Why UK's migrant barge evokes memories of its shameful history of maritime incarceration

Thousands were once crammed in horrendous conditions on former Royal Navy men of war


 

The Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge passes Prawle Point Cliffs near Salcombe, Devon during transportation by tug boat from dry dock in Falmouth, Cornwall to Portland in Dorset. PA


James Langton
Aug 11, 2023

In the words of one inmate, they were “schools of abominable pollution” and “nurseries of deep crime”, where “those who have been discharged from them have overrun England and spread vice and immorality everywhere in their track”.

Not conditions on board the migrant barge Bibby Stockholm, as some human rights activists might have us believe, but the words of Jørgen Jørgensen, a Danish adventurer unfortunate enough to be locked on a British prison hulk in the early 19th Century.

But while guests on the Bibby Stockholm have en suite bathrooms, free internet and three meals a day, many see a direct connection to the country’s past, when thousands were locked up in appalling conditions on decommissioned men of war known as “hulks”.

For Amnesty International, the migrant barge was like the "prison hulks from the Victorian era” and an "utterly shameful way to house people who've fled terror, conflict and persecution”.

The Guardian newspaper reported: “Prison ships have forever been associated with the worst excesses of English injustice.”


Columnist Tim Adams even quoted Napoleon on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, reminding his troops “Soldiers, let those among you who have been prisoners of the English describe to you the hulks, and detail the most frightful miseries which they endured!”

Cost effective

Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge has ensuite bathrooms, free internet. 

PA Wire

The UK government sees it differently. For Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman, the barge - built originally to accommodate offshore gas workers - is a humane and cost-effective way to house hundreds of young men who have illegally crossed the English Channel on small boats while their applications for asylum are processed.

But memories of the hulks - used to incarcerate prisoners of war and convicts awaiting transportation to Britain’s colonies - still linger, making such comparisons inevitable in the heated debate around illegal migration.

Their use is embedded in literature, like the convict Magwitch who escapes from one in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, or Jean Valjean, the hero of Victor Hugo’s, Les Misérables, imprisoned on the notorious Bagne of Toulon, former galley ships used by the French as hulks.

Using ships as prisons was first proposed by the British government at the end of the 18th Century, prompted by a shortage of jails on land. The War of Independence had made it impossible to transport convicts to the American colonies, and British prisons were overflowing.

The solution was “hulks”, former Royal Navy warships, stripped of their masts and weapons and moored on river banks. The first prison hulk opened for business in 1776 with the Justicia moored on the banks of Thames, and her inmates doing hard labour onshore during the day.

Between 40 and 50 of these hulks would be used as prisons during the 19th Century, including old warhorses like HMS Bellerophon, a 74-gun ship of the line that had fought at Trafalgar and the Battle of the Nile.

Masts removed, their decks could accommodate hundreds of prisoners, with the gun ports nearest the shore boarded up to deter escapes.

Phased out

During the American War of Independence, captured American soldiers were held on prison ships off the coast of New York. Conditions for those regarded as traitors to the crown were appalling, with around 10,000 dying in captivity - a worse casualty rate than in battle.

Poor food and hygiene combined with overcrowding were a general feature of the hulks on both sides of the Atlantic. They did little to deter crime, with an inmate called Williamson, sentenced to death in 1791, telling the press before his execution they were “A college of villainy – from whence every man comes out a master of arts; having taken every possible degree of scoundrelism”.

They had largely been phased out by the 1890s. One of the last was the Success, built in Calcutta in 1840 as a merchant ship, then converted to hold prisoners in Australia in the 1850s.

A contemporary description of life on-board reported “Leg-irons, spiked iron collars, straight iron jackets, body irons, with handcuffs attached, were also used on some of the prisoners doing their sentences on board the Success.

“The spiked iron collar was a shocking means of punishment, and was so constructed that the wearer was obliged to remain always in a stooping attitude, which induced ill-health in many, and was the cause of death to not a few.”

The ship was eventually bought by a group of entrepreneurs, hoping to cash in on her history as a floating museum. In 1907, the Success arrived on the River Liffey in Ireland, where the Weekly Irish Times called her ‘Britain’s Last Convict Ship’ and an “Ocean Hell.”

Still afloat in 1936, the women’s magazine Britannia and Eve called the ship “A floating chamber of horrors. But the 20th century would have many worse examples of floating prisons.

Among the worst were the “death barges” used by both sides in the Russian Civil War of 1918-19. Originally cargo barges they were moored on the River Volga, packed with prisoners in appalling conditions.

HMS Maidstone became a floating “internment holding area” in 1969. Photo: Wikipedia

A doctor visiting a barge held by the “Whites”, as the opponents of the Red Army revolutionaries were known, found “festering wounds of those who were still alive and the noses and ears of the dead were crawling with maggots. An unbearable stench overwhelmed everyone who approached the hatch.”

There were also reports of at least one mass execution in March 1919, when as many as 4,000 prisoners of the Revolutionary Military Committee were thrown into the Volga, weighed down with stones.

Not to be outdone, the Nazis used ocean liners in Lubeck on the Baltic Sea to hold concentration camp inmates late in the Second World War. Attacked by the Royal Air Force, which mistakenly believed them military targets, three ships were sunk in May 1945, with the loss of up to 7,000 lives.

The British were not done with prison ships, though. During the Irish War of Independence, they deployed HMS Argenta, originally a cargo ship from Texas, to hold Republican prisoners of war.

During Northern Ireland’s Troubles, nearly 50 years later, the submarine support ship HMS Maidstone became a floating “internment holding area” in 1969, holding Irish Republicans without trial.

Vernon C Bain Correctional Centre, acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest floating prison. Photo: wikipedia

In the 1980s, two accommodation barges built in Sweden for the oil and gas industry were purchased by the New York City Department of Correction to reduce overcrowding in its prisons.

Both barges were later sold, with one becoming Her Majesty’s Prison Weare in 1997, moored at Portland Harbour on England’s south coast. Intended to relieve overcrowding, HMP Weare was eventually closed in 2005 as it was too expensive to maintain.
Temporary solution

Most modern prison ships used as a temporary solution for overcrowding, moored for as long as needed. The exception is the Vernon C Bain Correctional Centre, acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest floating prison.

Opened in 1992, the massive structure, resting on a barge, has become a permanent fixture on New York City’s East River, close to the notorious Rikers Island jail. It can house up to 800 inmates, with facilities including a basketball ball court and a library.

