ESG IS RED NOT GREEN LOL

China proposes new ESG rules to keep up with Europe

Global top polluter on mission to bring back foreign investments through stricter sustainability reporting rules.

China wants to attract foreign investments and intends to do so through stricter ESG rules aligned with EU standards. © Photo credit: AFP

21/02/2024

China has unveiled new ESG disclosure rules for its biggest companies as the world’s top polluter seeks to align with European requirements and bring foreign investment back to its struggling economy.

More than 400 companies, including those in key stock indexes, will need to publish sustainability reports by 2026, according to draft guidelines released this month by China’s three main exchanges. The corporations, which together account for more than half of the bourses’ combined market value, have to disclose their ESG governance and strategy, along with metrics including their energy transition plans and impact on the environment and society.

The rules will help standardize reporting in China while reducing greenwashing risks for money managers, according to Boya Wang, an environmental, social and governance analyst at Morningstar Inc. in London. China is looking to bring its regulations in line with Europe, where companies have to make similar disclosures starting this year under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.

“By catching up with international standards, the government hopes to attract foreign money - especially from institutional investors,” Wang said.

Foreign investors have been turning their backs on China of late. Direct investment plunged to a three-year low in 2023 as a property slump, deflation risks and growing geopolitical tensions with the US stifle economic growth.
Betting on green

China stocks are entering their fourth year of declines, a rout that’s hit the green industry particularly hard. A KraneShares exchange-traded fund holding electric vehicle and renewable energy stocks in China dropped 15% last year, exceeding the 11% decline of the CSI 300. That follows a 42% slump for the ETF in 2022.

Amid the sell-off, investors have pulled billions of dollars from China-domiciled ESG funds, which held about $39 billion (€36.1 billion) in assets at the end of 2023. That’s down from $58 billion at their peak in 2022, according to Morningstar data.

Beijing is betting the new guidelines will bolster its green credentials. While the nation continues to finance coal production, it’s also at the forefront of renewable energy and electric vehicles. Last year alone, China installed more solar panels than any other nation has ever built, and BYD Co. is now the world’s biggest EV maker.

The reporting guidelines will “help to broaden the scope of ESG investments” beyond traditional themes like EVs and renewable energy stocks, Wang said. They also may drive investment into traditionally high-emitting sectors like steel and agriculture, funding their transition to cleaner production processes, he said.

Clean technologies contributed to two-fifths of China’s gross domestic product growth in 2023, according to an analysis by the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. But with excess capacity weighing on EV and solar firms’ profit margins, “entirely new sectors will have to be found for investment,” the research center said.
Stricter than global guidelines

Still, even as China looks to keep up with European standards, its ESG funds include some unique items that may give investors pause. China’s focus on “common prosperity” means investments in coal and liquor stocks are fair game if they promote rural development.

For some, enhanced ESG disclosures won’t be enough given Beijing’s track record of authoritarian crackdowns. Alecta, Sweden’s biggest pension company with a $113 billion portfolio, said last year it no longer had any direct investments in Chinese firms because of regulatory risks from “state intervention in private businesses.”

The new requirement that firms disclose their impact on the environment and society is often referred to as “double materiality.” And while contribution to rural development is among the specifically Chinese aspects of the ESG rules, they nevertheless align with the European Union’s concept of this measure, said Anqi Dang, a Paris-based senior associate at the European Climate Foundation.

The regulations also are stricter than global guidelines set by the International Sustainability Standards Board, which only cover the impact of ESG risks and opportunities on companies’ financials, Dang said. The alignment with European best practices may increase foreign-investor interest if companies implement ESG practices properly, she said.

More than 70% of the companies required to make disclosures under the new regime already issue some form of sustainability report, according to Leo Ho, an analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets, meaning it won’t be a high bar for most of them.

“We see limited disclosure burden for the A-share market in general,” he wrote in a note, referring to the mainland stocks. “Some players may have to enhance or refine disclosure in certain areas to fulfill the latest requirements.”

Patrick Liu is head of Asia-Pacific for New York-based Neuberger Berman Group, which launched its first green bond fund in China last year and plans more ESG products for onshore investors. He said the new rules are a step toward transparency and sustainability, “aligning with global trends and investor interests for better-informed decisions.”

Source: Bloomberg

Dozens Mourning Navaly's Death, Expressing Solidarity With Ukraine Detained In Russia

A woman lays flowers to pay tribute to Aleksei Navalny at the monument to political prisoners with the Federal Security Service building in the background in Moscow on February 21.

February 25, 2024
By RFE/RL's Russian Service

At least 32 people mourning the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and marking the anniversary of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine were detained in Russia on February 24. The OVD-Info human-rights monitor reported that the 32 people were detained during commemorations in nine Russian cities. Twenty-seven of those detained had laid flowers in memory of Navaly, who died under unclear circumstances on February 16 at a remote Arctic prison. Two wives of Russian soldiers, who were participating in rally by a group calling for fairer treatment for draftees, were detained along with three people protesting against the war. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Putin's Free Grain for Africa Comes With a Political Price

TANSTAFL

Aine Quinn and Katarina Hoije
Fri, February 23, 2024 





(Bloomberg) -- The black-and-red bulk carrier AT 27 arrived in Guinea on Africa’s west coast last month. On it was a typical cargo: 25,000 tons of wheat destined for Mali, a neighboring country that’s facing severe food insecurity.




