RIGHT WING REACTIONRY REVANCHISTS

Albania opposition holds massive anti-government protest

Author

POSTED BYadmin
PUBLISHED  11/07/2024


Tirana, 11 July 2024, dtt-net.com – Thousands protested today against the government of the Prime Minister Edi Rama in a protest called by the opposition which is seeking a technical government ahead of 2025 regular parliamentary elections, accusing the head of the government and officials of corruption, links with organized crime and failure in socio-economic front.

Albanian anti-government protesters hurl petrol bombs and scuffle with police

Euractiv.com with Reuters
Jul 11, 2024 

Police officers stand guard after protesters throw molotov cocktails during a rally against the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, in Tirana, Albania, 19 April 2024. 

[EPA-EFE/MALTON DIBRA]

Opposition protesters pelted Albania’s government building and a mayor’s office with petrol bombs late on Thursday (11 July), accusing Prime Minister Edi Rama of corruption and demanding his resignation.

Thousands of opposition supporters gathered in front of Rama’s office and later at the office of Tirana’s mayor who is also from Rama’s Socialist Party.





Police did not intervene but did extinguish fires from the petrol bombs which endangered a few officers. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Protesters also asked for release of opposition leader Sali Berisha who has been held under house arrest and investigated for alleged corruption while serving as prime minister between 2005-2013. He is currently also sanctioned by the US and the UK for corruption.

Berisha has denied wrongdoing, accusing Rama of a political vendetta meant to silence opponents. Rama made no comment but has denied this charge repeatedly.

Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to file formal charges against Berisha.

“Albania is the only country in Europe with its opposition leader under political arrest without any facts, evidence or documents,” Berisha said via a video link from his house arrest.

“Edi Rama wants an Albania without Albanians, without opposition and without justice.”

Berisha has called for supporters to engage in civil disobedience to force the government to hold snap elections.

Rama has held power since 2013 and has won all parliamentary and local elections since then. Albania is officially a candidate to join the EU.

ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION

Albania: Protests against the government escalate

News

12.07.2024

Molotov cocktails were thrown at the prime minister's official residence in Tirana. 

(Image: AFP)

Thousands of people took to the streets in the Albanian capital Tirana on Thursday to protest against Prime Minister Edi Rama. Opponents of the government accused Rama of corruption and demanded his resignation. Angry demonstrators threw incendiary devices at the Albanian government building and the office of a mayor who belongs to Rama's Socialist Party. The fires were extinguished, but there are no reports of injuries for the time being.

Opponents of the government are demanding the release of former Prime Minister Sali Berisha. The opposition leader is under house arrest on suspicion of corruption.

"Political arrest without any facts"
"Albania is the only country in Europe where the opposition leader is under political arrest without any facts or evidence," said Berisha via video link. "Edi Rama wants an Albania without Albanians, without opposition and without justice."

+1

PHOTOS

The public prosecutor's office has not yet decided whether to bring formal charges against Berisha. Berisha denies all accusations and accuses Rama of revenge in order to silence opponents. Rama, for his part, denies the accusations.

Call to protest
Berisha had called on his supporters to engage in civil disobedience in order to force the government to hold new elections. Edi Rama has been in power since 2013 and has won all parliamentary and local elections since then.

The media at the opposition protest: 

The  country needs a technical 

government

Ditari i Opozitës
POLITIKO

2024-07-11 


Sali Berisha's allies joined this evening in the Boulevard protesting, together with Ilir Meta and other figures of the Freedom Party.

One of the allies, the head of the Republican Party, Fatmir Mediu, has told A2 CNN that the opposition has protested today not only for its cause, but for the cause of the Albanians.

"It is not the opposition's cause, it is the Albanians' cause. We live in a government that knows neither the constitution nor the law. Albanian citizens are denied the opportunity to vote as free people. The economy is headed for ruin. Leaving young people a wound. The majority has an arrogance in its behavior ..."

Asked if he believes that Prime Minister Edi Rama will guarantee the technical government that the opposition is looking for, Mediu said that the duty of the opposition is to raise society in protests like today's, and to make it clear to the international community that the country a technical government is needed to prepare the elections.

As for the situation within the opposition itself, Mediu said that the latter is led by Albanians and that everyone's contribution is needed.

" The task of Berisha and others is to be with the opposition and the Albanians to build this qualitative government... The message of a new government with a new concept and new qualities."

Thousands Protest Amid Corruption Allegations Against Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama

Opposition protesters in Albania threw petrol bombs at government buildings, accusing Prime Minister Edi Rama of corruption and demanding his resignation. They also called for the release of opposition leader Sali Berisha, held under house arrest. No injuries were reported, and police extinguished the fires.

