The earliest pictures capturing the art and beauty of Indian monuments

ORIENTALISM THROUGH THE IMPERIALIST EYE

Sudha G Tilak
BBC  Delhi

01/09/2024

DAG
William Henry Pigou, a surgeon turned photographer, took this picture of an idol cart at a Mysore temple in 1856


A new show in the Indian capital Delhi showcases a rich collection of early photographs of monuments in the country.

The photographs from the 1850s and 1860s capture a period of experimentation when new technology met uncharted territory.

British India was the first country outside Europe to establish professional photographic studios, and many of these early photographers were celebrated internationally. (Photography was launched in 1839.)

They blended and transformed pictorial conventions, introduced new artistic traditions, and shaped the visual tastes of diverse audiences, ranging from scholars to tourists.

While the works of leading British photographers often reflect a colonial perspective, those by their Indian contemporaries reveal overlooked interactions with this narrative.What secrets do the Taj Mahal's locked rooms hold?
A makeover for 200-year-old India heritage building

The pictures at the show called Histories in the Making have been gathered from the archives of DAG, a leading art firm. They highlight photography’s crucial role in shaping an understanding of India’s history.

They also contributed to the development of field sciences, fostered networks of knowledge, and connected the histories of politics, fieldwork, and academic disciplines like archaeology.

"These images capture a moment in history when the British Empire was consolidating its power in India, and the documentation of the subcontinent's monuments served both as a means of asserting control and as a way to showcase the empire's achievements to audiences back in Europe,” says Ashish Anand, CEO of DAG.

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William Johnson and William Henderson photographed the Elephanta caves in western India


This is a a picture of Caves of Elephanta taken by William Johnson and William Henderson.

The Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage site, are a group of temples primarily dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva in the state of Maharashtra.

William Johnson began his photographic career in Bombay (now Mumbai) around 1852, initially working as a daguerreotypist - the daguerreotype was an early photographic process that produced a single image on a metal plate.

In the mid-1850s, Johnson partnered with William Henderson, a commercial studio owner in Bombay, to establish the firm Johnson & Henderson.

Together, they produced The Indian Amateur’s Photographic Album, a monthly series published from 1856 to 1858.

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This 1858 picture of the sacred tank at the Minakshi Sundareshvara Temple in the southern city of Madurai was taken by Linnaeus Tripe


Linnaeus Tripe arrived in India in 1839 at the age of 17, joining the Madras regiment of the East India Company.

He began practicing photography and in December 1854, captured images in the towns of Halebidu, Belur, and Shravanabelagola.

Sixty-eight of these photographs, primarily of temples, were exhibited in 1855 at an exhibition in Madras (now a major city called Chennai), earning him a first-class medal for the "best series of photographic views on paper".

In 1857, Tripe became the photographer for the Madras Presidency - a former province of British India - and photographed sites at Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Pudukkottai, and Thanjavur.

Over 50 of these photographs were displayed at the Photographic Society of Madras exhibition the following year, where they were widely praised as the best exhibits.

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John Murray's picture of the Agra Fort, 1858


John Murray, a surgeon in the Bengal Indian Medical Service, began photographing in India in the late 1840s.

Appointed civil surgeon in the city of Agra in 1848, he spent the next 20 years producing a series of studies on Mughal architecture in Agra and the neighbouring cities of Sikandra, and Delhi.

In 1864, he created a comprehensive set of pictures documenting the iconic Taj Mahal.

Throughout his career, Murray used paper negatives and the calotype process - a technique of creating "positive" prints from one negative - to produce his images.

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Thomas Biggs picture of a Durga temple in Bijapur, 1855


Thomas Biggs arrived in India in 1842 and joined the Bombay Artillery as a captain in the British East India Company.

He soon took up photography and became a founding member of the Photographic Society of Bombay in 1854.

After exhibiting his work at the Society's first exhibition in January 1855, he was appointed as the government photographer for the Bombay Presidency, tasked with documenting architectural and archaeological sites.

He photographed Bijapur, Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal, Dharwad, and Mysore before being recalled to military service in December 1855.

Biggs experimented with the calotype process, producing "positive" prints from one negative.

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Felice Beato's picture of the clock tower at the ruined British Residency in Lucknow, 1858


Felice Beato, one of the most renowned war and travel photographers of the 19th Century, arrived in India in 1858 to document the aftermath of the 1857 mutiny.

Indian soldiers, known as sepoys, had set off a rebellion against the British rule, often referred to as the first war of independence.

Although the mutiny was nearly over when Beato arrived, he photographed its aftermath with a focus on capturing the immediacy of events.

He extensively documented cities deeply affected by the uprising, including Lucknow, Delhi, and Kanpur, with notable images of Sikandar Bagh, Kashmiri Gate, and the barracks of Kanpur. His chilling photograph of the hanging of sepoys, stands out for its stark depiction.

As a commercial photographer, Beato aimed to sell his work widely, spending over two years in India photographing iconic sites. In 1860, Beato left India for China to photograph the Second Opium War.

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Andrew Neill's picture of the sculptured granite wall in Hampi, 1856


Andrew Neill, a Scottish doctor in the Indian Medical Service in Madras, was also a photographer who documented ancient monuments for the Bombay Presidency.

His calotypes were featured in the 1855 exhibition of the Photographic Society of Madras and in March 1857, and 20 of his architectural views of Mysore and Bellary were shown by the Photographic Society of Bengal.

Neill also documented Lucknow after the 1857 revolt.

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Edmund Lyon's picture of a long aisle in Ramalingeswara temple in Rameswaram, 1867


Edmund Lyon, who served in the British Army from 1845 to 1854 and briefly as governor of Dublin District Military Prison, arrived in India in 1865 and established a photographic studio in the southern city of Ooty.

