Swiss court acquits Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan on charges of rape, sexual coercion

A Swiss court on Wednesday acquitted Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan on charges of rape and sexual coercion, finding no evidence against the former Oxford University professor.

Issued on: 24/05/2023

03:18 Swiss leading Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan arrives at the Geneva court house on May 24, 2023, to hear the verdict of his trial for "rape and sexual coercion" in a case dating back 15 years. 

Text by: NEWS WIRES

The academic was also awarded around 151,000 Swiss francs ($167,000) in compensation from the Swiss canton of Geneva over the case.

After the verdict was read in the Geneva Criminal Court, the 60-year-old Swiss preacher smiled and was hugged by one of his daughters.

Ramadan's 57-year-old accuser, identified under the assumed name of "Brigitte", left the courtroom before the end of the verdict.

Her lawyers immediately vowed to appeal the ruling.

Prosecutors had last week called for a three-year sentence against Ramadan. The case was the first time he has been tried for rape, although he risks facing a trial in France on similar charges.

The Swiss trial presented two diametrically opposed versions of what happened in a Geneva hotel room in October 2008.

The lawyer representing Brigitte, a convert to Islam, said she was repeatedly raped and subjected to "torture and barbarism".

Ramadan, a charismatic yet controversial figure in European Islam, rejected the charges, insisting there was no sexual activity between him and Brigitte, and saying he was the victim of a "trap".

Brigitte was in her forties at the time of the alleged assault in 2008. She filed a complaint 10 years later, telling the court she felt emboldened to come forward following similar complaints filed in France.
'Ramadanphobia'

Both parties agreed that Ramadan and Brigitte spent the night together in the hotel room, which she left early the following morning.

Ramadan insisted that Brigitte invited herself up to his room, then let herself be kissed, before quickly ending the encounter.

The indictment accused Ramadan of sexual coercion and of committing rape three times during the night.

During the trial, the defence insisted on Ramadan's innocence and stressed there was no scientific evidence in the case.

His lawyers also accused Brigitte and the women who have brought charges against him in France of forging links to bring down the Islamic scholar, citing "Ramadanphobia".

During his final statements in court last week, Ramadan asked not to be tried on his "real or supposed ideology" and urged the judges not to be "influenced by the media and political noise".

"Forget I'm Tariq Ramadan!" he said.

Controversial among secularists who see him as a supporter of political Islam, Ramadan obtained a doctorate from the University of Geneva, with a thesis focused on his grandfather, who founded Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood movement.

He was a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford until November 2017 and held visiting roles at universities in Qatar and Morocco.

He was forced to take a leave of absence when rape allegations surfaced in France at the height of the "Me Too" movement, over suspected attacks between 2009 and 2016.

(AFP)

HE IS IN THE COMPANY OF CATHOLIC PRIESTS

Rolf Harris: Convicted pedophile and family entertainer dies
May 23, 2023

The Australian-born television star rose to fame in the United Kingdom, but he lived his final years in disgrace after he was convicted of sexually assaulting multiple young girls.

Convicted pedophile Rolf Harris, who was a mainstay of British and Australian family entertainment for more than 50 years before his career ended in disgrace, has died aged 93.

The Australian-born Harris died peacefully surrounded by relatives and friends, his family said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement said he "has now been laid to rest" and added that "no further comment will be made."

His death certficate showed that he died on May 10 of "metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of neck" and "frailty of old age."

From stardom to prison

Harris got his start on British television in 1958 and went on to become one of the country's most beloved light entertainers, as well as in his home country of Australia.

He was known for hosting shows such as "Rolf's Cartoon Club" and "Animal Hospital," writing hit songs like "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport," and inventing a novelty musical instrument called the wobble board.

In 1985, Harris hosted a short educational film called "Kids Can Say No!" designed to educate children aged between five and eight about how to avoid situations where they might be sexually abused.

In 2014, he was found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault on four young girls between 1969 and 1986.

Prosecutors said the television star had a "Jekyll and Hyde" personality who used his fame to exploit his victims.

Harris maintained his innocence and was supported by family and friends throughout the trial.

The entertainer was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison. He was released after serving three years.

The conviction prompted widespread revulsion and soul-searching in the UK and Australia. Harris was removed from the Australian Recording Industry Association Hall of Fame and was stripped of his CBE — a British honor one step below a knighthood.

Harris was convicted as part of Operation Yewtree, the British police investigation which posthumously revealed children's entertainer Jimmy Saville to be a prolific child abuser and resulted in the conviction of glam rocker Gary Glitter.

Failing health

Harris lived his final years in disgrace away from the limelight.

In October 2022, it was reported that Harris was "gravely ill" with neck cancer that left him unable to speak and requiring 24-hour care.

Ahead of his secret funeral, British newspapers reported that a private ambulance with blacked-out windows was spotted outside his home west of London.

Such vehicles are typically used by undertakers.

zc/wd (Reuters, AFP, AP)

Demonized inventions: From railroads to AI

Paula Onusseit
DW

May 19, 2023

New technologies are not always well-received, drawing skepticism, worries and fears. But why? A look at the history of technology provides some insight.

Technological advancements are polarizing. It's not a new phenomenon for innovations to be sneered at, criticized or even demonized. "We find skepticism about technology even in the earliest written records that we have about technology theory," technology philosopher and historian Christian Vater told DW.

He said there were various reasons for this skepticism, including the complexity of technological inventions and the associated lack of knowledge or understanding, for example the fear of losing control or even emotionality.

But skepticism toward new technologies is not proof of a general fear of technology, according to Helmuth Trischler, head of research at Deutsches Museum in Munich. "Behind this assumption is a limited perception — it's good that people examine things rationally," he said.

The difference between a rational assessment of possible consequences to technology and an irrational, uncontrolled defensiveness toward technology is also emphasized by Vater, who distinguishes between concern and panic. "I consider 'concern' to be very legitimate and extraordinarily necessary, especially if we want to actively, jointly shape a future shaped by technology in an informed democracy," he said. "'Panic', however, typically leads to uncontrolled running away."

The fact that technological inventions can inspire both concern and panic in equal measure can be seen in the example of the railroad.

Diabolical conveyance: The railroad

Some 200 years after its invention, the railroad is a completely ordinary form of transportation for people and goods around the world and a part of the fabric of modern society. But in its early days, some people perceived the railroad as the work of the devil.

In 1825, the Locomotion No 1 became the first public railroad in England

United Archives/picture allaince

The world's first public railroad was inaugurated in England in 1825. After that, the steam locomotive made its fast, loud and smoky way across Europe — and with it, the fear of trains and of what was known in Germany as "Eisenbahnkrankheit" or "railway sickness." This was thought to be caused by the speed of up to 30 kilometers per hour (18.6 miles per hour) — considered fast back then — and the bone-rattling vibrations felt while sitting in the carriages.

