Top Russian rocket scientist dies from 'mushroom poisoning' in latest suspicious demise in Putin's state

31 August 2023, 

Top Russian rocket scientist dies just weeks after Putin’s failed moon landing. Picture: Alamy/Getty

By Chay Quinn

@chayquinn

A Russian rocket scientist has died after mysteriously being poisoned - with Russian state media saying that he ate edible mushrooms.

Professor Vitaly Melnikov, 77, had headed the Department of Rocket and Space Systems at RSC Energia before becoming suddenly seriously ill days before he died.

A Moscow newspaper claimed that inedible mushrooms were the reason for his sudden downturn in health.

Russian doctors were unable to save Melkinov from the "severe poisoning" that he suffered - as he battled against his fate for more than two weeks after he fell ill.

Military leaders, scientists and vocal critics have all seen weird demises after the outbreak of the Ukraine war 18-months ago. Picture: Getty

Russian state media attributed the poisoning to inedible mushrooms. Picture: Alamy

Melkinov had worked with the Russian state space agency Roscosmos - including times when he cooperated with foreign counterparts including at NASA.

Melkinov is the latest in a series of unusual deaths in Russia since the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

From a sausage tycoon found dead in a hotel, to a toad-venom shaman hangover cure gone wrong, a series of individuals who have met a bizarre demise.

Fears of assassination have increased since the Wagner group’s attempted mutiny last month with the private military company’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin killed in an apparent assassination attempt weeks after the aborted coup.

The Vice-President of a Russian bank, Kristina Baikova, fell to her death from a window in her Moscow apartment earlier this week. Loko Bank is a commercial bank headquartered in Moscow with “reputable foreign investors” in its share capital.

Here is a list of other high-profile Russians who have died in suspicious circumstances since the war began.

Kristina Baikova – 23rd June 2023

The Vice-President of a Russian bank, Kristina Baikova, fell to her death from a window in her 11th-floor-apartment in Moscow. The 28-year-old fell on the same day the Wagner PMC began their mutiny and approach on Moscow. Baikova worked for Loko Bank, a commercial bank headquartered in Moscow with “reputable foreign investors” in its share capital.

Grigory Klinishov – 17th June 2023

The scientist who created Russia's thermonuclear bombs was found dead in his Moscow apartment, with official reports reading he committed suicide. Grigory Klinishov’s body was accompanied by a suicide note. The former Soviet-Russian physicist was one of the creators of the Soviet hydrogen bomb RDS-37. The Russian Investigative Committee said that while “neck injuries characteristic of hanging” were found on the body, a probe is underway to decide whether a criminal case should be initiated into the nonagenarian’s death.

Artyom Bartenev – 8th June 2023

A judge appointed by President Vladimir Putin was found dead after falling twelve stories from his apartment window. The body of 42-year-old Artyom Bartenev was found outside his apartment building in the city of Kazan on the morning of 8th June. He was meant to judge a trial that morning. Bartenev was a federal judge who presided over administrative and civil cases.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner group that led a mutiny against Russia's army in June, was on the list of passengers of a plane that crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver Region. Picture: Getty

Pyotr Kucherenko – 20 May 2023

A senior Russian official died after falling ill on a flight from Cuba to Russia. Pyotr Kucherenko, the State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, was travelling back with his delegation from the Latin American country as part of a Government trip. His plane made an emergency landing in the Russian town of Mineralnye Vody, near the Georgian border, where doctors tried to save him.

The politician had previously publicly criticised the Russian occupation of Ukraine, calling the war a “fascist invasion” and mourned the “degree of brutalisation of our state.

Nikolay Bortsov – 23rd April 2023

77-year-old multi-millionaire Nikolay Bortsov was found dead in his home in the Lipetsk region of Russia, but no cause was given. His fortune was mostly amassed through the sale of his soft drinks company to PepsiCo in 2008.

Bortsov, also a former politician, was included on the UK EU, US, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, Ukraine and New Zealand list of sanctions, due to his voiced support for the war in Ukraine.

Igor Shkurko – 4th April 2023

A leading Russian energy boss was found dead in his cell in a Siberian detention centre after being accused of taking a £5,000 bribe. Igor Shkurko was the deputy general director of the Russian energy company Yakutskenergo. The 49-year-old had the day before he was found dead, submitted an appeal against the allegation.

Many of the deaths have been attributed to be assassinations carried out on Vladimir Putin's behalf. Picture: Getty

Viatcheslav Rovneiko – 22nd February 2023

An oil magnate and believed to be cold-war spy Viatcheslav Rovneiko was found unconscious in his house on 22nd February and could not be resuscitated. The 59-year-old former spy was reportedly close to Vladimir Putin’s foreign intelligence chief. His home was inside an elite gated community; no other details have been released about his death, though according to reports, no “signs of a violent death” were found on his body.

Marina Yankina – 16th February 2023

Marina Yankin, the head of the financial support department of the Ministry of Defence for the Western Military District was found dead after having fallen out of the window of a 16-storey tower block in St Petersburg earlier this year. The 58-year-old Putin-ally held a key role in funding the war in Ukraine.

Vladimir Makarov – 13th February 2023

A senior Russian general died just a few days prior to Yankina. The 77-year-old, Vladimir Makarov was found dead in the Russian village of Golikovo one week after being axed from his role by the Russian president.

Unconfirmed reports cite that the general had fallen into a deep depression following his dismissal.

Dmitry Pawochka – 26th January 2023

The former manager of multiple large Russian companies, including the space corporation ‘Roscosmos’, was burned alive in a fire at his home in Moscow. 49-year-old Dmitry Pawochka was in his apartment on the 16th floor of an elite skyscraper, and the fire was allegedly started by a cigarette that was still lit when he went to sleep.

Many of the deaths could be recriminations for criticism of the Russian regime - including the failed Wagner coup last month. Picture: Getty

Magomed Abdulaev – 5th January 2023

Former lawyer and politician, Magomed Abdulaev, was killed when he was hit by a car when crossing the street earlier this year. The 61-year-old was the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Dagestan, and was killed in its capital of Makhachkala. Abdulaev was taken to hospital after being hit, but due to the severity of his injuries, was unable to be saved.

Alexey Maslov – 25th December 2022

A former commander-in-chief of Russia’s ground forces, Alexey Maslov, passed away on Christmas Day last year in a Moscow military hospital. The Russian Army general served as commander between 2004-2008 and was at one time Russia’s representative to NATO before retiring from active service in 2011. The 69-year-old was reportedly close to Putin and was a firm supporter of the war in Ukraine.

Alexander Buzakov – 24th December 2022

A Russian shipyard chief died suddenly on Christmas Eve, and no cause was given. Based in St Petersburg, the shipyard in question specialises in building non-nuclear submarines. Admiralty Shipyards is one of the country’s oldest and produces military warships such as nuclear and diesel-powered submarines and large auxiliaries.

Buzakov died the day after attending the float out ceremony for a new diesel-electric attack submarine.

Pavel Antov – 24th December 2022

Russian sausage tycoon Pavel Antov died after falling out of a window at the Hotel Sai International in Rayagada, India. The 65-year-old was celebrating his birthday at the property.

