From Rojava to Xixón: Syndicalism is not a crime!

The Internationalist Commune of Rojava condemned the attack on six members of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) in the Spanish state.

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NEWS DESK
Friday, 4 October 2024,

The Internationalist Commune of Rojava issued a statement to condemn the attack on six members of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). An attack, said the statement "that shows the Spanish state is widening its repression of unions in an attempt to weaken workers who fight for better conditions at work."

La Suiza Six are CNT members, 5 women and 1 man, who were involved to varying degrees in a trade union conflict that the CNT Xixón (Asturies) has with the bakery, La Suiza.

The statement said: "The case has been going on since 2017 after union members organised themselves to challenge the treatment of a worker at the bakery. One of the members of La Suiza Six is the worker herself, who was working in the bakery and brought to light the conditions she was working in. Some of the other members participated in the protests against the bakery. They received heavy sentences of three and a half years in prison and a fine of over €125,000 to compensate the bakery’s owner, €90,000 of which is for moral damages to the businessman and his wife and two adult children.

The workers fought the sentences and their legal battle brought the case to the Spanish state’s Supreme Court, but the court upheld the sentences on 24 June 2024."

More about the case here https://6delasuiza.info/#

The statement added: "Today, we answer the call from our friends in Spain and join with the hundreds of friends who’ve taken their own direct actions to denounce this ruling of a huge fine and time in prison.

From us here in Rojava to Xixón, Spain, we send our love, strength, and solidarity to La Suiza Six, CNT members, and all workers fighting for a better world."

OSTA expresses continued support for the global campaign for Öcalan’s freedom

The Trade Union Organization of Workers of Aragon in Spain convened with a single agenda item titled “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan”.


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NEWS DESK
Friday, 4 October 2024, 17:2


The Trade Union Organization of Workers of Aragon (OSTA) held a meeting at the union building on the occasion of the first anniversary of the global campaign ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’. The only agenda item of the meeting, which was held with the participation of the executive board members of the union, was the global campaign that was launched globally on 10 October 2023.

After the meeting, Pedro Lebara, General Secretary of OSTA International Relations, made a statement on behalf of the union. The statement recalled that Abdullah Öcalan, a leader recognised as a political representative by millions of Kurds around the world, was kidnapped to Turkey in a conspiracy in 1999. Lebara reiterated OSTA's support for the international campaign ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’.



Pedro Lobera also recalled the campaigns in which the union participated, noting that they took part in a press release initiative organised in more than 70 cities, which aimed to publicise the situation of Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish people to the international community.

Pointing out that the situation to which Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan is subjected is inhumane, Lebara said: “Serious rights violations and continuous human rights violations are taking place. In February 2024, we participated in a conference at the European Parliament in Brussels entitled ‘Where is peace going’ on the situation of political prisoners in Turkey, and in particular the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. We also took part in a large demonstration in Cologne, Germany, demanding an end to the isolation of the Kurdish leader and revolutionary philosopher Abdullah Öcalan. Öcalan has been imprisoned on Imrali Island for 25 years and there are many political prisoners in Turkish prisons today for the same reason. In October, OSTA will continue to participate in the campaign to pressure the Turkish government to release Abdullah Öcalan and end hostilities against the Kurdish people.”

The union meeting ended with the slogan ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan’.

KURDISH LIBERATION STRUGGLE

‘Freedom Shall Prevail’ promoted in London

The graphic novel ‘Freedom Shall Prevail’ about Abdullah Öcalan's life was promoted in London. Sean Michael Wilson, the award-winning author of the novel, said: “I learnt many things from the leader of the Kurdish people. I am a student of this book."


ANF
LONDON
Saturday, 5 October 2024

As part of the global Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan Days, a promotion meeting was held in London presenting the graphic novel ‘Freedom Shall Prevail: The Struggle of Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish People’.

The promotion meeting organised by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Kurdish People's Assembly in Britain and the Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan Movement Committee at the Kurdish Community Centre (KCC) building was well attended. Scottish writer Sean Michael Wilson, the award-winning author of the graphic novel, and Reimar Heider from the International Initiative for the Freedom of Abdullah Öcalan attended the launch meeting.



