India's metallurgical coal imports from Russia surge nearly threefold

ByAkash Pandey

May 06, 2024

12:05 am

What's the story

India has seen a significant rise in its metallurgical coal imports from Russia over the past three fiscal years (FY), reaching approximately 15.1 million tons in 2023-24.This increase is largely due to the competitive pricing offered by Russia.Russia's share in India's metallurgical coal imports of 73.2 million tons, has increased from approximately 8% in 2021-22 to about 21%.Meanwhile, Australia, earlier a major supplier of met coal to India, has experienced a decline in its exports.

Import data

Detailed analysis of India's met coal import trends

In FY 2021-22, Russia supplied about 8% of India's total metallurgical coal imports, amounting to 5.1 million tons.The following year, Russian imports increased to 11.3 million tons, making up 16% of India's total met coal imports.By the fiscal year of 2023-24, Russia's contribution had grown to approximately 21% with import volumes hitting the mark of 15.1 million tons.

Export dip

Decline in Australia's exports to India

Australia, once a key supplier of met coal to India, has seen a decrease in its exports over the same period.In FY22, Australia provided India with 50.7 million tons of met coal, accounting for 77% of total imports.However, this figure fell to 42.2 million tons in FY22 and further dropped to 40.4 million tons in the last fiscal year.

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Cost factor

Cost benefit led to import decisions

Metallurgical coal is crucial for steel production and India relies heavily on foreign imports to meet its domestic demand.According to BigMint analysts, the primary driver behind the increased Russian imports is the cost-benefit factor.They explained that Russian imports are costing less to domestic steel players because of low prices.However, they also predicted a potential decrease in Russian imports due to the anticipated export tax on met coal and rising logistics costs.
Rise in Indian met coal imports is mainly due to lower prices

Condé Nast union threatens to make a scene at Anna Wintour’s Met Gala Monday

By Isabel Keane

NY POST
Published May 5, 2024,


Condé Nast's union threatens action at the Met Gala to force a contract

The union warned its employer on X that if they fail to meet them for a contract, they would meet them at the Met.@condeunion / X

Members of the Condé Nast union are threatening to create a scene at Monday’s Met Gala — the marquee event organized by the company’s grande dame Anna Wintour.

“Meet us at the table, or we’ll meet you at the Met,” a post by the Condé Union warned via X Saturday night, referring to stalled contract negotiations.

It’s unclear what action Condé’s media workers plan to take come Monday, whether it’s picketing outside the event – like they were seen doing Sunday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art – or more disruptive action like a work stoppage or a strike.

Members of the Condé Nast union threatened to take action ahead of Monday’s Met Gala if their management refuses to meet them for a contract.Conde United/GoFundMe

Messages left with Condé Union and NewsGuild of New York were not immediately returned.

However, a source told The Post that the union is “continuing talks” on Sunday. Members also said they’re vowing to do “whatever it takes” to get a contract for employees of the glossy magazine publisher.

“Fashion’s Biggest Night” gets extensive wall-to-wall coverage every year, but nobody goes bigger than Condé titles like Vogue and Vanity Fair, which show off exclusive access to the A-listers inside the event.

Last week, members of the guild made a video telling management that a huge majority has pledged to do whatever it takes to secure their contract ahead of the annual event, which relies heavily on their work to succeed.

“Management apparently thinks it’s acceptable to threaten us with more job losses and waste our time at the bargaining table,” Alma Avalle, a writer and producer for Bon Appétit, told the AFL-CIO — the umbrella labor org over the Condé union.

Security at the event – which is attended by some of the biggest stars in the world, including Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and Gisele Bündchen – is notoriously tight, and it’s unlikely that picketers would even have a chance to get close to the guests.

The union, which represents Allure, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, Condé Nast Traveler Epicurious, Glamour, GQ, Self, Teen Vogue, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Them and more, has been bargaining for its first contract now for two years with no success.

Negotiations have grown tense and have stalled for months now ever since Condé Nast announced plans to lay off 5% of its workforce, including 17% of the union’s members, in November 2023.

The union, whose slogan was “Prestige doesn’t pay the bills” when it formed, is demanding better pay and better healthcare benefits — including the expansion of gender-affirming care coverage for transgender staffers.

This year’s Met Gala is co-chaired by Wintour, Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Hemsworth and Bad Bunny and will celebrate an exhibition crafted by the Costume Institute’s chief curator, Andrew Bolton, with the theme “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.”

The union’s post on Saturday left many wondering whether a picket line outside the event would cause discomfort for some of the event’s liberal guest list.