Known for being a major manufacturer of sausage products in Russia, Antov was also a former deputy in the Legislative Assembly of Vladimir Oblast. His death has been regarded as suspicious due to previous criticism of the war in Ukraine via WhatsApp in June. By July, Antov had retracted his statement and posted a message on social media detailing that he supported the president and was a “patriot” of his country.

Vladimir Bidenov – 22nd December 2022

Travelling alongside Antov to the Rayagada Hotel Sai International was Vladimir Bidenov. The 61-year-old travel companion died two days prior to Antov of a heart attack and his body was found surrounded by wine bottles. Bidenov and Antov were travelling with two other companions, who stayed on to answer police questions following the deaths.

Dmitry Zelenov – 9th December 2022

Russian billionaire and real estate tycoon Dmitry Zelenov died after falling down the stairs while holidaying in the French Riviera. The 50-year-old became suddenly unwell while dining with friends, and suffered critical head injuries after falling down the stairs. He passed away at a hospital in Nice.

Grigory Kochenov – 7th December 2022

A prominent graphic designer fell to his death from his balcony in the city of Nizhny Novgorod in Western Russia. The 41-year-old creative director was in his apartment when police arrived at his apartment to conduct a search. According to the local news outlet NiMash, Kochenov opened the door for the police, signed the search warrant presented to him, walked onto his apartment balcony and fell off.

Vyacheslav Taran – 25th November 2022

A Russian crypto-tycoon died in a helicopter crash after taking off from Switzerland to fly to his home in Monaco. Both Vyacheslav Taran, 53, and his 35-year-old helicopter pilot were killed in the crash. The pair were reportedly flying in good, clear weather. The cause of the crash is not known.

Nikolay Petrunin – 12 October 2022

Russian politician and deputy of the 7th and 8th State Dumas, Nikolay Petrunin, died from complications of Covid-19. The 46-year-old was a close Putin ally and Kremlin insider and was dubbed as the 'gas wunderkind' of Russia.

Anatoly Gerashchenko – 21 September 2022

The former Head of the Moscow Aviation Institute died last September after reportedly falling down the stairs inside the institute. Anatoly Gerashchenko, 72, spent 45 years of his life working at the institute.

Vladimir Sungorkin – 14 September 2022

Editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda, and a key ally of Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Sungorkin, 68, died after suffering a stroke and suffocating whilst on his way to lunch last September.

Ivan Pechorin – 10th September 2022

The Director of Aviation of the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (KRDV), Ivan Pechorin, died after falling out of a motorboat in the sea of Japan last September. The 39-year-old Russian businessman’s body washed up on shore two days later.

Ravil Maganov – 1st September 2022

The 67-year-old Chair of Lukoil, a Russian multinational energy corporation, died after falling from the 6th floor of a Moscow hospital. Lukoil’s board of directors, headed by the chair, Ravil Maganov, had earlier that year issued a statement calling for a quick end to the war in Ukraine. Maganov was not the only unexplained death within the Lukoil company following this statement.

Dan Rapoport – 14th August 2022

An outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, Latvian-American financial executive Daniil Rapoport died after falling out of his high-rise apartment in Washington DC last year. The 52-year-old businessman had relocated to America from Ukraine, where he had lived with his second-wife until the outbreak of the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Yuri Voronov – 4th July 2022

The 61-year-old CEO of Astra Shipping, a transport company, died last summer from a gunshot wound to the head. Yuri Voronov was found floating in his pool with a pistol gun found nearby. Astra Shipping is a subcontractor for the Russian multinational energy corporation, Gazprom, the world’s largest publicly traded natural gas company, which has seen other businessmen associated with it mysteriously die.

Alexander Subbotin – 8 May 2022

Russian billionaire and LUKOIL board member, Alexander Subbotin, died after reportedly consulting ‘shamans’ for a hangover cure. The shamans treated him with toad venom through an incision made on his skin. He was later found dead.

His death came two months after the LUKOIL board made a statement criticising the war in Ukraine and calling for a quick end to the conflict.

Andrei Krukovsky – 1 May 2022

The general director of a ski resort owned by Gazprom fell off a cliff to his death last May. The 37-year-old Andrei Krukovsky reportedly fell off the cliff while hiking.

Sergey Protosenya – 19th April 2022

Russian gas tycoon Sergey Protosenya was found hanged from a handrail in a luxury Spanish rental home last April. The 55-year-old former Deputy Chairman of Novatek’s wife and daughter were also found dead in their beds, having been stabbed and found with blunt axe wounds.

Vladislav Avayev – 18th April 2022

The Vice-President of Gazprombank, Vladislav Avayev was found dead alongside his wife and daughter in his Moscow flat, just one day prior to Protosenya. According to reports from the Kremlin’s media, Avayev, 51, shot his family before killing himself, though other outlets have argued the murder-suicide could have been staged.

Vasily Melnikov – 23rd March 2022

Last March the owner of the medical equipment supplier company MedStom was found dead in his home in Nizhny Novgorod, Western Russia. Vasily Melnikov, 43, along with his wife and two sons were all stabbed to death.

Mikhail Watford – 28th February 2022

Ukrainian-born oligarch Mikhail Watford was found dead in the garage of his home in Surrey in February 2022. The 66-year-old businessman had relocated to the UK in the early 2000s, and anglicised his surname, Tolstosheya, to Watford after moving.

Alexander Tyulakov – 25th February 2022

The Deputy General Director of the Unified Settlement Center of Gazprom was the first high-profile Russian businessman death following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. The 61-year-old Alexander Tyulakov was found dead in his garage in St Petersburg the morning after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Another Gazprom employee, 60-year-old Leonid Shulman - the Director of Transport - was found “in a pool of his own blood” in the bathroom of his Leningrad home on 30th January, just weeks before the invasion began.

Gabon: Coup ousting President Ali Bongo wasn't a suprise

Isaac Kaledzi

DW
August 31, 2023

Ali Bongo Ondimba was set to extend his presidential tenure into a third term when soldiers seized power in a coup. Analysts weren't surprised, as criticism of the Bongo family had been growing for years.

After 56 years at the helm of political affairs in Gabon, the end of the Bongo dynasty was very much expected. That was confirmed when soldiers seized power on Wednesday, some African analysts told DW.

The Bongo family first held the reins of power when Ali Bongo's father, Omar, became president in 1967. Ali took control in 2009 after the death of Omar, who had ruled the oil-rich Central African nation for 41 years.

"The Gabonese population is hungry for change! That's why most people, even if it's a military coup, are relieved that 60 years of family regime and dynasty may finally come to an end," Nathalie Mezo, a women's rights activist from Gabon, told DW.

Bongo was set to tighten his grip on power beyond 14 years with a third term, after he was declared winner of last Saturday's presidential election.

The electoral commission had announced Bongo's win with 64.27% of the vote — defeating his main rival, Albert Ondo Ossa, who secured 30.77% of the vote. But the coup leaders canceled the results.

Army stages coup in Gabon  02:33

Bongo's previous election victories in 2009 and 2016 had sparked violent protests. Jocksy Ondo Louemba, a Gabonese journalist living in exile, said the army did not want to use a heavy-handed approach to clamp down on protests like it had after previous elections.