Working as a commercial photographer until 1869, Lyon gained significant recognition, particularly for his photographs of the Nilgiris mountain range, which were showcased at the 1867 Paris Exposition.

Accompanied by his wife, Anne Grace, Lyon also captured southern India's archaeological sites and architectural antiquities.

His work resulted in a remarkable collection of 300 photographs documenting sites in Trichinopoly, Madurai, Tanjore, Halebid, Bellary, and Vijayanagara

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Samuel Bourne photographed this ice cave at the source of Baspa river in the Himalayas in 1860


Samuel Bourne’s stunning images of India, especially from his Himalayan expeditions between 1863 and 1866, stand among the finest examples of 19th-Century travel photography. A former bank clerk, Bourne left his job in 1857 to pursue photography full-time.

Arriving in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1863, he soon moved to Shimla, where he partnered with William Howard to establish the Howard & Bourne studio.

Later that year, Charles Shepherd joined them, forming 'Howard, Bourne & Shepherd'. When Howard left, the studio became ‘Bourne & Shepherd,’ a name that would become iconic.

Bourne embarked on three major Himalayan expeditions, covering vast regions including Kashmir and the challenging terrain of Spiti. His 1866 photographs of the Manirung Pass, at over 18,600ft (5,669m), gained international acclaim.

In 1870, Bourne returned to England, selling his shares, though Bourne & Shepherd continued to operate in Calcutta and Simla. The studio, which later documented the spectacular Delhi Durbar – the ‘Court of India’ of 1911, an event that saw 20,000 soldiers marching or riding past the silk-robed Emperor and Empress - had a remarkable 176-year legacy before closing in 2016.

WAIT, WHAT?!

Mexico judge orders Congress not to discuss controversial judicial reform

August 31, 2024
By Reuters

A unionized federal court worker protests against reforms that would make all judges stand for election in Mexico City, Aug. 26, 2024.

MEXICO CITY —

A Mexican judge ordered the Lower House of Congress not to discuss a controversial judicial reform scheduled to be taken up by lawmakers the first week of September, according to a legal document reviewed by Reuters on Saturday.

The judicial reform, pushed by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has generated tensions with the United States and has sparked concern in global financial markets.

The order to temporarily block lawmakers from debating and voting on the reform was issued by District Judge Martha Eugenia Magaña López in the Mexican state of Morelos, in response to concerns about judicial workers' labor rights.

The reform would see around 7,000 judges, magistrates and justices elected by popular vote, lower experience and age requirements and reduce the size of the nation's top court.

Proponents say it will improve democracy and help fix a system that no longer serves the public, but critics say it will cut off judges' careers, skew power to the executive and open the judiciary to criminal influence.

The judge's order issued on Saturday would prohibit lawmakers in the Lower House of Congress from discussing the reform until September 4, when the judge will rule on whether to issue a permanent suspension.

Congress has ignored similar orders from judges in the past, leading to doubt as to whether the lawmakers will heed the judge's order or take up the reform anyway.

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar has expressed strong criticism of the proposed judicial overhaul, calling it a "major risk to the functioning of Mexico's democracy." Canada's government has also criticized it.

Lopez Obrador said earlier this week that he had paused relations with the Canadian and U.S. embassies in the country over their criticisms, which he said disrespected Mexico's sovereignty. He stressed the pause was only with the embassies, and not with the countries.

The ruling Morena party and its allies hold a two-thirds supermajority in the lower house and are one seat short in the Senate.

Why is Mexico’s judicial reform plan so controversial?


By AFP
August 31, 2024

Mexico's outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wants judges to be elected by popular vote - Copyright AFP RALF HIRSCHBERGER
Yussel Gonzalez

Judicial reforms championed by Mexico’s outgoing president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and supported by his incoming successor have sparked diplomatic tensions with the United States and upset financial markets.

Here are the key points of the proposals, which will be debated in the ruling-party-dominated Congress, due to convene on Sunday:



– What’s the plan? –



Lopez Obrador wants Supreme Court and other judges and magistrates to be elected by popular vote, arguing that the judiciary now serves the interests of the political and economic elite.

Candidates would be proposed by the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.

At present, Supreme Court justices are nominated by the president and ratified by the Senate.

Judges and magistrates are appointed by the Federal Judicial Council, an administrative body.

The proposals, which are supported by president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who will take office on October 1, would reduce the number of Supreme Court judges from 11 to nine.

Their terms of office would be shortened from 15 years to 12.

A new body would be formed to supervise judges, in a country where the rate of impunity — of being able to avoid accountability for crimes — stands at 99 percent, according to the non-governmental organization Impunidad Cero.

The system would have similarities to that of Bolivia, where members of the high courts are elected by popular vote.

Some states in the United States use elections to select judges. In Switzerland, judges are chosen by voters at the local level.



– Why the controversy? –



Opposition politicians, judges and judicial employees say that the reforms would politicize the justice system and compromise the separation of powers between the branches of government.

Margaret Satterthwaite, United Nations special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, has also voiced “deep concerns” about the plan’s “broad implications for judicial independence across Mexico.”

“I urge the authorities to carefully reconsider the proposal, giving appropriate weight to the human rights guarantee of judicial independence,” she wrote on social media platform X.

Human Rights Watch urged lawmakers to reject what it called the “dangerous proposals,” saying they would “seriously undermine judicial independence and contravene international human rights standards.”

The New York-based rights group expressed concern that the reforms would also eliminate restrictions on the military carrying out civilian law enforcement.

“Given Mexico’s long history of serious human rights violations and official cover-ups, legislators should be taking steps to strengthen human rights protections, not weaken them,” it said.



– What’s the diplomatic fallout? –



US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar has warned that the changes would “threaten” a trade relationship between the neighboring countries that “relies on investors’ confidence in Mexico’s legal framework.”

