From Ancient Sumer to Kurdistan of Iraq

Updated: April 11, 2024

Author Sheri Laizer
Exclusive to Ekurd.net



Impressions made from Sumerian cylinder seal (and section of the seal itself far left) with: 4.2 x 2.5cm (seal). Photo: Courtesy of the Yale Babylonian Collection. Photography by Klaus Wagensonner (seal) and Graham S. Haber (impression). [1]Sheri Laizer | 



Ziggurats – The Meeting Place of Humanity with the Cosmos

To get behind the three major monotheistic religions and tap the mindset of the earliest civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia I felt that I had to be there –both mentally, and if possible, physically. In 1982, a year into my intense research into ancient Sumerian culture, Iraq was entering her second year of war against fundamentalist Iran. Hours spent using my reader’s card for the British Library, that was still then part of the British Museum gave me access to Sumerian art, literature, and the Sumerian cosmos but I wanted to go to Iraq.

The personnel of the Iraqi Embassy, and the Iraqi Cultural Centre were also most hospitable and encouraging of my ‘Ziggurats’ [2] book endeavour to revive what it was like to live there around 2300 BC. At the time, Saddam Hussein’s government was producing high quality publications in English like Ur Magazine.

When I began my research, let us remember that there was as yet no Internet, no Smart Phones, no instant online searches. Work was done through reading whatever published texts were available and examining artefacts. I typed my book, Ziggurats on a golf ball typewriter. Corrections were made with Tipex or white corrector ribbon on a spool. Communications for official purposes, like following up on the progress of visa applications went off by telex.

Ziggurats, a book by Sheri Laizer.

My requests made in this way to Baghdad in 1982 did not produce a reply despite the assistance of the Iraqi Cultural Centre or therefore the longed-for visa because of the war with Iran. I decided in view of that to carry out my physical placement in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It was an excellent choice. On the west bank of the Nile, I stayed in a very simple hotel for two Egyptian pounds a day. I read the books I had lugged there with me surrounded by palm trees and village culture and slowly wrote the book. It seemed obscure to people at the time and I set it aside, getting caught up in modern politics in the Middle East after moving north from Egypt to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to escape the increasing heat of southern Egypt. From there, I went on to Turkey and travelled in Turkish Kurdistan with Kurds I met there and later, in London. This led to my books on Kurdistan and a number of books and articles translated with Kurdish writers. Still, ‘Ziggurats’ laid on one side untouched in its original typed ms.

I had made three photocopies of the typed ms. of Ziggurats, held together by comb binding. One copy had gone to the Iraqi Cultural Attaché, another went to Peter Gabriel with whom I shared all my work, and the final was kept safe with the original ms. at home in Battersea, south London. Of all the things I have lost in the intervening decades, fortunately I did not lose that manuscript.

Ultimately, I obtained a tourist visa to Iraq a year after the ceasefire was signed between Iraq and Iran in October 1989 on a government sponsored tour aimed at showcasing reconstruction. An international group of journalists, we were taken to the ancient site of Babylon, the devastated south of Basra and Faw, to Kirkuk, Mosul, Erbil, Amadiya and Sulaymaniya as well as the historic sites of Baghdad like the inspiring split-onion dome Martyrs monument. My visa had been granted because of my Sumerian work – my Kurdish association naturally remained in the shadows.

In October 1989, therefore I at last inhaled the scents of Mesopotamia and felt that I had come home. I knew it so well from the work I had been doing. I had come to understand the Sumerian gods to represent the natural forces and astral bodies evoked by the Sumerian cosmologists, kings, artists and poets in an age when female deities were equal to men. Enheduanna, the high priestess of Ur was the first female author recorded back in the 23rd century BCE. [3]

In this way, the setting for my narrative, Ziggurats, paid homage to the ancient human mind – an enlightened culture that brought written language, law, art and science into human time. It was also that research that led me to political Kurdistan.

Human time and the study of the cosmos

In ancient Mesopotamia, along with the Sun, the Moon, the stars, and heavenly constellations, the five visible planets were recognised and studied by the priests and dignitaries of the temples and palaces. The texts intertwined astronomical, astrological, and religious aspects concerning the Moon and the planets into an overall organic astral body of knowledge. Astrology and celestial divination developed into firm lore. The Moon, the Sun, and the planets were interpreted as manifestations of divinities.

The Mesopotamians also developed a calendar from around 3000 BCE divided into years and months, evidence that they studied the Moon from the earliest times. The Sumerian and Akkadian names for the Moon god, Nanna/Sin, appear in cuneiform since approximately 2500 BCE. Akkadian names for the five planets, Mercury (Šiḫṭu), Venus (Dilbat), Mars (Ṣalbatānu), Jupiter (the White Star), and Saturn (Kayyāmānu), first appear in tablet texts from around 1800–1000 BCE when the phenomena of the Moon, the Sun, and the planets were interpreted as signs by the gods to communicate with human beings. Later Babylonian scholars between ca. 600-100 BCE reported lunar and planetary phenomena in astronomical records and ephemeris form in order facilitate predictions with time-based methods still in use by astrologers today. After the end of the 5th century BCE, Babylonian astronomers introduced the zodiac and developed new methods for predicting lunar and planetary phenomena known as mathematical astronomy. They developed horoscopy and other forms of astrology that use the zodiac, the Moon, the Sun, and the planets to predict events on Earth. [4]

They also discovered the 360-degree circle and devised the sixty-minute hour, additionally using a water measure of periods of double-hours…

Sumerian records of Erbil

The city of Erbil (Urbi-Lum) grew up on the flat Erbil plain and is mentioned in Sumerian sacred writings under the name of Urbi-Lum (Urbilum) or Arbilum, and Orbelum, followed by successive variants. The modern name أربيل Erbil is derived from Arba-Illu, with alterative renderings as Arbailu, Arabales, Arbira, Urbel, Arbail, Arbira, Arbela, Erbil/Arbil. The name Urbi-Lum was adduced by the Sumerian King Shulgi of the third dynasty (2000 BCE).