'Election itself was rigged'

There were hints that simmering discontent could spiral into violence after a last-minute change to the election rules required voters to select their presidential and parliamentary candidates from the same political party.

"This election was unfair and absurd because voters were forced to elect their president and their deputy [MPs] with the same ballot paper from the same party. If someone voted for a deputy [MP] from the PDG, the party of Ali Bongo, he was forced to vote for Bongo [in the presidential election] and vice versa," Louemba told DW. "Even the election itself was rigged. It was a farce."

After Wednesday's coup, crowds of people poured into the streets and sang the national anthem to celebrate the end of the Bongo dynasty.

Mezo said the putsch was predictable and prepared long in advance.

"If we citizens already know that the result will definitely be in favor of the outgoing president, then the army knows all the more!" she said.

A recent Afrobarometer survey showed that 66% of Gabonese people surveyed backed military coups as a way of rectifying a situation where elected leaders are deemed to be abusing power.

Gabon: Who is the Bongo family?   01:18

Leonard Mbulle-Nziege, an African political economist and risk analyst, said many people have always wanted to see the end of the Bongo dynasty.

"Gabon is what you would call an electoral authoritarian regime, whereby even though multiparty elections are carried out on a regular basis, the institutions of democracy, the rule of law have all been subverted by the rule of the Bongo family," he told DW.

For Mbulle-Nziege, last weekend's electoral process was when the "stranglehold over all of these facets of society over time came to a headway."

What triggered the coup?

Oil accounts for 60% of Gabon's revenues, making it one of the richest countries in Africa — but the World Bank said most of the population still lives below the poverty line of $5.50 (€5.07) per day.

Mbulle-Nziege said Bongo failed to tackle the key economic challenges confronting his people. They accused the president of getting rich on Gabon's resource wealth while many of its people struggled to scrape by.

"Since taking power, he has been faced with domestic discontent," he said. "There has also been less respect to the economic downturn that the country faced. They had two oil shocks and then there's also been a lot of poverty. The country is an upper middle-income country, but then there's a 33% poverty rate and there's a 20% unemployment rate."

According to Mbulle-Nziege, the Gabonese public has become angry that, despite all of the country's resource wealth, "these benefits haven't accrued to the majority of the population."

Crowds poured into the streets and sang the national anthem to celebrate the coup against the Bongo dynasty

 Desirey Minkoh/Afrikimages/IMAGO

The Bongos have long been accused of corruption; in 2021, Ali Bongo was found to have connections to secretive offshore entities in international tax havens, as revealed in the Pandora Papers investigation.

"[The soldiers] are feeding off the grievances of the population which are unhappy with the governance, which are unhappy with the corruption, which are unhappy with the fact that the perceived benefits of democracy are not accruing to the rest of society," said Mbulle-Nziege.

Why did the army turn against Ali Bongo?

Wednesday's coup was the first time the army had firmly turned against the Bongo family since they took office in 1967, although it was the second uprising that Ali Bongo faced during his presidency.

The first was in 2019, after Bongo suffered a stroke that sidelined him for 10 months while he was recovering in Morocco.

Bongo had turned away from his father's style of leadership which was largely clientelism, or exchanging special privileges or benefits for political support, journalist Louemba pointed out.

"[Ali Bongo] was very brittle, he was against dialogue. He thought he could achieve anything by force and police. But, you know, Napoleon said: you can do anything with bayonets, except to sit on them," Louemba told DW.

He compared the situation today to the one before the 1964 coup when the then president, Leon Mba, wanted to introduce the Unity Party. When civilian political voices were actively gagged, the army intervened.

"For such a coup to take place at all, a certain cohesion was necessary. The majority of the troops had to share the same opinion, otherwise it would not have been possible, otherwise it would have failed like the coup attempt of Lieutenant Kelly Ondo [Onbiang] in January 2019," Louemba said.

Earlier this week, Ali Bongo appeared in a video posted on social media saying: "I'm sending a message to all friends that we have all over the world to tell them to make noise for [...] the people here who arrested me and my family."

Samuel Ngoua Ngou, who used to be Ali Bongo's deputy head of cabinet, said people — including the military — were simply fed up.

"I'm 624 kilometers from Libreville. But when I see the reactions around me, people are pretty happy — because they're finally free!"

Edited by: Keith Walker

Making Sense of Hindutva

Hindutva may have proclaimed the supremacy of all things traditional, but it makes no room for diversity, dynamism, dilemmas, and doubt. Such has never been the only Indian way.

By Devdutt Pattanaik
September 01, 2023

Local musicians blow horns as a Hindu priest, face smeared with color and sacrificial blood, performs rituals during the Deodhani festival at the Kamakhya Hindu temple in Guwahati, India, Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023.

Credit: AP Photo/Anupam Nath

Hindutva can easily be seen as an Indian version of a global movement of men, by men, for men. It reclaims their masculinity and combines religion with nationalism. It can be lumped together with the resurging Orthodox Christianity in post-communist Russia or the Evangelical Christianity sweeping neoliberal America. The enemy in all these cases is both external and internal – anyone who challenges an imagined glorious traditional history, where men played the dominant role, where women knew their place, and all things queer (now articulated as LGBTQ+) existed in shadows and footnotes.

But, with Hindutva, there is one additional challenge: an understanding of Hinduism itself. And the problem is structural.

Hinduism is structurally very different from the monotheistic religions that inform the global discourse. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are based on ideas such as God, God’s Law, Judgement Day, and the Apocalypse. Hinduism is based on ideas such as infinity, timelessness, rebirth, and caste. As a result, the word “evil” cannot be translated into any Indian language. And the definitive article “the” does not exist in any Indian language either.

There arises a further complication given the fact that even the “modern” concept of the secular nation-state is structurally the same as monotheistic religions. An all-powerful state replaces an all-powerful God. The constitution replaces God’s Law. Traitors replace heretics. Nationalism is submission. Democracy is the ritual to choose the divine messenger who will enforce God’s Law.

Even science follows the structure of monotheistic religions. While it replaces faith with doubt and miracles with measurement, it insists on pursing and presenting “the” truth, like evangelists of yore. So, science and monotheistic religions remain at loggerheads. Only now scientists are being challenged by those who insist feelings are as important as facts. As a result, defining a woman has now become a national crisis in the United States as everyone scrambles for “the” truth. Ontology, not epistemology.

Indians, not just Hindus, have learnt over the centuries that the point of diversity is to work with diverse truths, which make sense to diverse communities. The opposite of equality is not inequality; it is diversity. The opposite of diversity is standardization. Standardization makes things efficient. Diversity, unfortunately, is inefficient.

Do Australian Politicians Know the Difference Between Hinduism and Hindutva?


Engagement with the growing Hindu community is essential for Australian politicians, but there is an obvious tightrope to walk.

By Grant Wyeth
May 17, 2022

As a highly multicultural society, Australian election campaigns require politicians to actively connect with the country’s array of community groups. This is overwhelmingly a positive phenomenon, yet Australian politicians are generally a socially awkward group, and often lack the cultural sophistication to be able to engage meaningfully with Australia’s multicultural communities. The under-representation of minority communities in Australia’s parliament also limits the necessary knowledge political parties require to connect with minority groups, but also be attentive to any overseas political issues they may be walking blindly into.