Meanwhile, back in England, the first migrants have spent their first nights on the Bibby Stockholm. After a breakfast of cereals, eggs, cheese, jam and butter, some seemed happy, although one told the BBC it was like “entering Alcatraz” - the notorious island prison in San Fransisco Bay.

Others are taking legal action to avoid being sent to floating accommodation. Some, despite crossing to Britain by boat, are citing a fear of water

Palestinians Accept first Saudi Ambassador

by Reuters and Algemeiner Staff



Palestinian Authority (PA) Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki holds a news conference at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, May 22, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Francois Walschaerts.

Palestinian officials welcomed a first Saudi Arabian ambassador on Saturday, they said, in a show of support even as the Gulf kingdom is considering the prospect of establishing formal diplomatic relations with Israel.

Saudi Arabia, Islam’s birthplace, has championed the Palestinian cause and shunned official ties with Israel but the U.S. is seeking to promote what could be a historic Middle East deal that would include normalizing Israeli-Saudi relations.

At a ceremony in Jordan, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s diplomatic adviser Majdi al-Khalidi received a copy of the credentials of Ambassador Nayef Al-Sudairi as a non-resident envoy, official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

The move was “an important step that will contribute to further strengthening the strong brotherly relations that bind the two countries and the two brotherly peoples,” al-Khalidi said, according to Wafa.

Palestinian analyst Talal Okal said the diplomatic appointment was a half-step toward an official Saudi representation office in the occupied West Bank. “It is also a message Saudi Arabia was committed to the rights of the Palestinians in a fully sovereign state,” he added.

PALESTINIAN CONCERN

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said last week that Abbas’s Western-backed Palestinian Authority is hoping to engage with Saudi Arabia over their concerns about the potential normalisation with Israel.

U.S., Israeli and Saudi officials have said any such agreement would be some way off, with complex issues to be resolved, including an escalation in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the possibility of development of civilian nuclear power by Saudi Arabia.

Palestinians are concerned that any agreement may weaken support for their cause in the wider Arab world and undermine their hopes of an independent Palestinian state.

Saudi Arabia has quietly accepted the so-called Abraham Accords that have normalised ties between Israel and Gulf states United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

When asked if he would consider concessions to the Palestinians as part of a Saudi deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an NBC interview this month: “The Palestinians should have all the power to govern themselves and none of the powers to threaten us.”

Members of his hard-right coalition, however, have ruled out any concessions.

Saudi Arabia names first 'non-resident ambassador for Palestine'

Ambassador Nayef Al-Sudairi is the country's current ambassador to Jordan

Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Jordan Nayef Al-Sudairi (left) is taking on the new role. File/Saudi Embassy Jordan

Simon Rushton
Aug 12, 2023

Palestinian officials have welcomed the first Saudi Arabian non-resident ambassador, according to reports.

A copy of the credentials of Ambassador Nayef Al-Sudairi was presented to Majdi al-Khalidi, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's diplomatic adviser, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

The appointment represents "an important step" underscoring the desire of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "to strengthen relations with the brothers of the State of Palestine and give it a formal boost in all areas", Mr Al-Sudairi said in a video broadcast by the Saudi Arabian state-affiliated Al-Ekhbariya channel.

Palestinian analyst Talal Okal said the diplomatic appointment was a half-step toward official Saudi representation office in the West Bank.

"It is also a message Saudi Arabia was committed to the rights of the Palestinians in a fully sovereign state," he added.

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Mr Al-Sudairi is the current ambassador to Jordan, where Saturday’s ceremony took place.

Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic file for Palestine has traditionally been handled by the embassy in Amman, AFP reported.

A Palestinian Authority official told AFP that with this announcement "Saudi Arabia has reaffirmed its recognition of the state of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital".

"This is one part of several steps and we will continue to develop the relationship with them," he said.

RUSSIAN OCCUPIED GEORGIA

Strikes in South Ossetia: drivers and hospital staff haven't received salaries for several months

Zhanna TarkhanovaTskhinval

Strikes in South Ossetia

In South Ossetia, employees of two enterprises have simultaneously gone on strike. These include public transport drivers who have not received their salaries for several months, and workers in the catering department of the Republican Hospital, who are demanding the protection of their labor rights.

Reports of these protests have been circulating on South Ossetian Telegram channels. However, government-affiliated media has remained silent on the matter, and neither the president nor any other government representative has addressed the striking workers.
Broken promises

On one of the Telegram channels, public transport drivers are asserting that the President of South Ossetia, Alan Gagloev, had pledged a salary increase before the elections. However, instead of this, they have not received any payment for several months, contrary to his assurances.

“We are not only enduring hardship, but so are our families and the citizens who are left with no choice but to walk. The managerial personnel and all the officials drive expensive foreign vehicles, owning both personal and official cars. Regrettably, the authorities remain indifferent to the predicaments of ordinary citizens. New public transportation isn’t being acquired, and the existing fleet isn’t being repaired,” express the protestors in their state of outrage.

As for the employees in the hospital’s catering department, the situation is even more strained. Workers from the laundry and accounting departments have also joined the protest. Their discontent stems from deteriorating working conditions and meager salaries ranging from 7,000 to 8,000 rubles [$71-81], devoid of any bonuses.

On the afternoon of August 11, the strikers were notified that instead of the president, his assistant, Nikolai Gagloev, would meet with them. Nonetheless, he too failed to make an appearance.

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“Eminence grise”

The authors of the pro-presidential Telegram channel, who endorsed Alan Gagloev’s candidacy in the presidential elections, have put forth a theory suggesting that the “power behind the throne” – Alan Dzhioev, the head of the presidential administration, bears responsibility for fueling the growing anti-government sentiments among the labor collectives:

“It’s understandable that people are frustrated; they are receiving meager salaries. The matter of salary hikes has been raised repeatedly, yet no funds have materialized. The ongoing protest is being orchestrated by Jioev and Plieva [minister of health – JAMnews], who have informed the staff that the leadership of the republic is declining salary increases.

Plieva is attempting to deflect accountability for the salary situation, shifting the blame onto the president. Conversely, Dzhioev has been engaging in discreet negotiations with other stakeholders for a considerable time, potentially undermining Gagloev’s position.”