The reforms could pose “a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy,” he told journalists.

In particular, they could “make it easier for cartels and other bad actors to take advantage of politically motivated and inexperienced judges,” Salazar said.

Canada, also a member of the major free trade partnership with the United States and Mexico, has for its part said investors are worried.

“They want stability, they want a judicial system that works if there are problems,” Canadian Ambassador Graeme Clark said.

In response, Lopez Obrador announced a “pause” in relations with the US and Canadian embassies, criticizing the ambassadors’ statements as “interventionist.”



– Why are markets nervous? –



Several investment firms have warned that curbing the independence of the judiciary would affect the resolution of conflicts between the government and the private sector.

The changes would “lead to heightened uncertainty” about the legal operating environment, British consultancy firm Capital Economics wrote in a note to clients.

“The politicization of the justice system could raise concerns about whether disputes between businesses and the government would be resolved in an impartial manner,” it said.

Since Sheinbaum, a close ally of Lopez Obrador, won a landslide election victory June 2, the Mexican peso has fallen by around 16 percent against the dollar.

The drop reflects “concerns about the country’s economic stability… and also the perception of risk that foreign investors are beginning to attribute to Mexico,” Ramse Gutierrez, co-director of investments at asset manager Franklin Templeton, told AFP.

Amin Saikal on the United States’ Many Mistakes in Afghanistan


The United States “overestimated the power that the U.S. military could bring to bear in changing Afghanistan.”

By Catherine Putz
September 01, 2024

Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 14, 2024

Credit: AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the United States and its allies ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in retaliation for providing safe havens to al-Qaida. By the 20th anniversary of the attacks, however, the Taliban had returned to Kabul.

The story of how and why the U.S. fought a 20-year war in Afghanistan – and how it ultimately lost that war – is a complicated tale. Four U.S. presidents oversaw the war in Afghanistan. The mission evolved, as did the wider foreign policy strategies onto which it was mapped. By one measurement, the United States spent $2.3 trillion on the war from 2001 to 2021 – a mind-blowing sum in light of the devastating conclusion.

In his book, “How to Lose a War: The Story of America’s Intervention in Afghanistan,” Amin Saikal lays out the convoluted path from a retaliatory intervention to defeat. In the following interview, Saikal, emeritus professor and founding director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, helps explain the war’s evolution, the dysfunction of successive Afghan (and American) governments, and the fatal mistakes that doomed the effort to re-make Afghanistan into a democracy.

The Bush administration envisioned a “light footprint” as sufficient to achieve its aims in Afghanistan. It also sought to set the war within its wider foreign policy aims of “democracy promotion” and the “war on terror.” How did this constellation of circumstances and strategies hamper its ability to actually achieve its stated aims in Afghanistan?

Initially, the U.S. limited force deployment, spearheaded by the CIA and air power, rapidly prevailed against al-Qaida as the perpetrator of 9/11 and the extremist Taliban regime as the protector of al-Qaida under Osama bin Laden. But it resulted only in the dispersion of al-Qaida and the Taliban leaders and their operatives rather than in their total defeat.

Washington’s plan was not to “get bogged down” in Afghanistan. It was to help transform the country into a stable, secure, and democratic state within a relatively short period, and at minimum cost, in close relationship with the U.S. to ensure the country would never again become a hub for international terrorism. However, the failure to capture bin Laden as the main target of the intervention sooner rather than later led to a “hunt” for him that lasted 11 years, obliging America to deepen and widen its involvement in support of the difficult task of “nation-building” in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, America’s Afghanistan campaign was conflated with two wider foreign policy objectives: democracy promotion and the war on terrorism. The first objective motivated the Bush administration to influence the shaping of the strong presidential system of governance with which Afghanistan was endowed and which was more akin to the American model than in accord with the mitigating prevailing and historical conditions in Afghanistan. The system proved unworkable in a highly socially divided and traditional country. It produced dysfunctional and kleptocratic governments under leaders who personalized politics and could not be effective and reliable partners of the U.S. on the ground.

The second objective spread out American power with the prime aim of toppling the defiant Saddam Hussein’s autocratic rule in Iraq, which Washington falsely linked to al-Qaida and accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction. The 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq diverted many American military and intelligence resources from Afghanistan to Iraq in order to quell a raging insurgency there.

The Iraq war was prioritized over Afghanistan at a time when the Taliban, in alliance with al-Qaida, backed by Pakistan, rapidly regrouped and made a comeback with a vengeance before the U.S. and its Afghan and NATO allies could consolidate the situation in Afghanistan. U.S. forces remained thin on the ground and in need of more troops and military equipment, which only worsened as the Taliban-led insurgency expanded. By 2006, despite an increase in military assets, American forces and their allies were struggling to gain the upper hand over the Taliban and their supporters – a trend which continued, with the U.S. incapable of fighting two wars at the same time in contrast to the Pentagon’s doctrine.

Read the full story here, in The Diplomat magazine.

 

Posts falsely linking AstraZeneca Covid vaccine to mpox resurface after recent surge

• Published on August 31, 2024 at 19:12
•  3 min read 
• By Ana PRIETO, AFP Brazil, AFP Argentina, AFP Greece 
• Translation and adaptation Ara Eugenio

Copyright © AFP 2017-2024. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.

AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine does not contain mpox, contrary to posts shared worldwide that have falsely linked the jab to the recent surge in cases of the viral disease. The posts have misrepresented the AstraZeneca vaccine's chimpanzee adenovirus component, which according to scientists is an "entirely different" virus from mpox and had been weakened so it does not cause disease in humans.

"Do not believe in MPOX," read part of a Tagalog-language Facebook post on August 26, 2024. It included an image showing a list of ingredients for the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, with "chimpanzee adenovirus" vector highlighted.