Seyit Suruç, Co-Chair of the Kurdish People's Assembly in Britain, made the opening speech of the event, which started with a minute of silence in memory of the martyrs of the Kurdistan revolution. Drawing attention to the importance of the global campaign ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’, Suruç said: “The captivity of Leader Öcalan is the captivity of the Kurdish people. The freedom of the leader means the freedom of the Kurdish and Middle Eastern peoples.”

The graphic novel brings the new generation together with the Leader

The project editor of the book, Reimar Heider from the International Initiative for the Freedom of Abdullah Öcalan, pointed out that the new generation especially has difficulty with reading books and said, “We have tried to develop a more practical solution. We have created this graphic novel book which develops an easy and understandable reading.”

Noting that Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's influence on the Rojava revolution had a positive effect, Reimer said, “Unfortunately, Leader Öcalan did not have a direct connection with the new generation. In the ’90s, the Leader could address Kurds and the world directly on television. This graphic novel especially brings the new generation together with the Leader.”

Sean Michael Wilson, the author of the book, made a presentation on the process of the book. Wilson stated that the Democratic Confederalism paradigm is important for him and said: “I spent my childhood in Belfast. My interest in Kurdistan and Rojava is related to my childhood experiences. I can empathise between the times when the police-military pointed a gun at my face and what is happening in Kurdistan today. And Democratic Confederalism is a good example for society to get rid of this disease of capitalism and to heal.”

An important tool in terms of reaching the new generation

Remarking that he has written 45 graphic novels to date, including names such as Noam Chomsky and Jeremy Corbyn, Wilson said that the formation process of the book began when he met his Kurdish friend Estella Schmid at an event in Britain. Explaining the process of the book's formation and the techniques they used, Wilson said he was happy that there was great interest in the book, especially in Kurdistan. He stated that the book consists of two parts. The first part is about Abdullah Öcalan's childhood, and the second part is about Rojava and the Democratic Confederalism paradigm: “The new generation does not read many books. Comic books are used more. And this is an important tool in terms of reaching this new generation... This book was important in terms of showing the struggle in written and graphic novel form. In this book you can visually go back to Öcalan's childhood. The life experience of the leader during his childhood, his childhood among different peoples and his experience here turns into a paradigm and philosophy, and this is how the paradigm of Democratic Confederalism is shaped. And you will see that this experience has become vital in the paradigm of democratic confederalism.”

Stating that they could not include all the stages of Democratic Confederalism in the book, Wilson said, “Estella, one of the living main characters of the book, makes a simple sentence at the end of the book. She says ‘democratic organisation’ for all of us. This means that in Kurdistan, in Ireland, wherever we are, developing democracy locally and from below is the essence of Democratic Confederalism.”

Wilson's speech was followed by a question-and-answer session. The participants thanked Michael Wilson.

‘I am a student of this book’

Stating that the process of the book's creation was a studentship for him, Wilson said: “With this book, I got to know and read Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdish people. I learnt about Abdullah Öcalan's enormous ideas. A graphic novel means being a student to learn about some struggles. I learnt many things from the leader of the Kurdish people. Being a writer is being a student. I am a student of this book.” Citing Noam Chomsky's remark ‘We need leaders with good ideas’, Wilson said: “Abdullah Öcalan is not just a good leader. Abdullah Öcalan is a good leader with good ideas.”

Signing the book, Wilson said that the Kurdish people and their leader taught him a lot and said, “Thank you for teaching me so much.”

The meeting continued with a cultural programme entitled ‘Let's unite around the ideas of Leader Öcalan’.

Participants of the event then danced to songs written for Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish freedom struggle.

Background

Freedom Shall Prevail is the first graphic novel exploring the life and struggle of Abdullah Öcalan, affectionately known as “Apo.”

Highly regarded around the world, Öcalan led the Kurdish freedom struggle as the head of the PKK from its foundation in 1978 until his abduction by the Turkish state in 1999. He has, so far, spent twenty-five years in captivity. In this graphic novel we learn, in his own words, what Öcalan’s childhood was like in the partially Kurdish areas of Eastern Turkey and how his political awareness and commitment grew as a student in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Through the personal struggle of Öcalan we also see the terrible devastation that Kurdish people have suffered and learn about the tumultuous and dramatic history of the relationship between the Kurds and the Turkish state.

