The coronavirus pandemic: A threat to food security

For years, the Global Hunger Index has shown global advances in combating malnutrition. But the coronavirus pandemic could undo them, according to the latest report for German aid organization Welthungerhilfe.



Five years ago, the United Nations made it one of its goals to eradicate world hunger by 2030. That meant that every human being, even in the poorest countries, was to have adequate nourishment.

But what is the situation in the world today? And are we on the way to achieving this goal? In 2015, it sounded ambitious but within reach. After all, the global food situation has improved greatly in just a few years. In 2000, the Global Hunger Index gave the entire Earth a score of 28.2, meaning that the situation was seen as serious; today, with a score of 18.2, hunger is rated only as moderate. Zero would mean no hunger at all, while 100 would be the worst score.

The GHI scores use four component indicators of hunger as a basis:
Undernourishment (the share of the population that has an insufficient calorie intake)
Child wasting (the share of children under the age of five who have a low weight-for-height, reflecting acute undernutrition)
Child stunting (the share of children under the age of five who have a low height-for-age, reflecting chronic undernutrition)
Child mortality (the mortality rate of children under the age of five)

Mathias Mogge of Welthungerhilfe is concerned about the impact of COVID-19 on food security Read more: Opinion: Nobel Prize for World Food Programme is an appeal for greater cooperation

A moral failure

Despite the progress, recent statistics are still horrifying: Nearly 690 million people worldwide suffer from malnutrition, 144 million children have stunted growth, 47 million children show wasting and in 2018, 5.3 million children died before their fifth birthday, often from undernourishment.

In its latest report, the German aid organization Welthungerhilfe calls world hunger "the greatest moral and ethical failure of our generation." Even if the world average has improved, the differences between individual regions and countries are enormous. Sub-Saharan Africa (27.8) and South Asia (26.0) are the regions with the worst hunger scores in the world.

What is stopping progress in combating this problem? Simone Pott, a spokeswoman for Welthungerhilfe, says "crises and conflicts, along with poverty, inequality, bad health systems and the repercussions of climate change" are the main factors here.5

COVID-19 Special: Could coronavirus provoke the next hunger crisis?

She gives the example of Madagascar: "The GHI score is higher today than in 2012. Problems in the country include increasing poverty and political instability as well as the consequences of climate change." But Congo and the Central African Republic bring up the rear in the report, she says, with "violent conflicts and extreme weather events slowing a positive development."

What Nepal is doing right

But there are also positive examples. In 2000, the situation in two countries, Cameroon and Nepal, was considered to be in the "alarming" category, but today they are among the nations with moderate hunger scores. In Cameroon, the per capita economic output more than doubled, from $650 (€549) to $1,534 (€1,297), between 2000 and 2018, according to World Bank figures. Angola, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone have also made great improvements since 2000, and their GHI scores have gone down by more than 25 points. In 2000, they were still classified in the "extremely alarming" category, mainly because of civil wars, which are among the major causes of hunger and malnutrition.

Simone Pott explains the reasons for the progress in Nepal. "Investments in economic development have reduced poverty here. Interventions in the health sector led to a lower mortality rate in children and better health overall. More investment in agriculture has resulted in more food security," she says.

Cure often worse than the illness

But now the great unknown has entered into the equation: COVID-19 and its fallout. They are not considered in the report. Economic slumps lead to falling revenue. For many countries, that will mean they can import less food. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that this could lead to up to 80 million more people becoming malnourished just in countries with a net import of foodstuffs.

Mathias Mogge, the secretary-general of Welthungerhilfe, has similar fears. "The pandemic and its economic consequences have the potential to double the number of people who are affected by acute food crises," he says.

Even in Western countries, it has often been asked whether the economic consequences of the measures taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus are worse than the health problems caused by the virus itself — whether the cure is worse than the illness. Simone Pott believes this is true for many countries in the Global South. "The lockdown has had terrible consequences, especially for the millions of people who work in the informal sector," she says. "From one day to the next, they lost their incomes, local markets had to close and small farmers couldn't cultivate their fields any longer." So it is not easy to weigh up what is worse in each individual country.

And as far as eradication of hunger in the world by 2030 goes, she is not optimistic, either. "Unfortunately, we are not on track," she says. "The overall trend is positive, but progress is too slow. If the food situation develops the way it has up to now, 37 countries will probably not achieve a low hunger level on the GHI scale in 2030. Some 840 million people could be malnourished — and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic have not yet been factored in.

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Merkel urges renewed fight against world hunger

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World Food Program: Act now to prevent coronavirus famine

The coronavirus will lead to a famine of "biblical proportions" unless aid can reach those in dire need immediately, warns the UN agency. But the pandemic is only amplifying famine's causes, which also need tackling.

World Food Programme wins Nobel Peace Prize

United Nations agency the World Food Programme has won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in Oslo. The organization combats hunger and famine around the world.

Over a thousand migrants land in Spain's Canary Islands

More than a thousand migrants in 485 small boats have landed in the Canary Islands in the past two days. Tightened security along Morocco's coast has pushed migrants and traffickers to risk the Atlantic crossing.


Spain's Canary Islands saw the largest number of migrant arrivals since 2006 in the past 48 hours, the Red Cross said on Saturday.

Between Thursday and Saturday, 1,015 people landed in 485 boats in the seven Spanish islands, a Red Cross spokesman said. They reportedly traveled across the Atlantic in small fishing boats and were met by sea rescue vessels close to the islands.

Spain had seen a surge of sea migration in recent years, but the flow of arrivals had diminished nearly 5.8% between January and September. Arrivals to the Canary Islands, however, have surged by 523.7%, Interior Ministry data shows.