"THE ASTRA ZENECA JAB CONTAINED MONKEY POX. WAKE UP VAXXERS!" said text overlaid to the image.

Image

Screenshot of the false post taken August 26, 2024

Formerly known as monkeypox, mpox is a viral disease transmitted from animals to humans that can also be passed from human to human, causing fever, muscle pain and skin lesions.

Its resurgence and the detection in Central Africa of a new strain, dubbed Clade 1b, prompted the World Health Organization to declare its highest international alert level on August 14 (archived link).

Similar posts linking the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to mpox have also been shared by other social media users in the Philippines as well as in Australia, South Korea, the United States and Brazil.

AFP has previously debunked a similar false claim that had circulated in 2022.

The claim "appears to stem from the idea that chimpanzees are broadly referred to as monkeys, but this is a very ignorant rumour with no basis in fact", Professor Yoo Jin-hong, an epidemiologist at the Catholic University of Korea, told AFP at the time (archived link).

The disease was earlier given the name monkeypox because it was first discovered in a group of macaques in 1958 that were being studied for research purposes but scientists say rodents are the most likely natural reservoir.

The first human case was reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970, long predating Covid vaccines (archived link).

'Biologically impossible'

Jose Luiz Modena, a virology professor at Brazil's State University of Campinas, told AFP on August 21, 2024 that mpox and the chimpanzee adenovirus used in the AstraZeneca vaccine have "entirely different origins, evolutionary histories, viral particle complexities, and replication mechanisms".

It is therefore "biologically impossible" for the said vaccine to cause mpox, he said.

Giliane Trindade, a microbiology professor and researcher at Brazil's Federal University of Minas Gerais, separately told AFP the chimpanzee adenovirus component in the AstraZeneca vaccine could not mutate into the virus that causes mpox.

"Mutations do not transform one virus into another. Mutations can lead to differences within the same virus, but not transform it into another already existing virus on the planet," he said on August 19.

Moreover, the vaccine's adenovirus component does not cause disease in humans, according to Oxford University which co-developed the jab (archived link). 

"It has been genetically changed so that it is impossible for it to grow in humans," the vaccine's information page said.

The modified adenovirus is used as a vaccine vector to transport genetic instructions to the body to trigger the production of a spike protein similar to that of the virus that causes Covid-19. This then prompts an immune response so the body can fight a real infection.

Covid-19 vaccines are frequently targeted by misinformation, despite health authorities saying that billions of people worldwide have been safely vaccinated against the disease.

AFP has also debunked false claims swirling around mpox.

Collapse after collapse - why Lagos buildings keep crashing down

Mansur Abubakar
BBC News, Lagos

01/08/2024

Getty Images
Local people were pictured searching for survivors in the wreckage of a building that collapsed in Lagos in 2022

A building has collapsed in Nigeria’s megacity, Lagos, once every two weeks on average so far this year.

Whereas the commercial cost can be calculated, a figure can never be put on the value of the lives lost underneath the rubble.

The gaps among the buildings, replaced by piles of debris, represent a failure of governance as well as giving rise to allegations of contractors trying to cut corners to save money.

There are regulations, there are maintenance schedules, there are inspectors – but the system does not work.

Those responsible are never held to account, and so nothing ever changes.

Lagos, dubbed by one expert who spoke to the BBC as " the building-collapse capital of Nigeria", has seen at least 90 buildings falling down in the last 12 years, leaving more than 350 people dead, according to the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria.

One of the most notorious incidents was in 2021.

Sunday Femi was just metres away, in the upmarket suburb of Ikoyi, when a 21-storey block of luxury flats under construction collapsed, killing 42 people.Ikoyi collapse: Anger and frustration grow

After the loud crashing sound, he was engulfed in dust.

“Like many, I rushed inside trying to see if I could help some of the people trapped. Sadly I knew some of those who died and I think about it every day,” he says, reflecting on what happened nearly three years ago.

Getty Images
Hundreds gathered to find out the fate of loved ones after a high-rise block under construction collapsed in 2021


The drinks seller had been speaking to some of the construction workers moments before they entered the building site.

He still works nearby and the chatter among the locals often turns to those events and the possible cause.

Metal sheeting protects the site from prying eyes but mounds of broken concrete can still be seen through the gaps in the gate.

Knocking on the entrance to the ill-fated compound, two fierce-looking security guards opened up and said they had instructions not to allow anybody into the premises except state government officials.

Just as the place is sealed to the public so is the official investigation into the collapse – it has been sitting with the state governor since he received it in 2022.

A list of recommendations has reportedly been drawn up by a panel of experts following the investigation but that also has not been made public.

The BBC has repeatedly asked the Lagos state authorities to see the recommendations, and the report into the Ikoyi building collapse, but neither has been made available.

The coroner, however, has had her say and in 2022 she did not hold back.

In a damning judgment on the deaths, Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, attributed the building collapse to the irresponsibility and negligence of the government agencies that were supposed to approve and supervise the plans and construction.

Lagos’s population is booming and is now estimated to stand at more than 20 million.

As the city grows so does the demand for housing and commercial property, and it can sometimes feel like a giant building site with construction going on everywhere.

Before work can begin, plans need to be approved by Lagos state’s Physical Planning Permit Agency. Then inspectors from the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) are supposed to look at the site as well as check the progress at every stage of construction.

And the Standards Organisation of Nigeria should make sure that only suitable building material gets to the market.

But on many occasions the procedures are not followed.

Getty Images
Demonstrations have been held to encourage builders to follow the law


Inside the LASBCA’s offices everything appears calm - there is no sense of the urgency of the problems or challenges it faces.

Spokesperson Olusegun Olaoye acknowledges the criticism but dismisses allegations that officials have been bribed to issue fake certificates and rather blames a lack of resources.