The lack of knowledge about Indian politics in particular has become apparent during this election campaign. Indians are Australia’s fastest growing group, and as a result are becoming a critical community to seek support from during elections. However, in recent weeks, in their attempts to do so, both Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, have unwittingly allowed themselves to be used for domestic Indian political purposes.

In early May, Albanese and Shadow Home Affairs Minister Kristina Keneally attended a function at the Hindu Council of Australia, and last week Morrison and Immigration Minister Alex Hawke attended an event hosted by the same organization. During these events all four allowed themselves to be draped in scarves of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), unaware that they were not simply wearing a religious symbol as a show of respect to their hosts, but instead wearing a highly political symbol of a group they should in no way be seen to implicitly endorse.

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) are the religious wing of the Sangh Parivar, the umbrella name for a collection of Hindu nationalist organizations that includes its paramilitary wing, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and its political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s ruling party — all of which are organized around the ideology of Hindutva. While the VHP may in name be the Sangh Parivar’s religious wing, they — in particular the VHP’s own youth organization, the Bajrang Dal — are also often its vigilante wing.

The VHP have been the primary driver of communal violence in India over the past few decades, including the destruction of the Babri Mosque in 1992 and the Gujarat riots in 2002. Vigilante violence against Muslims, Dalits, and Sikhs in India has increased dramatically since the BJP took power in 2014, often with the government’s tacit approval. This violence is part of a collective political project by the Sangh Parivar to construct a new Indian state, one that has animosity toward the country’s minorities as its organizing principle.

This is critical to understand for Australian politicians as the BJP and its sister organizations have actively sought to cultivate an intimate relationship with the Indian diaspora. For the most part these are people who cannot vote in Indian elections, but they serve an ideological and financial purpose. The Sangh Parivar is not simply an organization that wishes to govern the Indian state — the BJP would be a stand-alone political party were this the case. It wants something more from people than just votes; it wants minds and souls (and often fists). This makes transnational reach an essential component of the movement.

Australia has already seen a serious example of this reach with an attack on a group of Sikh men in a Sydney suburb early last year. Providing a blunt illustration of the nature of the Hindutva movement, when a man convicted of the assaults was released after six months in custody he received a hero’s welcome upon his return to India. At the time the immigration minister tweeted, “Attempts to undermine Australia’s social cohesion will not be tolerated.” Yet he obviously didn’t learn the lessons from this incident when he allowed himself to wear the VHP’s insignia last week.

The added complexity for Australian politicians is that Canberra is actively seeking to build a much stronger and more intimate relationship with India. Yet as the BJP has become the country’s dominant political party – and looks like it is now entrenched in this position – the ability to differentiate between the state and its ruling party is becoming more difficult, especially as the Sangh Parivar continues to capture the state. 

Australian politicians need to be able to distinguish between Hinduism and Hindutva – Hindutva is a political ideology that seeks to remake Hinduism into an identity rather than a religion, an identity that is based on hostility toward other groups, mostly Muslims, but also Dalits, Sikhs, and Christians. There is an obvious tightrope to walk here for Australian politicians, as engagement with the growing Hindu community is essential and should be encouraged. Yet this will require a keen awareness of when politicians are being co-opted into causes that they should be keeping themselves well clear of.

Defying Deification: Indian Politicians as Hindu Gods

Don’t believe the hype; worshiping Indian leaders is not common.

By Krzysztof Iwanek
February 01, 2019

Credit: Tej Kumar Book Depo / Wikimedia Commons

Two posters caught the attention of the Indian media in January this year, and each happened to portray a sibling from the same political family. One – a badly photoshopped merger – showed the god Rama’s torso, complete with a quiver hanging from his back, but with the face of a political leader, Rahul Gandhi, superimposed on the deity’s head. The other posters compared Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul’s sister and also a politician, to goddess Durga, a deity that represents the feminine cosmic power in the universe. One of those posters was a double reference: Priyanka Gandhi is the granddaughter of Indira Gandhi, the famous prime minister of India who had been, if very seldom, portrayed as Durga herself. Thus, somebody chose to portray Priyanka Gandhi as not only the reincarnation of Indira Gandhi but, by default, also Durga’s coming to this earth.

There are more such instances. There is a temple dedicated to the deceased Indira Gandhi in central India, and worship there continued at least as of 2017. The same Rahul Gandhi was also portrayed as Rama on posters a year ago. At that time he was shown aiming a bow at his political rival, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was likened to the demon Ravana, a mythological figure whom Rama killed. Like Ravana, Modi was portrayed with 10 heads, his face copied into each of them. No nuances here – our leader is a god, their leader is the king of demons.

Ironically, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi represent the Indian National Congress, a party usually perceived as the socialist and secular power, the biggest alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP is now led by Modi and his associates – and is currently ruling India. It is this party that is more often accused of arousing religious sentiments and more often refers to Hindu traditions. The ground reality, however, shows the Congress and the BJP are not as far from each other as many would like to think.

But the BJP has had its share of district-level deifications as well. During the 2014 elections, a chant often raised in favor of Modi was a remake of a religious mantra that worships the god Shiva (“Har Har Modi” instead of “Har Har Mahadev”). Local party members from the holy Hindu city of Varanasi – a constituency where Modi was fighting elections at that time – even changed the words of a Sanskrit prayer, putting “Modi” instead of “Devi” (Goddess). Moreover, just like Indira Gandhi, Modi was also supposed to have a temple built for him in Meerut (though I do not know how this story has ended).
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The same, perhaps even more rarely, may happen to politicians of other parties as well. A member of the All India Trinamool Congress – the party now ruling West Bengal – once suggested that its members should wear the picture of the undisputed party leader, Mamata Banerjee, as a lucky charm against the evil magic of their political rivals (the communists).

All of these, however, are scattered and regional instances and we should not read too much into them. Religion and politics are obviously intertwined in many ways in India – as they are in many places. But this does not mean that Indian politicians are often portrayed as gods and that this is the national trend.

These occurrences can perhaps be explained by looking at the nature of Hinduism. First of all, it is not a centralized religion with a hierarchical clergy and a strict doctrine, like the Roman Catholic Church. The actions of the people who established an Indira Gandhi temple or those who planned to found a Narendra Modi temple were not authorized by any central institution, and there was no such decisive apex body they could have asked anyway. Many, if not most, Hindu priests would perhaps disapprove of such acts. I do not have any survey at hand to prove this but there have been instances of highly respected Hindu figures criticizing such deifications. Media pundits may sometimes raise the hype but the orthodox pandits are not really behind all of this.

These initiatives are usually not even endorsed by the central party leadership. Most of these deifying posters and slogans were prepared by regional party workers, or others. It is the local tribal community that worships Indira Gandhi in central India. When Rahul Gandhi was depicted as Rama fighting the “Ravana Modi,” the Congress leadership pointed out that the posters were “unofficial” (but did not reject them). When Modi’s name was included in a Sanskrit prayer, the state president of the BJP criticized this and declared that it should not have been done. Modi himself, while very much focused on building and sustaining his image, spoke against the cult-like adoration of people (vyakti-puja). Such deifications happen because the district-level gung-ho party activists may sometimes go to extremes to make their efforts noticed and their voices heard.