The goods, though, were not part of any ordinary trade. The 170-meter-long ship docking in Conakry was one of several dispatching free grain promised by Russian President Vladimir Putin to six African countries. And the largesse comes with a different price.

Along with security assistance, arms supplies and Russian-sponsored beauty pageants, the donations are part of the Kremlin’s efforts at closer ties with Africa while it wages war in Ukraine. What Russia gets in return is support for its ambitions and access to markets that can potentially soften some more of the impact of US and European sanctions.

The Kremlin is steadily making inroads, taking advantage of instability in countries that used to rely on former colonial ties with Europe.

During the Russia-Africa summit last year, Putin promised up to 50,000 tons of free grain each for Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Central African Republic and Eritrea, some of which have since reinforced their ties with Moscow. The Russian Agriculture Ministry said this week that 200,000 tons of “humanitarian aid for Africa” had been delivered.

In the past months, Burkina Faso has seen the arrival of Russian troops and Moscow opening an embassy. Mali, which has avoided criticizing the war in Ukraine, is getting a Russian-sponsored gold refinery.

Central African Republic is planning to host a Russian military base and has received weapons, security expertise and training. Eritrea voted against a UN General Assembly resolution demanding that Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

Russian aid doesn’t necessarily go to the countries that need it the most, but to those who are Russia’s “best allies,” said Seidik Abba, who heads the CIRES think tank focusing on Africa’s Sahel region.

“Take Eritrea, poor, isolated and determined to oppose Western imperialism,” Abba said from Mauritania’s capital, Nouakchott. “Russia goes to these countries with strained relations with the West and it reinforces the political divides.”

Moscow forged relations with African nations during decolonization in the 1950s and 1960s, training Zimbabwean liberation fighters and providing military aid and scholarships for students from Mali and Burkina Faso to study at Soviet universities.

Leaders of those countries have highlighted those former relations as they have moved to cut ties with the West — mainly France — and the fact that Russia never colonized those countries.

Moscow’s recent donations are also reminiscent of the way that Washington used food as a tool of statecraft for decades, according to Jennifer Clapp, an academic who has written a book about food aid.

Now the world’s top wheat exporter, Russia is able to offer this surplus grain for free in part because of the Kremlin’s success in rebuilding it into an agricultural powerhouse in the past two decades.

“Russia is following some of those patterns that the big donors used to do,” said Clapp, a professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada. “It’s giving tiny amounts and trying to get a big political benefit.”

Russia has a glut of grain after several bumper harvests, and the total promised by Putin is a tiny share of Russia’s exports of 60 million tons. But publicity about the direct grain donations has helped give the impression that Russia is on Africa’s side, according to Abba at CIRES.

Almost half of the nations on the continent import at least 30% of their wheat from Russia and Ukraine, according to the International Centre for Migration Policy Development.

Food prices soared after Putin’s invasion cut off Ukraine’s exports by sea. Shipments were disrupted further by the Kremlin’s withdrawal last year from a deal allowing Kyiv to ship via the Black Sea, as well as repeated strikes on port facilities. The inflation led to widespread protests in Africa.

Food is not targeted by sanctions, though some Russian agricultural exporters faced financing and logistics issues in the immediate aftermath of the invasion. Russian wheat exports have since hit record levels and fertilizer shipments have also recovered, reducing prices.

“When Russia refused to renew the grain deal, it risked coming out looking like the devil,” Abba said. With its donations, even if not a significant quantity, “Russia is the one that really acknowledges the struggle of Africans, who sees their difficulties,” he said.

Back in Conakry, the grain for Mali would likely cover import needs for just two weeks, according to Soyae Konate, an official with OPAM, the government’s grain agency. In addition, the shipment was delayed by a deadly explosion at the Guinean port, and because fees weren’t paid on time.

Even so, Mali’s junta-led government has severed military ties with its former western allies and is moving closer to Russia. As in other countries across the region, Russian flags have become a symbol of anti-Western sentiment.

“For Russia, it’s goodwill — in the end it’s good PR for both countries,” Malian opposition leader Oumar Mariko said in an interview in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s commercial capital. “The junta needs to show they still have powerful friends after cutting ties with its old allies.”

In Burkina Faso, about 100 Russian troops arrived in the capital Ouagadougou last month, the first deployment of the Africa Corps, an armed force to replace the now-disbanded Wagner group’s mercenaries in Africa.

Russian state TV in the past month showed white bags of wheat marked “gift from the Russian Federation to Burkina Faso” and printed with the flags of both countries.

