the Russian oligarchs, there is no reason for the CADTM to consider that the Ukrainian oligarchs are allies of the Ukrainian people. The class struggle during the war continues. The Ukrainian oligarchs must be held accountable and expropriated while in reality, with the complicity of the Ukrainian government and foreign powers, they continue to enrich themselves in an absolutely shameful manner.

The Ukrainian government should also impose a war tax on the richest 1% to finance the war effort. An audit of the debt should be carried out with the participation of the citizens because the debt has reached such proportions that it is absolutely inconceivable not to name those responsible for the totally reckless indebtedness carried out by the previous and current governments. •

This article first published on the CADTM website.

Endnotes

1. See the commentary by Monica Feria-Tinta and Alister Wooder, Sovereign debt enforcement in English Courts: Ukraine and Russia meet in the Court of Appeal in USD 3 bn Eurobonds dispute.

Éric Toussaint is a historian and political scientist. He is the President of Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (CADTM) Belgium.

Sushovan Dhar is an activist, trade unionist and an international member of CADTM, from India. Follow him at @SushovanDhar

https://socialistproject.ca/

 Ukraine among 10 first Eurovision finalists

A total of 17 songs were presented during the first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest. Viewers have selected 10 acts that will compete in the finals on Saturday.

The colors of Ukraine accompanied the performance of Kalush Orchestra

The mood in front of Turin's PalaOlimpico was already upbeat ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest semifinals, as fans waited eagerly to enter the venue, waving flags of the participating countries.

On Tuesday evening, the 7,000 fans in the arena — as well as those watching the live show broadcast — shared a pure goosebumps moment when the team of hosts, which includes singer Laura Pausini, star host Alessandro Cattelan and producer Mika alias Michael Holbrook, launched the show with the traditional words: "Let the Eurovision Song Contest begin" — a sentence that feels magical to longtime enthusiasts.

The participating groups were presented in short videos featuring drone images of Italy's famous cultural sites. 

The acts then delivered their live performances. The stage was set up quite impressively, despite the reported technical glitches from the rehearsal phase.

Designed by Francesca Montinaro, the stage is called "The Sun Within" and symbolizes Italy, with lots of sun, gardens and cascades of water.

Ukraine in the finals

The mood among the audience was animated, despite everyone having to wear masks.

Their enthusiasm swelled when the sixth set of musicians came onstage: the Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine.

Despite the ongoing war in their country, the six musicians traveled to Turin as "ambassadors of hope," as the competition's hosts introduced them.

The Ukrainians are already celebrated as the big favorites of the competition and their performance received standing ovations.

The Kalush Orchestra from Ukraine is a clear favorite

No one was therefore surprised to see them among the 10 countries to make it into the finals.

Their song, "Stefania," is an explosive mixture of folk singing and hip hop.

The 'masked singers' of Subwoolfer

The Norwegian wolves with their strange yellow masks have also landed a spot in the finals with their song, "Give That Wolf a Banana."

The Subwoolfers convinced audiences with their unusual show

No one really knows their real identity; in their fictional biography, the members of the pop duo go by the names Keith and Jim. It is possible that they are the two brothers of the comedy group, Ylvis, Bard and Vegard Ylvisaker, who sang a viral song in 2013 called "The Fox."

Songs in native languages are popular

Zdob si Zdub represent Moldova for the third time: They were in Kyiv in 2005, in Düsseldorf in 2011 and now in Turin. The colorful group nailed it this time again and grabbed a spot at the finals with their happy pub-folksy Balkan song, "Trenuletul." 

Iceland will also be represented at the finals with the band Systur playing "Meo haekkandi sol." 

Monika Liu from Lithuania surprisingly also made it to the finals. Singing her song, "Sentimentai," in Lithuanian perhaps contributed to her appeal.

The rapper Stien den Hollander, who refers to herself as S10, also offers a song in her native Dutch: She is also moving on to the finals with her performance of "De Diepte," which speaks about sadness and depression.

S10 from the Netherlands will sing 'De Diepte'

Switzerland's Marius Bear's "Boys Do Cry" is a soft pop-jazz ballad with beautiful harmonies. The song will also feature on Saturday's final show.

Soft songs are popular

Maro and her four band members from Portugal offer a song about longing, "Saudade Saudade." Their entire country is enthralled by the ballad, and Eurovision viewers have joined them now, voting them into the finals.

Rosa Linn from Armenia is also among the finalists. Her soft folk-pop song "Snap" was liked by the jury and the public.

Greece's Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord also managed to make it to the finals with her ballad, "Die Together." Dressed in white, she plays with light and the camera. She convinced the jury with her strong voice, which did not need any wind machines or pyrotechnics.