Second, with no centralized and strict doctrine to go by, Hinduism is a collection of many different cults and traditions which do not have to be – and often are not – coherent. Or, to put it differently: In the 19th century, when the image of Hinduism in the West had been established, the benchmark for any religion as defined in Europe was the Roman Catholic Church. This is the only reason why Hinduism was and is described as “a less organized” and “less centralized” religion – in comparison only, by arbitrarily using Christianity (and Catholicism in particular) as the yardstick for all religions. Many examples of local Hindu cults may be challenged with completely different instances from other regions but this does not negate them or make them less true or genuine. It is the same on the political level. There is historical evidence that in some marginal cases Mahatma Gandhi was worshiped like a near-god or a saintly figure. Nowadays, a fringe radical party, Hindu Mahasabha, has established a temple where Gandhi’s killer, Nathuram Godse, is believed to be worshiped. Once again, neither of these cults are authorized by established religious figures nor must they be perceived as representing the same religious tradition (or any tradition). Defining and understanding Hinduism is certainly not arrived at by stamping each tradition with a “Hindu cult” brand.

Third, some of the deities of Hinduism live “closer” to men. Holy men are often worshiped as gods and some deities were believed to have descended to Earth in various myths (such as those about Vishnu’s avatars). This is perhaps why it is easier for some politicians to bandwagon behind these religious traditions by trying to deify party leaders.

While there should be no hype around these attempts, they do confirm the significant role of Hinduism in modern Indian society and as a rallying force in the country’s politics.

https://thediplomat.com/

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for HINDUISM IS FASCISM 

The Deep Potential of Pakistan’s Climate Finance


The State Bank of Pakistan’s financing strategies are not only reshaping the country’s energy landscape but also laying the groundwork for a future defined by sustainability.

By Abdul Waheed Bhutto
August 31, 2023

Pakistan is making strides in its pursuit of sustainable development, with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) at the forefront, introducing innovative financing strategies that transcend conventional norms. The SBP’s initiatives in climate mitigation financing are making progress, yet there remains untapped potential for these approaches to evolve into a comprehensive solution that stretches beyond the boundaries of renewable energy. As the housing sector takes center stage, these strategies are not only reshaping the country’s energy landscape but also laying the groundwork for a future defined by sustainability.

Addressing climate change requires a multifaceted strategy that extends beyond renewable energy alone. The essence of the SBP’s approach lies in recognizing that effectively combating this challenge necessitates a holistic transformation of the energy sector. This transformation should encompass energy efficiency, equipment modernization, and the reduction of power losses.

Pakistan’s energy model, centered around the Central Power Purchasing Agency, ensures financial viability for power projects but also poses challenges. Fixed tariffs hinder the motivation for operational efficiency, affecting consumers and government interests. Additionally, limited access to loans for distributed energy solutions, such as rooftop solar panels, presents obstacles due to credit risks.

In response, the SBP embarked on a transformative journey in 2009 with the Financing of Power Plants Using Renewable Energy scheme. This initiative was revamped in 2016, offering concessional financing at a remarkable 6.00 percent per annum for renewable energy projects. Through this program, the SBP extends loans to commercial banks and development finance institutions (DFIs) at a nominal 2 percent interest rate, enabling them to offer loans to end consumers at 6 percent. This approach fosters sustainable growth of renewable projects while minimizing financial risks.

Despite these advancements, challenges persist for individual consumers. The mark-up subsidy facility is a step forward, yet hurdles remain due to collateral limitations. However, innovation continues to shape progress. Advanced metering technology, combined with regulatory frameworks for selling surplus power back to the grid, empowers homeowners with distributed power systems to recover investment costs by selling excess energy.

The SBP can broaden its financing scheme to encompass companies offering distributed energy products and services, expanding access to affordable financing and promoting renewable energy adoption. Leveraging inventory and receivables as collateral enhances lender security.

Experts also advocate for Islamic financing options for inclusivity. The SBP could pioneer Islamic refinancing models like Ijara or Murabaha, offering subsidized leasing terms or profit rates, aligning with Islamic principles to encourage diverse consumers to embrace energy solutions.

While renewable energy remains pivotal, integrating energy efficiency, equipment modernization, and power loss reduction strategies into financing mechanisms has the potential to position Pakistan as a pioneer in a comprehensive climate mitigation strategy.

In urban areas, a pivotal focus should be on individual households, commercial ventures, and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). These sectors present substantial avenues for embarking on a sustainability journey, facilitated by accessible subsidized loans that encourage the transition from energy-intensive appliances to eco-friendly alternatives.

Meanwhile, in rural settings, the agricultural sector encompassing agribusiness and farming requires essential financial assistance via soft loans, nurturing environmentally conscious agricultural methods. Supplier registration with the Alternative Energy Development Board ensures quality and accountability in payments to pre-approved vendors.

The collaborative synergy between the SBP and financial institutions plays a pivotal role in shaping policies that incentivize a spectrum of approaches. By embracing this comprehensive strategy, Pakistan has the potential to assert its leadership in holistic climate action. This proactive approach catalyzes positive changes across diverse sectors, ultimately ensuring a sustainable future.

In the realm of housing finance, the role of banks is equally crucial. As the government of Pakistan announces a mark-up subsidy facility for housing construction and purchase, it’s imperative for financial institutions to grasp the importance of comprehensive understanding. While progress has been made, the housing sector requires amplified efforts and strategic implementation.

Banks wield the power to transform the housing landscape by offering financial solutions that cater to the diverse needs of individuals and families. The mark-up subsidy facility signifies the government’s commitment to address housing challenges and increase homeownership opportunities. The collaboration between the SBP, the government, and the Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (NAPHDA) accentuates a synergistic approach to housing empowerment.

To ensure the success of the mark-up subsidy facility, transparent communication and accessible information are paramount. Banks must disseminate information effectively, ensuring potential beneficiaries understand the benefits, process, and eligibility criteria. This transparency encourages individuals to seize the opportunity, thereby contributing to the growth of the housing sector.

Furthermore, in the context of Pakistan’s environmental challenges, integrating climate-smart and energy-efficient housing solutions becomes critical. Sustainable practices in housing projects can be achieved through technologies that optimize energy consumption, minimize waste, and reduce carbon footprints. By aligning housing projects with broader sustainability objectives, banks can significantly enhance the resilience of housing structures and contribute to a greener future.

As Pakistan ushers in the era of sustainable development, the financial sector assumes a vital role. The SBP’s trailblazing climate mitigation financing and innovative housing finance initiatives hold the potential to pave the path for transformation. Through collaborative efforts, strategic understanding, and inventive solutions, Pakistan is embarking on a trajectory toward a sustainable future that safeguards both the environment and the welfare of its people.

As the nation navigates its route to sustainable energy practices and enhances its resilience to climate challenges, the SBP’s comprehensive approach shines as a guiding light. While renewable energy remains foundational, the fusion of energy efficiency, equipment modernization, power loss reduction strategies, and a dedicated focus on green housing within financing mechanisms positions Pakistan as a trailblazer in comprehensive climate mitigation.