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Devdiscourse News Desk | Tirana | Updated: 12-07-2024\

Edi Rama

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Opposition protesters in Albania escalated their discontent on Thursday night by pelting government buildings and a mayor's office with petrol bombs. The demonstrators accused Prime Minister Edi Rama of corruption and demanded his immediate resignation.

Thousands of opposition supporters congregated near Rama's office before moving on to the mayor's premises in Tirana, who is also part of Rama's Socialist Party. Police refrained from intervening but focused on extinguishing the fires, which posed dangers to several officers. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.

The protesters also voiced demands for the release of opposition leader Sali Berisha, currently under house arrest and investigation for alleged corruption during his term as Prime Minister from 2005-2013. Berisha has denied any wrongdoing, accusing Rama of engaging in a political vendetta to silence opponents. Rama has repeatedly denied these allegations, and prosecutors have yet to file formal charges against Berisha. Berisha, appearing via video from his house arrest, called on supporters to undertake civil disobedience to force the government into holding snap elections.

 

Growing Or Shrinking? What The Latest Trends Tell Us About The World’s Population 

WE NEED GLOBAL FAMILY PLANNING

Friday, 12 July 2024
Press Release: UN News

The global population reached nearly 8.2 billion by mid-2024 and is expected to grow by another two billion over the next 60 years, peaking at around 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s.

It will then fall to around 10.2 billion, which is 700 million lower than expected a decade ago. That’s just one of the key findings revealed in Thursday’s World Population Prospects 2024 report published by the UN Thursday.

However, changes in global population are uneven and the demographic landscape is evolving, with rapid population growth in some places and rapid ageing in others, making reliable population data “more important than ever”, said the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA), heralding the report which is published to coincide with World Population Day.

The report “must be used to reach and respond to the needs of those who have been left behind,” the agency added.

‘Everyone counts’

Marking the international day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it was key to accurately count everyone “because everyone counts.”

“Our rich human tapestry is only as strong as its weakest thread. When data and other systems work for those on the margins, they work for everyone. This is how we accelerate progress for all.”

To study this population data more closely, the 28th edition of World Population Prospects (WPP) published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) since 1951, provides the latest demographic data for 237 countries from 1950 to 2024 and projections up to the year 2100.

The WPP is crucial to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals, with about a quarter of the indicators relying on its data.

Lower fertility, an ageing population

The world’s overall fertility rates are dropping, with women having one child fewer on average than they did around 1990.

In more than half of all countries and areas, the average number of live births per woman is below 2.1 - the level required for a population to maintain a constant size.

Meanwhile, nearly a fifth of all countries and areas, including China, Italy, the Republic of Korea and Spain, now have “ultra-low fertility”, with fewer than 1.4 live births per woman over a lifetime.

Reaching the peak

As of 2024, population size has peaked in 63 countries and areas, including China, Germany, Japan and the Russian Federation, and the total population of this group is projected to decline by 14 per cent over the next thirty years.

The average age of the population of the world is also increasing.

By the late 2070s, the number of persons 65 years or older is projected to surpass the number of persons under 18.

This is in part due to the overall increase in life expectancy and decrease in mortality rates over the past three decades. By the late 2050s, more than half of all global deaths will occur at age 80 or higher, a substantial increase from 17 per cent in 1995.

Rapid growth

While the slow growth or decline of populations is occurring mainly in high-income countries, rapid population growth will occur in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.

Specifically, Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, and Somalia, very rapid growth is projected, with their total population doubling between 2024 and 2054.

This population growth will increase demand for resources, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and, combined with poorly managed urbanisation and rising living standards, it will worsen environmental impacts.

Climate change, a major challenge, affects these countries the most, where many rely on agriculture - and food insecurity is prevalent.

In countries including India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and the United States, population is also expected to increase through 2054 and could potentially peak in the second half of the century or later.

Reproductive health

Central to population and development is the “recognition that women’s sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights are cornerstones of sustainable development,” said Secretary-General Guterres.

Particularly in low-income countries, early pregnancies remain a challenge.

In 2024, 4.7 million babies, or about 3.5 per cent of the total worldwide, were born to mothers under the age of 18.

Of these, some 340,000 were born to children under 15, with serious consequences for the health and well-being of both the young mothers and their children.

Investing in the education of young people, especially girls - and increasing the ages of marriage and first childbearing in countries where these have an early onset - will have positive outcomes for women’s health, educational attainment and labour force participation, according to WPP data.

These efforts will also contribute to reducing the scale of the investments required to achieve sustainable development while ensuring that no one is left behind.

© Scoop Media

Growing or shrinking? What the latest trends tell us about the world’s population

The global population reached nearly 8.2 billion by mid-2024 and is expected to grow by another two billion over the next 60 years, peaking at around 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s.

