UK
‘My dad is a climate denier’: The Just Stop Oil poster girl who went from private school to prison

Jim Norton

THE TORY TELEGRAPH!!!
Thu, August 1, 2024

The image of Plummer, alongside her fellow activist Anna Holland, became iconic for the Just Stop Oil movement - PA


Growing up in a multimillion-pound Chelsea townhouse and afforded the finest private education, Phoebe Plummer knew nothing but privilege for the first 21 years of her life.

The star student made the most of it too, as a high achiever at her £50,000-a-year sixth form, St Mary’s School Ascot, and securing a place to study Computer Science at Manchester University. A comfortable life surely beckoned – perhaps, like her father and two older brothers, pursuing a lucrative career in insurance.

Yet, two years ago, a defining, headline-grabbing moment saw the promising student spurn her loving, middle-class background and settle on a decidedly different route in life – one of civil disobedience, handcuffs, and, ultimately, prison cells. On October 14, 2022, Ms Plummer made headlines across the world as she walked into the National Gallery and threw a tin of soup over Vincent Van Gogh’s masterpiece Sunflowers, worth an estimated £72.5 million, all in the name of climate justice.

The stunt, and her subsequent arrest, launched the pink-haired eco-warrior into the limelight – and set her on the path to becoming the “poster girl” for the controversial campaign group, Just Stop Oil (JSO).

The 22-year-old has since repeatedly broken her bail conditions to go on protest marches; she has attempted to confront MPs on their doorsteps, and, just this week, sprayed orange paint on departure boards at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5.

Given her generous upbringing, it is unsurprising that her transformation has not gone down well with her family. One of Ms Plummer’s brothers reportedly no longer talks to her, while her relationship with her father is said to be strained.

So how did it come to this? After St Mary’s School Ascot, whose alumni include the Duke of Kent’s grandchildren and the Princess of Monaco, Plummer joined Mander Portman Woodward College in Kensington, London, named “spoilt brat central” by Vice magazine in 2006, where she received top marks in her Chemistry, Computer Studies, and Maths A Levels. All was going well.

To those close to her, though, her change in direction was by no means a Damascene conversion. Ms Plummer – who identifies as queer and “non-binary but female-presenting” – had in her late teenage years increasingly embraced the counterculture. She went vegan, stopped flying, and stopped buying first-hand clothes. And, like many Gen Zers, she began to rally behind the climate cause, fearful of the existential risk it posed to her future, and was soon signing petitions, writing to MPs and joining marches.

Ms Plummer has repeatedly broken the conditions for her bail and was arrested earlier this week at Heathrow - Denise Baker / Story Picture Agency

With a London drawl, Ms Plummer is an eloquent and confident speaker, if a little blunt. (Readers may have watched her run-ins live on air with figures from former Conservative MP Jacob Rees Mogg to the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire). She is well-versed in climate-speak, trotting out the same bitesize quotes in various interviews and rarely straying off topic. That is aside from one interview she gave in April last year to Tipping Points, a little-known podcast by a PHD student at Imperial College London.

Speaking with an ankle tag on, she gave a far more intimate take on why she felt it necessary to risk everything to become JSO’s agitator-in-chief. “It would be naive for me to turn around and say, ‘I have no worries about having a criminal record or having been to prison,’” she told the host. “It’s a big step to take. But for me, I had a flip in my brain where I thought all of these plans and hopes and aspirations I have for my future, for a career, for a family. They don’t exist unless I fight for a future in which they’re possible.”

“Right now, the only future I see for myself is one of mass famine and constant drought, of wildfires and floods, and societal collapse. There’s no career on that kind of planet. There’s no having a family on that planet. So direct action is the best way I can secure my future – not with a university degree as it should be.”

Plummer: 'The only future I see for myself is one of mass famine' - Tom Bowles

Ms Plummer’s first short stint in prison was in November 2022, when she should have been enjoying her Fresher’s term at The School of Oriental and African Studies in London after dropping out of Manchester. Instead, she was sent to HMP Bronzefield on remand after breaking bail conditions. A fortnight after the Van Gogh arrest, she joined dozens of other JSO protestors in blocking the M25, causing four-days of travel chaos.

Though intended as a punishment, Ms Plummer told the podcast that enduring Europe’s biggest female prison – whose 540 inmates reportedly include Lucy Letby – was in fact “very doable, very manageable”. Lying in the shadow of Heathrow airport, the privately-run jail is said to be one of the nicer places in the UK to be incarcerated, with the amount spent per prisoner £10,000 higher than at any other comparable facility in the country. It was reportedly the first in the UK to have its own branch of the Women’s Institute, which provides prisoners with resettlement programmes prior to their release. Inspectors in a recent report praised the “impressive array” of activities on offer for prisoners, which include Zumba and “legs, bums, and tums” classes.

The women's prison HMP Bronzefield, which has been commended for the wellbeing activities it offers - PA

During Ms Plummer’s first spell, nearly two dozen inmates staged a production of West End musical Betty Blue Eyes that was “deemed a great success”. Allowed to share a cell with a fellow JSO activist, and regularly seeing others who had taken action over the M25, she said: “It was nice in prison because there’s the space and the time to have the conversations about why you’re there.” Ms Plummer – who said her greatest heroes the Suffragettes had also faced jail in their fight for social change – added: “I think my biggest power in there was knowing I was in there for the right reasons.”

The impact on her family, however, was not quite so easy. “My family have struggled to deal with it,” she told the podcast. “One of my brothers told me I wasn’t his sister anymore, and that he wanted nothing more to do with me, and that he was ‘beyond disgusted’ and ashamed by me. And that’s harder, I can’t pretend that it’s not.” She told the host how, after her brother got engaged and spoke about wanting to start a family, she told her mother: “When they have children, I will feel more grief than joy.” This reaction was, she said, because she was “so scared about the world that their child would grow up in”.

Conversations with her father, meanwhile, have been painful. “My dad is a climate denier,” she said, “which makes it very hard to even start having the conversations about why I do what I do”. Though initially causing her deep anger, they have tried to find common ground and rebuild their relationship, connecting “more on an emotional level, about why I’m so scared, so outraged a lot of the time, than on a pure scientific basis”.

Plummer, pictured locking herself to another activist in Piccadilly Circus, has spoken about her strained relationship with her family on the podcast Tipping Points - Alamy

“I’ve come to a level of understanding that I’m asking them to deal with something pretty big – to accept the fact that I’ve gone to prison. It’s not something they ever thought their child would do,” she added.

Since then, Ms Plummer – who was recently registered in court as living in a large house in Clapham, south London, on a street where houses cost upwards of £4 million – has only upped the ante, having been arrested several more times for breaching bail conditions. She has further embraced her rock star image, posing last summer as Mona Lisa for an arty feature in fashion magazine Dazed. With “STOP OIL” emblazoned across her chest and holding a can of Heinz tomato soup, she wore a silk and cotton sweater by the exclusive Italian brand Loro Piana, whose jumpers can cost upwards of £1,000.

Last week, Ms Plummer and fellow activist Anna Holland, both 22, were both found guilty of criminal damage over the Van Gogh incident. With sentencing due in late September, Southwark Crown Court Judge Christopher Hehir warned them both to be “prepared in practical and emotional terms to go to prison”. And given his words came just days after five other Just Stop Oil protestors received record multi-year jail terms for conspiring to block the M25, it may be for some time.

