Queers for Palestine

The Unsanctioned Alliance
By Matt Hribersek

May 13, 2024

Source: Originally published by Z. Feel free to share widely.

Mick Sweetman - Queers for Palestine. Flickr.


The ethnic cleansing in Gaza, or at least what is left of it, continues. Tens of thousands have already been killed, many more mutilated, dispossessed and orphaned. While minor concerns over the situation have been heard echoing from the highest stratospheres of European and American politics, the weapons sales and the military aid continue to flow Israel’s way unabashed. The main outrage over the disproportionate and indiscriminate onslaught, as usual, comes from the sections of the civil society. Especially the students but unsurprisingly also the factions of the population that have (at least traditionally) themselves been disenfranchised, such as for example the LGBT community.

The former has received ample media attention as the authorities worldwide have jointly committed themselves to beating the ideas of free speech and universal ethics out of students’ heads by any means necessary; threats, arrests, fists or teargas. The latter movements, however have only received minor honorable mention in the media, as they have been ridiculed and dismissed from their conception onwards. “Queers for Palestine” sprung up early into the assault, as it quickly became evident that this is not going to be just another “mowing of the grass” episode but instead, an attempt at complete eradication of Gaza.

Plenty has already been written on the topic of the conflict by the people far more competent on the matter than myself, therefore this article is not an attempt at that. Instead, what I find fascinating and not widely discussed is the discourse that grew around the Queers for Palestine movement. Outside as well as within it. The queer community has been a popular prop for the left leaning politicians to flaunt their liberal stipes for some time now. However, it is no secret that the prop is only useful as long as it is managed, controlled and sanitized into a pale, diluted and odorless room spray, inoffensive to the masses and unthreatening to the established order and its patrons.

With the clear stance of the Queers for Paletine movement on the current Israel war against Palestine, the community stepped out of line of acceptable discourse in the mainstream and hence earned itself a fatwah from the high priests of the liberal taught. The usual arsenal to discredit any disobedient movement was swiftly employed, followed by continued silent treatment of the most media outlets. The queers were patronizingly explained that the side they stand on is the side they have nothing in common with and, would the situation be reversed, the Gazans would not reciprocate the good graces towards the queers. Unsurprisingly, the movement has quickly been labeled as delusional and naïve for expressing the support for the Muslims, that would, that’s how the story goes, stone them to death in a heartbeat. While such criticism is usually concocted by the far right, the liberal guardians of polite society are more than willing to adopt this narrative to stoke out dissent within their own ranks.

Even if this was the case and they would in fact stone gays to death in Gaza on daily basis and even if every single Palestinian would personally hate my guts and wish me nothing but death, does that justify their indiscriminate slaughter, killings and mutilations of children, bombing of hospitals, mass starvation and the rest of the crimes under the international law? Shall the universal principles of ethics and morals be conditioned upon personal relations between those who are applying them and those whom they are applied to? One crime does not another right make and anyone arguing that the queers have no business opposing the ethnic cleansing of a majority Muslim community should be politely encouraged to revisit the last two millennia of writings on ethics and morals.

According to the critics, it should be the queers of all that should be unequivocally supporting Israel. Democratic and liberal Israel is after all, we are reminded, the only safe haven for the gays in an otherwise “barbaric and Muslim Orient”, as an unspoken yet still persistent colonial subtext reads. Tel Aviv is a place to be and wild parties abound are seemingly a parameter upon which one’s stance on ethnic cleansing is to be weighed. Universal humanism (and the international law for that matter) needs, according the liberal establishment be applied based on a singular political question and personal identity.

Discussing all this, and being as a community on the receiving end of the criticism, we should not forget that these are typical right wing attacks employing juvenile arguments, akin to the popular dismissal of those who criticize capitalism but simultaneously own an iPhone. Such logic is too infantile to be worthy of further discussion, but it seems to be the only thing left once the establishment runs out of genuine arguments. Criticism of the Queers for Palestine movement as illegitimate deserves no entertainment from the community. For it is not the queers in this situation that are naïve for recognizing common humanity that transcends their personal experience. Rather it is the those in charge and their media pundits that are intentionally ignorant and resorting to cheap attacks to desperately try to maintain synchronous thinking and the structure of power.

This criticism is yet another attempt at controlling the political thought of the left, keeping it within the very narrow constraints of the permissible discourse. The outrage demonstrates once more that the alleged left establishment has no interest in hearing or representing their constituents and their factions, but instead desires to control and manage them. Stereotyping the immensely diverse community into small and manageable pieces that embellish the liberal regalia in which the politicians will adorn themselves during every election cycle. But it is failing to work and the cracks are showing. The immense violence to which the states have to resort in order to suppress the opposition to the destruction of Gaza is indicative of their desperation and failure.

Our community may well be a patchwork of varying experiences, views and needs. There may be countless disagreements within it. But what the community rightfully does not fail to recognize is the underlaying common humanity that transcends our differences. And which transcends the community. And in the world of countless divisions and self-interested groups, it is incomprehensible to those in power, that some may just be able to oppose a crime solely for what it is; a crime. Unconditionally and not out of convenience.

 Individualism Is Destroying Our Freedom

By Grace Blakeley, Aaron Bastani 

May 13, 2024

Source: Novara Media

Common sense tells us that free-market economies maximise freedom and that planned economies, typically found under socialist governments, curtail it. But what if this is completely the wrong way around?

On this episode of Downstream Aaron is joined by economist and author Grace Blakeley to discuss Henry Ford, Boeing and the nature of democracy

77% of Top Climate Scientists Think 2.5°C of Warming Is Coming

And They're Horrified


By Olivia Rosane
May 13, 2024
Source: Originally published by Z. Feel free to share widely.



Scientists engage in civil disobedience on the steps of the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, Spain on April 6, 2022. (Photo: Scientist Rebellion)

“I expect a semi-dystopian future with substantial pain and suffering for the people of the Global South,” one expert said.

Nearly 80% of top-level climate scientists expect that global temperatures will rise by at least 2.5°C by 2100, while only 6% thought the world would succeed in limiting global heating to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, a survey published Wednesday by The Guardian revealed.

Nearly three-quarters blamed world leaders’ insufficient action on a lack of political will, while 60% said that corporate interests such as fossil fuel companies were interfering with progress.

“I expect a semi-dystopian future with substantial pain and suffering for the people of the Global South,” one South African scientist told The Guardian. “The world’s response to date is reprehensible—we live in an age of fools.”

“What blew me away was the level of personal anguish among the experts who have dedicated their lives to climate research.”