JULY 11, 2024

photo: Unsplash

The global population reached nearly 8.2 billion by mid-2024 and is expected to grow by another two billion over the next 60 years, peaking at around 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s.It will then fall to around 10.2 billion, which is 700 million lower than expected a decade ago. That’s just one of the key findings revealed in Thursday’s World Population Prospects 2024 report published by the UN Thursday.

However, changes in global population are uneven and the demographic landscape is evolving, with rapid population growth in some places and rapid ageing in others, making reliable population data “more important than ever”, said the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA), heralding the report which is published to coincide with World Population Day.

The report “must be used to reach and respond to the needs of those who have been left behind,” the agency added.

‘Everyone counts’

Marking the international day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it was key to accurately count everyone “because everyone counts.”

“Our rich human tapestry is only as strong as its weakest thread. When data and other systems work for those on the margins, they work for everyone. This is how we accelerate progress for all.”

To study this population data more closely, the 28th edition of World Population Prospects (WPP) published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) since 1951, provides the latest demographic data for 237 countries from 1950 to 2024 and projections up to the year 2100.

The WPP is crucial to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals, with about a quarter of the indicators relying on its data.

Lower fertility, an ageing population

The world’s overall fertility rates are dropping, with women having one child fewer on average than they did around 1990.

In more than half of all countries and areas, the average number of live births per woman is below 2.1 – the level required for a population to maintain a constant size.

Meanwhile, nearly a fifth of all countries and areas, including China, Italy, the Republic of Korea and Spain, now have “ultra-low fertility”, with fewer than 1.4 live births per woman over a lifetime.

Reaching the peak

As of 2024, population size has peaked in 63 countries and areas, including China, Germany, Japan and the Russian Federation, and the total population of this group is projected to decline by 14 per cent over the next thirty years.

The average age of the population of the world is also increasing.

By the late 2070s, the number of persons 65 years or older is projected to surpass the number of persons under 18.

This is in part due to the overall increase in life expectancy and decrease in mortality rates over the past three decades. By the late 2050s, more than half of all global deaths will occur at age 80 or higher, a substantial increase from 17 per cent in 1995.

Rapid growth

While the slow growth or decline of populations is occurring mainly in high-income countries, rapid population growth will occur in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.

Specifically, Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, and Somalia, very rapid growth is projected, with their total population doubling between 2024 and 2054.

This population growth will increase demand for resources, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and, combined with poorly managed urbanisation and rising living standards, it will worsen environmental impacts.

Climate change, a major challenge, affects these countries the most, where many rely on agriculture – and food insecurity is prevalent.

In countries including India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and the United States, population is also expected to increase through 2054 and could potentially peak in the second half of the century or later.

Reproductive health

Central to population and development is the “recognition that women’s sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights are cornerstones of sustainable development,” said Secretary-General Guterres.

Particularly in low-income countries, early pregnancies remain a challenge.

In 2024, 4.7 million babies, or about 3.5 per cent of the total worldwide, were born to mothers under the age of 18.

Of these, some 340,000 were born to children under 15, with serious consequences for the health and well-being of both the young mothers and their children.

Investing in the education of young people, especially girls – and increasing the ages of marriage and first childbearing in countries where these have an early onset – will have positive outcomes for women’s health, educational attainment and labour force participation, according to WPP data.

These efforts will also contribute to reducing the scale of the investments required to achieve sustainable development while ensuring that no one is left behind.

Delta Airlines apologizes for post criticizing flight attendants wearing Palestinian flag pins

'We strive for an environment of inclusivity & respect for all, in our communities & our planes,' says US company

Darren Lyn |12.07.2024 -


HOUSTON, United States

Delta Airlines on Thursday apologized to its customers after one of its employees used the company's social media account to reply to a post showing two flight attendants wearing Palestinian flag pins with the response, "I'd be terrified as well."

Delta said in a statement that it had removed what the airline called "a mistakenly posted comment on X Tuesday," but the controversial post and its reply remain on the company's replies section on the X social media platform with many users condemning its anti-Palestinian connotation.

"On Wednesday, we removed a reply that was not in line with our values," Delta posted Thursday on X. "We strive for an environment of inclusivity & respect for all, in our communities & our planes."

The original post made by a user included two photos showing Delta flight attendants wearing Palestinian flag pins and equated the Palestinian flag to being in line with Hamas.

"Now imagine getting into a @Delta flight and seeing workers with Hamas badges in the air. What do you do?" posted @iliketeslas.

The Delta employee replied to the post agreeing with the X user.

"I hear you and I'd be terrified as well, personally," the employee posted. "Our employees reflect our culture and we do not take it lightly when our policy is not being followed."

