Taking Brunt of Lockdown, Migrant Workers Fuel China’s Latest Protests

Although security forces have reasserted control in many cities, poor workers could help maintain the pushback against Beijing’s strict Covid restrictions.

By Amy Chang Chien, Chris Buckley, Muyi Xiao, Joy Dong and Olivia Wang
Nov. 30, 2022


Workers and residents rebelling against a pandemic lockdown in an industrial district of southern China clashed with riot police in white hazmat suits twice this week, the latest flare-up of anger against “zero Covid” restrictions that have spawned protests across the country.

The Communist Party under Xi Jinping has been confronting China’s widest and boldest surge of protest in decades, as large numbers gathered over the weekend to denounce Mr. Xi’s stringent, exhausting and increasingly difficult efforts to eliminate Covid cases.

Although security forces reasserted control over neighborhoods and university campuses this week, the tumult on Monday and Tuesday nights on the edge of Guangzhou suggested that poor, frustrated communities of migrant workers may keep pushing back against the “zero Covid” measures, especially the weekslong shutdowns of neighborhoods.

Crowds of hundreds in the city’s Houjiao neighborhood clashed with the police, following days of angry confrontations there.

Some threw glass bottles at lines of anti-riot officers. Some tore down barriers meant to lock in the crowded warrens of shops and cheap apartments. They pushed over a makeshift hut used for Covid tests, while hundreds of onlookers roared in approval. Members of the crowd also overturned a small van.

Understand the Protests in ChinaThe Toll of ‘Zero Covid’: The protests against China’s strict pandemic policy come after President Xi Jinping’s unbending approach hurt businesses and strangled growth.
At a ‘Tipping Point’: For the protesters, public dissent was unimaginable until days ago. Our columnist asked young people what led them to take the risk.

The Economic Fallout: The growing unrest in the world’s biggest manufacturing nation is injecting a new element of uncertainty and instability into the global economy.

Reasserting Control: The Communist Party is drawing on its decades-old policy of repression and surveillance — along with some new tactics — to quash the protests.

Video showed hundreds of police officers pouring into the area, shouting and banging their clubs on their riot shields and subduing residents. Several men, apparently handcuffed, were led away by the officers, another video showed.

“The working people mostly feel that the lockdown has gone on too long; it’s been over a month,” said a resident of the neighborhood who joined the nighttime protest. He asked to be identified only by his surname, Zhang, citing fear of punishment for describing the confrontation.

Despite Beijing’s promises that “zero Covid” restrictions would be more selectively enforced, Mr. Zhang said, local officials — under intense pressure to keep infection rates down — went to extremes in shutting down the area, while providing inadequate food to penned-in residents.

“Some people don’t even have things like cooking noodles and have to eat instant noodles day in, day out,” he said. “A lot of places haven’t had supplies for ages, and finally that’s why this happened. It wasn’t just everyone kicking up a fuss.”

The Haizhu District of Guangzhou, where the clashes took place, is a center of garment production, and tens of thousands of migrant workers from rural China make a living in small factories, shops and diners that cram its streets.

But there and across much of China, Covid restrictions on work and travel have added to a wider economic slowdown and pushed many small businesses into closure or bankruptcy, leaving migrant workers struggling to make a living.

“People don’t have anywhere to vent their frustration,” said a local resident surnamed Hu, a construction business owner whose work has been suspended. He witnessed the arrival of hundreds of riot police officers near his home on Tuesday evening and felt sympathetic to the protesting workers. “The police were not protecting the people. They were scaring the people.”

A rise in Covid cases in Guangzhou over the past several weeks led officials to impose lockdowns across several districts that are home to a total of about six million people, according to government announcements.

In the Haizhu District in the city’s south, some 1.8 million residents were ordered to stay at home and undergo daily coronavirus testing, and local authorities erected barricades around neighborhoods where Covid cases were recorded. Two weeks ago, residents of one neighborhood marched to protest the lack of food and other necessities while held at home for weeks, people there told The New York Times at the time.