Read more: Germany's refugee population falls for the first time in nine years

Most of the migrants came from North Africa or sub-Saharan African nations. They arrived in good health, though some were suffering symptoms of hypothermia, the Red Cross said.

All of them have been tested for the new coronavirus, the official said.

Canary Islands: New escape route for African migrants
Perilous journey

Local politicians have urged the Spanish government to provide them with more resources to accommodate the influx.

"Our goal is to have a stable network of accommodation resources in the Canary Islands," tweeted Immigration Minister Jose Luis Escriva after a visit to the islands on Saturday.

Read more: EU migration policy: Eastern European leaders get tough on new plans

As Morocco has tightened security on its Mediterranean coast, traffickers and migrants have been pushed to risk the perilous crossing to the Canaries, which is located around 60 miles (97 km) to the west of the Atlantic coast, analysts and rights groups say.

Read more: Migrants from Africa take more dangerous route to Europe

At least 251 people died attempting the dangerous crossing between January 1 and September 17, according to the International Organization for Migration.

jcg,shs (Dpa, Reuters, AFP)

Protests, jeers greet Spanish King Felipe VI in Barcelona

The Spanish king and prime minister took part in the Barcelona New Economy Week in order to promote the country's ailing economy. Local politicians chose not to attend, but hundreds of protesters turned up.



Felip VI, king of Spain, and Pedro Sanchez, the country's prime minister, visited Barcelona on Friday only to be met with loud protests and a boycott from high-ranking Catalan politicians.

Read more: Catalan independence - what you need to know

The king and prime minister were in the capital city of the separatist Catalan region in order to award prizes for innovation as part of the Barcelona New Economy Week.

The region's current acting pro-independence president, Pere Aragones, as well as the left-leaning, but nonseparatist mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, refused to officially receive the monarch. Catalonia's previous president, Quim Torra, was recently removed from office by the Spanish Supreme Court.

Heavy security presence

Police cordoned off the Franca railway station where the ceremony took place. The owners of local apartments and shops were told that they must not obstruct the view of all doors and windows so as to allow for maximum visibility.

Around 800 people had gathered to protest the pair's arrival, according to police sources. The protesters burned pictures of Felipe and chanted that "Catalonia has no king."

The protest occurred without any major incidents. The local police, however, took down a large sign that read, "Juan Carlos first, Felipe last."
Animosity towards the royals

Tensions between the Catalan regional government and Madrid have been on the rise since the central government's prosecution of Catalan pro-independence politicians for their role in the 2017 referendum.

A man sprays an X on a woman's Spanish flag

Not all the acts of protest revolved around the issue of independence. Mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau announced that she would not take part in any events with the royal house until they cleared up some "serious issues" surrounding the former king, Juan Carlos.

The 82-year-old secretly left the country for the United Arab Emirates after getting caught up in a bribery scandal. "The old king fled to a dictatorship. That's not normal in a democracy," Colau said.

'Open and democratic society'

Jaume Collboni, a member of the city council for the regional Socialist party, attended the event. "In an open and democratic society, people may not agree and are free to express that, but we also have respect institutions because they belong to everybody," he told reporters.

The aim of the event was to encourage innovation as a means of restarting Spain's weakened economy. The king, speaking in both Catalan and Spanish, told the crowd that "we have the opportunity to do things better. And to do them together."

ab/sms (AP, EFE, dpa)

Germany with massive shortage in day care spots, study finds

The German government has provided states with billions of euros in subsidies for daycare centers. Despite this massive investment, one in seven toddlers won't get a spot in a publicly funded day care.



Even before a child is born in Germany, its parents are beginning their search for a day care. A new study has shown that finding a spot is getting even harder.

Germany currently has a shortage of 342,300 spots in publicly subsidized daycare centers for children under 3 years of age. That is according to a study by the German Economic Institute (IW), a private research institute in Cologne, the results of which were published in the Sunday edition of the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

That shortage means that about one in seven toddlers, or 14.4%, will not get a spot at a publicly funded day care. Five years ago, this was the case for 10.2%, according to the IW.

Read more: 3 in 4 German daycare children not getting proper care: study

Worse in the west

The shortage is greater in western Germany, particularly Saarland, Bremen and North-Rhine Westphalia. In those three states, about one in five children are without a day care spot.

North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, has the largest so-called care gap at 98,100 spots, according to IW. The Ruhr region, the largest urban area in Germany, has a particularly large demand for day care spots, the IW study found.

By contrast, day care spots is less of an issue in the five German states that made up the former East Germany. Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia all have a care gap of less than 7%.

Why is there a shortage?

Since 2013, all children in Germany have had a legal entitlement to a place in a daycare center or in day care. The government also passed a bill in 2019 that would provide €5.5 billion ($6.51 bullion) in government subsidies by 2022 to Germany's 16 German states for daycare facilities.

But the public day care system has struggled to keep pace. According to Germany's Ministry for Family Affairs, this is because the needs of parents have changed.

"More and more parents want a place for their child at an earlier age," a spokeswoman for the ministry told Welt am Sonntag.

Read more: German minister pushes for kindergarten language testing

In 2019, 49.4% of parents wanted to send their small children to day care, a ministry survey found. This corresponds to 1.17 million day care spots for toddlers, according to the IW. But only 829,200 toddlers eligible for day care got a spot.

The shortage in spots has forced many mothers to stay home longer to look after their little ones. Wido Geis-Thöne, one of the authors of the IW study, said this shortage also has an effect on the German economy.

