European Left elects little-known Walter Baier as lead candidate for June election
Aida Sanchez AlonsoPublished on 25/02/2024 -

Baier, the current party chairman with little European experience, was the only contender. He was elected in a closed assembly in Slovenia.

The European Left on Saturday elected Austrian Walter Baier as their spitzenkandidat or pick to lead the European Commission following the elections in June.

Baier, 70, who hails from the Austrian communist party, has been the group's president since December 2022 but had, until then, little experience in European politics.

He defended his lack of European credentials at the group's meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on Saturday, telling reporters that "frankly speaking, Europe is not just Brussels."

"Europe is 27 nations and hundreds of cities and millions of citizens. The European Left wants to be the voice of these people, whose voices are rarely heard in Brussels," he said.

Despite being the group's spitzenkandidat, Baier is not on any national list and will therefore not run for an MEP seat.

The party's assembly, which unlike the other groups was held behind closed doors, also served to agree on a manifesto for the European elections scheduled to be held on June 6-9. 

The Left has set five priorities for the upcoming campaign: civil rights, peace and democracy, the cost of living, the climate crisis and public services and social rights.

A difficult road to the European Commission

The lead candidate system, also known as the Spitzenkandidaten process, allows European parties to choose their leader for the European elections. If the party secures the highest number of seats, the candidate then becomes the top contender for the European Commission president job.

The incumbent, Ursula von der Leyen, is currently the one to beat after she announced earlier this week her wish to run for her second term. She is expected to be formally endorsed as the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) spitzenkandidat at the group's conference in early March. The EPP is the biggest group in the hemicycle and is projected to remain so after the ballot.

The Greens have already picked Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout as their leaders for the elections while the Social Democrats are expected to anoint Nicolas Schmit, the current European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, for the role at their meeting next week.

The Left's chances of winning the leadership of the European Commission are very low.

The party is very divided going into the elections and although current projections by EU Elects, a poll aggregator, predict the group could up its number of seats from 37 to 42, a reshuffle of parties after the June plebiscite could actually see it lose of MEPs.

The newly created Spanish party Sumar, for instance, previously joined the ranks of the European Left-affiliated Podemos party but suggested recently that it could instead join the Greens.

Farmers’ protests in Europe and the deadend of neoliberalism

Scrapping environmental protections will not solve the agricultural crisis in Europe.

Morgan Ody
Vegetable farmer from Brittany France

Vincent Delobel
A Walloon goat dairy farmer

Published On 25 Feb 2024

Farmers drive their tractors during a protest near Strasbourg, eastern France on January 30, 2024 [File: Frederick Florin/ AFP]

On February 26, the World Trade Organization (WTO) will hold its 13th ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi. While few would make the connection between the proceedings at that summit and the plight of impoverished farmers across the world, there is indeed a direct and clear link between the two.

On that day, we, members of the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC), an international organisation representing small-holder farmers in 21 European countries, will be protesting against the neoliberal policies in agriculture the WTO has been promoting for decades which have led to the systematic impoverishment of farmers.


Photos: Greek farmers drive tractors to parliament to demand financial help

Polish farmers block Ukraine’s border in protest against grain imports

Politics and convenience drive Mexico to be US’s top trading partner

Why are Indian farmers marching on New Delhi?

This tragic state of affairs has been highlighted by the continuing protests of farmers who have been taking to the streets, blocking motorways and logistics platforms across Europe since January.

These are people who produce Europe’s food – whether conventionally or organically, on a small or a medium scale. They stand united by a shared reality: They are fed up with spending their lives working incessantly without ever getting a decent income.

We have reached this point after decades of neoliberal agricultural policies and free trade agreements. Production costs have risen steadily in recent years, while prices paid to farmers have stagnated or even fallen.

Faced with this situation, farmers have pursued various economic strategies. Some have tried to increase production to compensate for the fall in prices: They have bought more land, invested in machinery, taken on a lot of debt and seen their workload increase significantly. The stress and declining incomes have created a great deal of frustration.

Other farmers have sought better prices for their produce by turning to organic farming and short distribution channels. But for many, these markets collapsed after the COVID-19 pandemic.

All the while, through mergers and speculation, large agroindustrial groups have gotten bigger and stronger, putting increased pressure on prices and practices for farmers.

ECVC has actively taken part in the mobilisations of farmers in Europe. Our members have also been hit hard by dwindling incomes, the stress linked to high levels of debt, and the excessive workload. We clearly see that the European Union’s embrace of WTO-promoted policies of deregulation of agricultural markets in favour of big agribusiness and the destructive international competition are directly responsible for our plight.

Since the 1980s, various regulations that ensured fair prices for European farmers have been dismantled. The EU put all its faith in free trade agreements, which placed all the world’s farmers in competition with each other, encouraging them to produce at the lowest possible price at the cost of their own incomes and growing debt.

In recent years, however, the EU has announced its intention to move towards a more sustainable agricultural model, notably with the Farm to Fork Strategy, which is the agricultural component of the Green Deal.

Farmers’ organisations welcomed this ambition, but we also stressed that the sustainability of European agriculture could not be improved without breaking away from the logic of international competitiveness. Producing ecologically has huge benefits for the health and the planet, but it costs more for the farmers, and so to achieve the agroecological transition, agricultural markets need to be protected. Unfortunately, we were not heard.