On Wednesday, multiple districts in Guangzhou, including Haizhu, lifted Covid prevention measures in some areas that are not listed as “high risk.” Close contacts, who had been sent to centralized quarantine facilities, are allowed to do quarantine at home if they meet a certain standard, according to a government notice.

China’s leadership has remained silent about the protests of the past week, although the unrest has drawn global attention, including comments from the White House, and unsettled international investors. When called and asked about the nights of clashes, a Haizhu District official and a police officer on Wednesday both promptly hung up, each saying, “I don’t know about it.”


Amy Chang Chien covers news in mainland China and Taiwan. She is based in Taipei. @amy_changchien


Chris Buckley is chief China correspondent and has lived in China for most of the past 30 years after growing up in Sydney, Australia. Before joining The Times in 2012, he was a correspondent in Beijing for Reuters. @ChuBailiang


Muyi Xiao is reporter on the Visual Investigations team, which combines traditional reporting with advanced digital forensics. She has been covering China for the past decade. @muyixiao


Joy Dong covers news in mainland China and Hong Kong. She is based in Hong Kong. @JoyDongHK

A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 1, 2022, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Migrant Workers Active In Protests of Lockdowns .


Inside China’s ‘Zero-Covid’ Fortress
The strict policy has been a drag on China’s economy, travel and everyday life.

What is “zero Covid”? Here’s what to know about this harsh policy that was born out of Beijing’s effort to control the initial Covid outbreak in the city of Wuhan.


China stands out in the harshness of its Covid measures. A Times video analysis examines the lengths officials will go to eliminate infections.


Empty streets, shuttered shops, long lines at testing sites. Here’s what China’s unyielding approach on Covid looks like.


For Vivian Wang, a Times correspondent, the most unsettling part of life in “zero-Covid” China is the utter arbitrariness. “You’re under lockdown, until someone decides you’re not,” she writes from Shenzhen.


Companies and investors are wondering when the government will drop its strict restrictions. But Xi Jinping, China’s leader, appears intent on sticking with them.


The Communist Party’s use of propaganda has been on overdrive in the “zero-Covid” era, with some citizens saying the language has bordered on nonsense.

OPINION

Three Ways to End Gender-based Violence

By Jacqui Stevenson, Jessica Zimerman and Diego Antoni

Testing new approaches for preventing gender-based violence to galvanize more and new partners and resources. Credit: UN Women

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 30 2022 (IPS) - How are the multiple shocks and crises the world is facing changing how we respond to gender-based violence? Almost three years after the COVID-19 pandemic triggered high levels of violence against women and girls, the recent Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum 2022 (SVRI) shed some light on the best ways forward.

Bringing together over 1,000 researchers, practitioners, policymakers and activists in Cancún, Mexico, the forum highlighted new research on what works to stop and address one of the most widespread violations of human rights.

While some participants candidly – and bravely – shared that their initiatives did not have the intended impact, many discussed efforts that transformed lives, in big and small ways.

After 5 days of the forum one thing was clear; a lack of evidence is not what is standing in the way of achieving a better future. It is a lack of opportunities and the will to apply that evidence.

Among the many shared findings, UNDP presented its own evidence.

Since 2018, the global project on Ending Gender-based Violence and Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a partnership between UNDP and the Republic of Korea, and in collaboration with United Nations University International Institute for Global Health, has tested new approaches for preventing and addressing gender-based violence, to galvanize more and new partners, resources, and support to move from rhetoric to action.

Three key strategies have emerged.

1. We need to integrate

Gender-based violence (GBV) intersects with all areas of sustainable development. That means that every development initiative provides a chance to address the causes of violence and to transform harmful social norms that not only put women disproportionately at risk for violence, but also limit progress.

Bringing together diverse partners to jointly incorporate efforts to end GBV into “non-GBV” programmes has been central to the Ending GBV and Achieving the SDGs project. Pilots in Indonesia, Peru and the Republic of Moldova integrated a GBV lens into local development planning.

The results were local action plans that focused on needs and solutions identified by the communities themselves, including evidence-based GBV prevention programming such as the Common Elements Treatment Approach, which has been proven to reduce violence along with risk factors such as alcohol abuse. This approach is growing, opening up new and more spaces for this work.