"Women are, to a very large extent, skilled workers who companies urgently need," Geis-Thöne told Welt am Sonntag. "When the large birth cohorts leave the labor market in the next few years, the problem will intensify."

German research vessel to return from 'dying Arctic'

The German Alfred Wegener Institute's Polarstern ship is set to return to the port on Monday, bringing home devastating proof of a "dying Arctic Ocean" and warnings of ice-free summers in just decades.





Researchers coming back from a year-long research expedition in the Arctic have bad news: the Arctic Ocean is dying.

The Polarstern research vessel will dock in Bremerhaven, Germany on Monday after spending 389 days drifting through the Arctic, where scientists gathered more than 150 terabytes of data and 1,000 ice samples. While it will take up to two years to analyze all of the data, the initial reports said the ocean was failing.

Read more: Arctic ice shrinks to 2nd lowest level on record

"We witnessed how the Arctic Ocean is dying," mission leader Markus Rex told AFP. "We saw this process right outside our windows, or when we walked on the brittle ice."
Climate change accelerating damage

The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) showed the effect that climate change was having on the Arctic Ocean.

Read more: MOSAiC: Great Arctic expedition starts

Arctic warming is becoming reality

Over 70 research institutes from 20 countries took part in the research, which showed an Arctic Ocean in peril. According to Rex, sometimes so much ice had melted that there were large patches of water that "sometimes stretch[ed] as far as the horizon."

"At the North Pole itself, we found badly eroded, melted, thin and brittle ice," he added.

The Arctic plays a key role in the global ecosystem, as it cools tropical air from the south to create weather and air currents. Without the Arctic cooling tropical air, it would change weather systems and conditions throughout the world.

Rex warned that if the warming trend in the North Pole continued, then there could be "an ice-free Arctic in the summer."

The researchers also collected water samples from beneath the ice during the polar night to to study plankton and bacteria to better understand how marine ecosystems function under extreme conditions.



kbd/shs (AFP, dpa)

Why polio continues to be a health risk in Pakistan

After Africa was declared polio-free last month, Afghanistan and Pakistan are now the only countries in the world where the disease is found. Why is polio surging in Pakistan and what can be done to curb the disease?



Saira Qadir was only 11 months old when she contracted the polio virus. Now 44, she lives in Rawalpinidi city, near the capital Islamabad.

Qadir told DW that when they were kids, all her siblings received the polio vaccine except her. Apparently, it was a case of parental negligence that resulted in her being infected with the crippling disease.

Last month, the independent Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for Polio Eradication officially declared that the 47 countries in the UN World Health Organization (WHO) African Region are free of the virus, with no cases reported for four years.

"This is a momentous milestone for Africa. Now future generations of African children can live free of wild polio," said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

Read more: Polio eradication in Africa points to challenges ahead

The disease is now only found in two countries — Afghanistan and Pakistan — with the latter struggling to cope with a surge in cases over the past few months. The Muslim-majority South Asian country has registered 68 polio cases since the start of the year.

The disease, which mainly affects children under the age of five, can infect the spinal cord, causing paralysis.

The government says it has adopted a new strategy to tackle the polio menace by including community and religious leaders to work with them. According to Dr. Rana Safdar, the national coordinator at Pakistan's National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC), this strategy was effective in bringing down polio cases to as low as eight in 2017 and 12 in 2018.

However, things have changed since Prime Minister Imran Khan came to power in 2018. In 2019, cases rose to 148 from 12 in previous year.

COVID-19 takes priority

Any hope for bringing the numbers down in 2020 was dashed with the start of the coronavirus crisis in March. Experts fear that Pakistan could see more polio cases in coming months as the government suspended nationwide polio campaigns between April and July to focus on efforts to curb COVID-19.

Ahsan Ali, an official with the polio eradication program in the southern port city of Karachi, told DW in May that his vaccination work had not been well received amid the pandemic.

"My role has been changed and people are not tolerating us out of fear that we are potential carriers of the coronavirus due to our door-to-door work," he said.

In response to an enquiry regarding the suspension of vaccine campaigns in Pakistan, GPEI spokesperson Sona Bari told DW that the WHO has "noted several times that services such as immunization are suffering from the impacts of COVID-19 on health systems."
Campaign hampered by militancy

Pakistan started its first nationwide polio eradication campaign in 1994. At the time, the country was recording 20,000 polio cases each year on an average. By 2004, 10 years into the campaign, the number of cases in the country had dropped to only 30 per year. Health experts dubbed it a major achievement.

However, the campaign lost momentum after the September 11, 2001 attacks and the deteriorating security situation in the years following the US invasion of Afghanistan. The US-led war on terror in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region made it difficult for authorities to focus on polio eradication.

''By the mid-2000s, the security situation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region had dealt a major blow to the campaign," Dr. Safdar told DW.

Read more: Amid Taliban threats, Pakistan hits record polio cases

The Taliban claim that polio eradication campaigns are being used by the West as a cover for spying. They allege that the drives are similar to a hepatitis vaccination program run by the imprisoned Pakistani doctor Shakeel Afridi, who allegedly helped the CIA find al Qaeda's former chief Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was killed by the US Special Forces at his Abbottabad hideout in May, 2011.

Islamist militants regularly carry out violent attacks against anti-polio workers in northwestern Pakistan.

Policy issues

Besides militancy, experts also blame a flawed government policy for polio's continued existence in Pakistan.

Dr. Adnan Khan, an Islamabad-based researcher on infectious disease and public health, says bad governance is one of the reasons behind the failure of Pakistan's polio eradication program.

