Poisoned, soaked, but still dancing: Georgia’s ‘Zoomers’ enter the political arena

In Georgia, Gen-Z protests with sass and class

Written byOC Media

Posted 3 May 2023 

Image by Tata Shoshiashvili/OC Media. Used under a content partnership agreement.

This article was first published on OC Media. An edited version is republished here under a content partnership agreement. 

Sassy posters, raving to sirens, dancing with water jets, and barricades made of scooters: these have become some of the symbols of the demonstrations that defeated Georgia's controversial foreign agent bill, as well as symbols of Generation Z’s (those born from 1997–2013) entrance into politics.

“This protest was different; there was more humor in it,” says 21-year-old Anastasia Pirtskhalaishvili. Pirtskhalaishvili was among thousands of young people who took to the streets in early March after the ruling party passed the foreign agent bill in its first reading. The proposed bill, “on transparency of foreign influence,” was similar to Russia's 2012 “foreign agent” law, which has been used to crush dissent and opposition in Russia since it came into force. It was proposed by a group of parliament members, formally from the ruling Georgian Dream party who quit the party ranks last year and formed their own political party called People's Power in August 2022. If approved, the bill was going to “compel foreign-funded non-governmental organizations to register as foreign influence agents,” reported Eurasianet.

Thousands of Georgians took to the streets to protest the bill. Images of young people like Pirtskhalaishvili standing unflinchingly as they are shot with water cannons, wearing snorkels and goggles, face masks, and scarves to protect from pepper spray and tear gas, or dancing as the riot police advance, have spread widely online.

But despite the playfulness of some of their protests, Pirtskhalaishvili says young people were sending a serious message. “Dancing to the background of the sirens was also to demonstrate that we are not afraid and we can overcome this.”

Pirtskhalaishvili was standing opposite the Parliament building on March 7 as part of a largely peaceful protest. Still, she did not escape either the tear gas or arrest. “Twice they dispersed people, and both times we returned to the area in front of the Parliament, but so much gas was released that my throat burned terribly,” she recalls. “I was standing on the side of a peaceful demonstration and shouting with others when two policemen snuck up behind me and arrested two of my friends and me.”

She says she was charged with a public order violation and insulting law enforcement officers. Although she was released soon after, her trial is ongoing. Despite her arrest, Pirtskhalaishvili was back at the protests the following day.

“Georgia’s place is in Europe”

“When [tens of thousands] of people tell the government they should not adopt a law, they should not do it,” 22-year-old Nikoloz Arobelidze tells OC Media.

Even though he knew he could get hurt, Arobelidze came to the protests on March 8 after watching riot police suppress the previous night’s demonstration. “I was standing in front of parliament when I heard chaotic sounds, how people shouted: ‘Run, help, they are shooting at us.’ I remember at some point how people started to run away,” he recalls.

“Seconds before that, I thought nothing bad would happen to my friends and me because we were just standing peacefully, but suddenly I saw some [tear gas] thrown, which burned my face, eyes, nose, and throat terribly. I understood that I should have breathed less, but because of the panic, it became more frequent,” he recalls, adding that the coughing did not stop for several days.

Arobelidze, like many others, said that for young people like him, the protests were about much more than this specific law — the country’s future as a democracy and its place in Europe were at stake.

“We stood there and told the government that we want a bright future where we don’t have to fear that the Russians will come and take the country from us, or that their tanks will hit us,” he said. “Everyone thinks that Georgia’s place is in Europe.”

As riot police attempted to break up the demonstration on March 8 and drive protesters away from the Parliament building with tear gas and water cannons, protesters took shelter at the nearby Kashueti Church. Among them was 23-year-old Gvantsa Seturidze, who had been protesting since the demonstrations began the previous week. Gvantsa says that there was a special energy during these demonstrations on March 7 and 8, as the voice of a new generation grew louder.

During these days, she highlighted how people helped each other, distributing eye cleaning products, water, and face masks, while others physically helped people find refuge. She said it was a “very difficult period,” but that, nevertheless, “the young people somehow lightened everything.”

“Gen Z’s protest is different. At the rally, I saw children handing a police officer pretzel sticks, [and asking] ‘Do you want them?’ The police officer [replied]: ‘Don’t think that I’ll refuse,’ and he took it,” she recalls.

All the young people who spoke with “OC Media” emphasized that they had stood together with people of all generations during protests in Georgia, with rallies against the draft foreign agent law being no exception. However, the voices of Gen-Z and millennials were especially loud at this demonstration.