Even as the railway network grew throughout Victorian England, the criticism of this mode of transportation remained strong, as evidenced by satirical caricatures and illustrated police reports.

Trischler said these reactions are "completely understandable" within the context of their time. Technological advancements require reorientation, which can spark fears to which people react with dire prognoses and apprehension. "The new does, after all, arouse emotions. Technology is basically always associated with emotions," he explained.

Fear of the split atom

But not every technological invention inevitably evokes negative emotions. For instance, when nuclear energy was new, the attitude was different. The first German research reactor was built in Munich in 1957, and four years later, nuclear energy was fed into the country's power grid for the first time. In the 1960s, atomic energy was seen as an inexpensive and clean alternative to oil and coal and encouraged hopes for a renewed industrial upswing.
The German anti-nuclear movement gained momentum in the 1970s and '80sImage: Dieter Klar/picture alliance

The first critical voices grew loud in Germany in 1975, when the construction site of a planned nuclear plant was occupied by protesters. Critics in the southwestern German town of Wyhl warned of climate change, groundwater drawdown and possible security problems in connection with nuclear plants. The anti-nuclear movement gained momentum and incidents such as the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979 in the United States or the meltdown at Chernobyl in 1986 further spread fear and worry among parts of the population. Nuclear energy was a subject of debate in Germany for decades, until the accident at Fukushima in Japan in 2011 finally led to the German government deciding to phase it out for good.

While in some parts of the world, nuclear energy is still seen as a good alternative to fossil fuels, in other countries it evokes almost existential angst. "When we think about why people are concerned when it comes to nuclear energy, we can point to the question of nuclear waste, to Chernobyl or Fukushima. In other words, to man-made or nature-dependent situations with technological failures and unsolved technical problems," said Vater.

He and Trischler see a democratic success story in the debate over nuclear energy. Vater said that a society, "if it does not want to become technocratic, but wants to remain a participatory democracy," is dependent on goodwill, understanding and support from its members. Trischler added that "something can emerge from the debate about technology skepticism," and said that it's about a society's struggle for co-determination and joint negotiation

Man vs. machine?

How fine the line can become between goodwill and skepticism, support and rejection, is illustrated by the current debate over AI. The American computer and cognitive scientist John McCarthy coined the phrase "artificial intelligence" in 1956 to describe a discipline of computer science whose goal was to create machines with human-like intellectual capabilities.

After decades of developments in the field, debate over the topic has focused of late on, among other things, the chatbot ChatGPT, which was released in November 2022 and immediately sparked controversy. In March, Italy responded by becoming the first country to block the software, at least temporarily. It's now allowed again, but only after proof of the user's age is presented.

Despite the many advantages AI promises — for example improved health care or increased road safety — there is also a great deal of criticism of the technology. The fears seem to run in two directions: Some worry about possible misuse, fakes or disinformation and about their professional future and intellectual property, while others are afraid of future technical developments that could gradually give AI more power and thus result in a loss of human control.

Can AI blur the lines between man and machine?

Knut Niehus/CHROMORANGE/picture alliance

Trischler sees the fear of AI in general as rooted in the complexity of the technology. "Worries arise especially with regard to large technical systems that seem anonymous," he said. According to Vater, questions about, for instance, what impact AI might actually have on one's profession are rational concerns as opposed to a blanket fear of the machine.

"To predict that the spread of AI will make all human creative effort superfluous, and that machines will take over the world in the near future, that would be panic," he said.
Skepticism raises questions

So is a certain degree of skepticism toward new technologies a normal, understandable human reaction? Christian Vater and Helmuth Trischler think so.

"In hindsight, we often see that these fears have not materialized," said Trischler, adding that they are understandable when seen in the context of their time.

The ability to make predictions is useful "because it helps us to tune in to the next steps in development as a group, as a society, perhaps even as humanity," said Vater. "It's actually the normal situation that things then don't turn out as we expected."

This article was originally written in German.

Germany: More 'Reichsbürger' suspects arrested



Members of the "Reichsbürger" group believe the current state is no more than a construct still occupied by Western powers. For them, the German Empire founded in 1871 still exists and so do Germany's pre-WWII borders.

DW

May 23, 2023

More than five months after initial raids against a suspected terrorist network linked to the "Reichsbürger" movement, Germany's Criminal Police Office has arrested two more men and a woman, the Federal Prosecutor's Office announced in the southern city of Karlsruhe on Tuesday.

A large-scale raid in three countries in December highlighted the threat posed by the so-called "Reichsbürger" — a radical and violent group that does not recognize Germany as a democratic state. The number of suspects as part of the network with ambitions of overthrowing the state has now risen to 63.

'Reichsbürger' often not opposed to violent tactics

The latest three suspects are from the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony, according to a spokesman for the federal Federal Prosecutor's Office.

The three arrested this week, like most of the other suspects, are accused of being members of the terrorist network while others are allegedly supporting the movement.

A substantial number of the self-proclaimed "Reichsbürger" — which translates as "Citizens of the Reich" — are not averse to violence to reinstate the Reich.

Germany: Fresh raids on Reichsbürger group 01:34

German interior minister lambasts 'terrorist organization'

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) told the Deutschlandfunk media group on Tuesday that the "terrorist organisation" is "characterized by fantasies of overthrow by force of arms."

Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), estimated in 2022 that there are around 23,000 "Reichsbürger" in Germany, with 5% of them classified as far-right extremists.

Though this week's arrest included a female, most of the group are male. On average they are over 50 years old and ascribe to right-wing populist, antisemitic and Nazi ideologies and are spread across the country. A district court judge in Saxony-Anhalt has described them as "conspiracy theorists" and "malcontents."

jsi/wd (dpa, AFP)

ENGELS WEEPS

German SPD struggling as they celebrate 160 years

Sabine Kinkartz
May 23, 2023

Germany's oldest political party leads its coalition government and occupies the chancellor's office with Olaf Scholz. So why are the Social Democrats not celebrating as they mark 160 years? DW explains.

https://p.dw.com/p/4RhK4

There are precious few opportunities to celebrate at the Berlin headquarters of the Social Democrats (SPD) these days, so one would think its 160th birthday, being celebrated for three days this week, would be treasured all the more.

Even what victories there have been double-edged. "It is a wonderful evening for us tonight. We are incredibly proud of the SPD in Bremen," the party's General Secretary Kevin Kühnert enthused, after the SPD won local elections in the northern German city state on May 14.

