Rep. Betty McCollum reintroduces bill prohibiting US aid from aiding Israeli human rights abuses

Rep. Betty McCollum and 16 cosponsors have reintroduced a bill prohibiting Israel from using US aid to detain Palestinian children, destroy Palestinian homes, or unilaterally annex Palestinian land.

BY JEFF WRIGHT 

MAY 5, 2023 

MONDOWEISS

REP. BETTY MCCOLLUM (PHOTO: U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES)


This morning, Rep. Betty McCollum (MN-04) and 16 cosponsors—supported by a growing list of civil society and faith groups—reintroduced the Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act for the 118th Congress. The legislation would ensure accountability for the use of U.S. taxpayer dollars.

According to a press release from McCollum’s office, “The legislation prohibits Israel’s government from using U.S. taxpayer dollars in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem for the military detention, abuse, or ill treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention; the seizure and destruction of Palestinian property and homes in violation of international humanitarian law; or any assistance or support for unilateral annexation of Palestinian lands in violation of international humanitarian law.”

“Not $1 of U.S. aid should be used to commit human rights violations, demolish families’ homes, or permanently annex Palestinian lands.”Rep. Betty McCollum

Congresswoman McCollum said, “Not $1 of U.S. aid should be used to commit human rights violations, demolish families’ homes, or permanently annex Palestinian lands. The United States provides billions in assistance for Israel’s government each year—and those dollars should go toward Israel’s security, not toward actions that violate international law and cause harm.”

The bill, first introduced in the 117th Congress in 2017, builds on advocacy efforts by Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP). In 2013, activists concerned about Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children gathered in Chicago. With the help of staff from DCIP and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), they planted the seeds of what would become the No Way to Treat a Child campaign, which has grown into an international movement. DCIP’s most recent fact sheet, Palestinian Children in Military Detention, was released earlier this year.

Brad Parker, Senior Adviser for Policy and Advocacy at DCIP, tells Mondoweiss, “We at DCIP think the bill is a powerful step toward holding the U.S. accountable for ensuring that U.S. military funding does not support these violations.”

In addition to restrictions the bill imposes on Israel’s use of U.S. taxpayer dollars, Parker says, “The bill sets forward annual certification requirements for the Secretary of State to submit to Congress to show that no U.S. funding has been used by the Israeli government to support these activities, as well as oversight reporting describing the nature and extent of the Israeli government’s actions on these activities. Furthermore, the bill calls for the Comptroller General to submit a report to Congress detailing Israel’s expenditures for offshore procurement.”

In reintroducing the bill, Rep. McCollum said, “Peace can only be achieved when everyone’s human rights are respected, and Congress has a responsibility to not ignore the well-documented mistreatment of Palestinian children and families living under Israeli military occupation.”

Her statement continued, “Support is growing rapidly for the Palestinian people, who deserve justice, equality, human rights, and the right to self-determination. Civil society groups, as well as Christian, Jewish, and Muslim organizations have signed on in support of this bill—because we all agree that no Palestinian child and no Jewish child should go to bed at night fearing ongoing violence. There is a path to a peaceful future, and it requires leading with our U.S. values of democracy and equal justice for all.”

Joining Rep. McCollum as original cosponsors: Rep. Don Beyer (VA-08), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (NJ-10), Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Rep. Raúl Grijalva (AZ-03), Rep. Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02), Rep. Cori Bush (MO-01), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (IL-04), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-12), Rep. Summer Lee (PA-12), Rep. Dwight Evans (PA-03).

DCIP’s Parker encourages supporters of Palestinian human rights to contact their representatives, encourage them to read the bill, and share why you’re asking them to sign on as a cosponsor. Additional background information on McCollum’s bill can be found at mccollum.house.gov/PalestinianHumanRights.

Asrın Law Office demands contact with Öcalan amid rumours of alleged talks on Imrali

Ahead of the May 14 election in Turkey, there is speculation about alleged talks with Abdullah Öcalan on the prison island of Imrali. The Asrin Law Office considers the rumours to be manipulation and demands immediate contact with their client.

ANF
NEWS DESK
Saturday, 6 May 2023

A sham debate has been going on in Turkey for some time, speculating about talks with Abdullah Öcalan in the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14. The Asrin Law Office, which represents Öcalan and his three fellow prisoners on the prison island, assesses these rumours as manipulation, saying: "We have to emphasise again that we have not heard anything from Öcalan since 25 March 2021. Despite all the requests and efforts of his lawyers and his relatives, we are not aware of the living conditions and state of health of Öcalan and our three other clients on Imrali. This situation worries us and the whole society.”

The statement by Asrın Law Office pointed out that: “During the election campaign, the political centres are engaged in a propaganda race around Öcalan. Under these circumstances, we would like to inform the whole society that the lack of news and the strict isolation conditions continue and that all these discussions are going on without Öcalan's knowledge, contribution and participation. What is right and should be done is to give Öcalan the opportunity to meet with his lawyers immediately. The law and minimum ethics also require this. Under these conditions, where Öcalan has no opportunity to express himself, we don't think speculative discussions that would mean ignoring or blocking out the reality of isolation and lack of news are right."

In its statement published on May 2 in connection with the talks in question on Imrali, the Asrin Law Office said:

* We have not received any messages from Öcalan and our three other clients after 25 March 2021, when a telephone conversation with his brother was interrupted and could not be continued. We do not know the reason for this interruption.

* We have no information about the detention conditions, the treatment and the state of health of our clients on Imrali.

* According to Article 66/3 of Law No. 5275, convicts have the right "to make immediate use of the prison's telephone and fax facilities in the event of the death, serious illness, epidemic disease or natural disaster of their heirs, descendants, spouses and siblings". Nevertheless, Öcalan and our other clients were deprived of this right even in the case of death, let alone illness, of their family members, and this prohibition was not relaxed even during the 6 February earthquakes.

