Armed protest quelled inside overcrowded British detention center
By Simon Druker


Detainees at the Harmondsworth immgration removal center near London armed themselves and staged a “disturbance” on Saturday. Photo courtesy of detentionaction.org


Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Detainees at an immigration removal center near London armed themselves and staged a "disturbance" on Saturday, Britain's Home Office said.

The protest began after an early-morning power outage when the detainees left their rooms and congregated in the courtyard of the Harmondsworth detention center.

They eventually returned to their rooms and nobody was injured, the Home Office reported, saying they did have various weaponry.

Dozens of detainees were armed with knives and lumps of wood, CNN reported.

Members from the Metropolitan Police were called in to assist.

The detention center is located not far from the city's Heathrow Airport and houses hundreds of people, ranging from adult male asylum seekers to foreign offenders awaiting deportation as well as men who are in Britain illegally.

British officials raised concerns less than a week ago about overcrowding and other issues at the facility as well as the country's migration system as a whole.

Conservative lawmaker Roger Gale called the entire system "wholly unacceptable" as it currently stands. Gale made the comments outside the Manston migration center in Kent, in southeast England, which houses 4,000 people despite being designed to hold only 1,500.

"[Staff are] trying to do a good job under impossible circumstances," Gale told reporters Monday.

About 100 people at the Harmondsworth detention center were due to be moved to Manson on Saturday, before the protest broke out, despite the overcrowding issue.

This follows a separate incident at an immigration center in Dover on Oct. 30.

During the attack, a number of crude incendiary devices were thrown outside the premises by a man who arrived at the scene alone in a car.

Police say that attack was "motivated by a terrorist ideology."

Riot police deployed following 'disturbance' at London detention centre

Home Office says authorities have been sent to Harmondsworth centre in west London

The Harmondsworth Detention Centre near Heathrow airport. AFP

The National
Nov 05, 2022

Police and riot teams have reportedly been deployed to Harmondsworth detention centre following an overnight disturbance.

It occurred after a power outage at the west London centre, a Home Office spokesperson told Sky News. No one has been reported injured, and power was still down at the site as of 9am local time.

It comes as the Home Office comes under fire over its treatment of migrants and asylum seekers held at detention centres, and Home Secretary Suella Braverman's claim of a migrant "invasion."

It withdrew an earlier claim that detainees "armed with various weaponry" left their rooms and entered the courtyard.
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Work is currently under way to resolve the issue and the appropriate authorities have been notified and are on the scene, the Home Office added.

Around 100 inmates staged a protest in the courtyard after the power outage, The Guardian reported.

The protest halted a move of about 100 residents to the Manston processing centre in Kent, it added as authorities were preoccupied with the power outage.

No one held at the site is said to have left the premises, known as the Colnbrook immigration removal centre, located close to Heathrow Airport.

In July, a demonstration was held outside the centre over plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

The disturbance comes less than a week after a man threw petrol bombs at a migrant centre in the southern port town of Dover. The suspect was later found dead.

Dover is the focal point of British processing of asylum seekers as the country tries to curb the number of people trying to sail the dangerous English Channel route.

The entrance to the Manston immigration holding facility. AP

Nearly 40,000 have arrived in the UK so far this year after attempting the treacherous trip from France, crossing one of the world's busiest shipping lanes in dinghies and other small boats.

Conditions at Manston have also drawn ire.

The Refugee Council has called for "urgent action" to tackle conditions at the site, which is holding at least 1,000 people more than its capacity.

The situation in Manston is not what it should be,” cabinet minister Michael Gove said last week, adding the situation at the centre is "deeply concerning."

Prison-like center puts focus on UK’s response to migrants

By SYLVIA HUI

yesterday

1 of 10

A young girl runs towards the fence carrying a message in a bottle inside the Manston immigration short-term holding facility located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, England, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. Details about overcrowding and inhumane conditions at a migrant processing center in southeast England have shocked Britain and reignited a heated debate about how the Conservative government is handling a sharp increase in the number of asylum-seekers arriving on U.K. shores. (Gareth Fuller/PA via AP)


LONDON (AP) — Behind wire fences in southeast England, children wave their arms and chant “freedom” to grab the attention of people on the other side. A young girl throws a bottle with a message inside. “We need your help. Please help us,” the note reads.

The children are among thousands of people being held in dangerously overcrowded conditions at a closed airport serving as a processing center for migrants who recently arrived on British shores after crossing the English Channel in small boats. The situation there has reignited a heated debate about the Conservative U.K. government’s treatment of asylum-seekers.

Located at the site of a former British air force base that had a short life as the civilian Manston Airport, the center in Kent was designed as a short-term processing facility housing about 1,600 newcomers. Up to 4,000 were staying there at one point this week, with some reportedly detained unlawfully for a month or more.

Independent government inspectors said they saw families sleeping on floors in prison-like conditions that presented fire and health hazards. The inspectors warned of the risk of outbreaks after cases of scabies, diphtheria and other conditions were reported.

“Welcome to the U.K,” read a headline in the Metro newspaper, accompanied by a close-up photo of young children gazing out from behind metal fences.

Facing pressure over the situation, U.K. Home Secretary Suella Braverman defended the government’s policies and described the increasing number of migrants arriving via the English Channel as “ an invasion on our southern coast.” Her comment drew widespread condemnation.