"Polio campaigns are basically part of mop up strategies; they are used to fill the gaps left through routine immunization (vaccines given to children at birth). But in Pakistan, door-to-door polio campaigns invariably take up more time and resources as compared to routine immunization," Khan told DW, adding that field teams often cannot cover the entire population in specified areas, which results in some children being left out.

Health officials complain that many people in Pakistan are unwilling to have their children inoculated at birth.

Looking ahead

Countrywide polio eradication campaigns finally resumed last month. Authorities say that around 40 million children across Pakistan will be vaccinated by December.

"The National Emergency Operation Centre plans to invest in regular inoculations as well as health and nutrition programs for the vulnerable children in targeted areas. We hope to show progress in 2021," Dr. Safdar said.

But Dr. Khan says it will be difficult to contain the virus transmission without identifying problematic areas and vaccinating everyone there, including adults.

Read more: How far is Pakistan willing to go to fight polio?

Pakistan bans TikTok for failing to filter 'immoral' content

Video-sharing platform TikTok is now blocked in Pakistan after the country's authorities ordered it to filter its "obscene" content. The decision comes a month after a similar crackdown on dating apps, including Tinder.








Pakistan has banned video-sharing platform TikTok in the country after a "number of complaints from different segments of the society against immoral/indecent content on the video-sharing application," the Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said in a statement.

The telecom regulator said Friday it had issued warnings to TikTok to moderate unlawful content, but the social media company had failed to comply with its instructions.

Arslan Khalid, a digital media adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, backed the PTA's warning to TikTok in June to filter its "obscene content." He claimed that the "exploitation, objectification [and] sexualization of young girls on TikTok" was causing pain to parents.

On Friday, the telecom authority said that it was ready to review its decision "subject to a satisfactory mechanism by TikTok to moderate unlawful content."

Read more: Pakistani activist Marvi Sirmed: 'I provoke toxic masculinity'

TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, said it was "committed to following the law in markets where the app is offered."

"We have been in regular communication with the PTA and continue to work with them. We are hopeful to reach a conclusion that helps us continue to serve the country's vibrant and creative online community," the social media company said in a statement.

TikTok stars from Asia worry for app's future

Digital rights activist Usama Khilji, however, called the ban a violation of freedom of speech.

"TikTok is a major source of entertainment for lower- and middle-class Pakistanis, as well as illiterate citizens that includes half the population as it is video-based and easy to use," he told news agency Agence France-Presse.
Rights activists call out 'moral policing'

Global rights organization Amnesty International has slammed the Pakistani crackdown.

"In the name of a campaign against vulgarity, people are being denied the right to express themselves online," Amnesty's South Asia Regional Office said on Twitter.


"The #TikTokBan comes against a backdrop where voices are muted on television, columns vanish from newspapers, websites are blocked and television ads banned," it said.

Last month, Pakistan banned several dating apps, including Tinder and Grindr, in a bid to restrict "immoral" and "indecent" content.

Digital rights activists in Pakistan criticized the announcement as "moral policing" and expressed concerns over the government's creeping censorship and control over the country's internet, print and electronic media.
TikTok battered from all sides

Pakistan's ban on TikTok is the latest blow to the social media company, months after it was blocked in neighboring India, then its largest market by users.

TikTok, along with dozens of other mostly Chinese apps, was banned in June at the height of India's border dispute with China.

The app also faces the threat of being barred in the US after officials said it posed a national security risk, and it has come under intense scrutiny in Australia.

Read more: US judge suspends Trump's TikTok ban

TikTok was banned in Bangladesh last year as part of a clampdown on pornography. Indonesia briefly blocked access to the app in 2018 over blasphemy concerns.

adi/dj (AFP, Reuters)

NEWS FROM CODE PINK

 