In a recent interview, however, she addressed her privilege and the criticism JSO has received, including accusations that its ranks are filled by “posh” members who disrupt the lives of those less well-off with their abrasive tactics. “I don’t have to work three jobs to feed my kids or pay heating bills,” Ms Plummer told The Times, “which means I can dedicate time towards fighting for the people that don’t have the means to fight right now and are being hit hardest”. Soon, she may not even have that luxury.

The Telegraph contacted Ms Plummer for comment, but was told by JSO that she was unable to respond as she was currently “in prison”

Why California's surge in immigration is lifting our economy

Don Lee
Wed, July 31, 2024

Migrants gather in a makeshift camp, awaiting transport from Border Patrol after crossing through rocky, mountainous terrain. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)


Kamala Harris had no sooner replaced Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee than Donald Trump began bashing her over the number of immigrants coming into the United States, declaring that they had driven countless American workers from their jobs.

But the data on U.S. employment and the economy overwhelmingly suggest a reality far more beneficial when it comes to immigration than the nightmarish vision the former president has put forth.

The surge of international migrants since 2021 — including refugees, asylum-seekers and others entering legally and illegally — has lifted the U.S. and California economies by filling otherwise vacant jobs, helping to keep job creation strong, growing businesses and pumping millions of tax dollars into state, local and federal coffers.


Payroll taxes on immigrant workers have even helped relieve pressure on the nation's embattled Social Security system.

People seeking asylum are detained by Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

There are, of course, short-term public costs associated with acclimating so many new arrivals, plus government expenditures on education and health services for immigrants and their families, along with the political and social challenges. Many agree that the current immigration system is flawed and chaotic.

But from a budgetary perspective, the additional federal spending on immigrants is projected to pale next to the increase in revenues from the millions more people working, paying taxes and buying goods and services, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

And more than a few economists say that, by easing the shortage of American workers as the U.S. population grows older and birth rates decline — particularly in California — immigrants have played a large and positive role in maintaining a healthy, growing economy.

“This is the hottest labor market that has existed in two generations,” said Michael Clemens, an economist at George Mason University who specializes in international migration. “That means there have never been as many opportunities for immigrants and natives to mutually benefit each other through economic interaction in the last half century.”

Without immigration, California’s workforce would have fallen well short of its needs, especially since the high cost of living, soaring home prices and other factors have fueled a notable outflow of population from the state.

From 2021 to 2023, the population of U.S. citizens ages 16 and older living in California fell by 625,000, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, while employment increased by 725,000.

Over that period, however, the unemployment rates for native-born and foreign-born Californians fell by similar levels — an indication that immigrants are not taking away American jobs.

Moreover, the recent waves of migrants are filling lower-paying, more physically demanding positions that do not attract as many native-born Americans, at least not at the wages that are offered.
An important source of labor

“Immigrants are a really important source of the labor force for California, in the high end as well as in a lot of jobs that don’t pay as well,” said Hans Johnson, a demographer at the Public Policy Institute of California.

Separate employers’ data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that more than 70% of the nearly 400,000 payroll jobs added in California between June 2022 and June 2024 have been in just two industries: social assistance, such as health services for the elderly and child care; and leisure and hospitality, primarily hotels and restaurants.

Both sectors are heavily dependent on immigrant workers.

Employers in construction, another industry reliant on immigrant labor, also added thousands of jobs in that period.

“A lot of what we do is physical — you get on your knees. And Americans don’t do that,” said Tom Straus, owner of Straus Carpets. He’s been in the flooring business in the San Francisco Bay Area for almost half a century and has regularly hired Latino immigrants. “The work is excellent and strenuous,” he said.

Angie, 28, her husband and their 6-year-old son arrived in Los Angeles last October from a village in Ocaña, Colombia, about 375 miles north of Bogota. They flew from Bogota to Cancun, Mexico, and from there to Tijuana. Then the family walked across the border checkpoint into San Diego, receiving provisional entry as migrants seeking asylum.

Asylum-seekers from Ecuador, Guatemala and Colombia prepare to be detained by Border Patrol after crossing the border from Mexico to the United States. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“It was expensive,” Angie said of the travel costs, money they borrowed from relatives. Given her uncertain status, she didn’t want to provide her last name.

At the border, Angie got a "notice to appear" at immigration court in May 2025, and she can stay in the U.S. legally until at least then. But migrants have to wait 150 days after they formally apply for asylum before they can receive employment authorization.

Angie began working almost immediately upon arrival, first at a clothing business. More recently she found work in housekeeping at a hotel in Los Angeles. Her husband remodels houses.

“I feel like I’ve been blessed greatly,” she said.

Angie and her family were among some 3.3 million immigrants who arrived in the U.S. last year, after net immigration of 2.6 million in 2022, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. Those numbers are roughly triple the annual average in the prior decade. A similarly large number is expected this year, although immigration over the long haul is likely to return to around 1 million a year, experts say.

No one knows how many immigrants who arrive in California decide to stay here. Over the years, increasing opportunities in other states and California’s high cost of living have made it less attractive as a final destination. The latest Census Bureau figures, for 2022, show that 27% of California residents are foreign-born, about double the U.S. share.

Most of the immigration increase in recent years has been driven by foreign nationals entering illegally, asylum-seekers and hundreds of thousands of people from Ukraine, Venezuela, Haiti and other countries who entered under humanitarian programs and can apply for work authorization.

Since 2021, U.S. border officers have seen a surge of migrants from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru — but also from countries such as China and India, whose citizens in the past had rarely sought to come through the southwest border, Department of Homeland Security statistics show.

Over the last few years, about 6 in 10 people crossing unlawfully have been turned away, according to an analysis of DHS data by Clemens, the George Mason professor. Most of those who are detained and not expelled are released in the U.S., many because they have shown credible evidence of fear and a desire to apply for asylum.

Then there’s another large group of people who enter unlawfully and are never encountered by border patrol.

What's behind the surge at the border?

These migrants are part of an unprecedented international movement of people to the U.S. and other rich countries. Although some are fleeing political and economic crises, the relocation is actually less a result of bad conditions at home than of successful development — which brings better health, greater awareness of international options and more income for travel. That enables people to pursue opportunities for better lives in the more prosperous countries such as the U.S., experts say.

And technological advancements in many parts of the world have made the journeys more possible. Mobile phones and social media give almost anyone anywhere the basic information needed to migrate.

During his recent trip to southern China researching international migration, UCLA professor Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda met with people in Yunan province who were preparing to immigrate to the U.S. by entering through Tijuana.

“They saw it on TikTok, how to do it,” Hinojosa-Ojeda said.

Chinese migrant Zhen Jiang is photographed by a Border Patrol agent hours after crossing the border through rocky, mountainous terrain. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

The primary magnet attracting record numbers to the U.S. is jobs. Though unemployment has edged up recently as a result of government efforts to curb inflation, there are still 10 job openings for every eight unemployed workers in the U.S., according to government data. For most of the last 2½ years the U.S. jobless rate has been at or just above 3.5%, the lowest since the late 1960s.

Although the labor market isn’t as tight in California, at 5.2% in June, the unemployment rate isn’t far off historical lows for the state. And employers are still adding thousands of jobs a month, with some positions going to workers without legal status.