“Slay generation, lame government”

The protests were full of sarcastic and satirical posters, images of which were widely spread online. “You can’t troll Gen Z,” “Hello, is it 112? 78 of us pressed a button, and we are all fucked now” (a mistaken reference to the 76 MPs who voted for the law and Georgia's emergency response number 112), “We go to clubs because of the sirens and smoke, you bastards!” and “You can’t poison me with your gas 'cause my ex was more toxic.” The list goes on.

One poster reading “SLAY generation, LAME government can’t deceive us” was widely shared online. Its author, 23-year-old Mariam Kereselidze, told “OC Media” that at first, she was reluctant to show the poster at the demonstration, but in the end, decided to use it. “I’m a content manager by profession, and I work with texts daily. This is why this message suddenly occurred to me. Many people looked at my poster, smiled, and complimented it, which made me happy. Some people didn’t understand what ‘slay’ or ‘lame’ meant, and [when] I explained it, they laughed,” says Kereselidze.

“I went to the rally because I believe that a big victory can be achieved with small steps,” she says. “The approval of this law would remove us from the European Union forever,” she said, adding, “We have lost many battles in recent years, but this one, in my opinion, was decisive.”

France, Japan sign nuclear partnership deal

Credit: REUTERS/BENOIT TESSIER

May 03, 2023 —
By America Hernandez

PARIS, May 3 (Reuters) - France and Japan have signed a nuclear cooperation agreement in Paris, the French ministry said on Wednesday.

The joint declaration pledges to deepen and accelerate ties in the research and development of next-generation nuclear such as sodium-cooled fast reactors.

Work will continue on the safe life extension of existing reactors, decommissioning of nuclear plants including Japan's Fukushima Dai'ichi reactor, developing civil nuclear capacity in interested countries, and promoting the recycling of used nuclear fuel to minimize the need for uranium.

French Energy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher met Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan's minister of trade, economy and industry and they discussed accelerating technical cooperation on the nuclear fuel cycle, and working to build a supply chain involving only countries sharing "common values" — a veiled reference to Russia's outsized role in the sector.

The announcement followed talks on the sidelines of the Group of Seven energy and climate meeting in Sapporo last month, where the ministers discussed cooperating on a relaunch of nuclear energy in Japan as a way to meet rising power demand without a spike in greenhouse gas emissions.

"The new flags of this bilateral Franco-Japanese partnership, the Tricolor and the Hinomaru rising sun, wave strongly toward decarbonisation and a stable energy supply," Nishimura said in a statement.

Japan's Sankei newspaper reported earlier on Wednesday that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has earmarked some 46 billion yen ($337 million) over three years beginning in April 2024 to help develop sodium-cooled fast reactors.

The joint declaration came a day after a Paris appeals court allowed the French government to proceed with a buyout of nuclear giant EDF as part of its long-term plan to reinvigorate the nuclear sector and build up to 14 new reactors by 2050.

France this year also signed a bilateral agreement with Britain emphasising nuclear as a low-carbon energy source that could reduce dependence on suppliers like Russia.

SNAP Work Requirements Don’t Actually Get More People Working. They Just Make It Harder For People To Get Food.

These benefits make it easier for millions of Americans to buy groceries.

By Kelsey Pukelis
May 3, 2023
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would cut spending, in part by expanding work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, through which nearly 43 million low-income Americans get help buying groceries. The House bill calls for this policy to apply to adults as old as 55, while today this policy only applies to adults under 50. Some Democrats, in contrast, are seeking to eliminate work requirements altogether.

The bill passed by a 217-215 vote, with all but four Republicans in favor and every Democrat opposed, on April 26, 2023. Tied to a standoff over raising the debt ceiling, the bill would also make Medicaid – the U.S. program that helps low-income and disabled people get health care – contingent on work requirements for some eligible Americans. It’s not clear whether that’s possible, since a federal court has struck down similar measures enacted in some states previously.

Since the Clinton administration, the government has required that at least some people getting SNAP, commonly known as food stamps, do paid work, get job training or volunteer – otherwise they can’t continue receiving benefits. Those requirements were paused in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are set to return in July 2023 regardless of the fate of the House bill – which is unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate.


I’m a member of a team of economists studying the social safety net and work. Because the rationale for work requirements is that they encourage adults who are able to work to earn more money and become more economically self-sufficient, we wanted to determine whether this policy boosts employment and earnings. We also looked into whether SNAP work requirements lead low-income adults to lose their benefits.