“Actors crossing this picket line after the SAG strike would be horrid,” one X user wrote.

Union members threatened to take action on Monday if their contract was not met.Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

The annual event is held the first Monday of every May.Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

“The Condé union, who have been waiting for a contract forever, are about to strike during the met gala. after all the sag and wga strikes, I’m not sure the world is ready for what this is gonna look like. which celebs will cross the picket line?” journalist David Mack added.

The union wrote via X on Sunday that members were outside The Met supporting the Fashion Workers Act, which would establish labor protections for models and industry workers.

“Without these workers, there would be no fashion. We understand this basic principle because, without us, there would be no Condé Nast,” the union wrote in a statement with the News Guild.

Condé Nast did not return The Post’s request for comment Sunday.

Kenya Floods Death Toll at 228 as Crisis Persists

Residents affected after a seasonal river burst its banks following heavy rainfall in Kitengela municipality of Kajiado County

NAIROBI — Kenya said Sunday that the death toll from weeks of devastating rains and floods had risen to 228 and warned that there was no sign of a let-up in the crisis.

While Kenya and neighboring Tanzania escaped major damage from a tropical cyclone that weakened after making landfall on Saturday, the government in Nairobi said the country continued to endure torrential downpours and the risk of further floods and landslides.

In western Kenya, the River Nyando burst its banks in the early hours of Sunday, engulfing a police station, school, hospital and market in the town of Ahero in Kisumu County, police said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties but local police said water levels were still rising and that the main bridge outside Kisumu on the highway to Nairobi was submerged.

Weeks of heavier than usual seasonal rains, compounded by the El Nino weather pattern, have wreaked chaos in many parts of East Africa, a region highly vulnerable to climate change.

More than 400 people have been killed and several hundred thousand uprooted from their homes in several countries as floods and mudslides swamp houses, roads and bridges.

"It's a serious situation and we should not take it lightly," Kenyan government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said at a briefing on the crisis on Sunday.

'Concerns of wider humanitarian crisis'

Across the border, the Tanzania Meteorological Authority declared that Tropical Cyclone Hidaya, which had threatened to pile on more misery, had "completely lost its strength" after making landfall on Mafia Island on Saturday.

"Therefore, there is no further threat of Tropical Cyclone 'Hidaya' in our country," it said.

Tanzania remains one of the countries worst hit by the floods, with 155 people dead since early April.

In Kenya, Mwaura said while the cyclone had weakened, it had caused strong winds and waves on the coast and heavy rains were likely to intensify from later Sunday.

One fisherman had perished and another was missing, he added.

Across the nation, the disaster has claimed the lives of 228 people since March with 72 still missing, according to government figures.

More than 212,000 people have been displaced, with Mwuara saying many were "forcibly or voluntarily" evacuated.

The government has ordered anyone living near major rivers or dams to leave the area or face "mandatory evacuation for their safety," with many dams or reservoirs threatening to overflow.

Mwaura also warned of the risk of waterborne diseases, with one case of cholera reported as well as incidents of diarrhea.

Jagan Chapagain, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said on X on Saturday that forecasts of more rains raised "serious concerns about a wider humanitarian crisis."

The Kenyan government has been accused of being unprepared and slow to respond to the crisis despite weather warnings, with the main opposition Azimio party calling for it to be declared a national disaster.

President William Ruto said in an address to the nation on Friday that the weather picture remained "dire," blaming the calamitous cycle of drought and floods on a failure to protect the environment.

In the deadliest single incident in Kenya, 58 people perished when a dam burst on Monday near Mai Mahiu in the Rift Valley north of Nairobi, the interior ministry said.

Several dozen remain missing.

Rescuers are also hunting for 13 people still missing after a boat capsized in Tana River County, killing seven, the ministry said.

How the Houthis' alternative economy is worsening Yemen's humanitarian crisis

In-depth: The rise of two rival economies has had a severe impact on the cost of products and services, compounding Yemen's humanitarian crisis.



Analysis

Hesham Al-Mahya
02 May, 2024

On 30 March, Yemen's Houthi-led de facto government in Sana’a minted a new 100-riyal coin. The unprecedented move came under the pretext of finding a solution to the growing problem of damaged banknotes.

Yemeni analysts, however, saw it as yet another step the Iran-backed militia group has taken in an alternative, independent economy it has created, which further threatens ‘peace and stability’ in the war-torn nation.