* Öcalan could only use a single-channel radio for 14 years and only had access to television, which is available to all prisoners, in 2013. However, as a report from May 2018 shows, TV channels were restricted, and newspapers were delivered after a delay of 40 days.

* Öcalan was held in solitary confinement in the island prison for ten years and nine months from 16 February 1999 to 17 November 2009, after which five more of our clients were transferred to Imrali. Although these prisoners were later exchanged, as outlined in the 2016 and 2019 CPT (Committee for the Prevention of Torture) reports, our clients could only meet for six hours a week and spend the rest of the time alone in their cells.

Explainer | ‘A turning point’: what’s in store for South Korea-Japan ties as Yoon, Kishida meet in Seoul?

Building closer security ties to counter North Korea, expanding economic cooperation are among the issues likely to be the focus of Kishida’s Seoul trip

Warmer South Korea-Japan ties may also see the neighbours draw closer to the US, which could incur China’s wrath and escalate tensions, analyst notes

Seong Hyeon Choi
Published: 6 May, 2023

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida toast during dinner at a Tokyo restaurant in March. Photo: dpa

The relationship between South Korea and Japan looks set for a thaw as the leaders of both nations meet on Sunday to discuss a range of shared interests, including security and trade.

South Korean Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho earlier this week described the situation as a “turning point”, following years of acrimony over historical disagreements related to Japan’s treatment of its former colony.

The past was dredged up after a 2018 South Korean court ruling rekindled ill feelings over Koreans used as forced labour during the Japanese occupation in WWII, sparking a diplomatic row over intelligence-sharing and tit-for-tat trade restrictions.

A recent accord struck between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol during the latter’s March visit to Tokyo – the first in 12 years – aimed at putting that issue in the past.

This weekend’s summit in Seoul is the reciprocation of Yoon’s visit, when both sides pledged to restore regular “shuttle diplomacy”.

Here’s what to know about the recent thaw in South Korea-Japan ties and this weekend’s summit.

North Korea warns enemies of ‘extreme horror’ as it tests new missile

The Pyongyang threat

The summit comes two weeks after Yoon visited Washington to meet US President Joe Biden, with both leaders emphasising “the importance of US-ROK-Japan trilateral cooperation [that is] committed to shared prosperity and security” in a joint statement.

It also comes in the face of North Korea’s frequent missile launches, with 26 in the first quarter of this year. Last month, Pyongyang said it tested a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile – the first time it has done so – which flew over Japan towards the Pacific Ocean.

Solid-fuel rockets have shorter burn times than liquid propellants, meaning the North can strike the US with far less warning.

In the light of Pyongyang’s provocations, Seoul and Tokyo in March normalised an intelligence-sharing pact, the General Security of Military Information Agreement.

Japan and South Korea are cosying up because ‘it makes perfect sense’
3 May 2023


Choi Eun-mi, a research fellow at Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, said that while the current state of South Korea-Japan ties might not lead to a military alliance, building closer security ties to deter North Korea’s missile threats was likely to be the focus of Kishida’s visit.

“There will be a discussion on how to respond to North Korean nuclear threats … In terms of information exchange, there can be discussions on increasing the quality of the information they share,” Choi said. “It would be more important to discuss how to cooperate between South Korea, the United States and Japan.”

Defence officials from the three countries last month agreed to step up efforts to realise real-time information-sharing about North Korean missiles to “enhance trilateral security cooperation”. Japan has said it will also invite South Korea to the G7 summit in Hiroshima later this month.

Among the key results of Yoon’s US visit was the “Washington Declaration”, which reaffirmed the “regular visibility” of US strategic assets – including nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines – to the Korean peninsula.

The two countries will also set up a nuclear consultative group (NCG) to “strengthen extended deterrence, discuss nuclear and strategic planning, and manage the threat to the non-proliferation regime posed by [North Korea]”.

South Koreans chant slogans during a candlelight vigil in Seoul against a government plan to resolve a dispute over compensating people forced to work under Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea. Photo: Reuters

A sticking point?

The main point of friction between Seoul and Tokyo, however, is the forced-labour compensation issue.

In 2018, 15 Koreans won lawsuits against two Japanese companies – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Nippon Steel Corp – accused of forced labour during Japan’s colonial rule. Tokyo insisted the compensation issue had been resolved in a bilateral treaty in 1965 and imposed retaliatory economic sanctions on South Korea in 2019.

Following years of stalemate, South Korea in March revealed a new compensation plan under which victims would receive reparations from a Seoul-backed fund instead of from the Japanese companies linked to forced labour.

South Korea faces backlash for ‘humiliating’ deal over Japan forced labour row
6 Mar 2023


South Korea’s opposition condemned the plan as “humiliating” as it lacked an official apology from the Japanese government in Tokyo.

A recent Gallup Korea poll showed Yoon’s public approval rating after his Tokyo visit dropped by 1 percentage point to 33 per cent, with “forced-labour compensation plan” and “diplomacy” among key reasons for the negative appraisal.

South Koreans expecting Kishida to offer a direct apology for Japan’s colonial rule during his trip may also be disappointed. Japanese right-wing nationalists – including the ruling Liberal Democratic Party – have claimed that no further apologies to the Korean victims are needed.

“It’s difficult to anticipate more than what Kishida said at the last summit, but it would be necessary for him to give consolation and sympathy to the victims even if he does not mention any words like ‘apology’ or ‘regret’,” Choi said.