2. We need to elevate

While evidence is crucial to creating change, the work doesn’t stop there. We also need to elevate this evidence to policy makers and to support them in putting the findings into action. In our global project, we went about this in different ways.

In Peru women’s rights advocates and the local government worked together to draft a local action plan to address drivers of violence in the community of Villa El Salvador (VES). By working collaboratively and building trust between key players, the project was able to take a more holistic approach and to create stronger alliances to boost its sustainability and impacts.

In particular, the local action plan was informed by cost analysis research that showed that this approach would pay for itself if it prevented violence for only 0.6 percent of the 80,000-plus women in VES who are at risk for violence every year.

Since the pilot’s launch, more than 15 other local governments have expressed interest in the model, and it has already been replicated in three.

3. We need to finance

Less than 1 percent of bilateral official development assistance (ODA) and philanthropic funding is given to prevent and address GBV, despite the fact that roughly a third of women have experienced physical or sexual violence.

The “Imperative to Invest” study, funded by the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative and presented at the SVRI Forum, shows just what can be achieved with a US$500 million investment. The study highlights that Spotlight’s efforts will have prevented 21 million women and girls from experiencing violence by 2025.

The Ending GBV and Achieving the SDGs project also finds positive results when financing local plans. Through pilot initiatives in Peru, Moldova and Indonesia, it was possible to mobilize funds when different municipal governments take ownership of participatory planning processes at an early stage.

The local level is a key, yet an often overlooked, entry point to identifying community needs and, through participatory, multi-sectoral partnerships, to translate them into funded solutions.

In Moldova the regional government of Gagauzia assigned funds to create the region’s first safe space, with the support of the community.

The SVRI Forum was living proof that a better future is possible. It offered profound moments for thoughtful exchange, learning with partners and peers, and deepened our own reflections on the outcomes and next steps for this global project.

As we approach the final countdown to meeting the SDGs, including SDG5.2 on eliminating violence against women and girls, it has never been more urgent to take all this evidence and turn it into action against gender-based violence. Let’s act today.

Jacqui Stevenson is Research Consultant UNU International Institute for Global Health, Jessica Zimerman is Project Specialist, Gender-based Violence, UNDP, and Diego Antoni is Policy Specialist Gender, Governance and Recovery, UNDP. 

Scottish independence: is a break-up of the UK eventually possible?


OPINION

JONATHAN FENTON-HARVEY

The UK Supreme Court’s ruling against a future referendum might appear to have snuffed out hopes of Scottish independence. But there may be hope yet for the Scots.

It is difficult to avoid the idea that drastic shifts have occurred within the United Kingdom in recent months. From the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who ascended over a stable and unified UK, to the resignation of Brexit architect Boris Johnson and short-lived Prime Minister Liz Truss’ dangerous gamble to implement libertarian economics. More recently, the debate over the continuation of the UK as we know it has renewed.

On November 23, the UK’s Supreme Court ruled that Scotland cannot hold a referendum without England’s approval, dashing Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to have another independence referendum in October 2023.

While an obvious blow to Scottish independence hopes, does this really mean the Scottish nationalists will sit by and accept the result? After all, the Scottish National Party (SNP) has struggled greatly for the last eight years to push for independence, and its support for this has spearheaded the party into power in Scotland.

Fruitless independence bids

For centuries, Scotland has played an important role as a member of the United Kingdom. After centuries of conflict between England and Scotland, both countries and Wales formed the Kingdom of Great Britain per the 1707 Act of Union and later absorbed Ireland into the United Kingdom.

Scotland has one of the most devolved parliamentary systems in the world due to ongoing legislation, which began in 1999 under Tony Blair’s auspices. As a result, the Scottish parliament can legislate on many policies, including health, education, tax, housing, and justice. On the other hand, matters like foreign policy, defence, and most economic issues are reserved for the Westminster parliament in London.

