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Sunday, July 10, 2022
Arctic warming four times faster than thought, says study
Although it’s well known that climate change is having dramatic impacts on the North compared to elsewhere in the world, new research suggests that the Arctic is warming significantly more than we thought.
Part of the port facility in Pyramiden, Svalbard, with the Nordenskiöld glacier.
Although it’s well known that climate change is having dramatic impacts on the North compared to elsewhere in the world, new research suggests that the Arctic is warming significantly more than we thought.
Part of the port facility in Pyramiden, Svalbard, with the Nordenskiöld glacier.
Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Read in Russian | Читать по-русски
By Eye on the Arctic
Read in Russian | Читать по-русски
By Eye on the Arctic
July 08, 2022
In a recent paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers found that the Arctic is heating up to four times faster than the rest of the planet.
The researchers say their analysis was able to pick up what previous work hadn’t by decreasing the typical 30-year period used to calculate the Arctic amplification index, down to 21 years.
Arctic amplification refers to how the loss of snow and ice in North results in more dark areas of land and water which end up absorbing heat from the sun instead of reflecting it back into the atmosphere, which in turn causes more ice loss and more dark areas.
The Arctic amplification index refers to the ratio between the Arctic and the global mean static air temperature.
“Thirty years is considered the minimum to represent climate change,” Petr Chylek, a physicist and climate researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory and lead author of the study, said in a statement.
“We decreased the time interval to 21 years. At that smaller time scale, and contrary to previous investigations that found the Arctic amplification index increases in a smooth way, we observed two distinct steps, one in 1986 and a second one in 1999.”
The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CIMP) is an international set of climate models that uses shared parameters and which has been used to do the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report.
The researchers examined 39 climate change models in CIMP and found that four of them reproduced the 1986 step, but none reproduced the 1999 step that the researchers detected.
“We attributed the first step to increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other pollutants in the atmosphere, because several models do it correctly, but the second step we think is due to climate variability because none of the models can reproduce the second step.”
Chylek said their findings could be an important guidepost going ahead when it comes to predicting future Arctic warming.
“Because the four models correctly reproduce at least the first step, we assume they’re a little better for future climate projection,” he said.
“People usually average all models and assume the ensemble is more reliable than any single model. We show the average does not work in this case.”
This story is posted on the Barents Observer as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.
In a recent paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers found that the Arctic is heating up to four times faster than the rest of the planet.
The researchers say their analysis was able to pick up what previous work hadn’t by decreasing the typical 30-year period used to calculate the Arctic amplification index, down to 21 years.
Arctic amplification refers to how the loss of snow and ice in North results in more dark areas of land and water which end up absorbing heat from the sun instead of reflecting it back into the atmosphere, which in turn causes more ice loss and more dark areas.
The Arctic amplification index refers to the ratio between the Arctic and the global mean static air temperature.
“Thirty years is considered the minimum to represent climate change,” Petr Chylek, a physicist and climate researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory and lead author of the study, said in a statement.
“We decreased the time interval to 21 years. At that smaller time scale, and contrary to previous investigations that found the Arctic amplification index increases in a smooth way, we observed two distinct steps, one in 1986 and a second one in 1999.”
The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CIMP) is an international set of climate models that uses shared parameters and which has been used to do the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report.
The researchers examined 39 climate change models in CIMP and found that four of them reproduced the 1986 step, but none reproduced the 1999 step that the researchers detected.
“We attributed the first step to increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other pollutants in the atmosphere, because several models do it correctly, but the second step we think is due to climate variability because none of the models can reproduce the second step.”
Chylek said their findings could be an important guidepost going ahead when it comes to predicting future Arctic warming.
“Because the four models correctly reproduce at least the first step, we assume they’re a little better for future climate projection,” he said.
“People usually average all models and assume the ensemble is more reliable than any single model. We show the average does not work in this case.”
This story is posted on the Barents Observer as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.
Two aging oil tankers are breaking their way through Arctic sea-ice
There is still thick sea-ice on the Northern Sea Route as the Russian oil carriers sail along the remote Arctic coasts.
30 year old tanker "Svyatoy Petr" awaiting icebreaker escort in the Chukchi Sea. Screenshot from ship traffic service
By Atle Staalesen
There is still thick sea-ice on the Northern Sea Route as the Russian oil carriers sail along the remote Arctic coasts.
30 year old tanker "Svyatoy Petr" awaiting icebreaker escort in the Chukchi Sea. Screenshot from ship traffic service
By Atle Staalesen
Barents Observer
July 10, 2022
The Svaytoy Petr on the 23rd of June set out from the far eastern Russian port of Petropavlovsk with course for Arctic waters. About 14 days later, the 127 meter long oil tanker reached the Bering Strait.
It is expected in Arkhangelsk on 25th of July, data from MarineTraffic show.
The ship that is built in 1992 has only limited ice-protection and needs icebreaker assistance to break through the ice sheet that still covers major parts of the Arctic shipping route.
July 10, 2022
The Svaytoy Petr on the 23rd of June set out from the far eastern Russian port of Petropavlovsk with course for Arctic waters. About 14 days later, the 127 meter long oil tanker reached the Bering Strait.
It is expected in Arkhangelsk on 25th of July, data from MarineTraffic show.
The ship that is built in 1992 has only limited ice-protection and needs icebreaker assistance to break through the ice sheet that still covers major parts of the Arctic shipping route.
Tanker “Ice Eagle” escorted by nuclear icebreaker “Sibir” through East Siberian Sea. Screenshot from ship tracking service
Help is on the way. Nuclear-powered icebreaker Sibir is breaking its way through the East Siberian Sea and is expected to meet the Svaytoy Petr in the course of the next 48 hours.
On it tail, the Sibir has 20 year old oil tanker Ice Eagle that is on its way from Murmansk to Pevek.
The two aging oil tankers are among the first ships that sail across the Northern Sea Route this year. So far, only LNG carrier Nikolai Yevgenov has sailed transit across the route. The powerful natural gas carrier in mid-June set out from Sabetta in Yamal and sailed eastwards towards Asian markets. The ship sailed most of the route independently without icebreaker escort.
As of the 10th of July, there were only four vessel on transit voyages on the remote route. In addition to oil tankers Svaytoy Petr and Ice Eagle, LNG carrier Eduard Toll and Boris Davydov are in the area.
Help is on the way. Nuclear-powered icebreaker Sibir is breaking its way through the East Siberian Sea and is expected to meet the Svaytoy Petr in the course of the next 48 hours.
On it tail, the Sibir has 20 year old oil tanker Ice Eagle that is on its way from Murmansk to Pevek.
The two aging oil tankers are among the first ships that sail across the Northern Sea Route this year. So far, only LNG carrier Nikolai Yevgenov has sailed transit across the route. The powerful natural gas carrier in mid-June set out from Sabetta in Yamal and sailed eastwards towards Asian markets. The ship sailed most of the route independently without icebreaker escort.
As of the 10th of July, there were only four vessel on transit voyages on the remote route. In addition to oil tankers Svaytoy Petr and Ice Eagle, LNG carrier Eduard Toll and Boris Davydov are in the area.
Sea-ice in the Arctic in late June 2022. Map by Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute
It is mid-summer, but major parts of the waters that connect the Bering Strait the east with the Barents Sea in the west remain covered by sea-ice. Ice maps from Russian meteorological service Roshydromet show that ice layers in late June were most comprehensive in the area of the Vilkitsky Strait, the New Siberian Islands and in the Chukchi Sea.
Despite the severe sanctions imposed by the international community on Russia following its war against Ukraine, ambitions for the Arctic shipping remains high in Moscow.
It is mid-summer, but major parts of the waters that connect the Bering Strait the east with the Barents Sea in the west remain covered by sea-ice. Ice maps from Russian meteorological service Roshydromet show that ice layers in late June were most comprehensive in the area of the Vilkitsky Strait, the New Siberian Islands and in the Chukchi Sea.