The survey was conducted by The Guardian‘s Damian Carrington, who reached out to every expert who had served as a senior author on an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report since 2018. Out of 843 scientists whose contact information was available, 383 responded.

He then asked them how high they thought temperatures would rise by 2100: 77% predicted at least 2.5°C and nearly half predicted 3°C or more.

“What blew me away was the level of personal anguish among the experts who have dedicated their lives to climate research,” Carrington wrote on social media. “Many used words like hopeless, broken, infuriated, scared, overwhelmed.”

The 1.5°C target was agreed to as the most ambitious goal of the Paris agreement of 2015, in which world leaders pledged to keep warming to “well below” 2°C. However, policies currently in place would put the world on track for 3°C, and unconditional commitments under the Paris agreement for 2.9°C.

The survey comes on the heels of the hottest year on record, which already saw a record-breaking Canadian wildfire season as well as extreme, widespread heatwaves and deadly floods. The first four months of 2024 have also been the hottest of their respective months on record, and the year has already seen the fourth global bleaching event for coral reefs.

“They can say they don’t care, but they can’t say they didn’t know.”

“I think we are headed for major societal disruption within the next five years,” Gretta Pecl of the University of Tasmania told The Guardian. “[Authorities] will be overwhelmed by extreme event after extreme event, food production will be disrupted. I could not feel greater despair over the future.”

Scientists said that governments and companies that profit from the burning of fossil fuels had prevented action. Many also blamed global inequality and the refusal of the wealthy world to step up, both in terms of reducing their own emissions and helping climate vulnerable nations adapt.

“The tacit calculus of decision-makers, particularly in the Anglosphere—U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia—but also Russia and the major fossil fuel producers in the Middle East, is driving us into a world in which the vulnerable will suffer, while the well-heeled will hope to stay safe above the waterline,” Stephen Humphreys at the London School of Economics said.

Despite their grim predictions, many of the scientists remained committed to researching and speaking out.

“We keep doing it because we have to do it, so [the powerful] cannot say that they didn’t know,” Ruth Cerezo-Mota, who works on climate modeling at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told The Guardian. “We know what we’re talking about. They can say they don’t care, but they can’t say they didn’t know.”

Others found hope in the climate activism and awareness of younger generations, and in the finding that each extra tenth of a degree of warming avoided protects 140 million people from extreme temperatures.

“I regularly face moments of despair and guilt of not managing to make things change more rapidly, and these feelings have become even stronger since I became a father,” said Henri Waisman of France’s Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations. “But, in these moments, two things help me: remembering how much progress has happened since I started to work on the topic in 2005 and that every tenth of a degree matters a lot—this means it is still useful to continue the fight.”

Peter Cox of the University of Exeter added: “Climate change will not suddenly become dangerous at 1.5°C—it already is. And it will not be ‘game over’ if we pass 2°C, which we might well do.”

“I’m not despairing, I’m not giving up. I’m pissed off and more determined to fight for a better world.”

Many of the scientists who still saw a hope of keeping 1.5°C alive pinned it on the speeding rollout and falling prices of climate-friendly technologies like renewable energy and electric vehicles. Also on Wednesday, energy think thank Ember reported that 30% of global electricity came from renewables in 2023 and predicted that the year would be the “pivot” after which power sector emissions would start to fall. Experts also said that abandoning fossil fuels has many side benefits such as cleaner air and better public health. Though even the more optimistic scientists were wary about the unpredictable nature of the climate crisis.

“I am convinced that we have all the solutions needed for a 1.5°C path and that we will implement them in the coming 20 years,” Henry Neufeldt of the United Nations’ Copenhagen Climate Center told The Guardian. “But I fear that our actions might come too late and we cross one or several tipping points.”

Several scientists gave recommendations for things that people could do to move the needle on climate. Humphreys suggested “civil disobedience” while one French scientist said people should “fight for a fairer world.”

“All of humanity needs to come together and cooperate—this is a monumental opportunity to put differences aside and work together,” Louis Verchot, based at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia, told The Guardian. “Unfortunately climate change has become a political wedge issue… I wonder how deep the crisis needs to become before we all start rowing in the same direction.”

The publication of The Guardian‘s survey prompted other climate scientists to share their thoughts.

“As many of the scientists pointed out, the uncertainty in future temperature change is not a physical science question: It is a question of the decisions people choose to make,” Texas Tech University climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe wrote on social media. “We are not experts in that; And we have little reason to feel positive about those, since we have been warning of the risks for decades.”

Aaron Thierry, a graduate researcher at the Cardiff School of Social Sciences, pointed out that The Guardian‘s results were consistent with other surveys of scientific opinion, such as one published in Nature in the lead-up to COP26, in which 60% of IPCC scientists said they expected 3°C of warming or more by 2100.

James Dyke of the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute argued that there was room for scientists to share more negative thoughts without succumbing to or encouraging defeatism.

“I hear the argument that we must temper these messages because we don’t want people to despair and give up. But I’m not despairing, I’m not giving up. I’m pissed off and more determined to fight for a better world,” Dyke said on social media.

NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus shared the article with a plea to “please start listening.”

“Elected and corporate ‘leaders’ continue to prioritize their personal power and wealth at the cost of irreversible loss of essentially everything, even as this irreversible loss comes more and more into focus. I see this as literally a form of insanity,” Kalmus wrote, adding that “capitalism tends to elevate the worst among us into the seats of power.”

However, he took issue with the idea that a future of unchecked climate change would be only “semi-dystopian.”

“We’re also at risk of losing any gradual bending toward progress, and equity, and compassion, and love,” Kalmus said. “All social and cultural struggles must recognize this deep intersection with the climate struggle.”

THE LAST COLONY -- VIVE LE INDEPENDENCE

Four dead in New Caledonia riots, France to declare state of emergency

Kirsty Needham and Juliette Jabkhiro
Updated Wed, May 15, 2024 







Damage caused by rioters in New Caledonia

SYDNEY/PARIS (Reuters) -France will declare a state of emergency on the Pacific island of New Caledonia on Wednesday after three young indigenous Kanak and a police official were killed in riots over electoral reform.

The state of emergency will give authorities additional powers to ban gatherings and forbid people from moving around the French-ruled island.

Police reinforcements have been sent to the island after rioters torched vehicles and businesses and looted stores. Schools have been shut and there is already a curfew in the capital.

"Since the start of the week, New Caledonia has been hit by violence of a rare intensity," said Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

"No violence will be tolerated," he said, adding that the state of emergency "will allow us to roll out massive means to restore order."