European farmers were therefore faced with an impossible mission: delivering an agroecological transition while producing for the lowest possible price. As a result, differences between farming organisations have clearly resurfaced.
Advertisement

On one side, the big farmers and agribusiness organisations, linked to Copa-Cogeca, want to maintain the neoliberal orientation and have therefore asked for the withdrawal of environmental measures set in the EU’s Green Deal.

On the other side, ECVC and other organisations affirm that the environmental and climate crises are real and serious and that it is vital to give ourselves the means to combat them in order to ensure food sovereignty for the decades to come. For us, it is the neoliberal framework that must be challenged, not environmental regulation.

In particular, we denounce the free trade agreement between the EU has been concluding with various countries and regions. One of them is the deal negotiated with Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay). A final text was drafted in 2019, but it has not been signed or ratified by either side.

If it comes into effect, it would be a disaster for European livestock farmers, as it will lead to increased imports of meat, among other products, from Mercosur countries. This could potentially drive down prices, putting even more economic pressure on already struggling European livestock farmers.

Additionally, the deal could result in the importation of products that do not meet the same strict standards for food safety and environmental sustainability that the EU has embraced.

While we are not against international trade in agricultural products, we advocate for trade to be based on food sovereignty. This means allowing the import and export of agricultural products, but under the condition that it does not harm local food production and the livelihood of small-scale food producers.

Instead of protecting their farmers and helping them transition to agroecology, the EU has chosen to respond to the demands of big farmers and agribusiness organisations by reversing a key provision of the Green Deal: halving the use of pesticides by 2030.

Some European countries have also decided to address this crisis by abolishing environmental measures while maintaining neoliberal policies. France, for example, paused the Ecophyto pesticide reduction plan, while Germany abolished its plan to scrap tax breaks on farming vehicles and watered down legislation to lift subsidies on off-road diesel fuel.

Removing environmental regulations is a very risky choice because it does nothing to permanently solve the essential problem of dwindling farmers’ incomes. So we can be sure that farmers’ protests will continue to escalate in coming years.

All of this is happening at a time when the far right is on the rise across the world. Rather than solving the problems by ensuring a better distribution of income, the far right designates minority populations as scapegoats (migrants, women, LGBTQ, etc) and increases the violent repression of popular movements.
Advertisement

In the Netherlands, farmers’ anger was exploited by the right-wing Farmer-Citizen Movement party (BBB), which leveraged anti-system and anti-ecology rhetoric to secure more votes. As a result, the BBB made significant gains in provincial and national elections, increasing its seats in parliament from one to seven.

With the EU’s incoherent reaction to the farmers’ protests, there is a real risk that this trend will continue in the elections for the European Parliament in June.

The farmers’ unions within ECVC maintain that the real solutions for European farmers are policies to regulate markets and promote food sovereignty, in cooperation with the countries of the South. At a time when capital income is exploding, we, as farmers, are standing with the workers’ unions and the climate movement to demand a fair income for all workers and coherent policies to respond to the global climate emergency.

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

Morgan Ody
Vegetable farmer from Brittany France
Morgan Ody is a vegetable farmer from Brittany, France and General Coordinator of La Via Campesina.

Vincent Delobel
A Walloon goat dairy farmer
Vincent Delobel is a Walloon farmer, is a pioneer of organic goat dairy farming in Tournai, Belgium. He is also a spokesperson for the Belgian farmers' union FUGEA and member of La Via Campesina.

President Emmanuel Macron booed by French farmers at opening of Paris Agricultural Fair

Farmers have been protesting for months across France, including Paris, to demand better living conditions, simpler regulations and better protection against foreign competition they see as unfair

AP/PTI Paris Published 25.02.24

Emmanuel MacronFile picture


French President Emmanuel Macron was greeted with boos and whistles at the opening of the Paris Agricultural Fair on Saturday by angry farmers who blame him for not doing enough to support them.

Macron was scheduled to visit the event, which draws crowds of visitors every year. But before the official opening, several dozen protesters forced their way through security barriers and entered the site as the President was arriving.

Farmers have been protesting for months across France, including Paris, to demand better living conditions, simpler regulations and better protection against foreign competition they see as unfair.

Police in full riot gear were deployed at the Paris Agricultural Fair to prevent them from getting close to Macron, who had a planned meeting with the heads of France’s main farmers’ unions.

Meanwhile, protesters chanted slogans calling for Macron to “resign” and blew whistles to show their anger.

“We won’t be able to respond to the farming crisis in a few hours,” Macron said. “It has taken months, years of work for those who came here to present their cattle, their work...This fair must go well and calmly.”

Three weeks ago, farmers lifted roadblocks around Paris and elsewhere around the country after the government offered more than €400 million in aid and tax breaks. “Anger can be expressed,” Macron said, warning against any “violence”. Macron decided to meet groups of protesters in a separate room. He promised “floor prices” would be established for each product to “guarantee farmers’ income”.


AP/PTI

Young Indian protesters determined to secure agrarian reforms from Modi govt

Protester demands are centred around guaranteed floor prices which will allow farmers to sell produce at fixed rates.

FEB 25, 2024,

SHAMBHU, India - Farmers in India's northern Punjab state demanding higher prices for their crops from the national government are relying on young students to ensure the agitation's momentum does not fizzle out.

Eighteen-year-old Simranjeet Singh Mathada is one of thousands of college students who have been waking up at 3am for almost two weeks to help cook meals at community kitchens, fill tankers with potable water and load tractor trailers with supplies before heading to the protest site some 200km from the capital, New Delhi.