UNESCO has noted: “Written and iconographic historical records document the antiquity of settlement on the site…since pre-Sumerian times in several written sources. Archaeological finds and investigations suggest that the mound conceals the levels and remains of several layers of previous settlements, while the immediate and wider setting has revealed traces connected to the early development…It preserves over thirty metres of archaeological deposits going back to the very early beginnings of urbanisation in Mesopotamia. [6]

Erbil: Veneration of the goddess of love and war, Innana/ Ishtar

The Temple of Ishtar (Sumerian Inanna) that completed the top level of the sacred man-made hill that became the citadel in Erbil was typical of the sacred Sumerian sites within city centres. From around 3000 BCE, Urbi-Lum had come under Sumerian rule enduring until the rise of the Akkadian Empire (2335–2154 BC), in which the Sumerians and Akkadians, who spoke a Semitic language became one nation. [7]



Named as the Stele of Ishtar parading upon a lion from the Neo-Assyrian period 8th century BCE. (Louvre) from Tell Amar in the Erbil plain. Photo: Louvre.fr [8]Erbil was captured in 2150 BCE, by the Gutian King of Sumer, Erridu-Pizir. [9] King Shulgi subsequently sacked it during his 43rd year on the throne [10], and his Neo-Sumerian successor, Amar-Sin, sacked it anew and incorporated it into the greater Ur III state. [11]



By the 18th century BCE, Erbil features in a list of cities taken over in conquest by Shamshi-Adad of Upper Mesopotamia and Dadusha of Eshnunna [12] during their campaign against the land of Qabra. Now, Qabra is believed to be the site just south of today’s Erbil city called Kurd-Qaburstan, dating back to the Bronze Age a 118-hectare site with an 11-hectare central mound 17 metres high surrounded by an 84-hectare walled town lower down. The site is located at an important point midway between the Upper and Lower Zab rivers, and sits near a pass traversing the hills between Makhmur and Erbil, near to where, of current interest, the terror group, ISIS, has been regrouping since being expelled from Mosul late in 2017. The defeat and capture of Qabra by the two kings mentioned above are recorded on two stone steles, one retained by the Iraq Museum in Baghdad and the other still held in the Louvre. [13]


View from the lower town of Kurd-Qaburstan situated to the west of the mound. Photo: krieger.jhu.edu [14]

Shamshi-Adad installed garrisons in all the cities of greater Urbi-lum. During the 2nd millennium BCE, Erbil became incorporated into the Assyrian Kingdom from where its military forces embarked on their campaigns of conquest eastwards. [15]

A most intriguing letter on the dying Sumerian language and its use in ancient Erbil at the Qabra (Kurd-Qaburstan) site written to the King of Mari, Yasmah-Addu (1795-1776 BCE) has come down to us today:

“You wrote me to send you a man who deciphers the Sumerian in these terms: “Take for me a man who deciphers the Sumerian and speaks Amorite”. Who deciphers Sumerian and lives close to me? Well, should I send to you Šu-Ea who deciphers the Sumerian? […] Iškur-zi-kalama deciphers the Sumerian, but he holds a position in the administration. Should he leave and come to your house? Nanna-palil deciphers the Sumerian, but I must send him to Qabra). You wrote me this: “May someone send me a man from Rapiqum who can decipher the Sumerian!” There is no one here who reads Sumerian!” [16]

For centuries thereafter Sumerian was lost. Now, huge strides in deciphering the cuneiform texts in which Sumerian was written have been made and their content revealed to modernity.

Middle Assyrian Empire (1365 – 1077 BCE)

The Assyrians used the name arba’ū ilū (Arba-Illu), meaning ‘four gods’ according to Assyrian etymology and the oral tradition. Ishtar (Sumerian Inanna) remained one of the most important in the region under the Assyrians along with Assur, their patron god, whilst the identities of the remaining two gods are not now known. Under Assyrian King, Shalmaneser I (in power between 1273 – 1244 BCE) Erbil was an important provincial capital and a safe and secure part of the Middle Assyrian Empire.

King Shalmaneser I, boasted, “I built the Egašankalamma, the temple of Ishtar, the Lady of Arbil, my Lady, together with its ziggurat.“ [17]

The Kurdish name for Erbil is Hewlêr, which is believed to derive from the ancient Greek meaning “Temple of the Sun” from the Greek helio and may be associated with the Kurdish sun-worshipping religions, Mithraism, Zoroastrianism and of the Yazidi beliefs.

From the many sherds of pottery discovered on Erbil’s mound, or ancient tell, archaeologists believe Erbil was probably occupied since Neolithic times and certainly during the Copper Age (Chalcolithic or Eneolithic period), because fragments found there resemble the earthenware uncovered in the Jazira and in Anatolia from both the Ubaid and Uruk periods.

Erbil’s citadel site is believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world.

What is visible of Erbil city’s mound and citadel today is of much later date. The ziggurat and temple of Ishtar lie as dust beneath the Ottoman Turkish fortified settlement constructed in a sequence of alleys and cul-de-sacs that fan outwards from the Great Gate. A line forming a wall of tall 19th century house-fronts and habitations made of clay brickwork evoke the former grandeur of the fortress that dominated the city below. The elegant residential structures dating from the 18th – 20th centuries are being reconstructed and preserved by UNESCO with the co-operation of the Kurdish authorities. [18]

Dur Kurigalzu – the site northwest of Baghdad known today as Aqar Quf

(dedicated toEnlil- the Sumerian god of Enlightenment, storm and wind who decreed the fates)

The author, Sheri Laizer, gets to visit the ziggurat at Dur Kurigalzu in 2021 after many visits to the Erbil citadel. Photo: Sheri Laizer/via Ekurd.net

Dur Kurigalzu is a Kassite site and a significant part of its ziggurat remains visible. Dur is Akkadian, and means ‘fortress’, so it is the fortress of King Kurigalzu (now known as Aqar Quf). The ziggurat temple and surrounding city ruins lie some 30 kms northwest of Baghdad on the site of ancient Parsa dating back to the 14th-15th century BCE and the Kassite Kingdom of Kurigalzu I (1400 -1375 BCE) who from his seat there ruled over all Mesopotamia.

It is believed that the Kassites arrived in Mesopotamia from the Zagros mountains. They then rebuilt the cities of Nippur, Larsa, Susa and Sippar. The ziggurat at Aqar Quf was restored to its first level by President Saddam Hussein. Since regime change was imposed by the US-led invasion in the spring of 2003, Dur Kurigalzu has been neglected like the ancient Persian arch of Ctesiphon and the sprawling ruins Babylon that I also visited. Once highly frequented by locals and tourists, the sites are now the domain of stray dogs and bored military guards.

King Kurigalzu I’s impressive capital was later taken over by the Assyrian Kings. In the 1940s, Seton Lloyd and Taha Baqir led an Iraqi-British team at the site and discovered some hundred clay tablets as well as the fragments of a statue decorated with texts in Sumerian representing King Kurigalzu I. The dig also exposed the ruins of the 3,500-year-old ziggurat.