Despite the severe sanctions imposed by the international community on Russia following its war against Ukraine, ambitions for the Arctic shipping remains high in Moscow.
Yuri Trutnev is Deputy Prime Minister. Photo: Atle Staalesen
Top Russian government officials argue that the sanction regime will only making shipping on the Northern Sea Route more important. In early June, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev underlined that better transport corridors to markets in Asia are needed as western markets close.
At the same time, Aleksei Chekunkov, the Minister of the Far East and Arctic, said that Russia’s path towards the East goes through the Arctic.
“Many people have in this forum spoken about the turn toward the East. It can only happen through the North,” the minister said during the recent St.Petersburg Economic Forum.
According to Chekunkov, shipping on the Northern Sea Route will by year 2035 add as much as 35 trillion rubles to Russian GDP. The growth is to be driven be exports of oil, natural gas and coal.
Following a decree from the Kremlin, the Russian government has over the past years sought to boost shipments on the far northern route to as much as 80 million tons per year already by 2024. However, that target will not be reached.
In 2021, about 35 million tons of goods were shipped on the route.
Several Russian industrial projects in the Arctic, among them the Arctic LNG 2, is in jeopardy following the sanctions and Asian shipyards that are to build the ice-class vessels needed for Arctic operations are pulling out of contract with Russian companies.
Top Russian government officials argue that the sanction regime will only making shipping on the Northern Sea Route more important. In early June, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev underlined that better transport corridors to markets in Asia are needed as western markets close.
At the same time, Aleksei Chekunkov, the Minister of the Far East and Arctic, said that Russia’s path towards the East goes through the Arctic.
“Many people have in this forum spoken about the turn toward the East. It can only happen through the North,” the minister said during the recent St.Petersburg Economic Forum.
According to Chekunkov, shipping on the Northern Sea Route will by year 2035 add as much as 35 trillion rubles to Russian GDP. The growth is to be driven be exports of oil, natural gas and coal.
Following a decree from the Kremlin, the Russian government has over the past years sought to boost shipments on the far northern route to as much as 80 million tons per year already by 2024. However, that target will not be reached.
In 2021, about 35 million tons of goods were shipped on the route.
Several Russian industrial projects in the Arctic, among them the Arctic LNG 2, is in jeopardy following the sanctions and Asian shipyards that are to build the ice-class vessels needed for Arctic operations are pulling out of contract with Russian companies.
Indonesia, Russia to build 16 billion USD refinery in East Java
Indonesia and Russia are set to work together on several projects, including a refinery project worth 16 billion USD, according to The Straits Times.
VNA Sunday, July 10, 2022
Indonesia and Russia are set to work together on several projects, including a refinery project worth 16 billion USD, according to The Straits Times.
VNA Sunday, July 10, 2022
Illustrative photo (Source: AFP/VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Indonesia and Russia are set to work together on several projects, including a refinery project worth 16 billion USD, according to The Straits Times.
The newspaper quoted a senior Indonesian government official as saying that Indonesia's state-owned oil company Pertamina and Russia's Rosneft Oil Company are going ahead with their project to build the refinery in the Indonesian province of East Java to produce fuel and raw materials for the petrochemical industry.
"The Russian party has been negotiating to get tax holidays. The project is still on track," the official was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity.
The two companies earlier formed a Jakarta-based joint venture, PT Pertamina Rosneft Pengolahan dan Petrokimia, which will manage East Java's New Grass Refinery Root (NGRR) in Tuban city and has an output of 229,000 barrels per day of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Rosneft will contribute 45% of the total investment for the project and Pertamina will cover the rest.
Once completed, the project will greatly help Indonesia reduce its reliance on imported fuel, which has been rising in price.
Hanoi (VNA) - Indonesia and Russia are set to work together on several projects, including a refinery project worth 16 billion USD, according to The Straits Times.
The newspaper quoted a senior Indonesian government official as saying that Indonesia's state-owned oil company Pertamina and Russia's Rosneft Oil Company are going ahead with their project to build the refinery in the Indonesian province of East Java to produce fuel and raw materials for the petrochemical industry.
"The Russian party has been negotiating to get tax holidays. The project is still on track," the official was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity.
The two companies earlier formed a Jakarta-based joint venture, PT Pertamina Rosneft Pengolahan dan Petrokimia, which will manage East Java's New Grass Refinery Root (NGRR) in Tuban city and has an output of 229,000 barrels per day of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Rosneft will contribute 45% of the total investment for the project and Pertamina will cover the rest.
Once completed, the project will greatly help Indonesia reduce its reliance on imported fuel, which has been rising in price.
Indonesia cancels giant coal-fired power project
Indonesia's state-owned electricity company PLN has axed a project to develop a coal-fired power plant as the country chases its long-delayed commitments to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
VNA Monday, July 04, 2022
Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia's state-owned electricity company PLN has axed a project to develop a coal-fired power plant as the country chases its long-delayed commitments to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
PLN vice president of corporate communications Gregorius Adi Trianto confirmed that the company had canceled its plan to build the 1-gigawatt (GW) plant in Indramayu, West Java.
It proactively stopped borrowing funds for the project as part of PLN's efforts to reach the country’s carbon neutral goal by 2060, Gregorius was quoted by local media as saying.
The project’s termination came after Japan announced that it had canceled a plan to provide a loan worth 1.7 billion (12.55 million USD) for developing the Indramayu plant amid growing international criticism of coal power plants, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, total investment in the power sector reached 700 million USD in the first quarter of 2022, down 63% compared to the target of 1.89 billion USD set by the Indonesian Government amid the shrunken revenue of PLN that has limited the firm’s investment capacity./.
Indonesia's state-owned electricity company PLN has axed a project to develop a coal-fired power plant as the country chases its long-delayed commitments to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
VNA Monday, July 04, 2022
Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia's state-owned electricity company PLN has axed a project to develop a coal-fired power plant as the country chases its long-delayed commitments to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
PLN vice president of corporate communications Gregorius Adi Trianto confirmed that the company had canceled its plan to build the 1-gigawatt (GW) plant in Indramayu, West Java.
It proactively stopped borrowing funds for the project as part of PLN's efforts to reach the country’s carbon neutral goal by 2060, Gregorius was quoted by local media as saying.
The project’s termination came after Japan announced that it had canceled a plan to provide a loan worth 1.7 billion (12.55 million USD) for developing the Indramayu plant amid growing international criticism of coal power plants, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, total investment in the power sector reached 700 million USD in the first quarter of 2022, down 63% compared to the target of 1.89 billion USD set by the Indonesian Government amid the shrunken revenue of PLN that has limited the firm’s investment capacity./.
Somalia: Severe Malnutrition Among Children Soars 300% Since January
The number of children in Somalia receiving treatment for the most dangerous form of malnutrition surged 300% in the first six months of 2022 as the worst drought in years tightened its grip on the country, Save the Children said today.
In June, doctors at a healthcare facility for children in Baidoa, southwest Somalia, run by Save the Children, treated a record 471 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition with other medical complications - four times more patients than in January.
Doctors said they were witnessing first-hand how a changing climate is fuelling a catastrophic hunger crisis. Dr. Farhiyo Mohamud Abdirahman has treated malnourished children at Save the Children’s stabilisation centre in Baidoa for more than two years and now works overtime regularly to cope with the increase in the number of patients.
"We’re facing a lot of new challenges compared to even two to three months ago. We don’t have enough beds, there are not enough rooms, and staff are working overtime," said Dr. Farhiyo Mohamud Abdirahman. "We are being pushed to our limits."
Four consecutive rainy seasons have failed in the Horn of Africa with forecasts for a fifth poor rainy season later this year, with the crisis compounded by rising food prices due to the war in Ukraine and the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. At least 18.5 million people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya have been affected by the drought, which began in October 2020 .