"The protests are now about safeguarding the country's agrarian economy and farmers of Punjab are determined to bring this reform at all costs," said Mr Mathada.

Protester demands are centred around guaranteed floor prices which will allow Mr Mathada's parents and millions of other farmers to sell their produce at fixed rates.

Even as negotiations between farmer unions and government have been under way, protests have sometimes turned violent.

On several occasions, scores of farmers have suffered injuries trying to force their way through concrete blocks and barbed wires installed by police to prevent them from marching on the capital.

Some police officials were also injured in these sporadic clashes.

"Our determination to bring about the change helps face the police every day," said Mr Mathada, who is studying for a degree in Arts.

Mr Mathada and his father have been using swimming goggles and a metal shield to protect themselves from thick clouds of smoke and tear gas shells lobbed via drones by the police.

"It has been a shocking experience to see how the police can use force to stop farmers from marching towards Delhi...it has shown me how democracy can fade so quickly," said Mr Mathada.

Before the protests, Mr Mathada helped his family cultivate crops on their ancestral land and manage a hardware shop.

"For now, the main occupation is to make sure Modi government accepts our demands," he said, adding that attending college lectures has become secondary for him and some of his classmates.

The protests come just months before elections in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party is seeking a third consecutive term.


Last week, Mr Modi said his government is committed to the welfare of farmers and is on a mission to make them entrepreneurs and exporters.

Mr Mathada will be eligible to vote for the first time but is having doubts.

"I think about democracy and feel a bit disillusioned; I may not even cast my vote this time." 

REUTERS

REVANCHIST KULAKS

European farmers challenge green policies, causing economic turmoil

The farmers' protests disrupted daily life across the 27-nation bloc, resulting in transportation delays that cost businesses tens of millions of euros, prompting immediate responses from politicians at both national and EU levels.


A dog sits in a tractor of a French farmer during a protest over pesticide restrictions and other environmental regulations they say are threatening agricultural production, near the Invalides in Paris, France / Photo: Reuters Archive

It was the puddles of green sludge left by the tires of massive tractors in western Belgium’s industrial farmlands that drew the attention of biological engineer Ineke Maes.

The slime was destructive algae, the result of the excess of chemicals used by farmers to boost their crops, but at a high cost to nature.

Maes had hoped the European Union’s environmental policies would start to make a fundamental difference by improving exhausted soils.

In recent weeks, some of those tractors moved off the land and onto the roads, blocking major cities and economic lifelines from Warsaw to Madrid and from Athens to Brussels.

Farmers were demanding the reversal of some of the most progressive measures in the world to counter climate change and protect biodiversity, arguing that the rules were harming their livelihoods and strangling them with red tape.


And the impact has been stunning.

Having own tractors

The farmers' protests affected the daily lives of people across the 27-nation bloc, costing businesses tens of millions of euros in transportation delays.

The disruption triggered knee-jerk reactions from politicians at the national and EU level: they committed to rolling back policies, some of them years in the making, on everything from the use of pesticides to limiting the amount of manure that could be spread on fields.


To environmentalists like Maes, who works for the Belgian Better Environment Federation umbrella group, it would almost be laughable if it were not so depressing.

“In the environmental movement, we joke that we should get tractors ourselves to make a point. Then we would be competing fair and square.

The purpose should be that we get negotiations and that we get a deal through a democratic process — the rules, you know," she said.


Reasoned arguments, she says, have been drowned out by the rumble of tractor engines. And there's no end in sight.

After hundreds of tractors disrupted the EU summit in Brussels early this month at a volume that kept some leaders awake at night, farmers plan to return on Monday.

They intend to be there when agriculture ministers discuss an emergency item on the agenda — the simplification of agricultural rules and a decrease in checks at farms that environmentalists fear could amount to a further weakening of standards.

EU under pressure

The political noise level from the tractors — not to mention the loads of manure dumped outside official buildings — does get through, officials said.

“That puts a bit more pressure on the ministers inside. So I would believe that ministers will be a bit more — insisting to have concrete results,” said a high-level EU official, who asked not to be identified because the meeting has yet to take place.

It is this attitude that drives the environmental lobby and NGOs to distraction: knowing that scientific arguments are too often no match for the rule of the street.

As a result, the EU's flagship Green Deal, that aims to make the continent carbon-neutral by 2050, is under threat.

“You really should not lose that long-term view, that vision of the future when you are working on policy,” said Maes.

“You should not respond to the issues of the day by simply scrapping very important rules that have been seriously discussed, considered, that have been included in environmental impact reports and so on — and that have also been democratically approved in that way.”

Yet ahead of Monday's farm protest and meeting of agriculture ministers, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, for many the most powerful EU politician, insisted that she “remains fully committed to delivering solutions to ease the pressure currently felt by our hard-working farming women and men.”

Von der Leyen's change in emphasis comes ahead of the June 6-9 elections, when a good showing by her Christian Democrat group, the European People's Party, will be key to keeping her at the helm of the all-powerful Commission.


As her party has swayed toward putting farmers and industry first, so has she.

“It is a bit difficult putting a pin on Mrs. von der Leyen,” said Jutta Paulus, a Green member of the European Parliament.