Dedicated to the Sumerian god, Enlil, the god of enlightenment, the ziggurat is among the best preserved of the Mesopotamian temple ziggurats, lying far to the north of the Sumerian city sites built between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers at the head of the sweet water marshes of Dhi Qar.

Enlil was the head of the Sumerian pantheon, a forerunner of the monotheistic God. His command was supreme and unalterable, and the destinies of men lay in his hands. He was the god of air, wind and earth, of the breath of life. From the Sumerian also came the story of the Flood and the creation myth of Man created from earth. Enlil divided the earth with a hoe, breaking the hard surface of the ground for seeds to grow. Men also came forth from the opening of the earth.

Worship of Enlil and of Inanna/Ishtar continued down through the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Hurrians and he would also have been on the gods of Erbil, likely one of the two no longer known in addition to Ishtar and Assur. The Assyrians had also continued to worship the main four Sumerian gods, Enlil, An (Anu) Enki the god of water and wisdom and added their patron deity, Assur. Merchant traders would swear by the names of Ishtar, Ashur, and Nisaba that they were speaking the truth. [19]


Part of a Sumerian clay tablet depicting the god Enlil with his ring of power. Stele of king Ur-Namma, fragment showing the god Nanna seated on a throne, in front of the king (mainly lost). Found in 1927 in Ur. Penn Museum. 

Photo: Creative Commons/penn.museum/wikimedia

The lowest terrace of Enlil’s temple ziggurat was restored, and the structure’s mud-brick core rises above the surrounding plain with its palm trees and dusty scrub to a height of around 170 feet. It is flanked to the south by the ruins of three temples, several sanctuaries and the King’s former palace whose corridor walls had been decorated with numerous male figures, most likely thought to be dignitaries of the palace based on surviving works of sculpture. [20]

(Coming shortly: Part Two – The Ahwar and southern Mesopotamian temple ziggurats city sites with the most important at Ur, as below, courtesy of UNESCO) partly restored by Saddam Hussein.)

1 IMAGES: Courtesy of the Yale Babylonian Collection. Photography by Klaus Wagensonner (seal) and Graham S. Haber (impression).
2 Unir is the most common Sumerian word for ‘ziggurat’, and literally means “high-up (nir) amazingness (u(g))”. A literary term also exists for ‘ziggurat’, hursanggalam, which means “skillfully crafted (galam) mountain (hursang)”. Urbi-Lum (Erbil) had its own ziggurat and temple and is recorded in the Sumerian texts.
3 https://the-past.com/feature/prayer-and-poetry-enheduanna-and-the-women-of-mesopotamia/
4 https://oxfordre.com/planetaryscience/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190647926.001.0001/acrefore-9780190647926-e-198#acrefore-9780190647926-e-198-div1-1
5 See archaeological study at 

https://www.gemaart.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/PAPER_Citadel-Research_Novacek.pdf

6 https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1437/

7 The term ‘Semitic’ denotes a group of languages that include Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic and the ancient languages of the Akkadians and Phoenicians termed as Afro-Asiatic languages. In contrast, Sumerian (Emegir meaning ‘native tongue’ and the literary form, Emesir) is a non-Semitic, lone or isolated language spoken since around 3000 BCE. Gordon Whittaker [30] postulates that the language of the proto-literary texts from the Late Uruk period (c. 3350–3100 BC) is really an early Indo-European language which he terms “Euphratic” (from the Euphrates river region) or Proto-Euphratean or Indo-European. See Gordon Whittaker at https://www.academia.edu/3592967/Euphratic_A_phonological_sketch from which the words, *ĝȹdȹōm dluk-ú- ‘the sweet earth’ → Ga2-tum3-dug3(u)44 ‘(mother goddess of Lagash)’… h2ner- ‘charismatic power’ → ner ~ nir ‘trust; authority; confidence’, parik-eh2- ‘courtesan, wanton woman’ > Eu. *karikah2- → kar(a)- ke3 / 4 ~ kar-a-ke4 ‘sexually free woman; (epithet of the goddess Inanna)’19 (metathesized from *karika) etc.
8 https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010136226
9 Douglas Frayne, “Gutium” in “Sargonic and Gutian Periods (2234-2113 BC)”, RIM The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Volume 2, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 219-230, 1993 ISBN 0-8020-0593-4
10 Potts, D. T. (1999). The Archaeology of Elam. Cambridge University Press. p. 132. ISBN 9780521564960.
11 See a collection of papers on pre-Islamic Erbil at https://www.researchgate.net/
12 Eshnunna was also occupied through the Akkadian period and Ur III. Areas of the Northern Palace date to this period and show some of the earliest examples of widespread sewage disposal engineering including toilets in private homes. George, A. R. “On Babylonian Lavatories and Sewers.”, Iraq, vol. 77, 2015, pp. 75–106
13 Aruz et al. 2008; Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C. New York: 2008, Metropolitan Museum of Art cited in https://sites.krieger.jhu.edu/kurd-qaburstan/about-the-site/ and Ismail and Cavigneaux 2003

14 https://sites.krieger.jhu.edu/kurd-qaburstan/about-the-site/

15 Villard, Pierre (2001), “Arbèles”, in Joannès, Francis (ed.), Dictionnaire de la civilisation mésopotamienne, Bouquins (in French), Paris: Robert Laffont, pp. 68–69, ISBN 978-2-221-09207-1

16 https://lostscripts.hypotheses.org/1306 /

(English translation by Marie Young from D. Charpin).

17 Ishtar’s temple and ziggurat had pre-existed such that the King had rebuilt it or undertook a new construction there.

18 https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1437/

19 K.R.Veenhof and Dr.Edhem Eldem, 2008, p. 103
https://www.ancientpages.com/2019/05/03/ancient-ziggurat-of-aqar-quf-dedicated-to-god-enlil/

Sheri Laizer, a Middle East and North African expert specialist and well known commentator on the Kurdish issue. She is a senior contributing writer for Ekurd.net. More about Sheri Laizer see below.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Ekurd.net or its editors.

Copyright © 2024 Ekurd.net. All rights reserved

Ecuador weighs security, international arbitration in latest referendum

President Daniel Noboa aims to rally support for a military crackdown on gang violence as he considers reelection.

Soldiers patrol the Ecuadorian capital Quito on April 18 as the country prepares for a security referendum [Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo]

By Michele Bertelli
Published On 19 Apr 2024

Quito, Ecuador – He was elected president at a time of crisis, as Ecuador’s murder rate skyrocketed and gang violence seeped across the country.

Now, Ecuadorian leader Daniel Noboa is taking a plan of action to the voters, with an 11-part referendum on Sunday.