We found that the policy doesn’t make people more likely to find a job or make more money, but it does make Americans who could use help buying groceries less likely to get it.



Tracing a similar case study

Adults with SNAP benefits who are subject to work requirements must document at least 80 hours per month of paid work, job training or volunteering. Otherwise, they can get the benefits for only three months within a three-year period.

Before the pandemic, these rules applied to most so-called “able-bodied” adults without children who were under 50, and that policy will again apply in July. There are some exceptions, such as if the person with benefits is caring for kids younger than 6, has disabilities incompatible with holding a steady job or is in a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program.


To determine this policy’s impact, we studied SNAP, employment and earnings data in Virginia from both the period of the state’s previous suspension of work requirements and afterward.

Virginia, like many other states, suspended work requirements for several years beginning in the Great Recession. During this period, adults could enroll in the program and continue to receive benefits regardless of their employment status.

In October 2013, however, Virginia reinstated work requirements, and they remained in effect in most counties for several years. In those areas, adults under the age of 50 without dependents who were considered able to work needed to either satisfy work requirements or receive an individual exemption to keep their SNAP benefits, while similar adults over the age of 50 did not.


We followed both age groups over time, comparing whether they worked and were getting SNAP benefits both before and after work requirements returned.
No employment boost

By comparing older and younger adults previously getting SNAP benefits, we found that work requirements did not increase employment or earnings 18 months after their reinstatement.


We also detected nearly identical patterns of employment before and after work requirements were reinstated for people in both age groups.

Adults without dependents, whether or not they lost their SNAP benefits to the resumption of work requirements, were earning at most an additional US$28 per month.
Many lost their benefits

But we did find that work requirements dramatically reduced the number of people enrolled in SNAP. Among the adults subject to work requirements once they were restored in 2013, over half lost their benefits because of the policy.

We also found that work requirements disproportionately led people who had faced great economic hardships, such as those without housing or earned income, to lose benefits.

Only 44% of the currently or formerly homeless people getting benefits remained enrolled in SNAP 18 months after work requirements were reinstated, compared with 64% of everyone else, our estimates suggest. Similarly, only 59% of those with no earned income remained enrolled, relative to 73% of those with prior earnings.

Because they are likely to qualify for an individual exemption to work requirements, adults with a history of a disability were more likely to retain benefits compared with others.

Adults kicked out of SNAP because of work requirements typically stood to lose $189 in benefits per month – the most a single person could obtain at the time. It also amounted to about two-thirds of their gross income.

We studied work requirements in Virginia because of the availability of detailed data on both earnings and SNAP benefits.

Although work requirements enforcement varies across states, we believe that our results are likely to be representative of the impacts of this policy, since SNAP recipients in Virginia look similar to nationwide averages on most demographic characteristics except race.



Our findings do suggest that work requirements restrain federal spending by reducing the number of people getting SNAP benefits.

But our work also indicates that in today’s context, these savings would be at the expense of already vulnerable people facing additional economic hardship at a time when a new recession could be around the corner.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Young adults in the U.S. are less likely than those in most of Europe to live in their parents’ home

BY JENN HATFIELD

(Cavan Images via Getty Images)

One-in-three U.S. adults ages 18 to 34 live in their parents’ home, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2021. In a Pew Research Center survey conducted that same year, Americans were more likely to see young adults living with their parents as a bad thing than a good thing for society.

How we did this

However, young adults in much of Europe are even more likely than their U.S. counterparts to live in their parents’ home, according to an analysis of living arrangements in more than two dozen European countries. This is consistent with previous Pew Research Center work that used 2014 data.

In 24 of the 29 European countries studied, more than one-in-three adults ages 18 to 34 lived in their parents’ home in 2021, according to the statistical agency Eurostat. That includes more than seven-in-ten in Croatia (77%), Greece (73%), Portugal (72%), Serbia (71%) and Italy (71%). On the other end of the spectrum, fewer than one-in-five young adults in the Scandinavian countries of Finland (18%), Sweden (17%) and Denmark (16%) live with their parents.

Overall, countries in southern and eastern Europe tend to have higher rates of young adults living in their parents’ home than countries in northern and western Europe, a difference that may reflect both cultural factors, such as social norms and family ties, and structural factors, such as housing markets and welfare systems.

Both in the United States and Europe, young men are more likely than young women to live in their parents’ home. In 2021, 36% of young men in the U.S. lived in their parents’ home, compared with 30% of young women. The same pattern appears in every European country studied.