“It shows Russia’s solidarity for the Burkinabe people and the good, strong relations between our two countries,” Nandy Some-Diallo, Burkina Faso’s minister for solidarity and humanitarian action, said at a ceremony to mark the donation in January.

In Somalia, Russia hasn’t been an influential player since the end of the Cold War, but now it’s vying with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and western countries for a foothold there, according to Nisar Majid, who manages the Somalia country program at the London School of Economics. The country has received two free grain shipments.

“The war in Ukraine and the current polarized global environment can play out in different parts of Africa, including in Somalia,” said Majid. “And food aid becomes just part of that game.”

--With assistance from Mohamed Omar Ahmed, Agnieszka de Sousa, Simon Marks, Godfrey Marawanyika, Neil Munshi, Michael Ovaska and Kateryna Chursina.

(Putin's Free Grain for Africa Comes With a Political Price)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

Paris' Eiffel Tower to reopen after five-day strike

France's Eiffel Tower that had been closed for five days by a strike will reopen Sunday after the monument's management announced a deal had been struck with unions.


Issued on: 25/02/2024 

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France AFP - MIGUEL MEDINA

By:RFI

The stoppage since Monday at one of the world's best-known tourist sites was the second within two months in protest at what unions say was insufficient investment.

The tower's operator SETE said it had reached agreement with the unions on Saturday "under which the parties will regularly monitor the company's business model, investment in works and revenue through a body that will meet every six months".

With an aim to balance its books by 2025, both sides also agreed to see an investment of some €380 million up to 2031 toward works and maintenance of the tower, the statement said.

The unions have accused city hall of charging the Eiffel Tower's operator of a leasing fee that is too high, sapping funds for necessary maintenance work.

In photos: Gustave Eiffel, a global legacy beyond the tower

On Thursday, SETE promised new measures to address these concerns, including hiking the price of tickets by 20 percent.

A ticket now costs €29.40 euros ($31) for an adult to take the lift to the summit, while those who climb up partway by stairs pay a little less.

SETE has since received a recapitalisation of €60 million, which unions say is insufficient given that major maintenance work is needed, including a fresh paint job.

SETE extended apologies to visitors caught in the strike action, which resulted in the loss of some 100,000 admissions.

The Eiffel Tower is closed as staff go on strike, over the financial management of the monument by the city, closing the monument to the public during the second week of the French school holidays, Paris on 19 February, 2024. 

© AFP - Kiran Ridley

The Eiffel Tower booked a shortfall of around €120 million ($130 million) during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Visitor numbers dropped sharply during Covid due to closures and travel restrictions, but recovered to 5.9 million in 2022 and 6.3 million last year.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati on Thursday suggested the Eiffel Tower be classified a "historical monument" to allow the state to help fund works if needed.

"The Eiffel Tower does not have enough protection," she posted on X.

The masterpiece by architect Gustave Eiffel has been repainted 19 times since it was built for the 1889 World Fair.

(with AFP)

Activists preparing to launch global marches on March 2 to stop Zionist aggression

[25/February/2024]

WASHINGTON February 25. 2024 (Saba) - American activists defending Palestinian rights have launched calls, through all means of communication, to participate in huge marches that will be organized in most American cities in conjunction with global marches on the second of next March, to push strongly to stop the Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip.

According to the Palestinian News Agency Wafa, activists announced the launch of preparations for marches in support of the Palestinian people, with the participation of members of the communities, activists and those who support the Palestinian cause and reject the barbaric war of the Zionist enemy army on the Gaza Strip, similar to the mass marches organized in Washington, New York, Chicago and Houston during the recent period. .

Activists believe that these marches and the participants taking to the streets simultaneously, are a strong message against the most brutal forms of crime, by exploiting the strong stance of the peoples of the world to support the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and stop the genocide against the Palestinians.
H.H

Pan-Africanism is dead!

Twice, in as many weeks, I have heard Zimbabwe President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa speak on the need to preserve Pan-Africanism.

25.2.2024
by Tendai Ruben Mbofana

Yesterday was the latest, as he attended a memorial service held in honour of the late Namibian President Hage Geingob in Windhoek.

The other time was when Mnangagwa participated at the 37th Ordinary Session of the AU (African Union) Assembly last week, in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa – where he boldly declared that Pan-Africanism was still alive.

I found myself wondering: What Pan-Africanism?

In fact, what would Mnangagwa know about Pan-Africanism?

Over the past few years, I have never ceased being perplexed as to whatever happened to true Pan-Africanism.

How did we move from a concept that was so beautiful – to something that is now being abused by ruthless African dictators to justify oppressing their own citizens?

If ever I had encountered any paradox in my life, then this is the most outstanding of them all.

I have a life-long passion for history.

One of the most fascinating to study was the ideals of Pan-Africanism.

These were espoused and propagated by such luminaries as Marcus Garvey, William Edward Burghardt (WED) Du Bois, and so many others.

Their desire was for all peoples of African descent from across the globe to stand together as one united people.