With no end in sight of the devastating drought, Somalia is now on the brink of famine, raising fears of a repeat of a 2011 famine which killed 260,000 people, about half of whom were children aged under five.
In the first half of 2022, Dr. Farhiyo Mohamud Abdirahman and her team treated 1,435 children for severe acute malnutrition, about 25% more patients than the whole of 2021. The health centre recently had to install two medical tents in its courtyard to accommodate the surge in demand for malnutrition treatment.
As drought continues to devastate large swathes of the country, the number of children dying from malnutrition is also skyrocketing. The stabilisation centre recorded 18 deaths in June, more than double the number from May and the highest figure at any other point in the past 12 months. Nearly 90% more children died from malnutrition at the centre in the first six months of 2022 than in the same period last year.
Somalia is facing one of the most severe emergencies in the worst global hunger crisis this century with action needed urgently to prevent a repeat of the 2011 catastrophe. However, only [Somalia%20Humanitarian%20Response%20Plan%202022%20|%20Financial%20Tracking%20Service%20(unocha.org)]30% of a UN appeal for US$1.5 billion to combat the crisis in Somalia has been funded.
Save the Children's Country Director for Somalia, Mohamud Mohamed Hassan said:
"We live in a world where we know how to prevent extreme hunger, yet hundreds of thousands of people still die from lack of food. Today, allowing hunger around the world is a political choice.
"For millions of children in Somalia and the Horn of Africa, time is running out. We’ve already seen the deadly consequences this drought is having on children. We cannot wait any longer to act. In some of the worst affected areas in Somalia, our health clinics are seeing four times as many children suffering from severe malnutrition compared to just six months ago and death rates are soaring."
Early international intervention during a severe drought in 2017 averted a repeat of the 2011 catastrophe. Humanitarian agencies are warning that without urgently needed funds now and lasting action to tackle climate change and its impacts, this year’s drought in Somalia could be even more devastating that the famine a decade ago. The last famine to be officially declared globally was in some areas of South Sudan in 2017.
At least 1.5 million children under five are acutely malnourished across Somalia, with more than 385,000 children at risk of dying without immediate care.
"When I first started working here, there were very few cases of severe malnutrition. Now, every day, severely malnourished children come to the clinic. And, they have more complications and more diseases than before," Dr. Farhiyo Mohamud Abdirahman continued.
Malnourished children are more susceptible to infections and other diseases, such as measles, pneumonia and cholera, putting their health at even greater risk.
Casho-, 33, lost two of her children to measles this year and the majority of her livestock have died during the drought. She explained that her family decided to relocate to a displacement camp in Baidoa in hopes of finding life-saving aid. She walked with her seven children for two consecutive days to reach the camp at Baidoa, leaving behind their home and once prosperous farm.
"The drought has affected us badly, especially children who suffered from diseases like measles. We used to rear animals and grow crops, but our animals died, and crops failed. Our children are sick. We are also sick. We are all suffering from hunger, young and old," said Casho.
With the majority of Somalia facing severe drought, displacement and poverty have become widespread throughout the country. Hundreds of thousands of people like Casho have been forced to flee their homes in search of food, clean water and medical care. However, hunger is still a daily reality in displacement camps.
"We did not eat last night or the night before. We have nothing. That is our situation," said Ali-, 15, who arrived at a displacement camp in Baidoa with his family in June. "We beg from the market for some maize or some money, and sometimes we return home with nothing and sleep on an empty stomach. Our farms are dry and we are starving. Our main problem is hunger."
Save the Children is working to help affected communities in Somalia cope with the immediate humanitarian effects of drought. The aid agency is providing emergency water supplies, treating malnourished children, supporting education systems so that children do not miss vital learning while displaced by drought, running health facilities, and providing cash and livelihood support to the most vulnerable.
UPDATED
Photos: All that happened in Sri Lanka on big day of protestsOn the island’s most chaotic day in months, protesters storm president’s residence and set PM’s home on fire in rage over the economic crisis.
Protesters demanding the resignation of Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa swim in a pool inside the compound of the President's House in Colombo. [AFP]
Published On 10 Jul 2022
Outrage over Sri Lanka’s collapsing economy came to a boil on Saturday when tens of thousands of protesters stormed the colonial-era residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and later set the prime minister’s house on fire.
The protesters, many holding the Sri Lankan flag, swarmed into Rajapaksa’s colonial-era fortified residence and the presidential secretariat.
Video images showed jubilant crowds splashing in the garden pool, lying on beds and using their mobile phone cameras to capture the moment.
Some made tea, while others issued statements from a conference room demanding that the president and the prime minister go for mismanaging the nation’s finances, and for the crippling food and fuel shortages.
The protesters later broke into Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence and set it on fire.
Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe were not in their residences when the buildings were attacked.
The events on Saturday were the culmination of months of anti-government protests fuelled by an unprecedented economic crisis that bankrupted the South Asian island nation.
Security forces attempted to disperse the huge crowds that had mobbed Colombo’s administrative district earlier in the day, with dozens injured in the resulting clashes.
A spokeswoman for Colombo’s main hospital said three people were being treated for gunshot wounds, along with 36 others suffering breathing difficulties after being caught up in tear gas barrages.
Wickremesinghe announced his resignation but said he would not step down until a new government is formed, angering protesters who demanded his immediate departure.
Sri Lanka has suffered through months of shortages of basic goods, lengthy blackouts and galloping inflation after running out of foreign currency to import necessities.
The government has defaulted on its $51bn external debt and is seeking an International Monetary Fund bailout.
Outrage over Sri Lanka’s collapsing economy came to a boil on Saturday when tens of thousands of protesters stormed the colonial-era residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and later set the prime minister’s house on fire.
The protesters, many holding the Sri Lankan flag, swarmed into Rajapaksa’s colonial-era fortified residence and the presidential secretariat.
Video images showed jubilant crowds splashing in the garden pool, lying on beds and using their mobile phone cameras to capture the moment.
Some made tea, while others issued statements from a conference room demanding that the president and the prime minister go for mismanaging the nation’s finances, and for the crippling food and fuel shortages.
The protesters later broke into Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence and set it on fire.
Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe were not in their residences when the buildings were attacked.
The events on Saturday were the culmination of months of anti-government protests fuelled by an unprecedented economic crisis that bankrupted the South Asian island nation.
Security forces attempted to disperse the huge crowds that had mobbed Colombo’s administrative district earlier in the day, with dozens injured in the resulting clashes.
A spokeswoman for Colombo’s main hospital said three people were being treated for gunshot wounds, along with 36 others suffering breathing difficulties after being caught up in tear gas barrages.
Wickremesinghe announced his resignation but said he would not step down until a new government is formed, angering protesters who demanded his immediate departure.
Sri Lanka has suffered through months of shortages of basic goods, lengthy blackouts and galloping inflation after running out of foreign currency to import necessities.
The government has defaulted on its $51bn external debt and is seeking an International Monetary Fund bailout.
Protesters storm the Sri Lankan president's official residence in Colombo. [Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo]
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Demonstrators inside the presidential house after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa reportedly fled. [Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters]
Protesters gather inside the Sri Lankan president's official residence in Colombo. [Amitha Thennakoon/AP Photo]
A demonstrator poses for a photograph after entering the president's house. [Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters]
Sri Lankan army members leave after demonstrators entered the president's official residence. [Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters]
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's private residence in Colombo. [Eranga Jayawardana/AP Photo]
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Police use water cannon to disperse demonstrators near the president's residence. [Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters]
Protesters react after police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd gathered in Colombo. [Amitha Thennakoon/AP Photo]
A spokeswoman for Colombo's main hospital said three people were being treated for gunshot wounds along with 36 others suffering breathing difficulties after being caught up in tear gas barrages. [AFP]
Protesters stand on a vandalised police water cannon truck and shout slogans at the entrance to the president's official residence. [Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo]
Storming the palace and then tidying up: Sri Lanka’s civil uprising
By Daniel Brettig
Updated July 10, 2022
Sri Lanka: After the revolution, the clean up.
