Iraq’s Green Zone: seat of power, heart of protests

• AFP
•  September 23, 2022
•  

Iraq’s high-security Green Zone in the capital Baghdad is defended by soldiers, but protesters have been able to breach its walls

Baghdad – In the heart of Iraq’s capital lies Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, which last month saw angry protesters storm its perimeter — the latest in nearly two decades of assaults on the seat of power.

Inside the heavily guarded compound, which spans 10 square kilometres (6.2 square miles), are the Iraqi parliament, the United States and British embassies, the prime minister’s official residence and military headquarters.

The defensive zone was created by US troops after the 2003 invasion to topple dictator Saddam Hussein — and since then it has been subjected to repeated turmoil.

Last month, nearly 24 hours of fighting erupted when loyalists to powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr breached the security barriers and occupied buildings after their leader said he would resign from politics.

“They wanted to tear down the walls,” said Major General Tahseen al-Khafaji, military spokesman for Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, recalling the August 29 violence.

The ensuing battles — the deadliest in nearly three years — followed months of disagreements between Sadr and rival Shiite factions, as the political deadlock has left the country without a new government, prime minister or president since elections in October last year.

Sadr loyalists clashed with soldiers and the Hashed al-Shaabi, former Iran-backed paramilitaries integrated into the regular army. More than 30 Sadr supporters were killed, and hundreds of people were injured.

But the military did their job, Khafaji insisted, describing how troops beat back protesters with water cannon.

“I think we have proved our professionalism,” he said. “Our response was a success.”

– ‘Really scared’ –

Control of the zone was handed over to Iraqi forces in 2009, providing a secure space for the seat of government, including when vast swathes of the country was occupied by the Islamic State group from 2014 to its eventual territorial defeat in 2017.

Military checkpoints surround the compound, and concrete blast walls — three-metre (nearly 10 feet) tall concrete blocks known as “T-walls” — defend the official buildings.

A special badge, awarded only after a thorough background check, is required to go inside the perimeter.

But when the Sadrists stormed the Green Zone in August, they had no issue overcoming over the perimeter.

They even toppled some of the blast walls using ropes pulled by pick-up trucks.

Two workers at one of the Green Zone’s embassies, who asked not to be named, remember the events of August 29.

It was 24 hours of “Boom! Boom!” one of the embassy employees told AFP, adding that they spent much of the time hiding under a bed.

“The battles were two kilometres away, but we were really scared,” the worker said. “And it wasn’t the first time.”

The Green Zone today is a collection of isolated plots linked by large avenues.

Some of them are decorated with portraits of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, the Revolutionary Guards commander killed in a 2020 US strike in Iraq.

It has become a regular target for protesters.

Followers of the populist Sadr had already breached the Green Zone twice before that, occupying parliament in late July and staging a month-long sit-in.

– ‘Democracy isn’t ready-made’ –

Sadr’s bloc emerged from elections last October as the biggest in the legislature, with 73 seats, but far short of a majority.

Since then, the country has been mired in political deadlock that has left Iraq without a new government, president or prime minister.

Following the violence in late August, Iraq’s top executive powers and major parties agreed to work towards holding early elections in a bid to chart an exit from an 11-month-long political paralysis, but the meeting was boycotted by Sadr.

Abu Turab Shams Ali, 54, president of a resident association who lives in the zone, says there will be no quick fix.

“Democracy comes from the people, from the education they receive,” he said. “It takes time. Democracy isn’t ready-made.”

Many diplomatic missions have opted for locations outside of the Green Zone, including the French, German and Spanish mission.

One Western diplomat, who asked not to be named, said it was a simple equation.

“We’re not in the Green Zone, therefore we’re not as protected,” he said. “But we’re also targeted less.”

Climate activists block superyacht marina in French Riviera

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 12:49 EST 0 MINS READ 

AUTHOR: AFP

Activists blocked a quayside on the French Riviera on Saturday to protest against what they called ultra-rich "climate criminals".. The group blocked the port for an hour as they unfurled banners reading "Disarm climate criminals" and "Don't let the ultra-rich destroy the planet".