Threats and street justice: How violence is transforming life in Ecuador

Is Ecuador succumbing to gang violence and organised crime?

He is Ecuador’s youngest president-elect. What lies ahead for Daniel Noboa?

The referendum includes a wide range of proposals, from the militarisation of Ecuador’s police to tougher punishments for crimes like drug trafficking, murder and money laundering.

But Sunday’s vote is set to go beyond beefed-up security practices. One question, for example, aims to reform the judiciary system. Another considers whether arbitration should be the default approach to settling international financial disputes.

Noboa has been pushing for Ecuadorians to vote in favour of all 11 ballot measures, in an effort to streamline the economy and stamp out gang violence.

“Voting yes will strengthen our laws and leave no opportunities for those criminals who wish to joke with our justice [system] with the help of corrupt lawmen,” Noboa said in a public event on Monday.

But the broad nature of the proposals has prompted concern, with critics wondering what the consequences could be for human rights, the economy and efforts to stabilise Ecuador’s security situation.

Some have even questioned whether the referendum reflects a shift towards the “mano dura” or “iron fist” policies popular in countries like El Salvador, where human rights organisations have warned of false imprisonment and a lack of due process.

Daniel Noboa has made the national security referendum a goal of his presidency [Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo]

Limited opposition

Still, only one major political group in the country has consistently called for Ecuadorians to vote “no” on all 11 ballot measures: the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE).

The group has accused the government of exploiting the referendum to further Noboa’s political ambitions, as the country approaches its 2025 general election.

Noboa — a 36-year-old politician and heir to a banana industry fortune — was sworn in last November to serve an abbreviated 18-month term, after the departure of embattled President Guillermo Lasso. But he is widely expected to run for a full term in the next race.

In a virtual forum on April 11, CONAIE president Leonidas Iza called the referendum a chance for Noboa to rally support.

“The government needs to consolidate its strength to impose neoliberal policies,” Iza said.

Referendums, he added, are costly to organise, and he called for the policies to instead be considered in Ecuador’s National Assembly.

Another CONAIE leader, Agustin Cachipuendo, was later quoted in the newspaper El Universo as saying any repercussions from the vote would disproportionately fall on marginalised groups.

“This government does not know poverty [but] makes decisions that affect the poor,” he said

.

Soldiers patrol during a presidential visit to dairy farms in Poalo, Ecuador, on March 21 [Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo]

Rallying public support

Nevertheless, the referendum enjoys relatively broad public support. According to the research institute Comunicaliza, 42.7 percent of voters plan to back Noboa’s proposals.

Still, another 27.5 percent said they have not made up their minds yet.

Maria, a 48-year-old resident of Guayaquil who asked to use a pseudonym for her safety, is among those supporting the president’s measures to tighten security in the country.

Her city has been at the forefront of the crisis. In January, for instance, a criminal group stormed a local TV station during a live broadcast and held employees at gunpoint, generating international outcry.
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Maria explained she had been targeted by a criminal group herself: They blackmailed her by threatening her children. But she said she feels safer thanks to the state of emergency Noboa imposed in January, which allowed the military to be deployed to city streets.

“Policemen and soldiers have been patrolling the borough in these months, so we can finally sleep tight at night,” Maria told Al Jazeera.

She credits the soldiers with curbing the violence in her neighbourhood. The referendum could pave the way for the military to have a permanent role in policing, something Maria hopes will happen.

“If they will leave us, what happens then? This is what everyone is worried about,” she said   

.

A soldier guards cell block 3 of the militarised Litoral prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on February 9 [Santiago Arcos/Reuters]

Searching for a permanent fix

Noboa’s government has argued that the referendum is a necessary step to curb the wave of violence that has rattled the country since 2018.

Declaring a state of emergency, officials argue, is only a temporary solution.

“The general purpose of the [referendum] is to establish some permanent mechanisms, breaking the cycle of enacting emergency decrees and then going back to business as usual,” said the government spokesperson Roberto Izurieta in an interview with local television station Teleamazonas.

The state of emergency granted the government additional powers, allowing officials to impose a curfew and take stronger action against gangs.

Under the state of emergency, for instance, Noboa’s government labelled 22 criminal groups as “terrorist” organisations, clearing the way for the police and military to focus extra resources towards combatting them.

Security forces also seized 77 tonnes of drugs and detained 18,736 people, 300 of whom have since been accused of terrorism. According to the authorities, violent deaths have reduced by 26 percent since Noboa took office.

But in early April, the state of emergency came to an end. Ferdinando Carrion, a security expert, believes some of the reforms in the referendum could help Noboa to continue his campaign against the violence, but more structural reforms are needed.

“They achieved good results in the first two months,” Carrion said of the government’s state of emergency. “But it looks like the effect has been exhausted.”

He pointed to Ecuador’s prison system as a particular area of vulnerability. Investigations have shown that criminal organisations use prisons as spaces through which they can run their operations.

But under the state of emergency, the military was allowed to intervene. Carrion said that produced positive results.

“They intervened in 18 prisons out of 36, managing to sever [the gang leaders’] relations with the outside,” Carrion explained.

“But the minute the army leaves the prisons and gives them back to the national service SNAI, they will return to business as usual, since it has shown problems of efficiency, corruption and collusion.”

Carrion would like to see even greater reforms to government agencies like SNAI, beyond what is on the ballot on Sunday.

“Strengthening our institutions is paramount,” he told Al Jazeera, calling for the creation of a new body to replace SNAI.

The Ecuadorian government has deployed the military to control prisons like the one in Guayaquil [Santiago Arcos/Reuters]

Elections in the crosshairs

Still, some analysts question the efficacy of the referendum, even if it is successful.

Carla Alvarez, a professor studying security at the National Institute for Higher Studies, believes that the referendum will fall short of addressing the country’s gang crisis.

“No query made for public consultation will damage the structure of criminal organisations,” she told Al Jazeera.

She echoed concerns that the referendum has done more to bolster Noboa’s public image than to address the roots of crime in Ecuador.

Many experts trace the rise in the violence to Ecuador’s strategic location between the two largest cocaine producers in the world, Colombia and Peru.

They also point out that Ecuador’s economy was significantly weakened during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving unemployed youth vulnerable to gang recruitment.

But Alvarez said Noboa’s emphasis on holding the referendum is also motivated by his future ambitions. “This vote is happening in the middle of an electoral race. And this allows the president to revive his image on social media and achieve more visibility.”

The security situation has a direct impact on the integrity of Ecuador’s democracy. In the lead-up to the snap election last August, a presidential candidate running on an anticorruption platform was gunned down outside of a rally.