Earlier in the day, a spokesman for New Caledonia's President Louis Mapou said that three young indigenous Kanak had died in the riots. The French government later announced that a police official had died from a gunshot wound.

Rioting broke out over a new bill, adopted by lawmakers in Paris on Tuesday, that will allow French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in provincial elections - a move some local leaders fear will dilute the Kanak vote.

"Residents are terrorised, armed and organising themselves to make the rounds tonight and protect their homes," said Lilou Garrido Navarro Kherachi, 19, who drove around protester blockades on Wednesday morning in the island's capital Noumea.

She said she heard gunfire and saw burning cars and buildings, including a ruined veterinary clinic where neighbours had evacuated the animals before the fire spread.

Police were outnumbered by protesters, she told Reuters.

Electoral reform is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long tussle over France's role in the mineral-rich island, which lies in the southwest Pacific, some 1,500 km (930 miles) east of Australia.

France annexed the island in 1853 and gave the colony the status of overseas territory in 1946. It has long been rocked by pro-independence movements.

LOOTING

New Caledonia is the world's No. 3 nickel miner and residents have been hit by a crisis in the sector, with one in five living under the poverty threshold.

"Politicians have a huge share of responsibility," said 30-year-old Henri, who works in a hotel in Noumea. "Loyalist politicians, who are descendents of colonialists, say colonisation is over, but Kanak politicians don't agree. There are huge economic disparities," he said.

Henri, who declined to give his full name, said there was significant looting amid the riots, with the situation most dangerous at night.

The French government has said the change in voting rules was needed so elections would be democratic.

But it said it would not rush calling a special congress of the two houses of parliament to rubber-stamp the bill and has invited pro- and anti-independence camps for talks in Paris on the future of the island, opening the door to a potential suspension of the bill.

The major pro-independence political group, Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS), which condemned the violence, said it would accept Macron's offer of dialogue and was willing to work towards an agreement "that would allow New Caledonia to follow its path toward emancipation".

Most residents were staying indoors. With stores closed, breastfeeding mothers were organising to share milk with mothers who have none left to feed their babies, said witness Garrido Navarro Kherachi.

She said she moved to New Caledonia when she was eight years old, and has never been back to France. Although eligible to vote under the new rules, she says she won't "out of respect for the Kanak people".

"That would give me the right to vote but I don't feel I know enough about the history of Caledonia and the struggle of the Kanak people to allow me to vote," she said.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney and Dominique Vidalon, Elizabeth Pineau, Michel Rose, Augustin Turpin, Juliette Jabkhiro and Camille Raynaud in Paris; writing by Kirsty Needham and Ingrid Melander; Editing by Sonali Paul, Ros Russell and Christina Fincher)

France declares state of emergency in New Caledonia after deadly riots

RFI
Wed, May 15, 2024 


French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in New Caledonia after four people – including a gendarme – were killed in riots that broke out over controversial changes to voting rules.

Hundreds of people have been injured in the worst unrest the Pacific island has seen since the 1980s, with schools and shops shuttered as police reinforcements were sent in.

French authorities say more than 130 people have been arrested since protests turned violent on Monday.

Shops were looted and vehicles set on fire, prompting authorities to ban public gatherings and close the main airport. A night-time curfew has been extended to Thursday.

The Interior Ministry said 500 security forces would be deployed to support the 1,800 police and gendarmes already in the French overseas territory.

“All violence is intolerable and will be the subject of a relentless response to ensure the return of order," the Elysée's website said.

Those killed were young indigenous Kanak people, a spokesperson for New Caleonian leader Louis Mapou said, as well as a gendarme who was shot in Plum, a south-western coastal village.

New Caledonia has witnessed decades of tensions between indigenous Kanaks seeking independence from France, and the descendants of colonisers who want to remain French.

This week's violence came after the National Assembly on Tuesday approved a constitutional reform that would increase the number of people eligible to participate in elections.

Why this French island in the Pacific is being roiled by violence over a vote held 10,000 miles away

Angus Watson and Helen Regan, CNN
Wed, May 15, 2024 

Deadly violence on the French island of New Caledonia erupted for a third day Wednesday, with armed clashes between protesters, militias and police, and buildings and cars set on fire in the capital of the South Pacific archipelago.

At least four people have died in the unrest, which is considered the worst since the 1980s, and prompted authorities to impose a curfew in the capital Noumea. It has also banned public gatherings, carrying weapons and selling alcohol, and closed the main airport — usually a busy tourist hub — to commercial traffic.

The violence is the latest outburst of political tensions that have simmered for years and pitted the island’s largely pro-independence indigenous Kanak communities — who have long chafed against rule by Paris – against French inhabitants opposed to breaking ties with their motherland.

France’s military has mobilized and flown in “four additional squadrons to restore order,” according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

Lying in the South Pacific with Australia, Fiji and Vanuatu for neighbors, New Caledonia is a semiautonomous French territory — one of a dozen scattered throughout the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Ocean.

Protests began Monday involving mostly young people, in response to the tabling of a vote 10,000 miles (17,000 kilometers) away in the French parliament proposing changes to New Caledonia’s constitution that would give greater voting rights to French residents living on the islands.

On Tuesday, legislators voted overwhelmingly in favor of the change.

The move would add thousands of extra voters to New Caledonia’s electoral rolls, which have not been updated since the late 1990s. Pro-independence groups say the changes are an attempt by France to consolidate its rule over the archipelago.

“The last two days we’ve seen violence of a scale we haven’t seen for 30 years in New Caledonia,” Denise Fisher, a former Australian Consul-General in New Caledonia, told CNN. “It is kind of marking the end of 30 years of peace.”

“The Kanak people are objecting to [the vote in France] not just because it’s been decided in Paris without them but also they feel that they want it to be part of a negotiation … which would include another self determination vote and a range of other things.”

French President Emmanuel Macron called for calm, issuing a letter Wednesday to New Caledonian political leaders urging them to “unambiguously condemn all this violence” and inviting both pro- and anti-independence leaders to meet him “face to face” in Paris.

Macron will chair a defense and national security council on Wednesday, focusing on the violence, the presidential palace said.

Macron’s administration has pushed for a pivot to the Indo-Pacific, stressing that France is a Pacific power, as China and the United States beef up their presence amid a battle for influence in the strategically important region. New Caledonia is at the center of that plan.

“The stakes are high for France,” Fisher added. “France has identified an entire Indo-Pacific vision for itself.”

“The legitimacy of France’s participation this way, having an influence in this way, is in question when you have scenes like this.”
The violence

Three people - two men and a woman, all indigenous Kanaks - have been shot dead in the violent protests and looting, according to Charles Wea, spokesperson for Louis Mapou, President of the Government of New Caledonia. A French police officer who was injured by gunfire in the riots also died, French interior minister Gérald Darmanin said.

