Berlin museum returns artifacts to Namibia

More than 20 looted objects from Namibia — including jewelry, tools, fashion and dolls — are being sent back to the country. The loan is the latest move by Germany to address its colonial past.


The artifacts include an ancient three-headed drinking vessel, a doll wearing traditional dress and various spears, hair pieces and other fashion accessories

Twenty-three museum pieces were loaned back to Namibia on Friday from Germany as part of a commitment by Berlin to repair ties with its former African colony.

The loan is the latest in a series of moves by Germany toward making up for its colonial-era past.

Artifacts not expected to return

The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), which runs the Berlin museum, did not say why the objects were not simply repatriated to Namibia, rather than put on long-term loan.

Local media reported that the SPK does not expect the objects to be returned to Germany.

The items, including an ancient three-headed drinking vessel, a doll wearing a traditional dress and various spears, hairpieces and other fashion accessories, were sent from the Ethnological Museum in Berlin to the National Museum of Namibia.

They were picked by a panel of experts in Namibia for their particular historical, cultural and aesthetic significance and will be made available to local artists and academics for research.

The repatriation and research project costs almost €300,000 ($322,000), most of which will be used in Namibia, according to a news release from the SPK.

Watch video 07:22 Germany's colonial chapter and its effects on the present

"Confronting Colonial Pasts, Envisioning Creative Futures" is funded by Germany's Gerda Henkel Foundation. The first phase saw the National Museum of Namibia renovated and a restorer and a museologist hired.

A new Museum of Namibian Fashion in Otjiwarongo is due to open on June 1. Both projects cost €400,000.

Berlin's Ethnological Museum said it has been working with counterparts in Namibia for three years to discuss the future of the hundreds of objects from the southern African country that remain in its collections.
Germany confronts colonial past

Last year, Berlin officially recognized that it committed genocide in Namibia, then known as German South West Africa.

German colonial settlers killed tens of thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people in the 1904-1908 massacres — labeled by historians as the first genocide of the 20th century.

The atrocities have poisoned relations between Namibia and Germany for decades.

Over the last years, Germany has returned skulls and other human remains to Namibia that it had sent to Berlin during the period for "scientific" experiments.

The Ethnological Museum also reached an agreement last year to begin returning its collection of Benin Bronzes, ancient sculptures from the Kingdom of Benin, to Nigeria.

Watch video 26:01 Africa's stolen treasures: Time to give them back?

The 16th to 18th century objects are now scattered around European museums after being looted by the British at the end of the 19th century.

Cultural officials welcome return of artifacts

This is a step towards reassessing "the long, complex history that Namibia and Germans have", Esther Moombolah, director of the National Museum of Namibia, told journalists in Berlin.

"We urge all future partners to follow suit like this institution," she said, stressing that Namibians should not "have to get on a plane to see our cultural treasures which are kept in boxes in foreign institutions."

South African museum expert Ciraj Rassool also welcomed the return in an interview with the Catholic News Agency (KNA).

"This is the beginning of a new phase and hopefully these repatriations will manage to further intensify the restitution issue," the historian said.

Rassool denied the loan, rather than permanent return, amounted to "gift-giving" by Europeans, but is about Africans laying claim to the objects. "Ultimately, it's a project that has restitution at the end of it," he said.

mm/rc (AFP, KNA)

Discrimination against Roma 'is an echo from back then'

Mehmet Daimagüler is Germany's first commissioner for combating discrimination against Sinti and Roma. He says ending such discrimination is a task for all Germans.


Daimagüler is leading Germany's efforts to combat discrimination against Sinti and Roma

The German lawyer Mehmet Daimagüler has long examined the historical legacies of racism and discrimination in Germany and their influence on present state institutions. Born to Turkish parents in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1968, Daimagüler has been dealing with racism for decades. He was a victims advocate during the trial of members of the National Socialist Underground, a neo-Nazi terror group that killed at least 10 people, almost all of them targeted for their perceived foreign roots.

In May, Daimagüler became Germany's first commissioner on antiziganism, or discrimination against Sinti and Roma. He told DW that many of the issues he plans to tackle are a result of Germans' failure to come to terms with their country's history, specifically the Holocaust.