The book also dives into the theories developed by Öcalan that continue to influence the ongoing struggle today. Expanding on these, the second part of the book gives us a wider consideration of the issues and policies around women's freedom, democratic confederalism and paints an inspiring picture of one of the most impressive attempts to build a genuinely grassroots democratic system anywhere in the world. The struggle going on in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, also known as Rojava, is one that is directly combatting gender and racial discrimination and the abuses of the capitalist economic system—in truly interconnected ways.

The wonderfully illustrated graphic novel is a collaboration between award-winning Scottish writer Sean Michael Wilson and Kurdish artist Keko, with backing and research help from the Peace in Kurdistan Campaign and the International Initiative “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan—Peace in Kurdistan,” groups with long-term and impassioned commitment to the cause of Öcalan and the Kurdish people’s freedom.








 

  

Internationalist Commune of Rojava republish letter by Öcalan about prison life on Imrali island

The Internationalist Commune of Rojava republished a letter from Abdullah Öcalan about the conditions in solitary confinement in Imrali.

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NEWS DESK
Saturday, 5 October 2024, 12:02

As part of the Global Free Öcalan Days, the Internationalist Commune of Rojava republished a brochure with a letter from Abdullah Öcalan about the conditions in solitary confinement and how he resists under these circumstances.

In the letter he wrote in 2011 to the European Court of Human Rights, Abdullah Öcalan outlines the conditions of his solitary confinement on Imralı Island, where he has been held since 1999. He describes the severe isolation, limited communication, and psychological challenges he faces, shedding light on his experiences & methods of resistance during over two decades of imprisonment.

Öcalan wrote: "I have now spent twelve years in solitary confinement on this island. İmralı is notorious as an island where highlevel state officials were put to serve sentences throughout history. The climate is both extremely humid and also harsh. It causes the body’s constitution to deteriorate physically. Add to this isolation in a closed room, and the debilitating effect on the constitution is amplified still more. Also, I was placed on this island as I was starting to age. I was detained under supervision of the Special Forces Command for a long time. I think it is about two years since the Ministry of Justice took over my supervision. I had no means of communicating with the outside world other than one book, one newspaper, and one magazine at a time, and a radio that only tuned to one station."

EXPLAINER

What’s at stake in Tunisia’s presidential election on Sunday?

And what is the political climate in the country under the leadership of President Kais Saied?

Tunisians take part in a protest against President Kais Saied on Friday, September 13, 2024 on Avenue Habib Bourguiba in the capital, Tunis. A banner in Arabic reads 'Where is sugar? Where is oil? Where is freedom? Where is democracy?' [Anis Mili/AP]

By Simon Speakman Cordall
Published On 5 Oct 2024

Sunday’s election in Tunisia will mark the first since President Kais Saied was elected to power as an independent with no prior political experience in 2019 and later extended his rule in a “self-coup” in July 2021. He suspended parliament, dismissed the prime minister, Hichem Mechichi, and assumed executive authority.

Rights groups, both international and domestic, have decried plummeting standards in civil liberties, freedom of speech and the waves of arbitrary arrests to have targeted the president’s critics and opponents under Saied’s presidency.

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Nevertheless, against a backdrop of widespread public disillusionment with party politics, few doubt that Saied will be returned for a second term in an election widely regarded by observers at home and abroad as “rigged” in advance.
How far has Tunisia fallen?

A long way.

While far from perfect, Tunisia had long been hailed as the sole success of the series of 2011 revolutions that some observers termed the “Arab Spring”. In Tunisia, the uprising – referred to by some as the Jasmine Revolution – culminated in the ousting of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.
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In the wake of the revolution, the appetite for political engagement was almost tangible. Rights groups, NGOs and individual activists surged forward, eager to take part in a society that was rediscovering itself after years of autocracy.

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Even the assassinations of two high profile politicians, Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, in 2013 failed to derail the transition from autocracy to democracy, with tens of thousands of Tunisians returning to the streets to defend the gains made since 2011.

The unrest, rather than crush the hopes of 2011, prompted the intervention of four of the country’s major civil society organisations, the country’s general labour union, the UGTT; the commercial union, UTICA; the Tunisian Human Rights League, LTDH; and the bar association, ONAS – which together ensured parliamentary democracy withstood the shock and the transition remained on course.