We are writing to you today with exciting news. After 18 years of nonstop engagement of this wonderful organization, the two of us—Jodie and Medea— are stepping back from our role as co-directors so that three younger, brilliant and capable women can step forward. The new co-directors will be: Farida Alam, our multi-talented web manager (don't forget to check out our brand new website!), art designer and logistical miracle-maker, who has been with CODEPINK for 15 years, will now also be taking on human resources and organizational planning; Ariel Gold, who came to us 5 years ago as U.S. Middle East foreign policy expert, became co-director in 2018 and will continue in that role; Carley Towne, a dynamo organizer and activist, will lead our Divest from War and Defund the Pentagon programs, as well as team management and community outreach. In the past year, the country has witnessed the bravery and brilliance of young people who have taken to the streets and the suites to build major movements to confront racism and violence. We have witnessed that same flowering of initiative within CODEPINK, making this the perfect moment to pass the torch. As we transition, we want you to engage more with Farida, Ariel, Carley and the whole CODEPINK team. Check out these opportunities to get involved as a peacemaker. We, Jodie and Medea, are not going far. We will be active board members and will continue to work on key CODEPINK campaigns. Jodie will focus on the local peace economy that puts forth an inspiring, life-affirming path for our collective future—a path made even more urgent by the pandemic. And with the new Cold War against her part-time home, China, she will nurture our China Is Not Our Enemy campaign. Medea will consult with our Middle East and Latin America teams, as well as write articles and books about how to transform our foreign policy and build international solidarity. Both will continue to support our Feminist Foreign Policy Project. As supporters of CODEPINK, you have always been our greatest strength and we are counting on you to assist with this transition. Two important ways you can help: Become one of our peacemakers by sharing some of your time. Check out the various ways you can help and sign up here. There is so much we can create together to end war and cultivate peace. Make a monthly pledge or a special one-time gift to ensure that our work to end militarism, defund the Pentagon and divest from war grows and thrives. We are so proud of what we’ve accomplished together over the last 18 years. To mention a few... We carried the anti-war message directly to Presidents Bush, Obama and Trump, to pro-war congressional hearings...and to the streets. We have been told by members of Congress that CODEPINK transformed Congressional hearings by bringing citizen voices into the proceedings—despite the risk of arrest. We built public opposition to drone warfare. We brought the tragic stories from Yemeni and Afghan families to Washington DC, forcing the military to introduce new rules and compensate many of the innocent victims. We advocated for the Iran nuclear deal and embraced citizen diplomacy with Iranians by organizing people-to-people trips to Iran. We helped win the release of political prisoners all over the world—like our friends Mohamed Soltan, who spent 2 years in a brutal Egyptian cell, and Edwin Espinal, who was held in a maximum-security prison in Honduras for 18 months. We worked with cities, universities and banks to divest from war and invest in life-affirming activities. Our message of Defund War was echoed this year in Congress with historic bills to significantly cut the once-untouchable Pentagon budget. We traveled with thousands of you to Gaza, Cuba, Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Pakistan, Honduras, Colombia, Venezuela and Spain. From the U.S.-Mexico border to Greece, we brought material support and messages of peace, connection and love to refugee families. We have forced those who drive us to war to hear from those most affected by the violence—abroad and domestically. Here at home, we joined coalitions to demilitarize our police and arranged for moms who lost their loved ones to police violence to meet with the Justice Department and Congress. We have exposed—and opposed—the ruthless Trump administration’s sanctions on countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and Iran, and worked with Congress on legislation to roll back this illegal economic warfare. Working with groups and communities around the world, including the Poor People’s Campaign, we have been cultivating local peace economies with beautiful examples of how to strengthen our connections to each other and care for what is essential. We have expanded our support base to over half of a million people from all over the world, and we have been educating the public with books, articles, webinars and countless interviews on every outlet from Fox News to Democracy Now. Our webinars during coronavirus have highlighted guests from all over the world—China to Bolivia, Palestine to Brazil. It has been an honor to take part in these campaigns with you. You, our grassroots supporters, have always been the backbone of our successes and we hope we can count on your continued support during this transition to a new generation of leaders. Onward toward a beautiful world of peace and justice, Ariel, Carley, Farida, Jodie and Medea PS  If you're interested in cultivating your local peace economy, watch this Message from the Future II presented by our partners at The Leap. PSS  Check out our “Vote for Peace” posters and other goodies at the store.

Trump continues far-right appeals as details of Michigan plot emerge

Eric London WSWS

In the days since Michigan authorities and federal prosecutors announced the arrest of 13 people in a plot to kidnap and murder Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, President Donald Trump and his inner circle are intensifying their appeals to the fascist right.

While the plot was centered in Michigan, new information has surfaced making clear the plotters were involved in a far broader and ongoing national conspiracy. The criminal complaint filed last Thursday explained that the Michigan conspirators engaged in a plan to “take violent action against multiple state governments.”

The conspirators clearly felt they were acting with the support of the White House. Even after the plot was revealed, Trump denounced Whitmer yesterday for “complaining” and “crying” about the threat to kidnap and kill her. On Saturday, Trump impersonated Mussolini by giving a speech from the White House balcony in which he ranted to a small audience about the imminent danger that the country will be taken over by “socialists” and “communists.”

In this April 15, 2020, file photo protesters carry rifles near the steps of the Michigan State Capitol building in Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

In a clear signal to his far-right supporters, the Trump campaign this weekend announced that the president’s son, Eric Trump, will give a rally at a gun shop in New Hudson, Michigan, a few miles from Milford and Waterford Township, where two of the 13 fascist plotters were arrested. The campaign also announced that Vice President Pence will attend a rally Wednesday in Grand Rapids, Michigan, another center of militia activity.

It was in Grand Rapids where two of the Michigan conspirators, Michael and William Null, appeared at an anti-lockdown protest this summer and were photographed alongside Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf, a leader of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), a fascist network of police founded by prominent Trump supporter and former Maricopa, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Leaf was named CSPOA’s “Sheriff of the Year” in 2016.

Leaf declared on Thursday that the plotters may have just been planning a “citizens’ arrest” of Whitmer, making clear he thought their actions were justified. Leaf had previously refused to enforce restrictions on businesses mandated by state regulations.

Mike Shirkey, Republican majority leader of the Michigan State Senate, reportedly walked up to the gallery of the state legislature in April to greet the fascists—including at least one of the men arrested last week—who had brought their assault rifles inside the building to threaten legislators.

Isolated media reports from earlier this year also raise many questions about the role of Trump campaign officials and big money donors in supporting the anti-lockdown protests that served as a means for the militia conspirators to plan their putsch.

Three groups that provided funding for the anti-lockdown protests, the Michigan Conservative Coalition, the Michigan Freedom Fund and the Convention of States Project, have close ties to leading Trump backers, including MCC founder Meshawn Maddock, an advisor to Trump’s campaign and a leader of the group “Women for Trump.”

Greg McNeilly, a longtime advisor to the billionaire DeVos family, leads the Michigan Freedom Fund. Betsy DeVos is Trump’s Education Secretary. Her brother, Erik Prince, is the former CEO of the mercenary firm Blackwater (now known as Xe) and a close collaborator with former Trump advisor Steven Bannon and Trump’s sons, Eric and Don Jr. The Convention of States Project is funded by the billionaire Mercer family, has close ties to leading Trump immigration official Ken Cuccinelli and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, and is led by Eric O’Keefe, a close advisor to the Koch family.