Still, there was that dramatic referendum in 2014 in which the ‘no’ vote towards independence won by 55 percent against the 45 percent ‘yes’ vote. Despite the referendum’s failure, the pro-independence SNP has held most constituencies in Scotland since the 2015 general election, showing support for Scottish independence was far from not extinguished.

Yet since the ‘no’ vote, we’ve had Brexit, which has cut off member states like Scotland and Northern Ireland from the European Union (EU) and presented more political challenges, such as the Irish border question. Scotland has also found itself opposed to many of England’s policies, including the Iraq War, the financial crisis, and the Conservative Party’s austerity and public spending cuts.

Advocates of Scottish independence suggest that the country could thrive economically outside the UK, particularly if it could regain its EU membership – which most Scottish voters supported. However, detractors have warned that Scotland’s bid for the EU may take many years to complete, leading to economic vulnerability and the loss of vital financial support from London.

London is also reticent to let Scotland go. Firstly, there are economic reasons, as Scotland holds nearly seven percent of the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) and could also claim the North Sea oil reserves off the Scottish coast. Secondly, the concept of the United Kingdom has boosted London’s soft power globally, and the break-up of the union might hinder this. Finally, in terms of defence, not only does Scotland contribute to the British army, but London’s nuclear deterrent is also located in Scotland – over which London would want to retain the status quo amid rising tensions with Russia.

Is there another chance?

With the law on its side, London can keep saying no to a referendum. Yet this could portray a narrative in Scotland that London is not on their side. Moreover, considering the Supreme Court’s ruling, the SNP may use this to further support their allegation, with some critics already claiming that London is “undemocratic”.

Indeed, SNP leader Keith Brown claimed that London is “scared” of allowing a second referendum as it knows it will lose. Such claims will aim to rally support behind Scottish independence, as Sturgeon said she would treat the next election as a de-facto referendum – echoing Catalonia’s claims for independence from Spain in 2017.

Previous Prime Minister Liz Truss displayed contempt for the SNP and Scottish independence claims in August, saying that the best way to deal with Nicola Sturgeon is “ignore her” and called her an “attention seeker”. Yet, while the more pragmatic and incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to do more to help “level up” and offer benefits to the Scottish people, provocative attitudes like Truss’ are more likely to linger in the minds and rally Scottish independence advocates.

Perhaps the most tangible chance the SNP has for gaining independence is by joining a coalition government. With the party sweeping up parliamentary seats in Westminster since 2015, it has been dubbed as a potential ally of the opposition Labour Party, prompting suggestions of a coalition government. After all, Labour was previously the most popular party in Scotland until the SNP’s rise.

Although the Labour party is dominating opinion polls under current leader Keir Starmer and is tipped to win a landslide majority victory in the next election, failure to do so could push him to seek a coalition government, with the SNP being a potential ally. In such an event, the SNP could hold the negotiating cards and say it would only form a coalition should the Labour Party promise another independence referendum.

While the chances of this happening are slim, and with Scottish opinion polls currently not showing clear support for independence, a referendum victory is unlikely to happen soon.

Future of the union

Although the SNP’s ambitions seem bleak, this does not mean the UK won’t face future challenges to the union.

Attitudes can undoubtedly change. In Northern Ireland, polls show support for unification with the Republic of Ireland has risen in recent years. The unresolved Northern Ireland border issue has exacerbated this, as the Republic of Ireland is an EU member while Northern Ireland isn’t due to its UK membership. Observers note that a sense of feeling “British” has waned in Northern Ireland in the past ten years. Like Scotland, most of Northern Ireland’s population had voted to remain in the EU, just as its neighbour had.

Moreover, a 2021 census showed that more Northern Irish people identify as Catholic instead of Protestant for the first time. This division had defined tensions with its traditionally Catholic neighbour, the Republic of Ireland, and suggests further separation from the traditionally protestant UK. And with growing youth support for unification with Ireland, it is not surprising that a growing number of Northern Irish people see Irish unity as likely within the next 20 years.

In Wales, even though the government is historically closer to London and the odds of independence are even more remote, the leading Welsh party – Plaid Cymru – has also argued for positive possibilities of secession from the UK. And should pro-independence voices grow louder in Scotland and Northern Ireland, similar voices may continue in Wales.