The groups’ efforts were later recognised internationally, with each awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015.

Were things in Tunisia perfect before Saied’s power grab?

Not really.

Tunisia’s democracy was messy. For the 10 years between Tunisia’s revolution and its current president’s power grab, the country experienced nine wildly unstable governments.

Against a background of ingrained unemployment, economic decline and religiously inspired unrest, Tunisia’s politicians faced accusations that they were prioritising self interest and alliance-building above firm action, not least in confronting the country’s security services and economy, which remained almost entirely unreformed.

Tunisia’s final parliament before its dissolution in 2021 proved to be especially chaotic. Arguments between the parliament’s members frequently turned violent, politicians staged sit-ins within the chamber and one member, Abir Moussi – a vocal opponent of Saied who was arrested in 2023 – arrived for a debate dressed in body armour and a crash helmet in May 2021.

Meanwhile, poverty, protests and social unrest were growing, causing popular disillusionment with party politics and, particularly, with the country’s dominant political party, the self-styled Muslim democrats, Ennahdha.

Still, this period saw Tunisia enact some landmark laws too.

Though its implementation has remained patchy, 2017 saw the parliament pass groundbreaking laws criminalising violence against women and girls. A year later — in a highly ironic move, given the current racially charged treatment of Black migrants — the parliament also oversaw the passing of a bill criminalising racism.

A supporter of Tunisian President Kais Saied holds his image along the Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis, on Thursday, July 25, 2024. The protest commemorated the anniversary of Kais Saied consolidating his power in a constitutional coup, and was also the 67th anniversary of the foundation of the republic [Ons Abid/AP]

Can the election fix Tunisia’s problems?

It’s very unlikely to.

At present, including Saied, there are only three candidates in Sunday’s vote. One, Ayachi Zammel, is in prison, serving multiple sentences after being convicted of falsifying his electoral papers. The other, Zouhair Maghzaoui, prior to his candidacy, was a noted supporter of the president.

Fourteen other candidates for the presidential vote were rejected by the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) earlier this year. However, at least three of those rejections were overturned by one of the country’s highest judicial bodies, the Administrative Court in September, casting further doubt on the credibility of the ISIE. The body had been restructured by Saied in April 2022 and has since been headed by presidential loyalist Farouk Bouasker.

In late September, the country’s parliament, which was reconstructed in 2022 to a constitution of Saied’s design, broke the deadlock, stripping the Administrative Court of its powers to oversee elections.

In addition to those candidates precluded by the ISIE are the many political figures and critics of the president who are languishing in jail on charges characterised by rights groups including Amnesty International of being “trumped up.”

Among those in prison are both the former Ennahdha leader, 83-year-old Rached Ghannouchi, and his archrival, Abir Moussi, leader of the pre-revolutionary continuation party, the Free Destourian Party (PDL).

President of Tunisia’s Free Destourian Party Abir Moussi speaks to the media during a protest in Tunis on November 20, 2021. She was arrested just over one year ago, on October 3, 2023 [Zoubeir Souissi/Reuters]

What about the judiciary?

Other than the Administrative Court, Tunisia’s judiciary has largely been neutered since Saied dissolved the elected High Judicial Council (HJC) in February 2022, replacing it with a body largely appointed by himself.

In June of the same year, the president also arbitrarily dismissed 57 judges. Their appeal against this dismissal was later approved by the Administrative Court in August of that year. However, none have resumed their posts.

More fundamentally, according to Amnesty, the 2022 constitution whose drafting was overseen by Saied, removed many of the safeguards for the judiciary to function with full independence and impartiality.
What about the press?

The media has largely been silent.

Many critics of President Saied or his allies have been jailed under the terms of Decree 54, a controversial piece of legislation passed in 2022 that essentially criminalises any public speech subsequently determined to be false.

Since its passing, according to Human Rights Watch, many of the country’s best-known critics have been jailed or subjected to judicial harassment under the terms of the 2022 legislation or some of the archaic laws left over from before the revolution.