More details are also emerging about the connections of the arrested conspirators with other militia groups across the country. One of the militiamen, Barry Croft, was a prominent member of the fascist Three Percenters and Patriot Movement. National Public Radio referred to him as “a visible figure” who “made waves as an unknown who tried to streamline national leadership of the Three Percent” and aimed to obtain “a senior role in the movement,” based on interviews with anonymous militia leaders.

Two of the conspirators, Daniel Harris and Joseph Morrison, were in the Marine Corps—Harris from 2014 to 2019 and Morrison in the reserves from 2015 until last Thursday, the day of his arraignment. Harris was deployed at Camp Lejeaune in North Carolina, a known center of fascist cell activity.

The more details emerge as to the seriousness of the conspiracy, the more noticeable are the media’s and Democratic Party’s efforts to downplay the plot.

At a public event Saturday in Pennsylvania, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden vaguely referenced the possibility of “chicanery” in the November 3 election. In an indication of how sensitive ruling circles are to bringing attention to Trump’s conspiracy, Biden was forced to walk back his comments hours later, saying he only meant to stress that he would respect the outcome if he lost. Biden said voters “should not pay attention” to Trump’s threats to “influence and scare people from voting.”

In an interview yesterday with Governor Whitmer, CBS’s Margaret Brennan implied that Whitmer herself was to blame for provoking the fascist plot: “Governor, these are your constituents. How do you, in your state, unify things? I know you’re talking about the president and rhetoric, but what do you do to deal with this?” Whitmer responded by saying she wanted to work with all Michiganders, even those who oppose her.

The relative silence of the media and the Democratic Party stands in stark contrast to the howls of indignation from the Democratic Party establishment over the baseless claim that Russia stole the 2016 election for Trump with a few thousand dollars worth of Facebook ads. In advancing the interests of the military-intelligence apparatus, the Democrats are ruthless. But when it comes to safeguarding the most basic democratic rights, the Democrats are terrified of doing anything that will spark broader social opposition.

With the election just over three weeks away, Trump is pressing ahead with his own conspiracies to remain in power regardless of the outcome of the vote. He is counting on support from Wall Street, which backs his policy of “herd immunity,” along with fascistic forces within the police, immigration and military-intelligence apparatus. Trump calculates, moreover, that the Democratic Party is so terrified of opposition in the working class that it will accept a Trump coup rather than risk a social explosion.

But even if the Democrats, with the support of the military and intelligence agencies, prevent Trump from staying in power after the election, this will not alter the basic trajectory of American politics.

Whatever the outcome of the November election crisis, the tendencies revealed in recent weeks will only intensify. If Trump is defeated, his supporters will believe their candidate was “stabbed in the back,” justifying a further turn to the right. Armed militias will be normalized as a new element in the American political landscape.

The working class cannot wait passively for events to unfold. It must intervene into this crisis with its own program. The fight against the Trump administration and the resort of the ruling class to dictatorship and fascistic conspiracies must be countered through the development of an independent movement of the working class for socialism.

Democrats and corporate media cover-up Trump’s role in Michigan coup plot

Eric London WSWS
10 October 2020

Within 24 hours of the announcement of charges against 13 Michigan fascists who plotted to kidnap and kill Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the corporate media has pushed the story off the front pages. The far-reaching implications of this plot, and its connections to Trump’s strategy to transform the election into a coup, are being covered up.

By Friday morning, coverage of the Michigan conspiracy had all but disappeared from the online editions of the Washington Post and New York Times. Neither the Times nor the Post, the main newspapers politically aligned with the Democratic Party, have published an editorial on the plot. It was treated on the cable and network news as a minor part of the news cycle.

Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have not issued a major statement on the plot and did not even refer to it at a campaign rally Thursday night in Phoenix, Arizona.

The Democratic Party and the corporate press have raised no questions about the potential role of Trump’s fascist advisers or where the plotters obtained the money to plan their operations and buy equipment. Unlike Watergate, there is to be no investigation or congressional hearings into the connections between the plotters and top operatives in and around the Trump administration. No Democrat has called for subpoenaing Roger Stone, Stephen Miller, Steven Bannon, Erik Prince, or any other aides with ties to fascist groups. The position of the Democratic Party is: “nothing to see here.”

A right-wing protester carries his rifle at the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan in an April 30 demonstration against Whitmer [Credit: AP Photo/Paul Sancya]

The rapidity of the coverup by the political establishment is inversely related to the amount of information making clear the Michigan events were only one part of an ongoing nationwide conspiracy. There is a clear and present danger of dictatorship in America. Workers must demand answers to questions about the plotters’ ties to the White House, the Republican Party, and their powerful dark money sources within the ruling elite.

The only significant statements about the broader framework of the conspiracy have come from Michigan officials. The state’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, told MSNBC’s Katy Tur yesterday: “I will tell you this: this may very well be the tip of the iceberg. I don’t feel as though our work or the work of the federal authorities is complete. And I think there are still dangerous individuals that are out there.”

Speaking yesterday on ABC’s “Good Morning America”, Whitmer warned, “I’m not the only governor going through this… It is not unique to me.”

Neither Michigan official gave any details of what they know. However, it is clear that the threats to kill governors and launch insurrections are focused on battleground states with Republican legislatures and Democratic governors: Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. These states are the linchpin of Trump’s strategy to carry out a coup.
In May, Salon reported police were investigating organized militias armed with assault rifles who were threatening North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper over lockdown measures. Anti-lockdown protesters were bused to the state Capitol with “enthusiastic astroturf support from Republican operatives and megadonors—one of whom offered to pay to bus protesters into the city.”

In Pennsylvania, a 28-year-old was charged on May 11 for organizing an armed group to kill Democratic Governor Tom Wolf. The next day, on May 12, Trump tweeted: “The great people of Pennsylvania want their freedom now and they are fully aware of what that entails.”