"She started off in 2019 being a climate and environment champion, more or less saying, ‘We don’t need the Greens anymore, we are green ourselves.’ And now she says: ‘Well industry called me and they are worried. So I have to do something.’”
SOURCE: AP

Why Aid Groups Are Warning of New Humanitarian Crisis in Eastern DR Congo

February 25, 2024 
By Associated Press

Residents flee fighting between M23 rebels and Congolese forces

 near Kibumba, some 20 kilometers north of Goma, Democratic

 Republic of Congo, on Oct. 29, 2022.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA —

Aid organizations fear a new humanitarian crisis in the restive eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the armed rebel group M23 is in the midst of a new advance that threatens to cut off a major city and leave millions of people struggling for food and medical help.

Eastern Congo has been beset by conflict for years, with M23 among more than 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich area near the border with Rwanda. Some have been accused of carrying out mass killings.

There's been an upsurge in fighting in recent weeks between M23 rebels and Congo army forces, and it comes as the United Nations plans to withdraw peacekeepers from the region by the end of the year.

Tensions are also rising between Congo and Rwanda, with them blaming each other for supporting various armed groups. Congo accuses Rwanda of backing M23.

This weekend, the U.S. State Department condemned what it called the "worsening violence." A group of aid agencies has estimated that 1 million people have already been displaced by fighting in the last three months.

Who are M23?

The March 23 Movement, or M23, is a rebel military group mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis that broke away from the Congolese army just over a decade ago. They staged a large offensive in 2012 and took over the provincial capital of Goma near the border with Rwanda, the same city they are threatening again.

The conflict has regional complications, with neighboring Rwanda also accused by the U.S. and U.N. experts of giving military aid to M23. Rwanda denies that but effectively admitted on Monday that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo. Rwanda said that is to safeguard its own security because of what it claims is a buildup of Congo army forces near the border. Rwanda has rejected calls from the U.S. to withdraw.

There are also ties to the Rwandan genocide of 30 years ago, with M23 and Rwanda saying separately that they are fighting a threat from a Congolese rebel group that is connected to the Congo army and partly made up of ethnic Hutus who were perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.

M23 rebels load a pickup truck in Kibumba, in the eastern of Democratic Republic of Congo, Dec. 23, 2022.

Congo-Rwanda tensions

Relations between Congo and its eastern neighbor have been fraught for decades. Hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees had fled to Congo, then Zaire, in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Among them were soldiers and militiamen responsible for the slaughter of 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Two years after the genocide, Rwanda and Uganda invaded eastern Congo to try and root out what remained of those genocide perpetrators, which led to the toppling of then Congo President Mobutu Sese Seko.

Tensions between Congo and Rwanda escalated in 2021 with the resurgence of M23 attacks on Congolese soldiers after nearly a decade of relative inactivity due to a 2013 peace deal. The presence of so many armed groups is believed to be connected to illegal mining, with eastern Congo rich in gold and other minerals.

What's happened in recent weeks?

M23 launched new attacks late last year and has ramped them up in recent weeks. The group is now threatening to take the key town of Sake, about 27 kilometersmwest of Goma. That could cause food and aid supplies to be cut off from Goma, which had a population of around 600,000 a few years ago, but now holds more than 2 million people, according to aid agencies, as people flee violence in surrounding towns and villages.

The advance of rebels on Sake "poses an imminent threat to the entire aid system" in eastern Congo, the Norwegian Refugee Council said. It said 135,000 people were displaced in just five days in early February.

The violence has also sparked protests from the capital, Kinshasa, to Goma, with angry demonstrators saying the international community is not doing enough to push back against M23 and not taking a hard enough stance against Rwanda.

What's at stake?

The new fighting could lead to an escalation of regional tensions and involve more countries. As the U.N. winds down its 25-year peacekeeping mission in eastern Congo, a multi-national force under the southern African regional bloc is set to step in. That force will include soldiers from regional power South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania. They will help the Congo army forces, but it might put them in direct conflict with Rwanda.

There's also the humanitarian cost. The International NGO Forum in Congo, a group of non-governmental organizations working in the region, said the escalation in fighting has involved artillery attacks on civilian settlements, causing a heavy toll and forcing many health and aid workers to withdraw.

Eastern Congo already had one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with nearly 6 million people previously displaced because of conflict, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency.

There are concerns a new disaster could largely go unnoticed because of the attention on the war in Gaza and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

South Korean trainee doctors' protest to intensify as new graduates refuse to take internships

Hospitals in South Korea grapple with disruptions as trainee doctors stop work for 6th day

25.02.2024 -


ANKARA

An ongoing walkout protest by South Korean trainee doctors that has already taken a toll on the country's healthcare system, is expected to intensify as fresh medical graduates reportedly refused to take internships, local media reported on Sunday.

The move to join the large-scale protest against the government's plan to boost the number of medical students is likely to add to the already increasing pressure on the government, the Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.

Some 188 intern candidates at Chonnam National University Hospital, Jeju National University Hospital, Pusan National University Hospital, and Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital have declined internships.

Hospitals across South Korea continued to grapple with disruptions to their daily operations on Sunday, as a large-scale walkout by trainee doctors entered its sixth consecutive day.

The protests began on Tuesday in the Far East nation after thousands of junior doctors, including trainee medics, filed mass resignations against the government's plan to admit 2,000 more students to medical schools next year.

Currently, South Korea admits 3,058 students for medical studies.

All major hospitals have been experiencing delays in their operating schedules, which has prompted even patients in critical condition to seek care at smaller medical facilities.

Some hospitals adjusted their intensive care unit schedules from three shifts to two because of the shortage of on-duty doctors.