And in recent months, politicians have continued to be targets of the spike in violence.

Five mayors have been shot dead since the year began, the most recent murder unfolding on Friday, just days before Sunday’s vote.

The slain mayor, Jorge Maldonado of Portovelo, was the third to be killed in less than a month. His death followed that of Mayor Brigitte Garcia of San Vicente and Mayor Jose Sanchez of Camilo Ponce Enriquez.

Suspects and weapons are displayed for reporters at a police station in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on January 11, shortly after a TV station was stormed during a live broadcast [Ivan Alvarado/Reuters]

Chance of a split vote

Critics like Alvarez underscore that referendums are no silver bullet to the security crisis.

Rather, they are a relatively common political tool. Since 2006, Ecuadorians have been asked to express their will through referendums nine times, on issues ranging from oil exploration to presidential term limits.

Paulina Recalde, director of pollster Perfiles de Opinion, also questions whether Sunday’s referendum will create the groundswell of support Noboa seeks.

While Noboa is angling for approval on all 11 items, Recalde’s research suggests that voters will not unanimously back all the proposals.

“Since the very beginning, we never found an overall majority. People won’t vote the same in all the 11 queries,” she said.

Recalde also said there was confusion over the vote. According to her research, 68 percent of respondents knew little or nothing about the referendum a month ago.

She added that the power outages Ecuador is currently experiencing — as well as a controversial police raid on Mexico’s embassy in Quito — could dent Noboa’s popularity, regardless of the vote’s outcome.

“If people vote yes to expand the role of the military, does it mean that they are providing strong support for the president? I would say no,” she said.

A member of Ecuador’s security forces stands guard outside the Ministry of Energy and Mines in Quito, Ecuador, on April 16 

[Karen Toro/Reuters]

Arbitration on the ballot

One of the most controversial ballot measures in Sunday’s referendum asks Ecuadorians to implement a system of “international arbitration” to resolve conflicts between the state and private foreign investors.

In international arbitration, a third neutral party is used to reach a binding decision that settles any claims.

Supporters of the measure feel arbitration could safeguard foreign investment in Ecuador, thereby boosting the country’s economy.

“In a dollarised economy like Ecuador, we need an increase in strong direct foreign investments aligned with our public policies,” said Eric Vinueza, investment counsellor for the Corporation for the Promotion of Exports and Investments (Corpei) who supports the measure.

But activists have criticised this proposal as a tool to discourage the government from enacting environmental reforms that might disadvantage foreign mining interests and other overseas companies.

With arbitration, foreign investors could file complaints and negotiate settlements behind closed doors, leaving the public no recourse to appeal.

“These are private and unilateral judicial spaces which allow transnational companies to sue the states, where the states are only able to defend themselves,” said Ivonne Ramos, a mining expert at the NGO Accion Ecologica.

In the 2008 constitution, Ecuador prohibited any international agreement that would limit its national sovereignty, including through international arbitration.

Sunday’s referendum would undo that protection. Ramos added that international arbitration could come with steep expenses for taxpayers.

Ecuador already owes $2.9 trillion to foreign companies. It is currently involved in 29 different lawsuits before international tribunals, with half of the complaints related to mining and fossil fuels.

“Three of the eight pending procedures could cost more than another $10 trillion, which is our national budget for education and health for 2024,” Ramos said.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

USC cancels graduation keynote by filmmaker amid controversy over decision to drop student’s speech



Students carrying signs protest a canceled commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians on the campus of University of Southern California on Thursday, April 18, 2024. USC was citing security concerns, in a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.

A Pro-Palestinian student places a sign on the Tommy Trojan statue on the campus of the University of Southern California during a protest against the 2024 valedictorian Asna Tabassum canceled commencement speech on Thursday, April 18, 2024. The University of Southern California canceled the commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians, citing security concerns, a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.

Pro-Palestinian students pose for photos in front of the Tommy Trojan statue on the campus of the University of Southern California during a protest of the 2024 valedictorian Asna Tabassum canceled commencement speech on Thursday, April 18, 2024. The University of Southern California canceled the commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians, citing security concerns, a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.

Students protest a canceled commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians on the campus of University of Southern California on Thursday, April 18, 2024. The University of Southern California was citing security concerns, in a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization

Students hold up a photo of University of Southern California 2024 valedictorian Asna Tabassum in protest to her canceled commencement speech on the campus of University of Southern California on Thursday, April 18, 2024. The University of Southern California canceled the commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians, citing security concerns, a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization. 


Students hold up a photo of USC 2024 valedictorian Asna Tabassum in protest to her canceled commencement speech on the campus of University of Southern California, Thursday, April 18, 2024. The University of Southern California canceled the commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians, citing security concerns, a rare decision that was praised by several pro-Israel groups and lambasted by free speech advocates and the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization. 

(AP Photos/Damian Dovarganes)

April 19, 2024


LOS ANGELES (AP) — The University of Southern California further shook up its commencement plans Friday, announcing the cancelation of a keynote speech by filmmaker Jon M. Chu just days after making the controversial choice to disallow the student valedictorian from speaking.

The private university in Los Angeles on Monday said it was canceling valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s speech at the May 10 ceremony because of safety concerns. Tabassum, who is Muslim, has expressed support for Palestinians in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, and university officials said the response to her selection as valedictorian had “taken on an alarming tenor.” They did not cite any specific threats.

The university’s decision was met with praise from pro-Israel organizations but condemnation from free speech groups and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Students and faculty marched across campus Thursday in silent protest of the university’s decision.

Now, university officials say they are “redesigning” the entire commencement program.

“Given the highly publicized circumstances surrounding our main-stage commencement program, university leadership has decided it is best to release our outside speakers and honorees from attending this year’s ceremony,” the university said in an unsigned statement posted Friday. “We’ve been talking to this exceptional group and hope to confer these honorary degrees at a future commencement or other academic ceremonies.”

Chu was slated to deliver the keynote address at the May 10 ceremony. He is a 2003 graduate of the university who has since directed films like “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Wicked,” an adaptation for the Broadway musical set for release last this year.

More than 65,000 people are expected to gather on campus for commencement, including 19,000 graduates.

“Although this should have been a time of celebration for my family, friends, professors, and classmates, anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian voices have subjected me to a campaign of racist hatred because of my uncompromising belief in human rights for all,” Tabassum said in a statement earlier this week.

The Israel-Hamas war has presented a challenge for colleges under pressure to preserve free speech and open debate, and campuses are expected to be further tested as commencement speeches get underway in the coming weeks.