In Wisconsin, fascist gunman Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two protesters on August 23 during protests in Kenosha against the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse was part of a network of fascist militia who descended upon the city. Trump praised Rittenhouse and defended his actions, writing in August that “he was in big trouble. He probably would have been killed.”

Similar threats have been made against the Democratic governors in other states.
Yesterday, a radio station in Louisiana (which is not considered a battleground state) reported that “more than 30 groups designated as ‘hate groups’ or anti-government militias like the group arrested last week in Michigan” place Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards’ life in danger.

In January, when over 10,000 militia rallied at the Virginia state capital in Richmond, Democratic Governor Ralph Northam said he had “credible intelligence” that the demonstrators “may be armed and have as their purpose not peaceful assembly, but violence, rioting and insurrection.” A state legislator, Democratic Socialists of America member Lee Carter, was forced to flee the capital to a safe house due to threats against his life.

On September 17, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House of Representatives that the agency was conducting “a good bit north of 1,000 [investigations of far-right violence] this year.” This was “higher” than normal, he said, explaining that the threat posed by right-wing militias was “commensurate with ISIS.”

The next day, Trump threatened to fire Wray for these comments, saying, “I did not like his answers yesterday,” and “Antifa is bad, really bad.”

Wray’s testimony and the recent threats against other Democratic governors in battleground states raise serious questions. What do the remainder of the over 1,000 ongoing investigations show? How many fascist groups are mobilizing to carry out insurrection this November? Which governors are next? Who are the other figures on their “kill lists?”

On all of these questions, the Democrats and their main media mouthpieces are silent. By contrast, the pro-Trump Wall Street Journal went on the offensive, publishing an editorial on the Michigan plot that characterized Whitmer’s regime as an “overreaching state government,” which “exceeded her legal authority in the pandemic, and often in arrogant fashion.” It went on to denounce Whitmer for blaming Trump and echoed Trump’s declaration that she should have thanked the “Trump Justice Department.”

The silence of the Democrats and the media on what is the most advanced conspiracy to overthrow the constitution in American history can only be understood in class terms. The principal concern of the Democratic Party, a party of Wall Street and factions of the military-intelligence apparatus, is that the working class will become aware of the enormous dangers and take independent action.

On Wednesday, after Trump left the Walter Reed Medical Center, the World Socialist Web Site explained that he had to return rapidly to the White House because his ongoing political conspiracies could not be orchestrated from a hospital bed. While noting the extreme crisis of the Trump administration, the WSWS wrote:

There is one factor that works in Trump’s favor: the duplicity, spinelessness and fundamentally reactionary character of the Democratic Party. The Democrats can claim no credit for the crisis of the Trump administration. Rather than exposing his plots, they have done everything they can to stifle mass opposition to Trump’s fascistic conspiracies and cover up the danger of dictatorship.

The Democrats’ response to the attempted coup in Michigan once again exposes their political role. They want to ensure that the unprecedented political crisis remains confined entirely to the conflicts within the ruling class and its state.

Opposing Trump’s plot against America means pulling the rug out from under the financial aristocrats who plot and conspire against the democratic rights of the population. This task falls to the working class, which produces all of society’s wealth and is forced to go to work and school under deadly conditions. It is this powerful social force that must lead the opposition to Trump’s attempt to establish a dictatorship.

US election: UK 'writing off' Trump, forging ties with Biden
11 Oct, 2020

According to a report in The Times, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been warned of a landslide defeat for President Donald Trump and the Republicans next month, Photo / AP
news.com.au

By: Frank Chung

One of Donald Trump's most important allies is reportedly "writing off" his re-election chances and rushing to build ties with Joe Biden.

According to a report in The Times, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been warned of a landslide defeat for the Republicans next month, with Democrats on track for a "triple whammy" of seizing the Presidency, the House of Representatives and the Senate.

British ministers have been told to forge links with Biden and his team, after private polling and modelling shown to 10 Downing Street last month put the chance of Democratic victory at more than 70 per cent, with one model this weekend increasing to 85 per cent.

Despite an official decision not to take sides, Johnson reportedly spoke to the US President last week to wish him well for the election – but privately the British PM has all but given up on Trump.

"They're writing off Trump in No 10 now," one senior Conservative Party member told The Times.

My best wishes to President Trump and the First Lady. Hope they both have a speedy recovery from coronavirus.— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) October 2, 2020

Key British officials have been cosying up to Democrats, with UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab recently meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other powerful Congressional figures on a visit to the US.

Last month, Biden weighed in on Brexit and its possible impact on Northern Ireland, reportedly causing some UK officials to fear the Democrat is more likely to side with the European Union.

"We can't allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit," he tweeted.

We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit.

Any trade deal between the U.S. and U.K. must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period. https://t.co/Ecu9jPrcHL— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 16, 2020

A number of British MPs and officials over the weekend raised concerns that hopes of a US-UK trade deal would go out the window if Biden wins.

"Recent pronouncements by Biden make clear he is unable or unwilling to understand the UK position on Brexit," Conservative MP and former Brexit Minister David Jones told The Sun.

"His stance is unsympathetic to the UK's people's wish to recover their independence."

With the US election now just over three weeks away, most opinion polls show Biden on track for a landslide victory.

The Real Clear Politics average currently has the Democrat ahead of the Republican by nearly 10 percentage points nationwide.

Polling analysis website FiveThirtyEight currently puts the chances of a Biden victory at 86 percent.