Sinti and Roma flags fly on April 8, the unofficial day of commemoration of Nazi genocide of the Roma and Sinti people

"What was suppressed was that the perpetrators were not just Nazis," Daimagüler said. "They were also Germans. Our grandparents had their grandparents murdered — or murdered them themselves. That's why, even after 1945, everything was done so that the perpetrators from that time remained clean. That's why the dead were criminalized. And that narrative, about the inherent criminality of Sinti and Roma people, is an echo from back then."

The stereotype still informs the work of police, prosecutors and judges, Daimagüler said. It is his job to change the mindset of the next generation of officials through recruitment and the teaching, training and professional development of civil servants.
Better education for authorities

Sinti and Roma who have had negative experiences with the police are often less likely to report crimes committed against them. "Many of them have little trust in the police or the public prosecutor — and justifiably so," Daimagüler said. "And it's exactly these invisible cases that politics should, and must, pay more attention to."

"Police officers must regularly attend shooting training, but they should also regularly attend training in human rights," Daimagüler said, calling for Sinti and Roma to be included in the development of the curriculum. "People from the community should be involved in this as an important resource and as equal partners."

A picture on display at Auschwitz showing Roma children in Slovakia before World War II

A new center known as the MIA will permit victims to make complaints without having to go to a police station. "The MIA is going to be an important tool for recording how many such cases there actually are," Daimagüler said. "And this won't just be about criminal cases that could be prosecuted in a court, but also related assaults."

An oft-used racist narrative about "clan criminality" — or perceived mafia-style groups said to be run by gangsters of Arabic or Turkish descent — in Germany also applies to media representations of Sinti and Roma people, Daimagüler said. He said sensationalist media attempted to increase their readership through so-called investigative articles intended to stoke fear and outrage.

"They take frightening crimes committed by individuals and use them to draw conclusions about the behavior of an entire community," Daimagüler said. The reports "like to claim that the cause of such criminal behavior must be cultural and an alleged inability to accept rules."

The Berlin Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism

Such articles demonstrate "a fundamental lack of respect for the craft of journalism" and "irresponsible sensationalism just for the sake of ratings," Daimagüler said. He added that Roma who arrive to Germany as refugees are frequently treated with even more suspicion.

"In general, Roma — especially those from the Balkans, some of whom have been here for decades with uncertain residency status — should be categorized as worthy of protection," Daimagüler said. "It's not safe for Roma there. It's immoral and indecent to send these people back to the danger that awaits them there. At the moment, Roma people who are fleeing Ukraine are being selected at train stations — I am using that word deliberately — and being treated worse than other people."
Decadeslong discrimination

Daimagüler's new role will be heavily informed by an 800-page report issued by an independent expert commission on discrimination against Sinti and Roma that was ordered by the German government. The report documents the continuing injustices against Sinti and Roma people and explains how they have been excluded from the education system and many professions long after Germany's Nazi era ended.

Romani Rose (left), the chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, discusses a landmark report on discrimination

The report found that more than half of the incidents of discrimination that Sinti and Roma deal with happen during interactions with public authorities and state institutions. Daimagüler said dialogue with, and feedback and criticism from, Sinti and Roma would be the basis of his work. If he has his way, it will be community members themselves who guide transformation.

Daimagüler is conscious of the fact that he is not Sinti or Roma. He said his job was not to represent Sinti and Roma, but to provide the structure that ensures that the community has a say in political decision-making.

"I know I have to earn the community's trust," Daimagüler said. "The structural inclusion of Sinti and Roma in advisory bodies — and a substantive exchange with organizations and representatives — is enormously important to me and for the quality of our work."

In the end, it will be about the German state and society taking responsibility and ending discrimination against Sinti and Roma — and ensuring that the community is not isolated when combating racism. "Antiziganism is a problem for those who are impacted, but, above all, it's a problem for our society," Daimagüler said, "because antiziganism betrays our own values."

This story was originally written in German.

Watch video02:11 Anxiety over Berlin memorial to murdered Sinti and Roma

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Sri Lanka: Police and protesters clash again as Russian oil docks

Sri Lankan authorities used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters on their 50th day demanding the president's resignation. Meanwhile, a Russian oil shipment docked in the cash-strapped country's capital.

Fuel has been in short supply for weeks, with huge queues near filling stations

Thousands of Sri Lankans took to the streets of the capital on Saturday on their 50th day of demonstrations demanding that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa step down.

Police used tear gas and water cannon as the protesters tried to approach the president's office. They broke up the rally and briefly detained three people before releasing them.