At Columbia University on Thursday, New York police removed a pro-Palestinian protest encampment and arrested more than 100 demonstrators. Most of them were charged with trespassing at the Ivy League-institution.

Several students involved in the protest said they also were suspended from Columbia and nearby Barnard College. The school said it was still identifying students involved in the protest and added more suspensions would be forthcoming.

“Students have a right to free speech but do not have a right to violate university policies and disrupt learning on campus,” said New York Mayor Eric Adams, who said the city was asked by university officials to remove the encampment.

USC Cancels Commencement Speakers Amid Valedictorian Controversy

Karen Breslau, Bloomberg News

A student at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, California on March 11, 2020. Photographer: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP , Photographer: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP

(Bloomberg) -- The University of Southern California scrapped all outside speakers from its upcoming commencement ceremonies, following backlash over an earlier decision to cancel a speech by the Class of 2024’s valedictorian.

The announcement Friday afternoon came as protests escalated at the school’s campus in Los Angeles after school officials canceled an address by the student, Asna Tabassum, following complaints by a pro-Israel group that she had engaged in antisemitism in social media posts. 

“Given the highly publicized circumstances surrounding our main-stage commencement program, university leadership has decided it is best to release our outside speakers and honorees from attending this year’s ceremony,” the university said in a statement Friday. “It’s important that our full attention be on our remarkable graduates.”

On Monday, USC officials cited safety considerations in canceling Tabassum’s planned address. They denied that the decision was related to concerns over her social media posts criticizing Israel and supporting Palestinians. Tabassum, who is Muslim and of South Asian heritage, accused the university of abandoning her in a statement posted on the website of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic relations. 

Read More: USC Bars Pro-Palestinian Valedictorian Speech, Citing Safety

A petition to reinstate Tabassum garnered 38,000 signatures, according to the student newspaper, the Daily Trojan, and hundreds of students attended campus protests over the decision. 

The keynote speaker at the May 10 ceremony in LA was to have been director Jon M. Chu, an alumnus whose film credits include Crazy Rich Asians. On Friday evening, Chu’s photo had been removed from the commencement website, and replaced with video of students in USC’s red and gold academic regalia.

The controversy at USC comes as part of a wave of unrest at US college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war and the limits of free speech. 

More than 100 students were arrested Thursday at Columbia University after school officials called in New York City police to clear a campus demonstration. Columbia’s president testified on Wednesday during a hearing by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce about antisemitism on college campuses. 

In December, the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania resigned after testifying before the committee and failing to condemn without reservation antisemitic speech on campus.

Read More: Berkeley Professor Rattled by Antisemitism, Protest at His Home

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

SEE 

Statement by University of Southern California Student Asna Tabassum, Class of 2024 Valedictorian

Op-Ed: Converting CO2 into electricity — Too big to miss


ByPaul Wallis
April 19, 2024


Electricity generation from renewable sources was over 50 percent of the total in 2023 for the first time, while coal's share dropped to 26 percent from 34 percent - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File MARIO TAMA

This new tech is a first hint of a massive game changer. Researchers at the University of Queensland have created an incredibly useful and highly evolvable way of managing CO2 at the molecular level.

This is different. Something had to go right sometime. Converting CO2 into electricity at nanoscale levels is so useful it’s effectively a must-do technology. The basic model (see video and source news article here) is almost self-explanatory.

Conversion of CO2 into something useful isn’t all that new. Plants have been doing it for hundreds of millions of years. Just not commercially.

This new tech is about as useful as photosynthesis. It’s a way of managing carbon, offsetting costs, and delivering scalable power sources. Its at the embryonic stage at the moment, but the University of Queensland researchers have proof of concept and a lot of room for development.

If it works at nanoscale, it can probably be upsized to micro and therefore to consumer-scale tech. Efficiency is the key. Nanoscale is an exceptionally demanding scale. It has to work with practically any extraneous environmental influence, In this case, it does.

The idea may sound simple, but the tech isn’t. Durability, reliability, capacity for electricity generation, and simply integrating it to a power system are all fundamental.

Given the vast amounts of CO2 so thoughtfully donated to the world, it’s also an essential type of tech. Power is in high demand, and costs are insane. The illusion of making money doesn’t help. Sure, you make more money, but that money instantly evaporates when you drive up everyone else’s costs.

It’s not the tech nor the idea that are the issues. It’s the moribund sector. This sector refuses to acknowledge new profitable options for itself. The energy sector has been so pampered for so long that cost realities are now getting critical. A lot of the cost of living increases have their roots in baseline costs like power.

Check this out as an example of awareness of anything:

Years ago, I was doing an article for a mining company. They wanted an idea for the article. I suggested, “Carbon, the unknown resource”. I meant all the other things you can do with carbon other than poisoning the planet.

They came back and said, “No, we only do coal and oil.”

“Ahh… Yeah”, I said helpfully. They didn’t even know what the idea was.

You need to understand the sheer scope of the apparent ignorance in the carbon sector. This ignorance is highly selective. It’s also costing the coal and oil sectors billions in their refusal to consider, let alone take up new technologies.

They make Trump look like Einstein.

However innovative, however useful, however cost-effective, however potentially profitable, the sector is famous for its immovable insistence on obsolete uses for carbon.

This new tech is a good workaround for just about anything that uses electricity. Humans exhale CO2. You could simply breathe on whatever wearable tech you have to power it up. Possible applications are endless.

A lot of current tech uses way too much power. Crypto is a case in point. It’s energy-inefficient by definition. It drains grids. It helps ensure those blackouts everyone loves so dearly.

Any simple, efficient solution is likely to be a major asset in this cockamamie, priorities-scrambled, system. Why not convert CO2 into something useful?

Watch this space. The IP, the applications, and the evolutions of this idea will be a template for nanotechnology at the very least. Also, watch and see who gets this idea as a broad-based approach to CO2.

Don’t be too surprised to see betting agencies getting involved in questions like this:

“Would you like to make billions on new tech?” is the bet.

50 to 1 odds on “I don’t know” as the response.

Tech is such fun.

___________________________________________________________

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
WRITTEN BYPaul Wallis

War in Ukraine: The Scottish charity helping war veterans in mining town where one in 30 people have lost limb

Oleg Dmitriev, from Edinburgh, has become a patron of the new rehabilitation centre through his charity, Sunflower Scotland

By Jane Bradley
Published 20th Apr 2024,

In the Ukrainian mining town of Pershotravensk, 25 miles from the Donbas front, there are more than 1,000 people who have recently become amputees or are recovering from another life-changing injury. It is around one in 30 of the population.