“At the moment we have about 300 building inspectors and supervisors but we are looking to add to that,” he says.

Experts agree that more supervisors are needed.

Muhammad Danmarya, architect and construction expert, says they should number in their thousands.

“Three hundred is just not right for a state like Lagos. Each local government area should have at least 100 inspectors and supervisors and Lagos has 57 of those areas,” he argues.

“There’s always construction going on everywhere you look, so it’s important that inspection and supervision is going on all the time.”

In the absence of that regime across the state, some less scrupulous companies are getting away with violating building codes, using sub-standard materials and employing poorly trained workers – three of the reasons cited for the high frequency of collapses.

“They just come here to pick us up any time they have a job for us and pay us after we are done,” says labourer Habu Isah, who has worked on construction sites for years.

“I have never undergone any training, I just learned everything on the job.”

But even if violations are identified in the wake of a collapse, the state’s building agency does not take any legal action.

“To my knowledge there haven’t been any prosecutions in the past as far as building collapses in Lagos are concerned,” LASBCA’s Mr Olaoye admits.

“I know the statistics are worrying but there are ongoing efforts to halt the trend.”


Twenty people died after a primary school collapsed in Lagos in March 2019


Alleged political influence is a barrier to pursuing prosecutions.

“If you are connected to people in power, even if you are the culprit in a building collapse case nothing will happen to you,” says a Lagos state politician, who talked to the BBC on the condition of anonymity.

“We’ve seen it so many times, some of the high-profile cases have to do with structures of highly placed people and they are still roaming around freely.

“In Nigeria when you are rich and connected you can avoid problems easily.”

With 19 building collapses already recorded so far this year by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, the final total is likely to be the highest in the past decade.

But lessons may still go unlearnt.

The head of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria recently said that the country lacked the capacity to properly investigate what is going on.

“We don’t have the expertise, the equipment, and the resources to do so,” said Prof Sadiq Abubakar.

In the meantime, construction workers and others will carry on paying with their lives.

Additional reporting by Andrew Gift

 

US book publishers sue Florida Department of Education over library restrictions

Daniel Kim | U. Ottawa Faculty of Law, CA

AUGUST 31, 2024 

Six major book publishers Friday sued the Florida Department of Education, challenging a 2023 state law used to restrict books in school libraries.

The six book publishers filed the lawsuit along with the Authors Guild, several prominent authors, two students and two parents. The plaintiffs are suing on the basis that the state law is overbroad and violates the freedom of expression protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The plaintiffs stated that this freedom includes the right for authors and publishers to communicate ideas to students and students’ rights to receive those ideas without undue government interference.

The law, HB 1069, came into effect on July 1, 2023, and significantly expanded the state’s ability to prohibit literature if it contained sexual content. The new bill added a provision that allows the state to ban content that “depicts or describes sexual conduct” without needing to consider the literary, artistic or cultural value of the work as a whole. It also expanded procedural barriers by requiring schools to remove a book within five days of a parent’s objection to a book and to remain unavailable until the objection was resolved.

The need to consider the value of the book as a whole, or its literary, scientific or political value, is part of the obscenity test outlined in the 1973 US Supreme Court case Miller v California. The Court found that where work is not considered obscene, it is constitutionally protected expression under the First Amendment. The plaintiffs on Friday argued that the state’s overbroad censorship of works that have sexual content ignores the standard set in Miller.

Explaining their challenge, CEO of the Authors Guild Mary Rasenberger stated:

Book bans censor authors’ voices, negating and silencing their lived experience and stories, these bans have a chilling effect on what authors write about, and they damage authors’ reputations by creating the false notion that there is something unseemly about their books. Yet, these same books have edified young people for decades, expanding worlds and fostering self-esteem and empathy for others. We all lose out when authors’ truths are censored.

This Florida lawsuit is not the first constitutional challenge raised against state education departments for censorship. Across the US, litigation has commenced against sexual content bans in Iowa, Texas, and Arkansas with varying outcomes. In recent months, Alabama and Idaho legislatures have passed similar legislation that restricts books based on sexual content, with challenges from civil rights groups expected.

After coming into effect, the Florida law has allowed the state to ban works such as the Diary of Anne Frank, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughter-House Five in school libraries.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for HOWL 

BANGLADESH

'The howls were terrifying': Imprisoned in the notorious 'House of Mirrors'

Ethirajan Anbarasan
BBC News

01/08/2024

EPA
Michael Chakma was snatched from a street and disappeared into a secret prison in 2019


The man who walked out into the rain in Dhaka hadn’t seen the sun in more than five years.

Even on a cloudy day, his eyes struggled to adjust after half a decade locked in a dimly lit room, where his days had been spent listening to the whirr of industrial fans and the screams of the tortured.

Standing on the street, he struggled to remember his sister’s telephone number.

More than 200km away, that same sister was reading about the men emerging from a reported detention facility in Bangladesh’s infamous military intelligence headquarters, known as Aynaghor, or “House of Mirrors”.

They were men who had allegedly been “disappeared” under the increasingly autocratic rule of Sheikh Hasina - largely critics of the government who were there one day, and gone the next.

But Sheikh Hasina had now fled the country, unseated by student-led protests, and these men were being released.

In a remote corner of Bangladesh, the young woman staring at her computer wondered if her brother - whose funeral they had held just two years ago, after every avenue to uncover his whereabouts proved fruitless - might be among them?

Getty Images
Relatives of the disappeared - like these ones - have been campaigning for years to uncover where their loved ones are


The day Michael Chakma was forcefully bundled into a car and blindfolded by a group of burly men in April 2019 in Dhaka, he thought it was the end.

He had come to authorities’ attention after years of campaigning for the rights of the people of Bangladesh’s south-eastern Chittagong Hill region – a Buddhist group which makes up just 2% of Bangladesh’s 170m-strong, mostly Muslim population.