This was more important in the face of slavery and colonialism – as Africans needed to free themselves in order to finally enjoy the dignity and prosperity they deserved.

Such a spirit is what inspired many Africans into fighting for our independence.

Who would not admire and want that?

However, as we attained our independence from colonial rule, the concept of Pan-Africanism took on a more disturbing terrifying face.

It became clear that our post-independence leaders were never genuinely Pan-African but were only after serving their own selfish interests.

In typical Animal Farm fashion, suddenly ‘all Africans were equal, but some Africans were more equal than others’.

Our former liberators had swiftly morphed into our new oppressors.

In all this, they still hid behind the facade of Pan-Africanism.

They gave the impression that their tyrannical ways were all for the good of the citizens, who needed to be protected from neo-imperialists who sought to undo the gains of independence.

As such, anyone who dared oppose or criticize or stand up against the post-independence ruling elite was brutally clamped down upon – under the guise of Pan-Africanism and fighting neo-imperialists.

Those in power could then freely loot national resources and carry out corruption with impunity, knowing fully well that any resistance from the citizenry would be crushed.

Does this not remind us of the pigs in Animal Farm?

Surely, what was so Pan-Africanist about the late Zimbabwe dictator Robert Gabriel Mugabe?

As a matter of fact, what is Pan-African about his successor Mnangagwa?

What gives him the audacity to even mention that Pan-Africanism was still alive?

Alive where?

What is Pan-Africanist about Mugabe savagely massacring tens of thousands of innocent unarmed fellow Africans?

To make matters worse, this was barely two years into independence and the horrendous atrocities based purely on the victims’ language and tribe.

In the early 2000s, he further massacred hundreds more Africans simply for supporting the opposition?

Was that being a Pan-Africanist?

Yet, this is the same man SADC (Southern African Development Community) decided to honour as a hero and Pan-Africanist in 2022.

What utter nonsense and huge insult on the likes on Garvey and du Bois.

Surely, this is not what they had in mind when they came up with this concept.

Mnangagwa is not any better.

Besides having been an integral and central component of the heinous murderous Mugabe regime, his own track record as president is nothing to be proud of.

The brutal oppression of fellow Africans in Zimbabwe has continued.

Barely nine months after assuming power through a coup d’état, scores of unarmed civilians – protesting unexplained delays in announcing presidential election results – were gunned down on the streets of the capital Harare on 1st August 2018.

This hideous act was repeated a few months later, on 15th January 2019, as at least eight people were massacred whilst they demonstrated against fuel increases.

Voices of dissent have systematically been incarcerated on spurious charges.

Opposition activist Job Sikhala spent two years behind bars in pre-trial detention, whilst repeatedly denied his constitutional right to bail.

Jacob Ngarivhume languished in prison for eight months, as part of a four year jail sentence, on a conviction that lacked prima facie evidence.

Numerous more have been attacked, beaten up, abducted, and killed on the basis of their political allegiances.

Just last year, two opposition supporters (Tinashe Chitsunge and Bishop Tapfumanei Masaya) were ruthlessly killed in Harare.

Then, the most cold-hearted cruelty against fellow Africans is the unimaginable suffering and poverty authored by the ruling elite.

What justice and Pan-Africanism is there when nearly half the population of Zimbabwe lives in extreme poverty?

Is that Pan-Africanism when an estimated 3.5 million ordinary citizens are facing hunger?

Yet, in all this, those in power – who want to be regarded as Pan-Africanists – are looting national resources with reckless abandon, as they live in obscene opulence in a sea of poverty.

In spite of the abundance we have is our God-given mineral wealth – the fruits are only enjoyed by a handful of the powerful and those aligned to them.

As a matter of fact, those communities living in areas where minerals have been discovered are ruthlessly removed without any meaningful compensation, neither are they benefiting from their own wealth.

Where are the people of Chiadzwa today?

Under what conditions are they living?

Rural areas are still largely stuck in the state they were in during the colonial era – if not worse, since the infrastructure constructed in that period now lies in ruin.

Why are we still walking over 20 kilometres to the nearest health care facility nearly 44 years after independence?

Would the US$3 billion our country is losing annually through mineral smuggling, illicit financial transactions, and other corrupt activities not have gone a long way in solving these challenges?

Surely, would we not be having state-of-the-art cancer machines (at every public hospital), essential medications, and functional ambulances?

Yet, the ruling elite would rather purchase a US$54 million presidential jet!

How many cancer machines could we have bought?

How many lives would have been saved had that US$54 million been used for the benefit of the citizens?

Why are Zimbabweans still dying from ancient diseases as cholera – in a country lacking the most basic potable water supply mechanisms?

Is that what Mnangagwa describes as ‘Pan-Africanism still alive’?

Where is he seeing Pan-Africanism in this horrible cruelty against Zimbabweans?

In fact, where on the entire African continent is Pan-Africanism still alive?

Genuine Pan-Africanism is about putting the interests of fellow Africans ahead of personal ambitions and pleasures.