The government has also extended health care hours, among other measures, to "minimize the impact of the move on the health and lives of the people."

The government claims that the planned increase in the number of medical students is necessary to address a “shortage” of doctors, particularly in rural areas and essential medical fields, particularly high-risk surgeries, pediatrics, obstetrics, and emergency medicine.

Doctors, however, demand that the government rather focus on improving compensation to induce more physicians to practice in such unpopular areas.

In a related development, the Korean Medical Association, a nationwide lobbying group of doctors, plans to convene a meeting later Sunday to discuss their course of action.

Hospitals in South Korea grapple with disruptions as trainee doctors stop work for 6th day

Doctors protest against government's plan to admit 2,000 more students to medical schools next year

25.02.2024 - 


ANKARA

Hospitals across South Korea continued to grapple with disruptions to their daily operations on Sunday, as a large-scale walkout by trainee doctors entered its sixth consecutive day, local media reported.

The protests began on Tuesday last in the Far East nation after thousands of junior doctors, including trainee medics, filed mass resignations against the government's plan to admit 2,000 more students to medical schools next year.

Currently, South Korea admits 3,058 students for medical studies.

All major hospitals have been experiencing delays in their operating schedules, which has prompted even patients in critical condition to seek care at smaller medical facilities, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.

Some hospitals adjusted their intensive care unit schedules from three shifts to two because of the shortage of on-duty doctors.

The government has also extended health care hours, among other measures, to "minimize the impact of the move on the health and lives of the people."

The government claims that the planned increase in the number of medical students is necessary to address a “shortage” of doctors, particularly in rural areas and essential medical fields, particularly high-risk surgeries, pediatrics, obstetrics and emergency medicine.

Doctors, however, demand that the government rather focus on improving compensation to induce more physicians to practice in such unpopular areas.

In a related development, the Korean Medical Association, a nationwide lobbying group of doctors, plans to convene a meeting later Sunday to discuss their course of action.

South Korea junior doctors’ walkout enters fifth day; health services affected

By Newsroom Odisha Network 

On Feb 24, 2024


Seoul: Health services were affected in South Korea as thousands of trainee doctors remained off their jobs for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday to protest against the government’s plan to raise the medical school enrollment quota.

According to the health ministry, till Thursday night, 8,897, or 78.5 per cent, of the 13,000 trainee doctors from 96 major teaching hospitals in Seoul and elsewhere have submitted their resignations, with 7,863 of them not reporting for work, Yonhap news agency reported.

Chungnam National University Hospital on Saturday turned away some patients seeking emergency care due to a limited number of available physicians to handle urgent cases, such as cardiac arrest.

The government has also advised patients with mild symptoms to utilise nearby clinics instead of general hospitals.

Doctors and medical students have voiced opposition to the government’s plan to admit 2,000 more students to medical schools next year from the current 3,058 seats to address a shortage of doctors.

Despite authorities repeatedly warning of police investigations or even arrests of physicians participating in the walkout in the case of patient deaths, the Korean Medical Association has large-scale rallies planned to be held in Seoul on Sunday and March 3.

–IANS

South Korea health alert raised to 'severe' over doctors walkout

AA International Desk


South Korea raised its health alert to the highest level on Friday after a mass walkout by trainee doctors this week, while the prime minister said public hospitals would extend working hours to respond to growing strains on the medical system.

Almost two-thirds of the country's young doctors have walked off the job to protest a government plan to admit more students to medical schools, forcing hospitals to turn away patients and cancel procedures, and raising fears about further disruption to the medical system should the dispute drag on, Reuters reports.

"The operation of public medical institutions will be raised to the maximum level," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said at the opening of a disaster management meeting.

Public hospitals will extend operating hours and will also open on weekends and holidays, he said.
So far, more than 8,400 doctors have joined the walkout, the health ministry said, equivalent to about 64 percent of the entire number of resident and intern doctors in South Korea.

While they represent a far smaller fraction of the country's 100,000 doctors overall, trainee doctors make up a big portion of the staff at teaching hospitals, more than 40 percent in some cases, and play a key role in the daily operations.

Their role is especially pronounced in emergency rooms, intensive care units and operating rooms at the large hospitals, which are visited by patients referred to them by secondary hospitals and private practice clinics. Larger hospitals rely excessively on trainee doctors in part for cost reasons.
The growing pressure on hospitals prompted the government to raise its health alert to "severe" from "cautious" as of Friday.

Emergency departments in South Korea's biggest hospitals have been squeezed since trainee doctors began leaving the job this week in protest at the government plan.

The doctors taking part in the protest say the real issue is pay and working conditions, not the number of physicians.

Senior doctors and members of the Korean Medical Association, which represents physicians in private practice, have not joined the trainee doctors in the walkout but held rallies demanding the government scrap its plan.

A large rally is expected in Seoul on Sunday.

The prime minister again pleaded with young doctors to not make the wrong choice that would forever tarnish the sacrifice and dedication they showed during the COVID-19 pandemic that had earned them the respect of the public.

He also called on the medical community to stop "pushing young doctors" and said the government is always open to dialogue.

Many Koreans support the government's plan to increase medical school admissions, with a recent Gallup Korea poll showing about 76 percent of respondents in favour, regardless of political affiliation.