He had, according to rights group Amnesty International, been staunchly vocal against abuses committed by the military in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and has campaigned for an end to military rule in the region.

A day after he was abducted, he was thrown into a cell inside the House of Mirrors, a building hidden inside the compound the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) used in the capital Dhaka.

It was here they gathered local and foreign intelligence, but it would become known as somewhere far more sinister.

The small cell he was kept in, he said, had no windows and no sunlight, only two roaring exhaust fans.

After a while “you lose the sense of time and day”, he recalls.

“I used to hear the cries of other prisoners, though I could not see them, their howling was terrifying."

The cries, as he would come to know himself, came from his fellow inmates - many of whom were also being interrogated.

“They would tie me to a chair and rotate it very fast. Often, they threatened to electrocute me. They asked why I was criticising Ms Hasina,” Mr Chakma says.


'They beat me for six months without talking'

Bangladesh jails activists for documenting killings

Outside the detention facility, for Minti Chakma the shock of her brother's disappearance was being replaced with panic.

“We went to several police stations to enquire, but they said they had no information on him and he was not in their custody,” she recalls. “Months passed and we started getting panicky. My father was also getting unwell.”

A massive campaign was launched to find Michael, and Minti filed a writ petition in the High Court in 2020.

Nothing brought any answers.

“The whole family went through a lot of trauma and agony. It was terrible not knowing the whereabouts of my brother,” she says.

Then in August 2020, Michael’s father died during Covid. Some 18 months later, the family decided that Michael must have died as well.

“We gave up hope,” Minti says, simply. “So as per our Buddhist tradition we decided to do hold his funeral so that the soul can be freed from his body. With a heavy heart we did that. We all cried a lot.”

Getty Images
Sheikh Hasina, who fled Dhaka by military helicopter on 5 August, had been in power since 2009



Rights groups in Bangladesh say they have documented about 600 cases of alleged enforced disappearances since 2009, the year Sheikh Hasina was elected.

In the years that followed, Sheikh Hasina’s government would be accused of targeting their critics and dissenters in an attempt to stifle any dissent which posed a threat to their rule - an accusation she and the government always denied.

Some of the so-called disappeared were eventually released or produced in court, others were found dead. Human Rights Watch says nearly 100 people remain missing.

Rumours of secret prisons run by various Bangladeshi security agencies circulated among families and friends. Minti watched videos detailing the disappearances, praying her brother was in custody somewhere.

But the existence of such a facility in the capital was only revealed following an investigation by Netra News in May 2022.

The report found it was inside the Dhaka military encampment, right in the heart of the city. It also managed to get hold of first-hand accounts from inside the building - many of which tally with Michael’s description of being held in a cell without sunlight.

The descriptions also echo those of Maroof Zaman, a former Bangladeshi ambassador to Qatar and Vietnam, who was first detained in the House of Mirrors in December 2017.

Sardar Ronie
Former diplomat Maroof Zaman was fearful of the repercussions of speaking out



His interview with the BBC is one of the few times he has spoken of his 15-month ordeal: as part of his release, he agreed with officials not to speak publicly.

Like others who have spoken of what happened behind the complex’s walls, he was fearful of what might happen if he did. The detainee who spoke openly to Netra News in 2022 only did so because he was no longer in Bangladesh.

Maroof Zaman has only felt safe to speak out since Sheikh Hasina fled – and her government collapsed - on 5 August.

He describes how he too was held in a room without sunlight, while two noisy exhaust fans drowned out any sound coming from outside.

The focus of his interrogations were on the articles he had written alleging corruption at the heart of government. Why, the men wanted to know, was he writing articles alleging “unequal agreements” signed with India by Ms Hasina, that favoured Delhi.

“For the first four-and-a-half months, it was like a death zone,” he says. “I was constantly beaten, kicked and threatened at gunpoint. It was unbearable, I thought only death will free me from this torture.”

But unlike Michael, he was moved to a different building.

“For the first time in months I heard the sound of the birds. Oh, it was so good, I cannot describe that feeling,” Maroof recounted.

He was eventually released following a campaign by his daughters and supporters in late March 2019 – a month before Michael found himself thrown into a cell.

Getty Images
The relatives of some of the nearly 100 people who remain missing gathered at a rally in Dhaka recently

Few believe that enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings could have been carried out without the knowledge of the top leadership.

But while people like Mr Chakma were languishing in secret jails for years, Ms Hasina, her ministers and her international affairs advisor Gowher Rizvi were flatly rejecting allegations of abductions.

Ms Hasina’s son, Sajeed Wazed Joy, has continued to reject the allegations, instead turning the blame on “some of our law enforcement leadership [who] acted beyond the law”.

“I absolutely agree that it’s completely illegal. I believe that those orders did not come from the top. I had no knowledge of this. I am shocked to hear it myself,” he told the BBC.

There are those who raise their eyebrows at the denial.

Alongside Michael, far higher profile people emerged from the House of Mirrors - retired brigadier Abdullahi Aman Azmi and barrister Ahmed Bin Quasem. Both had spent about eight years in secret incarceration.

What is clear is that the re-emergence of people like the politicians, and Michael, shows “the urgency for the new authorities in Bangladesh to order and ensure that the security forces to disclose all places of detention and account for those who have been missing”, according to Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights office in Geneva.

Bangladesh’s interim government agreed: earlier this week, it established a five-member commission to investigate cases of enforced disappearances by security agencies during Ms Hasina’s rule since 2009.

And those who have survived the ordeal want justice.

“We want the perpetrators to be punished. All the victims and their families should be compensated,” Maroof Zaman said.

What sparked the protests that toppled Bangladesh's PM?