Pan-Africanism is about selflessness in the pursuit of a better life for the majority.

As far as I am concerned, Pan-Africanism died a long time ago!

● Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/

Post published in: Featured

 News Obituaries

Aime Cesaire: Founding father of Negritude

Saturday 19 April 2008 

The most influential Francophone Caribbean writer of his generation, Aimé Césaire was one of the founding fathers of Negritude, the black consciousness movement that sought to assert pride in African cultural values to counterbalance the inferior status accorded to them in European colonial thinking.

He was born into a peasant family at Basse-Pointe in the northern part of Martinique in 1913, close to the site of the town of St Pierre, the former capital of Martinique, which had been completely destroyed by a volcanic eruption seven years before his birth. He grew up in a poverty-stricken environment in the wake of this disaster and volcanic imagery pervades his poetry.

For his schooling, he went to Martinique's new capital of Fort-de-France, where he mixed with the assimilated middle classes and emerged as the complex product of a double socialisation. Educated in the French public school system and steeped in the classics of French poetry, he also identified with his island's repressed African culture, sometimes likening himself to the figure of the griot, the oral storyteller who serves as the repository of West African communities' histories and traditions.

Césaire won a scholarship to study in Paris, arriving there in 1931 as an 18-year-old and living there at a time when intellectual debates about African distinctiveness were gathering momentum. Along with the French Guyanese Léon-Gontran Damas and the Senegalese Léopold Sédar Senghor, he launched the magazine L'Etudiant noir ("The Black Student") in 1934. The three young men drew inspiration from the Harlem Renaissance's efforts to promote the richness of African cultural identity and particularly opposed French assimilationist policies.

During these years Césaire began to develop the ideas for his most famous poem, Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (1939; translated as Return to My Native Land, 1969), the work in which he coined the term "négritude". The surrealist André Breton, who became a good friend of Césaire's after a 1942 visit to Martinique and who helped to introduce his work to Parisian literary circles, called the Cahier "the greatest lyric monument of this time".

Drawing on surrealist techniques, the poem took its inspiration from the Martinican landscape and Toussaint Louverture, the leader of the first phase of the Haitian Revolution, whose biography Césaire would later write (Toussaint Louverture: la révolution française et le problème colonial, published 1960). It asserted a claim to Afro-Caribbean ownership of the archipelago, "which is one of the two sides of the incandescence through which the equator walks its tightrope to Africa". The poem explores the distinctiveness of black cultural identity in a historically grounded manner that prefigures the black consciousness movements of the 1960s, the decade when it became popular in the English-speaking world, thanks to a Penguin translation. Stylistically varied, it moves between impassioned prose outbursts against injustice and a more lyrical mode that celebrates black ancestry.

In 1937 Césaire married another Martinican, Suzanne Roussy, with whom he had six children. They moved back to Martinique, where Césaire became a teacher at the Lycée Schoelcher in Fort-de-France, in 1939. Along with Suzanne and René Ménil he edited the influential review Tropiques, which further developed the ideas of Negritude from 1940 to 1943.

In 1947 he was a co-founder of another highly influential Paris-based journal, Présence Africaine. His classic Discours sur le colonialisme (1950; Discourse on Colonialism, 1972) came out of a speech in which he indicted American imperialism along with older forms of colonialism.

Césaire was elected mayor of Fort-de-France in 1945, a position he was to hold with just one brief interruption until 2001, and he also became a deputy in France's National Assembly, where he served from 1946 until 1956 and again from 1958 until 1993. He dominated Martinican political life in the decades that followed his appointment to these two positions and played a pivotal role in the formation of the policy of départementalisation, which integrated Martinique into metropolitan France as one of a number of newly founded DOMs (départements d'outre mers / overseas departments).

DOM status was intended to end colonialism by giving France's overseas colonies parity with departments in metropolitan France, but with decision-making still centred in Paris, it was subsequently considered highly controversial and many came to feel that it worked to the detriment of Martinique. Césaire was affiliated with the French Communist Party, but left this in 1956 after the Soviet invasion of Hungary. He founded the Martinique Progressive Party in 1958 and later allied himself with the Socialist Party in France, supporting Ségolène Royal in the 2007 French elections

Césaire taught the Martinican psychologist and cultural theorist Franz Fanon, whose more vehemently activist writings extended debates about ways of combating colonialism in the 1960s. He was also a significant influence on another younger contemporary, Edouard Glissant, who moved away from Negritude towards the notion of antillanité, which emphasised the Caribbeanness of Martinican identity.

Increasingly, a later generation of black intellectuals came to feel that Césaire's critique of colonialism was not radical enough and he was also attacked for not writing in French Creole. At the same time the ideas of Negritude came under fire for suggesting that all persons of African descent shared common inherited characteristics. However, unlike Senghor, who argued that African consciousness is innately different from European, since it functions through an intuitive form of thinking in which the analytical faculties are subordinate to the emotional, Césaire saw Negritude as a historical phenomenon that had evolved from commonalities in the post-colonial history of African peoples, particularly the experience of the Atlantic slave ships and plantation slavery.