Activists blocked a quayside on the French Riviera on Saturday to protest against what they called ultra-rich "climate criminals".

Twenty protesters from the pressure group Attac closed off the gate leading to a quay at Antibes port where many superyachts are moored, an AFP correspondent saw.

Port Vauban Antibes on southern France's Mediterranean coast, has 1,500 berths, including 18 for superyachts, which can reach up to 160 metres (524 feet) in length.

The group blocked the port for an hour as they unfurled banners reading "Disarm climate criminals" and "Don't let the ultra-rich destroy the planet".

"It is unacceptable to ask for efforts from those in a precarious situation when we do nothing against the ultra-rich," said Raphael Pradeau, spokesperson for Attac.

The activists have launched a campaign against the owners of private jets and superyachts, including a petition which they say has already been signed by 10,000 people.

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© Agence France-Presse

Indigenous activists raise climate awareness on sidelines of UNGA

• AFP
•  September 24, 2022

Environment Week is a series of independent events involving Indigenous peoples from around the world that is being held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly

New York – Uyukar Domingo Peas, an Ecuadorian Indigenous activist, says if there are still “reservoirs of natural resources” in the world, it is “because we have protected them for thousands of years.” 

Peas has been fighting against the destruction of forests for three decades and regrets that states and companies continue to destroy the Amazon despite the urgency of the climate crisis.

“The Amazon must remain intact for the youth and the rest of humanity,” the 58-year-old from the Achuar nation told AFP, lamenting that governments and corporations have not sought the ancestral knowledge of Indigenous peoples to save the planet.

Peas was speaking at Environment Week, a series of independent events involving Indigenous peoples from around the world that is being held in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

An estimated 80 percent of the world’s tropical forests — about 800 million hectares — are in Indigenous territories, according to organizations that defend them. 

Many Indigenous people blame capitalism for the destruction of their forests. 

“We want companies and banks to stop investing for money and invest for the common good” because “climate change harms every human being,” he said. 

He is calling for funds to implement the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative, which aims to protect 35 million hectares in the Amazon rainforest of Peru and Ecuador, and is home to 30 Indigenous communities with around 600,000 people.

He hopes that the nine countries that share the Amazon — often referred to as the lungs of the planet, spread over nearly 300 million hectares with three million inhabitants from more than 500 peoples — will also join this initiative.

– ‘Bioeconomy’ – 

Peas advocates for a new “bioeconomy,” with new sources of energy, tourism programs and other initiatives to ensure that Indigenous youth do not migrate away from their homelands. 

“We want to take care of the jungle and live off the jungle,” he said. 

Compared to the large sums needed for the oil and mining projects that pollute their lands and rivers, Peas’ initiative requires just $19 million over 10 years. 

“Mother Earth does not expect us to save her, she expects us to respect her,” said Nemonte Nenquimo, the Ecuadorian chief of the Waorani nation. 

– ‘Where does the money go?’- 

The Covid pandemic and “the collective hysteria of oil-dependent countries” following the conflict in Ukraine have dealt a severe blow to the Indigenous climate struggle, said Levi Sucre, of the Bribri community, an Indigenous people living between Costa Rica and Panama. 

With priorities set on economic recovery, Indigenous rights “have regressed alarmingly in the last two, three years,” he told AFP. 

He said that the most alarming case is that of Brazil, where the government “deliberately ignores the Indigenous peoples.” 

Indigenous peoples’ representatives complain that the resources agreed upon at climate meetings barely ever reached them. 

Monica Kristiani Ndoen, a young Indonesian Indigenous leader, said that “the challenge is to access climate funds directly.” 

“The question is where does the money go?” 

For the Venezuelan Gregorio Diaz Mirabal, general coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), the problem is that “we are not present in the meetings where the decisions are taken.”

“If you want us to continue to provide oxygen, rivers, forests, drinking water, respect our house,” he said. 