Improved South Korea-Japan ties may also prove crucial amid the United States’ drive to limit China’s role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Photo: Shutterstock

Expanding trade ties


Kishida’s visit could also signal increased bilateral trade ties, which had already received a boost following Yoon’s trip in March.

Japan has taken steps to ease trade restrictions on its neighbour, such as lifting the export ban on key semiconductor materials, and commencing procedures to return Seoul to “white list” trade status after the latter was downgraded in 2019 over the forced-labour compensation dispute.

Improved bilateral ties may also prove crucial amid Washington’s drive to limit China’s role in the global semiconductor supply chain. The US’ “Chip 4” alliance aims to push for closer economic cooperation between South Korea – the largest supplier of memory chips – and Japan, a key exporter of semiconductor materials and equipment, in the global production and trade in semiconductors.

Beijing denounces US and South Korea plans for nuclear submarine

Wary China

Warmer ties between South Korea and Japan could lead to a closer military alliance with the US, which may utilise the NCG and North Korea threat to push for a bigger presence in the region to thwart China’s ambitions in the Taiwan Strait.

Seoul’s recent security and foreign-policy moves have predictably prompted strong reactions from Beijing.

China and South Korea summoned each other’s diplomatic envoys last month following a sharp exchange of words by both sides over comments by Yoon in a Reuters interview where he said “any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific” was unacceptable.

The joint statement by Biden and Yoon following the latter’s White House visit also reaffirmed “the importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait” and the South China Sea.

Washington Declaration not meant to ‘isolate’ any country, South Korea tells China
2 May 2023


The Chinese foreign ministry hit back, saying “the Taiwan question is purely an internal affair at the core of China’s interests”.

Choi said if South Korea’s ties with the US and Japan became more stable, Beijing was likely to express discontent towards Washington and its allies, escalating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.

“While China welcomes the improvement in South Korea-Japan relations, it would try to block the creation of a camp or bigger voice resisting against a certain country,” Choi said.

“I think Beijing would urge South Korea not to fall into a partisanship logic from a particular country, in this case the US.”




Seong Hyeon Choi
Seong Hyeon joined the SCMP in 2022. He is from South Korea and graduated with a bachelor of journalism and master of international and public affairs from the University of Hong Kong. He worked as a research intern for Korea Chair at US foreign policy think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and as a news trainee for NK news.  

World's Tallest 'Hemp Hotel' Trails South Africa's Green Credentials


A general view of the Hemp Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa, April 25, 2023. Photo: AFP

May 06, 2023 3:07 AM
Agence France-Presse

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA — With 12 storeys, a breathtaking view of Cape Town's imposing Table Mountain and a minimal ecological footprint, the world's tallest building made with industrial hemp is soon to open its doors in South Africa.

Workers in central Cape Town are putting the finishing touches on the 54-room Hemp Hotel, which is due to be completed in June.

A general view of a nearly completed apartment at the Hemp Hotel in Cape Town, April 25, 2023.


"Hempcrete" blocks derived from the cannabis plant have been used to fill the building's walls, supported by a concrete and cement structure.

Hemp bricks are becoming increasingly popular in the construction world thanks to their insulating, fire-resistant and climate-friendly properties.

A general view of newly pressed hemp bricks at the Afrimat Hemp brick factory in Cape Town, April 25, 2023.


Used notably in Europe for thermal renovation of existing buildings, the blocks are carbon negative -- meaning their production sucks more planet-warming gases out of the atmosphere than it puts in.

"The plant absorbs the carbon, it gets put into a block and is then stored into a building for 50 years or longer," explains Boshoff Muller, director of Afrimat Hemp, a subsidiary of South African construction group Afrimat, which produced the bricks for the hotel.

"What you see here is a whole bag full of carbon, quite literally," Muller says as he pats a bag of mulch at a brick factory on the outskirts of Cape Town, where hemp hurds, water and lime are mixed together to make the blocks.

Boshoff Muller, director of Afrimat Hemp, shows a hemp brick wall at the Hemp Hotel in Cape Town, April 25, 2023.

The industrial hemp used for the Hemp Hotel had to be imported from Britain as South Africa banned local production up to last year, when the government started issuing cultivation permits.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has made developing the country's hemp and cannabis sector an economic priority, saying it could create more than 130,000 jobs.

A worker shows dried hemp from France used to make hemp bricks at the Afrimat Hemp brick factory in Cape Town, April 25, 2023.


Carbon credits

Afrimat Hemp is now preparing to produce its first blocks made only with South African hemp.

Hemp Hotel architect Wolf Wolf, 52, sees this as a game changer to make hemp buildings more widespread in this corner of the world.

Workers load a wooden board used to produce hemp bricks in to a machinery at the Afrimat Hemp brick factory in Cape Town, April 25, 2023.

"It shouldn't be just a high-end product," says Wolf, whose firm is involved in several social housing projects in South Africa and neighboring Mozambique.

Yet cost remains an issue.

"Hemp is 20 percent more expensive to build with" compared to conventional materials, says Afrimat Hemp's carbon consultant Wihan Bekker.

But as the world races to lower carbon emissions, the firm sees "huge opportunities" for its green bricks, says Bekker.

A worker inspects newly pressed hemp bricks at the Afrimat Hemp brick factory in Cape Town, South Africa, April 25, 2023.

Carbon credits -- permits normally related to the planting of trees to safeguard tropical rainforests that companies buy to offset their emissions -- could help make hempcrete blocks more financially palatable, he says.

"We can fund forests, or we can fund someone to live in a hemp house. It's the same principle," Bekker says.

The carbon footprint of a 40 square meter (430 square foot) house built with hemp is three tons of CO2 lower than that of a conventional building, according to Afrimat Hemp.