Hospitals experience disruptions on extended doctors' walkout

 2024-02-25 

A patient is transported to the emergency room at Chungnam National University Hospital, Feb. 24, amid a walkout by trainee doctors protesting the government's plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota. Yonhap

Major hospitals across the country continued to experience disruptions Saturday as thousands of trainee doctors remained off their jobs for the fifth consecutive day in protest against the government's plan to raise the medical school enrollment quota.

Nearly 100 general hospitals have canceled or postponed nonessential procedures and turned away non-emergency patients, prioritizing service for severe emergency cases to minimize the growing strain on the medical system.

As of Thursday night, 8,897, or 78.5 percent, of the 13,000 trainee doctors from 96 major teaching hospitals in Seoul and elsewhere have submitted their resignations, with 7,863 of them not reporting for work, according to the health ministry.

More junior doctors are expected to join the protest, raising concerns as they play a vital role in assisting with surgeries and emergency services.

One hospital, Chungnam National University Hospital, located in the central city of Daejeon, turned away some patients seeking emergency care Saturday due to a limited number of available physicians to handle urgent cases, such as cardiac arrest.

"A grandmother came to the emergency room alone this morning, but (the hospital) says it can only accommodate critical patients, making treatment impossible," said a paramedic, noting that the patient would be transported to a smaller hospital nearby.

Hospitals have struggled to maintain their operations by enlisting the help of doctors in fellowship programs, professors and nurses to fill the void.

Since raising its four-scale health care service crisis gauge to the highest level of "serious" from "cautious," the government has also advised patients with mild symptoms to utilize nearby clinics instead of general hospitals.

Furthermore, the government has temporarily extended telemedicine services, such as consultations and prescriptions, at all hospitals and clinics until the end of the walkout.



A notice at the entrance of the emergency room inside Chungnam National University Hospital, Feb. 24, informs people that the hospital is being operated in an emergency mode due to the absence of many trainee doctors. Yonhap

The telemedicine services had been partially available since 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic under strict regulations.

Imminent expiration of striking junior doctors' contracts fuels concerns
2024-02-23 

Additionally, military hospitals nationwide have fully opened their emergency rooms to the public since Tuesday to address public health concerns over emergency services.

According to the defense ministry, a total of 32 civilians had received treatment at military hospitals as of noon Saturday.

Doctors and medical students have voiced opposition to the government's plan to admit 2,000 more students to medical schools next year from the current 3,058 seats to address a shortage of doctors.

The government plans to remedy a shortfall of 15,000 physicians expected by 2035.

The Korean Medical Association (KMA), a main lobby group for doctors, argues that there are already sufficient physicians and that simply increasing the quota of medical students would lead to unnecessary medical costs.

Furthermore, the KMA argues that the plan fails to address issues, such as overburdening and the lack of incentives for doctors who specialize in essential health care services, including pediatrics, obstetrics and emergency medicine.

In contrast, the government said that the country should begin training more new doctors to address the challenges posed by a rapidly aging society, citing examples of other major developed countries facing shortages of physicians.

The number of doctors in South Korea relative to the size of the population is among the lowest in the developed world, according to health authorities.

Despite authorities repeatedly warning of police investigations or even arrests of physicians participating in the walkout in the case of patient deaths, the KMA plans to hold large-scale rallies in Seoul on Sunday and March 3.

In a statement released late Saturday, the Medical Professors Association of Korea said it will make utmost efforts to help resolve the current medical crisis and serve as arbitrator in the disputes between the government and the doctors' group for a breakthrough.

On Friday, the government raised its health alert to "severe" from "cautious" after emergency departments at major hospitals have been squeezed since the walkout began Tuesday.

Early this week, President Yoon Suk Yeol said the government won't surrender to the doctors' collective action this time as it did in 2014 and 2020, when it failed to adopt telemedicine services and to increase the medical school enrollment quota, respectively.

A recent Gallop Korea poll shows about 76 percent of respondents were in favor of the government's plan, regardless of political affiliation.

 (Yonhap)

3 Myanmar brigadier-generals sentenced to death for surrendering town: Military sources

A sentry from an ethnic armed group fighting Myanmar’s ruling junta stands guard in a town in northern Shan state. 

PHOTO: AFP

UPDATED
FEB 19, 2024,

YANGON – Myanmar’s junta has sentenced to death three brigadier-generals who surrendered with hundreds of troops and handed over a strategic town on the Chinese border to ethnic minority fighters in January, military sources said on Feb 19.

Hundreds of soldiers put down their weapons and handed over the town of Laukkai in Shan state to the so-called Three Brotherhood Alliance after months of fighting that saw the military lose swathes of territory.

The surrender was one of the biggest single losses for the military in decades, and sparked further criticism of the junta leadership by its supporters.

After the surrender, the officers and their troops were allowed by the alliance to leave the area.

“Three brigadier-generals, including the commander of Laukkai town, were given the death sentence,” a military source told Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorised to talk to the media.

Another military source confirmed the sentencing.

Three other brigadier-generals were given life sentences for their role in the surrender of Laukkai, the two sources said.

Laukkai is the largest town seized by the Three Brotherhood Alliance – made up of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Arakan Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army.

The alliance launched a surprise offensive across a swathe of northern Myanmar in late October and has seized several towns and lucrative trade hubs along the border with China.

Sex, drugs and scams

Current junta chief Min Aung Hlaing made a name for himself in 2009 when, as a regional commander, he expelled the MNDAA from Laukkai.

The army then installed a militia that enriched itself by producing drugs and selling gambling and sex to visitors from across the Chinese border.