Césaire's other volumes of poetry include Les Armes miraculeuses ( "Miraculous Weapons", 1946), Le Corps perdu (1950; Disembodied, 1973), a collection with illustrations by Picasso, and Ferrements ("Ironwork", 1960). An English edition of his Collected Poetry was published in 1983. His plays include La Tragédie du roi Christophe (1963; The Tragedy of King Christophe, 1970), another work concerned with aspects of the Haitian Revolution, Une saison au Congo (1967; A Season in the Congo, 1969), which deals with the death of Patrice Lumumba, and Une Tempête (1969; A Tempest, 1985), an adaptation of Shakespeare's play which followed the French psychoanalyst and author Octave Mannoni and the Barbadian novelist George Lamming in using the play's archetypes in a critique of colonialism.

On his death, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, praised Césaire as a "great poet" and a "great humanist", and he is to be honoured with a state funeral on Sunday.

John Thieme

Aimé Fernand Césaire, poet, dramatist and politician: born Basse-Pointe, Martinique 26 June 1913; teacher, Lycée Schoelcher, Fort-de-France, Martinique, 1939-45; mayor of Fort-de-France, 1945-83, 1984-2001; deputy, French National Assembly, representing Martinique 1946-83; married 1937 Suzanne Roussy (died 1968; four sons, two daughters); died Fort-de-France, Martinique 17April 2008.

South Africa's ANC launches manifesto ahead of May election

VIDEO
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is greeted by supporters as he arrives at the Mose Mabhida stadium in Durban,  Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, for the ANC manifesto launch -

By Rédaction Africanews
with AP


South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday highlighted the achievements of his African National Congress, which has ruled the country for all of its 30 years of democrac y, as it heads into a tight race in May's election.

Ramaphosa delivered the party’s manifesto to thousands of ANC supporters at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday. The rally came as South Africa faces increasing poverty, unemployment and crime and a crippling electricity crisis.

Party supporters dressed in yellow, green and black party regalia packed the stadium and sang struggle songs praising Ramaphosa and the ANC, while others took advantage of the event to sell food, refreshments and party merchandise to the thousands attending.

A procession of motorbikes with bikers waving ANC flags was among the first displays to entertain the crowd before Ramaphosa arrived to the delight of supporters.

However, the tension surrounding this year's elections was laid bare when some supporters entered the stadium grounds carrying a caricature coffin bearing the name of the uMkhonto we Sizwe political party, a new political organization formed by former ANC president Jacob Zuma.

The party is set to compete in this year's elections after Zuma denounced the ANC.

In what has become somewhat of a popularity contest between parties to show who can pull in the biggest crowds to their election rallies, thousands of ANC supporters were bussed in from various parts of the country to ensure the stadium was full as early as possible.

The ANC also brought in popular musicians to entertain supporters. They performed after Ramaphosa's speech, concluding with ANC slogans and colorful fireworks and confetti.

However, millions of South Africans will likely be more interested in whether the ANC can deliver on its promises and address the many challenges the country faces. These include stagnant economic growth, rising levels of poverty, unemployment, crime and a crippling electricity crisis that has resulted in rolling power blackouts.

According to Ramaphosa, the ANC plans to create more than 2.5 million job opportunities in the next five years. He said some of these would come from South Africa's transition from coal-based power generation to cleaner energy.

“Our strategy will also meet the new global challenges of climate change. A balanced just transition to a cleaner, greener future can lead to new jobs and secure the competitiveness of our exports,” he said.

Ramaphosa dismissed the opposition parties looking to unseat the ANC in this year's elections. “We are the only organization that can take South Africa forward,” he said.

The ANC manifesto attributes some of the challenges faced by the country to the COVID-19 pandemic, the electricity crisis, global political conflicts, the July 2021 unrest and climate change.

It also points out that the country's economy has grown since 1994, that the ANC continues to provide social welfare and housing for millions of poor South Africans.

South Africa's elections are expected to be highly contested, with some opposition parties joining forces to form a coalition if the ANC receives less than 50% of the national vote.

Over the last few weeks opposition parties have also launched their manifestos, promising to create jobs and bring an end to the electricity crisis, among other promises.

WAR IS ECOCIDE
Yemeni Gov’t Pleads for Global Help to Prevent ‘Rubymar’ Ship Disaster

An aerial image of the British ship, Rubymar, at risk of sinking due to Houthi missile bombardment 

Aden: Ali Rabih
25 February 2024 

AD ـ 14 Sha’ban 1445 AH


The Yemeni government is seeking international help to prevent a disaster after a Houthi missile struck the UK-registered Rubymar, a cargo ship carrying fertilizer and dangerous goods in the Red Sea last week.

This plea comes as Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have increased since November. The Iran-backed group says they’re targeting vessels linked to Israel, and have recently hit US and British ships.

The US continues to launch frequent strikes against Houthi positions and intercept their attacks using drones, missiles, and boats.