In response to what it described as a “grave escalation,” the Internationally Recognised Government (IRG) in Aden warned citizens not to use the “counterfeit” currency, and in April issued a decision requiring banks in areas under Houthi rule to relocate their headquarters within 60 days to Aden.

The directive, said the head of the Studies and Economic Media Center in Yemen, Mostafa Nasr, was “necessary”, but “difficult to achieve”.


"The Houthis seized foreign currency reserves of $5 billion and Yemenis' bank deposits worth YER 500 billion ($ 1.9 billion) during the early years of the war"

“Financial institutions in areas under Houthi control need to find a framework to implement the new decision issued by Aden, otherwise, the whole banking system is under threat of collapse,” he explained.


The roots of the financial division can be traced back to 2014 when the rebel group first took hold of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, and the IRG’s subsequent decision to move the central bank to Aden two years later.

“But concerns over an independent Houthi economy began to take shape in 2019, after the Houthis, citing concerns over inflation, decided to ban all newly issued IRG banknotes, relying instead on what was already being circulated in the pockets under their control,” Mohammed Qahtan, professor of economy at Taiz University, told The New Arab.

Sana’a’s de facto government also pegged the Yemeni riyal’s exchange rate to the US dollar in 2019, leading to a disparity in the exchange rate. In IRG-controlled areas, the official rate has reached about YER 1,650, while in rebel-controlled areas it is set at around 560 riyals to the dollar.

“This fractured dual-rial banknote system can only widen the financial division and compound the humanitarian crisis afflicting the people,” Nasr told The New Arab. “It is absurd how a money transfer from government-held to Houthi-controlled areas, which many Yemenis depend on, can cost up to 70 percent of the total amount in fees.”

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The rise of an empire

This complete financial split, which the Houthis aim to achieve according to independent economic journalist and analyst Wafiq Saleh, stems from their seizure of IRG coffers and its foreign currency reserves of $5 billion and YER 500 billion ($ 1.9 billion) in Yemeni bank deposits during the early years of the war.

During the same period, the rebel group assumed authority over the financial market in the areas under their control: it introduced 180 oil import enterprises, 250 currency exchange businesses, and 1,023 trading companies, all of which were granted tax and customs exemptions. Meanwhile, many companies in Yemen’s pre-war private sector were pressured into shutting down.

Analysts say the Houthis are waging a war on the internationally recognised government's economy. [Getty]


“These companies sprung out of nowhere, with many of their CEOs serving as a front,” an anonymous source, who operates in Houthi-controlled regions, told The New Arab. “The Houthis have provided them with capital and all necessary facilitations, whether for establishing factories or for importing raw materials.”

According to 2018 World Bank data, nearly 35 percent of Yemeni businesses have gone bankrupt since the start of the war, while more than 51 percent of the ones that survived experienced a reduction in their size and a decline in their operations.

“The new businesses that the Houthis introduced are blessed with a special status that grants them several privileges many of those within the private sector are deprived of,” Qahtan states. “This enables the rebels to control the flow of investment in their territories.”

"The Houthis keep their balance sheets under tight wraps, but according to an Internationally Recognised Government committee of experts, the rebel group generates about $1.8 billion annually in revenues"
A hostile takeover

The Houthis keep their balance sheets under tight wraps, but according to an IRG committee of experts, the rebel group generates about $1.8 billion annually in revenues. While a portion of this income stems from the financial infrastructure already established in their governed areas, a significant portion is derived from the customs sector, wherein the group has substantially ramped up fees in recent years.

Restrictions imposed on imported commodities through seven newly established Houthi customs checkpoints, where tariffs are 1,000 times those collected in IRG ports, have led to significant price hikes for basic goods in a country where 90 percent of foodstuffs are imported.

“I pay around $1,300 in customs fees at the port of Aden, but in Houthi ports, I can pay up to $15,000 for the same merchandise,” Majed Ahmed, who owns a small imports business, says.

Another importer, who preferred to remain anonymous for security concerns, says that what he pays at the port of Aden amounts to less than four percent of what he pays to the Houthi in customs.

According to Saleh, the Houthis are also waging a “war on the IRG’s economy,” employing various tactics such as launching drone attacks on IRG’s oil export ports in October 2022, boycotting gas purchases from Safer, Yemen's sole producer located in a government-controlled region, and obstructing the entry of products from government-controlled regions.

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Dario Sabaghi

Yemenis are suffering

The impact of all this is strongest on citizens, according to Abdul Karim Haydar, a humanitarian activist in Taiz, who describes the economic situation as “catastrophic”.