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JAMNews spoke to experts from South Ossetia on how the region can survive sanctions on Russia

Cancellation of payments

Sources informed JAMnews that the cause behind the ongoing protests lies in the actions of the newly established authorities, who have annulled previously existing allowances, consequently leaving diligent workers with meager salaries. The average income for catering staff and their colleagues stands at approximately 12,000 rubles [$122].

In stark contrast, part-time doctors who are registered across various positions amass a combined total of 100,000 to 150,000 rubles [over $1,000 to $1,500] per month.

This stark inequality threatens to ignite social tensions, especially considering Alan Gagloev and his team’s inability to augment the budget.

“It’s highly likely that a multitude of payments may cease by the end of September,” disclosed our insider from the ministry of health.

As per the informant, South Ossetian healthcare is currently grappling with an unprecedented crisis; all surgical practitioners have resigned. Patients afflicted with appendicitis and cholecystitis are being redirected to Vladikavkaz.

“The root cause can be traced back to the actions of the minister of health, Agunda Plieva. She has fostered unbearable working conditions, and heaven forbid anyone with a grave ailment from being admitted to the republic’s hospital.

Surgeons have been stripped of their compensation for on-call duties. The authorities have deemed it fit for them to work without any additional allowances. A similar approach has been extended to catering, laundry, and accounting staff.”

First meeting between Alan Gagloev and Putin, and why are they dissatisfied in South Ossetia

On why it’s taken so long, and why the Russian President is unhappy with the South Ossetian President

Fiscal shortfalls

In December 2022, following intense deliberations, the South Ossetian Parliament reached a consensus on the primary parameters of the 2023 budget. Revenues were determined at 8.78 billion rubles [approximately $89 million], while expenditures amounted to 8.86 billion rubles [over $90 million].

Consequently, the budget for 2023 exhibited a deficit of roughly 80 million rubles [approximately $815,000].

The cornerstone of South Ossetia’s revenue structure is derived from financial aid provided by Russia. For the year 2023, this assistance was anticipated to total more than 7.2 billion rubles [over $73 million], with a significant portion—5.8 billion rubles [exceeding $59 million]—pledged by President Gagloev and his team for directing towards the socio-economic advancement of South Ossetia.

Prioritized allocations encompassed wages, social security provisions, utility expenses, procurement of medications, dressings, and other medical supplies, as well as investments in social welfare and education.

Anticipated self-generated revenues—comprising taxes and non-tax sources—were forecasted to reach nearly 1.7 billion rubles [over $72 million]. However, the administration encountered difficulties in realizing the complete collection of tax earnings.

In June, the government introduced modifications to the draft legislation governing the 2023 state budget. According to Deputy Finance Minister Marina Tibilova, “the revisions pertain to reallocating funds from the Investment Program to provide financial support for socio-economic development, amounting to 50 million rubles [over $509 thousand], to address the expenses associated with settling a portion of the electricity debt incurred by the republic.”

Tibilova advocated for allocating resources to co-finance the gradual wage increase for specific law enforcement agencies within the republic.

Funding for election campaign

Amidst the deepening social and economic crisis, associates of Alan Gagloev have initiated an unofficial campaign in anticipation of the parliamentary elections slated for June 2024.

The ruling Nykhas party has commenced the distribution of gas leak detectors among Tskhinvali’s residents, an endeavor carried out with the unwavering support of the presidential administration. Overseeing this promotional endeavor is Andrey Ottaev, the custodian of youth policies within the presidential administration.

The “Nykhasovtsy” faction has committed to disbursing 200 such sensors, asserting that this initiative will extend into the future. Ottaev stated that “all requisite equipment was procured through the resources of the Nykhas party.”

He also indicated that alongside distributing the sensors, they intend to install signage at bus stops, furnishing information about routes and transportation schedules.

However, the origins of funding for the pro-presidential party remain undisclosed by Ottaev. Moreover, the president himself has yet to meet with his former constituents—drivers, nurses, cooks—to whom he pledged considerable ben

HERESIOLOGY

The Jewish false messiah who died a Muslim: The Shabbtai Zvi enigma

He began as an eccentric with unusual customs, sparked a revolution and drew masses of believers in the Jewish world; Even after his conversion to Islam and the subsiding euphoria around him, the Sabbatean movement influenced Hasidism, and some argue, Zionism as well

Shmuel Munitz|14:51

He only lived for 50 years, but in that tumultuous time, he became the greatest false messiah the Jewish world has known. Shabbtai Zvi, who caused euphoria throughout the Diaspora, has fascinated generations of scholars.

Shabbtai Zvi was born in 1626 in Izmir in the Ottoman Empire. The date we have for his birth is the 9th of Av, which fits nicely with the belief that the Messiah will be born on the day Jews remember the destruction of the two temples.

 
Shabbtai Zvi
(Illustration: from the book of Thomas Conan, Amsterdam, 1669)

As a young man, he studied Kabbalah, which greatly influenced the Sabbatean movement. Renowned scholar, Gershom Scholem, claims there is evidence to suggest that he suffered from bipolar disorder. His moments of transcendence and enlightenment followed by great sadness are well documented. At a certain point, Zvi declared himself to be the Messiah. He would publicly cry out God’s full four-lettered name, despite clear Halachic prohibition on doing so. At first, he wasn’t taken seriously.

He was forced to divorce his first two wives as he wouldn’t sleep with them and refused to touch them. His strange behavior, coupled with activities in contravention of Halacha and his messianic claims, led to his expulsion from Izmir. He found his way to Salonica where he “married” a Sefer Torah in a festive celebration including a chuppa. Yes, he really did. He was eventually thrown out of Salonica too.

In 1658, he arrived in Kushta (Istanbul), where he continued with his rather unusual customs including celebrating the three Pilgrimage Festivals of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot in the same week. These practices, compounded by his announcement of the cancellation of mitzvot, led to the community of Kushta expelling him too. With his tail between his legs, he returned to Izmir and made it to Eretz Israel in 1662 by way of Rhodes and Cairo.

He married a woman named Sarah, a prostitute from Livorno, whom he arranged to have brought to Eretz Israel. In 1665, searching for a cure for his troubled soul, he traveled to Gaza to meet scholar and mystic, Nathan of Gaza. Instead of curing him, Nathan of Gaza convinced Shabbtai that he was indeed the Messiah. Every messiah needs one esteemed individual to believe in him.