The conditions at the center in the village of Manston has put a spotlight on wider problems in Britain’s asylum system, which is struggling to cope with a record number of small boat crossings at a time when border officials are trying to clear a massive backlog of refugee applications.

“We’ve got this kind of perfect storm of more people coming — which the government was warned about — and added to the mix we have this huge waiting list of around 100,000 individuals who have sought asylum,” said Jonathan Ellis, the policy and public affairs lead at Britain’s Refugee Council. “There’s a lack of political will, a lack of political focus, and therefore, (a lack of) the associated resources to really tackle this issue.”

Around 40,000 people from countries that include Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Albania have crossed one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes in dinghies and other unseaworthy boats from northern France so far this year, hoping to start new lives in the U.K.

That’s the highest number ever recorded, and it represents an exponential increase from 2018, when only 299 migrants were detected arriving in England in small boats without authorization, official data showed. Last year, there were 28,536.

Dozens of people have lost their lives attempting the passage, including 27 who died when a packed smuggling boat capsized in November 2021.

Braverman, who is known for an uncompromising approach to immigration, has blamed criminal gangs for facilitating the crossings and focused on what she called spurious claims by some of those seeking refuge.

She told lawmakers in Parliament this week to “stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress.” Her harsh language has drawn criticism, including from within the governing Conservative Party. Some critics accuse Braverman of fueling anti-immigration hate.

“The government rhetoric since I arrived has been scapegoating migrants, blaming us for the problems of this country. But it’s gotten a lot worse,” said Hassan Akkad, a documentary maker who fled Syria in 2012 to seek asylum in the U.K.

“When you have a home secretary comparing asylum-seekers to an invading enemy, you are giving a green light to the public to attack them,” added Akkad, who works with refugee charity Choose Love.

The overcrowding at the Manston center reached a breaking point this week after hundreds of people were moved there from another migrant processing center nearby that was hit with gasoline bombs. Police said the man who carried out the Oct. 30 attack and killed himself afterward was likely driven by a “hate-filled grievance.”

Braverman also faced accusations that she blocked hotel bookings for asylum-seekers to ease overcrowding at Manston and ignored legal advice on the matter. She denied the claims.

Critics say government incompetence in managing Britain’s asylum system extend beyond Manston and precede Braverman becoming interior minister in September. The opposition Labour Party said only 4% of asylum claims from small boat arrivals were processed last year, meaning that more than 100,000 people are in limbo waiting for their applications for protection to be considered.

The U.K. is a preferred destination in Europe for migrants who speak English or have family connections in the country. Before the coronavirus pandemic, many tried to cross from northern France by hiding in freight trucks traveling through the Channel Tunnel. COVID-19 travel restrictions and stricter security measures on the route made the hazardous sea journey a more viable way to enter the U.K.

But despite the unprecedented increase in people arriving in small boats, the U.K. receives far fewer asylum-seekers than many other European countries, including France, Germany and Italy. Last year, 48,540 people applied for British asylum, compared to 148,200 applicants in Germany and more than 103,000 in France.

A controversial deal the U.K. government struck with Rwanda in April added to its reputation of not being the most welcoming. The agreement called for deporting some asylum-seekers to the African country, where their claims would be processed and successful applicants would be allowed to stay in Rwanda. The plan was meant to deter people from entering the U.K. illegally, but no one to date has been deported because of legal challenges to the policy.

U.K. authorities have also sought to work with their French counterparts to stop the Channel crossings. The two sides engaged in tense wrangling over the issue last year, but relations appeared to improve after Liz Truss — and her successor Rishi Sunak — became prime minister.

In a call with French President Emmanuel Macron last week, Sunak said the U.K. and France were “committed to deepening our partnership to deter deadly journeys across the Channel that benefit organized criminals.”

Ellis, at the Refugee Council, said authorities ultimately would need to focus less on hostile rhetoric and deterrence and more on safer routes for legitimate asylum seekers to apply for refuge.

“We need to challenge this political rhetoric that people should only come to this country through legal routes,” he said. “Ostensibly that’s reasonable, but for someone who’s fleeing the Horn of Africa, where are they meant to go? What are those safe routes? There is none.”

___

Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Soaring food prices could have major impact on Canadians' health

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Cost of food rising at highest rate in 41 years, putting millions of Canadians at risk

Adam Miller · CBC News · Posted: Nov 05, 2022 

Food prices have soared to their highest rates in almost half a century — and that could lead to some serious impacts on Canadians' health. (Evan Mitsui/CBC

• Rising food prices are putting a growing number of Canadians under financial strain.
  

• That could create major effects on our health as more Canadians may opt for unhealthy food or skip meals altogether due to rising costs.
  

• Research shows food insecurity is tied to far worse health outcomes, and that could lead to added pressure on our already overburdened health-care system.

---

Food prices have soared to their highest rates in almost half a century, leaving many Canadians feeling more financial pressure at the checkout line and eating less healthy food to save money — something that could lead to serious impacts on our health.

Canada is now in the grips of a growing food insecurity crisis, with many low-income and fixed-income households faced with the difficult decision to either pay their bills or put food on the table at a time when even the price of staple items has skyrocketed. 

Prices on food purchased from grocery store shelves shot up by 11.4 per cent in September — the fastest annual increase in 41 years.

The price of fresh fruit went up by 12.9 per cent, fresh vegetables by 11.8 per cent, baked goods by 14.8 per cent and meat by 7.6 per cent — putting the healthy diet recommended in Canada's Food Guide further out of reach for many Canadians. 