“I have been working for years with several local and international aid groups, but we still can’t help these families get the most basic of needs,” he explained, adding that hundreds of Yemeni families are now living in tents relying on only one meal a day.

“We have been seeing also a growing number of malnutrition cases owing to an ongoing food shortage that impacts the most vulnerable Yemenis.”

Citizens report a recent surge in taxes that came after the World Food Programme’s (WFP) decision in December 2023 to suspend its activities in Houthi-controlled pockets.


The impact of these rival economies has been most severe for Yemen's civilian population. [Getty]


In a press statement, the WFP announced the suspension of their food aid program due to insufficient funding and unsuccessful talks with the Houthis. The negotiations, which spanned nearly a year, sought to reduce the aid coverage from 9.5 million to 6.5 million people, but no agreement was reached.

“The rebel group has been exploiting humanitarian aid as a means to control the population and further boost its coffers,” says Qahtan.


The divisive monetary policies implemented by the Houthis led to an increase in prices across all of Yemen, as businesses, to generate profit from government-controlled areas to offset the burden of Houthi levies, imposed unified prices for their products and services, which many citizens say that they cannot afford.


"Restrictions imposed on imported commodities through newly established Houthi customs checkpoints, where tariffs are 1,000 times those collected in IRG ports, have led to significant price hikes for basic goods in a country where 90 percent of foodstuffs are imported"

Since the fall of Sana’a, Jameel Rajeh, a teacher and father of six, has been struggling to put food on the table.

“We used to pay less than YER 70,000, but now the rent went up to 80,000. We had to move to a small room, and it still wasn’t enough,” he said. “We eventually had to cut down to two meals a day.”

“The ban on exports from government-held regions has made everything worse. I work for 12 hours a day and I can’t get my family enough food or keep them warm,” Tawfiq Al-Sharbi, a resident of Sana'a, said, adding that the price of a gas cylinder, which used to be $5, now costs three times as much.

Hesham Al-Mahya is a veteran Yemeni journalist who has worked with several local online and print news outlets

This article is published in collaboration with Egab.

India not xenophobic, FM says after Biden remark

HINDUTVA ARE ISLAMOPHOBIC

India on Saturday decried remarks by US President Joe Biden earlier this week describing it as an “xenophobic” country that does not welcome immigrants.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
04 May, 2024

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar addresses a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on April 01, 2024 [Getty]


India is not xenophobic, the country's foreign minister has insisted, after comments by US President Joe Biden suggesting the South Asian nation and fellow ally Japan were struggling economically because they rejected immigrants.

Biden, who is seeking reelection against Republican rival Donald Trump in November, made the remarks at a campaign fundraising event in Washington this week.

Foreign minister S. Jaishankar told a media roundtable Friday that Biden's comments did not match India's reality.

"First of all, our economy is not faltering," he said, according to a report of the discussion published Saturday by the Economic Times newspaper.

"India has been a very unique country," he added. "I would say actually, in the history of the world, that it's been a society which has been very open... different people of different societies come to India."


India is one of the world's fastest-growing economies with annualised GDP growth of 8.4 percent in the December quarter, according to official data in February.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist government has been accused by critics of discriminating against Muslims, including through recently enacted reforms to India's citizenship law.

The amended law sparked huge protests when it was first passed by parliament in 2019 and finally enacted in March, with Amnesty International warning that it still risked being used as a tool, alongside a mooted National Register of Citizens, to deprive some Muslims of citizenship.

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The New Arab Staff

"There are people who publicly said on record that... a million Muslims will lose their citizenship in this country," Jaishankar said.

"Why are they not being held to account? Because nobody has lost citizenship."

'Unfortunate'

Biden had clubbed allies India and Japan in with rivals China and Russia in remarks intended as a defence of US immigration policy.

"Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan in trouble? Why is Russia in trouble? And India? Because they're xenophobic. They don't want immigrants," Biden had said at the Wednesday fundraiser.

Tokyo responded Saturday by saying it was "unfortunate that comments not based on an accurate understanding of Japan's policy were made".

Since taking office in 2021, Biden has strengthened ties with US allies in Asia, in particular India and Japan.


He has hosted state dinners at the White House for both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The White House has since had to downplay Biden's remarks.

The president was merely trying to send a broader message that "the United States is a nation of immigrants," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Biden clarifies xenophobia comments

May 05, 2024

Tasha Kheiriddin

United States President Joe Biden arrives prior to making a statement on Campus unrest from in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC on Thursday, May 2, 2024. 