Given these shifts we have seen in the past decade – from Brexit, a Conservative government that is diverging from its member states, and Queen Elizabeth II’s passing – successive UK governments are not only tasked with securing a place for Britain in the world, but also ensuring that the United Kingdom as we know it can survive.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT World.

Source: TRT World

AUTHOR
Jonathan Fenton-Harvey
@jfentonharvey
Jonathan Fenton-Harvey is a journalist and researcher, who focuses on political issues and humanitarian crises in the Middle East and North Africa.

University of Alberta

Two 'alien' minerals never before seen on Earth are discovered in a 14-ton meteorite that crashed in Somalia two years ago

The minerals were identified in the ninth-largest meteorite found on Earth

The two minerals were discovered in a single two-ounce slice of the space rock

They are named elaliite and elkinstantonite, but no other details have been released

Researchers are optimistic that more new minerals could be uncovered if they take more samples from the meteorite

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 29 November 2022

At least two new minerals never seen on Earth have been identified within a 14-ton meteorite found in Somalia two years ago.

The minerals were found in a single two-ounce slice of the space rock, which was sent to the University of Alberta, believed to have discovered a potential third new mineral.

The two newly discovered minerals have been named elaliite and elkinstantonite, but no other details have been released.

The meteorite, dubbed 'El Ali,' is classified as an 'Iron, IAB complex,' which is one of over 350 in that particular category - but it is the ninth largest meteorite ever found.

Two new minerals never seen on Earth were identified in a single two-ounce slice of meteorite

The meteorite was named in honor of the town where it was found, which is the name also given to the first mineral.

The second was named after Lindy Elkins-Tanton, director manager of Arizona State University's Interplanetary Initiative and principal investigator of NASA's upcoming Psyche mission.

Elkins-Tanton plans to send a probe to probe the mineral-rich asteroid for evidence of how our solar system's planets formed.

Chris Herd, a professor in the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences and curator of the University of Alberta's Meteorite Collection, said in a statement: 'Whenever you find a new mineral, it means that the actual geological conditions, the chemistry of the rock, was different than what's been found before.

'That's what makes this exciting: In this particular meteorite, you have two officially described minerals that are new to science.'

Herd is also optimistic that more new minerals could be uncovered if researchers take more samples from the meteorite.

The 14-ton meteorite (pictured) crashed into Semolina in 2020. It is the ninth largest ever found on Earth

The meteorite landed outside the town and was first discovered by camel herders who alerted experts.

The space rock is about twice as dense as a regular Earth rock and is so magnetic - nothing like this has been observed on our planet.

As Herd was analyzing the meteorite to classify it, he saw something that caught his attention.

He contacted Andrew Locock, head of the U of A's Electron Microprobe Laboratory, who has been involved in other new mineral descriptions, including Heamanite-(Ce).

'The very first day he did some analyses, he said, 'You've got at least two new minerals in there,' says Herd. 'That was phenomenal.

'Most of the time it takes a lot more work than that to say there's a new mineral.'

Locock's rapid identification was possible because the two minerals had been synthetically created before by French researchers in the 1980s.

Herd notes that 'it does not get to be called a mineral until it is found in nature.'

Researchers are optimistic that more new minerals could be uncovered if they take more samples from the meteorite

Researchers continue to examine the minerals to determine what they can tell us about the conditions in the meteorite when it formed.

'That's my expertise — how you tease out the geologic processes and the geologic history of the asteroid this rock was once part of,' said Herd.

'I never thought I'd be involved in describing brand new minerals just by virtue of working on a meteorite.'

While the future of the meteorite remains uncertain, Herd said the researchers have received news that it appears to have been moved to China in search of a potential buyer.

It remains to be seen whether additional samples will be available for scientific purposes.

More countries are moving towards authoritarianism - report

By Héloise Urvoy • Updated: 30/11/2022 

 The AP. 

Democracy on the decline worldwide - 

More countries are moving towards authoritarianism as democracy erodes worldwide, according to a new report by an intergovernmental organisation, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).