Demonstrators have also set fire to buildings and cars in Noumea, defying a curfew that has been extended to Thursday.

Thick plumes of black smoke covered the capital on Wednesday morning, social media video showed. Images showed burned-out cars, fires in the street, and shops vandalized and looted.

“Some are equipped with hunting rifles with buckshot as ammunition. Others were equipped with larger rifles, firing bullets,” the French High commissioner to New Caledonia Louis Le Franc said.

More than 140 people have been arrested, while at least 60 security personnel have been injured in the clashes between local nationalist groups and the French authorities, according to Le Franc.

One Noumea resident told CNN affiliate Radio New Zealand of panic buying reminiscent of Covid-19. “A lot of fire, violence…but it’s better I stay safe at home. There are a lot of police and army. I want the government to put the action for the peace,” the person told RNZ, asking to remain anonymous.

Smoke rises in the distance in Noumea, New Caledonia on May 14, 2024. - Theo Rouby/AFP/Getty Images

French gendarme officers guard the entrance of the Vallee-du-Tir district, in Noumea, New Caledonia on May 14, 2024. - Theo Rouby/AFP/Getty Images
The vote

Colonial France took control of New Caledonia in 1853. White settlement followed and the indigenous Kanak people were longtime victims of harsh segregation policies. Many indigenous inhabitants continue to live with high rates of poverty and high unemployment to this day.

Deadly violence exploded in the 1980s eventually paving the way towards the Noumea Accord in 1998, a promise by France to give greater political autonomy to the Kanak community.

Multiple referendums were held in recent years - in 2018, 2020 and 2021 - as part of the agreement offering voters in New Caledonia the option to secede from France. Each referendum was voted down, but the process was marred by boycotts from pro-independence groups and by Covid-19.

Voter roles have been frozen since the Noumea Accord, the issue that France’s parliament was seeking to address in the vote that sparked this week’s violence.

French lawmakers in Paris voted 351 – 153 in favor of changing the constitution to “unfreeze” the territory’s electoral rolls, enfranchising French residents who have been in New Caledonia for 10 years.

The lists were frozen by the French government to appease pro-independence Kanak nationalists who believe new arrivals to the former colony, including from France, dilute popular support for independence.

Both houses of France’s parliament need to approve the constitutional change passed by the National Assembly.

On Tuesday, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the government would not call a meeting of the parliament to vote on the motion before talks with Kanak leaders, including major independence alliance the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS).

“I invite New Caledonia’s political leaders to seize this opportunity and come to Paris for talks in the coming weeks. The important thing is conciliation. Dialogue is important. It is about finding a common, political and global solution,” Attal said on the floor of the National Assembly.

FLNKS issued its own statement Wednesday both condemning the vote at the National Assembly and calling for an end to the violence.

“FLNKS appeals to the youth involved in these demonstrations for appeasement and to ensure the safety of the population and property,” the statement read.

State of emergency set for France's New Caledonia after deadly riots

Mathurin DEREL
Wed, May 15, 2024 


Map of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean. (STAFF)


President Emmanuel Macron moved Wednesday to declare a state of emergency in France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia after a second night of rioting that left four dead, including a gendarme, and hundreds wounded.

Anger over constitutional reforms from Paris boiled over again after the lower house of parliament overnight backed a hotly-disputed voting reform that the representatives of the indigenous Kanak population say weighs against them.

Despite heavily armed security forces fanning out across the capital Noumea, and the ordering of a nighttime curfew, rioting continued overnight virtually unabated in the worst violence there since the 1980s.

New Caledonia, which lies between Australia and Fiji, is one of several French territories spanning the globe from the Caribbean and Indian Ocean to the Pacific that remain part of France in the post-colonial era.

Colonised by France from the second half of the nineteen century, it already has special status within France unlike other overseas territories.

While it has on three occasions rejected independence in referendums, independence retains support particularly among the indigenous Kanak people.

Macron warned that any further violence would be met with an "unyielding" response and called for a resumption of political dialogue to end the unrest, the Elysee said in a statement.

"The president has requested that the decree aimed at declaring a state of emergency in New Caledonia be included on the agenda" of a cabinet meeting this afternoon, the presidency said.

- Looting and fires -

Shops were looted and public buildings torched during overnight violence, the authorities there said.

Hundreds of people including around 100 police and gendarmes have been injured in the unrest, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in Paris.

The presidency said three people had been killed, while a gendarme has been very seriously wounded. The gendarme -- based outside Paris -- later died of his wounds, the national gendarmerie said.

Macron cancelled a planned domestic trip and moved Wednesday's regular cabinet meeting to hold a crisis meeting with key ministers on New Caledonia earlier on Wednesday.

In Noumea and the commune of Paita there were reports of several exchanges of fire between civil defence groups and rioters.

Streets in the capital were pocked with the shells of burned-out cars and buildings, including a sports store and a large concrete climbing wall.

"Numerous arsons and pillaging of shops, infrastructure and public buildings -- including primary and secondary schools -- were carried out," said the High Commission, which represents the French central government in New Caledonia.

- 'Calm and reason' -

Security forces had managed to regain control of Noumea's prison, which holds about 50 inmates, after an uprising and escape bid by prisoners, it said in a statement.

Police have arrested more than 130 people since the riots broke out Monday night, with dozens placed in detention to face court hearings, the commission said.

A nighttime curfew was extended, along with bans on gatherings, the carrying of weapons and the sale of alcohol.

The territory's La Tontouta International Airport remained closed to commercial flights.

As rioters took to the streets, France's lower house of parliament 17,000 kilometres (10,600 miles) away voted in favour of a constitutional change bitterly opposed by indigenous Kanaks.

The reform -- which must still be approved by a joint sitting of both houses of the French parliament -- would give a vote to people who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the share of the vote held by Kanaks, the Indigenous group that makes up about 41 percent of the population and the major force in the pro-independence movement.

But those in favour of the reform argue voter lists have not been updated since 1998 -- depriving island residents who arrived from mainland France or elsewhere since then of a vote in provincial polls.

Macron has said French lawmakers would vote to definitively adopt the constitutional change by the end of June unless New Caledonia's opposing sides agree on a new text that "takes into account the progress made and everyone's aspirations".