“They’re getting a worker. The only downside is if they get in trouble for it — and that doesn’t often happen,” said Jamie Wipf, refugee operations manager at the International Institute of Los Angeles, a 110-year-old organization that helps refugees and other immigrants.

The nonprofit's job placement records show many new arrivals are employed as drivers, security guards, caregivers and warehouse workers. The vast majority earn minimum wage to about $20 an hour.
Where California immigrants work

Many employers in California are reluctant to talk about immigration because of the sensitivities surrounding the politically charged issue, especially in this election year. The California Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups declined to comment for this article.

Yet their member companies depend heavily on immigrants. Foreign-born Californians account for one-third of all workers at restaurants and warehouses; about 40% in home healthcare and child day care; almost 50% at trucking and lodging businesses; and 60% at services for landscaping and cleaning buildings, according to a Times analysis of 2022 Census Bureau data.

Are their large numbers holding back wage gains?

Economists say there is some truth to the claim that a surge of working-class immigrant labor could put downward pressure on certain jobs, such as meatpacking and gardening. But studies have shown that immigration has had no significant negative effect on wages for American workers overall.

Giovanni Peri, an economics professor at UC Davis, said large-scale immigration actually boosts productivity and demand for services, which in turn helps companies to grow and create jobs that are more likely to be taken by native-born workers, such as those in sales and management.

People seeking asylum are detained by authorities after crossing over the border to the United States. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

It’s also well documented that immigrants have higher rates of self-employment, whether that means working as an Uber driver, pushing a street food cart or launching an ambitious tech business.

Yaroslav Uchkin and his girlfriend, Ukrainian refugees, moved to Los Angeles in February after several months in the Bay Area, where they had stayed with a host family. They both have work permits. Uchkin has found part-time work as a fitness instructor; his partner works as a food server.

“I have some vision,” Uchkin said of a business he’s looking to start, making sports nutrition products. “Why I’m here in L.A.? I love the place for energy. People love sports, they want to look better.”

Uchkin and his girlfriend recently leased a one-bedroom apartment in Marina del Rey. The arrival of many new immigrants has helped reverse or, in L.A.’s case, stanch the population loss in cities that saw a pandemic-related exodus of residents, according to a study by Brookings Institution demographer William Frey.

“There’s no doubt the economy is better off because of immigration,” said Christopher Thornberg, founding partner at Beacon Economics, a research and consulting firm in Los Angeles.

“At one level, I understand people are nervous about folks coming here in an uncontrolled way,” he said, noting that he fears the anti-immigrant drumbeat is getting louder and louder.

“But our nation desperately needs people,” he said. “People have stopped having babies, and so many are going into retirement. And here we really have an opportunity to help our economy in the long run, and we are turning away from it.”

PRO  NUKE
Experts say nuclear energy bill is proof of bipartisan consensus

Zack Budryk
Thu, August 1, 2024



The recent passage of major legislation to boost the deployment of nuclear reactors is evidence of a bipartisan consensus on nuclear power as an opportunity to keep pace with China on renewable energy, experts said Thursday at a panel discussion with The Hill.

The ADVANCE Act, which President Biden signed into law in July, passed the Senate 88-2. It directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to explore methods of quickening the licensing process for new nuclear technology, as well as streamlining the Energy Department’s technology export process.

The bipartisan vote on the legislation indicates “members of both parties are looking to build on decades of innovation and … create this new opportunity to build new gigawatt-scale clean energy facilities in the United States,” said Lesley Jantarasami, managing director of energy programs at the Bipartisan Policy Center


Jantarasami made the remarks at “The Nuclear Frontier: Securing America’s Energy Future,” which was hosted by The Hill and sponsored by The Nuclear Company. The discussion was moderated by Rafael Bernal, a staff writer at The Hill. Bob Cusack, The Hill’s editor-in-chief, moderated a separate conversation during the event.

“There’s a lot going on today in recognition of the fact that we are moving toward modernizing our economy, towards building a new energy economy that needs to be centered around clean energy and that nuclear is a foundational piece of that portfolio,” Jantarasami said.

Jantarasami added that widespread interest exists within industry and utilities in deploying new nuclear technology, but the process has been stymied by anxiety about the pressure of being “first out of the gate.”

Panelists also emphasized that there is not a binary choice between a more efficient licensing and approval process and cutting corners on safety. Former Deputy Energy Secretary Mark W. Menezes, president and CEO of the U.S. Energy Association, pointed to reforms at the Food and Drug Administration that reduced the approval timeline as an example of how a balance could be struck.

“This is not about cutting corners [or] creating a process that isn’t diligent,” Jantarasami added, saying there have been “misconceptions around speeding up a process and not doing as much due diligence—we can do both those things.”

Maria Korsnick, CEO at the Nuclear Energy Institute, added that it “isn’t the conversation we had in the 70s and 80s anymore,” when incidents like the Chernobyl disaster and the Three Mile Island accident led to widespread fears around nuclear power.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 

Construction of next-gen nuclear reactor ‘Hermes’ begins in Oak Ridge
Gregory Raucoules
Wed, July 31, 2024 

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WATE) — Work has begun to build a next-generation nuclear reactor in Oak Ridge, marking the latest development in the city’s noted nuclear legacy.

Site work and excavation began earlier this month at the former site of the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Process Building. It will eventually house the Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor, the first and only Gen IV reactor to be approved for construction by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Report: Tennessee among top states for DUI fatalities during peak wedding season

Hermes is the first nuclear build by Kairos Power. The company has committed to invest at least $100 million and create 55+ high-paying, full-time jobs in East Tennessee to support Hermes’ construction and operation.

Officials are targeting an operational date in 2027.

Workers started excavation at the Hermes site in Oak Ridge on July 17, 2024 (Photo via Kairos Power)


Workers started excavation at the Hermes site in Oak Ridge on July 17, 2024 (Photo via Kairos Power)

One of the largest facilities at Y-12 nears demolition as crews move utilities

Scientists envision Gen IV reactors eventually succeeding those that are currently in operation, most of which are considered second or third-generation reactors. Hermes will be the first non-light-water reactor (non-LWR) to be permitted in the U.S. in over 50 years. According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulator Commission, non-LWRs use different technologies from existing reactors such as passive safety features, different fuels or coolants, or scaling the entire reactor smaller.

The fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactor will not produce electricity. It will demonstrate the ability to produce affordable nuclear heat, which can be used for a variety of industrial applications.

Kairos Power CEO Mike Laufer told 6 News in 2021 that the technology used for Hermes would create a safer environment compared to the nuclear sources we have now.

6 lbs. of queso tossed at Crossville restaurant during inspection

“Such a power plant will not have a meltdown if it has an accident,” State Rep. John Ragen (R-Oak Ridge) said in 2021. “It would have a freeze-up. While it would destroy the reactor, it wouldn’t be a big particularly problem for those around it.”

The U.S. Department of Energy will invest up to $303 million in the project to support Hermes’ design, construction, and commissioning. Kairos Power has also established a cooperative development agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide engineering, operations, and licensing support for Hermes.

▶ See more top stories on WATE.com

“Hermes is a pivotal step toward deploying advanced reactor technology with the potential to transform our energy landscape,” said Laufer. “The lessons we take away from the construction and operation of this reactor will be invaluable to enable continued innovation in our testing program and accelerate Kairos Power’s progress toward delivering true cost certainty to our customers.”