"I'm a Type 2 diabetic and I also have hypertension as well, and so I'm supposed to eat a very healthy high fibre diet — well, that's not happening," said Tracy Ross, who lives on a fixed income on a disability pension in Spruce Grove, Alta., and struggles to afford groceries.

"The repercussions of all of this down the line, I don't even want to think about it. People's health issues are going to get worse, people are going to be dying. Our hospitals are already overworked and understaffed."

WATCH | 'I can't afford anything healthy': Winnipeg advocate on social assistance

I can't afford anything healthy,' Winnipeg man on social assistance says

3 days ago

Duration5:00

Todd Donohue, who suffers from Crohn's disease and is on social assistance, says the price of food is so high in Manitoba that people like him cannot afford healthy food and often have to choose between buying groceries and paying rent or bills.

Ross said she has also been finding it harder to pay her monthly utility bills due to the rapid rise in food prices, whereas previously she was able to keep up month-to-month. 

"So what, are you going to go cold or are you going to go hungry?" she told CBC News. "I need a new winter jacket — it ain't gonna happen this year."

Even the price of essentials have reached new heights, with a three-litre bottle of vegetable oil rising more than 40 per cent between August 2021 and August 2022 in Canada, topping the list of most expensive food items this year.

• Food keeps getting more expensive even as overall inflation slows

The number of Canadians using food banks across the country also reached record highs this year, with nearly 1.5 million visits in March, up 15 per cent over the same time last year and 35 per cent more than in March 2019, prior to the pandemic. 

More than 30 per cent of Canadians said they were eating less healthy food due to rising costs, while almost 20 per cent said they skipped meals to save money in a new national survey from the Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research at the University of Saskatchewan.

The cost of feeding a family of four in Ottawa with healthy food rose more than 20 per cent during the pandemic to more than $1,000 a month, up from just over $900 in 2019, according to a new survey from Ottawa Public Health. 

• Family of 4 must pay more than $1,000 per month for healthy food, study finds

And there appears to be no relief in sight at the checkout line.

Dairy prices are expected to rise again in the new year, even as Canada's top three grocers all posted higher profits this year compared with their average performances over the last five years.

More than 30 per cent of Canadians said they were eating less healthy food due to rising costs, while almost 20 per cent said they skipped meals to save money in a new national survey. (George Frey/Bloomberg)

'Accepting far worse health outcomes for millions'

"We're talking about millions of people being unable to access food in one of the richest countries," said Dr. Andrew Boozary, executive director of health and social policy for Toronto's University Health Network. 

"There is no way that we can shirk what we are talking about here, this is really about accepting far worse health outcomes for millions of Canadians."

A growing body of research has found that food insecurity is tied to much poorer health outcomes for adults and children, something that could lead to more pressure on the already overburdened health-care system down the road. 

"In adults, we're talking about Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, poor bone health — all the reasons why a healthy diet is important," said Valerie Tarasuk, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine. 

"People who are food insecure are way more likely to turn up in an emergency department, they're more likely to be hospitalized for a variety of conditions, and once hospitalized, they're more likely to stay longer, and they're more likely to be readmitted." 

WATCH | Food insecurity can shorten lifespan:

A new study shows that food insecurity, the lack of access to nutritious foods, can shorten someone’s lifespan by nine years.

Canadians living in food insecure homes are also more vulnerable to infectious diseases, poor oral health, injuries and chronic conditions like depression, anxiety, heart disease, hypertension, arthritis and chronic pain, according to U of T's PROOF research program.

Statistics Canada reported Friday that more than one in three Canadians over 15 live in households that are finding it difficult to cover necessary expenses, including transportation, housing, food, clothing and other costs — up from just one in five in October 2020.

"Living in poverty puts you at higher risk of developing almost every chronic health condition, acute health condition, higher risks of even being in accidents, experiencing trauma," said Dr. Gary Bloch, a family physician at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.

• More Canadians are turning to food banks than ever before, new report says

"It also puts you at higher risk of worse outcomes from all of those conditions."

A 2018 Ontario study published in the journal PLOS One found that adults who live in food insecure homes had more than twice the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes compared to those who had ready access to food, an issue Tarasuk said may be worsened by the rising cost of groceries.

"They have higher rates of chronic conditions than food secure Canadians and that includes both mental health and physical health conditions," Tarasuk said. "So now, you turn up the heat on them with these increased prices — they're less able to manage." 

• Canada's top grocers post above-average profits with little transparency, study says

The latest data from Statistic Canada's Canadian Income Survey found 5.8 million Canadians, including 1.4 million children, lived in food insecure households in 2021.

"We're seeing it play out in the health-care system with far worse health outcomes for people who are having to try to make these impossible choices between putting food on their table, paying rent or renewing their medication," said Boozary. 

"These are the impossible choices now that are more impossible than ever for families and people across the country." 

A volunteer places products on shelves at the Kanata Food Cupboard in Ottawa on Oct. 7. The number of Canadians using food banks across the country reached record highs this year. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

No relief in sight

With no signs of food inflation slowing down anytime soon, experts are calling for more to be done to support Canadians who may be finding themselves struggling to afford groceries — or looking for ways to stretch their budget and avoid eating unhealthy food. 

Abby Langer, a registered dietitian and nutrition expert in Toronto, also suggested people consider things like grocery store price matching, using coupons and opting for less expensive food options that can still create nutritious meals including beans, lentils, tofu and eggs. 