In a handful of European countries, including Ireland and Denmark, the gender difference is comparable to that in the U.S. However, in 16 European countries analyzed, the share of young men living in their parents’ home is more than 10 percentage points higher than the share for young women. The gender gap is widest in Bulgaria, where 72% of young men and 48% of young women live in their parents’ home.

Note: This is an update of a post originally published on May 24, 2016.

1st-ever Rohingya team to visit Myanmar this week to 'assess conditions' for repatriation

20-member team along with Bangladeshi officials to visit Rakhine State to pave way for repatriation before monsoon season, say officials

SM Najmus Sakib and Md Kamruzzaman |

 04.05.2023


Dhaka

DHAKA, Bangladesh

A 20-member Rohingya team is set to visit Myanmar this week to assess the condition in the Rakhine State of Myanmar for possible repatriation before this monsoon, according to Bangladeshi officials.

Sources in the Foreign Ministry told Anadolu: “The visit is aimed at building confidence among the refugees for a safe, voluntary, and dignified repatriation.”

The Foreign Ministry officials in the field working on refugee management will also accompany the team.

Speaking to Anadolu, Bangladesh's Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammed Mizanur Rahman said it is a positive development to start a peaceful and dignified repatriation of the forcibly displaced citizens of Myanmar.

“I am hopeful that after a long gap, a significant sign of Rohingya repatriation has been visible,” Rahman said.

He, however, added that it will depend on how the Myanmar authorities receive their citizens.

The ministry officials hoped the repatriation would start before this monsoon.

The monsoon season normally lasts from June through October.

This is the first Rohingya refugees' official visit after their exodus in August 2017. The team is expected to visit Myanmar on May 5 following a rare visit of Myanmar junta officials to the refugee camps on the southeast coast of Bangladesh in March this year.

More than 1.2 million Rohingya Muslims forcibly displaced from Myanmar live in 33 congested refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, with another 30,000 relocated to Bhasan Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal. Most of the refugees fled a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine, a state on the western coast of Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Chinese mediation

Earlier on Tuesday, Chinese Ambassador to Dhaka Yao Wen went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a meeting with acting Foreign Secretary Md. Khurshed Alam in Dhaka.

“Efforts are underway to start the repatriation of Rohingya this month with the mediation of China before the start of monsoon season. And, Bangladesh, China, and Myanmar are working to make the repatriation successful,” according to the sources.

Bangladesh earlier made the proposal to send the Rohingya living in the Bangladeshi refugee camps to visit Rakhine state in advance to monitor the situation. After waiting for so many years, Myanmar has agreed to allow Rohingya to visit Myanmar.

In the first phase, over 1,100 pre-screened Rohingya are supposed to go under this arrangement if it is successful. Many such initiatives failed earlier due to non-cooperation from the Myanmar side.

On March 15, a 22-member high-level delegation from Myanmar came to Bangladesh and held meetings with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s camps under Chinese mediation for a week to verify a list of 429 Rohingya Muslims prepared by Bangladesh for repatriation.

Rohingya delegates to visit Myanmar for repatriation plan

Online News Editor

May 3, 2023



Dhaka, May 3 (EFE).- A 20-member Rohingya delegation is scheduled to visit Myanmar later this week to check the conditions in Rakhine State ahead of a start of repatriation to the country, the Bangladesh authorities confirmed Wednesday.

The delegation representing Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who fled Myanmar following persecution by the security forces, is expected to visit the strife-torn country on Friday.

“This will be a one-day visit. Some Bangladesh officials will also accompany the Rohingya delegates,” Mizanur Rahman, the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner of Bangladesh, told EFE.

This will be the first visit of a Rohingya team to Myanmar since around 774,000 Rohingyas arrived in Bangladesh following a military crackdown in 2017, which the United Nations classified as an example of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide.

Previously, Bangladesh twice attempted to repatriate members of the community to Myanmar, however, the process was a failure as the Rohingyas refused to return without recognition as citizens and guarantees of security.

A delegation from Myanmar visited Bangladesh in March to restart the long-stalled repatriation process.

Bangladesh’s refugee commissioner, Rahman, said that Myanmar had verified a total of 1,176 Rohingyas to start the repartition under a pilot programme, but no date had been fixed for it.

“It will depend on the result of visits like this when the repatriation can be started,” he said.