 IMAGO/MediaPunch via Reuters Connect

On Friday and Saturday, India and Japan responded to President Joe Biden’s gaffe at a campaign fundraiser last week in which he called the two nations “xenophobic.”

The US governmentlater clarified that Biden’s comments meant to explain "that the US is a nation of immigrants and that immigrants make the US stronger” and did not have "the intent of undermining" the US-Japan relationship.

Still,Tokyo was not amused. Japan’s embassy in Washington said “the comments were not based on an accurate understanding of Japan's policies.”

New Delhi wasn’t impressed either. India’s Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said India was open to people “who have a claim to come to India” and highlighted its strong economy.

Having described the US-Japan alliance as "unbreakable" and noted India’s “democratic character” and “diversity” during a state visit last year, Biden’s latest comments contradict previous efforts to sweet-talk these key Indo-Pacific allies. But considering their common geopolitical interests, especially when it comes to China, Tokyo and New Delhi are unlikely to let the gaffe sour their relationship with Washington.

Tunisia's journalism students force university to cut ties with pro-Israel partner

IPSI's administration supported their students' demands and officially cancelled the agreement with KAS on Thursday, 2 May.


Basma El Atti
Rabat
03 May, 2024

From Africa to Australia, more universities around the world are protesting against the war in Gaza. [Getty]


Tunisian students have compelled a journalism institute to sever ties with a pro-Israel partner amidst rising pro-Palestine protests on campuses worldwide.

Last weekend, dozens of journalism students camped at Manouba's Institute of Press and Information Sciences (IPSI) to protest the establishment's partnership with the German Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS).

They named their camp after Sherine Abu Akleh — a journalist killed while on duty by the Israeli army in 2022 — vowing not to leave the university premises until all agreements with the 'pro-Zionist' KAS were revoked.



In October, the Stiftung office in Tel Aviv shared a message stating, "KAS stands with Israel. Germany stands with Israel," following the start of Israel's war on Gaza.

IPSI's administration supported their students' demands and officially cancelled the agreement with KAS on Thursday, 2 May.

"We, the staff and professors, share the same position. Since the beginning of this year, partnerships with organisations openly supporting Israel have been terminated," Hamida El Bour, director of IPSI, told a local radio station on Thursday.

Regarding the exams boycotted by students during the protests, El Bour promised to reschedule the exams, and new dates will be announced soon.

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"This demonstration is legitimate because it supports the Palestinian cause," added the head of IPSI.

In recent weeks, hundreds of students have demonstrated in Tunisian universities in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against Israel's war on Gaza, responding to a call from the country's two main student unions, the General Union of Tunisian Students (UGET) and the Tunisian General Union of Students (UGTE).

From Africa to Australia, more universities around the world are protesting against the war in Gaza, following the lead of US students who have organised several rallies to pressure their institutions to sever ties with Israel.

In seven months of the war, Israel killed at least 34,596 people in the Gaza Strip.

UK's Labour Party's Gaza war stance leads to local election losses

Labour saw losses where former Labour councillors stood as independents following a series of resignations in wake of the Israel-Gaza war.

The New Arab Staff
04 May, 2024


Israel's war on Gaza has been a controversial issue for Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer [GETTY]


The Labour Party's stance on the Gaza war has cost it seats at local council elections in England and Wales this week, following anger among supporters over the party leader's soft response to Israel's brutal offensive.

The left-wing opposition party lost seats in traditional Labour strongholds after several councillors defected earlier this year, dissatisfied with Sir Keir Starmer's support for Israel's "right to self-defence" in its war on Gaza, which has seen at least 34,622 Palestinians killed over seven months.

Votes were held across England and Wales on Thursday to elect local councillors and mayors, with results trickling in throughout Friday and Saturday.

Although Labour picked up 173 councillors and gained eight councils, it also saw losses where former Labour councillors stood as independents following a series of resignations in wake of Israel's military assault on Gaza.

Labour lost its majority in Oldham Council, which it had held since 2011, as independent candidates supportive of Palestine won five seats, leaving the council without a clear majority.

The party's majority had already been weakened after two defections there in April, as party supporters have felt dismayed by the leadership's inability to condemn Israel's offensive, which has triggered a major humanitarian crisis in the tiny enclave.

Senior Labour politician and shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper admitted that Gaza had become an issue for voters in the UK.

Speaking to Channel 4 news on Friday following the results, she said: "No doubt Gaza has been a factor in some council areas, and obviously in some council areas there have been other factors as well.