That win was not a given. Bremen's SPD Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte rounded off his election campaign with something that sounded like a musical plea for loyalty, singing his own rendition of the 1960s Ben E. King classic "Stand by Me." SPD co-chair Lars Klingbeil, who traveled from Berlin in support, accompanied him on the guitar. In the end, the SPD won, but with only 29.8% of the vote — its second-worst result in Bremen in more than 70 years.

Berlin Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte got the voters of Bremen to stand by him, perhaps thanks to the help of party leader Lars Klingbeil on guitar

Sina Schuldt/picture alliance/dpa

Chancellor's party sinking in the polls

Back at headquarters in Berlin, the party is trying to learn what had happened in Bremen. The party wanted to get a clear picture of how the victory came about, Kühnert said.

As things stand, the SPD can only dream of such a high result at national level, where the party is competing with the Greens and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) for second place at around 17% to 19%, behind the opposition conservative alliance led by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at more than 30%. Never in the history of post-war Germany has a chancellor's party had such low approval ratings.

There is a suspicion that Olaf Scholz and the SPD only won the federal election in September 2021 because the CDU's candidate for chancellor, Armin Laschet, was too weak and made too many gaffes on the campaign trail.
Short-lived honeymoon

A look at the polls from the election year and afterwards shows that the Social Democrats experienced an enormous boost in support before the election. They went from polling 16% in July 2021 to almost 26% in that September's election. The honeymoon lasted until early 2022, and the party's poll numbers have been dropping ever since. That is bitter for the SPD, not least because German political analysts define a major party as one that can rely on at least 20% of the votes.

Is what the SPD once celebrated as the "comeback of social democracy" already dead? Party membership is declining, including in the main cites where the SPD used to have a lot of support. The latest example: In the city-state of Berlin, the CDU is now occupying the city hall after 22 years of a Social Democrat government.

The situation looks particularly appalling in eastern Germany. In the states of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, the SPD's approval ratings are in the single digits.

The CDU was hampered by Armin Laschet's gaffe-riddled chancellor candidacy

Marius Becker/dpa/picture alliance

A return to social issues

The 160th birthday of the SPD comes amidst this period of low morale. The oldest still-existing political party in Germany is in the middle of three days of celebrations, with speeches, exhibitions, and awards ceremonies. It is a welcome opportunity for the party to take a breath and reenergize – as well as an occasion to become more visible within the governing coalition. The motto of the celebrations in Willy Brandt House, the SPD Berlin headquarters named for its party's first post-WWII chancellor, is "progress needs justice."

Tackling social issues is still seen as the SPD's core competency, but one year into its new term in government the war in Ukraine and its consequences have taken precedence. Scholz is being kept busy with foreign policy, the SPD interior minister with migration, and the SPD labor minister is grappling with a shortage of both specialist and blue-collar workers. There is no longer any talk of the SPD's election promise to build 400,000 homes per year, because of inflation and the tense situation in the construction sector.

Coalition infighting

In the media, the SPD seems rather pale in the governing coalition it is leading alongside the business-oriented Free Democrats (FDP) and environmentalist Greens. Headlines are dominated by the quarrel between the FDP and the Greens over climate protection. Many people are afraid of Germany's phasing out of oil and gas heating from 2024, which is being pushed for by the Greens, driving voters toward the opposition.

The cost of living has already risen drastically because of inflation, and people without money to spare are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. The SPD now apparently wants to put brakes on the energy act for buildings, creating another rift in the coalition. Climate protection is important, the SPD says, but the cost cannot overwhelm people. It must be repaired; solutions must be "technically feasible and socially acceptable," as Labor Minister Hubertus Heil put it.

Olaf Scholz's government has been struggling with infighting as polling for all three parties stagnate

 Joerg Carstensen/picture alliance

Rumblings of discontent

If the SPD wants to raise its profile in the coalition, that could lead to even more tension, and voters are rarely impressed by government infighting. This must be causing concern at SPD headquarters. Throughout the party's history, poor performance has often led to intra-party disputes, followed by self-flagellation. This can bring down even SPD leaders that the party loved.

And there are signs that dissatisfaction within the SPD is growing. Rumors are swirling mostly in the left-wing faction of the party, which has always been pugnacious. In 2019, the party's left wing prevented Olaf Scholz, who sits the more conservative end of the social democratic spectrum, from becoming party chair. Since Scholz became chancellor, the left wing has remained silent for the sake of party unity.
A personality for politics?

Though Scholz was never especially popular in the SPD, he remains respected and appreciated as chancellor for now. That goodwill, however, remains dependent on success. The party will back him only as long as he can deliver.

In this situation, it could be helpful to take a closer look at the SPD's election victory in Bremen. The city state was won over by a Social Democrat with a down-to-earth attitude, approachability, and popularity. The personality factor has become increasingly important in German elections – that was demonstrated in other state ballots in recent years. But Olaf Scholz has little to offer on this front: He often seems aloof and is perceived as unemotional and unapproachable. Learning from Bremen could prove difficult after all.

BUSINESS  EUROPE
How company profits are keeping prices high

Mathis Richtmann
04/05/2023

Supply chain bottlenecks and the war in Ukraine caused inflation to soar. Now, policymakers are pointing to high corporate profits as another driver of increased consumer prices. Will governments intervene?

When major oil companies announced record earnings in February, even US President Joe Biden was appalled. The White House said it was "outrageous" that ExxonMobil had raked in a profit of $56 billion (€51 billion) in 2022 as consumers were grappling with inflation rates not seen in decades.

Top policymakers in Europe have also weighed in on the issue, imposing windfall taxes on energy firms. Even though price pressures have eased lately from their record levels, the eurozone is still reeling from elevated inflation levels. Consumer prices in the common currency area rose 6.9% in March from a year earlier, keeping inflation at more than three times the European Central Bank's target of 2%.

What is causing inflation?

The reopening of the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in pent-up demand even as supply disruptions caused by lockdowns persisted. The high demand coupled with supply troubles fueled inflation. Consumer prices climbed further after Russia's invasion of Ukraine which sent energy and food prices soaring.

While the impact of the reopening has largely faded out and supply bottlenecks have eased, inflation still remains stubbornly high.

Policymakers are concerned that increased profit margins may have a big role to play.

Speaking at a conference in Frankfurt last week, Fabio Panetta, a member of the ECB's executive board, put up a remarkable chart. It showed how companies' profits in the eurozone rose faster than wages.

"Opportunistic behavior by firms could also delay the fall in core inflation," Panetta said. "We should monitor the risk that a profit-price spiral could make core inflation stickier," he added with an apparent wordplay on the much dreaded wage-price spiral.