"You don't have to buy a ton of animal protein or think that you have to buy fish or whatnot to get that protein. Like you could have an omelet for dinner and it's an inexpensive protein-rich meal," she said, adding that canned and frozen foods can also be stored much longer. 

• Soaring food prices, record profits prompt questions about Canada's 'cosy oligopoly'

"I want people to know you don't need to buy organic food at all. It's such a marketing ploy, you're not going to live longer if you eat organic food and it's so much more expensive. So please don't feel pressure to buy that kind of food — buy what you can afford."

Food banks and other charitable food assistance are also touted as solutions to the problem of food insecurity, but Boozary said they merely act as a Band-Aid to a systemic problem.

"Food banks are not the solution to food insecurity, the same way that shelters are not the policy solution to homelessness," he said, adding policy-makers need to ensure that social assistance programs rise on par with inflation and that living wages are provided. 

• How Canadians are stretching their grocery dollars while trying to stay healthy

"Everyone out there who's having to try to navigate these impossible choices knows that the root cause here is poverty and financial constraints. Not necessarily just food and food choices." 

Tarasuk said there is no evidence to suggest charitable food assistance groups like Food Banks Canada can solve the problem of food insecurity, noting policy interventions such as universal basic incomes are other ways to get at the root of the problem.

"I hope that in this time, everybody is conscious of these rising prices," she said. "I think people that haven't really thought much about it now are wondering how people are affording these costs." 

WATCH | No relief for rising food costs despite overall inflation slowing:

No relief for food prices despite overall inflation showing signs of slowdown

17 days ago

Duration2:33

Food prices in Canada rose at the fastest pace since 1981, despite Statistics Canada's latest figures showing overall inflation cooling down for the third month in a row.

For Ross in Alberta, the challenge of rising food costs isn't going away anytime soon. 

"I have two kids and they have spouses and I have a grandchild — how am I even going to afford to get some stuff for Christmas? It's just awful," she said. 

"And how am I even going to cook Christmas dinner?" 

'We don't eat lithium': Latin America longs for benefits of metal boon

Global demand has exploded for lithium – the "white gold" found in huge quantities in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. But in Latin America's "lithium triangle," there are growing concerns about the impact on regional groundwater sources and doubts about whether the benefits of a metal bonanza will truly local communities near plants, many of whom live in poverty.

The turquoise glimmer of open-air pools contrasts sharply with the dazzling white of salt flats in Latin America's "lithium triangle," where hope resides for a better life fuelled by a metal bonanza.

A key component of batteries used in electric cars, demand has exploded for lithium – the "white gold" found in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile in quantities larger than anywhere else in the world.

And as the world seeks to move away from fossil fuels, lithium production – and prices – have skyrocketed, as have the expectations of communities near lithium plants, many of whom live in poverty.

But there are growing concerns about the impact on groundwater sources in regions already prone to extended droughts, with recent evidence of tree and flamingo die-offs.

Read more...
Rio Tinto seeks pitches from bankers for lithium deals in battery metal foray


And there are scant signs to date of benefits trickling down.

"We don't eat lithium, nor batteries. We do drink water," said Verónica Chávez, 48, president of the Santuario de Tres Pozos Indigenous community near the town of Salinas Grandes in Argentina's lithium heartland.

A poster that meets visitors to Salinas Grandes reads: "No to lithium, yes to water and life."

Read more...
China lithium giant expands in Argentina with US$962-million deal


Lithium extraction requires millions of litres of water per plant per day.

Unlike in Australia – the world's top lithium producer that extracts the metal from rock – in South America it is derived from salares, or salt flats, where saltwater containing the metal is brought from underground briny lakes to the surface to evaporate.

Soaring prices

About 56 percent of the world's 89 million tons of identified lithium resources are found in the South American triangle, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The world average price rose from US$5,700 per ton in November 2020 to US$60,500 in September this year.

Chile hosts the westernmost corner of the lithium triangle in its Atacama desert, which contributed 26 percent of global production in 2021, according to the USGS, in second place behind Australia with 55 percent.

In the brown, rocky Salar de Atacama, trucks zigzag between pools where the brine, a mixture of water and salts, slowly evaporates before being taken to a chemical plant to separate the lithium from the liquid.

"It is by far the best salt flat in the world," Juan Carlos Guajardo, director of the Plusmining consultancy firm, told AFP.

The country started lithium extraction in 1984 and has been a leader in the field partly because of low rainfall levels and high solar radiation that speeds up the evaporation process.

But Chilean law has made it difficult for companies to gain concessions from the government since the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet declared the metal a "strategic resource" for its potential use in nuclear bombs.

Only two companies have permits to exploit the metal – Chile's SQM and American Albemarle, which pay up to 40 percent of their sales in tax, as well as millions of dollars to nearby communities.

Reacting to the boom, leftist President Gabriel Boric has promised to create a national lithium company, but without excluding private participation.

Dead flamingos

In the first quarter of this year, lithium's contribution to Chile’s public coffers surpassed its mainstay metal, copper, for the first time, according to government records.

Faced with the boom, leftist President Gabriel Boric has promised to create a national lithium company, but without excluding private participation.

Yet, the environmental costs are starting to stack up, and locals fear there is worse to come. This year, a study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences found a link between lithium mining and a decline in two flamingo species in the Salar de Atacama.