The symbiotic collaboration between the SBP and financial institutions emerges as the linchpin in shaping policies that incentivize an array of eco-friendly approaches across all realms of energy. By wholeheartedly embracing this all-encompassing strategy, Pakistan stands poised to assert its rightful leadership in holistic climate action. This proactive stance promises to herald positive transformations across diverse sectors, thereby fortifying a sustainable future for generations to come.AUTHORS

GUEST AUTHOR
Dr. Abdul Waheed Bhutto is professor and pro vice chancellor at Dawood University of Engineering and Technology (DUET), Karachi.

Home in a box: Rethinking disaster relief, IKEA style

By Marianna Cerini, CNN
Thu August 31, 202

Better Shelter's IKEA-inspired "Structure" emergency shelter.

Better Shelter

Editor’s Note: Design for Impact is a series spotlighting architectural solutions for communities displaced by the climate crisis, natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies.

CNN —

In June last year, Gita Kumari Bhumik and her family lost their home to flooding in India’s northeastern Assam state. Heavy rainfall that summer affected more than 5 million people, and the 44-year-old was among hundreds of thousands of those displaced across in the region.

“We lost everything,” Bhumik told CNN, via a translator, in a phone interview.

With so many left homeless, officials and NGOs rushed to provide shelter. Rather than sending tents, however, Indian nonprofit SEEDS partnered with Sweden’s Better Shelter to distribute over 100 of its IKEA-inspired temporary houses.

Like IKEA furniture, Better Shelter’s homes come in flat packages that can be easily shipped and assembled in a matter of hours, without the need for tools or electricity. Each unit comprises a modular frame and is completed using local materials, such as bamboo or timber, before being equipped with a lockable door and solar-powered lamp.

Gita Kumari Bhumik, photographed outside her new home in Assam's Kalain region.Sahiba Chawdhary

Bhumik said she and her family moved in within five to six days of learning they had been allocated a shelter. “It’s been our home since,” she said.
Rethinking emergency response

Better Shelter says it has delivered over 80,000 temporary shelters to more than 80 countries since 2013. The structures have served as homes, clinics and classrooms, as well as community buildings.




The units usually comprise a modular frame that can be completed using locally-sourced materials such as bamboo or timber, before being equipped with a lockable door and solar-powered lamp.

The organization’s managing director, Johan Karlsson, hopes to move away from makeshift tents by giving displaced people homes that last longer than six or 12 months.

“Most of us think of camps as temporary spaces, but the truth is, many people end up spending years to decades there,” he told CNN in a phone interview.

The modular units, he said, offer “not just better safety but protection and dignity, too.”

After losing his house in the devastating floods in Assam last year, 73-year-old Girindra Bhakti upgraded his Better Shelter home — which he shares with his grandchildren — using local materials.Sahiba Chawdhary/Better Shelter

Karlsson began developing the concept for Better Shelter’s housing as a freelance designer in 2010, when a small aid project asked him to improve the design of its disaster relief tents.

“It struck me how outdated and flimsy they were, considering they were supposed to offer refugees a home,” he recalled. “Those tents just weren’t designed to last that long. So I started thinking of alternatives.”

IKEA’s flat packing immediately came to mind.

“IKEA has long had the ‘know-how’ on how to create modularized constructions, packaging and materials,” said Karlsson. “Reaching out to them for support felt like the obvious thing to do.”

The IKEA Foundation is now his project’s main backer. With the Swedish multinational’s help, Karlsson and a small team of designers and engineers created a series of flat-pack emergency shelters, which they launched in Ethiopia in 2013.


Look inside the world’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood in Texas

These original 188-square-foot modules could be assembled, without tools, in four hours. They could accommodate up to five people and had an expected lifespan of three years, though Karlsson said that many were still standing after five.

“I like to think they have challenged the way emergency aid can be provided,” he said.

The Better Shelter team also spent time in a UN refugee camp in Iran and conducted interviews with Somali refugees in northern Kenya before completing its first shelters.

“Relying on people’s feedback is essential,” said Karlsson. “Every person and situation is different, but if there’s no dialogue with those on the ground, then you’re never going to make a successful prototype.”

One common request from refugees was for more privacy — the ability to simply close their doors. Another was that damage to their new homes was easy to repair.

“From the get-go, we’ve designed the units in a way that means they can be fixed, upgraded and even expanded,” Karlsson said. “It’s all about thinking long-term, rather than just about the immediate emergency.”

Inside one of the 80,000 temporary units that Better Shelter has distributed since 2013.Sahiba Chawdhary/Better Shelter
Scalable, adaptable and local

In 2021, Better Shelter introduced its latest modular design: Structure. Bhumik lives in a version of it. Designed to last a decade, the units can be assembled, disassembled and set up elsewhere in around two hours.

Structure is also the NGO’s most afforable design yet.

“One of the main issues we have with our other modules is that they can be quite costly — up to 1,500 euros (around $1,630) each,” said Karlsson. At around $365, Structure costs a lot less.

As its name suggests, Structure is essentially a bare-bones frame.

It can, at first, be covered with plastic sheeting and later strengthened with local materials to help people “create a more permanent shelter over time,” Karlsson said.


Floating architecture isn’t the future. It’s already here

Better Shelter lets on-the-ground partners like SEEDS decide which local materials are best suited to complete the homes. Choices vary depending on the environment, climate, local building techniques and available resources. In Assam, most are reinforced with bamboo and plastered with mud; in Afghanistan wood panels fend off the freezing winters; and in Rwanda, straw mats on the roof provide better insulation.

“Working with what’s available in each context not only boosts the local economy, but also makes maintenance and repair a lot easier,” said Karlsson. “We’re stepping in as little as possible.”

And where Karlsson and his team have stepped away, the residents are stepping up.

“From day one, you can see that people tend to decorate (their homes), putting fabrics in or adding their personal touches to them; adding a veranda to get some shade,” said Karlsson.

Geeta Bhumik (no relation to Gita Kumari Bhumik) and her daughter at their home in Assam. Her shelter was upgraded with bamboo, aluminum sheeting and mudpack, a mixture of mud and cow dung.Sahiba Chawdhary/Better Shelter

Inside Bhumik‘s house there are shrines to Hindu gods, and a coop to protect the family’s chickens from bad weather and predators. Her husband is also currently working on an extension to the main shelter. She doesn’t see the family leaving anytime soon.

“I consider this our home,” she said. “We feel safe here, and have had no problems, despite the recent rain.”
Moving towards decarbonization

In 2022, the world saw its largest yearly increase in the number of displaced people, according to the UNHCR. By the end of last year, the number of forcibly displaced people in the world reached 108.4 million. That is 19 million people more than the year before, and a total number greater than the populations of Ecuador or the Netherlands.

These displacements are often the result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, but climate change has increasingly become a major driver. The Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), a Sydney-based think tank estimates that 1.2 billion people could be displaced globally by 2050 due to climate change and natural disasters.

“Sadly, there will only be more need for housing like ours,” said Karlsson.

Better Shelter’s next biggest challenge is decarbonization. Most of its shelters are made from plastic, as Karlsson says it’s still the best material in terms of weight, durability and cost. But he is aware of the material’s environmental impact and is looking to introduce more recycled and locally sourced parts.