Customers responded on X condemning the anti-Palestinian post and reply, even threatening a boycott of the airline.

"Here's @Delta endorsing the campaign of deranged, genocidal hate site ("stopantisemites") targeting its employees," posted user @elivalley.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves!!" said user @truthtroll_X. "I will NEVER fly delta again."

In response to the backlash, Delta announced that it had taken action against the worker who posted the anti-Palestinian reply.

"The employee responsible no longer supports Delta's social channels," Delta continued in its statement. "We apologize for this hurtful post."

Anadolu spoke with a Delta media relations representative to find out if that person has been reprimanded, suspended or fired, but the company has not yet responded to our inquiry.

Delta said it is also investigating the pins being worn by the flight attendants regarding its policies on freedom of expression.

The airline declined to specify where the pictures of the flight attendants were taken, but said the photos were taken on separate flights on different days.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which originally condemned the racist post, on Thursday responded via X to the apology issued by Delta.

"We welcome this apology and hope it sends a message to those who continue to dehumanize the Palestinian people as they face genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced starvation imposed by the far-right Israeli government, and enabled by the Biden admin."

Marathon Oil reaches $241m settlement with EPA for air quality violations in North Dakota

US government says settlement will result in more than 2.3 millions tonnes worth of pollution reduction

Associated Press
11 July, 2024

The federal government announced a $241.5 million settlement with Marathon Oil on Thursday for alleged air quality violations at the company's oil and gas operations on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in the US state of North Dakota.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice said the settlement requires Marathon to reduce climate- and health-harming emissions from those facilities and will result in more than 2.3 millions tonnes worth of pollution reduction.

“This historic settlement – the largest ever civil penalty for violations of the Clean Air Act at stationary sources – will ensure cleaner air for the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and other communities in North Dakota, while holding Marathon accountable for its illegal pollution,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Marathon officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Houston-based Marathon operates 169 well pads in North Dakota, where the company extracts oil and natural gas.

A proposed consent decree for enacting the settlement says the company does not admit any liability over the allegations, but that the two sides agree it will avoid litigation and serve the public interest.

A representative for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation based at the Fort Berthold Reservation did not immediately respond to a request for comment either.

While Marathon is the country's 22nd-largest oil producer based on 2022 data, the federal agencies said, it's also the seventh-largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas industry.

Much of its emissions come from flaring, the industry practice of burning waste gases, including methane, which the EPA says is 25 times more potent of a contributor to climate change than carbon dioxide.

While flaring burns off methane and other pollutants, it is not completely efficient, so significant quantities still get released into the atmosphere, which the agencies said can have health impacts on nearby communities.

The settlement is part of an EPA climate change enforcement initiative that focuses in part on reducing methane emissions from oil and gas production and from landfills.

It calls for Marathon to eliminate the equivalent of over 2.25 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the next five years, which the agencies said was tantamount to taking 487,000 cars off the road for one year, and will also eliminate nearly 110,000 tonnes of volatile organic compound emissions, which contribute to asthma and other respiratory diseases.

“This settlement is a major win for the health and future of our tribal communities, including people and families who are often overburdened by pollution,” said KC Becker, the EPA's regional administrator.

“As a result of the agreement, Marathon has and will continue to take comprehensive measures to come into compliance and reduce harmful emissions across hundreds of production sources.

“These investments will improve air quality and reduce respiratory illnesses across the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and western North Dakota.”

The agencies said the case is the first of its kind against an oil and gas producer for “violations of major source emissions permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration programme”.

They also said the $64.5 million civil penalty Marathon must pay is the largest-ever penalty imposed for “stationary source violations”, which include facilities such as oil and gas tank systems.

 

US unveils $1.7 bn boost to electric vehicle manufacturing

By

 AFP   JULY 11,2024

US President Joe Biden’s administration said Thursday it is issuing $1.7 billion in grants to help expand or revive auto facilities for making electric vehicles and parts — including in election battlegrounds Michigan and Georgia.

The funds will go towards converting 11 shuttered or at-risk facilities in eight states, covering another battleground Pennsylvania, and others like Ohio, Illinois and Indiana.

The aim is to help them retrofit to make EVs and officials said the investment — paid for by the Inflation Reduction Act — will save 15,000 jobs.

“This investment will create thousands of good-paying, union manufacturing jobs and retain even more — from Lansing, Michigan to Fort Valley, Georgia –- by helping auto companies retool, reboot, and rehire in the same factories and communities,” said Biden in a statement.

The announcement comes as Biden, 81, battles calls to end his reelection bid after a disastrous debate performance against Republican Donald Trump last month.

It is also the latest Biden administration effort to support US industries in the face of competition from China. 