Sri Lanka is nearly bankrupt, has defaulted on its foreign loans, and is battling acute shortages of goods like cooking gas, fuel and medicines.

People have been waiting for hours in line for gasoline, kerosene and other core products. Lengthy daily power blackouts have also become commonplace.

President Rajapaksa has tried on several occasions to quell more than a month of protests accompanying the economic turmoil.

He has even dismissed a series of his close relatives from core political positions, including but not limited to his brothers, who until recently were his prime minister and finance minister. However, he has so far sought to stop short of stepping down himself.

Russian oil docks after long wait

The country's foreign currency reserves have also dwindled to such low levels that it can only import materials for a short period, roughly two weeks.

A Russian shipment of oil, ordered via a consortium, had been waiting offshore off the capital Colombo's port for over a month because the country was unable to raise the $75 million (roughly €70 million) to pay for it, Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekerra said. The oil finally docked on Saturday, according to Wijesekerra.

Despite US and Western sanctions, Sri Lanka is also trying to arrange crude, coal, diesel and gasoline/petroleum deliveries directly from Russia.

"I have made an official request to the Russian ambassador for direct supplies of Russian oil," Wijesekerra said. "Crude alone will not fulfill our requirement, we need other refined [petroleum] products as well."
Sri Lanka's only oil refinery ceases to operate

The country's only oil refinery stopped operating in late March, with Sri Lanka no longer able to import crude oil. Fuel prices were raised drastically earlier this week, and rationing is still in effect for purchasers.

Sri Lanka's Ceylon Petroleum Company is in arrears of more than $735 million to suppliers, and Wijesekerra said that no one came forward to even bid for the country's oil tenders.

While the Siberian grade crude was not an ideal match for the country's refinery, which is optimized for Iranian light crude, Wijesekerra said no other supplier was willing to extend credit. Colombo would nevertheless call for fresh supply tenders in two weeks, he said.

msh/wd (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Japan's Ukraine refugee policy criticized for putting politics over human rights

Japan has quickly opened its borders to Ukrainian refugees, but the country has a long history of denying entry to people seeking safety from conflicts. Human rights activists hope that will now change.

Ukrainian evacuees wear kimono as part of a Japanese culture training day in Fukuoka City


The Japanese government has been quick to publicize its acceptance of more than 1,000 refugees from war-torn Ukraine.

But critics point out that Japanese immigration authorities have been far less willing to open the nation's doors to people fleeing violence and persecution in developing states much closer to Japan.

Human rights groups say those double standards need to end and that Japan needs to live up to its international obligations on extending assistance to refugees from other war zones.

According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, nearly 6.6 million Ukrainians have fled their homeland since the Russian invasion began on February 24.

More than 3.5 million have crossed the border into Poland, while others have found sanctuary in other neighboring countries, including Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.

Six days after the invasion, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that Japan would take in evacuees from Poland to help ease the pressures on Warsaw. Flights carrying refugees — mostly women with children — have been arriving in Japan since late March.
Settling into Japan

Japan is granting new arrivals from Ukraine 90-day visas and the opportunity to switch to a visa for a year once they find employment.

Support services are also being provided, including information on jobs, accommodation, language classes, schools for children and websites where they are able to obtain clothing, furniture and home appliances.

Evacuees are also eligible for a one-off payment of €1,200 ($1,300) per person and a daily living expense of over €17.

"We believe this is a good approach and we support the government's actions," said Daisuke Sugimoto, secretary-general of the Tokyo-based Japan Lawyers Network for Refugees.

"We are seeing that Ukrainians are being welcomed into communities across Japan and people here are doing everything they can to help them," he told DW.

"It is just unfortunate that the Japanese government has not done the same for asylum-seekers and refugees from other countries, people who are trying to get away from civil war or conflict in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria and other places."
'A political decision'

Sugimoto said granting access to Ukrainians is a "political decision linked to Japan's foreign policy on Ukraine, rather than a decision based on humanitarian considerations and needs."

In 2021, Japan recognized 74 displaced persons from around the world as refugees, Sugimoto said.

Refugee support groups in Japan say the requirements for a person to be granted refugee status are difficult to meet, particularly that to present documents proving persecution in their homeland as well as written testimony from witnesses.