Nathan, who claimed to have had a vision of Shabbtai as the Messiah before their meeting, took on the role of prophet regarding the Messianic issue: He sent letters declaring the good news all over the Jewish world. Masses, including prominent rabbis, were very excited about the news. Some communities even introduced a prayer for the wellbeing of Shabbtai Zvi, “Messiah of Israel”, referring to him as AMIRAH, a Hebrew acronym for the phrase "Our Lord and King, his Majesty be exalted" (Adoneinu Malkeinu Yarum Hodo). As the Sabbatean movement initially led to mass return to mitzvot, the opposition of rabbinical institutions was minimal. Until it inflated and got out of control.


Nathan of Gaza
(Illustration: from the book of Thomas Conan, Amsterdam, 1669)

“A broad variety of weird and wonderful explanations have been given to account for the movement’s enormous, rapid success,” says Dr. Avishai Bar-Asher, head of the Jewish Studies program at the Jewish Thought Department at the Hebrew University. “At its peak, Sabbatean Messianism was a mass movement. It was by no means marginal. It wasn’t a small defined group like the Messianic faction of Chabad for example - whose adherents believe that the Lubavitcher Rebbe is the Messiah. This was a movement that was almost everywhere.“

How many Jews followed him at the time? “A lot. Almost no Diaspora community was untouched by Sabbateanism. Multitudes followed him – in Turkey, Greece, Amsterdam, Poland, Hamburg, Morrocco, Italy and as far afield as Yemen. There were always people who opposed the movement. But the appeal was enormous. The movement spread quickly into diverse regions. At the movement’s peak, even initial opponents became adherents. People sold their property and started preparing for the journey to the Eretz Israel and for Redemption.“

Abrogation of prohibitions was a core revolutionary idea in the movement: Sabbateanism held that the historical role played by commandments that had accompanied the Jewish People had come to an end in the Messianic Age. Stretching Kabbalistic beliefs, Sabbateanism claimed that to repair the world, one must perform “transgressions for their own sake.” Sin for the sake of sin. Sabbatean theology, developed by Nathan of Gaza, stated that the sins were Shabbtai Zvi’s way of getting close to transgressors, to stop them and bring about correction.

“Shabbtai Zvi was first and foremost a Kabbalist. He operated within the Kabbalistic tradition. This was his theology and practice. He enhanced and improved it,“ explains Dr. Bar-Asher. “The divine and cosmic connection between male and female is well known in Kabbalah, as is the idea that any human sexual act affects the divine system.”

Even at the height of Sabbatean euphoria, there were pockets of resistance including Rabbi Jacob ben Aaron Sasportas from Hamburg. “Sasportas fought a long hard battle against Shabbtai Zvi, and kept a record of it for posterity," sats Dr. Bar-Asher. "It’s important to understand that even Sasportas would praise the positive aspects he identified in Sabbatean activity – like the mass movement of returning to religious practice. People became more religious and the synagogues filled up. This was regarded in a positive light, even by those opposing Shabbtai Zvi’s messianic claims.“


The Temple Mount
(Photo: AP)

Samuel Primo was Shabbtai Zvi’s personal scribe. Bar-Asher tells us that “Primo was the ‘Messiah’s scribe.' He wrote down what Shabbtai Zvi said and spread his message far and wide. He was among the people closest to Shabbtai Zvi – what we would call today a personal secretary and public relations officer. He remained loyal to Shabbtai Zvi even after the latter’s conversion to Islam and - despite claims that he completely left the movement - acted as an underground Sabbatean leader in Adrianople, Turkey for many years.“

His third wife, Sarah, was a prostitute – something Sabbateans never denied. This is reminiscent of the biblical story of Hosea who was commanded by God to marry a prostitute and have children with her. The idea is that the messiah, by his actions, will begin turning around the current order,” Bar-Asher explains. “Before the Messiah arrived, the world had operated under a certain order. Messianic Sabbateanism believed that the Messiah would change that order and all kinds of things that had been forbidden, would now be allowed,” he explains.

Bar-Asher advises caution regarding details surrounding Shabbtai Zvi’s wives and his refusal to sleep with his first two wives. Various groups, both supporters and opponents, had a plethora of vested interests in how they portrayed Zvi.

“Shabbtai Zvi’s sexual behavior was a critical link in stories told about him. We must remember that in addition to many followers during Shabbtai Zvi’s lifetime, there were all sorts of groups and individuals that continued Shabbtai Zvi long after his death. Some of these groups found it prudent to portray him in a certain way, while others chose to paint a more ascetic, conservative picture. Shabbtai Zvi’s biography is adorned with efforts to portray a perfect character, so it’s hard to tell where the writer’s imagination ends and historical reality begins. Opponents of Sabbateanism also clearly had a vested interest in portraying him in a certain manner.“

The spectacular downfall

In 1666, a man named Nehemiah HaCohen informed on Shabbtai Zvi to the Ottoman authorities who feared rebellion. Zvi was subsequently declared a traitor. He was imprisoned and the Sultan gave him two options: execution or conversion to Islam. He chose Islam and was granted the new name of Aziz Mehmed Effendi.

Most of Shabbtai Zvi’s followers were shocked and abandoned their beliefs following the conversion. A minority did follow him converting to Islam in his wake. Small groups within Jewish communities continued with their, now clandestine, Sabbatean beliefs.

“Nathan of Gaza – who originally opposed Shabbtai Zvi’s conversion to Islam – ultimately didn’t abandon him, going to great lengths to update his messianic view after Zvi’s conversion. Nathan, along with others held fast to Shabbtai Zvi and tried to come up with all sorts of hidden reasons for his conversion to Islam, viewing the conversion as part of his messianic process,” Bar-Asher tells us.

“After Shabbtai Zvi’s death in 1676, there was a need to update the messianic theology from a different angle. His remaining followers developed a variety of intriguing systems. Some believed he had just “vanished” and would return to reveal himself at some later date. Others believed that Shabbtai Zvi was only the first messiah, Mashiach ben Yosef, announcing the arrival Mashiach ben David - the final messiah who would bring about full redemption.

Bar-Asher adds that “From his third wife, Sarah, Shabbtai Zvi had a son, Ishmael Zvi. Some followers pinned their hopes on him. It’s unclear what became of him.”