US leaders in recent months have warned that excess industrial capacity in the world’s second largest economy could bring a flood of low priced goods to the market, potentially hurting budding clean energy industries elsewhere. 

Washington also announced sharp tariff hikes on Chinese imports earlier this year, including on EVs.

“There is nothing harder to a manufacturing community than to lose jobs to foreign competition and a changing industry,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.

She noted that the grants will help to “ensure that our automotive industry stays competitive,” saying that the sector needs a federal partner when competing with other countries who subsidize their auto industries.

Beneficiaries include automakers like General Motors, Fiat-Chrysler and Volvo.

 West Virginia, Idaho asking Supreme Court to review rulings allowing transgender athletes to compete

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey presents opening arguments during a trial, April 4, 2022, in Charleston, W.Va. On Thursday, July 11, 2024, Morrisey announced that the state is appealing a case to the U.S. Supreme Court over a transgender middle school athlete's right to compete. (Kenny Kemp/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP, File)

By Leah Willingham, The Associated Press
Posted July 11, 2024


CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia and Idaho are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review rulings that blocked the enforcement of state laws prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in sports.

“If the Supreme Court takes this up, it will determine the fate of women’s sports across the entire country for many years to come,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Thursday at a briefing with reporters at the state Capitol in Charleston.

It’s unclear when the high court would decide whether to take up the cases, which were filed separately Thursday and involve transgender athletes who hoped to compete on female-designated teams at the K-12 and college level, respectively.

In the West Virginia case, a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled 2-1 in April that the state’s transgender sports ban violated Becky Pepper-Jackson’s rights under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools. Jackson, 14, has been taking puberty-blocking medication and publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade.

West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice signed the law into effect in 2021.

Idaho in 2020 became the first state in the nation to ban transgender women and girls from playing on women’s sports teams sponsored by public schools, colleges and universities. The American Civil Liberties Union and the women’s rights group Legal Voice sued Idaho on behalf of Lindsay Hecox, who hoped to run for Boise State University.

A Boise-area high school athlete who is not transgender is also a plaintiff in the case because she fears the law could force her to undergo invasive tests to prove her biological sex if someone questions her gender.

In August 2023, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld an injunction blocking the law while the lawsuit moves forward.

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said Thursday activists working against the law are “pushing a radical social agenda that sidelines women and girls in their own sports.”

“Idaho is committed to ensuring that women and girls get a fair shot on and off the field,” Labrador said in a statement.

Morrisey said his office had been working closely with Labrador in filing the states’ petitions.

“We think the combination of these cases provides a tremendous vehicle for the U.S. Supreme Court to act,” he said.

Sports participation is one of the main fronts in legislative and legal battles in recent years over the role of transgender people in U.S. public life. Most Republican-controlled states have passed restrictions on participation, as well as bans on gender-affirming health care for minors. Several have also restricted which bathrooms and locker rooms transgender people can use, particularly in schools.

West Virginia and Idaho are two of at least 24 states with a law on the books barring transgender women and girls from competing in certain women’s or girls sports competitions.

“This is a case about fair play,” Morrisey said. “It’s plain common sense, and we need the Supreme Court to weigh in and do the right thing.”

The ACLU, the ACLU of West Virginia, Lambda Legal and Cooley Law Firm released a joint statement in response.

“As the Fourth Circuit made abundantly clear, our client deserves the opportunity to participate in sports teams without discrimination,” Pepper-Jackson’s legal team said. “We will make our position clear to the Court and continue to defend the right of all students to play as who they are.”

Leah Willingham, The Associated Press

London Trans+ Pride will march for liberation for all

It comes on the same day that Nazi Tommy Robinson plans to march

At London Trans+ Pride last year (Picture: Guy Smallman)

The sixth London Trans+ Pride, set for Saturday 27 July, calls for justice and liberation under the slogan, “None of us are free until all of us are free.”

Trans+ Pride was due to meet at Trafalgar Square. But organisers have moved the start point after Nazi Tommy Robinson announced his hate march will also depart from the location on the same day.

London Trans+ Pride will instead assemble at Langham Place, near the BBC, then march down Regent Street and Piccadilly to Wellington Arch.

Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) has called a counter-protest against Robinson, and many anti-fascists plan to join London Trans+ Pride afterwards.

The previous London Trans+ Prides—a radical alternative to the corporatised London Pride—have been a show of resistance to the Tories’ attacks. Marchers celebrate gender expression and sexuality while defying the relentless hate from the top. They have grown each year, with 25,000 people marching in 2023.

On recent trans+ prides trade unionists have also organised a bloc—their presence is vital to make sure unions commit to supporting trans+ people. The bloc also shows that fighting against oppression and for liberation is a working class issue.