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc

Watch Live: The Nuclear Frontier, Securing America’s Energy Future

The Hill + The Nuclear Company
Thu, August 1, 2024






America’s energy future is shining a little brighter after the recent passage of the bipartisan ADVANCE Act to bolster U.S. nuclear power production.

The new law seeks to broaden how America generates power, creating a more resilient infrastructure to meet the surging energy demands driven by data centers, electric vehicles and reshored factories.

The law isn’t without its critics or competition. Concerns have been raised about potential safety issues and challenges related to nuclear waste.

Others argue the new law doesn’t go nearly far enough to catch up to the likes of India or China as they far outpace the U.S. in building nuclear reactors.

In China alone, there are 27 nuclear reactors currently under development.

The debate going forward is where the U.S. goes from here.

Join The Hill as we convene clean energy experts, and executives to answer questions about nuclear power’s potential role in meeting electricity demands, and how the regulatory process might be changed while protecting safety and the environment.

DATE & TIME
Thursday, August 1
8:30 AM ET Programming begins
9:30 AM ET Programming concludes

Speakers:

Mark W. Menezes, President & Chief Executive Officer, United States Energy Association; Former Deputy Energy Secretary


Maria Korsnick, CEO, Nuclear Energy Institute


Lesley Jantarasami, Managing Director, Energy Program, Bipartisan Policy Center

Moderators:

Bob Cusack, Editor in Chief, The Hill


Rafael Bernal, Political Reporter, The Hill

Sponsor Perspective: (in conversation with Joe Ruffolo, SVP & General Manager, The Hill)

Juliann Edwards, Chief Development Officer, The Nuclear Company

Have a question? Reach us on social media @TheHillEvents using #TheHillEnergy

Sponsor:


The Nuclear Company is a fleet-scale nuclear development company using proven technology to construct a series of nuclear power plants across America. Through its design-once, build-many approach and coalition building across communities, regulators, and financial stakeholders, The Nuclear Company is committed to delivering safe and reliable electricity at the lowest cost, while catalyzing the nuclear industry toward rapid development in America and globally. Learn more at thenuclearcompany.com.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

CAPITAL STRIKE 

Chevron to Quit California for Texas After Warning on Rules

Kevin Crowley
Fri, Aug 2, 2024, 

(Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp. is relocating headquarters to Houston from California after repeatedly warning that the Golden State’s regulatory regime was making it a tough place to do business.

The move announced Friday will end the company’s more than 140 years of being based in the largest US state and comes amid a shake-up in senior leadership ranks apparently aimed at improving results.

Chevron already had slashed new investments in California refining, citing “adversarial” government policies in a state that has some of the most stringent environmental rules in the US. In January, refining executive Andy Walz warned that the state was playing a “dangerous game” with climate rules that threatened to spike gasoline prices.

Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth pushed back on suggestions that the relocation is being driven by politics, saying “it’s really to be closer to the core epicenter of our industry.”

“We’ve had some policy differences with California,” Wirth said during a Bloomberg Television interview. “But this isn’t a move about politics. It’s a move about what’s good for our company to compete and perform.”

Separately, Chevron missed second-quarter profit estimates, heaping pressure on Wirth to prevail in his $53 billion effort to acquire Hess Corp. Chevron shares fell as much as 2.9%.

Oracle, Tesla

Chevron joins a long list of California emigres that includes Oracle Corp., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. and Tesla Inc. While the migration among former Silicon Valley tech giants has been largely driven by tax and and cost-of-living considerations, Chevron has been at loggerheads with state leaders over increasingly tough fossil-fuel rules.

Wirth has been extolling the virtues of the Lone Star State’s business climate for at least half a decade.

“The policies in California have become pretty restrictive on a lot of business fronts, not just the environment,” he said during a 2019 speech in Houston.

California has long been an incongruent state for an oil company to call home. It pioneered the push to cut tailpipe emissions in the 1960s. And in 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a sweeping climate measure setting a goal for California to become net zero by 2045, five years ahead of US as a whole.

Frequent droughts and wildfires mean the state is already suffering from catastrophic effects of climate change. California accounts for more than a third of the country’s EV sales. And almost all of America’s renewable diesel, made from vegetable oil and natural fats, is consumed in California.

Also See: Exxon Surpasses Expectations as Pioneer Deal Fuels Record Output

Three senior executives are departing Chevron, including oil-production chief Nigel Hearne and Colin Parfitt, who oversees pipeline and shipping businesses.

Hearne, 56, will see his duties handed over to Vice Chairman Mike Nelson, a key Wirth lieutenant. Parfitt’s replacement is Walz.

The leadership changes come just months after former Chief Financial Officer Pierre Breber issued a stern warning to employees to improve performance and results. The rebuke followed a year of dismal results stemming from refinery disruptions, weaker-than-expected oil production in the Permian Basin, and cost overruns and delays at a massive project in Kazakhstan.

Breber stepped down in March.

Second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $2.55 were 38 cents below the median estimate among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The miss was in stark contrast to the outsized profits reported by Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell Plc and BP Plc, which capitalized on strong oil and natural gas production.

The Hess takeover was agreed to nearly 10 months ago but has been delayed by an arbitration case brought by arch-rival Exxon, which claims to have a right-of-first-refusal over Hess’s 30% stake in a Guyanese oil development. Chevron remains confident it will prevail but the case won’t be heard until May 2025.

The arbitration case leaves Chevron in strategic limbo, with investors struggling to analyze a company that will look very different if its biggest deal in two decades succeeds. Chevron claims Exxon’s right to Hess’s stake does not apply because the deal is structured as a corporate merger rather than an asset sale, and has vowed to walk away from Hess if the case fails.

In the meantime, Wirth is trying to make the case that Chevron has a strong investment case on a standalone basis. The company is aiming for 3% production growth annually through 2027 while it plans to buy back $20 billion of stock annually and recently increased its dividend.

Even so, Chevron has significantly underperformed Exxon this year with a roughly 2% advance compared with its bigger rival’s 17% gain.

--With assistance from David Wethe, Ruth Liao and Alix Steel.

(Updates with shares in the sixth paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

Paul Marshall Emerges as Frontrunner in Race to Buy Spectator Magazine


Charlotte Hughes-Morgan, Jamie Nimmo and Nishant Kumar
Thu, Aug 1, 2024

(Bloomberg) -- Paul Marshall has emerged as the frontrunner in a race to acquire the Spectator, which is back on the block after political furor scuppered a deal that would’ve handed control to a UAE-backed investor group.

The hedge fund manager could strike a deal for the politically influential title this month, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private talks. That would hive off the magazine from the ongoing bidding process for the Telegraph newspapers, which exert similar sway in Westminster.

Marshall has also been eyeing the Telegraph newspapers but doubts are growing about whether he will now join that auction, according to Sky News, which reported on his interest in the Spectator earlier. Citadel’s Ken Griffin — who previously discussed supporting a potential Marshall bid for the media group — wouldn’t be involved in any offer for the magazine, said one of the people familiar.

RedBird IMI, the seller, is seeking to recoup the £600 million ($775 million) it effectively paid for the Telegraph and the Spectator magazine. It is a joint venture between US private equity firm RedBird and International Media Investments, a vehicle controlled by UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who also owns Manchester City football club.