'Free again': An uncertain Bangladesh emerges from Sheikh Hasina's grip

Back on the street outside the House of Mirrors - just two days after Sheikh Hasina fled to India - Michael was struggling to decide what to do. He had only been told about his release 15 minutes before. It was a lot to take in.

“I forgot the last two digits of my sister’s phone number,” he says. “I struggled a lot to remember that, but I couldn’t. Then I called a relative who informed them.”

But Minti already knew: she had seen the news on Facebook.

“I was ecstatic,” she recalls through tears two weeks later. “Next day, he called me, I saw him on that video phone call after five years. We were all crying. I couldn’t recognise him.”

Last week, she saw him in person for the first time in five years: weaker, traumatised - but alive.

“His voice sounds different,” she says.

Michael, meanwhile, is dealing with the long term health implications of being held in the dark for so long.

“I cannot look at contacts or phone numbers properly, it’s a blurred vision. I am getting treatment, and the doctor is giving me spectacles.”

More than that, there is coming to terms with what he has missed. He was told of his father’s death a few days after his release.

And yet, amid the pain, he is hopeful - even happy.

“It’s more than a new lease of life, a resurrection. It feels like I was dead and have come back to life again. I cannot describe this feeling.”Additional reporting by Moazzem Hussain, BBC

International Law

Cultivating a Culture of Peace, UN Observance to International Peace Day

Despite the global call to peace, some world and state actors view peace through different lenses.

ByDr. Reyron Leones del Rosario
September 1, 2024

Photo by Meizhi Lang on Unsplash

Despite the global call to peace, some world and state actors view peace through different lenses. The varieties of perspectives significantly impact the global order; some result in conflicts and violence. The United Nations General Assembly established the International Day of Peace in 1981. Two decades later, the General Assembly, unanimously voted to designate the Day in 2001 as a period of non-violence and cease-fire across the world.

Every September 21st, the United Nations commemorates the International Day of Peace. This year’s spotlight, is geared to “cultivating a culture of peace.” This is a moment to pause and remind ourselves of our purpose. The fast-changing landscapes of political and economic ideologies contribute to inequalities and inequities around the world. With many different views mixed with variations of ideologies, there is a need to promote open dialogue so diplomacy can resolve differences.

There is a need to plant the seeds for non-violence, justice, and hope, according to UN Secretary General António Guterres. “This year marks the 25th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of the Declaration and Program of Action on a Culture of Peace.”

A dynamic participatory process promotes active dialogue to resolve conflicts through mutual understanding and cooperation based on the declaration of the United Nations. “In a world with rising geopolitical tensions and protracted conflicts, there has never been a better time to remember how the UN General Assembly came together in 1999 to lay out the values needed for a culture of peace. These include: respect for life, human rights, and fundamental freedoms; the promotion of non-violence through education, dialogue, and cooperation; commitment to peaceful settlement of conflicts; and adherence to freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance, solidarity, cooperation, pluralism, cultural diversity, dialogue, and understanding at all levels of society and among nations.”

Theda Skocpol asserted that social revolutions, in the case of domestic affairs, are structural social changes accompanied by class uprisings, including political and class structure. The corners of the world remind us that peace is possible. The International Peace Diplomacy Corps, Inc. (IPDCI) promotes peace through education awareness campaigns. Through its various learning concepts on public administration, peace education, diplomacy, and international relations, among others, it allows learners from all over the world to access the very basic concept of peace. Peace is a subject common to everyone but misruled by some leaders. This educational platform of the IPDCI contributes to the greater aspirations of the United Nations for global peace, security, and order.

As we commemorate the Day of Peace, the United Nations reminds us of its global relevance and that its existence never wavers the threat to humanity. On a personal note, relationships among nations are more than political boundaries. It is not about popularity or publicity. I witnessed how the international relations can serve as an avenue in fostering economic alliance. Building economic ties would mean security. Stronger political relations, between nations, through foreign and commercial investments, will certainly enhance economic cooperation.

Peace, is expanded to economic ties, allowing people to foster business relations. Peace can also be equated on the economic equation of a nation. Given the good standing would mean a satisfaction and fulfillment the limited resources as well with the wants and needs of the cititzens. When things are not favorable, instability, mass protests, and other public expressions impacts the state of the nation.

Let me end by saying that on December 11, 2006, Koffi Annan delivered his final speech as United Nations Secretary General at the Truman Presidential Museum and Library in Independence. Annan shared five lessons that will certainly impact international peace. These pointers are as follows: 1) collective responsibility; (2) global solidarity; (3) the rule of law; (4) mutual accountability; (5) and multilateralism. He further articulated, “My friends, our challenge today is not to save Western civilization—or Eastern civilization, for that matter. All civilization is at stake, and we can save it only if all peoples join together in the task.”

Dr. Reyron Leones del Rosario

Dr. Rey Runtgen Martin “Reyron” Leones del Rosario is a Filipino peace diplomacy and innovation leadership advocate. He is also a business entrepreneur, publicist, author and educator. He serves as the Chairman of the International Peace Diplomacy Corps, Inc., and President of the Philippine Innovation Entrepreneurship Mission, Inc. His research interests revolve around peace development, leadership innovation, foreign relations, democracy, human rights, migration, and artificial intelligence.

EU imports from Russia drop to record lows but signs of sanctions circumvention persist


By Thomas Moller-Nielsen | Euractiv
Aug 28, 2024


Shutterstock/Darunrat Wongsuvan
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While EU imports from Russia slid to record lows in the second quarter of 2024, signs persist that Brussels’ sanctions on Moscow are being circumvented via trade with third countries.

Data published by the EU’s official statistics office on Wednesday (28 August) showed that the bloc’s imports from its eastern neighbour slid 16% from the first to the second quarter of 2024.