"In some areas we’ve had particular candidates campaign very strongly on that issue," she said.

"This is an issue where tens of thousands of people have died, including the majority of them women and children. So, rightly, people feel very strongly about this," Cooper said, in reference to Gaza.



"I think it's clear we need an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, it is devastating what’s happening we’re deeply worried about the risks that Israel may pursue a Rafah offensive which would be catastrophic in humanitarian terms that’s why an immediate ceasefire is so important," she added.

One painful episode for Labour occurred in Pendle Council, where the party lost all its seats after four councillors stood as independents. A similar scenario unfolded in Blackburn.

Labour politician Clive Betts said on Friday that his party had lost votes over its stance on Gaza.

“A lot of that was mistaken, on the belief that we hadn’t changed our position on Gaza from a few months ago, but once people take a view that we have got it wrong, it is very difficult to change their minds," the Sheffield Southeast MP said.

Many Labour supporters have been angered by Starmer's defence of Israel's war and failure to call for an outright ceasefire from the beginning.

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In a controversial interview with LBC radio in October, Starmer said that Israel had a right to cut off power and water supplies into Gaza.

"I’m very clear, Israel must have that right to defend herself," Starmer said.

When the presenter challenged him on whether that included cutting off power or water, the former lawyer said that he thought Israel did have the right to do that "within international law".

His comments received widespread backlash and prompted a spell of defections among councillors, who are responsible for governing local authorities.

In November, nine councillors in Blackburn announced resignations from the Labour Party in response to the Labour leadership’s stance over the war.

While Starmer did row back on his remarks, it came ten days later, which was regarded as too late for many supporters.


Over the course of the war, there has been a flurry of support for independent or alternative candidates, who are emphasising the war as a key campaign issue to attract disillusioned Labour voters.

Maverick political veteran and former Labour MP George Galloway won a by-election in a traditional Labour seat in northern England earlier this year in a campaign based on calling for a Gaza ceasefire.

There has also been concern that the party has lost support of Muslim communities over the topic.

Political pollster John Curtice told the BBC that Labour support is down eight points since last year in areas where more than 10 percent of the population are Muslim.

The local elections are largely seen as a forecast of what could play out in a general election expected in autumn this year.

Although the right-wing Conservatives are expected to lose power and a potentially record amount of seats after 13 years in office, Labour insiders are said to be concerned that Starmer's approach to the war could curtail Labour's gains.

Black people globally are demanding reparations. It's time politicians listen

The global fight for reparations is gaining steam, with Black communities uniting behind the cause, writes Richard Sudan.

Opinion
Voices
Richard Sudan
24 Apr, 2024

Only when the West confronts its legacy of slavery with reparations can Black communities around the world be truly free, writes Richard Sudan

 [photo credit: Getty Images]

The demand for reparations to atone for slavery and tackle the modern legacy of structural racism left in its wake is by no means a new campaign.

Following the murder of George Floyd, global Black Lives Matter protests have become more amplified and have energised the calls for justice.

But these rallying cries have been met with dismissal and inaction from a political class who are, quite simply, disconnected from reality.

"Slavery is not our history – it interrupted our history. Nor is it a politically partisan issue. It’s a feature of European development with a continual price paid by black people"

Our so-called leaders and countries have no difficulty in sending colossal sums of money to support war, apartheid, and genocide, yet sideline reparations for the descendants of captive Africans.

Western nations built by slavery are represented by governments who deliberately seek to delay the issue of reparations for perpetuity.

In the United States, for example, the HR40 bill which suggests studying reparations will likely never become law and has been stalled for decades.

The United Kingdom, the world's leading slave trading nation, is so far from acknowledging its true role in slavery that classrooms actually teach that Britain was the first country to end slavery in 1807. In fact, it was Ayiti (Haiti) in 1804.

Indeed, Britain’s industrial and scientific revolutions and development were only possible because of slavery and the underdevelopment of Africa.

Britain’s so-called greatness and empire were predicated on the subjugation of human beings with darker skin. Slavery was not merely a chapter in the UK’s development but the very fuel that underpinned it.

Despite the deliberate ignorance and lack of political will in countries like the US and the UK, nations bearing the scars of slavery are banding together to fight for justice

Earlier this month, a plan for an international tribunal — modelled on the Nuremberg Trials after World War Two — was discussed at the third session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) in Geneva.

The proposed reparations tribunal, aiming to establish a legal framework and build UN consensus, has garnered strong support from both CARICOM and AU nations.