"The development of technologies to slow climate change has been identified as a global imperative. Nonetheless, such 'green' technologies can potentially have negative impacts on biodiversity," said the study.

In 2013, an inspection at the SQM site –– which reported using nearly 400,000 litres of water per hour in 2022 –– found that a third of carob trees in the area had died. A later study pointed to water scarcity as a possible cause.

"We want to know, for sure, what has been the real impact of the extraction of groundwater," said Claudia Pérez, 49, a resident of the nearby San Pedro river valley.

She was not against lithium, said Pérez, provided there are measures to "minimise the negative impact on people."

'Leave us alone'

Across the Andes in Argentina, the salt lakes of Jujuy host the world's second-largest lithium resources along with the neighbouring provinces of Salta and Catamarca.

With few restrictions on extraction and a low tax of only three percent, Argentina has become the world's fourth-biggest lithium producer from two mines: US-based firm Livent has had one going since the 1990s and the other, more recently, is a state partnership with Australian and Japanese firms.

With dozens of new projects in the works with the involvement of US, Chinese, French, South Korean and local companies, crisis-hit Argentina has said it hopes to exceed Chilean production by 2030.

According to Roberto Salvarezza, president of state-owned YPF-Litio and YPF-Tec firms, production could increase fivefold by 2025.

Jujuy Governor Gerardo Morales even invited US tycoon Elon Musk, via Twitter back in April, to invest in the province when the Tesla boss complained about the high price of lithium.

But not everyone is sold on the idea.

"It is not, as they say, that they [lithium companies] are going to save the planet... Rather it is us who have to give our lives to save the planet," said Chávez, of Santuario de Tres Pozos in Jujuy Province.

In 2019, local inhabitants expelled two mining companies that wanted to establish themselves in the area.

A few metres away, Bárbara Quipildor, 47, makes empanadas in a small shack made of salt.

"I want them to leave us alone, in peace. I don't want the lithium, even though I know there is a lot of money," she says. “My concern is the future of my children's children."

Will locals benefit?

About 300 kilometres (190 miles) north of Jujuy, the Salar of Uyuni in Bolivia holds more lithium than anywhere else –– a quarter of global resources, according to the USGS.

It is in Potosí, a region rich in silver and tin that for centuries drove the economy of the Spanish empire. But today, more than half of the residents in the region are poor.

At the beginning of his term in office, Bolivia’s former leftist president Evo Morales (2006-2019) nationalised hydrocarbons and other resources, including lithium, vowing that his country would set the metal’s global price,

Morales has called on the rest of the region to follow his example. In Mexico, lithium was nationalised last April.

In Río Grande, a small town near the Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) lithium plant, Morales' plans were met with excitement.

In 2014 Donny Ali, a lawyer now aged 34, opened a hotel with the expectation of an economic boom. He called it Hotel Lithium.

"Our communities are forgotten. We were expecting major industrial technological development and more than anything, better living conditions," he told AFP, sitting on a sofa in a hotel with no guests. "It didn't happen."

Today, Bolivia still does not produce the metal on an industrial scale.

Hoping to boost the struggling lithium sector, the government opened it up to private hands in 2018, though domestic legislation has not yet denationalised the resource, and no private extraction has yet begun.

"Some think that Bolivia will 'miss the boat' on lithium," said Juan Carlos Zuleta, a lithium specialist and economist who briefly headed YLB in 2020. "I don’t think that’s going to happen."

The real question, he said, is: when the boat comes, "will lithium extraction benefit Bolivians?"

‘The next China’

Last year, a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington attributed "unfavourable investment climates and more challenging geographic conditions" as the reasons for why Argentina and Bolivia lag behind Chile in tapping their vast lithium resources.

Despite the differences, all three countries are now looking towards battery manufacturing – possibly even building electric cars – as a way to turn the natural lithium bounty into a modern-day industrial revolution.

Argentina is closer to batteries, with a state-run pilot plant scheduled to begin operations in December.

"South America has all the raw materials needed to produce batteries and electric vehicles," explained Zuleta.

"There is a concrete possibility for Latin America to become the next China," said the expert.

In the meantime, the Hotel Lithium remains empty and the communities of the salt flats are on the warpath for water.

by Martín Silva, AFP

ARGENTINA 

Kelly 'Raquel' Olmos: ‘Constructing an institutional leadership has always been a very big challenge for Peronism’

New Labour Minister Kelly 'Raquel' Olmos on Argentina’s labour movement, employment rights, collective bargaining, and Alberto Fernández’s re-election hopes.

JORGE FONTEVECCHIA
Cofundador de Editorial Perfil - CEO de Perfil Network.

Raquel ‘Kelly’ Olmos, Argentina’s brand-new Labour minister and a fundamental Peronist cadre, trusts in being able to build bridges between all the branches of the movement.

Olmos, 69, is laying her bets on dialogue and clear ground rules “to favour a process permitting us to grow in unity.”

Minister, thank you very much for granting us your first long interview, exposing yourself at a time when the Labour Ministry is in the centre of discussion. I’ll start with a cyclical question about the tension surrounding the wage bargaining with the teamsters, which finally ended up with a 107 percent hike, above your own government’s inflation forecast of 95 percent for this year.

What happens is that the 107 percent covers a period of 16 months. If taken since it was last updated from May to May, the wage bargaining agreement is for an 85 percent annual increase plus a one-off bonus of 100,000 pesos, which will be paid in four instalments.