Pricing, too, remains an issue. Better Shelter’s units, including Structure, continue to be more expensive than tents, and for this reason many NGOs choose not to use them, according to Karlsson.

“It takes time to embrace a new solution, and we certainly have to work on cost efficiency and more scalability,” he said. “But it’s in our books. I think that’s a responsibility we have as designers and architects.”

Revealed: Israel charity funded Campaign Against Antisemitism 

Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt and Asa Winstanley

The Electronic Intifada

25 August 2023

The Campaign Against Antisemitism organized protests against Jeremy Corbyn when he was leader of Britain’s Labour Party. Ben CawthraSIPA USA

The Campaign Against Antisemitism recently took credit for persuading UK trade union Unite to cancel the Bristol launch of Asa Winstanley’s book Weaponising Anti-Semitism, alongside an associated screening of the film Oh Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie.

This was only the latest in a long series of attacks by the Israel lobby group targeting the Palestine solidarity movement and the wider left.

But The Electronic Intifada can today reveal that the CAA has been given almost half a million dollars by the UK partner of the Jewish National Fund, Israel’s quasi-governmental settler-colonial agency.

The donations were hidden in obscure Charity Commission documents uncovered by our research. In an email to The Electronic Intifada, the CAA confirmed it had been in “past receipt of donations from JNF UK” but denied current JNF funding.

“JNF UK has never exercised or sought to exercise any influence over our activities,” the CAA claimed.

The 2018 and 2019 donations were later reclassified by the JNF as fundraising costs, implicating the CAA in Israeli settler-colonization efforts.

Founded in 1901, the JNF – known in Israel as Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – is committed to colonizing historic Palestine.

It is one of Israel’s four key “National Institutions” which, since 1948 have worked “to advance the Zionist enterprise.” The JNF has been described by noted Israeli historian Ilan Pappé as a “colonialist agency of ethnic cleansing.”

Founded in Britain in 1908 and registered in 1939 as a charity operating in “Israel” – a state which had not yet been established – the JNF’s British partner group JNF UK says it has been “building Israel for over a century.”

It does so by fundraising in the UK and passing the money collected onto Israel, primarily for projects in the southern Naqab desert, displacing Palestinian citizens of Israel in favor of Jewish settlers.

JNF UK has also funded a number of projects supporting illegal settlements in the West Bank – a war crime under international law.

JNF funding to CAA

Founded in 2014, the CAA was formally registered as a charity the following year.

UK law requires charities to declare all donations they receive from organizations with common trustees as “related party transactions.”

An analysis of the CAA’s accounts, crosschecked with those of the JNF’s British partner shows that the CAA has received large donations from JNF UK.

Crucially, these donations were made during the most intense period of the manufactured anti-Semitism crisis in Britain’s Labour Party in 2018 and 2019.

CAA chief executive Gideon Falter was in 2017 appointed as a director and trustee of JNF UK and he is also a vice chair.

In 2018, the CAA declared in its accounts disclosed to the Charity Commission that a donation of almost $220,000 had come from a “related party.”

This amounted to nearly half of its income for that year.

Funding a “crisis”

The following year, the CAA declared that $230,000 had come from a similarly undisclosed “related party.”

The 2019 figure amounted to 20 percent of its income but 60 percent of its expenditure.

In 2019, JNF UK declared expenditure of the exact same amount as the donation declared by the CAA that same year.

JNF UK paid $230,000 “for grants provided to a UK charity, which has a trustee who is also a trustee of JNF Charitable Trust.”

According to its website, “JNF Charitable Trust” is simply the official name of the JNF UK charity and they “are the same” group.

The 2019 JNF UK accounts also stated that in 2018 it had made a donation of almost $220,000 to the same unnamed “UK charity.”

In other words, both the 2018 and the 2019 donations from JNF UK were the exact same amounts as those received by the CAA in the exact same years – totaling $450,000.

Given that the donations for both years from JNF UK are exactly the same as the mysterious donations to the CAA from a “related party,” and given that CAA trustee Gideon Falter is also a trustee of JNF UK, the most logical conclusion is that JNF UK donated both these sums.

And the CAA’s email confirming that it had received “donations from JNF UK … some years ago” puts that conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt.

This means that JNF UK funded the CAA to the tune of nearly half a million dollars during the most intense period of its “anti-Semitism crisis” campaign against Labour and its then leader Jeremy Corbyn in 2018 and 2019.

Electoral interference

It was during this period that the CAA’s lawyers referred the Labour Party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission alleging “institutional anti-Semitism.” This also covers the period of the 2019 general election.

All this suggests that the JNF’s British partner financially supported both the CAA’s legal action against the Labour Party and its negative campaigning during the 2019 general election.

According to JNF UK’s 2019 accounts, its accounts for 2018 were later altered “to show a reclassification of a grant made to a UK charity previously shown under UK Charitable Projects.” The beneficiary would now instead be “included under [JNF] fundraising.”

JNF UK’s funding to the CAA was thereby redefined. No longer was it to be understood as a simple grant to a UK charity.

Instead, the financial support was given to help the JNF’s own efforts.

In other words, the CAA had become an active part of the machinery of fundraising for Israel’s occupation.

In its statement emailed to The Electronic Intifada, the CAA denied ever fundraising “for JNF UK.” The CAA declined to comment further when asked to explain JNF UK’s own accounts stating that it had.

Attacking Palestinians

The CAA was founded in 2014 during Israel’s deadly war on the population of the Gaza Strip. Jewish anti-Zionist author and activist Tony Greenstein has described the group as a “campaign against Palestinians.”

It has attacked Palestinians in the UK, as well as the wider solidarity movement.

Palestinian academic Shahd Abusalama was pushed out of her job at Sheffield Hallam University last year after a relentless campaign by the CAA.

In 2017 the group attacked Malaka Mohammed – then a student at the University of Exeter – smearing her as a “terrorist-supporting anti-Semite.”

The group has encouraged its supporters to go onto British campuses and “record, film, photograph and get witness evidence” during Palestine solidarity events such as Israeli Apartheid Week. A group of more than 240 academics wrote to The Guardian in 2017 referring to the CAA’s “outrageous interferences with free expression” and “direct attacks on academic freedom.”

Attacking Labour

The CAA made the Labour Party its main target during the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, who is a veteran Palestine solidarity campaigner.

Throughout Corbyn’s leadership, the group was at the forefront of claims of rampant anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, organizing demonstrations and petitions and amplifying anti-Corbyn voices.

In 2016, more than 100 left-wing Jewish activists wrote an open letter against “the pro-Israel lobbyists of the Campaign Against Antisemitism” and their attacks on Labour.

Even Labour lawmaker Margaret Hodge – herself one of the leading weaponizers of anti-Semitism against Corbyn and the left – has said that the CAA is guilty of “using anti-Semitism as a front to attack Labour.”

After Corbyn was defeated at the 2019 general election, the CAA took credit, with leading CAA researcher Joe Glasman claiming it had “slain” Corbyn, “the beast.”
Lobbying for Israel

The CAA claimed its first dubious victory in 2014, during the aforementioned war on Gaza.