The Tories’ scapegoating of trans+ people has had a violent reality with hate crimes rising by 11 percent in 2023—hitting a record high. This has given confidence to thugs like Robinson to organise their fascist rallies at the same time as pride.

Robinson and Nazis like him are the enemy of trans+ people, as well as other minorities who have been the target of attacks, from Muslims to migrants.

His supporters beat up a trans woman at an anti-racist protest in Cheshire in 2019. And Robinson himself believes “there are only two genders” and endorses any who attack trans+ people.

His mates like Laurence Fox—who shared the stage at his last rally—called Pride month an “indoctrination” of children. Fox regularly calls drag queen paedophiles and trans+ healthcare “child mutilation”.

Now, in the first month of a Labour government, it’s even more important that this year’s pride is the biggest yet.

Keir Starmer’s government is no friend to trans+ people—and he won’t stop the likes of Robinson from growing in confidence. Health secretary Wes Streeting has said Labour would “modernise and reform” gender laws. But Labour will not remove the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Labour also plans to implement the backwards Cass review that effectively bans healthcare for trans+ youth.

Days after the hated Cass Review was released, Streeting immediately said he was wrong to “write off” gender-critical bigots. And, after “self-criticism and reflection”, he said he was wrong to have previously agreed that “trans men are men, trans women are women”.

Starmer himself said he would not reverse the Tories’ education ban that blocks schools from even mentioning transgender people or identities. “I’m not in favour of ideology being taught in our schools on gender,” he said. He also “hopes” to meet with vicious transphobes like JK Rowling.

Asked this year whether trans people should have access to single-sex spaces Starmer said, “No. They don’t have that right. They shouldn’t.”

These attacks and rollbacks only encourage fascists and bigots to spread their bile and violence.

Anti-racists, LGBT+ activists and trade unionists must mobilise for 27 July. Fascists cannot be allowed to intimidate trans+ people in the streets—or anywhere else. And activists have to demand more of the Labour government in the face of rising hate.Unite against Tommy Robinson on 27 July, assemble at Russell Square 12pm to march to Trafalgar Square WC1B. Called by Stand Up To Racism. More details can be found at standuptoracism.org.uk

Gather for London Trans+ Pride at 1pm at Langham Place outside the BBC, W1A 1AA to march at 2pm. Donate to London Trans+ Pride

 

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH GAY ANTI NAZI ACTIVIST & SWP MEMBER:

Tom Robinson Band - TRB Power in the Darkness, "Live Oxford 1978" Too Good To Be True Documentary

TOM ROBINSON BAND 2022 JAPAN

Tom Robinson Band - Power In The Darkness - 05/10/2023

a superb lyrically modified version of the song, more appropriate to the current age of cronyism & corruption, performed live at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London as support to The Undertones

Fresh wave of strikes threatened to close Scottish schools after summer holidays

By Calum Ross
Published 11th Jul 2024

The move comes amid the threat of a strike by bin collectors

A fresh wave of strike action by council workers could close schools and nurseries across Scotland just a few weeks into the new term.

Unison, the nation’s largest public sector union, said it had written to all local authorities in Scotland to inform them strike ballots will be issued to more than 38,000 workers in schools, early years and family centres.

It comes amid the latest dispute over pay, and could lead to walkouts across Scotland in early September.

Industrial action involving non-teaching staff such as janitors and catering workers previously caused disruption at schools and nurseries last year, until a pay deal was reached in November.

Unison is already balloting waste, recycling and street-cleaning staff, in a vote closing on Wednesday next week.

Bin collectors from both the GMB and Unite unions have voted for strike action after rejecting a pay offer, threatening a repeat of scenes which saw rubbish pile up during the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022. It is part of a wider pay dispute affecting all council workers in Scotland.

Unison said council umbrella body Cosla had made a two-stage offer, which would operate over an 18-month period. This would give a 2.2 per cent increase for the first six months and an additional 2 per cent for the subsequent 12 months, until September next year.

Colette Hunter, the union’s local government committee chair, said: “Cosla’s lack of engagement on pay is bitterly disappointing.

“Local government workers firmly rejected Cosla’s offer in a consultation earlier in the year. There should have been talks way before now. It doesn’t show any great desire to resolve this dispute.

“Local government workers were due a pay rise at the beginning of April and are becoming increasingly disillusioned. They feel undervalued, and the delays will do nothing to fix the recruitment and retention issues we have within local government.”

David O’Connor, Unison’s lead for local government, said: “No one wants to take strike action. It’s always a last resort.

“Cosla’s proposal falls short of Unison’s pay claim. It’s also less than the offer made to the lowest-paid local government staff south of the border.

“Workers are simply asking for a pay deal that addresses below-inflation pay settlements, which have reduced the value of staff wages by a quarter over the past 14 years. Council workers deserve to be paid wages reflecting their essential roles.”