Dhaka has in the past claimed to have collected the biometric data of around 830,000 Rohingyas, and submitted it to the authorities in Myanmar for verification.

However, only 58,000 of them have been verified.

In March, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement it was aware of the visit of a Myanmar team to Bangladesh for a bilateral pilot project on possible returns but was not involved in it.

“UNHCR’s position on returns of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar remains unchanged,” the statement said.

“Conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine State are currently not conducive to the sustainable return of Rohingya refugees,” it had underlined.

In March, the New York-based nonprofit Human Rights Watch urged Bangladesh to suspend plans to send Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar, saying it would put their lives and liberty at grave risk.

The statement came a week after a Myanmar delegation concluded its visit to Bangladesh after interviewing some 480 Rohingyas in refugee camps for possible repatriation.

Quoting Rohingyas, HRW said the refugees were “lied to, deceived, or otherwise coerced by Bangladesh administrators” into a meeting with the delegation of Myanmar junta officials as part of a “pilot repatriation” effort.

China’s Foreign Minister Meets Junta Leader in Myanmar

Qin Gang paid his first visit to Myanmar on May 2, during which he pledged to increase Chinese economic engagement with the military regime.

By Shannon Tiezzi
May 03, 2023

In this photo provided by the Myanmar Military True News Information Team, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, right, head of the military council, shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, left, during their meeting on May 2, 2023, in Naypyidaw, Myanmar.

Credit: Military True News Information Team via AP

China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang stopped in Myanmar on May 2, en route to India for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. In doing so, Qin further cemented Beijing’s willingness to work with the military regime that seized power via a coup in February 2021 – even though Myanmar has been wracked by civil for much of the time since then.

According to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry, Qin’s trip “aimed to further follow through on the outcomes of President Xi Jinping’s historic visit to Myanmar in January 2020.” The statement gave no acknowledgement that Xi’s counterpart during that 2020 visit was Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the since-ousted National League for Democracy government. Aung San Suu Kyi herself is now in jail.

Beijing seems to be pretending that the coup, in effect, didn’t happen. Qin’s visit made clear that China expects to carry on with its previous plans for Myanmar.

In particular, China will “deepen practical cooperation [with Myanmar] in such fields as economy and livelihood, and support Myanmar’s efforts to maintain stability, revitalize the economy, improve people’s lives, and realize sustainable development,” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. In the context of ongoing armed resistance against the coup, the pledge to “support Myanmar’s efforts to maintain stability” is key, as it could hint at arms sales or other practical support to the junta’s brutal use of force against opposition forces (and civilians).

Qin’s visit continues a steady trend of solidifying China’s support of and engagement with the military regime. Last July, Qin’s predecessor, Wang Yi, visited Myanmar for the first time since the junta seized control. Wang’s trip was taken as a sign of China’s recognition of the military regime – by both the junta itself and its opponents in Myanmar, who sharply criticized the move. Earlier in the year, Wang had pledged that China would support Myanmar’s military government “no matter how the situation changes”

Notably, however, in July 2022 Wang did not meet with the junta’s leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. Qin did meet with Min Aung Hlaing, effectively bolstering China’s previous support of the military regime.

During their talks, according to China’s Foreign Ministry, Qin said that “China sincerely hopes that the situation in Myanmar will stabilize and that the country will develop.” He added that China “supports Myanmar’s search for a development path that suits its national conditions and has Burmese characteristics.”

As for the ongoing crisis, Qin called for all parties in Myanmar’s conflict to “settle their differences and achieve reconciliation under the constitutional and legal framework.” But he did not explicitly call for an end to the violence, and he also urged the international community to “respect Myanmar’s sovereignty,” which seems to be an oblique call to recognize the rule of the junta.

On China-Myanmar ties specifically, Qin pledged that China will continue to invest in the war-torn country and “speed up the promotion of key cooperation projects under the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor.” In a separate meeting with the junta’s foreign minister, Than Swe, Qin promised “major aid projects” for Myanmar, as well as China’s “active support” for improving people’s livelihood – a tall order in a country on the verge of economic collapse.

Indeed, amid the chaos following the 2021 coup, China has had to rethink its approach to projects in the country. The China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), which seeks to link China’s Yunnan province with Myanmar’s west coast along the Bay of Bengal, involves gas and oil pipelines, industrial and trade zones, a deep-sea port in Kyaukphyu, and the traditional railways and roads that are the linchpin of China’s Belt and Road Initiative around the world.