As a result, most asylum-seekers are treated as economic migrants and held in detention centers until they can be deported, a process that can take several years as applicants file appeals against the government's decision.

Sugimoto said life can be "very difficult" for refugees in Japan, even those who are permitted to leave detention centers — pending a ruling in their case — as they are not permitted to work.

The Ministry of Justice, which oversees Japan's immigration policy, declined to comment on the regulations surrounding refugees.

Eri Ishikawa, chair of the Japan Association for Refugees, said the Japanese government too often fails to see refugees and asylum-seekers as people who have been the target of torture or abuse or as individuals whose lives are in danger, preferring instead to see them as a group "that needs to be controlled."

"It is a policy of immigration control rather than finding ways to help these people, and that is very different to other countries," she said, adding that Japan does not have legal provisions that expressly outlaw xenophobia or racial discrimination, which makes it difficult for human rights groups to push for better treatment of foreign refugees.


Changing attitudes

Ishikawa said she feels encouraged, however, by the way in which ordinary Japanese people have gone out of their way to help Ukrainians settle into their new lives.

She hopes that now Japanese civil society has witnessed, through extensive media coverage, what the refugees have endured, they might be more open to the survivors of other conflicts coming to Japan.

"A lot of Japanese have now seen what has happened in Ukraine … so they really understand the plight of these people," she said.

She added that research has indicated that a majority of people in Japan are now in favor of more Ukrainians being permitted to enter the country.

"It is up to organizations such as ours to explain to Japanese people that many more people are living in situations that are just as dangerous in other parts of the world and that more must be done to help them," she said.

"What is happening in many places is heartbreaking, but I’m hopeful that what has happened in Ukraine can help to change attitudes among ordinary Japanese towards refugees," she added.

Edited by: Sou-Jie van Brunnersum

THE LAST BIRD YOU WANT EXTINCT
Many SC vultures found dead with bird flu, health officials warn. Here’s what we know


Tracy Glantz/tglantz@thestate.com


Patrick McCreless
Fri, May 27, 2022, 11:01 AM·1 min read


A mass die-off of wild vultures, some of which tested positive for avian influenza, was recently found in Charleston County.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control is urging the public to make sure their pets and domestic animals avoid contact with dead or sick vultures, other birds and wild animals. DHEC also recommends that residents avoid areas where dead birds have been found.

While the risk of bird flu transmission to people or pets and tame animals is thought to be low, the risk is also not well known and is best avoided by not having contact with dead birds, the DHEC states. The virus causing the bird flu can be spread through feathers and fecal material or areas and items contaminated by infected birds.

Handling dead birds without recommended protective measures increases the risk of transmission. DHEC says the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources will continue monitoring and surveillance and encourages members of the public to report unusual bird mortality events.

If you come into contact with a dead vulture or other dead bird in the area, please seek medical attention if you become ill with symptoms of fevers, cough, fatigue, body aches, etc., and report your potential exposure to your health care provider and local health department. DHEC recommends monitoring for symptoms for 10 days after the last exposure to a bird with avian flu.

Deadly nose-bleed fever shocks Iraq as cases surge

Spraying  with pesticides, health workers target blood-sucking ticks at the heart of Iraq's worst detected outbreak of a fever that causes people to bleed to death.

A health worker in Dhi Qar province holds a vial containing ticks that cause Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic illness (AFP/Asaad NIAZI)

Asaad NIAZI with Qassem al-KAABI in Najaf
Sat, May 28, 2022,

Spraying a cow with pesticides, health workers target blood-sucking ticks at the heart of Iraq's worst detected outbreak of a fever that causes people to bleed to death.

The sight of the health workers, dressed in full protective kit, is one that has become common in the Iraqi countryside, as the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever spreads, jumping from animals to humans.

This year Iraq has recorded 19 deaths among 111 CCHF cases in humans, according to the Word Health Organization.

The virus has no vaccine and onset can be swift, causing severe bleeding both internally and externally and especially from the nose. It causes death in as many as two-fifths of cases, according to medics.


"The number of cases recorded is unprecedented," said Haidar Hantouche, a health official in Dhi Qar province.

A poor farming region in southern Iraq, the province accounts for nearly half of Iraq's cases.

In previous years, cases could be counted "on the fingers of one hand", he added.

Transmitted by ticks, hosts of the virus include both wild and farmed animals such as buffalo, cattle, goats and sheep, all of which are common in Dhi Qar.