The ECB's Panetta says profits contributed to "more than half of domestic price pressures" in the last quarter of 2022Image: European Central Bank/picture alliance/dpa

According to a Reuters report, consumer goods companies in Europe boosted operating margins to an average of 10.7% in 2022, up by a quarter over 2019, before the pandemic.

"Companies in certain sectors have been able to take advantage of the state of emergency of pandemic and war to raise prices in ways that are not possible in normal times. When prices rise more than costs, profit margins increase," Isabella Weber of the University of Massachusetts Amherst told DW.

Ulrich Kater, chief economist at Deka Bank, says it was the fog of uncertainty during the pandemic and war that led companies to hike prices.

"You want to implement a safety margin so that you are not buried by the cost increases afterward," he told DW.
Wage growth trails rise in profits

In the United States, companies are now recording the highest profits since the end of World War II. That is according to a recent study by Weber, who also masterminded the German cap on energy prices.

In Europe, "the effect of profits on domestic price pressures has been exceptional from a historical perspective," economists at the ECB wrote in a blog in March. Profit growth outstripped wage growth especially in agriculture, manufacturing, trade, transportation and food and mining and utilities, according to ECB calculations.

With an eye on recent profits driving up inflation, Weber said supply-chain disruptions have altered competition dynamics. Usually, consumers can switch to other suppliers if a company hikes prices to maximize profits, Weber explains, but "if all competitors know that the competition cannot serve their own customer base, a price increase does not threaten the loss of market share as it would otherwise."

Will inflation be lower in the future?

The ECB expects high inflation to eventually taper off in the eurozone. It expects price increases to come down to 2% annually by 2025.

"The fact that profits have risen more than wages so far doesn't mean that has to be the course going forward," Kater said.

For Weber, companies' ability to set prices is alarming and it needs to be checked. She said laws that limit excessive price increases by corporates, such as the proposed revamping of a price gouging law in New York, could be a part of the solution. The rules prohibit companies from taking advantage of a crisis to charge excessive prices for essentials.

Additionally, antitrust authorities would have to check for price manipulation if suspicions of market dominance were to manifest, Kater adds.

On Wednesday, the German government opted to strengthen its antitrust agency. Robert Habeck, the economy minister, had initiated the move last year after fuel prices had remained stubbornly high.

Edited by: Ashutosh Pandey

ERITREA

Liberator to oppressor: 30 years under Isaias Afwerki

ANOTHER SAD TALE OF STALINISM


Isaac Kaledzi

DW
May 23, 2023

Isaias Afwerki once was hailed as Eritrea's independence hero. But over the past three decades, his policies have pushed the country into isolation, leading to two-thirds of the country living below the poverty line.

Isaias Afwerki was celebrated as a national hero in his country in 1991 after he had led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) into victory, gaining independence from Ethiopia after 30 years of civil war.

Eritreans had long felt a desire to split from Ethiopia under the heavy-handed leadership of Mengistu Haile Mariam, the Marxist army officer who was Ethiopia's head of state from 1977 to 1991.

"It was a very, very hopeful time. … (A)ll of the fighters who had been part of the EPLF were demobilizing. They felt they had liberated the country and that they didn't want to be fighters or rebels anymore," Michela Wrong, a British author and journalist reporting about Eritrea at the time, told DW.

Wrong said she observed at the time that Eritreans living in the diaspora across the world were excited to return home after having to flee abroad under Mengistu's rule.

"They hadn't felt safe, and they hadn't felt they had any future in Eritrea. And all those people who had settled in America and Canada and Sweden and Norway, in Europe, they were all coming back, and they wanted to invest. And they were bringing their skills from the diaspora," she explained about the mood at the time.

Isaias was Eritrea's first president after independence — a position he has held since 1993 when the United Nations supervised the country's referendum on independence.

"There was also a political discussion taking place because there was a multi-party constitution that was being drawn up, and then it was being debated, and this was going to be the new constitution of Eritrea.

"So those were the good years," Wrong highlighted.

The turning of the tides

But just a few years later, in 1998, war broke out between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the small border village of Badme.

"That was the trigger. It was a dispute over a contested area of land, but underlying that were other tensions," Wrong told DW, stressing that the economy was only one of many such tensions.

The war over who got to control Badme only ended in 2018 with the signing of a joint statement at the Eritrea–Ethiopia summit. Ethiopia's prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, decided to end the war and restore peace after coming to power.

However, that 20-year war left tens of thousands of people dead, and many fleeing the country. During the two decads, Isaias Afwerki had also become a different leader compared to how he was viewed at during the beginning of his tenure.

African security analyst Fidel Amakye Owusu told DW that Afwerki had become firmly focused on consolidating power under his leadership. "So, his 30 years [in power] have been just for himself," Owusu highlighted.

"As in whether [this time has been] good or not, we see it in the human rights abuses: There are a lot of Eritrean dissidents or people who have fled Eritrea, not because of any internal conflict but because they are escaping authoritarianism and autocracy," he further explained.

Being a journalist in Eritrea  03:20

Human rights: abuse upon abuse

Isaias created a system whereby there was no room for dissent, even severely penalizing ministers who stood up to him and criticized him.

"[The group if ministers] were known as the G-15. In fact, they were all arrested. The ones who were in Asmara were arrested. … They haven't been seen since. They've been in jail ever since. And we know that some of them have died," Wrong said, adding that ministers who had managed to escape abroad have never been able to go back to their home country.

Religious freedom has also been curtailed: Churches that were active in the country were forcibly closed overnight. As were universities, which were turned into military technical colleges.

"So, these were all areas where Isaias sort of felt uneasy because people might have stood up to him, challenged his power, his hold on the country," Wrong said.

"And more and more, you see power just focusing in his hands."

Africa's very own hermit kingdom

Analysts like Owusu say that under Isiais Afwerki's leadership, Eritrea has become the most reclusive state in Africa.

"If we are looking at Eritrea, you are looking at what North Korea means to the world. That's what Eritrea means to Africa. It is reclusive, secretive and isolated," Owusu told DW.

The strongest evidence of this can be found in the country's relationship with free speech: Press freedom under President Isaias has become non-existent, with countless media houses being closed and journalists getting arrested — to this day.

Last year, Eritrea took up the penultimate position on the RSF World Press Freedom index — one spot above North Korea.

The regime's repressive methods have also forced many young people to flee the country, driven above all by Eritrea's mandatory national service, which requires all graduates to join the army — for an unspecified period of time.

"Young people … realized that they have no future in Eritrea because of one of key policies that Afwerki has stood by for years, that is obligatory, open-ended military conscription," Wrong said.

"So if you're a young person, doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, you are expected after you finish your education to go and start training and to learn how to be a soldier."

Analysts stress that this kind of conscription has had a terrible impact on a whole generation of young Eritreans, who feel increasingly disconnected from their country.