Laukkai later became notorious for online scam operations in which thousands of Chinese and other foreign nationals – many of them trafficked and working under duress – defraud their compatriots over the Internet.

A source close to the MNDAA recently said the group was working to install a new administration in the town, without giving details.

Analysts say the onslaught has put the embattled junta in its most vulnerable position since it seized power.

It announced in February that it would begin conscripting young men and women into its ranks due to the “current situation”.

No details have been given about how those called up would be expected to serve, but many young people are not keen to wait and find out.

Last week, local media images showed hundreds of people queueing outside the passport office in Mandalay.

And in commercial hub Yangon, thousands of young men and women queued outside the Thai embassy seeking visas to get out of Myanmar last week. AFP

POSTMODERN NEO COLONIALISM

Under new general, Russia’s Wagner makes deeper inroads into Libya

Using a new avatar of the paramilitary group, Putin is strengthening Russia’s presence in the North African country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) welcomes General Khalifa Haftar (L), commander in the Libyan National Army (LNA), during a meeting in Moscow, Russia [FILE: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters]

By Simon Speakman Cordall
Published On 25 Feb 2024

With the gaze of much of the world fixed on the carnage unfolding in Gaza, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin continues to expand his country’s reach in Africa.

Russia, in the form of the private military contractor (PMC) Wagner, has been a growing presence in Libya since at least 2018, when the group was first reported to be training troops under renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar, leader of the Libyan National Army, forces belonging to the eastern of the country’s two parliaments.

But, following the death of Wagner’s founder and former Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, after his failed coup in Russia last year, the fate of the paramilitary force in Libya and Africa seemed uncertain.

Russia operates several PMCs. However, none is said to be as close to the Kremlin or to have been deployed as extensively as that founded by Prigozhin. At little cost to the Kremlin, Wagner has gained Russia financial, military and political influence across swaths of Libya and Africa.

Given the stakes, the Kremlin was never likely to disband Wagner, despite its active rebellion last year. Instead, following Prigozhin’s much-predicted demise, his commercial and military interests were divided between Russia’s various intelligence services, a report by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) released this week claims.

Like other PMCs, like the United States’ Constellis (formerly Blackwater), Wagner allowed its government to operate in overseas conflicts at arm’s length: projecting power while maintaining a degree of deniability. That distance also allows PMCs to operate outside the typical bounds of state warfare, engaging in campaigns of terror and disinformation in a way that conventional forces cannot.

Command of Wagner’s overseas presence has been assigned to Russia’s military intelligence (GRU), specifically General Andrei Averyanov. Through a series of intermediate PMCs like Convoy, established in Russian-occupied Crimea in 2022, and Redut, active in Ukraine, but established in 2008 to protect Russian commercial interests, maintaining legal deniability, Wagner’s Ukrainian operation is being retitled the Volunteer Corps, with other operations becoming the Expeditionary Corps.

That its ambition remained undimmed was evidenced by its initial instruction to build a fighting force across Africa of some 40,000 contractors – since reduced to 20,000 but far larger than its current footprint.

Some measure of General Averyanov’s intent can perhaps be gained from looking at past command of Unit 29155, the wing of Russian military intelligence reported to be responsible for overseeing foreign assassinations and destabilising European countries.
African dreams

Africa, one of the richest continents in terms of minerals and energy, is undergoing a “youth boom” that stands to change the demographics of the world.

Within Africa, Libya boasts the largest oil reserves and gold deposits estimated to rank among the world’s top 50. In addition, its geographic location, linking Niger, Chad and Sudan to North Africa and Europe, makes it of vital strategic importance.

Already Averyanov has been busy, travelling to meet with Field Marshall Haftar in September of last year, followed by trips to Mali, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Niger.

In all cases, the offer was largely the same: resources for security.

Only in Libya did that rubric break. Russia’s lucrative oil extraction plants operate under the auspices of Libya’s other, internationally recognised government in Tripoli, meaning Haftar and his allies, claimed by the US Department of Defence to include the United Arab Emirates, would have to pay for the Expeditionary Corps’ deployment themselves.

“Haftar needs Wagner,” Tarek Megerisi, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations said, using the better-known name for the group. “Furthermore, while he’s hosting them in Libya, [Wagner] can use its position to prop up operations in Syria, Sudan and elsewhere.

“It’s a network,” he continued, citing reports. “It’s not just military support, either. They’re using their position in eastern Libya to transport [illegal narcotic] Captagon from Syria, shift gold to evade sanctions, as well as help traffic migrants from southern Africa and as far away as Bangladesh.

“Libya is a hugely profitable area for Wagner,” he said.

Presence

By current estimates, the Expeditionary Corps is thought to have some 800 contractors deployed in Libya, with a further 4,600 dispersed across sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to its fighters, the Expeditionary Corps maintains three air bases – one in the oil basin of Sirte, one in al-Jufra in the interior, and one in Brak al-Shati – which analysts say allows both groups, (Haftar’s Libyan National Army and the PMC) to move goods between allies in Sudan and other sub-Saharan locations.

In addition to its presence on the ground, talks are under way to give Russian warships docking rights at the port of Tobruk in exchange for air defence systems and training for LNA pilots.

“The Central and Eastern Mediterranean is an incredibly important area for Europe and, by extension, NATO,” Ivan Klyszcz, an authority on Russian foreign policy at the International Centre for Defence and Security at Tallinn, said. “Russia already has a Mediterranean port at Tartous in Syria, a port at Tobruk would deepen that presence and potentially bring them into competition with Europe, not least the British, who maintain a large naval presence at Cyprus.”