"Black communties in every country enriched by slavery are still impacted by the shadow of the past"

Transatlantic slavery was the greatest crime in modern history. The black holocaust saw tens of millions of Africans uprooted from their homelands, and forced to build nations in which they’ve yet to be treated as equal citizens.

Reparations can help to tackle the entrenched economic disparities and can at least attempt to heal the ongoing intergenerational trauma created by slavery.

There are certainly challenges. But the agreement for an international tribunal is indicative of a growing conversation which will not go away so long as structural inequalities persist.


Caribbean nations, in particular, remain neo-colonially shackled by financial institutions like the World Bank and the IMF.

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Richard Sudan

But to be clear, black communties in every country enriched by slavery are still impacted by the shadow of the past.

We know all too well that racialised policing in the United States has its roots in slave patrols and that the US prison system is dubbed the new form of slavery for very good reason. Black people make up disproportionately high numbers in American jails and are often exploited for cheap labour, benefiting companies profiting from the private prison industry.

We can see, too, how black people are treated as less than human in Brazil, which accounts for the greatest number of enslaved Africans. There are many more examples we could highlight.

But our own families tell a tale too reminding us that slavery was not long ago, but yesterday in human terms. In fact, in my family, slavery was four people ago.

My Caribbean roots are Afro-Guyanese. My dad’s grandfather’s grandmother was born in 1832 before the end of emancipation in 1833. She was likely born as somebody’s property.

I have a picture of her, a black woman, with a Scottish surname, Chesney. James Chesney was a leading slave owner in Guyana. I may never know what my families’ African name was or where they came from. But I do know that Europeans captured and owned them. Their lives meant something.


"Africans, and black people of African descent, are saying no more and are demanding reparations. It’s not a handout but a debt that must be paid if European countries are to ever move forward in any meaningful way"

There has never been a moral counterargument to the notion of reparations. But both the left and the right have opposed it becoming a reality for different reasons.

Liberal hypocrites have supported justice for other communities including Jewish communties, Japanese Americans and Native Americans, but have offered near silence when it comes to black people. At best, they’ve offered ineffective anti-racism measures and might have argued for police reform in the form of holding a placard at a demonstration.

Right-wingers have openly and consistently expressed contempt for black people and have in some cases argued that slavery benefited black and African people culturally.


Slavery is not our history – it interrupted our history. Nor is it a politically partisan issue. It’s a feature of European development with a continual price paid by black people.



Africans, and black people of African descent, are saying no more and are demanding reparations. It’s not a handout but a debt that must be paid if European countries are to ever move forward in any meaningful way.

African and Caribbean nations moving toward a tribunal model of reparations to be taken to the UN is a good idea. This is what Malcolm X thought before he was killed.

It's also not a coincidence that African nations are kicking out the remaining European forces from their countries.

States within the United States considering reparations independently, rather than relying on the federal government, serves as another sign of shifting perspectives and expectations.

The Brattle Report from last year, which assessed that nations that benefited from slavery should pay reparations amounting to trillions of pounds – and laying out why – was another important step.

The Met Police's institutional racism is beyond reform

Voices

Richard Sudan

Communities demanding reparations are organising like never before. There is work to be done, but I believe reparations will become a reality. Black people are putting it firmly on the agenda, and there is increasing unity on this issue.

Even the Church has pledged £100 million pounds to begin righting the wrongs of the past.

Our governments need to read the room and support these calls. To not do so will come at a high political and social price, sooner rather than later.



Richard Sudan is a journalist and writer specialising in anti-racism and has reported on various human rights issues from around the world. His writing has been published by The Guardian, Independent, The Voice and many others.
Follow him on Twitter: @richardsudan

Google fired me for standing against tech complicity in Gaza genocide. But justice cannot be stopped

Google has fired employees for protesting ties to Israel beginning with Project Nimbus. One such employee, Mohammad Khatami, argues Google cannot stop justice

Mohammad Khatami
29 Apr, 2024

Protestors, including Google workers, gathered in front of Google's San Francisco offices demanding an end to its work with the Israeli government. [Getty]

The software engineering job offer I received from Google came at the perfect time.

I was in my senior year of college, lacking confidence and riddled with anxiety.

The email from Google in my inbox validated all the years I spent studying. The hard work I had put into sharpening my coding skills had paid off, and I felt elated.

When I started working at Google in August 2022, I remember sending my parents photos of the office and cherishing their amazement. I remember bringing friends in to try the food and to experience an office that was famous for feeling like a college campus. I loved seeing their smiles looking at the New York City Financial District skyline from the 14th-floor terrace.