Sabbateanism resonates for years after his death: In the 18th century, another false messiah, Yaakov Frank arose. The Frankist movement had many similarities with Sabbateanism: Believers abrogated religious laws as part of the cult surrounding their messiah, and a Sabbatean sect called the Dönme, descended from followers of Shabbtai Zvi who converted to Islam, exists in Turkey to this very day.

King of Jordan approves ‘draconian’ cybercrime law

Fourteen rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, previously said in a joint statement the law is ‘draconian’.

Jordan's King Abdullah II 

Published On 12 Aug 2023

The King of Jordan approved a cybercrime bill that will crack down on online speech deemed harmful to national unity, a bill opposition lawmakers and human rights groups have warned against.

King Abdullah II gave his approval on Saturday with the bill now slated as law and set to take effect one month after it is published in the state newspaper Al-Rai, which is expected on Sunday.

The legislation will make certain online posts punishable with prison time and fines.

Posts that could be targeted include those seen as “promoting, instigating, aiding, or inciting immorality”, demonstrating “contempt for religion”, or “undermining national unity”.

The bill will additionally target those who publish names or pictures of police officers online and outlaws certain methods of maintaining online anonymity.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed the bill after amending it to allow judges to choose between imposing prison time and fines, rather than ordering combined penalties.

Jordan’s lower house of parliament passed it last month.

‘Draconian’ law

Before the parliament’s vote, 14 rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, said in a joint statement the law is “draconian”.

“Vague provisions open the door for Jordan’s executive branch to punish individuals for exercising their right to freedom of expression, forcing the judges to convict citizens in most cases,” it said.

The United States, a key ally and Jordan’s largest donor, also criticised the law.

The measure is the latest in a number of crackdowns on online speech in the kingdom, including social media blackouts. In December, it blocked the TikTok app after users shared live videos of worker protests.

Human Rights Watch said in a 2022 report authorities increasingly target protesters and journalists in a “systematic campaign to quell peaceful opposition and silence critical voices”.

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SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

Billions of Intel CPUs are leaking passwords and killing performance


By Monica J. White

August 11, 2023 



A scary vulnerability has recently been discovered in some Intel processors, and while the best CPUs are not affected, billions of chips could be. According to the researcher who first spotted the Downfall vulnerability, “everyone on the internet is affected.” This is made worse by the fact that a skilled hacker could steal some of the most sensitive data from affected computers, including passwords.

Downfall was discovered by a senior research scientist from Google, Daniel Moghimi, who created a page dedicated to it, detailing how it works and what it can possibly do. Downfall targets the Gather Instruction in Intel chips, which normally helps the CPU quickly access various data spread all over different parts of its memory. However, with the flaw, internal hardware registers can be exposed to software. If the software is compromised, it’s possible that hackers could seize sensitive data from the PC.

The affected CPUs all belong to Intel’s mainstream and server processor lineups, starting from Skylake all the way up to Rocket Lake. This means that, unless you’ve upgraded your CPU in the last few years, you’re definitely affected, but you can check out Intel’s full list of chips that are vulnerable.

As Moghimi notes, you don’t even need to own an Intel processor to potentially be affected. As Intel dominates the server market, cloud computing environments might be hit by this as well, where “malicious customer could exploit the Downfall vulnerability to steal data and credentials from other customers who share the same cloud computer,” says Moghimi.

While pulling off an actual hack with Downfall seems tricky, there’s a lot at stake, which is why Intel has already released a fix — but the downside is a massive performance loss. Intel was quick to say it would be releasing new microcode for the chips that are affected, and it recommended that users update their firmware to prevent being affected by Downfall. It’s here now, but as noted by Phoronix, the price to pay for not having your password leaked is massive.

Sora Shimazaki / Pexels

Intel itself estimated a performance loss of up to 50%, with AVX instructions most affected. The good news is that for most users, this won’t be an issue, but the bad news is that AI-related workloads and overall high-performance computing (HPC) tasks are hit pretty hard.

Phoronix tested the impact on Linux with four different CPUs, including a Xeon Platinum 8380, Xeon Gold 6226R, and an Intel Core i7-1165G7. Performance losses range from 6% up to 39%, which, while not as bad as Intel predicted, is still not great.

You don’t need to update your processor if you’re not worried about being affected by Downfall. While Moghimi recommends it, Intel itself allows users to opt out of the extra mitigation in order to restore the full performance of their CPU. If you’re not using your PC for HPC tasks, it sounds like you might as well keep the mitigation on, but Intel has detailed the process of turning it off if you’d rather get rid of it.

On-strike Cambridge doctors asked to return to UNDERSTAFFED  labour ward

AND THEY AGREE

IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIAImage caption,

The British Medical Association (BMA) is leading its fifth junior doctor strike


The British Medical Association has agreed some of its members can return to hospital for one night because of low staffing in a labour ward.


The BMA said it accepted a request from the NHS for doctors to work Saturday's night shift at an obstetrics unit in Cambridge University Hospital.


Junior doctors are staging a four-day walkout in an ongoing dispute over pay.


A BMA spokesman said it granted a "limited derogation" and said its main concern was patient safety.



The Rosie is the trust's maternity hospital

"We want to thank the trust and regional team, along with NHS England, for flagging appropriate concerns in a timely way," said the BMA spokesman.

"Our priority is patient safety."

A Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said "derogations are made to ensure safe staffing levels".

The trust's maternity wards are located at the Rosie Hospital, which sits beside Addenbrookes Hospital.

POSTMODERN FUEDALISM
New Cambodian cabinet to feature children of the powerful

Reuters
Thu, August 10, 2023 

FILE PHOTO: New Cambodian cabinet to feature children of the powerful


(Reuters) - Outgoing Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has unveiled a list of people expected to feature in a new cabinet, including several sons and daughters of close allies and serving ministers.

Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades, is in the process of handing over power to his son, Hun Manet, after their Cambodian People's Party swept an election last month from which the main opposition was barred.

The 71-year-old on Thursday nominated about 50 people for his son's cabinet, many of whom are directly related to ministers and senior officials in his administration.

Hun Sen did not specify what positions they would hold. The rubber-stamp parliament is set to approve the new prime minister and cabinet on Aug. 22.

Among those expected to be in the new cabinet are Cham Nimul, daughter of industry minister Cham Prasidh, Sar Sokha, son of interior minister Sar Kheng and Tea Seiha, son of defence minister Tea Banh.