Biden said at a campaign stop over the weekend that "chicanery" at the voting booth was the only way he could lose, before walking back his comments after they were interpreted as casting doubt on the legitimacy of the outcome.

"Make sure to vote," the former vice president told voters in Pennsylvania. "Because the only way we lose this is by the chicanery going on relative to polling places."

Biden later clarified his comments, saying he was referring to Trump encouraging his supporters to "go to polls and watch very carefully".

The US President has repeatedly raised concerns of looming election chaos due to the large number of mail-in ballots this year.

Democrats have warned the public not to expect a definitive result on election night, with some even saying it may at first appear Trump has won in a landslide only for his lead to be chipped away as all the votes are counted in the subsequent days.

US could sanction Scottish salmon over sea lice as trade talks heat up

By Martin Hannan Multimedia Journalist


The USA are said to be threatening a ban because of the prevalence of sea lice in Scottish salmon

AS Westminster continues its deliberations on whether food standards should be lowered to allow new trade deals after the UK’s exit from the EU, it has been reported that the USA could ban imports of Scottish salmon.

The Mail on Sunday reported: “Representatives of the US have warned that if London does try to stop the import of chickens or hormone-injected beef, then Donald Trump’s administration could take similar action to target the lucrative farmed salmon industry, which is especially important to the Scottish economy.”


It is worth more than £800 million annually to Scotland and more than 11,000 jobs are dependent on the industry which sees £200m of exports to the USA each year.

The USA are said to be threatening a ban because of the prevalence of sea lice in Scottish salmon.

A recent report has found that 90% of turkey products, 80% of chicken, 70% of beef and 60% of pork sold in US supermarkets show unacceptable levels of E.coli, which indicates contact with faeces.

Some 13% of American pork has salmonella – six times higher than the UK – according to research led by Dr Lance Price of George Washington University.

Dr Price, whose findings are revealed in a Channel 4 Dispatches investigation tonight, also found that almost half the samples proved resistant to at least one of America’s six most common antibiotics.

He said: “It’s a real risk in human health because if somebody has a serious infection with one of these pathogens, and it’s resistant to the antibiotics that the doctor would use to treat them, then they could die.

“We have unequivocal, clear evidence that antibiotic use in animals leads to antibiotic-resistant infections in people.

“When you raise animals in a crowded, unsanitary condition, or give them feed they’re not evolved to eat, they get diseases.”

READ MORE: ‘Lice-free’ salmon farm to be Scottish first

He added: “Instead of changing the way we’re producing the animals, we give them antibiotics.”

A source at the Department for International Trade told the Mail on Sunday: “Given that chlorinated chicken is already banned in the UK, for the United States to impose new tariffs on our produce would be illegal and something that we would fight hard against.”

A spokesperson for International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said: “This Government has been absolutely clear that it will not sign a trade deal that will compromise our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food safety standards.

“We are a world leader in these areas and that will not change.”

The Scottish Government has been asked for comment.

 

MPs launch legal action against UK government over Covid contracts

The government has failed to account for £3bn spent on private contracts since the start of lockdown, new figures show

Green party MP, Caroline Lucas, and Liberal Democrat Layla Moran (pictured) have joined forces with Labour MP Debbie Abrahams and the Good Law Project. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

PA Media

Sun 11 Oct 2020 

A legal action has been launched over the government’s failure to disclose details of its spending on contracts related to the pandemic, as it emerged that it has failed to account for £3bn spent on private contracts since the start of lockdown.

Three cross-party MPs and Good Law Project, a non-profit-making organisation, have filed a judicial review against the government for breaching the law and its own guidance and argue that there are mounting concerns over coronavirus procurement processes.

Lawyers accuse Cabinet Office of bias over Cummings ally's PR firm contract

Read more

Green party MP, Caroline Lucas, Labour’s Debbie Abrahams and Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran say that, despite the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) disclosing in September that at least £11bn worth of contracts have been awarded by the department since April, related predominantly to coronavirus, fresh analysis by data analysts Tussell shows that over £3bn worth of these contracts have not been made public.

The DHSC has said due diligence was carried out on all government contracts which have been awarded. The government has 21 days to respond to the judicial review proceedings.

Jolyon Maugham QC, director of Good Law Project, said: “What we know about the government’s procurement practices during this pandemic gives real cause for concern.

“Huge sums of public money have been awarded to companies with no discernible expertise. Sometimes the main qualification seems to be a political connection with key government figures.

“And I have seen evidence that government is sometimes paying more to buy the same product from those with political connections. We don’t know what else there is to discover because the government is deliberately keeping the public in the dark.

“We are left with no option but to push for transparency through the courts.”

Lucas added: “When billions of pounds of public money is handed out to private companies, some of them with political connections but no experience in delivering medical supplies, ministers should be explaining why those companies were awarded the contracts.

“It’s completely unacceptable that, as an MP, I’m prevented from being able to scrutinise those decisions.”

Abrahams said: “The persistent failure to publish the details of Covid contracts leads you to wonder what this government has got to hide.”

Moran said: “It is totally unacceptable for the government to avoid scrutiny during a public health crisis.

The legal challenge is being crowdfunded with the support of 38 Degrees and Good Law Project and the three MPs have instructed Deighton Pierce Glynn, Jason Coppel QC and Christopher Knight of 11KBW to act in the judicial review proceedings

The campaigns director of 38 Degrees, Ellie Gellard, said: “The public needs to know where taxpayers’ money has been spent in our ongoing battle against coronavirus so that we can be sure those who have been paid, deliver what they promised.

“That’s why thousands of members of the public have chipped in to help get the answers we deserve, transparency is needed to restore public trust in the government’s approach.”