Kenya's Ruto calls for 'concerted efforts across continents' to fight climate change

Issued on: 23/09/2022 -

01:04 Video by: FRANCE 24

Newly elected Kenyan President William Ruto gave his maiden speech at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday highlighting the conventional threats to humanity posed by regional armed conflicts, global food crisis as well as the unprecedented devastating disruptions due to Covid-19. Ruto called for a collective effort to fight climate change as the Horn of Africa stares at the worst drought in 40 years.

Nigeria education strike: Lecturers defy court order to return to work


Issued on: 23/09/2022 

01:38

The lecturers are demanding higher pay and several negotiations with the government have broken down, which forced President Buhari's administration to approach the National Industrial Court. Strikes over working conditions by public university lecturers are common in Nigeria and often go on for months. The latest action started in February.

ANTI VAX HEGEMONY

Secret vaccination help Zimbabwe mothers protect children from measles

Issued on: 23/09/2022 -

01:42

More than 700 children have died from measles in Zimbabwe in an outbreak first reported in April. Many were unvaccinated because of religious reasons, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said.

Historic UK castle at risk from climate change: heritage body

Tintagel Castle in Cornwall was visited by Britain's new king Charles III and his wife Camilla

 in 2020.

The cliff-top ruins of an ancient castle long claimed as the birthplace of the legendary King Arthur is "at risk of being lost for ever" as climate change quickens the pace of coastal erosion, a UK heritage body warned on Friday.

Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, southwest England, attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year, fuelled by the legend of King Arthur and his fabled Round Table.

But the structure is now among six important historic coastal sites at risk "as a result of accelerating coastal erosion", charity English Heritage said.

"Erosion along England's coastline is nothing new but the rate of land loss that we have seen over the past few years is alarming, and some scenarios indicate that sea levels could increase by up to a metre (3.2 feet) by the end of the century," said English Heritage Estates director Rob Woodside.

In the last century sea levels rose by 14 centimetres along the southern coast of England, according to the body.

"Climate change is accelerating the issues faced by our coastal heritage. Rising sea levels and more regular storms pose a real risk to the future of many of our sites," Woodside added.

The legend of the ancient English king and his Round Table of knights has inspired numerous filmmakers over the years.

Although researchers have never established if King Arthur was a real person or a mythical hero, some historians believe there was an important English leader called Arthur around the fifth century, although not necessarily a king.

English Heritage said parts of the cliff directly in front of Tintagel Castle's visitor centre recently fell into the sea due to coastal erosion.

This and other damage caused by storms last winter alone would cost £40,000 ($44,000) to repair, the charity said. A MERE PITTANCE

"Protecting our coastal heritage from the effects of erosion and flooding is one of the greatest challenges English Heritage has ever faced," it said.

"Sea levels are rising at their fastest rate for more than 2,700 years and are predicted to surge by up to a metre before the end of the 21st century."

Other sites in southwest England listed by English Heritage as being at risk include Hurst Castle and Calshot Castle, both built by the 16th century king Henry VIII in Hampshire, southern England.

English Heritage said it was launching a public appeal via its website to raise funds to shore up the sites and make them less vulnerable to coastal erosion.

"If these coastal properties are to survive the coming decades, we will need to strengthen their walls and build sea defences to protect them," it added.

Archaeologists carry out first dig at tomb linked to King Arthur

---

© 2022 AFP

For first time in 233 years, Native American, Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian all in U.S. House


From left to right: Reps. Kaialiʻi Kahele, Mary Peltola and Sharice Davids.

Natalie Neysa Alund
Wed, September 21, 2022 

Last month, Mary Peltola made history when she became first Native Alaskan and woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the Last Frontier State.

When Peltola was sworn in last week, Congress reached a milestone: for the first time in more than two centuries, the House has full U.S. Indigenous representation, according to Rep. Kaiali'i Kahele of Hawaii.