While giving up the job of prime minister, Hun Sen looks set to remain engaged with government.

He has said he will become head of the upper house Senate, meaning he will be acting head of state when the king is away, and he will lead the ruling party.

He also recently said he would step back into the prime minister's job if his son did not perform well.

Western-educated Hun Manet, 45, has said little about his vision for Cambodia, which, under his father's rule, developed into what the World Bank calls a lower middle-income country but at the cost of what critics say has been the trampling of human rights.

Hun Sen's government has rejected accusations of rights abuses as well as of corruption and nepotism.

This week, Hun Sen announced that Khuon Sodary had been designated as president of the National Assembly, the first woman to hold the position.

(Reporting by Reuters staff; writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; editing by Robert Birsel)

OPINION
OPINION,
Opinions|Politics
Hun Sen has been terrible for Cambodia. His son could be worse

Cambodians continue to fight for democracy, as a new generation of the elite – inexperienced and entitled – takes over. The world needs to stand up, too.

Mu Sochua
Published On 11 Aug 2023

Hun Manet, son of Cambodia's outgoing Prime Minister Hun Sen, is poised to take over from his father. Here, he stands before he leads a procession to mark the end of an election campaign of Cambodian People's Party, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, July 21, 2023 [Heng Sinith/AP Photo]


Last month’s elections in Cambodia should have dispelled any illusion that democracy – for long under attack – is even alive in the country.

The campaign, and subsequent ballot, was a tightly-controlled and stage-managed process, which deprived the country’s 9.7 million registered voters of a political alternative. It was mere theatre, and the result was entirely predictable.

Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won their preordained landslide in a contest in which they faced no credible opposition. The election was about paving the way for a handover of power from Hun Sen to his son, Hun Manet, and entrenching a dictatorship that has ruled the country for 38 years.

Even before the polling booths closed on July 23, it was a foregone conclusion that Hun Sen’s CPP would romp to ‘victory’. And, so it was, with the CPP taking 120 of 125 available seats in Cambodia’s National Assembly.

Suppression was rife. Voters who dared to damage or destroy their ballots as a sign of protest faced the prospect of jail time or having to pay a hefty fine. And independent media were muzzled against speaking out on Hun Sen.

I, and dozens of other exiled political opponents, exemplify the outcomes of those that choose to participate in Cambodia’s increasingly Soviet-style interpretation of democracy.

My former party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, won over 43 percent of the vote in the 2013, 2015 and 2017 elections, despite open corruption and interference by Hun Sen and his government. Our presence, and growing competition with the incumbent administration, would be healthy in any other democratic country. However, for Hun Sen, we posed too much of a risk – and, like others in my country’s dark history, we were dissolved for allegedly orchestrating a ‘foreign coup’ against the government.

This time, a similar fate befell Candlelight, a new opposition party, which was on course to defeat Hun Sen’s CPP until its abrupt disqualification in May 2023. The party was barred from fielding candidates because it “submitted a photocopied document rather than an original copy”, as part of its application, and Candlelight’s members and activists were subsequently targeted and incarcerated by government forces.

And yet, still, even against this backdrop, peaceful opposition found a way to manifest. National counts show that upwards of half a million Cambodians spoiled their ballots, despite threats of fines or arrest. This accounts for one in 18 votes cast at the elections, and, together with the consistent birth of new opposition forces, suggests that the will for a democratic alternative to the CPP will not be suffocated, irrespective of government corruption and intimidation.

It also, arguably more than ever, shows the need for the international community – and in particular, democratic leaders in the West – to call out the abuses of the Hun Sen administration and to enact punitive measures against him and his son, Hun Manet.

This cannot come soon enough. For, as part of the ongoing succession plan, we are now witnessing a solidification of the Cambodian elite into key positions of influence. Beyond the handover of the premiership to Hun Manet, which will take place later this summer, many ministries are now being stuffed with woefully inexperienced children of party loyalists, who will continue the legacy of their parents.

This sad reality has already been evidenced in the appointment of Say Sam Al as minister for the environment – a figure, who, despite showing some initial interest in working together with young environmentalists, quickly gave way to the ruling tradition of arresting and imprisoning those who seek to defend the natural world.

Other appointees, including the new minister of defence, Tea Seiha – son of the current minister of defence, Tea Banh – and Minister of the Interior, Sar Sokha, also seem grossly inappropriate. The latter, in particular, seems to share Hun Manet and Tea Seiha’s lack of grounding for office, raising concerns that he will not be able to prevent the increasing power of the Chinese mafia and their roles in human trafficking and other crimes against ordinary Cambodians.

These machinations are playing out at the same time as many young people leave for opportunities abroad, or risk imprisonment for trying to protect those that are most vulnerable in society.

The international community has a historic and binding responsibility when it comes to Cambodia. Many of its members were signatories to a commitment, when there were first free and fair elections in June 1993, that sought to underpin democracy in Cambodia. They have a responsibility, under the Paris Peace Accords, to defend human rights and to call out the continuing abuses of the CPP.

They must make it clear, both to Hun Manet and others who take power with him, that the international community insists on positive democratic change in Cambodia, starting with the release of all political prisoners and amnesty for all exiles who wish to return to their country of birth.

The new leadership must not seek to divide the population, as their parents have done, or silence their opponents. And, in the case of Hun Manet, there must be a demand that he is a legitimate ruler.

The Cambodian people are hungry for democracy, for quality healthcare and education, for freedom, and for three meals a day. The international community has an obligation to respond, demand change, and, if required, coordinate visa and asset sanctions against those of the CPP who want to destroy the democratic future of my country.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance

Mu Sochua
Former member of parliament, Cambodia, and vice president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party
Mu Sochua was previously a member of the Cambodian parliament and vice president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party. She is a former minister of women's and veterans' affairs. She is lives in exile in the United States.

OPINION

Blackwater paved the way for Wagner

The use of contractors in the US ‘war on terror’ inspired Russia and other powers to outsource war.

Ibrahim Al-Marashi
Ibrahim al-Marashi is an associate professor at the Department of History, California State University, San Marcos.
Published On 12 Aug 2023

Founder and CEO of Blackwater Worldwide Erik Prince (PASRT OF THE DEVOS CLAN)

is seen at Blackwater's offices in Moyock, Michigan on July, 21, 2008 [File: AP/Gerry Broome]

In the aftermath of the mutiny by the Wagner private military company (PMC) in Russia, many observers expected that its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin would pay dearly for his actions, perhaps with his life. Instead, the mercenary commander was sent into “exile” in neighbouring Belarus and his fighters continued operations outside Russia and Ukraine. Prigozhin eventually met with Russian President Vladimir Putin personally and then announced that his PMC would focus on its work in Africa.