The upshot has been to silence public criticism of the regime, with lifestyle shows taking the place of the political discussion programmes that once crowded the schedules and the national press returning to the standard of rigour formerly extended to the country’s autocrats.

What about civil society?

While public protest did follow Saied’s power grab, demonstrations were largely muted and eventually fizzled out.

Secular supporters of the former parliament refused to protest alongside their Islamist counterparts, while Tunisia’s wider activist community – long attuned to protesting against the members of the former parliament – proved markedly reluctant to demonstrate in their favour.

Over subsequent years, many civil society organisations, including those speaking on behalf of the thousands of migrants who often transit through Tunisia, have been shuttered and their leadership jailed.

Among those arrests were those of antiracism campaigner Saadia Mosbah, arrested in May on charges of financial crimes, and Sihem Ben Sedrine, the former head of the country’s Truth and Dignity Commission, the body charged with investigating the injustices of the former regime, who was jailed in August on charges of falsifying a report.

However, while small in scale compared with Tunisia’s previous mass demonstrations, protests have recently returned to the streets of the capital. In mid-September, thousands demonstrated against the president’s clampdown on freedom of speech and what many see as electoral interference. However, while the demonstrations have continued, none have rivalled the initial protests in scale.

Source: Al Jazeera

Latin America: Uncovering the hidden human workforce behind AI

Latin America: Uncovering the hidden human workforce behind AI

AI platform ‘ghost work’ is another form of labor exploitation

Written byDistintas Latitudes

Translated (en) byLaura Marie

Posted 5 October 2024 

Illustration: Image generated with generative artificial intelligence program Midjourney by Colombian Prompt Image Generator engineer David Orjuela

This is an extract of an article by María Camila Botero Castro, Francisca López Molina, and  Johan Alexander Sanabria Restrepo, first published on Distintas Latitudes on May 26, 2023. Global Voices republished this article as part of a media partnership agreement.

• Translation
 
• Original Quote

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on humanity is beyond dispute. From automating repetitive tasks to developing self-driving vehicles, AI has proven its ability to transform how we live and work. However, it has also raised serious questions about the future of jobs, privacy, and ethics.

The text above was initially written by Chat GPT, a large language model that the US AI organization OpenAI developed to generate coherent responses in a matter of seconds. But how exactly does this seemingly magic tool work?

AI platforms are data-fueled. The more data they have, the more accurate the output will be. And this doesn’t just mean one or two datasets, but billions! For Chat GPT to write the first paragraph of this article alone, it had to refer to 175 billion data variables. However, the dilemma here is who provides this data and under what conditions.

‘Ghost work’

Álvaro Montes, the director of Colombian Artificial Intelligence content at Prisa Media, explained that, for AI to work as we know it, it must first receive human training. This work, known as data labeling, involves analyzing and classifying information so the AI algorithm can learn from it. The most common tasks are voice and image recognition, text transcription, and word dictation.

According to Montes, “artificial intelligence platforms don’t think like humans do but use mathematical ‘reasoning’ instead. These platforms compare pixels, edges, and eye shapes.” For example, they must have first seen millions of photos of cats and dogs to differentiate between these two animals.

Allan González is one of those who have contributed to this sea of information, making artificial intelligence intelligent. For a year and a half (from 2019), he worked for the micro-task platform Spare5, analyzing images of streets, avenues, road signs, and pedestrians to train self-driving vehicles.

“It was a bit like slave labor,” he recalls.

Allan would sit in front of his computer screen all day analyzing these images. The time limit for completing each task was between five and 20 minutes. If he exceeded this time limit, he would not be paid. He thereby describes what he did as the “cheap labor fueling AI.”

Montes agreed:

• Translation
 
• Original Quote

This work is often done in Venezuela, Colombia, or African and Asia countries, because it is unskilled labor that doesn't require any qualifications and can be done cheaply there.

“With capitalism, everything is outsourced,” Montes added. This industry is no exception. Prominent Silicon Valley developers often subcontract data labeling tasks to companies that subsequently subcontract other companies to complete these tasks. Outsourcing hinders unionization, making it challenging to end unethical practices and demand better working conditions.

According to an investigation by the bimonthly magazine MIT Technology Review, “by mid-2018, an estimated 200,000 Venezuelans had registered for micro-task platforms like Spare5 and Hive Micro, accounting for 75 percent of their respective workforces.”