Before the war, the town had seven working coal mines, employing more than 2,000 people. When they all closed down, workers lost their jobs and many joined the army, creating a proportionally large number of war veterans, who, two years into the conflict, are beginning to return home.

Now, local health services are struggling to cope with the huge scale of rehabilitation necessary for the injured former soldiers, with little state provision in place to help them adapt to their new lives.

Oleg Dmitriev of Sunflower Scotland, drove from Edinburgh to eastern Ukraine to donate exercise machinery to a new rehabilitation centre from military veterans.

"While those in big cities – Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv – receive medical support, those in small towns and villages are left behind,” said Oleg Dmitriev, director of Scottish charity Sunflower Scotland, which has stepped in to help create a rehabilitation centre in the community.

"There are simply no hospitals there and no rehabs that can accommodate all. The scale of the tragedy is gigantic. Nobody ever planned for this and amputees remain in their homes, out of sight, without medical or psychological support.”

Mr Dmitriev said he believed the numbers of soldiers injured in Ukraine were far higher than official estimates. An August report by the New York Times, citing anonymous US officials, put the Ukrainian death toll at close to 70,000 and the number of wounded as high as 120,000. In February, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said 31,000 troops had been killed since the invasion began two years earlier – but refused to give a number of those injured, saying doing so would help Russia to plan its attacks.

A Ukrainian military veteran, who lost a limb in the conflict, at the Pershotravensk rehabilitation centre.

"I think the numbers are absolutely gigantic,” Mr Dmitriev said. “We can’t even start to imagine. It is like a tsunami, it’s a massive disproportion of society.”

Having visited the town in the first year of the war to deliver aid, Mr Dmitriev was contacted by local authorities there asking for help in kitting out the centre.

Earlier this month, he drove eight machines, including exercise bikes, cross trainers and a rowing machine, from Edinburgh to Pershotravensk. Now he wants to fundraise to provide ten more machines.

“Ukraine was not prepared for this [supporting injured soldiers],” said Mr Dmitriev, whose charity last week agreed to become a patron charity of the centre. The facility is a subsidiary of an existing rehabilitation centre, “Path to Health”, in Dnipro, which has helped over 600 amputees since its launch in 2022.

Oleg Dmitriev, handing over the equipment in Pershotravensk, Ukraine.

"There aren’t really ramps and wheelchairs, basic things which people with these injuries need,” he said. “That means amputees are basically hiding in their apartments and are reliant on relatives to look after them. They need support, not just rehabilitation, but mental health support and being able to meet and speak to other people in the same situation at the rehab centre is really important.”

Mr Dmitriev added: “When people are in this situation and are isolated, they spiral. I think there will be a wave of suicides, unfortunately.”


Sunflower Scotland is receiving donations at www.sunflowerscotland.co.uk/donate-to-support-ukraine/.

US imposes sanctions on 3 China firms for supplying components to Pakistan for ballistic missile project

FUNNY THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING 

TO INDIA ABOUT ITS RUSSIAN WEAPONS

By HT News Desk
Apr 20, 2024 

The companies have been involved in activities or transactions that significantly contribute to or pose a risk of contributing to the proliferation of weapons.

The US has imposed sanctions on four entities engaged in acquiring materials for Pakistan's ballistic missile project. The action was aimed at disrupting networks “supporting proliferation activities”

.The US said that it is dedicated to bolstering the international nonproliferation framework by deterring and dismantling proliferation networks of weapons of mass destruction worldwide. (File) (Representational Image)(AP)

According to a press statement, three entities belonged to China where one was based in Belarus. These companies have provided items applicable to Pakistan's ballistic missile programmes, including its long-range missile endeavours.
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The companies have been involved in activities or transactions that significantly contribute to or pose a risk of substantially contributing to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or their delivery systems by Pakistan, according to the statement.

Furthermore, the statement said that the US, in collaboration with other partners, is dedicated to bolstering the international nonproliferation framework by deterring and dismantling proliferation networks of weapons of mass destruction worldwide.
Also Read | White House says US will impose new sanctions targeting Iran: ‘President Biden is coordinating with allies…’
Here is the list of entities

- Belarus's Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant supplied a specialised vehicle chassis to Pakistan's long-range ballistic missile program, aiding launch support for missiles developed by the National Development Complex (NDC).


- Xi'an Longde Technology Development Company Limited, based in China, provided missile-related equipment, such as a filament winding machine, likely intended for Pakistan's NDC, crucial for manufacturing rocket motor cases.

- Tianjin Creative Source International Trade Co Ltd, also from China, supplied stir welding equipment and a linear accelerator system to Pakistan's ballistic missile program. These items, likely meant for Pakistan's Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), contribute to the production and inspection of MTCR Category I ballistic missiles.

- Granpect Company Limited, another Chinese firm, collaborated with SUPARCO in Pakistan to provide testing equipment for large-diameter rocket motors. Additionally, Granpect Co. Ltd. facilitated the supply of similar testing equipment to Pakistan's NDC.
Implications of the sanctions

“All individuals or entities that have ownership, either directly or indirectly, 50 per cent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. All transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons are prohibited unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC or exempt,” the press release said.


These prohibitions include making or providing funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person and receiving such funds, goods, or services from any such person.

RIP

Allman Brothers Band Co-founder and Legendary Guitarist Dickey Betts Dies at 80
\
By The Associated Press
April 19, 2024

Dickey Betts, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, exits the funeral of Gregg Allman at Snow's Memorial Chapel in Macon, Ga., on June 3, 2017. (Jason Vorhees/The Macon Telegraph via AP)

Guitar legend Dickey Betts, who co-founded the Allman Brothers Band and wrote their biggest hit, “Ramblin’ Man,” has died. He was 80.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer died at his home in Osprey, Florida, David Spero, Betts’ manager of 20 years, confirmed. Betts had been battling cancer for more than a year and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Spero said.

“He was surrounded by his whole family and he passed peacefully. They didn’t think he was in any pain,” Spero said by phone.

Betts shared lead guitar duties with Duane Allman in the original Allman Brothers Band to help give the group its distinctive sound and create a new genre: Southern rock. Acts including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kid Rock, Phish and Jason Isbell—among many others—were influenced by the Allmans’ music, which combined the blues, country, R&B and jazz with ‘60s rock.


“My first concert was Dickey Betts at Coleman’s in Rome, New York in 1983,” blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa said in an Instagram post Thursday, crediting Betts with inspiring his favorite electric guitar model. “Blew my mind and made me want a Les Paul.”