Last year, industrial action had led to walkouts and school closures in multiple council areas between September and early November.

Teaching unions are also thought to be moving closer to a ballot on industrial action, after rejecting recent pay offers.

Scottish Labour education spokesperson Pam Duncan-Glancy said: “Education in Scotland is set to be plunged into yet more chaos if the SNP fail to prevent strike action.

“These dedicated frontline staff work tirelessly to give children in Scotland the best possible start in life – they deserve a fair deal.

“The SNP must stop dodging responsibility and work with councils and trade unions to negotiate a fair deal and prevent strikes.” Cosla has been approached for comment.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Local government pay negotiations are a matter for local authorities as employers and unions – the Scottish Government has no formal role.

“While we respect workers’ rights, no one’s interests are served by industrial action, which will harm communities and people. The Scottish Government urges all parties involved to work together constructively and reach an agreement which is fair for the workforce and affordable for employers.”

UK
Starmer’s Labour promises cash for generals, poverty for children

Keir Starmer deliberately refused to promise abolishing the two-child benefit cap

How many Labour MPs will rebel against the government over the child benefit cap? (Picture: Keir Starmer on Twitter/X)

By Charlie Kimber
Thursday 11 July 2024

SOCIALIST WORKER

The government’s two-child benefit limit hit more than 1.6 million children this year. That’s an increase of 8.5 percent over the past year, emphasising why Labour is wrong not to scrap the limit.

The policy restricts child welfare payments to the first two children in most families. It means families, with a third or more child born after April 2017 miss out on up to £3,500 per year per child. That means deeper poverty.

The limit is a product of the vile Tory idea that the poor are to blame for their hardship because they are over-breeding beyond “normal” limits.

Senior figures from children’s charities and even the Church of England called for the policy to be scrapped following the publication of the new figures.

“We know that the two-child limit is a failing policy that actively pushes families into poverty,” said Joseph Howes, chair of the End Child Poverty group. He added that scrapping the policy would move “the needle on child poverty overnight”.

Charity Save The Children said it is an “outrage” that so many youngsters are affected and called for immediate action.

The limit is supposedly justified because it means families on benefits are “‘forced to face the same financial choices as those in work”, as the Tories used to say. But data released last month showed that 81 percent of two-parent families affected by the limit have at least one working parent.

Rosie is a single mother of three children, whose benefit payments are reduced by this policy. She said, “We often hear that the two-child limit is a necessary policy, because it ensures that families like mine have to make the same financial choices as families who are in work.

“Yet I work, and still this cap is applied to my benefit payments. I am a single parent. There will only ever be one salary coming into my home, and still the cap is applied to my benefit payments.”

To show how “tough” it is—towards the poor—Keir Starmer deliberately refused during the election campaign that his government would abolish the limit. He said he would not make “unfunded” spending commitments.

But Starmer has already said he will set out a “road map” to extra spending on the military—an early “unfunded” present to the generals and imperialist allies.

With Labour there’s cash for guns and missiles, but not to draw hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.

Labour committed in its manifesto to a review of the Universal Credit welfare system. But it has not guaranteed it will abolish a policy that deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said in 2020 was “obscene and inhumane”.

Torsten Bell, the former director of the Resolution Foundation, was elected as a Labour MP this month. He described the policy as “immoral” this April, arguing that it came close to creating “a poverty guarantee”.

Removing the two-child cap would cost £3.4 billion a year, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank. That’s small change in overall terms.

A 2 percent wealth tax on assets over £10 million could generate nearly £24 billion a year and affect just 0.04 percent of the population.

Some Labour MPs say they will move an amendment removing the limit to the King’s Speech which is scheduled for Wednesday next week.

It will be an early test for the government and every MP. But the key is campaigning from below. Every union leader should be telling Labour to scrap the limit immediately as part of a strategy of fighting Starmer from day one.

Who does the two-child limit hit?

By the end of the parliament in 2029 more than half of children in large families will be living in relative poverty, defined as 60 percent of average household income.

The Resolution Foundation think-tank projects that 750,000 families will be affected by 2035, when all children in families of three or more will be captured by the policy.

A fifth all households impacted by the two-child limit are families with at least one disabled child, that is just over 87,500 households.

A quarter of all families impacted by the two-child limit are single-parent households, with a child under three.

The limit disproportionately hits black and Asian families.

‘More than 186,000 dead’ in Gaza: How credible are the estimates published on The Lancet?

According to a "letter" published on the website of the British medical journal The Lancet, "186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza". This is a significantly higher death toll than the 38,345 announced by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry on Thursday. FRANCE 24 takes a look at how the authors arrived at this estimate and whether their figure is credible.
 