So finally similar to inflation ...

Exactly.

Your predecessor had a singular record for Argentina of almost three years in the Ministry without major labour conflicts. How do you imagine the just over a year remaining in the Alberto Fernández Presidency working out?

I imagine collective wage bargaining with strong and important dynamics, obviously due to the high inflation. But these dynamics are truly producing very positive results since the sectors of both workers and businessmen are reaching agreement. There might be some more or less tense situations and even conflict during the negotiations. That’s OK but the most important thing is how they are finally resolved. I believe in effect that the mechanism of resolution strengthens the democratic process because things are properly resolved.

We are undergoing a more complex situation than during the three previous Peronist governments under Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, yet there was more conflict beforehand than now. To what do you attribute that?

On the one hand, conflicts in general have to do with the possibility of improving wages because when jobs are lacking, there tends to be less conflict. In that event there is some kind of social explosion afterwards, but the struggle for wages is much more active when closer to full employment, which is a general characteristic of all societies.

Here we have a particular situation – firstly, we received an inheritance of a whole bunch of restrictions from the Mauricio Macri presidency, which had no pandemic nor war to worry about but nevertheless handed over to us a government conditioned by a severe crisis on its external front, somewhat camouflaged by the agreement with the International Monetary Fund, but wages lost over 20 percent of their purchasing-power on average. On coming to office Alberto Fernández immediately tried to tone up demand via a generalised wage increase, the Tarjeta Alimentar food stamps and a pension increase, but just when we were entering into a process of recovery, the pandemic came along. During the pandemic, when job protection was the most important thing, the state even financed wages with a moratorium, the IFE emergency family assistance and transfer mechanisms for informal sectors. All the work went on trying to reduce the damage from the need for isolation ahead of the existence of vaccines.

Afterwards we pushed a very vigorous process of economic recovery. We might recall that many economists said that we were going to take four or five years to recover the losses from the pandemic, and we managed to recover in only one year. The reality is that we burned up a very high level of reserves, gambling on the success of demonstrating the vigour of the Argentine productive system in being able to recover so quickly. [This year] 2022 was thus always going to be the year for accumulating reserves, also according to our pact with the IMF, because we all know that the crises on the external front are what destabilise Argentina so it became very important to strengthen our foreign currency reserves. Neither had we foreseen war with the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory, which had an enormous impact on food and, above all, fuel prices, which signified an imbalance in our foreign trade with over US$5 billion which had been earmarked for boosting our reserves going on the purchase of energy. But we succeeded in avoiding any shortages in the access to energy, either from the viewpoint of the citizenry or the productive system. Now we are making an effort. All this creates tensions and imbalances which express themselves in an inflationary process which the world has not known for four decades. In Argentina, with an impact of those characteristics, amplified by our structural inflation, we now have to work hard on stabilisation, and that is the effort of our entire government with restrictions which do not affect growth nor our capacity for job creation.



In that context, I repeat the question: how did [former Labour minister Claudio] Moroni manage to avoid major conflicts, apart from the tyre workers, making that all the more striking?

By working hard to maintain and open up collective wage bargaining, the negotiations between workers and management, which are truly exemplary. You have to be present to see how they have reached a culture of dialogue and agreement, projecting a very virtuous model. When we are so used to ferocious criticisms of Argentina every day, I realise that we have very important democratic reserves.



Does the capacity to resolve, for example, a conflict like the teamsters – originally asking for an annual increase of 137 percent yet settling for 107 percent but over 16 months but 85 percent annually plus a bonus of 100,000 pesos placing them around four percent ahead for the year, along with the approval of a budget exempting the travel expenses of truck-drivers from income tax – does all this mean that you have finally found the way around inflation?

Yes, with rational and objective work and above all with our leaders practised in dialogue, both businessmen and workers. The truth is that Argentina has an exemplary labour movement. The countries with weakened labour movements have deteriorated as democracies. We have many deficits and pending issues but we can display a vigorous labour movement, which also corresponds to a business world often not given the visibility it deserves. Because in the construction of public opinion there often appear some big businessmen who hardly represent businessmen as a whole who work daily side by side with workers to reach agreements.



Consulting you as an economist, help me to understand the job problems in Argentina in recent years. We come from the same generation, so we can both remember 1974 as the last year when Argentina had four percent poverty, a per capita income comparable to Australia or Canada and seven million in private-sector registered employment. Nearly 50 years later today they are still seven million with double the 1974 population. What is your macro-economic analysis of this situation?

The international context has changed fundamentally. You are quite right to highlight the year 1974. It should be remembered that this was the period of the oil crisis, rupturing the dynamics of the International Labour Organisation when we were developing an import substitution which dynamised the Argentine productive system, as you have very well described. The 1974 oil crisis fundamentally impoverished Europe, which was the most affected. At that time Europe was our leading importer with our main export beef. Our annual exports were then, if I remember correctly, around US$500 million. As from that winter beef became a luxury in Europe and Argentine exports plunged while a high level of imports was required because, thanks to the programme of stabilisation of (then-economy minister José Ber) Gelbard, Argentina had an extremely high level of economic activity and, in consequence, needed to import many inputs and capital goods. That triggered an external crisis which ended up in the Rodrigazo price instability, which served as the excuse for a coup d’état, which also wanted to make Peronism and the entire popular and national movement disappear in a holocaust of over 30,000 comrades. They established or installed Argentina within a system of speculative flight capital, a process of clearly speculative indebtedness which the Peronist government had not wanted to adopt.