As Timothy Millar, the founder of Engaged Development, noted in a February 2023 article for The Diplomat, instability in the rest of the country has forced China to focus on CMEC projects “in the geographical periphery of Myanmar. These areas are the calmest and/or border China.” Millar continued:

Although the projects are moving forward at very different rates they include the deep-sea port, SEZ, and power plant at Kyaukphyu; two border trade zones (one of which is approved, the other still in the planning phase); the Mee Ling Gyaing LNG terminal in Ayeyarwady Region on the Bay of Bengal; and possibly the New Yangon Development City, though this remains at the planning stage. Projects that have stalled or stopped include the railway from Muse to Mandalay, related road systems, and multiple industrial zones planned for construction along the transportation routes.

While China sounded a positive note regarding economic cooperation, there were also sign of China’s concerns regarding the unrest in Myanmar. Qin made a point of stopping by the China-Myanmar border before actually entering the neighboring country. From the Wanding-Ruili border crossing, he called for both maintaining the stability of the China-Myanmar border and advancing China-Myanmar friendly cooperation.

Qin said local Chinese Communist Party branches, government departments, the People’s Liberation Army, police, and civilians must make “joint efforts to strengthen the border defense system, maintain clear and stable borders, and severely crack down on cross-border criminal activities.”

China has cause to worry about the border. In the past, instability in Myanmar has led not only to streams of refugees seeking shelter in China, but even the occasional spillover of violence. In 2015, an airstrike by the Myanmar Air Force landed on the wrong side of the border, killing four Chinese citizens in Yunnan. Qin’s visit made clear China’s bottom line for its relationship with Myanmar before he even left China, allowing him to avoid embarrassing his hosts upon arrival in their country.

At the same time, speaking from Ruili, Qin also stressed that “It is necessary to coordinate border management, border trade development, and bilateral relations,” including promoting “normal border trade and personnel exchanges between China and Myanmar… speed[ing] up the construction of cross-border economic cooperation zones, and promot[ing] the construction of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor.” In other words, China is well aware of the risks, but is determined to move forward anyway.

The truth about climate action versus economic growth

Vinod Thomas Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Economic growth has taken precedence over environmental protection on the premise that raising living standards for people now must have priority over preserving nature for future generations. But this way of thinking runs into trouble when the destruction of natural capital rises to such a height that it blocks growth itself. The crucial question is whether runaway climate change puts to rest the growth-versus-environment dichotomy, necessitating that they be seen as the two sides of the same coin. The answer is an unambiguous yes at the global level, and a qualified yes at the country level.*

To be clear, it is not the case that poverty reduction has advanced to a point where growth rates can now be sacrificed in the name of reversing climate change. Over 700 million people are estimated to live in extreme poverty (2020). After decades of declines, poverty levels worsened from 2020 to 2022 on account of the pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine, extreme climate disasters, and the global economic slowdown. Such swings put the spotlight on the millions who move in and out of poverty following shocks. Furthermore, improvements in have a long way to go: For example, nearly 3 billion people cook with traditional fuels, killing millions and endangering health through indoor pollution.

But it is the case that the perspective on growth and poverty reduction on the one side versus environmental protection and climate action on the other needs to change as decades of environmental destruction have made countries extremely vulnerable to shocks. Poorer countries and poorer segments of the population are the most hurt. Climate action is not only complementary to poverty reduction but in key respects, the former is a necessary condition for the latter. When one-third of Pakistan goes underwater and 10 percent of GDP is wiped out, building flood defenses becomes synonymous with poverty reduction.

Climate action is not only complementary to poverty reduction but in key respects, the former is a necessary condition for the latter.

Nevertheless, climate adaptation can be seen as a less obvious step in growth and poverty reduction than, say, cutting indoor pollution as the latter can more clearly be seen as human-made and with a direct attribution of cause and effect. If people think that the extremity of the Pakistan floods or the California fires were caused by natural factors, then spending on flood defenses, let alone on decarbonization, may be seen as ill-advised investments. But scientists are clear that extreme climate disasters are human-caused, and they are proving catastrophic for growth and poverty reduction.

The story is more complicated when it comes to climate mitigation as compared to adaptation. The transition to low-carbon energy has short-term costs that can present an apparent trade-off between saving lives today and saving lives tomorrow. That trade-off is more glaring for low-income countries because the costs of transition for them are (proportionately) higher. This differentiation of low-income nations in this respect is quite apart from the issue of climate justice that asks that high-income nations bear the brunt of the mitigation costs everywhere. That argument is salient as 74 of the poorest member countries of the International Development Association (IDA) account for less than 10 percent of the GHGs but are hardest hit by climate change.