Greece's Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord at the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin

A short hello from France and Italy

Before counting the votes, the competing acts from France and the host country Italy were introduced.

The Breton women's band Ahez and the electro-musician Alvan presented an uncommon mix of folk and trance music with their song, "Fulenn." 

Italy's duo Mahmood and Blanco are strong contenders to retain their country's winning status with their power ballad, "Brividi."

The two countries do not have to go through the semi-finals because they belong to the so-called Big Five — countries that are the most important financial contributors to the contest's broadcast.

On Thursday, at the second semi-final, the three remaining Big Five contenders — Chanel from Spain, Sam Ryder from the UK and Malik Harris from Germany — will be introduced.

These five and the 20 winners of both semifinals will be competing at the big final on Saturday, which will be viewed by around 180 million people globally.

This article was originally written in German.

Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra throws down motherland's beats at Eurovision



Ukraine's 'Kalush Orchestra' is riding a wave of goodwill at the the Eurovision Song contest (AFP/Marco BERTORELLO)

Marco BERTORELLO with Alexandria SAGE in Rome
Thu, May 12, 2022,

With their infectious musical fusion of roots and rhythm, Ukrainian folk hiphop band Kalush Orchestra is riding a wave of goodwill at the Eurovision Song Contest this year -- while eyeing the contest's top prize.

Tapping traditional Ukrainian folk music but mashing up an invigorating hiphop beat with a haunting, lullaby refrain, "Stefania" was written last year by the band's frontman, 27-year-old rapper Oleh Psiuk, as a tribute to his mother.

But the song selected to represent Ukraine at Eurovision -- just days before Russia's invasion -- has taken on outsized meaning for a country nearing its third month of war. It contains nostalgic lyrics such as "I'll always find my way home even if all the roads are destroyed" and celebrates cultural identity and the motherland.

Standing out in the competition long cheered for its flamboyance and camp, the band received a standing ovation on Tuesday after passing the semifinals. It is considered by bookmakers a favourite to become Eurovision's outright winner at the finale on Saturday.

"My mum is in Ukraine and many of my relatives are in Ukraine but there is really no safe place in Ukraine at the moment," Psiuk told AFP through an interpreter.

"It's really like a lottery, where you cannot know where exactly you'll get in danger. So we are very worried about everyone and our relatives that are in Ukraine."

Such worries have fuelled the band's drive during Eurovision, he said.

"We feel here as if on a mission because at the moment, as we speak, Ukrainian culture is being destroyed," Psiuk said.

"But it is our role to show it is alive and it has a lot to offer. It's unique. It really represents every Ukrainian who is now suffering in the world today."

- Flutes and fusion -

Although considered nonpolitical, the world's biggest song contest, watched by millions of people, inevitably reflects greater geopolitical tensions.

This year, the European Broadcasting Union banned Russia from the contest a day after it invaded Ukraine on February 24. Russia had competed in Eurovision since 1994.

Perhaps the most original and energising act at this year's competition, the six-member all-male Kalush Orchestra sprang from Psiuk's original hiphop group Kalush, named for his hometown in western Ukraine.

The band is made up of Psiuk, Ihor Didenchuk, Tymofii Muzychuk, Vitalii Duzhyk, Oleksandr Slobodianyk and MC KylymMen ("CarpetMan").

Its new sound incorporates traditional folk instruments, including the telenka, which is played with one hand controlling the pipe's open end, and another flute-like instrument, the sopilka.

Performing in richly embroidered traditional garb, the band is also instantly recognisable for Psiuk's bubblegum pink bucket hat and the carpet-like bodysuit worn by the breakdancing MC CarpetMan.

But it is Kalush Orchestra's sound that makes the band unique. It "mixes old ancient folk, even forgotten sounds, with super modern and understandable-for-everyone hiphop rap elements", Psiuk told journalists last week.

- 'Fighting age' -

To win Eurovision, Kalush Orchestra will have to be chosen above 24 other finalists competing on Saturday. Votes are cast by a mix of music industry professionals and the public from each country -- who are not allowed to vote for their own nation.

Were Ukraine to win, next year's Eurovision would be held in the country, which Psiuk vowed would be a "new, integrated, well developed, flourishing Ukraine".

Although one band member who joined the army three days after the invasion remains in Ukraine defending Kyiv, Ukraine's government gave the group special dispensation to travel abroad to compete at Eurovision.

"That's why we want to be as useful to our country as we can be," Psiuk told journalists.

"Representing your country is responsible anytime but representing it in a time of war is... a maximum responsibility for us."

Psiuk says the band will return to Ukraine directly after Eurovision.

As their press release written ahead of the contest explains: "They will be allowed to leave for the final on 14th May but must return as men of fighting age the day after."

ams/ar/gil