The Stockholm-based watchdog said half of the world’s democracies are in a state of decline amid worsening civil liberties and rule of law, while already authoritarian governments are becoming more oppressive.

It said this decline comes as elected leaders face unprecedented challenges ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the cost of living crises, a looming global recession, and climate change.

The 'Global State of Democracy 2022' report showed that the number of countries with the most severe democratic erosion is at its peak and includes established democracies like India and the United States.

And there are troubling patterns even in countries performing at middle to high levels of democratic standards.

Threats to democracy

The decline of global democracy includes the undermining of credible election results, restrictions on online freedoms and rights, youth disillusionment with political parties, as well as out-of-touch leaders, intractable corruption, and the rise of extreme right parties that has polarised politics.

The International IDEA’s Secretary General, Kevin Casas-Zamora, said however that Europe is doingwell in general, while countries like Slovenia and Moldova have made remarkable progress recently.

However, democratic standards in Europe have tended to plateau, meaning progress is still possible but is not always achieved. This can lead to some disillusioned citizens seeking other ways to fulfil their expectations:

"That dissatisfaction manifests itself in very strident political attitudes that often scapegoat parts of the population, and embrace particularly the message of far-right parties," he said.

Casas-Zamora encouraged defending things that embody democratic societies, such as the free press, fair elections, and checks and balances, and argued that societies need to continue to expand and renew democracy, through initiatives like citizens’ assemblies or youth activism.

"Never has there been such an urgency for democracies to respond, to show their citizens that they can forge new, innovative social contracts that bind people together rather than divide them," he said.

Some bright spots

Despite the negative picture, there are many examples of resilience across the world where democracy is absent or under threat.

Ukrainians have been resisting Russia’s war of aggression, Iranian women are fighting against the country’s theocratic dictatorship, and in China, citizens are protesting against the government’s zero COVID policy.

The report insists vigilance must prevail, as the global state of democracy remains fragile and in many countries, democratic performance is no better than it was in 1990.

Jailed Belarus opposition figure ‘in intensive care’

Father says prominent Lukashenko critic was well when he last visited her in October

Matt Mathers


Human rights abuses in Belarus

Belarus’s jailed opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova is in a serious but stable condition in intensive care following surgery, her allies say.

Ms Kolesnikova, 40, was sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2021 for her role in protests against the authoritarian regime of Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko.

She was taken to hospital earlier this week but doctors did not share her diagnosis or any other details about the surgery.

Ms Kolesnikova’s Twitter account, run by her opposition colleagues, said she had been hospitalised and undergone surgery on 28 November.

Opposition politician Viktor Babariko made similar comments in a Telegram message, saying she had been transferred to a hospital war in the southeastern city of Gomel.

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Her father, Alexander, also said she had been taken to hospital, adding that she looked energetic and cheerful when he last visited her in prison in October.

Ms Kolesnikova, an outspoken critic of Mr Lukashenko, was jailed for her role in mass protests that broke out in Belarus in 2020 following the widely discredited reelection of Mr Lukashenko.

She said the charges against her were trumped up. The opposition said the election results were falsified and that the real winner was Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.

Mr Babariko’s telegram channel said Kolesnikova was set to be moved out of the intensive care unit to a surgery ward on Wednesday.

Imprisoned Belarus activist taken to hospital emergency unit

Ms Kolesnikova, an outspoken critic of Mr Lukashenko, was jailed for her role in mass protests that broke out in Belarus in 2020 following the widely discredited reelection of Mr Lukashenko
(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

"Our dear Masha (Maria), we all hope that you are going to be okay!" exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya wrote on Telegram, describing the initial report of her hospitalisation as "awful news".

In the protests against the election result, many protesters were beaten.

Others, like Ms Tikhanovskaya, were forced into exile as the Belarus president waged a brutal crackdown on those opposed to his rule.

Mr Lukashenko, who has been called Europe’s last dictator, has been in power since 1994. His security forces tries to deport Ms Kolesnikova to Ukraine. after kidnapping her in Minsk.