In keeping with the rare balance of anger and civility that’s epitomised Sri Lanka’s Colombo uprising against president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, many protesters returned to the scene 24 hours later.
This time, they were not there for more demonstrations, nor to trash Rajapaksa’s official residence, where hundreds of citizens have availed themselves of the president’s luxury living in a time of privations. Instead, they were there to tidy up.
Protesters storm the Sri Lankan president’s official residence in Colombo on Saturday.CREDIT:AP
Those images of Sri Lankans playing the president’s piano, lounging on his bed, even showering in his bathroom and swimming in his pool, captured a moment when the nation’s anger over its economic and political turmoils was let loose.
Janith Weerasingha, owner of a small Colombo fishing business, told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald how demonstrators had pushed their way to the presidential palace.
“There were five barricades,” he said. “The protesters dismantled them one by one and by the time we were through the first barricade, water cannons were used to disperse the crowd.
Protesters take a dip in the president’s pool. CREDIT:AP
“We were in no mood to give up our struggle and since the protesters outnumbered the security personnel, we were able to get hold of one of the trucks that was employed to use water cannons. Then, we were tear-gassed. But the forward march was on.
“By the time we came into the last barricade, the police assaulted the protesters. Some were beaten up inhumanly. As more and more people made a push towards the final barricade, the forces gave up. And we were inside the Presidential Palace.”
The morning after, some protesters continued to mill around the president’s home. On a staircase sat a painting, emblazoned with the following sign: “It wasn’t Gota who drew the pictures. Don’t damage them.”
Outside, refuse from Saturday’s mass gathering was picked up, the Galle Face promenade was scoured, and the raucous scenes witnessed both in Colombo and Galle – where Australia and Sri Lanka are into day three of a Test match – were replaced by an eerie calm.
Partly, this was because of exhaustion. The effort to travel and protest at a time of massive fuel shortages was significant for many. Then there was the fact that in securing the resignations of Rajapaksa and the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, the people had achieved the outcomes they had been seeking for weeks.
Thirdly, and not for the first time, there was a collective recoil from the extremes of Saturday night, when Wickremesighe’s private residence was set alight after increasingly intimidatory behaviour by some police, against journalists and protesters alike. Weerasingha described the protesters as a broad church.
“This is a monumental place and I feared that there could be vandalism and looting,” he said. “Some protesters warned others not harm the belongings but not all of them are like-minded people.
“I had no idea how big the palace was until we entered in. It was a unique experience. The public had got very little clue about what it looked like. We had mostly seen it on TV during functions.
Protesters say they had not realised how expansive the presidential palace was. CREDIT:AP
“The vast dining rooms and kitchens had variety of foods including the finest imported stuff. The bar had a variety of single malts and the protesters were having a whale of a time.”
As was the case with massed protests on May 9, which had escalated into violence that saw five people killed, the flashpoints did not spiral any further into chaos. Instead, leaders on all sides of the political and economic divides called for calm.
While the dramatic scenes of Saturday may have helped force leadership change, practical solutions to the economic and logistical hole faced by Sri Lanka’s people are still some way off.
The island’s next shipment of desperately needed fuel will not arrive until July 13 – the same day Rajapaksa has said he will resign. The IMF stated on Sunday that it hopes for a resolution of the current turmoil to restart negotiations around how to address the nation’s enormous national debt.
‘We can barely think of buying food’: Life in Sri Lanka
“We are closely monitoring the ongoing developments in Sri Lanka,” the IMF said in a statement. “We hope for a resolution of the current situation that will allow for resumption of our dialogue on an IMF-supported program.“
Nevertheless, the repair job for Sri Lanka’s leaders may take years, even after the current cycle of debt, shortages and the breakdown of the country’s agriculture and food supply are addressed.
It will not be as simple as storming the presidential residence, nor cleaning up rubbish on the Galle Face. But the combination of determination and forbearance shown by Sri Lanka’s people, over the course of a largely peaceful uprising, will help.
“The protest has been going on for months urging the president to resign, given the economic crisis the country is facing,” Weerasingha said. “[Saturday] was going a step further to intensify the pressure. The mighty have fallen.”
By Daniel Brettig
Updated July 10, 2022
Sri Lanka: After the revolution, the clean up.
In keeping with the rare balance of anger and civility that’s epitomised Sri Lanka’s Colombo uprising against president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, many protesters returned to the scene 24 hours later.
This time, they were not there for more demonstrations, nor to trash Rajapaksa’s official residence, where hundreds of citizens have availed themselves of the president’s luxury living in a time of privations. Instead, they were there to tidy up.
Protesters storm the Sri Lankan president’s official residence in Colombo on Saturday.CREDIT:AP
Those images of Sri Lankans playing the president’s piano, lounging on his bed, even showering in his bathroom and swimming in his pool, captured a moment when the nation’s anger over its economic and political turmoils was let loose.
Janith Weerasingha, owner of a small Colombo fishing business, told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald how demonstrators had pushed their way to the presidential palace.
“There were five barricades,” he said. “The protesters dismantled them one by one and by the time we were through the first barricade, water cannons were used to disperse the crowd.
Protesters take a dip in the president’s pool. CREDIT:AP
“We were in no mood to give up our struggle and since the protesters outnumbered the security personnel, we were able to get hold of one of the trucks that was employed to use water cannons. Then, we were tear-gassed. But the forward march was on.
“By the time we came into the last barricade, the police assaulted the protesters. Some were beaten up inhumanly. As more and more people made a push towards the final barricade, the forces gave up. And we were inside the Presidential Palace.”
The morning after, some protesters continued to mill around the president’s home. On a staircase sat a painting, emblazoned with the following sign: “It wasn’t Gota who drew the pictures. Don’t damage them.”
Outside, refuse from Saturday’s mass gathering was picked up, the Galle Face promenade was scoured, and the raucous scenes witnessed both in Colombo and Galle – where Australia and Sri Lanka are into day three of a Test match – were replaced by an eerie calm.
Partly, this was because of exhaustion. The effort to travel and protest at a time of massive fuel shortages was significant for many. Then there was the fact that in securing the resignations of Rajapaksa and the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, the people had achieved the outcomes they had been seeking for weeks.
Thirdly, and not for the first time, there was a collective recoil from the extremes of Saturday night, when Wickremesighe’s private residence was set alight after increasingly intimidatory behaviour by some police, against journalists and protesters alike. Weerasingha described the protesters as a broad church.
“This is a monumental place and I feared that there could be vandalism and looting,” he said. “Some protesters warned others not harm the belongings but not all of them are like-minded people.
“I had no idea how big the palace was until we entered in. It was a unique experience. The public had got very little clue about what it looked like. We had mostly seen it on TV during functions.
Protesters say they had not realised how expansive the presidential palace was. CREDIT:AP
“The vast dining rooms and kitchens had variety of foods including the finest imported stuff. The bar had a variety of single malts and the protesters were having a whale of a time.”
As was the case with massed protests on May 9, which had escalated into violence that saw five people killed, the flashpoints did not spiral any further into chaos. Instead, leaders on all sides of the political and economic divides called for calm.
While the dramatic scenes of Saturday may have helped force leadership change, practical solutions to the economic and logistical hole faced by Sri Lanka’s people are still some way off.
The island’s next shipment of desperately needed fuel will not arrive until July 13 – the same day Rajapaksa has said he will resign. The IMF stated on Sunday that it hopes for a resolution of the current turmoil to restart negotiations around how to address the nation’s enormous national debt.
‘We can barely think of buying food’: Life in Sri Lanka
“We are closely monitoring the ongoing developments in Sri Lanka,” the IMF said in a statement. “We hope for a resolution of the current situation that will allow for resumption of our dialogue on an IMF-supported program.“
Nevertheless, the repair job for Sri Lanka’s leaders may take years, even after the current cycle of debt, shortages and the breakdown of the country’s agriculture and food supply are addressed.