It is hardly surprising that Putin has decided to preserve a mercenary force that has proven quite effective in pushing forward his foreign policy adventures in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He has likely learned a lesson or two from another great power – the United States – whose heavy reliance on PMCs paved the way for the growing privatisation and outsourcing of war across the globe.

For the US, Russia, and other powers, military contractors are serving as convenient means for proxy warfare which offer plausible deniability and mitigate potential domestic tensions over foreign wars.

Outsourcing war

The employment of contractors by the US government is not a recent phenomenon, but over the past two decades it has greatly expanded. While in World War II, 10 percent of American armed forces were privately contracted, during the “war on terror”, launched in 2001, they reached some 50 percent, sometimes more.

Needing hundreds of thousands of personnel to carry out military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, but fearing domestic backlash, the US government had to turn to PMCs.

Since the start of the “war on terror”, the Pentagon has spent $14 trillion, with one-third to one-half of it going to military contractors in combat zones. A lot of this money has gone to contracts related to logistics, construction and weapons supplies, but a sizable chunk has also paid for “hired guns”.

During the height of the 2008 counterinsurgency effort in Iraq, the number of contractors reached 163,400 (including people in non-combat roles) compared to 146,800 US troops. In 2010, amid the “surge” in Afghanistan, when additional troops were deployed for a renewed offensive against the Taliban, there were 112,100 contractors (including people in non-combat roles) compared to 79,100 troops.

The pouring of trillions of dollars into PMCs has helped create a vast and powerful military contractor industry which has gone global and transformed how great and smaller powers engage in warfare and other violent foreign policy undertakings.

The use of contractors conveniently offers plausible deniability and can help governments pacify electorates reluctant to send national troops on risk foreign missions. They also help dodge responsibility for war crimes.

For example, in 2007, Blackwater killed 14 Iraqi civilians in a melee in Nisour Square in Baghdad. They were not under the US military chain of command, as they had been privately contracted by the US Department of State to guard their staff.

When the Iraqi government decided to revoke Blackwater’s licence with the government, it found that the company never had one in the first place. Furthermore, the perpetrators of the massacre were not subject to Iraqi law, so they could not be tried on Iraqi soil.

In 2015, a US court sentenced three former Blackwater employees to 30 years and one to life in prison for the massacre, but just five years later, President Donald Trump pardoned them before he left office.

The Nisour Square massacre was by far not the only atrocity American mercenaries committed. Ultimately, the violence PMCs were involved in contributed to wide-spread anti-American sentiments in Iraq which undermined US-led counterinsurgency efforts – a major factor that later enabled the rise of ISIL (ISIS).

Despite these troubles, the US did not do away with PMCs and has continued to rely on them, even after it withdrew from Afghanistan and Iraq. The flourishing PMC industry today which enables the outsourcing of war and violence across the globe is one of the morbid legacies of the US “war on terror”.
Plausible deniability

The Kremlin likely watched closely the US government’s use of contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq and understood their utility. According to some observers, Putin likely wanted a Russian version of Blackwater to use in his foreign policy adventures. In following his patron’s orders to create a mercenary group, Prigozhin went as far as emulating the American PMC’s aesthetics. “Wagner mercenaries in Syria and Africa played the part, wearing baseball caps and wraparound sunglasses while toting serious guns,” wrote Lucian Kim, NPR’s former Moscow bureau chief, in Foreign Policy.

Prigozhin’s contractors was first used in 2014 to support Russian aggression in Eastern Ukraine. They were then deployed in Syria to bolster the regime of President Bashar al-Asad, and to Libya, to fight for renegade general Khalifa Haftar. Throughout these conflicts, the Kremlin kept denying the involvement in and existence of Wagner, as PMCs were illegal according to Russian law.


The effectiveness of the Russian mercenaries encouraged political and military leaders from across Africa to resort to their services, which strengthened Moscow’s international standing and foreign policy reach.

When in February 2022, Putin decided to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he also needed a large number of troops, which the Russian army did not have. Wagner was tasked specifically with providing fighters to throw into the bloodiest battles as cannon fodder. Quickly running out of volunteers, Prigozhin went as far as recruiting convicts, who were offered amnesty in return for military service.

Thus, Wagner helped the Kremlin minimise the perceived cost of war for the Russian public which was rather uncomfortable with the full-scale invasion. But its forces were not under the direct command of the Russian army, which also turned into a major problem for the Kremlin.

The mutiny was perhaps an unexpected development for Putin, and it made him look weak, not only to the international community, but also to regime insiders. The fallout of Prigozhin’s rebellion will likely continue to play out in the coming months.

The Kremlin has removed Wagner’s forces from Russian territory and the battlefield in Ukraine, but it is clearly not ready to do away with its foreign operations. They are way too lucrative economically and useful politically. In exchange for its military services, Wagner and its front companies abroad are involved in oil and gas extraction and gold and diamonds mining, which ensure considerable financial flows to Moscow. This is a role that the traditional Russian military cannot replicate.


By relying on mercenaries, the US, Russia and other powers have weakened internationally accepted rules of engagement and undermined the international legal regime that seeks to protect civilians in times of war. This has allowed them to get away with violence and atrocities even more easily and misrepresent the true cost of war. Blackwater, Wagner et al ultimately are making the world a that much more dangerous place.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.


Ibrahim Al-Marashi
Ibrahim al-Marashi is an associate professor at the Department of History, California State University, San Marcos.
Ibrahim al-Marashi is an associate professor at the Department of History, California State University, San Marcos. He is the co-author of the forthcoming The Modern History of Iraq, 4th edition

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Outsourcing war 

Cruelty disguised as leisure: Why we must shut down all zoos in Pakistan

Do these animals deserve a lifetime of misery and suffering so our citizens can get 30 minutes of distraction and entertainm

ent?

Maham Sajid

DAWN

Published August 12, 2023 

The 2022 Oscar-winning Netflix documentary The Elephant Whisperers shows the story of a baby elephant, Raghu, and his adoptive (human) parents living in the Theppakadu Elephant Camp in Tamil Nadu.