The workers at these companies mostly come from countries in the global majority. All testimonies on the Remotasks platform are from Kenya, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Venezuela.

According to DignifAi, a US company based in Colombia offering data labeling services, the other Latin American countries providing the most workers besides Venezuela are Colombia, Argentina, Panama, and Chile.

These companies insist they generate employment and support their workers. However, the MIT investigation concluded that their data labelers are low-paid (approximately USD 2 per hour), receive no social benefits, and work in poor conditions without any employment guarantees.

Other specialists, such as the anthropologist Mary L. Gray and the social scientist Siddharth Suri, have warned that data labelers’ mental health also suffers due to their grueling workdays in short-term jobs with high turnovers.

Although Allan didn't face any traumatizing images, he did carry out other exhausting tasks, both mentally and physically.

• Translation
 
• Original Quote

I’d say: “Clicking away on this computer is mind-numbing stuff.” The work is tremendously repetitive and offers no growth whatsoever.

“Given the challenging circumstances in Venezuela at that time,” Allan decided to take up data labeling since the pay was in USD. He received between 50 cents and USD 1 per task, depending on the task’s difficulty. Even so, he earned more than his country’s average salary. He said:

• Translation
 
• Original Quote

At that time, Venezuela’s monthly salary was 30 USD. So, I could earn what others earned in a month in one day alone.

For all these reasons, the MIT investigation also concluded that data labeling is not a reliable source of employment but another form of labor exploitation. It even states that “AI is creating a new colonial world order.”

How can we improve the working conditions of data labelers’?

Nevertheless, some companies claim to provide different working conditions. One such company is DignifAI, which mainly employs Venezuelan migrants and Colombians who used to live in Venezuela.

According to María Garcés, who at the time of this interview was head of operations at DignifAI, one of the guarantees they give their employees is a “decent salary.”

“If you look at the labeling industry statistics, you’ll see the salaries are below USD 1 per hour. We wanted to do things differently, and depending on the task, our salary is between USD 2 and USD 20 per hour.” She explained that DignifAI “always pays at least 30 percent above the minimum monthly salary of Latin American countries” but does not pay its labelers social benefits.

DignifAI projects range from content moderation to sentiment and toxic language analysis, tasks María describes as “very common in artificial intelligence. Here, you often have to look at striking images or read racist and homophobic texts.”

To reduce the negative impact on their mental health, María says that DignifAI provides psychological support for their employees, who also have social workers at their disposal. She also says they train them in other areas, such as digital marketing, entrepreneurship, community management, and professional and personal finances.

Ingrid Hernández is an employee at this company. She joined as a data labeler in late 2022 before becoming a text-based sentiment analysis project supervisor in February 2023. Before taking on this job, Ingrid was a language and literature teacher in Venezuela. However, the situation in her home country forced her to migrate to Colombia for better opportunities.

Although Ingrid has been unable to practice her profession directly, she has applied some of her knowledge to the text analyses at DignifAI. She is thereby satisfied with her working conditions.

• Translation
 
• Original Quote

You only work four hours a day and, at least in the case of data annotators, earn more than you would anywhere else on a part-time basis.

For María, all labeling companies must improve their annotators’ financial conditions.

• Translation
 
• Original Quote

The industry is waking up to the ethics of artificial intelligence now that they are in the spotlight. Now is the time to be vocal and raise awareness about the lives of those at the bottom of the social ladder so that the necessary changes can take place.

Although Álvaro Montes agrees, he believes the real problem is that Latin America is a region passively observing the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He said:

• Translation
 
• Original Quote

The challenge involves more than resolving the employment situation of the Venezuelan migrants labeling photos. Of course, this is only right, but we must step out of the consumer role to become the Thor of technology.

He believes doing so would resolve the underlying problem by creating skilled jobs that would contribute to the region’s growth.

• Translation
 
• Original Quote

Do we want to be a continent that develops technology and has many engineers, technicians, technologists, mathematicians, and scientists? Or do we want to be well-paid pizza delivery drivers and data labelers?

For Montes, the answer lies in strengthening innovation and ensuring technological sovereignty by becoming technology producers instead of importers.