It will not be as simple as storming the presidential residence, nor cleaning up rubbish on the Galle Face. But the combination of determination and forbearance shown by Sri Lanka’s people, over the course of a largely peaceful uprising, will help.
“The protest has been going on for months urging the president to resign, given the economic crisis the country is facing,” Weerasingha said. “[Saturday] was going a step further to intensify the pressure. The mighty have fallen.”
Anti-govt protesters in Sri Lanka claim they find millions of rupees inside President's house
Authorities have informed that they will take steps to announce the ground situation after probing the relevant facts
Hundreds of anti-government protesters on Saturday stormed into Rajapaksa's residence in central Colombo's high-security Fort area
Twitter/@eicvsfascism
| Colombo | Published 10.07.22, 11:58 AM
The anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka who stormed embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence have claimed to have recovered millions of rupees inside his mansion, according to a media report on Sunday.
A video is being shared on social media showing the protesters counting the currency notes that were unearthed. The recovered money was said to be handed over to the security units, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.
Authorities have informed that they will take steps to announce the ground situation after probing the relevant facts, the daily reported.
Hundreds of anti-government protesters on Saturday stormed into Rajapaksa's residence in central Colombo's high-security Fort area after breaking the barricades, as they demanded his resignation over the island nation's worst economic crisis in recent memory. Another group of protesters entered the private residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and set it on fire.
The President's whereabouts is still not known. His only communication outside since the protesters stormed into the city has been with the Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, who announced late Saturday night that the President would resign on Wednesday.
President Rajapaksa informed the Speaker about this decision to quit after Abeywardena wrote to him seeking his resignation following the all-party meeting of leaders held Saturday evening.
The Speaker would become the acting President in the absence of both the President and the Prime Minister. Later, an election among MPs must happen to elect a new President. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has also offered to resign.
In May, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's elder brother and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had to quit in the face of massive anti-government protests.
The Rajapaksa brothers, Mahinda and Gotabaya, were hailed by many in Sri Lanka as heroes for winning the civil war against the LTTE but they are now blamed for the country's worst economic crisis.
The expected exit of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday and the resignation of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister in May is a dramatic fall from grace for a powerful family that has dominated Sri Lankan politics for more than a decade.
Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, crippled by an acute shortage of foreign exchange that has left it struggling to pay for essential imports of fuel, and other essentials.
The country, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted in foreign debt default, had announced in April that it is suspending nearly USD 7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this year out of about USD 25 billion due through 2026.
Sri Lanka's total foreign debt stands at USD 51 billion.
Watch: Hotel offers water, takes in protestors tear-gassed by the police in Sri Lanka
Galadari Hotel in Colombo opened its doors to shelter protestors.
Sri Lanka president, PM to resign after tumultuous protests
COLOMBO
Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister agreed to resign on July 10 after the country’s most chaotic day in months of political turmoil, with protesters storming both officials’ homes and setting fire to one of the buildings in a rage over the nation’s severe economic crisis.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he will leave office once a new government is in place, and hours later the speaker of Parliament said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would step down Wednesday. Pressure on both men grew as the economic meltdown set off acute shortages of essential items, leaving people struggling to buy food, fuel and other necessities.
Police had attempted to thwart promised protests with a curfew, then lifted it as lawyers and opposition politicians denounced it as illegal. Thousands of protesters entered the capital, Colombo, and swarmed into Rajapaksa’s fortified residence.
Video images showed jubilant crowds splashing in the garden pool, lying on beds and using their cellphone cameras to capture the moment. Some made tea, while others issued statements from a conference room demanding that the president and prime minister go.
It was not clear if Rajapaksa was there at the time, and government spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said he had no information about the president’s movements.
Protesters later broke into the prime minister’s private residence and set it on fire, Wickremesinghe’s office said. It wasn’t immediately clear if he was there when the incursion happened.
Earlier, police fired tear gas at protesters who gathered in the streets to march on the presidential residence, waving flags, banging drums and chanting slogans. In all, more than 30 people were hurt in Saturday’s chaos.
Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said in a televised statement that he informed Rajapaksa that parliamentary leaders had met and decided to request he leave office, and the president agreed. However, Rajapaksa will remain temporarily to ensure a smooth transfer of power, Abeywardena added.
“He asked me to inform the country that he will make his resignation on Wednesday the 13th, because there is a need to hand over power peacefully,” Abeywardena said.
“Therefore there is no need for further disturbances in the country, and I urge everyone for the sake of the country to maintain peace to enable a smooth transition,” the speaker continued.
Opposition lawmaker Rauff Hakeem said a consensus was reached for the speaker of Parliament to take over as temporary president and work on an interim government.
Wickremesinghe announced his own impending resignation but said he would not step down until a new government is formed, angering protesters who demanded his immediate departure.
“Today in this country we have a fuel crisis, a food shortage, we have the head of the World Food Program coming here and we have several matters to discuss with the IMF,” Wickremesinghe said. “Therefore, if this government leaves there should be another government.”
Wickremesinghe said he suggested to the president to have an all-party government, but did not say anything about Rajapaksa’s whereabouts. Opposition parties were discussing the formation of a new government.
Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister in May in the hope that the career politician would use his diplomacy and contacts to resuscitate a collapsed economy. But people’s patience wore thin as shortages of fuel, medicine and cooking gas only increased and oil reserves ran dry. Authorities have also temporarily shuttered schools.
The country is relying on aid from India and other nations as leaders try to negotiate a bailout with the International Monetary Fund. Wickremesinghe said recently that negotiations with the IMF were complex because Sri Lanka was now a bankrupt state.
Sri Lanka announced in April that it was suspending repayment of foreign loans due to a foreign currency shortage. Its total foreign debt amounts to $51 billion, of which it must repay $28 billion by the end of 2027.
Months of demonstrations have all but dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades but is accused by protesters of mismanagement and corruption. The president’s older brother resigned as prime minister in May after violent protests saw him seek safety at a naval base.
With fuel costs making other forms of travel impossible for many, protesters crowded onto buses and trains Saturday to get to the capital, while others made their way on bicycles and on foot. At the president’s seaside office, security personnel tried in vain to stop protesters who pushed through fences to run across the lawns and inside the colonial-era building.
At least 34 people including two police officers were hurt in scuffles. Two were in critical condition, while others sustained minor injuries, according to an official at the Colombo National Hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Privately owned Sirasa Television said at least six of its workers, including four reporters, were hospitalized after being beaten by police while covering the protest at the prime minister’s home.
Sri Lanka Medical Council, the country’s top professional body, warned that hospitals were running with minimum resources and would not be able to handle any mass casualties from the unrest.
Protest and religious leaders said Rajapaksa has lost his mandate and it is time for him to go.
“His claim that he was voted in by the Sinhala Buddhists is not valid now,” said Omalpe Sobitha, a prominent Buddhist leader. He urged Parliament to convene immediately to select an interim president.
U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung on Friday asked people to protest peacefully and called for the military and police “to grant peaceful protesters the space and security to do so.”
“Chaos & force will not fix the economy or bring the political stability that Sri Lankans need right now,” Chung tweeted.
COLOMBO
Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister agreed to resign on July 10 after the country’s most chaotic day in months of political turmoil, with protesters storming both officials’ homes and setting fire to one of the buildings in a rage over the nation’s severe economic crisis.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he will leave office once a new government is in place, and hours later the speaker of Parliament said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would step down Wednesday. Pressure on both men grew as the economic meltdown set off acute shortages of essential items, leaving people struggling to buy food, fuel and other necessities.
Police had attempted to thwart promised protests with a curfew, then lifted it as lawyers and opposition politicians denounced it as illegal. Thousands of protesters entered the capital, Colombo, and swarmed into Rajapaksa’s fortified residence.