  

A general view of an exposed hemp bricks wall at the Hemp Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa, April 25, 2023.

"We see this as a bit of a lighthouse project," Muller says of the Hemp Hotel.

"It shows hemp has its place in the construction sector." Hemp Hotel has been ranked the "tallest building to incorporate hemp-based materials in the world" by Steve Allin, director of the Ireland-based International Hemp Building Association.

Mint tea, hashish, and rock & roll — the story of Tangier’s Cafe Baba

If it was good enough for the Stones, it’s good enough for me.

Zahrah Mazhar 

Published May 6, 2023 

Tangier, the iconic port city of Morocco, has lured many artists, writers, scholars, spies, pirates and conquerors over centuries. It was where ‘the founder of Morocco’, Idris bin Abdallah, arrived in 789 after fleeing Baghdad, where French artist ​​Henri Matisse painted his famed Landscape Viewed from a Window in 1913 and where James Bond played by Daniel Craig went looking for clues in 2015’s Spectre.

A view of the Strait of Gibraltar from the port city of Tangier. — Photo by author

It’s also where the inimitable Rolling Stones lazed around in the 1960s. One of their regular haunts was a hole-in-the-wall café amid the white buildings of the historic casbah from where you can stare across the Strait of Gibraltar at Spain. Called Cafe Baba, the family-operated safe haven of Mick Jagger and the other Stones still attracts many visitors, like myself, to this day.

The entrance to Cafe Baba tells the story of neglect that some of the other structures in the ancient seaside city also speak of. But it doesn’t seem to mind its dishevelled appearance. You go up faded stairs lined with plants to a small doorway with a simple sign hanging above it, featuring the cafe’s name in Arabic and English as well as the self-proclaimed title of being the ‘best cafe in the medina’. As you stand at the entrance, where the chipped tiles on the floor simply spell out Baba’s, you get a whiff of kif (also kief) — unpressed hashish mixed with tobacco, commonly smoked out of a ‘sebsi’ pipe.

The entrance of the cafe spells out BABA’s on the floor. — Photo by author


Of Stones and sebsi pipes

Cannabis in Morocco is illegal on paper but according to locals, a small quantity won’t get you in trouble unless you’re smoking it on the streets. The country has been cultivating it for centuries and the mountainous area of Rif, which we passed on our drive from the blue city of Chefchaouen to Tangier, is best known for its marijuana plantations.

A sebsi pipe used for smoking kif (unpressed hashish mixed with tobacco). — Photo by author

Kif is said to be derived from the Arabic word kayf meaning pleasure or enjoyment, and while Morocco’s enduring relations with cannabis aren’t only about the mood it induces, the cafe’s relationship with the substance has been of pure indulgence.

Completing 80 years in 2023, Cafe Baba proudly displays a catalogue of its famous visitors on its mediterranean-blue walls. And among the photos of Kofi Annan and royals from Sweden and Spain, I spot the Stones. One black-and-white photo is of the band with the cafe owner Hnifza in 1967 and another of Keith Richards from 1966 at Cafe Baba, smoking a sebsi pipe with one hand and holding a half-burnt cigarette in the other.

Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones smoking a sebsi pipe at Cafe Baba.

 — Source: rollingstonesdata.com

The irony is at the time, no one knew or paid attention to the British rockers who had come to Morocco — in a bigger irony — to escape a drug scandal back home.

Perhaps Richards had read the words of writer Truman Capote in the 1950 edition of Vogue: “If you are someone escaping […] then by all means come here: hemmed with hills, confronted by the sea, and looking like a white cape draped on the shores of Africa.” Or it could have been the bohemian persona of the city that pulled many other artists to it — whatever the pull may have been, after their eventful first visit, the Stones returned in 1989 to record the song ‘Continental Drift’ with the Master Musicians of Jajouka for the Stones’ comeback album Steel Wheels.

Bachir Attar, leader of the Sufi trance music group, told The Guardian: “They loved to smoke kief. I remember once, after dinner at El Minzah, Mick Jagger turned to me and said, ‘Bachir, I need a pipe and some kief. Will you go and find some?’ I went out and found a guy who was selling but realised I had no money! I had to persuade him to give me the pipe and kief for free because it was for the Stones.”

After the recording sessions, Mick Jagger visited the village of Jajouka, which Brian Jones — the man who started the band and one of the first members of the tragic 27 Club — had visited in 1968.

The Rolling Stones’ members Keith Richards and Brian Jones with Anita Pellenberg in Tangier. — Source: rollingstonesdata.com



“It was not just the hashish, jetted up through a hookah or smouldering in the bowl of an intricately carved pipe. It was not just the clothes, caftans, djellabas, cloaks and waistcoats, beaded with glass or silver,” wrote Stones’ biographer Philip Norman. “In Morocco, Brian found a country whose daily life, both spiritual and secular, is indivisible from music.”

A historic city, but make it tangy

Standing in the cafe looking at the pictures on the walls of this legendary rock band, I would have paid good money to hear the stories of their Moroccan journey from them. An easier ask was imagining them blending into the smoke-shrouded crowd of the nonchalant young and hip.

It was a sleepy hour in Tangier when I visited Cafe Baba with my two travel companions a little after noon — scarce customers occupied the wooden tables and chairs, some in their own company and others in small groups. We took stock of each wall, the pictures hanging from them, and briefly chatted to Abdoul, who has been running the cafe since 1996 when his father died, as he plucked mint leaves.

Abdoul has been running the cafe since 1996, when his father passed away.

 — Photo by author

On one wall hangs a photo of Anthony Bourdain, the late American chef who featured the cafe in his show Parts Unknown, equating it to his dorm room in the 70s.