- Tick bites -

In the village of Al-Bujari, a team disinfects animals in a stable next to a house where a woman was infected. Wearing masks, goggles and overalls, the workers spray a cow and her two calves with pesticides.

A worker displays ticks that have fallen from the cow and been gathered into a container.

"Animals become infected by the bite of infected ticks," according to the World Health Organization.

"The CCHF virus is transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during and immediately after slaughter," it adds.

The surge of cases this year has shocked officials, since numbers far exceed recorded cases in the 43 years since the virus was first documented in Iraq in 1979.

In his province, only 16 cases resulting in seven deaths had been recorded in 2021, Hantouche said. But this year Dhi Qar has recorded 43 cases, including eight deaths.

The numbers are still tiny compared with the Covid-19 pandemic -- where Iraq has registered over 25,200 deaths and 2.3 million recorded cases, according to WHO figures -- but health workers are worried.

Endemic in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Balkans, CCHF's fatality rate is between 10 and 40 percent, the WHO says.

The WHO's representative in Iraq, Ahmed Zouiten, said there were several "hypotheses" for the country's outbreak.

They included the spread of ticks in the absence of livestock spraying campaigns during Covid in 2020 and 2021.

And "very cautiously, we attribute part of this outbreak to global warming, which has lengthened the period of multiplication of ticks," he said.

But "mortality seems to be declining", he added, as Iraq had mounted a spraying campaign while new hospital treatments had shown "good results".

- Slaughterhouses under scrutiny -

Since the virus is "primarily transmitted" to people via ticks on livestock, most cases are among farmers, slaughterhouse workers and veterinarians, the WHO says.

"Human-to-human transmission can occur resulting from close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons," it adds.

Alongside uncontrolled bleeding, the virus causes intense fever and vomiting.

Medics fear there may be an explosion of cases following the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha in July, when families traditionally slaughter an animal to feed guests.

"With the increase in the slaughter of animals, and more contact with meat, there are fears of an increase in cases during Eid," said Azhar al-Assadi, a doctor specialising in haematological diseases in a hospital in Nasiriya.

Most of those infected were "around 33 years old", he said, although their age ranges from 12 to 75.

Authorities have put in place disinfection campaigns and are cracking down on abattoirs that do not follow hygiene protocols. Several provinces have also banned livestock movement across their borders.

Near Najaf, a city in the south, slaughterhouses are monitored by the authorities.

The virus has adversely hit meat consumption, according to workers and officials there.

"I used to slaughter 15 or 16 animals a day -- now it is more like seven or eight," said butcher Hamid Mohsen.

Fares Mansour, director of Najaf Veterinary Hospital, which oversees the abattoirs, meanwhile noted that the number of cattle arriving for slaughter had fallen to around half normal levels.

"People are afraid of red meat and think it can transmit infection," he said.

str-tgg/pjm/dwo/dv

WNBA players step up calls for Griner's release

Sat, May 28, 2022

In this file photo taken on October 12, 2021 Brittney Griner of the Phoenix Mercury celebrates with fans following Game Two of the 2021 WNBA Finals in Phoenix, Arizona

 (AFP/Christian Petersen) (Christian Petersen)

WNBA players and their union leaders stepped up their calls for Brittney Griner's release from prison in Russia on Saturday, the 100th day of the US basketball star's detention.

"Right now, on day 100 of BG's wrongful detainment, we are calling on everyone to use their platforms, no matter the size, to bring attention to her wrongful detainment, to get (Griner's wife) Cherelle that meeting with President Biden and to get our sister home," the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) said in a statement.

Griner was detained in February amid soaring tensions over Ukraine.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist and WNBA champion was arrested at Moscow's airport on February 17 on charges of carrying in her luggage vape cartridges with cannabis oil, which is illegal in Russia.

However, on May 3 the US State Department said it had determined that Russia had "wrongfully detained US citizen Brittney Griner."

On May 13, Russian state media said Griner's pre-trial detention had been extended until June 18.

In the immediate aftermath of Griner's detention, the WNBA had commented little on the case hoping not to inflame the situation.

Since the State Department's declaration that she was wrongfully detained, however, there have been more vocal calls for her release.

"To athletes, of any age, ability level, team, sport or country: this is OUR teammate," the WNBPA wrote. "A member of OUR global sports community, we need to stand up and stand together to call for her release."