The investor group is walking away from its proposed takeover of the media group after Tory politicians opposed the deal, fearing there was a threat of a foreign state influencing the British newspaper. Keir Starmer, who led his Labour Party to victory earlier this month and became Prime Minister, had also previously expressed concern about foreign state ownership of British news outlets.

The titles have drawn interest from a wide range of potential buyers, including some of the biggest figures in British media such as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., the publisher of the UK’s Daily Mail tabloid and David Montgomery’s National World Plc. Advertising tycoon Maurice Saatchi, who is a member of the House of Lords, has also reportedly expressed an interest.

RedBird IMI’s decision to pull the plug has reignited a media battle for the control of both the newspaper and the Spectator magazine — the two publications that are famously intertwined with the upper echelons of Great Britain’s Conservative Party.

The Spectator is the world’s oldest weekly magazine still in print while the Daily Telegraph dates back to 1855 and claims the scoop for the outbreak of World War II.

--With assistance from Pamela Barbaglia.

Violence erupts as Nigerians protest hunger across the nation

ALL VIOLENCE IS STATE VIOLENCE

Nimi Princewill and Stephanie Busari, CNN
Thu, August 1, 2024 

Protests erupted in multiple cities across Nigeria Thursday as frustrated citizens took to the streets, voicing their anger over increasing hunger and “bad governance.”

The demonstrations are part of a larger wave of unrest spreading across Africa in places such as Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and now Nigeria.

The demonstrations spiraled out of control in parts of the country, including the northern Yobe and Kano states where authorities declared a 24-hour curfew as private and public properties were looted in chaotic scenes that also saw many vehicles burned.

In Kano, protesters stormed and looted a Digital Innovation Park scheduled to open next week, Communications Minister Bosun Tijani said.

Gunshots rang out in the capital Abuja and also in the neighboring Niger state as police lobbed tear gas to disperse defiant protesters. In Niger, at least six people are now feared dead, local media reported.

The state’s police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun told CNN in a statement that operatives arrested 11 armed “hoodlums” who set fire to a government building after looting it.

Abiodun said police officers also dispersed protesters who had occupied a major highway, adding that “there was no loss of life.”

Nigerian police patrol during the End Bad Governance protest at Ikeja, Lagos, on August 1, 2024. - Benson Ibeabuchi/Bloomberg/AFP/Getty Images

Another three people were reportedly killed in the northwestern Kaduna state, according to Reuters, citing eyewitnesses. The Kaduna Police Command did not return CNN’s request for comment.

In Abuja, protesters gathered outside the national stadium, where they faced off with pro-government supporters.

Activist and lawyer Deji Adeyanju told CNN Thursday that there were counter-demonstrations by pro-government protesters who arrived in buses accompanied by a security vehicle. Josephine Adeh, a police spokesperson in the city, denied this.

“The protesters became violent and began throwing stones at the police, reasons why the police had to disperse them,” she said.
‘Ten days of rage’

Demonstrators gathered under the ‘End Bad Governance in Nigeria’ coalition, using the slogan “10 Days of Rage,” and are demanding the reinstatement of a fuel subsidy whose abrupt removal last May caused a dramatic spike in the cost of food, transportation, and other commodities.

These increases have hit a populace already struggling with widespread unemployment and soaring inflation of 34%, the highest level in nearly 30 years.

One protester in the Nigerian capital told the national Channels Television that he was forced to join the Thursday protests due to hunger.

“Hunger … brought me out. I don’t have money to buy fuel … there’s total bad government. It’s 10 days (of rage). We’ll remain on the streets till our demands are met.”

Dele Farotimi, a spokesperson for the coalition coordinating the protests, attributed the large nationwide turnout of protesters to hunger, which he says “unifies every Nigerian across the political, ethnic, and religious divides.”

Ahead of the protests, President Bola Tinubu called for calm, urging citizens not to take to the streets as he feared that it “could degenerate into violence and set the country backwards.”

The government also announced last-minute measures to halt the demonstrations but they proved unsuccessful.

On Monday, Tinubu signed into law a bill that doubled the national minimum wage from N30,000 ($18.06) a month to N70,000 ($42.14). He also approved the removal of taxes on food imports, which his office said would address food inflation.

“Most of the demands that the protesters are making are actually being addressed by the federal government,” Information Minister Mohammed Idris told a press conference Monday, adding that the government had opened centers across the nation where rice would be sold to citizens “at about 50% of its cost.”

Protesters are also calling for the government to address the country’s worsening security problems, amid challenges including kidnappings for ransom.

“In the northern part of Nigeria, the largest part of our country … the primary cause of hunger is insecurity. The people cannot go to their farms. A lot of people are living in internally displaced persons camps. So you have a lot of disruptions on account of insecurity which is manifesting in both banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism,” Farotimi said.

Some of the other demands include “reducing the cost of governance, and electoral, judicial and constitutional reforms,” according to a signed statement from a coalition of civil society organizations seen by CNN.

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu faces a backlash over his government’s spending plans despite the country’s mounting debts and cost-of-living crisis. - Kola Sulaimon/AFP/Getty Images

Leaders living in luxury

This is the first major coordinated protest in Nigeria since the deadly EndSARS demonstrations against police brutality in 2020, which resulted in deaths and injuries after security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters.

He added that Nigerians were also pained watching their leaders live in luxury while they struggled to make ends meet.

“It has gotten to that point where the people just need to be heard,” he said.

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has faced a backlash over his government’s spending plans despite the country’s mounting debts and cost-of-living crisis.

Last year, lawmakers rejected plans for a multimillion-dollar presidential yacht before approving a budget that allocated millions of dollars for a presidential fleet, including the purchase of SUV vehicles for the presidency and the First Lady’s Office.

The budget also allocated funds to cover the cost of renovating the president’s residential quarters. Analysts told CNN at the time it was “hypocrisy” for the government to spend on luxuries while impoverished citizens suffer hardship.

Nigerians hit with 24-hour curfews amid protests

Wedaeli Chibelushi in London & Chris Ewokor in Abuja - BBC News
Fri, August 2, 2024 

Protesters are railing against the high cost of living and what they say is "bad governance" [AFP]

Millions of residents in northern Nigeria have been placed under 24-hour curfews amid nationwide protests against the high cost of living.

Governments in the states of Kano, Jigawa, Yobe and Katsina have ordered locals not to leave their homes - and therefore not attend protests - on Friday.

The authorities say the curfew is necessary because "hoodlums" have hijacked the protests in order to loot and vandalise properties.

There is a heavy security presence around the country with nine more "days of rage" scheduled by the movement's organisers.

On the first day, demonstrations in the northern city of Kano drew the largest crowds.

Police fired live bullets and tear gas - and sprayed hot water - to try and disperse thousands of demonstrators. Three people were shot dead and many others were injured.

Looters also broke into a warehouse near the Kano governor's house and police say 269 people have since been arrested with the recovery of many 25-litre groundnut oil cartons and other items taken.

According to rights group Amnesty International, 13 protesters across Nigeria were killed by security forces on the first day of the protests.