“If you were a bad boy of your time, you liked drugs, the kind of sex that was frowned upon at home, and an affordable lifestyle set against an exotic background, Tangier was for you,” he said of those who had come before him.

Photos of American chef Anthony Bourdain from his visit to Cafe Baba. — Photo by author



Bourdain didn’t focus on the food and neither will I as Cafe Baba is more about who it has served as opposed to what it serves. Don’t expect an extensive coffee menu or fresh croissants coming out of an oven. This establishment is mainly known for three drinks: the really sweet Moroccan mint tea, super strong Turkish coffee or a “nuss-nuss” — Arabic for “half-half” — milky coffee.

Mint tea at Cafe Baba comes in tall glasses with lots of mint leaves. 

— Photo by author

Unlike the small cups in Marrakech and Fes, the tea comes in tall glasses with an ample serving of mint. You could sip on this drink for a while on the terrace overlooking white buildings with green canopy windows, surrounded by tall trees and magenta bougainvillaea, as people come and go, some staying longer than others over games of parcheesi (ludo).

As we exit the cafe, I think to myself that there’s no one particular feature that stands out to justify all the famous people who walked through its doors — but hey, if it was good enough for the Stones, it’s good enough for me.

Header image: Inside the iconic Cafe Baba, established in 1943. — Photo by Ayesha Mir

This is a 4-part series on the author’s travels to Morocco.


Zahrah Mazhar is the Managing Editor at Dawn.com. Find her on Instagram @zeeinstamazhar

VOA: 40 Journalists Still in Myanmar Prisons After Junta Amnesty

May 06, 2023 
Ingyin Naing

A man is welcomed by his mother after his release from Insein Prison in Yangon, Myanmar, May 3, 2023. VOA Burmese says there are still about 40 journalists locked up in prisons across the country.

WASHINGTON —

VOA Burmese's research data indicate there are still about 40 journalists locked up in prisons across Myanmar, even after this week’s mass pardon of thousands of prisoners by the military junta.

On Wednesday, about 10 journalists were among the 2,153 political prisoners released to celebrate Buddha Day, also known as Kasone Full Moon Day. A statement from the junta said it was done "on humanitarian grounds.”

The statement said the freed prisoners were serving time for breaking section 505(a) of the penal code, which makes it illegal to “propagate fake news or statements that incite public disorder or fear.”

Many people arrested following the military coup in February 2021 faced this charge, which carried a maximum sentence of three years in jail.

Freelance journalist Ah Hla Lay Thuzar told VOA by phone the junta appears to be releasing people with less than a year left on their sentences. “The junta is trying to repair its reputation as a major human rights abuser by releasing prisoners,” she said.

Thuzar was released from Insein prison in early January after serving 16 months for “inciting national unrest” under Section 505(a). She was arrested while covering protests in the capital, Yangon, in September 2021.

After her release, she said, she lived in fear.

“I was afraid that the junta could put me in jail again at any time. There is no law there. Fear of being caught again won out. I can see that those who have now been set free also feel this way,” Thuzar told VOA. She fled to the Thai-Myanmar border after being released from prison.

Challenges of reporting under military rule

The journalists still being held in Myanmar prisons, according to VOA Burmese's research data, include VOA Burmese contributor Sithu Aung Myint.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the junta, his daughter told VOA. Sithu Aung Myint contributed fact-based news analysis to a VOA Burmese weekly program from 2014 until his arrest in August 2021.

Since the coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said, the military has cracked down on the media to muzzle journalists and limit people's access to information.

According to its report released earlier this year, journalists in Myanmar face death threats and have been compelled to abandon the country because of their work. Arrests and interrogation are other forms of harassment that journalists commonly face.

As reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Myanmar has risen to the position of third-worst nation for imprisoning journalists, after Iran and China. According to the International Press Institute's (IPI) Database of Killed Journalists, four journalists have been slain in Myanmar since February 2021; all were likely killed by the junta.

Despite the criticism, the military junta maintains the international press has been allowed to report freely in Myanmar. Danny Fenster, an American journalist imprisoned in Myanmar for six months in 2021, however, said his arrest was likely meant to frighten other journalists away. At the time, he was managing editor of the English-language news magazine Frontier Myanmar.

"They had, I think, found that they could send a statement to international journalists — 'Don't come here, don’t pay attention to this,’" Fenster remarked at Washington Post-sponsored Press Freedom Day event in Washington on Wednesday.

Swe Win, editor-in-chief of the Myanmar Now news agency, told VOA in a Zoom interview for World Press Freedom Day coverage that "not being able to access news sources freely" was one of the major challenges journalists faced under the junta. Shortly after the coup, the junta cracked down on independent media outlets, forcing Myanmar Now and other independent media to relocate their activities outside the country.

He added, “There are a lot of off-limits spots. Some regions were completely destroyed by the fighting. No one is allowed to openly pose questions,” but "our correspondents in the field are surprisingly resilient.”

“There are those who are making contact with locals in Myanmar from outside the country for the purposes of reporting. Our commitment to journalistic integrity is equally robust,” said Swe Win.

 Journalists Kay Son Nway, left, and Ye Myo Khant stand together after their release from Insein Prison in Yangon, Myanmar, June 30, 2021. About 10 journalists were among the 2,153 political prisoners released May 3, 2023, to celebrate Buddha Day.

Unity among journalists

Myanmar’s coup came nearly 10 years after a period of more political openness, and in those years the country’s media underwent rapid growth.

In the years before the coup, a wide variety of private and publicly funded media organizations grew and connected with audiences, which had an impact on the country, Swe Win said.

“The advantages of the internet era have allowed Burmese [Myanmar] people of all ages to see the dangers posed by the military rule," he said.