Several WNBA and NBA players tweeted about Griner on Saturday.

"Brittney Griner has been illegally detained in Russia since February 17th, 2022," wrote Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving. "I'm urging the (White House) to prioritize Brittney’s safe return home immediately! #WeAreBG"

Griner, 32, was travelling to play club basketball in Russia when she was detained.

Since then, the United States and Russia have exchanged prisoners with Russia, freeing former US Marine Trevor Reed who had been accused of drunkenly fighting with police.

The United States also says Russia has unjustly detained Paul Whelan, a former security official at a vehicle parts company who was sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges.

bb/des

Wife of detained WNBA star Brittney Griner urges Biden to 'go get her'


Detained WNBA star Brittney Griner's wife urged President Joe Biden to "go get her" after the two-time Olympian was detained by Russian authorities in February. 

File Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI | License Photo

May 25 (UPI) -- Cherelle Griner, the wife of WNBA star Brittney Griner, is urging President Joe Biden to help bring home the Phoenix Mercury center after she was detained in Russia.

"There is one person that can go get her, and that's our president," Cherelle Griner said Wednesday in an interview on ESPN. "He has that power. You know, I'm just like 'Why are we not using it? Like, urgently, use it.' We're expecting him to use his power to get it done."

Brittney Griner, 31, was detained at a Moscow airport in February for allegedly carrying cannabis-oil vape cartridges, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The two-time Olympic gold medalist had flown from New York to Moscow to play basketball overseas during the off-season.

Griner was scheduled to appear in a Russian court on May 19, but the court extended her pretrial detention another 30 days into June.

Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department changed Griner's designation and said she was being "wrongfully detained" by Russia's government. The change in designation means the U.S. government will no longer wait for the Russian justice system to resolve the issue and will take more proactive steps to win her release.

Cherelle Griner said she has spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and has been in communication with Brittney through letters.

"I'm in a position of complete vulnerability right now. I have to trust people that I didn't even know until Feb. 17. So I'm trusting her lawyers. 'How does she look? How is her spirit? How is her energy?' I'm just asking all those questions, trying to just get some type of indication or vibe," Cherelle Griner said

"Some days they say, 'She's really strong. ... She seemed in good spirits when we talked.' And sometimes they'll say, 'Her energy was really low.'"

Cost-of-living crisis forces more Brits to foodbanks





Greater Bradford's population is the fifth most income-deprived and sixth most employment-deprived nationwide, according to the government's last poverty index published in 2019

 (AFP/OLI SCARFF)

Joe JACKSON
Sat, May 28, 2022,

On an overcast morning in Bradford, northern England, a steady stream of locals arrive at a foodbank to collect produce parcels described as "a lifesaver" during the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.

Bradford Central Foodbank is helping twice as many people compared to pre-pandemic, as spiralling prices for energy, food and other basics leave a growing number of Britons struggling.

"The numbers since I've been a volunteer have only multiplied and I can only see it getting worse," said Karl Carroll, 33, who has relied on the parcels since 2019 and is now volunteering at the foodbank.

"I've barely got £40 ($50, 47 euros) by the time I've paid everything out, so I imagine families are struggling in more ways," he told AFP.


Simon Jackson, 43, an unemployed former supermarket worker who is accessing long-term government sickness benefits, has been a foodbank user since February.

"It is a tougher time at the minute... the cost of living's skyrocketed to a point of we're having to use foodbanks a bit more," he said.

Jackson currently gets around £900 a month in various government support payments but, like Carroll, once his bills are paid, there is little left over for food.

Rising prices are exacerbating the situation.

"Places like (this) here in Bradford are a lifesaver. They can really help balance your decisions -- sometimes between the heating and eating," he said.

- Survival -

One of the clearest signs of the crisis is the surge in foodbank use.

The Trussell Trust charity says its more than 1,400 affiliated sites handed out 2.1 million parcels in the past year -- 830,000 of them to children -- in a 14 percent increase on pre-pandemic levels.

Its central Bradford operation is hosted three days a week by a local church organisation, and can supply people with only three parcels within six months to manage demand.

They contain basics such as cereal, tinned soup, meat and fish, pasta, sauces, vegetables, biscuits, sugar, tea and coffee.