Video images showed jubilant crowds splashing in the garden pool, lying on beds and using their cellphone cameras to capture the moment. Some made tea, while others issued statements from a conference room demanding that the president and prime minister go.
It was not clear if Rajapaksa was there at the time, and government spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said he had no information about the president’s movements.
Protesters later broke into the prime minister’s private residence and set it on fire, Wickremesinghe’s office said. It wasn’t immediately clear if he was there when the incursion happened.
Earlier, police fired tear gas at protesters who gathered in the streets to march on the presidential residence, waving flags, banging drums and chanting slogans. In all, more than 30 people were hurt in Saturday’s chaos.
Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said in a televised statement that he informed Rajapaksa that parliamentary leaders had met and decided to request he leave office, and the president agreed. However, Rajapaksa will remain temporarily to ensure a smooth transfer of power, Abeywardena added.
“He asked me to inform the country that he will make his resignation on Wednesday the 13th, because there is a need to hand over power peacefully,” Abeywardena said.
“Therefore there is no need for further disturbances in the country, and I urge everyone for the sake of the country to maintain peace to enable a smooth transition,” the speaker continued.
Opposition lawmaker Rauff Hakeem said a consensus was reached for the speaker of Parliament to take over as temporary president and work on an interim government.
Wickremesinghe announced his own impending resignation but said he would not step down until a new government is formed, angering protesters who demanded his immediate departure.
“Today in this country we have a fuel crisis, a food shortage, we have the head of the World Food Program coming here and we have several matters to discuss with the IMF,” Wickremesinghe said. “Therefore, if this government leaves there should be another government.”
Wickremesinghe said he suggested to the president to have an all-party government, but did not say anything about Rajapaksa’s whereabouts. Opposition parties were discussing the formation of a new government.
Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister in May in the hope that the career politician would use his diplomacy and contacts to resuscitate a collapsed economy. But people’s patience wore thin as shortages of fuel, medicine and cooking gas only increased and oil reserves ran dry. Authorities have also temporarily shuttered schools.
The country is relying on aid from India and other nations as leaders try to negotiate a bailout with the International Monetary Fund. Wickremesinghe said recently that negotiations with the IMF were complex because Sri Lanka was now a bankrupt state.
Sri Lanka announced in April that it was suspending repayment of foreign loans due to a foreign currency shortage. Its total foreign debt amounts to $51 billion, of which it must repay $28 billion by the end of 2027.
Months of demonstrations have all but dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades but is accused by protesters of mismanagement and corruption. The president’s older brother resigned as prime minister in May after violent protests saw him seek safety at a naval base.
With fuel costs making other forms of travel impossible for many, protesters crowded onto buses and trains Saturday to get to the capital, while others made their way on bicycles and on foot. At the president’s seaside office, security personnel tried in vain to stop protesters who pushed through fences to run across the lawns and inside the colonial-era building.
At least 34 people including two police officers were hurt in scuffles. Two were in critical condition, while others sustained minor injuries, according to an official at the Colombo National Hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Privately owned Sirasa Television said at least six of its workers, including four reporters, were hospitalized after being beaten by police while covering the protest at the prime minister’s home.
Sri Lanka Medical Council, the country’s top professional body, warned that hospitals were running with minimum resources and would not be able to handle any mass casualties from the unrest.
Protest and religious leaders said Rajapaksa has lost his mandate and it is time for him to go.
“His claim that he was voted in by the Sinhala Buddhists is not valid now,” said Omalpe Sobitha, a prominent Buddhist leader. He urged Parliament to convene immediately to select an interim president.
U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung on Friday asked people to protest peacefully and called for the military and police “to grant peaceful protesters the space and security to do so.”
“Chaos & force will not fix the economy or bring the political stability that Sri Lankans need right now,” Chung tweeted.
German Berlinale film festival calls for release of award-winning Iranian director
Golden Bear-winning Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof was arrested after supporting protesters. He was unable to attend the Berlinale in 2020 as his passport had been confiscated.
The two directors were arrested after writing a letter in support of protests over a collapsed building in Abadan
Germany's Berlinale film festival on Saturday expressed its shock at the arrest in Iran of the director Mohammad Rasoulof, who won the festival's top prize in 2020.
Rasoulof was arrested on Friday, along with his colleague Mostafa Al-Ahmad, following a social media post. They were charged with incitement of the people.
"It is shocking that artists are imprisoned for their peaceful opposition to violence," said Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, who manage the Berlinale.
"We demand that the Iranian authorities immediately release the two directors," they said.
Regime-critical director
Rasoulof won the Berlinale's Golden Bear award for best film in 2020 for his production "There is No Evil."His film deals with social issues in Iran and was considered a criticism of the theocratic regime.
The director splits his time between Tehran and the German city of Hamburg. Despite being banned from working in the industry by the Iranian government, he has continued to make films.
His passport was confiscated in 2017, after his film "A Man of Integrity" made its premiere at the Cannes film festival in France. This meant that he was unable to leave Iran and travel to Berlin to accept his Golden Bear in 2020.
Protests over deadly building collapse
The social media post that got the two artists into trouble involved a joint letter calling on security forces to "lay down their arms" in response to the mass protests in the southwestern city of Abadan following the collapse of a building on May 23 that killed 43 people.
The protesters have called for those responsible for the collapse to be prosecuted. Police have clamped down on the dissent with tear gas, warning shots and arrests.
Public anger has also been stoked by rising prices, with some people blaming the failure of the regime to make a breakthrough on ending US sanctions by rejoining the 2015 nuclear agreement.
"In the midst of the heartbreaking incident in Abadan's Metropol, [the filmmakers] were involved in inciting unrest and disrupting the psychological security of society," Iranian state-run news agency IRNA said.
A prominent government critic and former minister, Mostafa Tajzadeh, was also arrested on Friday for similar charges.
ab/jcg (dpa, KNA, AFP, Reuters)
Shinzo Abe's death isn't Japan's first political assassination
By Catherine Taylor for the ABC
The calm and ordered veneer that has become a hallmark of Japanese society was shockingly ripped away on Friday when the country's former prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot at close range and killed while giving a political campaign speech in the historic town of Nara, not far from Kyoto.
Photo: AFP
Noted as one of the safest countries in the world, with a percentile rank of 87.5 for absence of violence and political violence in 2020, Abe's assassination seemed radically at odds with that image.
Yet while Japan's safe image is justified, the country is also well known for sporadic but significant examples of politically motivated violence.
In fact, this isn't the first time Abe has been targeted. In 2000, prior to becoming prime minister, the Kudo-kai yakuza group attacked his home with Molotov cocktails.
Nor is it the first time an assassination has been caught on camera.
In the 1960s the leader of the Japan Socialist Party, Inejiro Asanuma, was assassinated while he gave a televised political speech, by a 17-year-old ultranationalist with a wakizashi - a samurai short sword.
Japanese Socialist Party chairman Inejiro Asanuma was assassinated on live television while giving a speech at a political debate in 1960. Photo: AFP
Political assassinations
Japan has a long history of political assassinations, with several sitting or former prime ministers targeted.
In 1909 Ito Hirobumi, who was Japan's first prime minister, was shot by a Korean nationalist as he arrived at the Harbin railway station in what is now China to meet Russia's representative to Manchuria.
Hara Takashi is another sitting prime minister who was assassinated as he waited for a train to a party conference in Kyoto in 1921. His assassin, Nakaoka Kon'ichi, believed Hara was corrupt and planned to pass universal suffrage.
But it was the 1930s when a spate of assassinations made the role of Japanese prime minister very dangerous indeed.
In 1931 Japanese prime minister Hamaguchi Osachi died from infected wounds sustained in a 1930 assassination attempt by far-right group Aikokusha.
A year later, self-styled Buddhist preacher Nisshō Inoue founded a far-right militant organisation called Ketsumeidan - or League of Blood - designed to push for political reforms through violence. His slogan, "one person, one kill", led to a list of 20 politicians and business leaders who he planned to assassinate as a method for restoring political power to Japan's Emperor.