American journalist Nathan Maung worked as a journalist in Myanmar under both the semicivilian regime of former General Thein Sein (2010–15) as well as the National League for Democracy (NLD) government led by Aung San Suu Kyi (2015-20). During that time, he said, Myanmar’s news outlets rapidly multiplied.

“One bright spot is the expansion of local, grassroots news sources," Maung told VOA, noting that while local media had risen in significance, "so has the focus of investigating by national media.”

He said those news organizations were more divided over how to cover the country’s Rohingya crisis in years past, but the 2020 coup led to more unity among journalists.

“The Voice of America and the other major foreign-based media outlets covered the genocide committed by the Myanmar army against Rohingya minority openly and correctly, but most of the local media outlets refused to accept this," he said. "[The] coup altered that gap. We suddenly agreed. All of Myanmar's independent media outlets saw the same atrocities and war crimes committed against the Rohingya and came to the same conclusion.”

Maung, who was the executive producer of Kamaryut Online News Media, founded in 2012, was arrested by the military junta in March 2021, released from prison in June and deported to the United States after the charges against him were dropped.

International support for media

For Sonny Swe, CEO of Frontier Myanmar, the obligation of the international community to help Myanmar's independent media is critical "in light of the recent military coup and the COVID-19 outbreak."

"The international community can support us by providing financial assistance, technical support, advocacy, solidarity and recognition," but "the international support has been limited and insufficient, and more urgent and coordinated action is needed," Swe said in a statement to VOA.

Swe Win of Myanmar Now said, "We fear the media may not survive the next five to 10 years, since its future is unknown and there is a cap on international aid. We need strong and effective support."

Why the words rude and vile explain Romania

In this second exclusive extract from his new book, Romania: Rude & Vile, author Rupert Wolfe Murray explains the book’s provocative title.

May 6, 2023

Rupert Wolfe-Murray

https://emerging-europe.com

Rupert Wolfe-Murray
@wolfemurray

I like to play with foreign languages. I love to search out funny words, to practice them in ridiculous ways and make a fool of myself. This creates an immediate bond with non-English speakers, as everyone loves to listen to a fool. It also helps me learn languages fast.

This playful approach can also be used when explaining the Romanian language to foreigners. For example, I might say, “The best thing you can eat in Romania is crap: crap and chips or crap soup.” They look at me in disbelief, but then I tell them that the Romanian word for the fish carp is … crap. (IN UKRAINIAN IT IS CRAP-LA-KI)

And this brings me to the offensive title of my book: Rude & Vile. What I like about this title is that it will, hopefully, create all sorts of wrong impressions – which I can then overturn. People will look at it and think, How dare he say that? This is an outrage! An insult to our country! But then, if they keep reading, they’ll realise that I’m using the Romanian meaning of those words, not the English. 

Meeting Ion Iliescu, and how North Korea changed Romania

By now, my Romanian friends will have worked out that I’ve just taken two of their words and made fun of them. In Romanian, the word rude means relatives, as in aunts and uncles and cousins. And the word vile is the plural for villa, as in a big house and not the Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa. Having explained my rather pathetic joke, this would be a good moment to end this article. But there’s more – I have a theory that the words rude and vile really do help explain how Romania functions and looks.

But first, I must state for the record that I don’t think Romanians are rude or vile, in the English sense. If I had to choose two words that sum them up as a people I’d say friendly and honest. You can find this out for yourself by travelling around the country and being open to conversation (most young people are now fluent in English). I found that not only are Romanians willing to invite you home, feed and house you for no charge, but they’re genuinely interested in what you think.

But their friendliness and warmth comes with a proviso – the first impressions are often rude and vile. People working in restaurants, shops, taxis, and the public sector, seem to have learned that treating customers like suspects in a criminal investigation is the done thing. I think this is partly because this was the style of customer service under communism when the role of the shopkeeper was to keep order while hundreds queued outside. The other thing to bear in mind when meeting Romanians is that their innate warmth is often covered by a superficial look of sadness, fed by ancient grievances, conspiracy theories and ongoing political crises.

However, the rudeness you can find in shops, restaurants and taxis is only skin deep. All you have to do is give it a few minutes and the beefy taxi driver will be giving you a detailed political analysis; the shopkeeper will be friendly; the waiter will become helpful and the public servant will help you navigate the bureaucracy. This is what happened to me time and again, since 1990, and when I hitchhiked around Romania in 2018 it was the same.

The story of my stolen bikes

I’ve had two bikes stolen in my life – a Cannondale in Edinburgh and a Brompton in a Romanian village. At the police station in Edinburgh I asked the copper how I could prevent my next bike from being stolen and he said: “build a brick wall round it, with a concrete roof and no door. And they’ll still get it.” In the Romanian village of Humor, the local policeman actually recovered my beloved Brompton. I couldn’t believe it as I had never heard of a police force anywhere in the world finding a stolen bike; I assume that most police forces don’t even bother looking.

My view is that Romanians are aware of their terrible reputation abroad and are determined to show that they personally are not dishonest. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve left wallets, phones and other things in Romanian restaurants and park benches and people come running after me to give them back.

It’s the ideal country if you’re scatty and forgetful as most people around you will look after you. And just ask anyone in the UK what they think of the Romanians they’ve come across; they may mention a tradesman, doctor or IT person they know and talk about them in the most glowing terms. What’s clear is that when they emigrate they’re driven to work extra hard and be more honest than the Pope. That’s what I think of the Romanians. Now for the main course, my main point, which is: The word rude helps explain how Romania works.

My British relatives are a distant network of gentlefolk who meet up every ten years or so at weddings and funerals. They’re charming and successful and we always say to each other “We must stay in touch”, but we don’t. It wouldn’t cross my mind to ask them to pull strings, win contracts and get jobs – although they have always responded generously when I’m doing a charity fundraiser.