EU ships stand ready to join French destroyers in the Red Sea to counter Houthi assaults, while China has sent a war fleet amid concerns for millions of Yemenis reliant on international aid.

Since Nov. 19, Houthis have stepped up attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Their leader claims 48 assaults, damaging at least 11 ships.

The Yemeni government’s plea for help comes as a US warning highlights the risk of an environmental disaster if the Rubymar, leaking fuel and taking on water, were to sink.

Yemen’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak has formed an emergency committee to tackle the crisis involving the hit ship.

The ship, flagged under Belize, was attacked by the Houthis last Sunday. It was loaded with ammonia, oils, and dangerous substances, posing a serious threat to marine life.

The Yemeni government urged countries and organizations concerned with marine environments to assist in preventing a potential environmental disaster and to act swiftly on the potential crisis.

In an official statement, the government condemned the Houthi attack, which caused significant damage and forced the crew to evacuate.

The drifting ship is reportedly heading towards Yemen’s Hanish Islands in the Red Sea, raising fears of a major environmental catastrophe.

Yemen's Houthis Target Fuel Tanker Torm Thor in Gulf of Aden

A satellite view of the Red Sea's Bab al-Mandab strait.

 File Photo/NASA

Asharq Al Awsat
25 February 2024

 AD ـ 14 Sha’ban 1445 AH

Yemen's Houthis targeted MV Torm Thor, a US-flagged, owned, and operated oil tanker, in the Gulf of Aden, the Iran-aligned group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Sunday, as the militants continue to attack shipping lanes in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The group targeted the tanker with "a number of appropriate naval missiles," Sarea added in a televised speech.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the USS Mason, a guided missile destroyer, on Saturday shot down one anti-ship ballistic missile launched into the Gulf of Aden from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen that was likely targeting the tanker.

Neither the USS Mason nor MV Torm Thor were damaged and there were no injuries, CENTCOM added in a statement.

The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have launched exploding drones and missiles at commercial vessels since Nov. 19 as a protest against Israel's military operations in Gaza.

RMT leader Mick Lynch gives Jeremy Corbyn general election backing

THE ANTI-STARMER

By Iain Watson

Political correspondent, BBC News

PA Media

The RMT Union has announced it will be supporting former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at the next general election.

Mr Corbyn is the independent MP for Islington North - a seat he has held since 1983.

Last year, the 74-year-old was banned from standing for Labour, having been suspended from the parliamentary party over an antisemitism row in 2020.

RMT leader Mick Lynch said the union would back Mr Corbyn should he run for his seat again as an independent.

"We will support all sorts of people in this election, because we're not affiliated," Mr Lynch told the War on Want conference.

He added: "We will support Labour candidates. We will support socialist candidates.

"We will be supporting Jeremy Corbyn in the next election."


The RMT became estranged from Labour in 2004 under Tony Blair's leadership, meaning - unlike many other trade unions - it is free to support other candidates.

It is expected the former Labour leader will stand as an independent at the next election, although this is yet to be confirmed.

PA Media

Jeremy Corbyn was suspended from Labour's parliamentary party in 2020

Mr Corbyn was suspended from by the Labour party over his reaction to a highly critical report on anti-Semitism.

He had previously been elected the party's leader in 2015 but resigned in 2019 following defeat in the general election

.General election: When is the next one and who decides?

In January, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he had expected to call the election "in the second half" of 2024 - although a date is yet to be set.

The latest Parliament can be dissolved for a general election is on the fifth anniversary of the day it first met.

For the current Parliament, that date is 17 December 2024.

However, 25 working days are then allowed to prepare for the election, meaning the next election must be held by 28 January 2025.

EXCLUSIVE

NEW JERSEY SHORE

Dead dolphin bleeding from its eye and jaw that washed up on New Jersey beach sparks investigation - as locals claim sonar blasting from offshore wind farm companies is to blame

A short-beaked common dolphin was found dead on the shore of Avalon

Locals claim an offshore wind farm companies are to blame

READ MORE: 'Demonic' off-shore wind farms are blamed for whale deaths

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 24 February 2024

The gruesome scene of a dead dolphin on a New Jersey beach has sparked an investigation into its cause of death.

The marine animal was spotted on February 19, as it lay on the sands of Avalon bleeding from its eye and a gaping hole along its mouth.

Locals have claimed that sonar blasting from an offshore wind company to map the seafloor is to blame as the technology has been suggested to disrupt animals' movements, sending them into boats or onto the shore.

Evidence has shown that when exposed to high sonar frequencies, marine mammals swim hundreds of miles and rapidly change their depth, which can cause bleeding from the eyes and ears.

But experts told DailyMail.com that 'evidence of sonar trauma is not something that would be found in an external exam.'

The gruesome scene of a dead dolphin on a New Jersey beach has sparked an investigation into its cause of death

Bonnie Brady, executive director at Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, told DailyMail.com that the marine animal was a short-beaked common dolphin, which can be found along the continental slope in waters between 650 to 6,500 feet deep.