Written byDistintas Latitudes

Translated (en) byLaura Marie

 

UN Sec Gen to participate in BRICS summit in Russia's Kazan

TEHRAN, Oct. 05 (MNA) – Russia has sent an invitation to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to attend the upcoming BRICS summit in the city of Kazan, said Vladimir Kuznetsov, head of the UN information center in Moscow.

"Russia has sent an invitation to the UN secretary-general to take part in the expanded session of the BRICS summit. In accordance with the current practice, announcements of his participation in international events are made by his spokesperson at the UN headquarters," Vladimir Kuznetsov told reporters during the opening ceremony of the Kazan Dialogues project, TASS reported.

According to Kuznetsov, the UN expects that important agreements will be reached at the summit and that it will "give the necessary forward momentum to ensure that the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, all 17 goals, are implemented and make life on the planet more prosperous and safe."

Russia took over the one-year rotating BRICS presidency on January 1, 2024. It includes more than 200 events on a wide range of issues. The main highlight of the Russian presidency will be the BRICS summit set to be held in Kazan on October 22-24.

SD/

US asks immigrants from 4 countries to leave when their 2-year permits under 'parole program' expires

Immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela under special US parole program must leave when their two-year permits expire unless they find another legal way to stay, reports media

Seda Sevencan |05.10.2024 -TRT/AA


ISTANBUL

Immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who entered the US through a “parole program” must leave the country when their two-year permits expire if they do not secure another legal way to stay, the Biden administration announced on Friday.

According to the Washington Post, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the program, introduced during President Joe Biden's term, aimed to reduce illegal border crossings.

The initiative allowed people from these nations to apply for parole and enter the US legally on commercial flights. Officials say the effort has been successful, with illegal crossings dropping 99% since it began in 2022 for Venezuelans and 2023 for the other nationals.

“This two-year period was intended to enable individuals to seek humanitarian relief or other immigration benefits for which they may be eligible, and to work and contribute to the United States,” the Department of Homeland Security said.

Anyone who has not applied for asylum or another status “will need to depart the United States prior to the expiration of their authorized parole period or may be placed in removal proceedings after the period of parole expires,” the department said.

An official familiar with the program told the daily that only a small percentage of participants are likely at risk of losing their parole status after two years. If referred for deportation, these people could face years of delays in the heavily backlogged US immigration courts.

Despite the upcoming expiration deadlines, the parole program will continue to admit up to 30,000 new applicants per month, according to officials.

UK

Kate Hudson: my time at CND

5th October 2024Leave a Commenton Kate Hudson: my time at CND

“The history of CND is the history of post­ World War II, told from the side of those fighting for humanity against the horror of war. It is the story of ordinary people’s struggles to shape a world without nuclear weapons and war, based on legality and morality” – Kate Hudson

CND General Secretary Kate Hudson retires at the end of this month. Here she looks back on her time with CND.

I accepted nomination as a vice-chair of CND in the summer of 2001. Little did I know that just days before my election, the terrible attacks of 9/11 would take place: the ‘War on Terror’ followed, and the build-up to the war on Iraq. It was a baptism of fire, travelling around the country to meetings virtually every evening. But I drew strength from the enormous love and support from CND members, and the unity that has been a constant throughout my time with CND.

The years that have followed, as Chair from 2003, and as General Secretary from 2010, have been a roller coaster – the Iraq war, Trident replacement, missile defence, NATO, nuclear power, ‘low yield’ nuclear weapons, nuclear ‘use’ policies, the climate emergency, the Ukraine war, the genocide on Gaza… the challenges have been endless. But that has always been the case for our movement.

The greatest lesson that I have learnt is that CND is most effective when we work in alliance with others, united across the movements, embracing diversity and engaging internationally. And above all I value CND’s democracy, the fact that it is a member-led organisation making its own political decisions, without fear or favour. And sometimes that means hard debate and discussion.

But that is our greatest strength, because only a movement open to different views can adapt and develop in an ever-changing world, and CND members are so passionate about our goals we are determined to get it right. As a result we have been able to play a leading role in virtually every peace campaign since CND was founded. Our most important asset has always been the accumulated experience of our members and I am confident that will continue. We are at our best when we relate directly to people’s most pressing concerns – linking our issues to the reality of what is going on in the world.