In 1932 he distributed automatic pistols to his followers but only two carried out the plan - killing former finance minister Junnosuke Inoue and businessman Dan Takuma.
Inukai Tsuyoshi - prime minister for just six months - was shot by 11 junior Navy officers at his home in Tokyo in May 1932. Inukai had been attempting to rein in the power of the military and wanted to limit troop deployment with China. The original plan included killing film star Charlie Chaplin who had arrived in Japan the day before as Inukai's guest. But Chaplin was watching a sumo match when the assassins struck and was not at home.
The last prime ministerial assassination in Japan was 86 years ago, where two former leaders were killed on one day along with other politicians in an attempted coup in 1936.
The first was Takahashi Korekiyo, who was in office from 1921-1922. Following his political career, Takahashi worked for the Bank of Japan and introduced a series of controversial policies. But it was his decision to cut government spending, and ensuing unrest within the Japanese military, that saw him targeted. Viscount Saitō Makoto - PM in 1932-34 - was also shot dead at home.
People lay a bouquet of flowers and offer a plastic bottle with a Japanese national flag at the site where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot to death near Yamato Saidaiji Station in Nara Prefecture on July 8, 2022. Photo: OSAMU KANAZAWA
The far right, the far left and the Yakuza
Violent militant groups representing the far left and far right have also been a feature of Japan's political scene.
The Japanese Red Army or JRA carried out multiple attacks around the world during the 1970s and 1980s including airline hijackings and hostage taking.
Co-founder and leader Fusako Shigenobu was arrested in Osaka in 2000 for her part in the 1974 attack on the French Embassy in the Netherlands. She was released just this year, in May.
Ultranationalist far right groups, known as Uyoku dantai in Japanese, are also active in Japan, with the National Police Agency estimating as many as 1000 groups operate with up to 100,000 members.
These groups engage in a wide range of activities including non-violent ones such as using noisy trucks with loudspeakers that drive through the streets promoting Japanese nationalism.
One of these right-wing groups - Aikokusha, or the Society of Patriots - was responsible for the 1930 assassination attempt on Prime Minister Hamguchi Osachi.
Many of the right-wing groups are affiliated with Japan's so-called yakuza - mafia-style criminal gangs that operate widely in the country controlling drugs and human trafficking as well as collecting feudal tax and extortion as forms of protection rackets.
Competition and rivalry between yakuza gangs can lead to violent battles for control.
The Kudo-kai based in Japan's southern island of Kyushu is particularly feared for its violence.
In 1998 a 70-year-old man was gunned down in broad daylight for allegedly refusing to give special treatment to yakuza in a public works deal.
Kudo-kai has also thrown grenades at the home of executives of Kyushu Electric Power, and were the group that attacked Abe in 2000.
Shinzo Abe with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in 2018. Photo: AFP
Shoko Asahara. Photo: AFP
Aum Shinrikyo and the sarin gas attacks
Another infamous political movement in Japan's history was the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo.
Aum Shinrikyo is a designated terrorist group in the EU as well as Canada, Russia and Kazakhstan. This year the US added the group to its list of terrorist groups.
Founded in 1987 by Shoko Asahara, the group is best known for two deadly sarin gas attacks, but they've also carried out murders, kidnappings and tried to manufacture 1000 assault rifles.
In 1994 the group released sarin in the city of Mansumoto, using a converted refrigerator truck to spread a cloud of gas close to the homes of judges overseeing a lawsuit predicted to go against the cult.
The attacked killed eight people and 500 more fell ill.
A police investigation failed to identify Aum Shinrikyo as the perpetrator of the attack and so its activities continued.
A few months later another sarin attack - this time in Osaka - was followed by a much larger attack on the Tokyo subway in which 13 people were killed and more than 980 injured, 54 seriously.
The full scale of the cult's activities was now under investigation. Asahara and more than 150 of the organisation's members were arrested and charged with various offences including 23 counts of murder.
In 2018 Asahara and 12 followers were executed but a new generation, using a new name - Aleph - is now active.
In 2019 a sympathiser drove a car into Harajuku's famous Takeshita Street in Tokyo to protest the execution of Asahara and his cult members. Nine people were injured.
- ABC
By Catherine Taylor for the ABC
The calm and ordered veneer that has become a hallmark of Japanese society was shockingly ripped away on Friday when the country's former prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot at close range and killed while giving a political campaign speech in the historic town of Nara, not far from Kyoto.
Photo: AFP
Noted as one of the safest countries in the world, with a percentile rank of 87.5 for absence of violence and political violence in 2020, Abe's assassination seemed radically at odds with that image.
Yet while Japan's safe image is justified, the country is also well known for sporadic but significant examples of politically motivated violence.
In fact, this isn't the first time Abe has been targeted. In 2000, prior to becoming prime minister, the Kudo-kai yakuza group attacked his home with Molotov cocktails.
Nor is it the first time an assassination has been caught on camera.
In the 1960s the leader of the Japan Socialist Party, Inejiro Asanuma, was assassinated while he gave a televised political speech, by a 17-year-old ultranationalist with a wakizashi - a samurai short sword.
Japanese Socialist Party chairman Inejiro Asanuma was assassinated on live television while giving a speech at a political debate in 1960. Photo: AFP
Political assassinations
Japan has a long history of political assassinations, with several sitting or former prime ministers targeted.
In 1909 Ito Hirobumi, who was Japan's first prime minister, was shot by a Korean nationalist as he arrived at the Harbin railway station in what is now China to meet Russia's representative to Manchuria.
Hara Takashi is another sitting prime minister who was assassinated as he waited for a train to a party conference in Kyoto in 1921. His assassin, Nakaoka Kon'ichi, believed Hara was corrupt and planned to pass universal suffrage.
But it was the 1930s when a spate of assassinations made the role of Japanese prime minister very dangerous indeed.
In 1931 Japanese prime minister Hamaguchi Osachi died from infected wounds sustained in a 1930 assassination attempt by far-right group Aikokusha.
A year later, self-styled Buddhist preacher Nisshō Inoue founded a far-right militant organisation called Ketsumeidan - or League of Blood - designed to push for political reforms through violence. His slogan, "one person, one kill", led to a list of 20 politicians and business leaders who he planned to assassinate as a method for restoring political power to Japan's Emperor.
In 1932 he distributed automatic pistols to his followers but only two carried out the plan - killing former finance minister Junnosuke Inoue and businessman Dan Takuma.
Inukai Tsuyoshi - prime minister for just six months - was shot by 11 junior Navy officers at his home in Tokyo in May 1932. Inukai had been attempting to rein in the power of the military and wanted to limit troop deployment with China. The original plan included killing film star Charlie Chaplin who had arrived in Japan the day before as Inukai's guest. But Chaplin was watching a sumo match when the assassins struck and was not at home.
The last prime ministerial assassination in Japan was 86 years ago, where two former leaders were killed on one day along with other politicians in an attempted coup in 1936.
The first was Takahashi Korekiyo, who was in office from 1921-1922. Following his political career, Takahashi worked for the Bank of Japan and introduced a series of controversial policies. But it was his decision to cut government spending, and ensuing unrest within the Japanese military, that saw him targeted. Viscount Saitō Makoto - PM in 1932-34 - was also shot dead at home.
People lay a bouquet of flowers and offer a plastic bottle with a Japanese national flag at the site where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot to death near Yamato Saidaiji Station in Nara Prefecture on July 8, 2022. Photo: OSAMU KANAZAWA
The far right, the far left and the Yakuza
Violent militant groups representing the far left and far right have also been a feature of Japan's political scene.
The Japanese Red Army or JRA carried out multiple attacks around the world during the 1970s and 1980s including airline hijackings and hostage taking.