You will recall that it was the tablita exchange rate sliding scale of [junta Economy Minister José] Martínez de Hoz, where the differential between an exchange rate known in advance and very high interest rates favoured a tremendous process of going into debt very similar to what happened recently with the Mauricio Macri administration. Thereafter, the debt is nationalised while the hard currency thus acquired is transformed into the creation of external assets or capital flight, as it is more vulgarly known. That knocked the structure out of the Argentine productive system, deepening what Marcelo Diamand has called the imbalanced economic structure. Today we must revert that situation by strongly modifying the inheritance of the productive matrix remaining from that period and incorporating dynamic new sectors for the international market in order for the access to hard currency not to be concentrated in the farm export sector, as it is now. In that sense we must again boost the competitive capacity of our industrial sector, promoting and adding value to the mining and lithium sectors and the knowledge economy, which is the focus of our government.



Minister, the military dictatorship lasted seven years and we have had 50 years of neo-decadence. Isn’t there something more to it?

Yes, the strong imbalance between how quickly things can be destroyed and how long it takes to rebuild them. It also has to do with the institutional system. For example, in the first government of [Juan Domingo] Perón, the electoral system was governed by the Sáenz Peña law whereby the winner took two-thirds of the seats even if ahead by only vote – in consequence, a system slanted towards governability. We have currently evolved towards a much more representative system, which has its virtues but has weakened the system’s ability to respond to governance issues. This is not just limited to Argentina, it’s pretty general, expressed today in the discontent of majorities with ineffective systems...



The limited capacity the governments have to transform?

Exactly. A system more geared to representation than governance reproduces the status quo or at least that’s what we see to be happening.



I obviously share the idea that things are destroyed much faster than they are constructed but aren’t there other more structural motives to explain the number of people without access to a registered job in the private sector, as well as the number in the underground or “popular” economy or the self-employed? For example, the structure of globalisation, in which it is impossible for developing countries to compete with the likes of China?

Yes, I think that the development of China had characteristics which affected us because their competition was initially far more based on cheap labour than technological development – that has gone varying since.



Are we entering a positive cycle because its level of development no longer hinges on cheap labour while food and other inputs begin to be bought?

Thanks to their having generated a positive social mobility, they need food of better quality like what we could supply. That’s why the challenge is not to sell animal feed but those proteins which can go directly to supermarket shelves in the form of food with added value. The pandemic has also had a huge impact in modifying the chain …


Via globalisation.

Within the global system of production, and I believe there’s going to be a...

A return to a closer supply chain.

More regional and continental, which should be observed very closely.


In an interview within this same series the current PRO chair Patricia Bullrich said that at the IDEA business symposium she heard several trade unionists say that labour reform was necessary. Obviously what kind of labour reform would then need to be discussed but what is your view as to the need for labour reform and if so, what kind?

Any system for organising labour can always be perfected and should adapt itself to the dynamics of the context. In my view the system should be updated via collective bargaining agreements. We have seen, for example, a virtuous circle at Toyota, which has permitted not only Toyota but also the entire sector to become an important exporter with a far more national composition in car manufacture. But I don’t agree with the proposals expressed by Macri in his latest book, which is heading towards a society without rights. I don’t believe that is good.

When you speak with leaders of the “popular economy” who propose the idea of permanent self-employment, they tell you that it is necessary to register the enormous number of people who cannot be employed via the traditional system of companies as formally self-employed. What is your opinion regarding self-employment as a cycle, a crutch within a process of development or something which should be permanent?

I hope it’s a process of transition because self-employment confers fewer rights than formal employment. It seems to me an effort which must be made. In fact, in Argentina today formal employment is growing at an annual rate of six percent, which is very vigorous and very good and we have to make an enormous effort to make informal employment and self-employment a transit route towards formal employment, with rights.

Let me take advantage of all your experience as a Peronist cadre beyond the Labour Ministry. How do you see Peronism today and the internal differences within what we might call pan-Peronism?

Constructing institutional leadership has always been a very big challenge for Peronism and we’re seeing how we can face up to that difficulty today.

To what do you attribute that customary difficulty of Peronism?

That’s because we have a culture which has always been very associated with personal leadership and we need to make the transition towards a more institutional construction but it’s proving difficult for us.

You were named as a minister along with two other women and the whole press commented that it was the sole decision of the president without consulting the other two important Frente de Todos leaders, namely Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Sergio Massa. When the president named you, did you at any point ask yourself whether it was important to have the approval of the vice-president and the economy minister?

Sincerely, no. The president proposed me for a Cabinet post and I accepted. I’ve been trained over 50 years to take on challenges committed to the doctrine in which I believe and with the political vision in which I participate – I wasn’t going to abandon the battlefield in the moment in which they summoned me to take on that responsibility.

The biggest responsibility of all those you’ve had.

Sincerely. Now, of course, I want my running of the Ministry to be approved as much by the president, who is undoubtedly the one primarily responsible for government policies, as by the remaining members of Frente de Todos. On both sides I feel myself to be very committed, both in emotional and political terms.

Do you think Alberto Fernández will be among those running in the PASO primaries?

Yes, beyond doubt he could be an option for next year. We need to boost his administration and empower the presidential figure politically while favouring and permitting comrades with legitimate interests to express them and participate. It seems to me that is what is called for.