The camp has rehabilitated elephants for 105 years now, currently hosting 28 elephants. The 40-minute documentary directed by Kartiki Gonsalves explores the cultural and symbolic importance of elephants for the Kattunayakan tribe, the primary caretakers of elephants in the camp.

Raghu’s journey and the emotional relationship he shares with his parents serve as a beautiful but tragic contrast to the years-long-agony of Kaavan, who came to be known as the “loneliest elephant on earth”, housed at the Islamabad zoo.

Kaavan and Saheli

In 1985, in a bid to strengthen diplomatic ties, Sri Lanka gifted Pakistan a one-year-old Asian elephant, Kaavan as a state present. Kaavan is a Tamil name that translates to “deity of the forest”.

Far from the association with his name, Kaavan was kept chained in a small enclosure at Marghazar Zoo in Islamabad. The enclosure was 90 by 140 metres small, with no trees, and a small pond. Temperatures in Islamabad’s hot summers rise up to 40 degrees Celsius and yet Kaavan was provided with minimal shade, leaving him drained and dehydrated.

Kaavan’s companion Saheli, who had been brought in from Sri Lanka in 1995, passed away in 2012 after writhing in pain for weeks with little to no medical assistance.

Symbolically, elephants are considered emblems of economic and cultural progress in Buddhism, the dominant religion in Sri Lanka. Pakistan has no indigenous Asian elephants whereas Sri Lanka hosts approximately 6,000 members of the endangered species.

The absence of a proper sanctuary as well as the zoo management’s negligence caused Kaavan’s behavioural and physiological health to deteriorate. Apart from the cruel captivity, Kaavan’s diet was also substandard and did not meet the mark set by the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF).

Despite all this, Kaavan could not be returned to Sri Lanka because returning a state present is perceived as undiplomatic. In 2019, the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad to rescue Kaavan.

Kaavan makes history

The petition gained international momentum when NGOs such as Free the Wild (FTW) — co-founded by American pop icon, Cher — and The Nonhuman Rights Project — an American animal rights group — started a massive online campaign gaining more than 200,000 signatures to free Kaavan.

On May 21, 2020, the IHC announced that the inadequate living conditions of Kaavan for the past three decades, as well as all other animals at the Marghazar Zoo, were in violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1890 and the Wildlife Ordinance of 1979. The court announced that the Board of Wildlife Management, preferably in coordination with the Sri Lankan High Commissioner, must relocate Kaavan to an appropriate sanctuary within 30 days.

Additionally, the court ordered the board to relocate the remaining animals to their respective sanctuaries within 60 days of receiving the judgement. The zoo’s management was handed over to the Board of Wildlife Management and the Ministry of Climate Change was held jointly liable for the well-being of the animals until relocation.

The IHC mandated no new zoo animals to be admitted until approved by a reputable international zoological organisation, ensuring proper facilities for each species.

These rules were to be applied across all zoos under the Islamabad Capital Territory. The court also advised soft measures such as teaching the importance of animal welfare via school curriculum and media channels.

What of the rest?

The judgement is prolific on paper and has ensured a healthier future for Kaavan, but ambiguity still surrounds the fate of other animals. Since zoos were shut down during the Covid-19 lockdowns, zero revenue generation worsened the animals’ misery.

On June 6, 2020, Peshawar Zoo reported a third dead giraffe in a single month due to ‘mysterious circumstances’. Earlier this year, Noor Jehan, one of two elephants being kept at the Karachi Zoo, passed away after a protracted illness, bringing an end to years of suffering. Not surprisingly, the post mortem found that Noor Jehan was suffering from multiple serious health complications, mainly due to lack of proper care, and that she was infected with a potentially fatal blood parasite.

In an underdeveloped country like Pakistan, zoos provide a low-cost recreational and educational activity for its population — but does that justify the horrid state of animals in our zoos?

The tragic reality is that animals are brought in to die a slow, painful death. Do these animals deserve a lifetime of misery and suffering so our citizens can get 30 minutes of distraction and entertainment? Is it not the government’s responsibility to provide leisure that does not come at the expense of a living being?

If anything, Covid-19 should have made humans more empathetic about captivity and cages. These animals are torn from their natural environment and subjected to human cruelty.

Even if we use examples of successful conservation cases of the Arabian Oryx, Mauritius Kestrel and other endangered species from European zoos that justify their existence, can the same be argued for zoos in Pakistan where approximately 37 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line?

In 2018, the Lahore Zoo planned to import new animals worth millions, not to mention the costs that the government would have to incur to provide an adequate environment and care for the captive animals. This included pandas, tigers and elephants, based on popular demand. But does popular demand validate the basis of demanding endangered species, especially when we have a solid track record of mistreating them?

While millions are spent on importing animals, our domestic animals are dying and animal shelters are severely underfunded. Perhaps it is time to shift focus from the ‘exotic’ to the animals that are already within our borders.

On July 1, 2020, a video from Bahria Orchard Zoo in Lahore surfaced where a black bear exhibited severe symptoms of Zoochosis — a form of psychosis that develops in animals held captive in zoos. The bear howled repetitively, indicating the severe toll captivity had taken on his mental health.

This video made several viewers compare it to Kaavan and urged animal activists to rescue it. The only lesson children can learn from seeing these animals are the power dynamics that govern our society — the weak are oppressed and made a spectacle for the amusement of the powerful. How can one instil empathy in children when we take them to see animals in pain for recreational value?

David Attenborough, a renowned natural historian, argues that zoos play a fundamental role in bridging the gap between human beings and other species. His approach towards which animals should and should not be a part of the enclosed life can be implemented all over the world.

He believes that modern aquariums with high-ceiling tanks offer a wonderful opportunity for marine communities to coexist while maintaining the illusion of sea life. He warns against keeping bears, raptors and giant hunting mammals in captivity unless it is for conservation purposes and even then, to only keep them in wildlife sanctuaries. Would it not make more sense for Pakistan to categorise and allocate animals to habitats based on their instincts?

Pakistan’s economy is in shambles, our Human Development Index rankings are embarrassingly low and we are at the forefront of the worst global climate crisis in the midst of a prolonged political crisis. In a society as frail as Pakistan, why have we not shut down the zoos already?

Header illustration: A man protesting against zoos and animal cruelty. — Klyaksun/Shutterstock