That the Expeditionary Corps could increase its footfall to 20,000, referenced in the RUSI report and widely discussed by military bloggers, already appears to be within sight.

“That doesn’t sound unachievable, if you consider where they are now,” Jalel Harchaoui of RUSI said. “After all, we’re not talking about purely Russian recruitment, so much as ongoing recruitment across Africa,” he said, recalling Wagner’s transplanting of fighters from Syria to Libya in 2020.

“Eventually, what we may be seeing is a PMC where local troops from one African state can be deployed to another, where they’ll be free to operate to whatever rules they see fit. For instance, in one state, it could simply be a case of providing security to a head of government or a facility. In another, they may be called upon to resort to rape, torture and anti-personnel mines.

“The business model allows them to accomplish all of this, to build alliances … at little cost to what is, at the end of the day, Russia’s relatively small economy,” he said.
End game

However, while a significant player, Wagner is far from alone in a shifting and occasionally crowded Libyan battleground. In addition to the Tripoli-allied militias are the Turkish forces who allied with local commanders to counter and repel the Wagner-backed Haftar, when he attempted to take and hold the capital in 2020 and end the political deadlock in his favour.

Moreover, with Russia’s extensive investment in Libyan energy protected and governed by the Turks’ allies in Tripoli, there are no guarantees that Moscow’s alliance with Haftar may not also fall victim to the cold pragmatism that has been constant amid the chaos in Libya since its revolution.

“There is nothing to suggest that Russia is pledged to Haftar,” Klyszcz continued, “Haftar is important because of where he is, not who he is. It’s as much a marriage of convenience as it is anything else,” he said.

“Likewise with Turkey. There is nothing to suggest that the PMC can’t cooperate with Turkey, as they have in other parts of the world.

“You need to remember that Russia is engaged upon a global strategy with regional implications,” Klszcz said. “Putin’s intention is to create a multipolar world, with India and China all exerting power, rather than just the West as we have at present,” he said.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Türkiye to make statement at ICJ on legal consequences of Israeli acts in occupied Palestinian land

Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz to make oral statement at International Court of Justice on Monday

Merve Berker | 25.02.2024



ANKARA

Türkiye’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz will make on Monday an oral statement at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) during a hearing on the legal consequences of Israeli actions in occupied Palestinian land.

The public hearings started last Monday in The Hague following the UN General Assembly's request for an advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from policies and the practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

More than 50 countries are presenting arguments.

“At the end of this process, legal findings regarding the oppression of Palestinians will be presented,” Oncu Keceli, the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on X.

The ICJ had announced the calendar of oral presentations in the advisory opinion to be given on the legal consequences of Israel's acts in the Palestinian territories it has occupied, including East Jerusalem.

Accordingly, 52 states, including Türkiye, as well as the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the African Union, have begun to make 30-minute oral presentations on Feb. 19, starting with Palestine on the very first day, and will continue to do so until Feb. 26, which will be concluded with the Maldives on the afternoon.


Advisory opinions not binding

The main duties of the ICJ include resolving legal disputes that arise between states in line with international law and providing advisory opinions on legal issues referred to it.

The UN court, at the request of the UN General Assembly, will issue a non-binding advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's policies and acts in occupied Palestine on this issue.

The public hearings of the court at the Hague Peace Palace are broadcast live.

This is the first time such a large number of states made written and oral statements to an advisory opinion before the court, while Israel, which made written statements, did not take part in the oral hearings.

The ICJ’s advisory opinion is not related to a disputed case between two states, unlike the case filed by South Africa at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel for violation of the Genocide Convention, but only Israel.

It contains the world court’s non-binding legal opinion on the legal liability of Israel's occupation of Palestine.

World court opinion

In its resolution dated Dec. 30, 2022, the Special Political and Decolonization Committee of the UN General Assembly asked: "What are the legal consequences arising from Israel's continuous violation of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territories it has occupied since 1967, including measures to change the demographic structure, character and status of Jerusalem, and its adoption of relevant discriminatory legislation and measures?"

The second question that the ICJ was asked to provide an advisory opinion on was: "How do the above-mentioned Israeli policies and actions affect the legal status of the occupation and what are the legal consequences of this status for all states and the UN?"

Countries and international institutions, including Türkiye, submitted written statements to the court giving their views on the questions on which advisory opinions would be given.

Headquartered in The Hague, the administrative capital of the Netherlands, the ICJ hears contentious cases between multiple states, as well as gives non-binding advisory opinions on questions posed by UN bodies and other special institutions.

In an advisory opinion in 2004, the court said the wall built by Israel on the occupied territories of Palestine violates international law.

Genocide case

South Africa brought a genocide case against Israel to the ICJ in late December and asked it to grant emergency measures to end the bloodshed in Gaza, where more than 29,600 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7.

The court also ordered Israel to take "immediate and effective" measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip but fell short of ordering a cease-fire.

The UN court on Jan. 26 found South Africa's claim that Israel is committing genocide plausible. The court issued an interim order urging Israel to stop obstructing aid deliveries into Gaza and to improve the humanitarian situation.

The statement said an international team was formed to follow Israeli crimes committed in Gaza.

Despite the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip, where at least 29,600 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 69,737 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Less than 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.