Started in 2011, it is one of around 30 free food providers now in the city of just over half a million residents, and currently helps around 1,000 people a month, said manager Josie Barlow.

Greater Bradford's population -- the sixth biggest metropolitan area in England -- is the fifth most income-deprived and sixth most employment-deprived nationwide, according to the government's last poverty index published in 2019.

That leaves it particularly vulnerable in the current climate.

"It's people that are on the lowest incomes that'll suffer the most... they have to buy the essentials but they're the things that are really going up by a lot," Barlow explained.

She greets arrivals with a warm smile and upbeat energy, directing them to collection tables as well as welfare, housing and other advisors.

"We want to give a food parcel, but we also really want to help people with the root causes of their food crisis," Barlow noted.

She said they receive "a whole spread of society", which includes working as well as unemployed people.

"You do a budget with people and you're like: 'yeah, you just can't live on that, can you?' And there's no real way out of that," she added.

"You can't expect people to live like that, in crisis, just trying to survive in the long-term."



- Winter fears -

The government announced Thursday a new £15 billion support package aimed at the most vulnerable, ahead of an expected 42 percent jump in energy bills in October -- which follows a 54 percent hike last month.

Three-quarters of the money is directed at government benefits recipients, with a £650 "cost-of-living payment" to most alongside £300 for pensioners and an extra £150 for those on disability support.

But in Bradford, as elsewhere, it cannot allay fears that worse to come.

The current nine percent inflation rate is predicted to surge even higher, which would swamp any additional support.

"I'm quite scared by this winter coming up," admitted Barlow, noting summer allows people to get by without heating.

"Come this winter, when you really do need it on... I just don't know how people are going to survive."

Jackson predicted the biggest squeeze could come at Christmas, as families in particular grapple with giving presents as well as putting food on the table.

"It might not be so much for me, because I'm on my own -- I'll just put an extra blanket on or something," he said.

"But for those with small kids that have Christmas presents and other needs... it's really going to be tough."

Simone Hillhands, 34, is one. She has three children aged 10, 13 and 15. One of them has a disability, which prevents her from working full time.

Her children's school directed her to the foodbank.

"I need to care for them," she explained.

Reluctant to reveal too much of her personal circumstances, Hillhands confided that her sister had recently been made homeless and the wider family's situation was "really, really hard" with prices rising.

"They've gone through the roof... it's crazy!" she said, adding that despite the pandemic, "last year was a lot easier".

jj/phz/rl

Germany: 1 in 10 people are 'addicted' to work, study finds

From juggling multiple tasks at once, to working long hours and feeling guilty during their leisure time — excessive and "compulsive" work behavior is found throughout Germany's workforce, a new study has found.

Many within the German workforce are pulling long hours and find it hard to relax when off the clock

A third of the German labor force is working "excessively" and another 10% exhibit addictive working behavior, according to a new study presented on Wednesday.

The representative study, commissioned by the Hans Böckler Foundation, is the first to examine workaholic behavior across all sectors in Germany — and it has found that "compulsive" work is present in all branches.

What did the study reveal?

The study was carried out by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the Technical University of Braunschweig.

Researchers examined interviews from 8,000 people employed in Germany. The data was recorded in 2017 and 2018 — before the coronavirus pandemic further blurred the work-life balance line.

The study found 9.8% of people exhibited addictive and "compulsive" behavior in their work. Another 33% were found to work "excessively" but not addictively.

The majority, 54.9% of workers, approached their job tasks with a more "relaxed" approach," the study found.

Women were slightly more likely to be workaholics than men — with 10.8% of women falling into the addicted category, compared to 9% of men.

At the same time, young people aged between 15 and 24 were far more likely than older workers aged between 55 and 64 to exhibit addictive working behavior — with 12.6% of younger workers showing compulsive behavior compared to 7.9% of older workers.

Young people in Germany showed higher rates of work addiction than their older counterparts

Which jobs were particularly at risk?

Managers and people who are self-employed are much more at risk of developing addictive approaches to work, the study showed.

Over 12% of managers compared to 8.7% of non-managers showed signs of work addiction.

"Among those in management positions, work addiction becomes more prevalent the higher the position," the study's authors said.

Researchers also found workaholic behavior across all sectors — with the highest rates of work addiction (19%) among those in the fields of agriculture, forest management, animal husbandry and horticulture.

The fields that were less at risk were those working in technology, geography and natural sciences.