Co-founder and leader Fusako Shigenobu was arrested in Osaka in 2000 for her part in the 1974 attack on the French Embassy in the Netherlands. She was released just this year, in May.
Ultranationalist far right groups, known as Uyoku dantai in Japanese, are also active in Japan, with the National Police Agency estimating as many as 1000 groups operate with up to 100,000 members.
These groups engage in a wide range of activities including non-violent ones such as using noisy trucks with loudspeakers that drive through the streets promoting Japanese nationalism.
One of these right-wing groups - Aikokusha, or the Society of Patriots - was responsible for the 1930 assassination attempt on Prime Minister Hamguchi Osachi.
Many of the right-wing groups are affiliated with Japan's so-called yakuza - mafia-style criminal gangs that operate widely in the country controlling drugs and human trafficking as well as collecting feudal tax and extortion as forms of protection rackets.
Competition and rivalry between yakuza gangs can lead to violent battles for control.
The Kudo-kai based in Japan's southern island of Kyushu is particularly feared for its violence.
In 1998 a 70-year-old man was gunned down in broad daylight for allegedly refusing to give special treatment to yakuza in a public works deal.
Kudo-kai has also thrown grenades at the home of executives of Kyushu Electric Power, and were the group that attacked Abe in 2000.
Shinzo Abe with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in 2018. Photo: AFP
Anpo protests
Japan has also had a violent protest reminiscent of the January 6 attacks on the Capitol building in Washington.
A series of huge public demonstrations held during 1959 and 1960, and again in 1970, were designed to protest Japan's security treaty with the US that allowed US military bases to be built on Japanese soil.
In June 1960 hundreds of thousands of protesters surrounded Japan's parliament building in Tokyo every day.
On June 15 protesters attacked the building itself, smashing their way inside and clashing violently with police. Soon after 6.4 million Japanese workers went on strike, the largest in history.
A Tokyo University student, Michiko Kanba, was killed. A planned visit to Japan by US president Dwight D. Eisenhower was cancelled and Japan's prime minister Nobusuke Kishi resigned.
Japan has also had a violent protest reminiscent of the January 6 attacks on the Capitol building in Washington.
A series of huge public demonstrations held during 1959 and 1960, and again in 1970, were designed to protest Japan's security treaty with the US that allowed US military bases to be built on Japanese soil.
In June 1960 hundreds of thousands of protesters surrounded Japan's parliament building in Tokyo every day.
On June 15 protesters attacked the building itself, smashing their way inside and clashing violently with police. Soon after 6.4 million Japanese workers went on strike, the largest in history.
A Tokyo University student, Michiko Kanba, was killed. A planned visit to Japan by US president Dwight D. Eisenhower was cancelled and Japan's prime minister Nobusuke Kishi resigned.
Shoko Asahara. Photo: AFP
Aum Shinrikyo and the sarin gas attacks
Another infamous political movement in Japan's history was the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo.
Aum Shinrikyo is a designated terrorist group in the EU as well as Canada, Russia and Kazakhstan. This year the US added the group to its list of terrorist groups.
Founded in 1987 by Shoko Asahara, the group is best known for two deadly sarin gas attacks, but they've also carried out murders, kidnappings and tried to manufacture 1000 assault rifles.
In 1994 the group released sarin in the city of Mansumoto, using a converted refrigerator truck to spread a cloud of gas close to the homes of judges overseeing a lawsuit predicted to go against the cult.
The attacked killed eight people and 500 more fell ill.
A police investigation failed to identify Aum Shinrikyo as the perpetrator of the attack and so its activities continued.
A few months later another sarin attack - this time in Osaka - was followed by a much larger attack on the Tokyo subway in which 13 people were killed and more than 980 injured, 54 seriously.
The full scale of the cult's activities was now under investigation. Asahara and more than 150 of the organisation's members were arrested and charged with various offences including 23 counts of murder.
In 2018 Asahara and 12 followers were executed but a new generation, using a new name - Aleph - is now active.
In 2019 a sympathiser drove a car into Harajuku's famous Takeshita Street in Tokyo to protest the execution of Asahara and his cult members. Nine people were injured.
- ABC
REACTIONARY KULAKS
Dutch farmers bring towns to a standstill in backlash against emissions reductionsBy Joe Barnes
July 10, 2022 —
Amsterdam: Lauded by Mick Jagger and vilified by their own prime minister, Dutch farmers are giving Europe a taste of the backlash it faces in its drive towards net-zero emissions.
Huge protests have swept the Netherlands – triggered by the introduction of laws designed to cut nitrogen and ammonia emissions by up to 95 per cent in certain areas – from the country’s agricultural sector.
Protesting farmers talk at a blockade outside a distribution centre for supermarket chain Aldi in the town of Drachten, northern Netherlands, on July 4.CREDIT:AP
Inspired by the freedom convoys that began in Canada, where truckers brought major roads to a standstill in protests at COVID vaccine mandates, tractors are blockading supermarkets and industrial complexes across the Netherlands, at a cost of tens of millions of euros to businesses and the economy.
The demonstrations, some of which have turned violent, materialise at short notice and are organised via secretive channels on the Telegram app.
They are a sign of the growing discontent among European farmers faced with spiralling fertiliser costs owing to the war in Ukraine and demands to cut down on emissions. In Britain, unions have urged the government to give them more time to overhaul their businesses to make them more sustainable.
The working-class uprising has not only won over the support of Mick Jagger and popular conservative broadcasters in the US, the Dutch public are also siding with the farmers.
Protesting farmers block a draw bridge at a lock in the Princess Margriet canal, preventing all ship traffic from passing in Gaarkeuken, northern Netherlands.CREDIT:AP
Recent polling showed the Farmers’ Party, formed three years ago in response to the climate laws, would secure 11 parliamentary seats if a general election was to be held now. Dutch fishermen have also joined the protests, blockading ports.
Earlier this week police opened fire on 16-year-old Jouke Hospes who was driving one of his father’s tractors, and two others, at a demonstration in the Friesland region.
On Friday, hundreds of businesses across three towns were brought to a complete standstill by three separate demonstrations, which came and went with very little warning.
One of the main targets for the farmers are supermarket warehouses, which has resulted in empty shelves.
But the demonstrators insist it is not their wish to infuriate their fellow countrymen, but to force the government to stage a referendum on their climate change legislation.
At their protest in Eerbeek, a small town about 100 kilometres from Amsterdam, farmers moved their tractors to make room for two funeral processions to pass their blockade and handed out food and coffee to the policemen drafted in to watch over them.
The festival-like atmosphere was a stark contrast to the violent clashes between demonstrators and law enforcers at recent protests, including during a blockade of Groningen airport.
Their fight to protect family businesses, some of which have been passed down from fathers to sons over two centuries, has had a polarising effect.
Jagger, frontman of the Rolling Stones, gave the farmers a celebratory shout-out. “Are there any farmers in the house?” he asked his audience at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.
In contrast, Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, has described them as “assholes” in private and publicly raised questions over their right to protest.
“It is not acceptable to create dangerous situations, it is not acceptable to intimidate officials,” he said last week.
Back in Eerbeek, where demonstrators blockaded an industrial estate, on which 113 firms are based, Rutte was accused of going into hiding and refusing to negotiate with the farmers.
“Where is our prime minister, this country is on fire and the farmers are standing up to the government,” a spokesman said, while giving a hastily arranged press conference from atop of a hay bale.
“Their rules and regulations seem not to be political,” she added. “The rules and regulations are ‘scientific’, and you can’t stand up against that.”
The Telegraph, London
The Aids activists who took on big pharma in South Africa –
Jul 10, 2022
BBC News
In the late 1990s cases of HIV/Aids soared in South Africa.
By 1998 almost 3 million people were infected, and Aids was the country’s leading cause of death.
Yet anti-retroviral drugs were too expensive for all but the richest South Africans.
Activists began a long campaign for the right to import and use cheaper versions of the vital drugs.
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