Google is famous for being a 'worker-friendly' workplace combining forward-thinking engineering with free food, massages, and even nap pods. How wrong that all turned out to be.

A few months after I joined the company, my excitement about this job was shattered when I learned about Project Nimbus, Google’s and Amazon’s $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. The details of the agreement were deeply unsettling: massive cloud server clusters of vague purpose would be built within the borders of Israel, where indigenous Palestinians are subject to military occupation and apartheid rule, routinely persecuted, dehumanized, displaced, and killed in an ongoing, state-sponsored process of ethnic cleansing aided by high tech infrastructure.

Security and management of the clusters would be handed over to Palestine's occupier, potentially allowing the Israeli military free reign to use Google's technology however they wanted despite Google's repeated denials that are disputed even by Israel's military.

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Perspectives

Mona Shtaya

October 7 and the Gaza genocide

Worker dissent and public opinion objections to the deal were to be contractually ignored under the deal with Israel, despite clear evidence that the project would serve the goals of the Israeli military. To avoid criticism, Google would continuously deny the military nature of the contract for years even as Israel itself has said otherwise.

When Israel began its medieval siege against Gaza over 200 days ago, my fears about working for Google intensified. It quickly became clear that Israel intended to commit a genocide and was leveraging artificial intelligence to enable it.

To commit a massacre of this scale, data is as important as ammunition. The Israeli occupation boasts about the sophistication of its targeting systems, which are developed by training machine learning models on extensive data collected through invasive surveillance of Palestinians.

Israel prefers striking targets while individuals are in their family homes, tracking Palestinians using automated systems with depraved names like “Where’s Daddy.” Merely returning home exposes Palestinians and their families to risk. When questioned about their preference for using conventional bombs over precision-guided weapons that could minimize civilian casualties, the Israeli military stated that they do not see the value in expending expensive munitions on “unimportant people.”

In response to Israel’s crimes of genocide and collective punishment, Google has doubled down on their relationship with the Israeli military.

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In-depth

Hugo Goodridge

From search engine to the military industrial complex

As recently as a month ago, a Google contract proved direct services to the Israeli military, confirming that company leadership had been misleading workers for years regarding the military applications of Project Nimbus.

In other words, Google workers are expected to develop technology that can be evidently used to streamline Israel’s genocide, and we are expected to remain silent about it.

Once upon a time, Google’s slogan was “Don’t be evil.” They abandoned this motto in the last decade to transition into a glorified military contractor.

What appeared to be an incredible job from the outside now resembles a dystopian adult daycare centre to me. The reality of working at Google is that it is a place where a chipper attitude, a false veneer of liberalism, and a collection of inconsequential, constantly shifting projects, are fervently promoted by Google’s propaganda to obscure the company’s business model that seem to include profiting from no-questions-asked militarisation that can enable genocide.

With just a few public statements about how black lives matter, Google could pretend that it hadn’t - allegedly - made billions off of the destitution of black people in the Congo. With a tweet celebrating Indigenous People’s month, Google could unironically evade criticism for operating an office in Tel Aviv, a city built on the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Jaffa. Google mastered the song and dance of wokeness for the public, and internally, it keeps an iron grip on dissent.

For years, I and other Googlers with the No Tech for Apartheid campaign opposed Project Nimbus within the company. We shared petitions, sent internal memos, and submitted ethics reviews. In response, we were doxxed, harassed, silenced, ignored then ultimately fired in order to ensure that Google's profits in occupied Palestine and the global military industry remained unchallenged.

Many workers witnessed this repression, but company culture promotes fear and apathy over integrity. Google is two-faced. The colorful office, scooters, music rooms, and desserts all serve to distract from the backdrop of aggressive retaliation and a culture of fear. Google can only sustain profits from violence if it is able to ensure the complicity of its workers. And it is disheartening how some of the world’s brightest minds can be placated by comfort and used to increase wealth at the expense of human life.

But make no mistake; Google is destined to fail. Workers are waking up to the reality of their exploitation, and our ability to stand against the unethical use of our labour is only growing stronger. Abuse and oppression are unsustainable in the long term.

Today, on Wall Street, Google’s ticker symbol sits next to an upward green arrow—business has been prosperous for the profiteers of genocide. But workers play a critical role in the growing movement for liberation, and we will not forget Google’s complicity.

Justice will prevail.

Mohammad Khatami a former Google software engineer and organizer with NoTechForApartheid movement.

Follow him on TikTok