That said, to stabilize climate change, all countries will need to contribute to a global net zero. If countries continue the current path, global temperatures will rise by over 3 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, and poverty reduction becomes a moot point. The case for poorer nations investing in mitigation too becomes stronger as technologies for renewable energy become even more competitive than fossil fuels, and if rich nations step up low-cost financing of climate investments.

The conclusion in favor of seeing growth and poverty reduction as complementary with environmental protection and climate action for the most part needs to be underpinned by economic analysis and policy advice. Investments must be put to the test of social cost-benefit analysis, that includes valuation of environmental damages and discount rates that appreciate the necessity of protecting natural capital for future years. Such analysis can be aided by complementing GDP measures with adjustments of the damages from carbon-intensive growth, for example, in UNDP’s planetary effect-adjusted human development index.

At the end of the day, the debate on growth versus the environment can be aided by qualifying the use of GDP growth that ignores the damages that are embedded in it. This shortcoming of the GDP yardstick feeds the mismatch between time horizons—of policymaking to boost short-term growth on the one side and the obligations of sustainable climate policy on the other. Qualifying the GDP measure will also help shape public opinion, the final arbiter of policy directions, in favor of climate action and environmental protection.

* Based on the author’s book Risk and Resilience in the Era of Climate Change, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
Risk and resilience in the era of climate change
Vinod Thomas Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Vinod Thomas
Distinguished Fellow - Asian Institute of Management, Manila
Former Senior Vice President - World Bank
vthomas14

Shock Poll Shows Six Out of 14 Nations, Including Canada, Australia, Would Vote to Remove Charles as Their Head of State



TEHRAN (FNA)- Nearly half of the King's realms – including Canada and Australia – would vote to become republics if a referendum was held tomorrow, a bombshell poll found.

Research by former Conservative Deputy Chairman Lord Ashcroft reveals the true scale of the challenge Charles faces abroad, The Daily Mail reported.

It found that of the 14 overseas countries where he is head of state, six – Australia, Canada, the Bahamas, Jamaica, the Solomon Islands, and Antigua and Barbuda – would vote to ditch the monarchy.

Of those surveyed, 42 percent of Australians were for a republic with 35 percent against, while 47 percent of Canadians wanted change with just 23 percent for the monarchy.

Nearly all the other eight nations with Charles as head of state – New Zealand, Belize, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tuvalu – hang in the balance.

Only Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Tuvalu have significant majorities in favour of maintaining the status quo, according to the survey of 11,251 people.

It stands in stark contrast to Lord Ashcroft's landmark study on attitudes in the UK, published in the Daily Mail on Monday, which found support for the monarchy at home is rock solid.

But in a possible signpost to the future of Charles' reign, the in-depth analysis found that all the realms overwhelmingly want to remain part of the Commonwealth. Most also said the monarchy gives them "more stability".

Nearly all agreed that the Royal Family "needs to modernise in order to have any chance of surviving' and only three disagreed that The Firm 'should be scaled down and its cost significantly reduced'".

As Lord Ashcroft surmises, while at home "the institution looks secure for now", looking abroad "the picture is much more mixed".

A pattern emerged from focus groups that showed the Royal Family's waning grip in the popular imagination of the 14 Commonwealth realms.

One Australian said, "Britain is just like a distant memory. If anything, we're just following in the footsteps of whatever the US is doing".

And a Canadian respondent remarked, "The story of the monarchy is beautiful, but it's no longer real to the modern day".

Some 61 percent of Australians and 54 percent of Canadians agreed that the monarchy was good for them in the past, but no longer makes sense.

In Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Jamaica, over 75 percent of people agreed that "in an ideal world we wouldn't have the monarchy, but there are more important things for us to deal with".

The increasing apathy towards the royals comes after Barbados voted to become a republic and some critics described William and Kate's tour of the Caribbean as a PR disaster.

There is a growing republican movement across the Caribbean – particularly in Jamaica – but even most New Zealanders agreed that the monarchy no longer makes sense for them. Many countries seem to be upset that they get no tangible benefits.

A Jamaican respondent told Lord Ashcroft's pollsters, "To top it all off, even to travel to England we need a visa. We don't get any benefits, we don't get to travel to the UK visa-free, so why are we even part of it?"