In response to Israel’s violence, London’s Tricycle Theatre asked the UK Jewish Film Festival (which the theater was due to host) to return around $2,500 in funding it had received from the Israeli embassy. The theater made clear it wanted the festival to go ahead and even offered to replace the funds itself.

Consistent with the state of Israel’s aggressive strategy of combating “delegitimization,” the CAA was instrumental in promoting the lie that the theater was going to boycott the festival.

The nascent group led a protest outside the theater, waving Israeli flags and carrying placards featuring such slogans as “No to Jewish Film Festival Ban” and “Tricycle Theatre: We Support Israel.” The CAA explained at the time that the placards “were carried by strongly Zionist Jews who also carried flags and sang Hatikvah,” the Israeli national anthem.

The CAA has also taken part in the main conferences at which the Israeli government draws up strategy to combat “delegitimization.” In both 2015 and 2018, it attended Israel’s “Global Forum for Combatting Antisemitism” in Jerusalem.

During the 2018 conference, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs even tagged the CAA in several tweets, suggesting a kind of official Israeli endorsement of the group.

In its statement, the CAA said such a suggestion was “completely absurd.”

Despite its claims of fighting anti-Semitism, one of the conference’s main priorities is to fight BDS, the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

This is often done in a way which conflates anti-Zionism – opposition to the Israeli state’s official, racist ideology – with anti-Semitism: hatred or prejudice targeting Jewish people.

Flouting charity law

The Charity Commission explains that it is only legitimate for a charity to use “emotive or controversial material, where this is lawful and justifiable in the context of the campaign,” but that “such material must be factually accurate and have a legitimate evidence base.”

In January 2015 the CAA published the first of its periodic assessments of anti-Semitism in the UK, which claimed to show that “more than half of all British Jews feel that anti-Semitism now echoes the 1930s.”

The Institute for Jewish Policy Research, however, described this as “irresponsible,” saying it was based on biased research that “falls short both in terms of its methodology and its analysis.”

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz observed that, “in their eagerness to prove a point, the CAA has created its own definition of anti-Semitism, which is more a reflection of what is impolite to say in public than what is actual bias against Jews … the CAA seems to be over-diagnosing the illness.”

The Zionist CAA has also exhibited more than a tinge of Islamophobia.

In a now deleted report, seen by The Electronic Intifada, chief executive Gideon Falter alleged that, “On every single count, British Muslims were more likely by far than the general British population to hold deeply anti-Semitic views.”

In its emailed statement, the CAA doubled down, claiming the controversial polling underlying the report “has since been corroborated,” and denied being criticized as Islamophobic, claiming to have “allies” in “the Muslim community,” although they did not name them

.

Charitable registration places obligations on organizations, particularly when it comes to political campaigning. The Charity Commission insists that “trustees must not allow the charity to be used as a vehicle for the expression of the political views of any individual trustee or staff member.”

But the CAA has flouted this guidance on multiple occasions.

In April 2018, coinciding with a House of Commons debate on anti-Semitism, three billboards were driven in convoy past Britain’s Parliament and Labour Party headquarters, bearing the claims: “Holocaust deniers harbored by Labour,” “Failure to act on anti-Semitism” and “Institutional anti-Semitism in Corbyn’s Labour.”

In his later “beast is slain” speech, the CAA’s Joe Glasman took credit for “lorries carrying huge billboards.” The CAA reported that more than 130 people had contributed to the cost of the billboards and that “activists have generously decided to donate excess funds from their crowdfunding campaign to [the] Campaign Against Antisemitism.”

Benefiting financially from an anti-Labour campaign is completely at odds with the requirement of charities to observe party-political neutrality.

In its email the CAA denied flouting Charity Commission rules and denied organizing the billboards, calling both “made up false claims.”

“The Charity Commission has consistently found [the] Campaign Against Antisemitism to be operating lawfully,” the group claimed in its statement.

Asked in a follow-up email to explain why Glasman took responsibility for the billboards and why the CAA apparently benefited financially from the billboards, the CAA declined to comment further.

During Corbyn’s leadership, the supposedly apolitical charity published further iterations of its anti-Semitism research, claiming to demonstrate that more than four in five British Jews suspected the Labour Party of harboring anti-Semites and that two in five British Jews had considered leaving the UK because of anti-Semitism in general and Corbyn in particular.

In July 2018, the CAA organized a demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament. Falter pronounced that, as a result of Corbyn’s leadership, the “Labour Party is a racist party, the Labour Party is an institutionally anti-Semitic party in the grip of racists.”
Smears

Between September 2016 and July 2018, the CAA filed three complaints about Corbyn with the Labour Party.

On the last day of July 2018, the organization referred the Labour Party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, alleging that the party had broken equality law.

The referral was addressed to Rebecca Hilsenrath, the commission’s CEO. Hilsenrath’s husband, Michael Hilsenrath, was at that time a trustee and deputy president of the Anglo-Jewish Association, a group which had funded the CAA’s widely derided 2015 “anti-Semitism barometer.”

Also in the summer of 2018, the CAA launched a petition proclaiming that “Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite and must go.”

Asked to investigate, the Charity Commission ruled that “charities must stress their independence from party politics and demonstrate party political balance.”

The petition has since been altered to “Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite and is unfit to hold any public office.” It has attracted in excess of 58,000 signatures and garnered comments wishing death upon Corbyn.

In the run-up to elections, Charity Commission rules dictate that, “charities must not support or oppose a political party or candidate” or otherwise try to “influence voter behavior.”

But on 8 December 2019, just four days before the general election, the CAA convened a demonstration in London’s Parliament Square under the banner of “Together Against Antisemitism.”

Ahead of the rally, Falter told The Jerusalem Post: “I firmly believe that Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite and that he and his allies have corrupted the once fiercely anti-racist Labour Party to become institutionally anti-Semitic.”

He claimed that: “The fact that an anti-Semite like Jeremy Corbyn has risen this far in British politics, and now may become prime minister, is a terrifying thought for many Jews.”

The following day, the CAA released a series of “case files” branding 29 Labour candidates and elected representatives anti-Semites.
Israel lobby

All of the CAA’s activities in 2018 and 2019 – the demonstrations, petition, case files and Equality and Human Rights Commission referral – were sponsored by JNF UK, which claims the funding was given to assist its own fundraising for the colonization of historic Palestine.

In the aftermath of the election, when a complaint was lodged with the Charity Commission about Glasman’s “beast is slain” diatribe, the CAA stated that the organization had “no reason to anticipate any regulatory action.”

The CAA has in the past had to deny being “a pawn employed by a foreign government to smear its enemies.”

Despite such denials, it is abundantly clear that the CAA exists to lobby on behalf of the state of Israel.

This influential organization has been proactive in an attack and sabotage strategy on behalf of Israel to combat “delegitimization” – campaigning in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Funded by the occupiers of Palestine, the CAA has aided Israel, including by helping to take down a left-wing leader of the Labour Party. Such partisan activity is entirely incompatible with genuine charitable status.

Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt is a researcher who stood as a Labour Party parliamentary candidate at the 2019 general election. Asa Winstanley is an investigative journalist and an associate editor with The Electronic Intifada.