Gazans displaced by the Israeli offensive, photographed in the town of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip on July 4, 2024. © Jehad Alshrafi, AP

By: Marc DAOU

Issued on: 11/07/2024 -

According to a "letter" published on July 5 on the website of the renowned British medical journal The Lancet entitled "Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential", "it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza".

Based on "the 2022 Gaza Strip population estimate of 2,375,259, this would translate to 7.9% of the total population in the Gaza Strip", write the co-authors of this letter published in the "correspondence" section of the website.

These figures are significantly higher than the death toll of 38,345 announced on Thursday July 11 by the Gaza Health Ministry, which has been publishing daily figures since the start of Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the besieged Palestinian territory, in response to the Islamist militant group’s October 7 attack on Israeli soil.
Direct and indirect deaths

This letter was co-written by Rasha Khatib, researcher at the US-based Advocate Aurora Research Institute and the Institute of Community and Public Health at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank, Martin McKee, professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and member of the International Advisory Committee of the Israel National Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research, and Salim Yusuf, distinguished professor of medicine at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences in Canada. Despite it not being either a report or scientific study, this letter, which includes an estimated number of direct and indirect deaths as a result of this conflict, has made global headlines.

The Lancet explains that correspondence or "letters" are "reflections" from readers on "content published in The Lancet or on other topics of interest to our readers" that are "not usually peer reviewed". Peer review is the standard method for validating the results of scientific research, carried out by qualified experts.

In concrete terms, the co-authors write that they started from the principle that "armed conflicts have indirect health implications beyond the direct harm from violence" to arrive at the death toll of 186,000. They therefore applied a "conservative estimate" of four indirect deaths per one direct death, basing their calculation on the figure of 37,396 deaths recorded on June 19 by the Gaza Health Ministry – the Palestinian territory has been run by the militant group Hamas since its June 2007 coup. It is difficult to gather accurate figures, write the co-authors, due to the difficulties encountered in carrying out daily assessments on the ground.

To arrive at their estimate of "four indirect deaths per one direct death", the co-authors relied on a report published by the Secretariat of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development in 2008. The document states that in areas where there is armed conflict "studies show that between three and 15 times as many people die indirectly for every person who dies violently". However, the letter’s signatories did not say why they chose four for their "conservative estimate". In line with the controversy surrounding the death toll in Gaza, the letter provoked a flood of reactions online.

On the one hand, the letter has been widely accused of being biased, as it relies on a questionable calculation method and hypothetical estimates. The Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported that "the platform provided by the respected magazine", The Lancet, gave the letter "a reliable atmosphere. This led anti-Israel users on social media to propagate the new libel en masse".

However, the letter, which was picked up by several international media, was welcomed by others and widely shared to express support for the Gazan population and call for an end to Israeli military operations in Gaza.


For instance, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, shared it on her X account as evidence of what she described as "9 months of genocide" taking place in Gaza.
A ‘credible’ estimate, according to Doctors of the World

Some NGOs active in the Palestinian territory certainly feel that the estimate put forward in this letter is credible.

"The death toll of 186,000 mentioned in The Lancet is consistent with the health, military and geopolitical situation due to the sea, air and land blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip," says Jean-François Corty, a humanitarian doctor and president of the NGO Doctors of the World. "This estimate is a true reflection of the absolute tragedy being experienced on the ground by the population."

"I have been saying as recently as November/December that the figures being put forward are underestimated in relation to reality, in a context where there is a lot of propaganda surrounding the death toll, as is the case in many conflicts and not exclusively in Gaza. Since the beginning of the controversy over the Hamas Ministry of Health's figures, which are probably wrong, I have said that they are probably wrong, but because they are underestimated."

Corty asserts that the Gaza Health Ministry's figures take into account the identified dead, "without taking into account all the dead left under the rubble of the bombardments, or the indirect victims who died because of a lack of care or access to care, or from being transported to a health centre".

The president of Doctors of the World – which currently has a team of around 50 people in Deir Al-Balah, in the centre of the Gaza Strip – points out that there were 35 hospitals operating in Gaza before October 7, "with a good level of medical care and dozens, if not hundreds, of local health centres".

"But today, most of these hospitals are no longer functional, there are only between 5 and 10 left, and they are saturated with patients," says Corty. "They don't just take in patients, they also house families of displaced people, and they're running out of everything – fuel for their generators, medicines and medical and surgical equipment."

Corty concludes: "If you add those who are likely to die of malnutrition or as a result of wounds inflicted by Israeli bombardments in the weeks and months to come, because of the risks of superinfection and because their pathology will be treated late, then yes, the figure of 186,000 deaths mentioned in The Lancet is credible."

This article has been translated from the original in French.