And so how would you imagine that amalgam then?

By agreeing on the ground rules. That is what you see in collective bargaining – when there is clarity as to the ground rules and a methodology accepted by all sides, you get results.

So would collective bargaining be the ground rules in that sense?

In collective bargaining there are ground rules which have been incorporated, accepted and matured by both sides. In the case of politics we also have to agree on ground rules to favour a process which permits us to grow in unity.


Production: Melody Acosta Rizza and Sol Bacigalupo.

RED JOE

Joe Manchin Blasts Joe Biden Days Before Midterm: 'Divorced From Reality'

Manchin And Biden Always Had 'Friendly Relationship': 'It's Never Personal'

BY FATMA KHALED ON 11/5/22 

Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, criticized President Joe Biden over his comments about closing coal plants across the country, calling them "divorced from reality" just a few days before the midterm elections.

During a speech in California on Friday, the president said that coal plants cost too much money and that his administration will "be shutting these plants down all across America" and have "wind and solar" energy instead.

"No one is building new coal plants because they can't rely on it, even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of their existence of the plant," the president added. "So it's going to become a wind generation."

Manchin, whose state is one of the largest coal producers in the country, blasted the president in a statement on his website on Saturday.

Above, Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, is seen on September 22 in Washington, D.C. Manchin criticized President Joe Biden over his comments about closing coal plants across the country, calling them "divorced from reality" just a few days before the midterm elections.PHOTO BY KEVIN DIETSCH/GETTY IMAGES

"President Biden's comments are not only outrageous and divorced from reality, they ignore the severe economic pain the American people are feeling because of rising energy costs," Manchin said. "Comments like these are the reason the American people are losing trust in President Biden and instead believes he does not understand the need to have an all in energy policy that would keep our nation totally energy independent and secure."


The senator's remarks come during a busy weekend for Biden and Democrats who are trying to gain support from voters for Tuesday's midterm elections. Biden is rallying in Pennsylvania on Saturday and Florida on Sunday while Vice President Kamala Harris is set to make a stop in Illinois on Sunday.

"It seems his positions change depending on the audience and the politics of the day. Politicizing our nation's energy policies would only bring higher prices and more pain for the American people," Manchin said in his statement.

The West Virginia senator also said that Biden "never" mentioned shutting down coal plants to him and added that "being cavalier about the loss of coal jobs for men and women in West Virginia and across the country who literally put their lives on the line to help build and power this country is offensive and disgusting."

Trump Says Joe Manchin 'off the Rails,' Should Have Joined GOP 'Long Ago'

Manchin concluded his statement by saying that Biden owes workers at coal plants an "immediate and public" apology, and that the president should learn that his words have consequences.

During a podcast in July, the senator said that even though he thinks Biden is "a good person," he disagrees with the president over his "lack" of energy policy and his handling of record-high inflation.

Meanwhile, Manchin said in July during a podcast that even though he thinks Biden is "a good person," he disagrees with the president over his "lack" of energy policy and his handling of record-high inflation.

Manchin has been repeatedly criticized by members of his own party for not supporting some of the issues on his party's agenda such as the rules of the filibuster, which Democrats want to change so that Republicans can't use it to block Democratic bills in an evenly divided Senate.

Killing journalists: Qatar expresses ‘deep concern’ over impunity

Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by an Israeli sniper in May but no one has been held accountable.

Deputy foreign minister Lolwah al-Khater underscored the need to work on protecting journalists, especially those who report from conflict zones [File: Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency]

By Al Jazeera Staff
Published On 5 Nov 2022

Qatar has demanded accountability for the killing of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during a conference on the safety of journalists, saying “hold Israel accountable”.

Assistant foreign minister Lolwah al-Khater addressed participants in Vienna, Austria on Friday, expressing “deep concern at the persistence of impunity for violations and crimes committed against journalists”.

KEEP READING

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Shireen Abu Akleh’s family submits complaint to ICC

Israel says ‘high possibility’ its army killed Shireen Abu Akleh

“The murder of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh highlights the fact that protection and prevention methods are only effective when combined with prosecution mechanisms,” al-Khater said.

On May 11, the Palestinian-American television correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic arrived in Jenin in the occupied West Bank to report on a raid by Israeli forces on a refugee camp while wearing a protective vest, clearly marked with “PRESS”.

Abu Akleh, 51, was standing with other journalists when she was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper.



“Shireen dedicated her life working to shed light on the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people, she was one of over 45 journalists killed by Israeli forces since 2000,” al-Khater said.

She underscored the need to work on protecting journalists, especially those who report from conflict zones, and “no exceptions are made when we hold those responsible accountable”.

During her speech, al-Khater also shared words from the Abu Akleh family.

“Shireen was targeted while fulfilling her professional duty as a journalist working on covering events and reporting them to the world. She sacrificed her life, and this is another reason that the international community must confront and hold Israel accountable, no matter what,” she quoted a family member as saying.

The conference on November 3 and 4 in Austria’s capital marked the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists and the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.

In September, Israel said there was a “high possibility” that Abu Akleh was “accidentally hit” by Israeli army fire, but added it would not launch a criminal investigation.

Numerous detailed investigations, including by the United Nations, found Abu Akleh was shot by an Israeli soldier.

Her family has accused Israel of trying to “obscure the truth and avoid responsibility for killing Shireen Abu Akleh”.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/11/shireen-abu-akleh-qatar-demands.html