In June, the total value of imported goods dropped to €2.47 billion—the lowest monthly amount since Eurostat, the EU’s official statistics office, began collecting data in January 2002.

This followed April and May, which saw the second and third lowest recorded monthly imports, at €2.66 billion and €2.89 billion, respectively.

Exports registered a similarly steep decrease, dropping 9.5% in the second quarter to reach €2.43 billion in June, the lowest amount since January 2003 and the third-lowest ever recorded.

EU imports from Russia fell dramatically in the immediate aftermath of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 but have declined at a more gradual pace since the second quarter of 2023.

Exports, meanwhile, experienced a steep – albeit less dramatic – decline following Russia’s invasion but have fallen at a similarly steady rate since the middle of 2022.

Philipp Lausberg, analyst at the European Policy Centre (EPC), told Euractiv that one likely reason for the trade quasi-stabilisation is that the more recent rounds of Brussels’ 14 packages of sanctions against Moscow have placed much less emphasis on banning the purchase of specific goods, such as oil and coal.

“The last two sanctions package […] focussed more on enforcement and preventing circumvention,” he said. “So I think it makes sense that we’ve reached a low that is more-or-less constant.”

Alexander Kolyandr, non-resident senior fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPS), suggested that another potential reason for the trade “equilibrium” is the relative stabilisation in commodities prices – especially energy prices – since the beginning of 2023.

“Russia is selling LNG [liquefied natural gas], there is no way for Russia to increase [supply], Europe doesn’t want to decrease [purchases of] whatever is coming from Russia – and so the bottom line figure basically depends on the market price of the commodities,” he told Euractiv.
Circumvention trend persists, but costs to Kremlin may be ‘significant’

The Eurostat data comes amid persistent concerns over sanctions circumvention, with trade between European countries and those in Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East experiencing a steep increase since February 2022.

Kolyandr noted that, from 2021 to 2023, EU exports to Uzbekistan almost doubled from (€2.30 billion to €4.35 billion), sales of goods to Armenia nearly tripled (€757 million to €2.16 billion), and exports to Kyrgyzstan rose more than tenfold (€263 million to €2.73 billion).

“Russia has been proven to be able to circumvent sanctions by trading with third countries,” the analyst said, adding that non-former-Soviet countries such as China and Turkey could also represent key circumvention routes.

Lausberg, meanwhile, said that, although circumvention remains a major problem, “If Russia has to sell via a third country, that third country makes some cash with it that Russia loses.”

“And when Russia buys stuff like high-technology [products] and electronics, it’s more expensive than it used to be,” he added.
Russian economy overheated

Meanwhile, the two analysts noted that the EU and Russia seem to have embarked on diverging economic trajectories, with the latter enjoying much healthier economic growth – though that is not necessarily good news for the Eastern country.

According to the International Monetary Fund, Russia’s economy is expected to grow three times faster than the EU economy this year (3.2% vs 1.1%) after expanding six times more last year (3.6% vs 0.6%).

The country’s manufacturing sector has also experienced a significant boom since the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict, while Europe’s industrial sector remains mired in stagnation or decline.

Lausberg, however, noted that Russia’s strong economic performance is the result of a “rebound” from its steep economic slump in 2022, in no small part thanks to hefty increases in military expenditures – which he said have not only “distorted” the country’s economy but do not represent “an investment in the long run.”

He also pointed out that Russia is still grappling with severe economic problems, including profound labour shortages and elevated prices for high-tech imports.

“In the long [term], you can’t really run an economy with high-cost imports of technology [or] if you don’t have a labour force that can actually deliver what you want to produce,” the analyst said.

Kolyandr also noted the Russian economy continues to show signs of “overheating” (a process whereby supply falls short of meeting heightened demand, generating strong inflationary pressures).

He said virtually every economic metric corroborates the trend, with unemployment currently hovering at about half its historical average and real salaries rising more than two times faster than the country’s GDP.

Echoing what he previously argued about the country’s recent economic patterns, Kolyandr added, “In my view, the Russian economy is mortgaging its future.”

[Edited by Anna Brunetti/Alice Taylor-Braçe]

German company to build world’s largest heat pump in Helsinki


By Nikolaus J. Kurmayer | Euractiv
Aug 28, 2024

Helsinki's district heating will soon be powered by a high-powered heat pump produced by a German company. [Shutterstock/Yingna Cai]
 Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>>

The large air-water heat pump to be supplied by Germany will help put the Finnish capital on track to achieve its 2030 climate neutrality goal.

Finland is betting on extremely large heat pumps to warm urban homes. From 2026, the utility company Helen Oy will use the world’s largest air-to-water heat pump to decarbonise its district heating power plant in Helsinki.

“We are very proud to support Helen in achieving climate neutrality in Helsinki,” said Uwe Lauber, CEO of German firm MAN Energy Solutions, in a statement. His company will supply the 33 MW heat pump that will use air from its surroundings to generate usable heat.

The refrigerant used within the heat pump is CO2 which, if it leaks into the atmosphere, is still significantly more climate-friendly than other alternatives currently being phased out by the EU.

In addition, the device will be combined with two massive 50 MW boilers, which will supply heat even in temperatures as low as -20 °C and save 56 tonnes of CO2 per year, according to the company.

There were initial concerns that Helsinki’s push for ‘climate-neutral’ heat might rely on wood-burning, a practice harmful to forests and human lungs.

After all, Finland is one of the EU’s most enthusiastic burners of wood. Up to 20% of detached homes in the country rely on wood for heat, and even 90% of new buildings come with a wood-burning stove.

However, a 2021 contest for the best clean heating solution for the city ruled out biomass as a solution and put fears to rest.

Finland is also one of the EU’s forerunners in adopting smaller heat pumps in individual homes – almost 1.5 million devices have been installed in a country of just under 6 million inhabitants.