In the Bahamas one person noted Britain's absence while the US and Canada helped with relief after Hurricane Dorian.

And one New Zealander said that, while the royals "probably work hard" in the UK, they "honestly don't know what they do" in their own country.

However, most countries agreed that "the King can unite everyone in my country, no matter who they voted for", with the exceptions of Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, New Zealand and the Solomon Islands.

Most agreed that the Royal Family "care a lot" about their country and that it "might seem a strange system in this day and age, but it works".

They were by no means totally won over by the argument for republics, with some citing worries about corruption and dictatorship under a presidency.

Others said the monarchy gave them, as young countries, a shared history. It would seem that there is much goodwill to tap into, and that for the most part the Commonwealth just feels left behind and distant.

Lord Ashcroft concludes that while it is for these countries to decide if they want to become republics, "there is a fine line between not campaigning and not seeming to care".

As King Charles is set to be crowned, the former Conservative deputy chairman says he and the British Government must consider the question, "How much do these relationships matter, and are we willing to invest in them?"

AFP Turkey office goes on strike on World Press Freedom Day

On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, press workers of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) Istanbul Bureau have commenced a strike under the leadership of the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) to protest the low wages policy.

ANF
ISTANBUL
Wednesday, 3 May 2023


Press workers of AFP’s Turkey Bureau gathered in front of the AFP Turkey Office in Şişli, Istanbul, where TGS Chair Gökhan Durmuş read out a statement on behalf of the press workers and announced that they went on a strike on May 3, which has been celebrated as Press Freedom Day in many countries since 1993.

'WE ARE GOING THROUGH A SEVERE ECONOMIC CRISIS'

Durmuş pointed out that journalists needed secure jobs and decent wages for the freedom of the press. He revealed that they explained the economic situation in Turkey and their concerns to employer representatives during the collective bargaining negotiations about 5 months ago, but they could not reach an agreement on a wage hike.

Durmuş said that the country was going through a severe economic crisis which triggered skyrocketing prices of consumer goods. He noted that the prices of basic consumption goods and house rents have increased by 300 percent.

“The Turkish lira keeps losing value against the dollar and the euro. The wages of our members at AFP also continue to erode. We asked AFP officials to convert our wages to euro. When our offer was rejected, we requested at least a protection mechanism to compensate the meltdown in the Turkish lira. However, this offer of ours was also rejected. The wages of our workfellows decreased by half compared to euro to lira exchange rate 3 years ago.”

Durmuş stressed that: “We will not give up our struggle until journalists can write freely without censorship or pressure and enjoy their rights.”

After the press statement, a strike banner was hung on the wall of the AFP Turkey Office.

86 years ago, the Dersim Genocide

4 May marks the 86th anniversary of the beginning of the Dersim Genocide. The Turkish government massacred thousands of people, those who survived were banished, Dersim was depopulated.

ANF
NEWS DESK
Thursday, 4 May 2023,

86 years have passed, and yet Turkey is not willing to acknowledge this genocide, like many other Kurdish genocides. Those responsible for the deaths of thousands of people have never been tried nor have they been brought out into light. The broken families could never discover their past.

Thousands of people still haven’t received news from their families and close friends. The whereabouts of the Kurdish children taken by the Turkish Government at the time are unknown. Many other world countries who have had similar experiences and committed genocide against their people have acknowledged the injustice and sorrow they have caused and have apologised.

However, Turkey is continuing to resist and use the “it does not exist” strategy with the Kurdish Genocide just as they have with the Armenian Genocide."

The military campaign against Dersim was mounted in response to a relatively minor incident, and it would seem that the army had been waiting for a direct reason to punish the tribes. One day in March 1937, a strategic wooden bridge was burned down and telephone lines cut. Seyyit Riza and the tribes associated with him were suspected. The army may have believed this to be the beginning of the expected rebellion. One Turkish source mentions that there was around the same time another minor incident elsewhere in Kurdistan and suggests coordination by Kurdish nationalists.

The first troops, sent in to arrest the suspects, were stopped by armed tribesmen. The confrontations soon escalated. When the tribes kept refusing to surrender their leaders, a large campaign was mounted. Military operations to subdue the region lasted throughout the summer of 1937. In September, Seyyit Riza and his closest associates surrendered, but the next spring the operations were resumed with even greater force. They must have been of unprecedented violence and brutality.

The number of slaughtered people ranged between 12 thousand, according to official figures, and 70-90 thousand according to the people of Dersim. More than 10 thousand people were exiled.