But she refused to leave the country and was famously pictured tearing up her passport at the border and climbing out of the window of the car.

 THE MULTITUDE

Globally one in eight people today are migrants: WHO

“Human right to health is a right that extends to all people everywhere, especially refugees and migrants.”

• 28 November, 2022

A Rohingya refugee child peeps from his makeshift shanty at Kutupalong refugees camp,

 in Ukhia on October 6, 2020. (Photo by MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

By: Melvin Samuel

Globally one in eight or over one billion people today are migrants with 281 million international migrants and many million individuals who are stateless, according to World Health Organization (WHO).

Climate change, rising inequality, conflicts, trade, and population growth are accelerating these trends, WHO said in a statement. The health workforce has a vital role in providing for the health rights and needs of refugees and migrants. To support countries and territories to build professional competence and capacity to adequately address refugee and migrant health issues, WHO is organizing the third edition of its annual Global School on Refugee and Migrant Health in Dhaka, Bangladesh with a focus on capacity-building.

“Migration and displacement can have deep and long-lasting impacts on physical and mental health and well-being, and cultural and linguistic differences, financial barriers, stigma and discrimination can all hamper access to health services for refugees and migrants,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

“Health workers have a crucial role in helping to overcome these barriers. The WHO Global School on Refugee and Migrant Health is a valuable resource for building the capacity of health workers to better serve refugees and migrants.”

While not all refugees and migrants are vulnerable, they are often due to an array of determinants, from xenophobia and discrimination to poor living, housing, and working conditions, and inadequate access to health services that are people-centred and sensitive to refugee and migrant health needs.

“Human right to health is a right that extends to all people everywhere, especially refugees and migrants. Because to be truly respected, protected and fulfilled, a right must be fully enjoyed by the most marginalized and vulnerable – those at risk of or who are already being left behind, which often includes people on the move,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia addressing the participants.

Held in a different location each year, the Global School aims to leverage the learnings and experiences of countries in close collaboration with WHO and governments.

This year over 7.1 million Bangladeshis were displaced by climate change a number that could reach 13.3 million by 2050.

UK

Suella Braverman's migrants speech like Rivers of Blood, says senior Met officer

Neil Basu says language used by Home Secretary reminded him of Enoch Powell and the abuse his parents suffered in the 60s

By Martin Evans, 

CRIME EDITOR

29 November 2022

 • THE TELEGRAPH

Suella Braverman was criticised for telling the Telegraph her dream was to see migrants deported to Rwanda

CREDIT: PA

Britain’s most senior Asian police officer has compared Suella Braverman’s comments on immigration to Enoch Powell’s infamous Rivers of Blood speech.

Neil Basu, the UK’s former head of counter terrorism, described the Home Secretary’s choice of language on the asylum issue as “inexplicable” and “horrific”.

Ms Braverman came in for criticism when she told the Telegraph she dreamed of sending migrants to Rwanda and also when she described the current crisis as an “invasion”

In an interview ahead of his retirement from the Metropolitan Police, Mr Basu, whose father came to the UK from India in the 1960s, said such language reminded him of the racism his family endured following Powell’s inflammatory speech.

He told Channel 4 News: “I find some of the commentary coming out of the Home Office inexplicable. It is unbelievable to hear a succession of very powerful politicians who look like this, talking in language that my father would have remembered from the 1968. It's horrific.”

LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE SAYS BRAVERMAN

THE CANNONS OF CHRISTIANITY 

Mr Basu - whose father was a doctor who moved to Britain from Calcutta, and whose mother was a nurse from Wales - grew up in Stafford where he was regularly the target of racist abuse.

He described how after Powell’s speech, his parents had stones thrown at them by racists as they walked down the street.

He said: “I was born in 1968. The ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech happened on the constituency next to where my parents lived and made their life hell. A mixed-race couple walking through the streets in the 1960s. Stoned.”

He added: “I speak about race because I know something about race because I'm a 54-year-old mixed race man.”

Ms Braverman, whose own parents came to Britain in the 1960s from Mauritius and Kenya, has been criticised for her rhetoric on the migrant crisis, but has expressed her determination to tackle the issue.