The frustration of Nigerians vowing 'days of rage'


Why Nigeria's economy is in such a mess


People turn to 'throw-away' rice for food

On Thursday night, Nigeria's police chief Kayode Egbetokun said four people in the north-eastern state of Borno had been killed by an "explosion" within a crowd of protesters.

Thirty-four others were "severely" injured, he said.

A curfew was announced there after anti-government protesters began marching in the state capital, Maiduguri, although the authorities cited an earlier explosion as the reason why Borno had joined its neighbouring states in imposing a 24-hour lockdown.

The blast on Wednesday night had killed 16 people at a teashop in the rural community of Kawori, according to local reports.

No-one has said they were behind the attack, but locals suspect it was carried out by notorious jihadist group Boko Haram, which has been active in the north-east since 2009.

On Friday, protesters regrouped in major cities across the country. In the capital city, Abuja, police fired tear gas in an effort to stop protesters marching on the city centre and other satellite towns.

In Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city, some banks and shops reopened after closing on the first day of the protests - and the internet connection remains glitchy.

Inspector-General Egbetokun said he had placed his officers on "red alert". The police are prepared to respond swiftly to any threats to public safety and order, he added.

The nationwide demonstrations were organised via social media using the hashtag #EndBadGovernance and inspired by the recent success of protesters in Kenya, who forced the government there to scrap plans to increase taxes.

During Thursday's protests, which were largely peaceful in the south, demonstrators chanted slogans such as: “We are hungry.”

Many of them are angered by President Bola Tinubu’s removal of a subsidy on fuel - announced with immediate effect during his inauguration speech in May 2023.

It was aimed at cutting government expenditure, but sent pump prices soaring with a ripple effect on other goods, such as food.

Protesters also want the government to carry out wide-ranging reforms to the country’s electoral system and the judiciary.

A spokesperson for Kano's governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, said protests there were largely peaceful but a curfew was necessary because of the "rampant looting, destruction of property and violence" unleashed by "thugs".

Likewise, Yobe State Government imposed a curfew on the areas of Potiskum, Gashua, and Nguru, where it says "hoodlums are taking advantage of the protest to vandalise and loot government and private properties".

Katsina's government said "miscreants" had "hijacked the protests" there.

Additional reporting by the BBC's Azeezat Olaoluwa
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Curfew imposed in Nigerian state after 'hunger' protest

Mansur Abubakar - BBC News, Lagos
Thu, August 1, 2024 


Kano has seen the biggest turnout of protesters so far - with this man telling the BBC people are dying of hunger [ Zaharadeen Lawal / BBC]

A curfew has been imposed in Nigeria's second-biggest state, Kano, after protests against the high cost of living were "hijacked by thugs" who engaged in widespread looting and the destruction of property, the governor's office has said.

Kano saw the largest crowds on the first day of nationwide protests that forced many businesses to shut.

Demonstrators in all major cities took to the streets, chanting slogans such as: “We are hungry.”

Police fired live bullets and tear gas - and sprayed hot water - to try and disperse thousands of demonstrators in Kano city. Four people were wounded, and taken to hospital.

Protesters had earlier set alight tyres to make a bonfire in front of the house of state governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.

Looters also broke into a warehouse near his house and people were seen carrying away 25-litre cartons of vegetable cooking oil and mattresses.

The curfew effectively bars protests from continuing, with all residents expected to remain at home.

The last census in Nigeria, in 2006, put Kano state's population at 9.4 million, with unofficial estimates putting its current population at around 20 million.

The protests - called for 10 days - have been organised via social media and inspired by the recent success of protesters in Kenya who forced the government to scrap plans to increase taxes.

Mr Yusuf's spokesman said the protests were peaceful in Kano, but the governor was forced to declare a curfew to "restore order and ensure the safety of our communities" because of "rampant looting, destruction of property and violence" unleashed by "thugs".

On Wednesday night, a court ordered that protesters in the capital, Abuja, keep to the National stadium, which is located on the city’s outskirts.

But after gathering at the stadium’s gate on Thursday morning, the demonstrators - who have also been shouting the refrain “End bad governance” - began heading into the city centre.

This prompted police to fire tear-gas cannisters to try and stop the procession, which affected traffic.

The security forces were deployed at strategic locations within the capital, where even banks are closed, and in surrounding towns.

The frustration of Nigerians vowing 'days of rage'


Why Nigeria's economy is in such a mess


People turn to 'throw-away' rice for food

In Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, protesters shouted "ole", meaning "thief" in the Yoruba language - in reference to President Bola Tinubu and his government.

Many are angered by President Tinubu’s removal of a subsidy on fuel - announced with immediate effect during his inauguration speech in May 2023.

It was aimed at cutting government expenditure, but sent pump prices soaring with a ripple effect on other goods.

“Top on our demand is the subsidy removal. The government should reverse that decision,” Abuja protester Abiodun Sanusi told the BBC.

They also want the government to carry out wide-ranging reforms to the country’s electoral system and the judiciary.

"You can’t beat a baby and ask the baby not to cry"", Source: Kingsley Uadiale, Source description: Lagos protester, Image: Kingsley Uadiale

Before this so-called “day of rage”, the government appealed to Nigerians not to take to the streets and give the president time for policies to bear fruit.

But Lagos protester Kingsley Uadiale dismissed this saying, “Hunger is the reason why we’re all here. You can’t beat a baby and ask the baby not to cry.”

If the Tinubu administration wanted patience then, he said, they should lead by example.

“You can’t tell us to be patient and you’re acquiring a private jet,” he said, citing plans to buy new planes worth millions of dollars for Mr Tinubu and his deputy Kashim Shettima.

Dabiraoluwa Adeyinka, an activist also protesting in Lagos, said the aim of the demonstration was to get the price hikes on essential commodities reversed.

“If they don’t yield, we will continue to protest,” she told the BBC

Additional reporting from BBC reporters Zaharadeen Lawal in Kano, Chris Ewokor in Abuja & Simi Jolaoso in Lagos.

A protester held out a bullet cartridge in Kano after the shots were fired [ Zaharadeen Lawal / BBC]

Security is tight in Lagos with officers escorting the marchers [EPA]
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Amnesty International: At least 13 killed by Nigerian security forces during protests

Paul Godfrey
Fri, August 2, 2024 

Protests against hunger, high prices and mismanagement of Nigeria's economy turned deadly with at least 13 people killed with Amnesty International accusing authorities of opening fire with live ammunition while authorities blamed "thugs" and Islamist militants for the violence. Photo by Emmanuel Adegboye/EPA-EFE

Aug. 2 (UPI) -- At least 13 protestors and a police officer were killed after nationwide demonstrations in Nigeria over food shortages, high energy prices and corruption turned deadly.

Four people died and dozens were injured in a bomb blast in Borno State and hundreds were arrested amid curfews in at least two other northern states imposed after government and public buildings and facilities were targeted and looted, according to police who blamed the deaths on Boko Haram militants they alleged had infiltrated protests in Maiduguru.

The governor of the northern state of Kano, the country's second most populous state after the Abuja Federal Capital Territory, said violence flared after "thugs" took over the protests in Kano City where four people were hospitalized after police used live fire, tear gas and water cannon spraying hot water to break up a crowd of thousands.

However, Amnesty International said the people who hijacked the protests in Kano were "hired" to undermine the right to peaceful protest.