The history of CND is the history of post­World War II, told from the side of those fighting for humanity against the horror of war. It is the story of ordinary people’s struggles to shape a world without nuclear weapons and war, based on legality and morality; to make our governments responsive and accountable over our right to stay alive, our right to breathe air free of radioactive pollution, our right to say no to the indiscriminate killing of other peoples. We continue to make this history and I am proud to have been part of our struggle to bring our vision of the world into being.

It has been an immense privilege to serve in the leadership of CND for over two decades and I thank you all for the trust and support that you have shown me.

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• Kate Hudson retires as the General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) at the end of this month.
• You can follow Kate on Twitter/X; and follow the CND on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X.

Doctors alarmed by changes to men’s penises around the world

JOE


Some things are too good to be true

According to new data, the UK is a nation of growers, not showers, and apparently very fast growers at that, reportedly alarming doctors.

Just two years ago the average size for a man’s piece in the UK was 5.17 inches, but since then, blokes across the UK have seen a meteoric rise in penis proportions.


As of 2024, the average now sites at 5.63 inches, while erect, a whopping 8.9% growth over two, placing our humble isles eighth in the global ranking for penis growth and 60th in the world for size.

For the time being Venezuela are still the country to beat at a colossal 6.67 inches.

However, for all the puns and seemingly good news, doctors are in fact alarmed by what appears to be a worldwide trend, affecting men globally.

A study from last year found the average penis length has increased over the past 30 years, with experts saying the discovery is “concerning”.

“Any overall change in development is concerning because our reproductive system is one of the most important pieces of human biology,” Dr Michael Eisenberg, the study’s author, told Stanford Medicine’s blog Scope.

“If we’re seeing this fast of a change, it means that something powerful is happening to our bodies.”

The Stanford University study, published in the World Journal of Men’s Health, analysed data from 75 studies, with over 55,000 men from 1992 to 2021, focusing on the length of an erect penis.

Researchers discovered the average penis size had increased 24 per cent.

Dr. Eisenberg said: “Erect penile length is getting longer, from an average of 4.8 inches to 6 inches, over the past 29 years.”


While further studies are needed to confirm the development and determine the cause, experts are surprised.

Dr Eisenberg had expected to see sizes decreasing.

“Given the trends we’d seen in other measures of men’s reproductive health, we thought there could be a decline in penile length due to the same environmental exposures,” he said.

“What we found was quite different from trends in other areas of male fertility and health,” he added.

Chemical exposure from pesticides or hygiene products, he continued, could be one of the various factors fuelling penis growth, as they can disrupt the endocrine system, which regulates hormones.

Past studies have claimed pollution is shrinking the penis, the New York Post noted.


Meanwhile, Covid was also thought to have shrunk penises.

Fox and badger snapped nose to nose in back garden

Jude Winter
BBC News, Derby

Leigh Pugh
The friendly pair were pictured eating together on Wednesday evening

An amateur photographer from Derbyshire captured the "amazing" moment a fox and a badger went nose to nose in his back garden.

Leigh Pugh, 54, managed to snap the friendly pair at his home in Matlock, Derbyshire, by setting up cameras with remote triggers that go off through the night when something enters his garden.

Mr Pugh said he had seen foxes and badgers feed close together before but "never like that".

After realising what he had snapped on Wednesday evening, Mr Pugh said: "I was really chuffed with them and it was one of them moments I never thought I’d ever capture."

He added: "It was something I will never repeat again. It was amazing to see it."

Leigh Pugh
Mr Pugh said two foxes have been coming to his garden since they were cubs

The 54 year-old, who has a passion for bird photography, decided to set up the cameras after being "mesmerised" when two fox cubs entered his garden three years ago.

Since then, Mr Pugh has placed cameras on tripods while "hoping for the best" to photograph the wildlife sneaking in while he sleeps.

He said the fox cubs had regularly come back to his house since he first saw them, with one of them being caught on camera feeding with the badger on Wednesday.

"I have decided to name them as they are quite recognisable", said Mr Pugh.

"The one without a scratch on his nose is called Echo and the one with the scratch is called Mischief.

"I am so stoked with the pictures."