The regime meanwhile tries to justify this continued policy by citing the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia — which officially ended five years ago.

Survivor recounts Tigray civilian massacres   03:25  

Reemerging unto the global scene

Since international sanctions against Eritrea were lifted following the 2018 peace with Ethiopia, the Eritrea president has been trying to alter his image, and the war between Ethiopia's federal forces and Tigrayan rebels offered him the perfect opportunity to pursue that endeavor.

Despite sharing its immediate border with the Tigray region, Isaias Afwerki supported the Abiy regime in its fight against Tigrayan separatists.

"[That] could have given him a clean slate, to legitimize his power or his influence in the region," Owusu said. "[Isaias] in a way came to be seen as someone who was supporting Ethiopian stability."

According to Wrong, Isaias even got to emerge "ahead of the game" after the last few turbulent years witnessed at the Horn of Africa. And he has proven his cunning in forging and deepening relationships beyond the region as well.

In 2018, Afwerki signed an agreement with Ethiopia's Abiy Ahmed to end a 20-year old conflict

Eduardo Soteras/AFP/Getty Images

Deepening ties with authoritarian allies

China and Russia remain among the only few allies that Eritrea has — something Isaias Afwerki has been building on recently with a number of foreign visits.

But according to Owusu, Isaias disposition as a totalitarian leader also means that he can only possibly attract allies like China and Russia, which also are known for using authoritarian tactics against their citizens.

"Those are going to be his natural allies. … (H)e can identify with Putin, who has left office and come back and for the foreseeable future, is likely to be in charge of Russia," Owusu told DW, highlighting that Eritrea is one of the few countries that has refused to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"And [there's] Xi Jinping, who has ended the rotational presidency that China has practiced for some time, and he's now going for a third term," Owusu added.

Meanwhile for China, the interest may be mutual: Eritrea's location on the Red Sea — one of the world's key shipping corridors with access to both to the Suez Canal and Europe to the north and the Indian Ocean to the southeast — excites China, as the country continues to expand its influence across Africa.

"A strong China-Eritrea relationship is not only in line with the common and long-term interests of both countries but also for maintaining regional peace," Xi said during Isais' state visit to the country earlier this month.

No succession plan

Even after 30 years in power, there is no talk of succession plans for Isaias; in fact, despite being 77 years old, it rather looks like he's just getting started: Owusu believes that he will continue to hang on to power for a long time: "Afwerki is not going anywhere. There is no clear succession plan in Eritrea," he told DW.

Wrong meanwhile stressed that this firm grip on power "is doing his own population a lot of damage," and that by "hanging on and failing to share power, [Isaias] failing to open up the economy," effectively keeping Eritrea as isolated as ever.

She also underscored the fact that Eritrea's presidnet is "the man who has centralized power in his own hands."

"I think he's going to be there to stay," Wrong added, recalling that all coup attempts against the autocrat leader in the past have been crushed.

Isaias Afwerki has given Eritrea its independence — a legacy that many still rightfully credit him with. However, in his belief that Eritrean society therefore owes him, Isaias is increasingly finding him is as much isolation as the country he created.

Mo Ibrahim: We must help Sudan 'before the fire spreads'  26:06

Isaac Kaledzi Freelance reporter based in Accra, Ghana.@isaackaledzi

Carbon emissions from transport still rising



Martin Kuebler

DW
10 hours ago

With more people on the move, carbon dioxide emissions from transport are increasing each year. To meet climate goals, the sector needs to slash its dependency on fossil fuels.

Despite efforts to make train travel more attractive, electrify airplanes and take the fossil fuels out of cars and transport trucks clogging city streets around the world, carbon dioxide emissions from the global transport sector aren't falling fast enough.

Even with current pledges and action to reduce emissions from transport, CO2 levels linked to transportation are expected to keeping rising over the next decade, said a new report released by the International Transport Forum (ITF) on Wednesday.

Without more ambitious goals and rapid deployment of new technologies, carbon emissions are only projected to be 3% lower than 2019 levels by 2050.

"The challenge is deploying technologies and implementing policies to sufficiently and quickly shift transport to more sustainable modes, to offset what we see as rapidly increasing demand for travel," said Matteo Craglia, a transport analyst at the ITF. "This is particularly the case in emerging economies, which are expected to increase travel demand very significantly."

The ITF, a global transport think tank within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, has projected that, as the world population grows and society becomes increasingly globalized, global passenger demand will rise 79% by 2050. Freight demand is expected to roughly double.

Passenger demand — measured by the transport of one person over a kilometer — is predicted to more than triple in sub-Saharan Africa and more than double in Southeast Asia.

These estimates take into account the lifestyle shift forced by COVID that has seen more teleworking and online shopping in certain parts of society. Although the ITF report stressed that shift should not be overlooked by policymakers as a chance to further the "green transition."

Transport responsible for 20% of annual CO2 emissions

Craglia told DW that the "system-wide change" across all sectors, from electricity generation to transport to manufacturing, is more challenging than anything the global economy has ever faced in the past, especially when considering regional differences.

"Not all countries are similarly placed to be able to decarbonize or have the governance to be able to push forward needed reforms and policies to help accelerate decarbonization," he said, highlighting the gap between high and low-income countries.

Electric vehicle sales have increased in the developed world and China in recent years

Torsten Sukrow/SULUPRESS.DE/picture alliance

To have any hope of meeting the Paris climate goals of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said total transport emissions will need to drop to 80% below 2015 levels by 2050. The transport sector — road, rail, shipping and aviation — is responsible for more than 20% of annual CO2 emissions, with passenger cars making up two-fifths of that.

Though the scale of change seems daunting, Craglia is confident that private vehicles are well on the way to making the switch and becoming cost competitive, citing the increase in electric vehicles sales in the developed world and China. The ITF report said that based on existing policy plans, zero-emission vehicles "should make up one-quarter of the global passenger car fleet by 2035."

"The business cases are making sense, and now it's just the case of deploying the infrastructure," he said. That includes the necessary green energy electricity grids and charging stations, especially high-power chargers for heavy-duty trucks, which emit a significant share of freight emissions around the world.

Shipping: An industry's slow boat to change 06:22

Aviation and shipping, however — which contribute more than a fifth of annual transport emissions — remain a major undertaking.

"The technologies to decarbonize them are still at an early stage of deployment, still often in [research and development]," said Craglia.

Craglia mentioned as examples research into low-carbon fuels for shipping and low-carbon, high-energy density fuels for aviation, like biofuels made from agricultural waste, algae and used cooking oil. Here, he emphasized the importance of other market-based measures to support development in these areas, such as carbon pricing.