"It has taken 233 years for the U.S. Congress to be fully represented by this country’s indigenous peoples," Kahele, the second Native Hawaiian to represent his home state, posted on Twitter alongside a photograph of him, Peltola, and Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. "Tonight, a Native American, a Native Alaskan & a Native Hawaiian are sitting members of the people’s House."

In August, Peltola, a member of the Yup'ik people, won Alaska's special congressional election and will finish the remaining term of the late Rep. Don Young, who died in March.

Peltola, former Gov. Sarah Palin and Nick Begich ran both in a special election to fill out the rest of Young's term and will run in the general election for a new term.

After her Sept. 13, swearing in, there are now six Indigenous Americans who are representatives in the House.

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Who is Peltola?

Peltola is 49 and was born in Anchorage, Alaska.

She attended the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Alaska. She also established the lobbying firm Sattler Strategies.

She served as the executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, and a councilwoman in Bethel, a small city in Alaska, from 2011-2013.

U.S. House candidate Democrat Mary Peltola answers questions from a reporter prior to a forum for U.S. House candidates at the Alaska Oil and Gas Association annual conference at the Dena'ina Convention Center in Anchorage, Alaska, on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. Peltola won the special election for Alaska’s only U.S. House seat on Wednesday, besting a field that included Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was once governor. 

(Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP) ORG XMIT: AKAND601More
'A historic moment'

"It's a historic moment," Lani Teves, an associate professor at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa told NPR.

The representation, she told the outlet, can have a big impact on the political power of Indigenous communities across the U.S.

"People need representation and young people need to see people that look like themselves, that come from their communities," Teves said.

U.S. House candidate Democrat Mary Peltola celebrates after results are announced for the special election in which she won the race for Alaska's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska.

She also told the outlet that having members who come from Indigenous communities can mean issues important to those communities, including climate change and violence against Native women may get more attention in Congress.

Contributing: Merdie Nzanga

Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In adding Peltola, Congress has full U.S. Indigenous representation

Lebanon mourns victims of migrant shipwreck

Ahmed, Wissam's brother, said he had decided to leave Lebanon because he "couldn't afford his daily expenses, or the cost of enrolling his children in school".

A woman in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli holds a photograph of her son who drowned a day earlier in a boat carrying migrants that sank off the Syrian coast - Fathi AL-MASRI
by Jana Dhaybi

September 23, 2022 — Tripoli (Lebanon) (AFP)

Mustafa Misto embarked on a sea voyage from crisis-hit Lebanon seeking a better life for his family, but he drowned in a shipwreck alongside his children and dozens of others, relatives said Friday.

"His dream was not to obtain another nationality, but simply to enrol his children in a school and feed them," his relative Jihad al-Maneh said.

Lebanon, which since 2019 has been mired in a financial crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the worst in modern times, has become a launchpad for illegal migration.

Its desperate citizens are joining Syrian and Palestinian refugees clamouring to leave the country, where more than 80 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

Misto, a taxi driver, and his three children were among at least 73 people who died when the boat they boarded in northern Lebanon sank off Syria's coast on Thursday, in one of the deadliest such tragedies from the eastern Mediterranean nation.

His wife was among the 20 people who survived, but with more than 100 people believed to have been aboard the vessel, many are still missing.

In the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon's poorest, anger mixed with grief as relatives received news of the death of their loved ones.

In Bab al-Raml, one of Tripoli's most impoverished districts, Misto's bereaved relatives gathered in a family home.

According to Maneh, Misto had paid between $3,000 to $5,000 for each member of his family who joined him on the boat.

He had sold his car and borrowed money from his brothers to pay the smuggler's fees, Maneh said

.


Misto's mother even sold her jewelry to help her son cover the costs.

- 'Dead or alive'? -

Misto's family was not informed of the boat's intended destination.

They have repeatedly tried to reach out to caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati, who hails from Tripoli, but they have yet to receive a reply.

"Where are the authorities? We don't know if our children are dead or alive," Maneh said.

One of Misto's childhood friends, Omar, was among the mourners who visited the family to pay his condolences.