In Romania, someone in a public institution or a position of wealth will get requests for favours from relatives and they may come under social pressure to comply. This isn’t to say that every public official is corrupt or that everyone indulges in these ancient practices, but it seems to be the way things are organised – a network of personal contacts is a way of getting things done in a country where the bureaucracy is dysfunctional and the laws don’t make much sense.

It’s more subtle than just relatives helping each other out. It’s about building a network of people in the right places. Underlying all this is suspicion – a tendency to not trust anyone outside a narrow circle of family and old friends. Some would say that this trait has helped the Romanians survive centuries of rule by cruel foreign empires.
I want you to become a full partner in my new business

Romania adopts laws without thought for their implementation. They have such a dog’s breakfast of laws that it’s a wonder how things work at all. But they do, and things function relatively well considering the hostile environment that private businesses find themselves in.

Romania is such a good country to invest in because of accountants and lawyers. These modern wizards navigate the bureaucracy, make sense of the laws, and can even keep their foreign clients in a state of ignorance about any bribes that need paying.

You may disapprove of this, you may call it corruption, but is it worse than British law, which allows big companies to legally avoid tax and invest their profits in offshore tax havens? Britain’s big advantage is that we’ve had hundreds of years to embed our corruption into the establishment, and give it a sheen of respectability, whereas in Romania it’s raw and obvious.

And key to it all is that word again, rude – the network of contacts. There is corruption at every level of the system and without it nothing would work. Every family pays small bribes to teachers, officials and even priests – in order to get things done – but they’re not considered bribes. Every Romanian knows that these public officials are badly paid and the bribe they’re handing over is more like a tip or an undeclared service charge. It’s also an insurance policy: people in hospitals know they must tip everyone down to the nurses and cleaners if they don’t want to be neglected.

The best way to explain this is with an example from a village that shall remain nameless, where I lived in the early 1990s. I used to run a project in a home for abandoned kids back then and I wanted to set up a business which could make a profit for the charity. I had various ideas and spoke to the local mayor. When I told him I wanted to set up a business in his village and look for investors he got excited and said: “I can arrange everything. Just leave it to me.”

But what did he know about business? He was the mayor of a village and his background was in the local collective farm. He was just a fat peasant with a tie. How would he negotiate all the licences, approvals and paperwork and why would he bother? What was in it for him?

Gradually I worked out his perspective. A western mayor faced with the same question would simply have referred me to the relevant public sector authority, and I would have been shown the relevant procedures, given a link or a brochure, but this guy saw it as a personal business opportunity. He understood my question as meaning, I want you to become a full partner in my new business. All you have to do is help us register with the authorities and sort out the paperwork. That will open the floodgates to an endless flow of cash.

He also, presumably, thought there would be short term cash available which he would distribute with largesse in the county capital – thus building himself a new network of contacts (pile) who could be called on later when needed.

We hadn’t even discussed what type of business we were thinking about; it was just an idea at that stage, for a bakery, and he didn’t seem to have the capacity for discussing ideas. He thought I was offering him the opportunity of a lifetime, so he grabbed it with both hands. Needless to say the conversation ended there, but I did learn some useful lessons about working in Romania.

Enough about rude – it’s time to talk vile

A villa has a noble origin as a big house in ancient Rome and if you look it up on Google it sounds quite good: “a large and luxurious house in its own grounds”. But in Romania the vile are a plague on the landscape for the simple reason that most of them are too big, badly designed, painted in horrible colours, surrounded by huge fuck-off-I’m-rich walls and they ruin the look of whatever community they’re located in.

Almost all of the old houses in Romania, especially those built prior to World War II, look so much better than the modern monstrosities.

One of the best things about Romania is the villages, as the people are friendly, the landscape is often beautiful, and their traditional way of life is fascinating. In fact, Romanian villages so inspired me that I think the best way to save the planet from global warming is for most of humanity to live as the traditional Romanian peasants do (or did): on smallholdings, caring for the land, keeping busy, and undermining the planet-destroying force of factory farming.

Some of Romania’s villages are ugly, however. These are located near the big cities where the local big shots build their weekend villas. Any architectural charm that these areas once had has been replaced by a plague of vile – huge orange and blue monstrosities that are protected from non-existent burglars by high walls and alarm systems. And they’re usually empty, as Mr Big and his brood also have a posh place in the city and they probably hate being in a village. As a result there’s no extra people to use the local shop or fill up the village school. This is another nail in the coffin of the Romanian village.

It’s happening in the city too. In Bucharest there are countless examples of beautiful old Belle Epoque (1871-1914) buildings that were knocked down and replaced with a modern horror. But it’s not all grim – compared to Russia, where I worked for six months in Nizhny Novgorod, the Romanians are good at preserving some of their ancient buildings.

It’s time to end this long story and make a concluding point, which I will keep short: The word rude is useful because it explains how Romania works, and the word vile offers insight into how the country looks.

Romania: Rude & Vile can be purchased from Amazon.

USA: Slavery has left a deep and long-lasting legacy on the country, UN experts say

05 May 2023


The UN International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice in policing, ended a 12-day visit to the United States on Friday, calling on Washington to boost efforts to promote accountability for past and future violations.

During the visit, the Mechanism visited Washington DC, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, and New York City saying in a press release, that it had been pleased to learn about various promising initiatives that authorities have developed to combat racial discrimination affecting people of African descent.