She noted that it is very rare that this type of dolphin would be found close to the beach.

Jamie Steiert, an Avalon local, spotted the dead dolphin on the beach.

‘NJ conservation officer picked it up while I was there and said he was meeting up with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center,’ Steiert told DailyMail.com.

‘I hear they are already saying the dolphin was scavenged. We have been asking consistently to prove that there is no hearing damage but we are always shut out.’

The only way to determine whether a marine animal died due to sonar is to perform a necropsy and analyze the ear bone for damage.



The marine animal was spotted on February 19, as it lay on the sands of Avalon bleeding from its eye and a gaping hole along its mouth



Locals have claimed that sonar blasting from an offshore wind company to map the seafloor is to blame as the technology has been suggested to disrupt animals' movements, sending them into boats or onto the shore

The ears of a dolphin sit in their lower jaw area, but it is unclear if the hole is in the exact location.

Steiert said the eye appeared to be missing, but the blood pouring out of the hole was fresh.

‘I was specifically curious about the bleeding area by the lower jaw. I question if it wasn’t already bleeding when it washed up and then maybe something tried scavenging,' said Steiert.

'I can tell you that when I got to the 75th Street beach there wasn’t anyone around except a police officer sitting in the car…and not one sign of any seagulls or other birds in the area.’

Justin Viezbicke, the stranding coordinator from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told DailyMail.com: ‘When carcasses float around or sit on the beach they typically get fed on by birds and the round circular hole that you see as well as the bloody eye socket is mostly likely the result of a bird eating the eye and pecking at the lower jaw.’



The images of the dolphin were shared online, sparking attention from many New Jersians

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View gallery


Pictured are the areas being surveyed by offshore wind companies

The images of the dolphin were shared online, sparking attention from many New Jersians, with one posting on X: 'This is hemorrhaging caused by sonar and they know it but it is not something they check for.'

Gary Kellstrom also shared: 'This is not normal, but happens frequently. This sonar assault must be halted.

'Historically, projects putting endangered species at risk have been blocked by lawsuits. What do we need to do to organize a legal action to stop these atrocities?'

NOAA has previously stated: 'Increasing evidence suggests that exposure to intense underwater sound in some settings may cause some dolphins to strand and ultimately die.

'NOAA Fisheries is investigating all aspects of acoustic communication and hearing in marine animals, as well as the effects of sound on whale behavior and hearing.'



According to the DHS report, Petroleum Geo-Services is also using sonar in the same region

That was the case for more than 5,000 dolphins that died in 2022 as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, scientists said, blaming sonar devices used by Vladimir Putin's naval forces.

Locals told DailyMail.com that they suspected sonar was being used by an offshore wind company at the time of the dolphins death, pinpointing the Mexican-owned HOS Browning vessel at the scene.

HOS is working with Fugro, a Dutch company that performs geotechnical, survey and geoscience services, which is performing services for Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind.

READ MORE: New Jersey GOP demand a 60 day BAN on offshore wind farm construction after 31 dead whales washed up along East Coast


More than 30 dead whales were found along East Coast beaches in just a few months of last year, leaving some to say turbines are to blame.

Fugro is performing a third year of integrated site characterization services for Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind and is using HOS to survey the ocean floor.

Documents from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also noted: ‘HOS Browning, call sign XCBK8, will be conducting geotechnical survey operations, using a mobilized vibracoring system.

‘Operations will occur within Lease 0541 area and have been ongoing since 2022 and continue to approximately June 30, 2024.’'

Lease 0541 sits 27 miles from the coastline and covers 79,351 acres of water.

The site is east of Atlantic City, which is just 36 miles from Avalon where the dolphin was found on the beach.

HOS is performing geotechnical surveys that does not use sonar.

The government documents state: 'Fugro USA Marine, Inc. will be conducting marine remote, seafloor mapping operations, originating at the OCS-0539 lease area and terminating in Lower Bay, Long Beach NY and Manasquan NJ, from January 31, 2023, to June 2024, 12- hours a day.

Seafloor mapping does use sonar systems, but it is unclear if Fugro was conducting testing around the time of the dolphin's death.

According to the DHS report, Petroleum Geo-Services is also using sonar in the same region.

'Petroleum Geo-Services will be conducting marine remote sensing operations in the OCS-A 0539 lease area, approximately 32 nautical miles offshore Little Egg Harbor, NJ, from September 20, 2023, to May 15, 2024,' the report reads.

However, it is unclear if any vessels using sonar were testing at the time of the dolphin's death.

'So we cannot prove this animal died from survey work,' said Brady.

'I hesitate to say anything because I'm not looking at the animal and I haven’t seen any or the bloodwork or autopsy photos, which is why we want to be able to have open and transparent process like we asked for in the fed investigation.

'This dolphin could have died for a variety of reasons, but the lack of transparency and refusal to shine light on the investigative process is more than curious at this point, not just for this dolphin but for the 85 whales and several hundred dolphins that washed ashore last year. '