After he urged local representatives to soothe tensions, major pro- and anti-independence parties issued a joint statement Wednesday calling for "calm and reason" to return to the archipelago, adding that "we are destined to keep living together".

burs-jh-sjw/jm

New Caledonia police patrol streets with burnt cars

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Reuters 
Updated Tue, May 14, 2024

STORY: :: New Caledonia police patrol streets with burnt cars

after protesters blocked key roads

::May 13, 2024

:: Noumea, New Caledonia

:: The international airport is shut and a curfew is in place,

according to the French High Commission

::Thio, New Caledonia

:: Protesters fear the proposed changes to the

constitution may dilute the vote of indigenous Kanak

New Caledonia's government called for calm and condemned the destruction of property. Video showed police patrolling the streets among burnt-out cars and plumes of smoke, after protesters had set up blockades on key roads on Monday (May 13).

The protests and violence happened on Monday ahead of debate on Tuesday in the French National Assembly on changes to the New Caledonian constitution. The proposed changes would allow more French residents to vote in New Caledonia elections, which independence supporters fear will dilute the vote of indigenous Kanak.

The French High Commission said in a statement that significant disturbances in the capital, Noumea, and surrounding townships were ongoing, and numerous buildings including shops, pharmacies and car dealerships were damaged. So far 36 people had been arrested.

France sends more police, seeks talks, to quell New Caledonia riots

Updated Tue, May 14, 2024

France sends more police, seeks talks, to quell New Caledonia riots

By Kirsty Needham and Juliette Jabkhiro

WELLINGTON/PARIS (Reuters) - France sent extra police squadrons to quell riots on the Pacific island of New Caledonia on Tuesday but also opened the door to a negotiated settlement with pro- and anti-independence groups.

Overnight, rioters burnt cars, dozens of businesses, clashed with police and set up barricades to protest against plans to allow more people to take part in local elections in the French-ruled territory, which indigenous Kanak protesters reject.

The proposed changes, which the National Assembly in Paris will vote on later on Tuesday, would allow French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in provincial elections - a move local leaders fear will dilute the Kanak vote but the government says is needed so elections are democratic.

"The streets were on fire, they were rioting in the streets, quite a frightening experience actually," New Zealand tourist Mike Lightfoot told TVNZ television.

Despite a curfew, violence continued on Tuesday evening on the island, situated some 20,000 km (12,427 miles) from mainland France, local broadcaster NC La 1ere reported.

The island's capital Noumea was covered by a cloud of black smoke, NC La 1ere said, adding that a local sport facility had been set ablaze. It also reported a riot in a prison.

One of five island territories spanning the Indo-Pacific held by France, New Caledonia is the word's third-largest nickel producer and is the centrepiece of French President Emmanuel Macron's plan to increase Paris's influence in the Pacific.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said the vote should proceed in the afternoon as planned, but confirmed that Macron would not rush into convening a special congress of the two houses of parliament required to rubber-stamp the bill.

Instead, he would invite representatives of the territory's population - both pro- and anti-independence - to Paris for talks on the future status of New Caledonia, after decades of tensions over France's role.

"It's through talking, and only through talking, that we can find a solution," Attal told lawmakers. "All we want is to find an overall political agreement, with those in favour of and against independence."

He did not spell out what such a deal could cover.

VIOLENCE

At a rally in Paris, pro-independence protesters said the bill should be withdrawn.

"If there is violence today (in New Caledonia), it's in response to the violence we've suffered from since colonisation," Kanak youth leader Daniel Wea, 43, told Reuters, saying the planned electoral changes would leave the Kanaks isolated on their island.

"We're here to show ... we will fight until we get what we want: independence," said 24-year-old Wendy Gowe, whose grand-fathers died when violence flared up on the island in the 1980s.

New Caledonia is situated 1,500 km (930 miles) east of Australia, with a population of 270,000 including 41% Melanesian and 24% of European origin, mostly French.

A 1998 Noumea Accord helped end a decade of conflict by outlining a path to gradual autonomy and restricting voting to the indigenous Kanak as well as people who arrived in New Caledonia before 1998.

The accord allowed for three referendums to determine the future of the country. In all three, independence was rejected, but that did not end the debate over the island's status or France's role.

Meanwhile, French miner Eramet said its local unit SLN had raised its security level amid the unrest and that its plant was running at minimum capacity.

"Our mines are halted, just like the vast majority of mines in New Caledonia," a spokesperson told Reuters.

Nickel miner Prony Resources said it activated a crisis unit to "maintain our industrial facilities and prevent any damage to our assets".

The French government has been negotiating a rescue package for the loss-making New Caledonian nickel sector, including a commitment to supply Europe's battery supply chain, but talks have stalled amid current political tensions.

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer and Kirsty Needham in Wellington, Dominique Vidalon, Tassilo Hummel, Gus Trompiz, Elizabeth Pineau, Juliette Jabkhiro in Paris; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Neil Fullick, Stephen Coates, Christina Fincher, William Maclean)


Curfew imposed in New Caledonia after violent protests against constitutional reform

RFI
Tue, May 14, 2024 at 12:03





The local government in New Caledonia has called for calm after violence broke out during protests to changes to the constitution being debated in the French National Assembly, which are denounced by supporters of independence for the overseas territory in the Pacific.

"All the reasons discontent, frustration and anger could not justify hurting or destroying what the country has been able to build for decades and compromising the future," the local government said in a statement Tuesday, after protests turned violent on Monday.

Violence broke out on the edge of a demonstration organised Monday by pro-independence supporters against changes to the constitution that would allow more French residents to vote in elections in New Caledonia, which independence supporters fear will dilute the vote of indigenous Kanak.

Several police officers were injured during clashes with protesters, the French High Commission said Tuesday, announcing a curfew in the capital, Noumea, on Tuesday night.

Buildings and businesses in Noumea and the surrounding areas were damaged and cars set on fire. Firefighters said they received nearly 1,500 calls Monday night and intervened in 200.

Pro- and anti-independence demos in New Caledonia split French island group

New Caledonian representatives in Paris to discuss territory's future

France mulls New Caledonia electoral reform ahead of key vote


‘High-calibre weapons’ fired in riots on French Pacific island

Our Foreign Staff

THE TELEGRAPH
Tue, May 14, 2024 

Rioters fired “high-calibre weapons” at police during a night of violent unrest and looting on the island of New Caledonia, the French Pacific territory’s high commissioner has said.

High Commissioner of the Republic Louis Le Franc told reporters that “there have been no deaths” but “shots were fired at the gendarmes using high calibre weapons and hunting rifles”.

The unrest erupted on Monday in the French-run archipelago as protesters demonstrated against proposed voting reforms that have angered separatists.

At least two car dealerships and a bottling factory in Noumea were set on fire in arson attacks. Several supermarkets in the capital and neighbouring towns Dumbea and Mont-Dore were looted.