Shifting demand to sustainable travel

Technology won't be the only way to cut carbon emissions from transport, said Craglia. Changing peoples' habits and encouraging a shift to more sustainable options will also be key, he said. That will be important in established transport networks and, especially, in fast-growing urban areas which have yet to build significant transport infrastructure in Africa and Asia. Sustainable options include public transport, ride-sharing, walking, cycling and scooters.

"Helping emerging economies to move to more sustainable transport systems with a higher reliance on shared transport modes and active mobility is particularly important," he said. "[These are] some of the low hanging fruits that really deserve policymakers' attention."

Why do we build cities around cars?   07:25

Policymakers will have a chance to exchange their ideas from May 24 to May 26 at the ITF summit, an annual forum for decision-makers and experts to discuss transport and climate policy at the global level.

This year's event, in Leipzig, eastern Germany, will host around 50 transport ministers, deputies and other officials from around the world. Organizers also aim to make transport one of the key issues at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai later this year, as nations review and renew their climate promises.

Craglia said the last few years have seen "a stepping up of policy ambition," pointing out US efforts to boost zero-emission transport with last year's Inflation Reduction Act and EU plans to phase out internal combustion engines by 2035. And he expects that movement to continue in other regions, both with passenger and freight travel.

"The challenge is that yet more ambition is necessary, in all countries across the world," he said. "And that has to accelerate very quickly if we are to meet the targets of the Paris climate accord."

Edited by: Jennifer Collins

Faithful idols

Shahzad Sharjeel

Published May 24, 2023 

THESE days some people go about introducing themselves as ‘thought leaders’. This claim is neither determined nor tested by the number of followers they may have; it is completely self-assessed but inflicted upon others.

According to the New York Times, there is a monthly coming together of university professors and TikTokers who were fired and banned because of their ‘views’. They are playfully called the ‘cancelled club’.

Post-May 9, it is dangerous to bring up anything even remotely related to the security establishment, be it something as hard as a tank or as soft as a trouser without raising eyebrows, but let’s ask anyway whether the tank people are facing competition over who wears the pants in the household. Or should the PTI be considered a ‘cancelled club’ henceforth?

Spiritual and religious symbols and relics generally come about organically and their sanctification doesn’t usually require coercive enforcement. Though places of worship, shrines, and mausoleums are not immune to ‘capture’ by profiteers like hereditary spiritual lineages and clergy, their origins are rooted in love, reverence and certain socio-emotional and economic service delivery.

National symbols like anthems and flags; the elevation of personalities to national heroes, and ideologues’ status, and the appropriation of literary/philosophical oeuvres as national ideology require much narrative-building, propagation and enforcement.

Their deification is seldom left to voluntary adherence and disrespect to them is declared a cognisable offence. The state builds these symbols and narratives and erects monuments to direct and control the population’s loyalty, energy and emotions, in keeping with the ruling junta’s worldview and agenda.

A traditional lot of religious-spiritual and cultural symbols and edifices are used as raw material for state-sponsored idol-making and are dragged into the fray of power play where no permanent friend or foe exists.

The state builds narratives in keeping with the ruling junta’s view.

In the jostling for power and ideological space, the contenders attack the soft targets first; blowing up girls’ schools has the same legal consequence, if at all, as causing damage to any public property. Attacking hard targets like national monuments and security installations poses a different level of difficulty and supposedly far dire consequences.


The attackers’ collective identity, their past services as proxies, and future value as cannon fodder determine the punitive actions against them. A Taliban spokesman can ‘escape’ captivity, but Baloch nationalists or PTM experience no such lapses or inefficiency.

Imagine the response had the attack on the corps commander’s house (Jinnah House) been located elsewhere, ie, heaven forbid in Quetta. What if instead of GHQ, the cantonment at Pannu Aqil, Sindh was attacked? Restraint and sangfroid would be the last thing on the platoon’s mind.

The nonchalant reaction of the security establishment and ‘misled brethren’ mantra by religious-political parties in the face of countless attacks on schools and bazaars, plus the nonstop appeasement through a series of peace agreements with militants eventually led to the precedent-setting attack on GHQ in Pindi in 2009 and the 2011 Mehran Base attack in Karachi.

The state-led shrinkage of space for plurality, plus the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ militants approach espoused brazen attacks on Muslim as well as Christian, Hindu and other minorities’ places of worship. Attacks on Rehman Baba’s grave, Data Darbar and the Qalandar’s mazar were the harbingers of what happened on May 9.

The wrangling over the legal system to bring the culprits to book, and any selective justice across the uniformed and the civilian lot will only erode whatever little remains of national institutions. Reprieves under local compulsions or foreign pressure will only confirm the state’s discrimination among citizens; the children of the lesser components of the federation will feel further alienated.

How come May 9 is already referred to as a ‘black day’ but the days when Liaquat Ali and Benazir Bhutto were assassinated, or the APS massacre occurred are not? Many monuments were dismantled throughout the former USSR after communism’s retr­eat was marked by the pulling down of the Berlin Wall.

Whose victory does May 9 herald? Both animate and inanimate idol-making factories are sometimes located abroad. BJP had to turn to a Chinese factory to at least partially bronze cast Sardar Patel’s record-setting statue erected in Gujarat. At home, we may just rely on foreign design and money; the rest can be manufactured at factories in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Akora Khattak, etc.

The cycle of

(carved, worshipped, broken) shall continue.

The writer is a poet. His latest publication is a collection of satire essays titled Rindana.
shahzadsharjeel1@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2023

G20 meet begins in India held Kashmir amid boycott

Tariq Naqash 

DAWN 

Published May 23, 2023 

MUZAFFARABAD: Activists of Pasban-i-Hurriyat, a Kashmiri refugee organisation, stage a protest demonstration against the holding of G20 meeting in India-held Kashmir, on Monday.—AFP

• Pakistan rejects India’s attempt to convince world occupied territory is its undisputed part
• China, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia stay away from event
• Rallies condemn Delhi’s controversial move

MUZAFFARABAD / SRINAGAR: In sheer violation of international laws and United Nations Security Council resolutions, a G20 meeting got under way in India-held Kashmir on Monday with at least three member countries boycotting it while several western states preferring to send their India-based diplomats instead of allowing del­egates from their respe­ctive capitals to the event in the disputed region.

G20 member China, which is locked in a military standoff with India along their mostly un-demarcated border in the Ladakh region, refused to attend the tourism working group meeting, and no government delegations are expected from Turkiye or Saudi Arabia.

Beijing also stayed away from earlier G20 mee­tings in Ladakh and in Arunachal Pradesh, which it says are part of Tibet.