On Tuesday, a Home Office spokesman said the Home Secretary was very clear about the need to “manage our borders effectively and have an asylum system that works for those in genuine need”.

Mr Basu said he was happy to describe himself as 'woke'

 CREDIT: PA


Mr Basu was the country’s head of counter terrorism policing between 2018 and 2021 but missed out on becoming Commissioner and also on being appointed head of the National Crime Agency after clashing with No 10 and Priti Patel, the former home secretary.

One flashpoint came when Mr Basu urged the Home Office to consider relaxing the rules on positive discrimination in order to increase the number of black and ethnic minority police officers.

Mr Basu suggested his progress in policing had been blocked by the Government because he had been outspoken on issues of race and diversity.

But he said he was proud to describe himself as “woke”, defining it as "being alert to issues of racial and social injustice".

“If that is the definition of woke, I'll wear it as a bumper sticker every day of the week. And by the way, every serving police officer, let alone a chief constable, better believe that too." he said.

“We serve all of the public without fear or favour, regardless of who they look like, not just the people we like.”

Mr Basu said diversity and inclusion were two of the most important things for modern policing adding that there should be “zero tolerance” of prejudice in the Met.

Asked whether thousands of police officers needed to be rooted out of the Met, Mr Basu replied: “Yes, I think that's correct. If you're a police officer watching this and you are - like the vast majority of police officers - a good person who wants to do the right thing, then you have to be the person who doesn't walk by when you see that kind of behaviour.”

Mutiny or Revolution? 

The Consequences of Events in India in 1857

Florian Blackburn

37 Pages

India,

Indian Mutiny,

Consequences of the Indian Mutiny 1857,

Histotiography of events in India 1857

The focus of this project is on both the nature and consequences, for India, of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Classic British historians have offered a clear simplistic view that events should be classed as a Mutiny. However, I focus on the debate between the Indian historians that emerged in the twentieth century. I conclude that the events of 1857 must be characterised initially as a military Mutiny, but later as a collective conservative rebellion for the protection of religion, and the rejection of British rule. I go on to discuss the short term effects, looking at the social and military reform undertaken by the British, which represents how their attitudes to the culture and native peoples of India was shifted by the uprising against British rule. This shift moves away from legislative reforms imposed from above, to focus on shifting young Indian’s attitudes gradually and naturally, through Victorian style education. Furthermore I discuss the short term reorganisation of the Indian militaries, and how the events in 1857 led to the development of a material race ideology. Lastly, I discuss how the Rebellion, and its consequences led to a national sentiment developing, which leads to the onset of the early Independence Movement.

 THE MULTITUDE

'This is just heartbreaking': People shocked at the image of three migrants discovered on ship's rudder

Abhya Adlakha
·Editor, Yahoo News Canada
Wed, November 30, 2022 

The Spanish coast guard rescued three African migrants found sitting on the rudder of the ship in the Canary Islands. SALVAMENTO MARÍTIMO via Twitter

The image of three men discovered balancing on the rudder of a ship for 11 days across the ocean from Nigeria to the Canary Islands has left people in shock.

The three men were picked up Monday by Spain's Maritime Rescue Services from the rudder of the Alithini II ship. After displaying acute symptoms of disorientation, dehydration and hypothermia, they were all taken to a hospital on the island of Gran Canaria.

Two of the stowaways have been helped and put back on a ship to be deported to Nigeria. A local government spokesperson said that the third person is still recovering in a hospital. A law enforcement spokesperson told Reuters that the law in Spain states that if a stowaway doesn’t seek asylum, they have to be sent back to the original port by whomever runs the ship.

The amount of people coming to the Canary Islands from the western region of Africa has skyrocketed over the past few years—with many undertaking similar dangerous journeys.

People reacted to the news and are left astounded that the three men were able to survive on a rudder without food or water for 11 days.

While some commented on the determination of migrants, others pointed out the horrific conditions that are forcing migrants to take such journeys.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/11/three-stowaways-survive-11-day-atlantic.html