French gendarme officers on patrol in Noumea amid protests against a constitutional bill aimed at expanding the electorate for an upcoming election - THEO ROUBY/AFP

Sylvie, whose family has lived in New Caledonia for generations, said: “The police station nearby was on fire and a car was too, in front of my house. There was non-stop shouting and explosions, I felt like I was in a war. We are alone. Who is going to protect us?”

On Monday night groups of young masked or hooded demonstrators took over several roundabouts and confronted police, who responded with non-lethal rounds. Several vehicles were torched during violent clashes.

A total of 36 people were arrested and 30 police officers were injured, authorities confirmed. A night-time curfew, a ban on public gatherings, and a ban on alcohol sales are now in place until 6am on Wednesday.

Schools, colleges and the international airport are closed until further notice.

The high commission, the representative of the French state in New Caledonia, said: “Very intense public order disturbances took place last night [Monday] in Noumea and in neighbouring municipalities, and are still ongoing at this time.

The New Caledonia government appealed for “reason and calm” and called on “all Caledonians to demonstrate a sense of responsibility” while the commission said it was “massively mobilising internal security and civil security forces”.

Cars at a Renault dealership in the Magenta district in Noumea were torched during the protests - AFP

The unrest comes as a constitutional reform is being debated in the national assembly in Paris. It aims to expand the electorate in the territory’s provincial elections.

France vowed in the Noumea Accord of 1998 to gradually give more political power to the Pacific island territory of nearly 300,000 people.

Under the agreement, New Caledonia has held three referendums over its ties with France, all rejecting independence.

The pro-independence Indigenous Kanaks rejected the result of the last referendum held in December 2021, which they boycotted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Smoke can be seen in the distance as a result of the riots in Noumea - AFP

The Noumea Accord has also meant that New Caledonia’s voter lists have not been updated since 1998 – meaning that island residents who have arrived from mainland France or elsewhere anytime in the past 25 years do not have the right to take part in provincial polls.

The French government has branded the exclusion of one out of five people from voting as “absurd”, while separatists fear that expanding voter lists would benefit pro-France politicians and “further minimise the Indigenous Kanak people”.

During a visit to the territory last year, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said he wanted a revised constitutional status for New Caledonia to be in place by the beginning of 2024.

Mr Macron has been seeking to reassert his country’s importance in the Pacific region, where China and the United States are vying for influence but France has territories such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

BURN! FULL MOVIE

GREAT ANTI IMPERIALIST FILM  

REVOLT IN AN 18TH CENTURY SUGAR COLONY IN THE CARIBBEAN

 

Opinion

Lara Trump’s RNC Falls Flat on Its Face After Assault on Voting Rights

Talia Jane
Tue, May 14, 2024



A bid launched by the Republican National Committee to block voting rights in Arizona failed Tuesday after a Maricopa County judge summarily dismissed a complaint lodged by the RNC against the state’s 2023 Election Procedures Manual, handing a win to voting rights advocates. Conservatives launched a tsunami of legal attacks in February against the manual, to impede voting rights and allow for voter harassment in Arizona. Tuesday’s decision is the first ruling addressing those lawsuits and mud in the eye of the RNC, newly run by nepobaby-in-law Lara Trump.

According to Democracy Docket, the lawsuit filed February 9 by the Republican National Committee, Republican Party of Arizona, and Yavapai County Republican Party sought to block enforcement of the EPM on the basis that Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes failed to give the public enough time to comment before implementing the EMP and that portions of the EMP violate state law. The complaint also sought to have provisions removed regarding limiting public access to voter signatures, restrictions against challenging early mail-in ballots before they’re returned, and allowances for out-of-precinct voting.

The suit was filed by the RNC the same day as another suit by conservative group Arizona Free Enterprise Club, which claims the EMP, by prohibiting voter intimidation and harassment, inhibits “free speech.” That case has not yet been decided.

An Arizona judge helped revive an 1864 abortion law. His lawmaker wife joined Democrats to repeal it

RIO YAMAT
Tue, May 14, 2024 at 10:04 PM MDT·4 min read
415



 Arizona Sen. Shawnna Bolick, R-District 2, speaks, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at the state Capitol in Phoenix. Bolick joined Democrats in the Arizona Senate on Wednesday to vote to repeal an 1864 ban on almost all abortions that her husband, Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, helped reinstate.

 (AP Photo/Matt York, File)


When it was Shawnna Bolick’s turn to speak, the words tumbled out of her for 20 minutes. The conservative lawmaker was in the middle of a heated debate in the Republican-led Arizona Senate on a bill to repeal an 1864 law banning nearly all abortions.

Democrats needed at least one more vote from the right to advance the bill.

Bolick, head hung low and tripping over her words, described her three difficult pregnancies, including one that ended in miscarriage. She said she wouldn't have got through it "without the moral support of my husband.”


Her husband, Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, was part of the majority that voted in April to restore the near-total ban.

Observers in the gallery jeered as the senator declared herself “pro-life." Only in the final moments of her speech did her intention become clear.

“I am here to protect more babies,” she said. “I vote aye.”

The bill passed and a day later, May 2, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed it into law.

Shawnna Bolick’s vote to repeal the near-total ban her spouse helped reinstate underscores the increasingly chaotic philosophical and legal landscape surrounding abortion access in Arizona, and it reflects national Republicans’ struggle to navigate the politics of abortion during a presidential election year.

This could spell trouble for the judge and the senator. Both declined interview requests from The Associated Press.

Shawnna and Clint Bolick met in Washington at an event hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research institute. They have long been friends with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — a godfather to one of Clint Bolick’s sons — and his conservative political activist wife, Ginni.

Clarence Thomas was part of the majority that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 — something he had sought for more than 30 years — and he also pressed his colleagues to reverse rulings protecting same-sex marriage, gay sex and the use of contraceptives.

After the 2020 presidential election, Ginni Thomas sent emails urging Republican lawmakers in Arizona — including Shawnna Bolick — to choose their own electors to undo Joe Biden's victory in the state. Bolick, then a state representative, introduced a bill the following year to rewrite Arizona's election laws to give state lawmakers the power to reject election results “at any time before the presidential inauguration.” Her proposal died before coming to a vote.

Their conservative credentials haven’t shielded them from criticism as Clint Bolick seeks another six-year term on the bench, and his wife, who was appointed last year to represent her northern Phoenix district, faces a primary challenge on July 30.

After the high court published its ruling, calls from the right to repeal the near-total ban quickly surfaced. On social media, U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, a Republican, said the court “legislated from the bench." Former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said the court's ruling didn't reflect “the will of the people.”