Last week, the UN special rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes, said New Delhi was seeking to use the G20 meeting to “portray an international seal of approval” on a situation that “should be decried and condemned”.

India rejected the rapporteur’s comments and Pakistan denounced Ind­ian “arrogance” for violating international law by holding the huddle in the disputed territory where, according to the UN resolutions, a plebiscite must be held giving the Kashmiri people the right to self-determination.

In Muzaffarabad, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that holding a G20 meeting in occupied Srinagar was a sheer violation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir.

Addressing a special session of the AJK Legislative Assembly, he said India was deviously trying to convince the world that occupied Jammu and Kashmir was its undisputed part.

“But history remembers that it was India that took the Jammu and Kashmir dispute to the Security Council as a dispute yet to be resolved. There, the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir was internationally recognised, and it was decided that the final disposition of the state shall be made through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices,” he recalled.

By holding a G20 meeting in the disputed territory under tight security, India wants to show “normalcy and peace” are returning to the region after New Delhi revoked its limited autonomy in 2019 and took direct control, imposing an extended lockdown. Since then Indian authorities have criminalised dissent, curbed media freedoms and limited public protests in a drastic curtailment of civil liberties.

Both China and Pakistan have condemned holding the event in the disputed territory.

Since the lockdown, the decade-old uprising has largely been crushed — although young Kashmiri men continue to take up arms against Indian occupation — and the annual death toll, once in the thousands, has been on a downward trend, with 253 fatalities last year.

Police said last week that security had been beefed up to avoid any chance of attack during the three-day event, and on Monday soldiers and armoured vehicles were deployed at multiple locations in Srinagar, capital of India-held Kashmir.

Hundreds have been detained in police stations and thousands, including shopkeepers, have rece­ived calls from officials warning against any “signs of protest or trouble”, a senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Attempt to hoodwink assailed

Foreign Minister Bhutto-Zardari lambasted India for likening the legitimate struggle for right to self-determination of Kashmiri people with terrorism to hoodwink the international community, but said the diatribe against Kashmiris and Pakistan would never help New Delhi evade the long overdue just solution to the festering issue in accordance with the UNSC resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiris.

“India is trying to use the terrorism bogeyman to mask the indigenous Kashmiri struggle for the legitimate right to self-determination. It uses the same bogey to blame Pakistan and justify its brutal repression of the Kashmiri people, in what is a complete travesty of justice,” he said, in his address to a special session of the AJK Legislative Assembly.

“There is a clear distinction between terrorism and a people’s genuine quest for freedom. Terrorism cannot be and should not be used as an excuse to deny the Kashmiri people their fundamental rights and their fundamental freedoms,” he added.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s address coincided with the G20 meeting in occupied Srinagar.

People in AJK expressed their disapproval of the event by staging rallies and demonstrations and observing symbolic strikes.

The foreign minister emphasised that the Kashmir dispute was the unfinished agenda of the partition of the Sub-continent, when the rights and aspirations of the Kashmiri people were trampled upon by machinations and intrigue.

He regretted that the Kashmiri people had been denied their inalienable right despite the lapse of more than seven decades.

“Today, I ask the world if a country can be allowed to renege on its solemn commitments to the United Nations, break its own promises and blatantly violate international law just because they want to?”

Taking strong exception to India’s August 5, 2019, move, he said it had opened a new chapter of oppression to accomplish Delhi’s nefarious plan to convert Kashmiris into a dispossessed and disempowered minority in their own land.

“Pakistan rejects these unilateral and illegal steps outright. How can the world be a silent bystander when a large country usurps the rights guaranteed by the Security Council, and instead uses brute force to suppress those rights?” he asked. “India is misusing its position as chair of the G20,” he said.

While paying tribute to the valiant Kashmiri people, he reassured them of Pakistan’s unstinted moral, diplomatic and political support till they achieved their legitimate rights.

Men, women attend rallies

Earlier, hundreds of men, women and schoolchildren paraded through the streets in different parts of the liberated territory to condemn the holding of G20 huddle in Srinagar.

A big rally was held in Muzaffarabad under the aegis of an organisation of post-1989 migrants from occupied Kashmir, with its participants carrying black flags and banners inscribed with slogans against the G20 meeting.

One banner was full of praise for China for its categorical boycott of the Srinagar meeting.

Sixty-year-old Malka Jan, who had migrated to AJK in 1992, said she was yearning for a just settlement of Kashmir issue so that she could return to her native area.

“Instead of participating in meetings under the aegis of oppressor India, world powers should take concrete steps to establish peace and justice in our motherland by granting us our right to self-determination,” she said.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2023

India’s G20 tourism meet in held Kashmir begins without China, Saudi Arabia and others

AFP | Dawn.com 

Published May 22, 2023 


Delegates attend the G20 tourism meeting in Srinagar on May 22, 2023. — AFP

A G20 tourism meeting began on Monday under tight security in occupied Kashmir as New Delhi seeks to project an image of normalcy in a region wracked for decades by violence.

Both China and Pakistan have condemned holding the event in the occupied valley.

India wants to show that what officials call “normalcy and peace” are returning to the region after New Dehli revoked its limited autonomy and took direct control in 2019, imposing an extended lockdown.

Since then, Kashmiri fighters have largely been crushed — although young men continue to take up arms — and the annual death toll, once in the thousands, has been on a downward trend, with 253 fatalities last year.

Now India is promoting tourism in the region, with its spectacular mountain scenery and signs at the airport declaring it “paradise on earth”. More than a million Indian citizens visited last year.

But dissent has been criminalised, media freedoms curbed and public protests limited, in what critics say is a drastic curtailment of civil liberties by New Delhi.

Police said last week that security had been beefed up “to avoid any chance of an attack during the G20” meeting, and on Monday soldiers and armoured vehicles were deployed at multiple locations in Srinagar.

But many checkpoints — wrapped in metal mesh and barbed wire — had been dismantled overnight, and some paramilitary police stood hidden behind G20 advertising panels in what appeared to be an effort to minimise the security forces’ visibility.

The People’s Anti-Fascist Front, a new rebel group that emerged in occupied Kashmir after 2019, issued a statement condemning the event and threatening to “deploy suicide bombers”.

“Today, tomorrow or day after. It will come,” it said.

Bilawal bashes India for ‘show of arrogance’

Meanwhile, in an address to the AJK Legislative Assembly today, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari bashed India for its “display of arrogance”.

“India’s continued denial of the rights of the Kashmiri people is a wrongful and illegal act,” he said, stressing that “no amount of diplomatic duplicity or Indian state-perpetrated terror can change this fact”.

He lamented that occupied Kashmir had become an “open prison” today where Muslims were being forced to breathe fear. “This mayhem continues under draconian laws allowing continuity to the Indian occupying forces.”