The group said it had verified killings of another nine people -- six in Suleja, just outside Abuja, and three in Kaduna 125 miles north of the capital, alleging that all 13 had died as a result of security forces "shooting indiscriminately into crowds of unarmed protestors."

"Our findings, so far, show that security personnel at the locations where lives were lost deliberately used tactics designed to kill while dealing with gatherings of people protesting hunger and deep poverty," the rights group's Nigeria branch said in a post on X.

"Nigerian security agencies' unlawful attitude of using firearms as [a] tactical tool for the management of protests must end. Authorities must investigate these incidents and ensure that security personnel suspected of responsibility for deadly use of force are held to account through fair trial.

"Violent crackdown on peaceful protesters is unjustified and unacceptable."

The aims of the 10 days of protests include the reintroduction of gas and electricity subsidies canceled by President Bola Tinubu as one of his first acts coming into office in May 2023 as part of ambitious economic reforms in an effort to pull the country out of a deepening economic crisis.

A collapse in the value of the naira after Tinubu abandoned the peg with the dollar and rampant inflation, which topped 34% in June according to the central bank, has seen petrol prices more than triple and food prices double placing people in desperate straits a country where the monthly minimum wage is around $43.

Civic leaders called on Tinubu to act to defuse the unrest.

"This government must address the challenges of hunger and poverty, and it must also do everything possible to assure the people," said Chief Ayo Adebanjo, head of Afenifere, a group that speaks for the country's ethnic-Yoruba population.

Adewole Adebayo, the Social Democratic Party's candidate who challenged Tinubu for the presidency in February 2023, urged the president to "get a grip" and take control of the situation by addressing the extreme difficulties of Nigerians caused by his administration's policies.


Rights group says security forces have killed 9 as Nigeria protests over hardship enter a second day

CHINEDU ASADU
Updated Fri, August 2, 2024 

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — At least nine people were killed by Nigerian security forces as protesters clashed with police during mass demonstrations over the country's economic crisis, a rights group said Friday, while authorities said a police officer was killed and several others injured.

A further four people were killed and 34 injured on Thursday when a bomb went off in the northeastern state of Borno, authorities said. The state has been wracked by the world’s longest war on militancy, which has left millions displaced and hungry.

More than 300 protesters were arrested and curfews were imposed in five northern states after the looting of government and public properties, Nigerian police said.

The police continued to fire tear gas at protesters in various locations as they regrouped on Friday.

National police chief Kayode Egbetokun said Thursday night that the police are on red alert and may seek the help of the military.

Amnesty International’s Nigeria director Isa Sanusi said in an interview that the group independently verified deaths that were reported by witnesses, families of the victims, and lawyers.

The protests were mainly over food shortages and accusations of misgovernment and corruption in Africa’s most populous country. Nigeria’s public officials are among the best paid in Africa, a stark contrast in a country that has some of the world’s poorest and hungriest people despite being one of the continent’s top oil producers.

Carrying placards, bells and Nigeria’s green-and-white flag, the mostly young protesters chanted songs as they listed their demands, including the reinstatement of gas and electricity subsidies that were canceled as part of an economic reform effort.

Violence and looting were concentrated in Nigeria's northern states, which are among the hardest hit by hunger and insecurity. Dozens of protesters were seen running with looted goods including furniture and gallons of cooking oil.

Egbetokun, the police chief, said officers “aimed at ensuring peaceful conduct." But, he added “regrettably, events in some major cities today showed that what was being instigated was mass uprising and looting, not protest.”

The police chief’s claim was disputed by rights groups and activists.

“Our findings so far show that security personnel at the locations where lives were lost deliberately used tactics designed to kill,” Sanusi said.

Authorities feared the protests, which have been gathering momentum on social media, could be a replay of the deadly 2020 demonstrations against police brutality in this West African nation, or as a wave of violence similar to last month’s chaotic tax hike protests in Kenya.

However, the threats that emerged as the protests turned violent in some places did “not require that level of response” from police officers, said Anietie Ewang, a Nigerian researcher with Human Rights Watch.



Nigerians protest ‘bad governance’, cost of living, runaway inflation

Alexander Onukwue
Thu, August 1, 2024 

The News

LAGOS/KANO — Nigerians took to the streets on Thursday to protest the rising cost of living in the country. Thousands of residents in the capital Abuja, Lagos, and other major cities marched in grievance with banners bearing complaints about hunger, bad governance, and the effects of soaring inflation.

Protesters in some instances were met with forceful reaction by law enforcement agencies.

In Abuja, police officers deployed tear gas before midday to deter those who gathered around the Eagle Square, an open-air auditorium close to the Nigerian president’s residence often used for presidential ceremonies. A court order granted to the capital city’s minister on Wednesday required protests to be limited to a stadium located away from the central business and government agency districts.

In Kano and Lagos — Nigeria’s largest states by population — thousands of protesters marched through several parts of each metropolis, including towards the respective governors’ lodges. Protesters at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos were also hit with tear gas, according to multiple reports by local news media. The tollgate is a significant site: In Oct. 2020, police fired at unarmed protesters to forcefully end the EndSARS protest against police brutality.

Many mobile internet subscribers to Nigeria’s four major network operators reported poorer-than-usual connectivity on Thursday. A spokesperson for the Nigerian Communications Commission, which oversees internet service providers, told Semafor the agency had not received quality of service complaints and said it did not direct operators to control access.
Know More

Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters

This week’s protests come three months after the first anniversary of Bola Tinubu’s inauguration as Nigeria’s president. His tenure has been marked by rapid-fire policy changes, including ending a popular fuel subsidy and dramatic foreign exchange reforms. The impact has been much higher prices for food and transportation for households, and inflation has skyrocketed to 34%, according to the state’s statistics agency. Tinubu’s presidency has also coincided with the increasing exit of multinational consumer goods companies from the US giant Procter & Gamble, to British conglomerates Unilever and Diageo.

This marks the second cost of living protest since Tinubu became president. A two-day march in February was led by the nation’s two largest labor unions and centered around a demand for an increased minimum wage. Tinubu signed a 133% increase into law earlier this week, raising the base monthly salary in Nigeria to 70,000 naira ($46). The law will be reviewed every three years.

In an attempt to stop the protests, the president met with traditional and religious leaders last week. However, presidential aides accused an opposition candidate that ran in last year’s election of aiming to foment “anarchy” through the protests.
Room for Disagreement

The Nigerian Baptist Convention, an evangelical Christian denomination, said “protest is not an option” and asked its members not to participate in it. The group said the country is in a state of peace and that its current problems did not begin with Tinubu. “When we were being plunged into a painful future by some past leaders, we did not know that we were heading for where we are now. Therefore, all blame cannot be heaped on our current leaders,” the convention’s president wrote in a statement.
The View From the Protesters

Demonstrators in Kano, the northern region’s commercial nerve center, embodied the ongoing protests’ most specific anxieties and demands. “You are seeing me alive but I am dead because eating food has become a big problem,” said 35-year-old Audu Bature. He wants Tinubu to “restore Nigeria to the situation he found it before assuming office.”

Muhammad Yakubu, 75, said he joined the protests to show solidarity as he is no longer able to afford the shop he rents for his business in the city. “If this situation of bad politics persists we will get to a point where democracy will be useless and these youth need to be managed,” he warned.