Founded in 1969, the Allmans were a pioneering jam band, trampling the traditional notion of three-minute pop songs by performing lengthy compositions in concert and on record. The band was also notable as a biracial group from the Deep South.

Duane Allman died in a motorcycle accident in 1971, and founding member Berry Oakley was killed in a motorcycle crash a year later. That left Betts and Allman’s younger brother Gregg as the band’s leaders, but they frequently clashed, and substance abuse caused further dysfunction. The band broke up at least twice before reforming, and has had more than a dozen lineups.

The Allman Brothers Band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and earned a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 2012. Betts left the group for good in 2000, and also played solo and with his own band Great Southern, which included his son, guitarist Duane Betts.

Forrest Richard Betts was born Dec. 12, 1943, and was raised in the Bradenton, Florida, area, near the highway 41 he sang about in “Ramblin’ Man.” His family had lived in the area since the mid-19th century.


Betts grew up listening to country, bluegrass and Western swing, and played the ukulele and banjo before focusing on the electric guitar because it impressed girls. At 16 he left home for his first road trip, joining the circus to play in a band.

He returned home, and with bassist Oakley joined a group that became the Jacksonville, Florida-based band Second Coming. One night in 1969 Betts and Oakley jammed with Duane Allman, already a successful session musician, and his younger brother, and together they formed the Allman Brothers Band.

The group moved to Macon, Georgia, and released a self-titled debut album in 1969. A year later came the album “Idlewild South,” highlighted by Betts’ instrumental composition “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” which soon became a concert staple.

The 1971 double album “At Fillmore East,” now considered among the greatest live albums of the classic rock era, was the Allmans’ commercial breakthrough and cemented their performing reputation by showcasing the unique guitar interplay between Allman and Betts. Their styles contrasted, with Allman playing bluesy slide guitar, while Betts’ solos and singing tugged the band toward country. When layered in harmony, their playing was especially distinctive.

The group also had two drummers: “Jaimoe” Johanson, who is Black, and Butch Trucks.

Duane Allman died four days after “Fillmore” was certified as a gold record, but the band carried on and crowds continued to grow. The 1973 album “Brothers and Sisters” rose to No. 1 on the charts and featured “Ramblin’ Man,” with Betts singing the lead and bringing twang to the Top 40. The song reached No. 2 on the singles charts and was kept out of the No. 1 spot by “Half Breed” by Cher, who later married Gregg Allman.

The soaring sound of Betts’ guitar on “Ramblin’ Man” reverberated in neighborhood bars around the country for decades, and the song underscored his knack for melodic hooks. “Ramblin’ Man” was the Allmans’ only Top Ten hit, but Betts’ catchy 7 1/2-minute instrumental composition “Jessica,” recorded in 1972, became an FM radio staple.

Betts also wrote or co-wrote some of the band’s other best-loved songs, including “Blue Sky” and “Southbound.” In later years the group remained a successful touring act with Betts and Warren Haynes on guitar. Gregg Allman and Butch Trucks died in 2017.

After leaving the Allmans for good, Betts continued to play with his own group and lived in the Bradenton area with his wife, Donna.

By Steven Wine and Russ Bynum

 

Spanish locals put up fake jellyfish warning signs to scare off UK tourists

Activists in the Balearics and Barcelona have put up fake signs at popular beaches in English warning of falling rocks or dangerous jellyfish

Jet2holidays has signed up to Mallorca’s ‘responsible tourism pledge’ (Photo: Razvan Ciuca /Getty/Moment RF)

By Graham Keeley

April 20, 2024

MADRID – It seems living in paradise can be hell as a tide of protests against “overtourism” has hit Spain in the run-up to the holiday season.

Demonstrations are planned on Saturday across the Canary Islands by campaigners who claim Britons’ favourite Spanish destination is a victim of over-development, as well as rallies in support in Madrid, Malaga and even Berlin and London.

A hunger strike has been staged by campaigners from Canarias Se Agota (Canary Islands Sold Out) since last week against two large hotel developments.

Hoteliers in the Canary Islands have promised to build homes for tourism employees to help deal with the lack of accommodation for workers.

In Barcelona and the Balearic Islands, activists have put up fake signs at popular beaches in English warning of falling rocks or dangerous jellyfish.

The Spanish government said it was committed to sustainable tourism but claimed this key sector of the economy brought 2.7 million jobs, with holidaymaker numbers set to reach record highs.

Canary Islands protesters at a rally against the construction of a hotel near La Tejita beach and other mass tourism infrastructures on Tenerife (Photo: Desiree Martin/AFP)

Spain’s tourism minister Jordi Hereu said a record 9.8 million international visitors came to Spain this year.

“The tourist employment data for March is at the level of a country that is a world power and that is committed to a more sustainable model,” he said in a video statement posted on social media platform X.

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British expat says overtourism threatens to 'cement over' Tenerife

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Spain’s housing minister Isabel Rodriguez promised the government would crack down on tourist flats in cities where locals struggle to afford housing. “We will have to intervene and limit tourist apartments. We cannot look the other way,” she told El País newspaper last week.

Jet2holidays this week became the first UK operator to sign Mallorca’s “responsible tourism pledge”.

However, Spanish airlines expect a record summer season and are adding 13 per cent seats compared with 2023, the Spanish Airlines Association said last week.

Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Canary Islands, said protests on the archipelago were motivated by “tourismphobia” and called for common sense because tourism is the engine of the islands’ economy, providing an estimated 35 per cent of GDP.

Sharon Backhouse, the British founder of a sustainable tourism company GeoTenerife, said paying lip-service to “sustainable tourism” was not good enough. “Sustainable tourism means paying fair wages, letting local people have their own businesses alongside [tourist companies],” she told i.

“If you have record numbers of tourists on the island but you have a third of the population at risk of poverty, it is not working. I have written to Clavijo to say we need root and branch change.

“But this is not to say investors should not make a profit because I am an investor, too. We need to empower locals to benefit from this galloping tourism, not just investors.”

Ms Backhouse insisted Canarians do not dislike British tourists. “It is not a war on tourists, they are just asking to be beneficiaries of this as well, not to live in poverty, not just to change sheets in hotels,” she said.

Marcelo Sanchez-Oro, author of the book The Relationship Between Hosts and Tourists: From Colonisation to Tourismophobia, said the synergy between residents and tourists depended on balance.

“What is important is that their respective needs are fulfilled. When this breaks down, the problems start,” he told i.

“There is a contagion effect, with more protests in Barcelona, Malaga and elsewhere. Local people feel they are not getting much back despite the invasion of large numbers of tourists.”