Bilawal highlighted that New Delhi’s “wretched, systematic and perpetual barbarism not just violates international law but it makes a mockery of the fundamental human rights”.

“How can the world be a bystander when a large country usurps the rights guaranteed by the security council?” the minister asked.

He reiterated that holding the G20 moot in occupied Kashmir was yet another “show of arrogance” on India’s part. “How can India possibly claim that normalcy has returned to occupied Kashmir?

“I wish to remind the Indian leaders that unilateral steps in held Kashmir will neither accord democracy to their occupation nor suppress the true occupation of the Kashmiri people,” he asserted.

“If India wants to be a superpower, then it needs to act like a superpower,” Bilawal said.

He added that his presence in AJK proved the intergenerational support and commitment to the Kashmir cause. “We want good relations with our neighbours, including India, but good relations cannot be achieved through a disputed resolution.”
‘Terrorist-infested places’

The three-day gathering will take place at a sprawling, well-guarded venue on the shores of Dal Lake in Srinagar.

Two Indian government ministers are attending, but several Western nations are sending only locally-based diplomatic staff.

G20 member China, which has its own territorial disputes with India, has refused to attend, and no delegations are expected from Turkiye or Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, questions have been raised over the choice of location.

“Does the Modi government think that tourism can be promoted in closed conference halls next to a scenic lake being patrolled by marine commandos, with surveillance drones overhead?” columnist Bharat Bhushan wrote in the Deccan Herald newspaper.

To visit occupied Kashmir, foreign journalists require special permission, which is not normally forthcoming, though it has been granted for the event.

The permits are valid only for coverage of the G20 meeting itself and limited to the city of Srinagar. Holders are required not to “propagate anti-India narratives”, nor visit “terrorist-infested places without prior permission”.

India holds the G20 presidency for 2023, and has planned more than 100 meetings across the country.

It is locked in a military standoff with China along their mostly undemarcated border in the Ladakh region.

Beijing also claims the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh in full as part of Tibet, and it considers Kashmir a “disputed territory”.

“China firmly opposes holding any form of G20 meeting in disputed territory and will not attend such meetings,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters last week, after Beijing also stayed away from events in both Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

Last week, the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Fernand de Varennes, said New Delhi was seeking to use the G20 meeting to “portray an international seal of approval” on a situation that “should be decried and condemned”. India rejected the comments.

Residents have chafed under the stepped-up security measures.

Hundreds have been detained in police stations and thousands, including shopkeepers, have received calls from officials warning against any “signs of protest or trouble”, a senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Fascism’s backers

Mahir Ali 

Published May 24, 2023

ON the eve of the G7 summit in Japan last week, there was a sudden outburst of hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth in Australia. Just hours after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had confirmed that Joe Biden would be visiting the country for the chiefly anti-China Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) summit in Sydney, the US president announced that, sorry, he wouldn’t be able to make it.

Biden said he would be obliged to rush back from Japan to deal with his country’s debt crisis. Several commentators lamented that his absence would play into China’s narrative that the US is insufficiently engaged with the Indo-Pacific to remain the regional hegemon. Others reassured the public that America remains dedicated to its Asia-Pacific role.

Japan’s prime minister followed Biden’s example, but the fourth component of the Quad decided to carry on. Narendra Modi arrived in Australia late on Monday, and last night was scheduled to address a 20,000-strong crowd — mostly of Indian origin — at the Olympic stadium. There has been resistance, including posters in Sydney — mostly torn down — calling for a citizen’s arrest of the ‘Hindu terrorist Modi’.

The terrorist charge largely harks back to the anti-Muslim pogroms in Ahmedabad in 2002 when Modi, who was then the chief minister of Gujarat, decided that the state’s police and firefighters would do nothing to protect the victims. At least 2,000 people were murdered. Modi predictably denied all responsibility for the violence.

Modi’s Western friends turn a blind eye to India’s trajectory.

Back then, the international response was at least superficially more robust than it is today. Modi was effectively banned from travelling to the US or the European Union. However, the West rapidly backtracked as soon as he became prime minister. If anyone had any illusions that he would modify the extremism honed since his youth as a devotee of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), they have steadily been divested of this vain hope.

And if anyone were to wonder why a neofascist pundit might be hailed as the leader of the world’s largest democracy, just look at the new Cold War — which, much like the old one, primarily targets Russia and China. Whatever its motivations may be, the latter appears to be the only power that is keen to end the appalling war in Ukraine. The West is bent upon fuelling the flames. India has refused to disengage from Russia, a source of cut-price oil and gas, but can hardly be categorised any longer as non-aligned. Far more alarming is the West’s consequent insouciance — or cultivated ignorance — about the Modi regime’s proto-fascistic tendencies.

It is not shy of demonstrating them. A report published earlier this year by the North America-based Justice for All organisation, titled The Nazification of India, compares what has been happening with the circumstances in Germany in the 1930s, and many of the parallels are striking — not least that Adolf Hitler struck influential people in Western democracies as an attractive proposition. Until it was too late.

India’s course towards what would have been anathema to Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohandas Gandhi was set two decades ago when the then chief minister of Gujarat state facilitated a pogrom that claimed at least 2,000 lives in the aftermath of the Godhra tragedy. A recent documentary about the events of 2002 inspired a backlash against the BBC that still carries on. Sadly, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s point of view in the documentary consists of idiotic interventions by Swapan Dasgupta, an old Oxford acquaintance who drifted seamlessly from the left to the far right — a depressing but hardly uncommon phenomenon.

Much more worrying is the Hin­d­u­tva jihad against the domestic media, supplemented by ef­­forts to rewrite history — as well as other subjects — by trying to erase, in­­ter alia, the Mughal past and Darwinian evolutionary theory. There are numerous other instances of the absurdities being drummed into innocent minds at the behest of the RSS — founded almost a century ago, with its still evident Nazi tendencies honed in the 1930s — and its various offshoots.

With all its hypocritical gibberish about ‘values’, the West sees nothing wrong with India’s trajectory, and its blinkered leaders will trot along to hug Modi when the G20 beckons in September. If India’s drift towards fascism is to be halted, the resistance will have to come from within. The Indian trend is similar to what has been seen elsewhere — not least Pakistan, but also the US, Brazil, Hungary and Israel — of political leaders acquiring a cult following among populations disillusioned by the centrist business-as-usual. That’s understandable but the consequences can be atrocious. One can only hope that the majority of Indians will see the light before it’s too late. The election result in Karnataka was somewhat encouraging, but there’s a long way to go.

mahir.dawn@gmail.com
Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2023

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/05/kashmir-is-indias-gaza-g20-delegates.html