Bilikisu Alhassan, 31, joined the protests because “there is too much hunger and poverty in the country,” demanding a return to government policies that provided cheaper petrol to Nigerians. “As you can see I am wearing a bathroom slippers to go out, I can’t even wear a good shoe. I used to wear nice clothes before, this has become history,” she said.

Israel’s military starts drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews – but the battle over serving ‘the army of God’ vs. the army of the state isn’t over, and points to key questions for the country’s future

Michael Brenner, American University
Wed, July 31, 2024
THE CONVERSATION

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men attend a rally against army recruitment in Jerusalem on June 30, 2024. AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean

In late July 2024, the Israeli military sent out the first 1,000 conscription notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, following a unanimous Supreme Court ruling that the government must stop exempting them.

But will these Haredim, as the ultra-Orthodox are called in Israel, actually join the Israel Defense Forces and be followed by thousands more in the near future? It depends on whom they obey: the state authorities or their religious authorities.

Yitzhak Yosef, whose term as one of the government’s two chief rabbis recently ended, told religious students that “anyone who receives a draft notice should tear it up and not go,” the Israeli paper Yedioth Ahronoth reported. “He is a soldier in the army of God.”

Yosef is not the only Haredi rabbi to oppose army service, and many Haredi men have taken to the streets to protest since the Supreme Court’s decision, which followed years of political wrangling over the issue.

Ever since the state of Israel’s founding in 1948, ultra-Orthodox Jews – those who take the strictest approach toward following Jewish law, and are now around 14% of the population – have been exempt from military service. Among all other Jewish citizens, from the secular to the modern Orthodox, men are required to serve 32 months, and women 24, plus reserve duty. Amid the war in the Gaza Strip, other Israelis’ resentment toward the ultra-Orthodox exemption is at a high.

As a historian, I see the conscription debate as more than a political crisis for Israel’s government. The question is so sensitive because it opens up fundamental questions about the cohesion of Israeli society in general, and of the Haredi population’s attitude toward the Jewish state in particular.

It also illustrates the complexity of a country that is not as easily explained as many of its supporters and critics alike believe.

Yitzhak Yosef, center, the Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel, attends a protest against religious reforms in Jerusalem in 2022. AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean

Initial compromise

Historically, Orthodox Jews struggled to justify the idea of a Jewish state. They prayed for centuries to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, but had a specific return in mind: a Jewish state established by the Messiah. Any other kind of Jewish sovereignty, they believed, would be blasphemy.

Theodor Herzl, who founded modern political Zionism in the late 1800s, had a long beard like a Biblical prophet. Yet he was thoroughly secular and assimilated – he even lit a Christmas tree with his family. Herzl’s movement to encourage more European Jews to migrate to the Holy Land had little appeal for the Orthodox.

There was, however, always a minority among the Orthodox who identified with Zionism, the belief that Jewish people should have a sovereign political state in the land of Israel. According to the Talmud, the central source of Jewish law, saving lives is more important than other commandments – and Zionism saved Jews from pogroms and other anti-Jewish violence in Europe.

During the Holocaust, the vast majority of observant Jews in Eastern Europe were murdered. Afterward, many survivors who had previously opposed Zionism sought refuge in the new state of Israel.

On the eve of Israel’s independence, David Ben-Gurion, the prime minister of the state-to-be, entered an agreement with the leaders of the two camps of Orthodox Jews.

The Haredim, or ultra-Orthodox, still refused to recognize the legitimacy of a secular Jewish state. The so-called national religious camp, on the other hand, embraced it.

Among other concessions, the new state granted exemption to young Haredi Jews who wanted to study religious texts full time instead of joining the army. That hardly seemed consequential, as the young men in question numbered only a few hundred.
Shifting views

During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel captured the Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem as well as the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula. Since then, the national religious camp, once a moderate force, has developed into the spearhead of the right-wing settler movement.

Jewish settlers study the Torah in a tent at the West Bank outpost of Homesh, near the Palestinian village of Burqa, Jan. 17, 2022. AP Photo/Ariel Schalit

Unlike the first generations of Orthodox Zionists, national religious Israelis today are Zionists not despite but because of messianism. Israel, they believe, will help bring about the messianic age. Therefore, right-wing religious Zionists – like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – are enthusiastic proponents of army service.

Not so the Haredim, the ultra-Orthodox.

To be clear, Haredi Jews are very diverse. This demographic includes families with roots everywhere from Poland and Romania to Morocco and Iraq. It includes people who support Israel’s existence, and opponents who burn the flag on the country’s Independence Day. It includes men who join the workforce and men who dedicate their life to religious study.

The majority of Haredim living in Israel are not Zionists, yet live there because it is the Holy Land and the state subsidizes their study. Anything else – secular education, army service and, often, paid work – is seen as a distraction.

A minority of Haredi Jews serve in the armed forces voluntarily, and more have enlisted since the beginning of the latest Israel-Hamas war. But they have no legal obligation to do so; nor do Israel’s Arab citizens.

Jewish men pray in Jerusalem for the success of the Israeli army and for the return of the Israeli hostages, on Nov. 9, 2023. AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg

Growing Haredi sector

Israel’s governments have continued to tolerate this situation as ultra-Orthodox political parties became much-needed partners.

Yet legal and popular opposition has increased.

In 1998, the Supreme Court ruled that the defense minister has no right to exempt Haredi Jews from military service and asked the government to find ways to draft them. In 2014, a center-right government under Netanyahu passed a law aiming to have 60% of Haredi men serving within three years. But the 2015 elections brought Haredi parties back in power, and implementation was effectively abandoned.

Since then, Haredi parties have become more powerful as their population grows. Yet the Supreme Court has made clear that the government either needs to draft Haredim, or the legislature has to come up with a new law to excuse them.

Seven in 10 Israeli Jews oppose the blanket exemption, meaning another exemption might jeopardize Netanyahu’s government. Frustration is also rising over plans to raise the military service of men to three years and to double the duty of reservists to 42 days a year during emergencies.

None of this would matter if the Haredim were still the same tiny segment of society they were in 1948. Today, however, ultra-Orthodox women have 6.5 children on average, compared with 2.5 among other Jewish Israeli women, and around 1.3 million of the country’s 9.5 million people are Haredim.

The resulting transformation of Israeli society is easy to see. If the trend continues, Israel will become a very different, very religious society – one that can hardly survive economically.

On average, a non-Haredi household pays nine times more income tax than a Haredi one, while the latter receives over 50% more state support. Even if they were ready to work, most Haredim would have a hard time finding well-paid jobs, as their state-subsidized private schools teach hardly any secular topics.

For Israeli society, this portends further fragmentation and a weakening of the economy – to say nothing of the army. In Haredim’s eyes, however, Israel succeeds because of religious Jews’ study and prayer.

In total, the state plans to issue draft orders to 3,000 Haredi men over the next few weeks, and they are not chosen randomly. Most work, or study in higher education institutions, rather than traditional religious schools. This small group might indeed follow the secular state authorities, rather than the appeals of their rabbis.

Without even a minimal secular education, the majority of Haredi youth, however, would not be easily integrated into the army. Thus, the draft of this segment of Israel’s population may remain more symbolic – telling them that they too have to share more than the spiritual burden of a war-plagued society.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on March 15, 2024.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Michael Brenner, American University

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