Socioeconomic factors, such as level of education or relationship status, played little "or a very weak" role in whether someone was more likely to be addicted to their work, the study found.

Those who work in larger companies, however, were less likely to report work addiction than those who work in smaller companies, the study noted.

What is workaholic behavior?

The authors of the German study used two dimensions to define and identify "addictive" and "compulsive" working behavior.

The first dimension concerns how much people work, including: working long hours with high workloads and grappling with multiple projects at once.

The second factor concerns how their work impacts their personal lives.

Those with work addiction were defined in the study as those who had difficulty relaxing in their free time outside of work, those who would compulsively check work emails after clocking out, and those who said they felt guilty taking a vacation or while on holiday.

The term "workaholic" was coined in 1971 by the US psychologist Wayne Oates, to describe people whose approach to their work was similar to those who battle addictions with alcohol.

The study's authors called for further research into the causes of work addiction, as well as the significant impacts that it can have on the physical and psychological health of employees.

rs/dj (epd, AFP)

UK companies to trial four-day workweek

Shivani KHANDEKAR
Sat, May 28, 2022,



The trial will involve some reorganisation of rotas to keep the brewery functioning 

(AFP/Justin TALLIS)


Louis Bloomsfield inspects the kegs of beer at his brewery in north London, eagerly awaiting June, when he will get an extra day off every week.

The 36-year-old brewer plans to use the time to get involved in charity work, start a long-overdue course in particle physics, and spend more time with family.

He and colleagues at the Pressure Drop brewery are taking part in a six-month trial of a four-day working week, with 3,000 others from 60 UK companies.

The pilot -- touted as the world's biggest so far -- aims to help companies shorten their working hours without cutting salaries or sacrificing revenues.


Similar trials have also taken place in Spain, Iceland, the United States and Canada. Australia and New Zealand are scheduled to start theirs in August.

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, a programme manager at 4 Day Week Global, the campaign group behind the trial, said it will give firms "more time" to work through challenges, experiment with new practices and gather data.

Smaller organisations should find it easier to adapt, as they can make big changes more readily, he told AFP.

Pressure Drop, based in Tottenham Hale, is hoping the experiment will not only improve their employees' productivity but also their well-being.

At the same time, it will reduce their carbon footprint.

The Royal Society of Biology, another participant in the trial, says it wants to give employees "more autonomy over their time and working patterns".

Both hope a shorter working week could help them retain employees, at a time when UK businesses are confronted with severe staff shortages, and job vacancies hitting a record 1.3 million.

- Not all rosy -

Pressure Drop brewery's co-founder Sam Smith said the new way of working would be a learning process.

"It will be difficult for a company like us which needs to be kept running all the time, but that's what we will experiment with in this trial," he said.

Smith is mulling giving different days off in the week to his employees and deploying them into two teams to keep the brewery functioning throughout.

When Unilever trialled a shorter working week for its 81 employees in New Zealand, it was able to do so only because no manufacturing takes place in its Auckland office and all staff work in sales or marketing.

The service industry plays a huge role in the UK economy, contributing 80 percent to the country's GDP.

A shorter working week is therefore easier to adopt, said Jonathan Boys, a labour economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

But for sectors such as retail, food and beverage, healthcare and education, it's more problematic.

Boys said the biggest challenge will be how to measure productivity, especially in an economy where a lot of work is qualitative, as opposed to that in a factory.

Indeed, since salaries will stay the same in this trial, for a company to not lose out, employees will have to be as productive in four days as they are five.

Yet Aidan Harper, author of "The Case for a Four Day Week", said countries working fewer hours tend to have higher productivity.

"Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands work fewer hours than the UK, yet have higher levels of productivity," he told AFP.

"Within Europe, Greece works more hours than anyone, and yet have the lowest levels of productivity."

- 'Hiring superpower' -

Employees in the UK work roughly 36.5 hours every week, against counterparts in Greece who clock in upwards of 40 hours, according to database company Statista.

Phil McParlane, founder of Glasgow-based recruitment company 4dayweek.io, says offering a shorter workweek is a win-win, and even calls it "a hiring superpower".

His company only advertises four-day week and flexible jobs.

They have seen the number of companies looking to hire through the platform rise from 30 to 120 in the past two years, as many workers reconsidered their priorities and work-life balance in the pandemic.

str/ved/ph