Urging accountability and support

Members of the UN Human Rights CouncilOpens in new window-appointed delegation said they “felt an urgency, and a moral responsibility, to echo the harrowing pain of victims” and their resounding calls for accountability and support

“We saw some promising initiatives centering the voices of victims and survivors, as well as law enforcement initiatives that could be replicated throughout the United States.
‘Reparation initiatives’ welcome

“We welcome the reparatory measures taken so far, including executive orders signed in 2021 and 2022, as well as individual reparation initiatives by way of civilian settlement for damages,” said Tracie Keesee, an expert member of the Mechanism.

“But we strongly believe that more robust action, including on part of federal authorities, is needed to result in strong accountability measures for past and future violations.”

“This includes boosting oversight mechanisms with compelling power”, providing sufficient resources and “robust and holistic” reparation, together with support and rehabilitation to victims, including “access to justice and health, including mental health services.”

The legacy of structural racism

Slavery has left a deep and long-lasting entrenched legacy on the country, which can be perceived through generational trauma, the independent experts noted.

Racial discrimination permeates all contacts with law enforcement, from the first contact – often during early school years – by means of racial profiling, arrest, detention, sentencing and disenfranchisement in some US states, the said.

“In each of those aspects, available data points to a clear disproportional impact upon people of African descent.”

Transition to human rights-centred response

The experts said it should be an “imperative priority” to address and unpack the issue of poverty as it impacts people of African descent, moving from a criminal justice response to a human rights-centred response to poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, and mental illness.

“While acknowledging that most of these efforts would need to take place at the state and local levels, we call upon Federal Government and Congress to continue demonstrating leadership, notably by allocating federal funding to state-level policy initiatives, adopting national standards on the use of force, and undertaking federal criminal investigations into cases of excessive use of force by law enforcement,” said Juan Méndez, another of the Mechanism’s experts.

The Mechanism has shared its preliminary findings with the White House and will draft a full report to be published in the coming months and presented to the Human Rights Council at its next full session.

Independent human rights experts are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations. They are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.

[PDF] Eric Williams and Capitalism and Slavery: A Biographical and Historiographical Essay | Semantic Scholar

FOREVER CHEMICALS

Maintenance contractor responsible for toxic foam spill in Hawaii: US military


A firefighter is covered with Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) as he tries to control a fire that broke out in a thinner manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, October 11, 2018. 

(File photo: Reuters)



United States Of America
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The Associated Press
Published: 06 May ,2023: 09:58 AM GSTUpdated: 06 May ,2023: 10:12 AM GST

An investigation found that a spill of about 1,300 gallons of fire suppressant at a fuel facility in Hawaii was caused by a maintenance contractor improperly installing an air vacuum valve, US military officials said Friday.

Aqueous Film Forming Foam, which is used to suppress fires caused by flammable liquids, contain PFAS, a class of chemicals that are slow to degrade in the environment.

The firefighting foam liquid concentrate was spilled in November at the Red Hill Bulk Storage Facility near Pearl Harbor.

The concentrate pooled on the floor inside the facility and then seeped under a door and onto a paved access road and soil, the military said.

The contractor improperly installed an air vacuum valve to the foam system in April 2022, the military said in a statement.

The individual also failed to disable the foam concentrate pumps from automatically starting prior to conducting fire suppression system testing on Nov. 29, 2022, which cause the uncontrolled discharge.

The statement said, “stricter safeguards and more assertive Navy oversight should have been in place to reduce the risk of this type of mishap.”

In 2021, jet fuel spilled from a drain line at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. It flowed into a drinking water well and then into the Navy’s water system, which serves 93,000 people in and around Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Nearly 6,000 people sought medical attention, complaining of ailments such as nausea, headaches and sores. The military put about 4,000 families in hotels for several months.

The spills have contributed to distrust of the military in the community.

Navy Vice Adm. John Wade apologized at a news conference announcing the findings of the investigation into the firefighting foam spill, Hawaii News Now reported.

Navy groundwater monitoring sample results in the affected area after the November spill showed no exceedances of PFAS based on state and federal screening levels, the military said.

PFAS — an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — were developed as coatings to protect consumer goods from stains, water and corrosion. Studies of lab animals given large amounts of PFAS have found that some of the chemicals may affect growth and development, reproduction, thyroid function, the immune system and the liver.

https://files.libcom.org/files/Bookchin%20M.%20Our%20Synthetic%20Environment.pdf

Our Synthetic Environment - Libcom.org 

Our Synthetic Environment. Murray Bookchin. 1962. Table of contents. Chapter 1: THE PROBLEM. Chapter 2: AGRICULTURE AND HEALTH.

ABOLISH AUKUS

Thousands rally in Australia against potential submarine base

This content was published on May 6, 2023 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Thousands of people rallied on Saturday against a future nuclear-powered submarine base at Port Kembla in eastern Australia as part of the A$368 billion ($244.1 billion) AUKUS defence pact with the United States and Britain.

The second-largest coal export port in New South Wales state is the Defence Department’s preferred site for a new east-coast submarine base, according to state broadcaster ABC.

Protesters carrying trade union banners and flags marched down the main street to voice their opposition to a base in the town of around 5,000 people 102 kms (63 miles) south of Sydney.

"I'm getting the sense of the renewable energy that's in this community to keep coming out on the streets," Greens Senator David Shoebridge, a prominent critic of AUKUS, told the crowd.

Estimates of the crowd ranged from 2,000 to 5,000, according to participants.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said last month no decision had been made on a site for a new east coast submarine base.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended the submarine project after two former leaders criticised the deal over its cost, complexity and potential sovereignty issues.

The deal unveiled in March will see Australia purchase U.S. Virginia-class submarines before joint British and Australian production of a new submarine class to be built in Australia by the early 2040s.

(Reporting by Sam McKeith; Editing by Stephen Coates)