"Poverty and dire living conditions made Mustafa leave Lebanon," Omar told AFP.

He said that Misto had been determined on securing a better life.

"I will leave even if I die: either I succeed or I die," he had kept repeating before he left, Omar said.

The Talawi family, which hails from the northern region of Akkar but lives in Tripoli, were among the first to bury their dead.

The body of two children were returned to them by Syria.

Early on Friday morning, they buried two sisters, aged five and nine, who were among the victims of the shipwreck. Their mother and two brothers are still missing.

Their father, Wissam al-Talawi, who works in a cleaning company, survived the tragedy, and was receiving treatment in hospital.

Ahmed, Wissam's brother, said he had decided to leave Lebanon because he "couldn't afford his daily expenses, or the cost of enrolling his children in school".

Fear grips undocumented foreign workers in South Africa

Claire DOYEN
Fri, September 23, 2022


Zimbabwean domestic migrant worker Precious clocked in late for work, launched into her duties for a white South African family as if nothing happened, yet hours earlier she had been arrested for being in the country without papers.

South Africa -- the continent's most industrialised country -- is buckling under a wave of illegal migration triggered by economic woes in its neighbours. Many come from Malawi, Lesotho, but the majority are from Zimbabwe.

Lately police have scaled up crime-busting stop-and-search operations, including weeding out undocumented migrants.

One such early morning blitz was launched this week in Springs, a district at the eastern end of the largest city of Johannesburg.


Several dozen police officers mounted a check point on a narrow road, stopped cars and buses, meticulously searching boots and ordering occupants out, demanding identification documents.

Grabbed by the waist or arm, one-by-one they were led to the side of the road to a queue stretching out in front of immigration officers.


"These are weekly operations," provincial police chief Elias Mawela, told AFP. "When it's confirmed they are illegal in the country they'll be taken in and later on they'll be taken to court... and back to their countries of origin".

But in some raids, police officers solicit bribes to release the migrants.

The day Precious was arrested at a minibus taxi rank in downtown Johannesburg, she was one of 30 people bundled into a police van.

She was asked to pay 1,000 rands on the spot -- equivalent to her weekly wages -- or risk being taken to the police station for eventual deportation.

Precious immediately texted her employer warning she would be late and frantically called friends and associates to raise the bribe money.
- 'Scared' -

"I was scared," said the single mother of two.

"It's not good being a foreigner these days," said Precious, 36, folding a pair a velvet pants she was ironing.


Official data lists an estimated 3.8 million migrants in South Africa, a figure considered a gross understatement.

Foreigners, especially those from the rest of Africa, are targets of xenophobic resentment and accused of taking jobs in a country where at least one in every three people is unemployed.

Zimbabwe has a long history of immigration into South Africa, dating back to the 19th century when the gold rush saw mining companies hiring labour across the borders.

In 2009 Pretoria granted four-year work visas to around 250,000 Zimbabweans fleeing economic and political turmoil at home. The permits have since then been repeatedly renewed, but authorities have vowed they will not be extended beyond June 2023.

But many more Zimbabweans have continued to pour into South Africa illegally through porous borders in search of greener pastures.

The huge influx of foreigners has irked many South Africans who accuse them of taking their jobs and placing undue pressure on public facilities.

Recently an anti-immigration group of activists picketed outside a public hospital west of Pretoria -- blocking patients they suspected were foreigners, accusing them of putting the public health sector under strain.

Their action followed a viral video of provincial health minister berating a Zimbabwean patient, accusing her of seeking free treatment at a government hospital at the expense of South Africans.

Domestic worker Precious recalls giving birth to her now 11-year-old son at a public hospital in Zimbabwe.

"There is nothing there, not even water to wash the baby when he's born. No painkillers," she said.

Asked about some of his bribe-taking officers in a country dogged with high crime levels and endemic corruption, police commissioner Mawela urged anyone who is asked for a bribe "to bring it to our attention so we can investigate it".

"We can't just take it lightly these accusations".

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