A progressive group also launched a campaign targeting Justices Bolick and Kathryn King — both of them voted to restore the 160-year-old abortion ban and are up for retention election in November.

“Arizonans have a constitutional right to hold judges and justices accountable,” said Abigail Jackson, digital coordinator for Progress Arizona. “So we want to let Arizonans know that these two particular justices will be on the ballot in November and to direct some of their energy towards unseating them.”

Voters rarely deny a sitting judge another term; only six have been unseated since Arizona adopted its judicial retention election system in 1974.

Democrats, meanwhile, have put the abortion ruling at the center of their quest to take control of the state Legislature for the first time in decades. Sen. Bolick, representing one of the most competitive districts in the state, is among their top targets.

Bolick appeared to argue on the floor that a repeal would guard against extreme ballot initiatives to enshrine abortion rights, saying she wanted “to protect our state constitution from unlimited abortions.”

But the Center for Arizona Policy, an anti-abortion advocacy group, blasted her vote to repeal, saying she “voted with pro-abortion activist lawmakers.”

Some Republican colleagues agreed.

“She has confused the pro-life community,” Sen. Jake Hoffman said on the floor after the vote. “Make no mistake, to everybody watching this and hearing my voice right now, and everyone who will hear it, she voted for abortions.”

The repeal bill won’t take effect until 90 days after the state’s legislative session ends, typically in June or July. The Civil War-era ban could meanwhile be enforced, but the high court on Monday issued a stay on its decision, making a 2022 statute banning abortions after 15 weeks Arizona’s prevailing abortion law.

But the legal landscape could change yet again if Arizona voters approve a ballot measure in November to enshrine abortion access up to 24 weeks of pregnancy in the state constitution. Organizers say they’ll submit more than enough signatures by the July 3 deadline.

___

Yamat reported from Las Vegas. Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper and Anita Snow in Phoenix contributed to this report.


Arizona Supreme Court delays enforcement of 1864 abortion ban

Taylor Romine, CNN
Tue, May 14, 2024 



The Arizona Supreme Court delayed enforcement of the state’s recently revived 1864 abortion ban, according to an order filed Monday. The order allows for a 90-day stay requested by the state’s attorney general.

Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a repeal of the 1864 abortion ban on May 2, but the repeal will not be in effect until 90 days after the legislative session ends, CNN previously reported. The state’s legislature is currently in session, meaning the Civil War-era abortion ban could come into effect for a brief period.

The stay will be in effect through August 12 so Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes could consider a petition for certiorari to the US Supreme Court, the order said. Another stay could be filed again, according to the order.

Mayes said in a statement she is “grateful” the court stayed the enforcement and said the earliest the 1864 abortion ban can be enforced is September 26, due to an additional 45 days stipulated in a separate case.

“I will do everything I can to ensure that doctors can provide medical care for their patients according to their best judgment, not the beliefs of the men elected to the territorial legislature 160 years ago,” she said.

On Monday, the court also denied a motion from Planned Parenthood Arizona asking the court to stay the 1864 abortion ban until the repeal of that law takes effect.

The repeal of the Civil War-era ban earlier this month was a victory for abortion rights advocates, who have for years tried to overturn the 1864 law that banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, except to save a mother’s life, and threatened providers with two to five year prison sentences.

CNN’s Rashard Rose and Clay Voytek contributed to this report.

Arizona Supreme Court pushes back enforcement date for 1864 abortion ban

Alex Tabet and Adam Edelman
Mon, May 13, 2024


PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court on Monday granted a request to delay enforcement of the state’s 1864 near-total abortion ban.

The court granted Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes’ request for an additional 90 days before the Civil War-era ban can be enforced.

Even though Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a repeal of the ban on May 2, that measure cannot take effect until 90 days after the state’s legislative session ends — and it is still in session. Monday's court order essentially narrows the window in which the ban could be enforced, if it all.

“I am grateful that the Arizona Supreme Court has stayed enforcement of the 1864 law and granted our motion to stay the mandate in this case for another 90 days,” Mayes said in a statement Monday.

She also said her office "will consider the best legal course of action to take from here,” which could include asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

Previously, Mayes' office said the 1864 ban would go into effect June 27. The court's action Monday pushes that back to Sept. 26, her office said.

The enforcement date hinges heavily on when the state's legislative session ends. Last year, it wrapped up July 31. If legislators were to keep to that timeline, the ban could be enforceable for about a month — from Sept. 26 until late October — under the new projections. But it’s still unclear when this year's session will end.

With the enforcement delay, the state is operating under a 15-week ban on abortions passed in 2022 — signed by the governor at the time, Doug Ducey, a Republican — that makes exceptions for medical emergencies but not for rape or incest.

That law has prompted a coalition of reproductive rights organizations to try to get a constitutional amendment on the state’s ballot in November. The amendment would enshrine the right to an abortion through fetal viability and greatly expand the scope for exceptions.

The coalition, known as Arizona for Abortion Access, is on track to get the referendum on the ballot.

In a statement Monday, a spokesperson for the coalition noted that the state Supreme Court's order does nothing to undo the 2022 law.

“With this order, Arizonans are still subjected to another extreme ban, one that punishes patients experiencing pregnancy complications and survivors of rape and incest,” spokesperson Chris Love said.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, abortion rights have been on the ballot in more than a half-dozen states. Each time, including in red states like Kansas and Ohio, abortion-rights advocates have prevailed.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com


Arizona’s high court is allowing the attorney general 90 more days on her abortion ban strategy

Kenneth Wong
Mon, May 13, 2024 

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s highest court on Monday gave the state’s attorney general another 90 days to decide further legal action in the case over a 160-year-old near-total ban on abortion that lawmakers recently voted to repeal.

The Arizona Supreme Court’s order leaves in place for now a more recent law that legalizes abortion up to 15 weeks of pregnancy. It also allows Attorney General Kris Mayes more time to decide whether to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mayes expressed gratitude for the order, and said the earliest the 1864 law can now take effect is Sept. 26, counting the 90 days just granted, plus another 45 days stipulated in a separate case.

"I will do everything I can to ensure that doctors can provide medical care for their patients according to their best judgment, not the beliefs of the men elected to the territorial legislature 160 years ago," Mayes said.

Arizona’s Supreme Court in April voted to restore the older law that provided no exceptions for rape or incest and allows abortions only if the mother’s life is in jeopardy. The majority opinion suggested doctors could be prosecuted and sentenced to up to five years in prison if convicted.

The Legislature then voted narrowly to repeal the Civil War-era law, but the repeal won’t take effect until 90 days after lawmakers wrap up their current annual session. It has been unclear if there would be a period the older ban could be enforced before the repeal took hold.

The anti-abortion group defending the ban, Alliance Defending Freedom, said that it would keep fighting despite the latest delay.

"Arizona’s pro-life law has protected unborn children for over 100 years," said the group’s senior counsel Jake Warner. "We will continue working to protect unborn children and promote real support and health care for Arizona families."

Planned Parenthood Arizona CEO Angela Florez welcomed the move. She said the organization "will continue to provide abortion care through 15 weeks of pregnancy and we remain focused on ensuring patients have access to abortion care for as long as legally possible."

Arizona for Abortion Access released a statement on this ruling, saying:

"Another day, another ruling, another example of why we must pass the Arizona Abortion Access Act. With this order, Arizonans are still subjected to another extreme ban, one that punishes patients experiencing pregnancy complications and survivors of rape and incest. Arizonans deserve to know our rights are ensured and protected, not constantly in flux based on the whims of politicians or the outcomes of endless lawsuits. Only the Arizona Abortion Access restores and protects Arizona’s right to access abortion care once and for all, and that’s why Arizona voters will turn out to support it in November."
Near-total ban can trace roots back to the 19th century

(U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joseph Barron)

The law known as A.R.S. 13-3603 can trace its roots back to 1864, a time when Arizona was not even a U.S. state.

A.R.S. 13-3603 states:

"A person who provides, supplies or administers to a pregnant woman, or procures such woman to take any medicine, drugs or substance, or uses or employs any instrument or other means whatever, with intent thereby to procure the miscarriage of such woman, unless it is necessary to save her life, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than two years nor more than five years."

A.R.S. 13-3603's repeal means that a statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become Arizona’s prevailing abortion law, when the repeal bill officially takes effect.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WWIII

Chinese coast guard shadows Filipino activists sailing toward disputed shoal

JIM GOMEZ
Updated Wed, May 15, 2024 








In this photo provided by Atin-Ito/Akbayan Party, activists and volunteers on fishing boats prepare for their journey at Masinloc, Zambales province, northwestern Philippines on Wednesday May 15, 2024. A flotilla of about 100 mostly small fishing boats led by Filipino activists sailed Wednesday to a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, where Beijing's coast guard and suspected militia ships have used powerful water cannons to ward off what they regard as intruders. 

(Atin-Ito/Akbayan Party via AP)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Chinese coast guard ships shadowed a group of Filipino activists and fishermen sailing on wooden boats toward a disputed shoal in the South China Sea which Beijing has fiercely guarded from what it regards as intruders.

The Philippine coast guard deployed three patrol ships and a light plane to keep watch from a distance on the group of about 100 people who set off from western Zambales province to assert Manila’s sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal and surrounding waters. Dozens of journalists joined the three-day voyage.

The navy also dispatched a ship to help keep an eye on the participants.

The four wooden boats carrying the Filipinos were still far from the shoal when at least two Chinese coast guard ships began shadowing them at nightfall, said Emman Hizon, one of the organizers, adding that the participants remained in high spirits and would not turn back.

Some chanted “Atin Ito” — the name of the group, which means “This is ours” in Tagalog — repeatedly after they spotted the Chinese coast guard ships.

“Atin Ito contingent will continue with its course,” Hizon said.

“Our boats are exercising evasive maneuvers while the Philippine coast guard continues to maintain its close distance to the convoy to thwart any further attempt from Chinese coast guard vessels,” Hizon said

The convoy was expected to reach the area of the shoal Thursday morning, the organizers said, adding they would seek to avoid confrontations but were ready for any contingencies. The group plans to lay down symbolic territorial buoys and provide food packs and fuel to Filipino fishermen in the high seas near the shoal.

“Our mission is peaceful, based on international law and aimed at asserting our sovereign rights,” said Rafaela David, a lead organizer. “We will sail with determination, not provocation, to civilianize the region and safeguard our territorial integrity.”

In December, the group mounted an expedition to another disputed shoal but cut the trip short after being tailed by a Chinese ship.

China effectively seized Scarborough Shoal, a triangle-shaped atoll with a vast fishing lagoon ringed by mostly submerged coral outcrops, by surrounding it with its coast guard ships after a tense 2012 standoff with Philippine government ships.

Angered by China’s action, the Philippine government brought the territorial disputes to international arbitration in 2013 and largely won, with a tribunal in The Hague ruling three years later that China’s expansive claims based on historical grounds in the busy seaway were invalid under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The ruling declared Scarborough Shoal a traditional fishing area for Chinese, Filipino and Vietnamese fishermen. In the past, fishermen have anchored in the shoal to avoid large waves in the high seas in stormy weather.

China refused to participate in the arbitration, rejected the outcome and continues to defy it.

Two weeks ago, Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships used water cannons on Philippine coast guard and fisheries ships patrolling Scarborough Shoal, damaging both vessels.

The Philippines condemned the Chinese coast guard’s action on the shoal, which lies in the Southeast Asian nation’s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone. The Chinese coast guard said it took a “necessary measure” after the Philippine ships “violated China’s sovereignty."

Asked about the Atin Ito convoy on Wednesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “If the Philippine side abuses China’s goodwill and infringes on China’s territorial sovereignty and jurisdiction, China will safeguard its rights and take countermeasures in accordance with the law, and the responsibilities and consequences incurred will be borne entirely by the Philippine side.”

In addition to the Philippines and China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have also been involved in the territorial disputes.

Chinese coast guard ships have also ventured into waters close to Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia in the past, sparking tensions and protests, but the Southeast Asian nations with considerable economic ties with China have not been as aggressively critical of Beijing's increasingly assertive actions.

The Philippines has released videos of its territorial faceoffs with China and invited journalists to witness the hostilities in the high seas in a strategy to gain international support, sparking a war of words with Beijing.

The increasing frequency of the skirmishes between the Philippines and China has led to minor collisions, injured Filipino navy personnel and damaged supply boats in recent months. It has sparked fears the territorial disputes could degenerate into an armed conflict between China and the United States, a longtime treaty ally of the Philippines.

South China Sea face-off: The Philippines that China was not prepared for | WION Game Plan 

 China has been usurping territory in South China Sea for several years. While It did not face a lot of resistance, but now, one country is challenging its might - Philippines. While it is still a David and Goliath face-off, under the leadership of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Philippines is posturing itself strongly against China and holding its ground despite all Chinese attempts to intimidate and scare. What is Philippines’ Game Plan? Watch Game Plan only on WION with Shivan Chanana