Kemi Badenoch wins backing of hardline US presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis for her 'war on woke' in the UK as Florida governor says she is emulating what he is doing

The Florida governor met Ms Badenoch during a trip to Britain last week

Praised her for being outspoken on issues such as gender-neutral lavatories

By DAVID WILCOCK, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

,30 April 2023 | 

Florida governor and US presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis has hailed Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch for her efforts to make sure 'woke ideology' is not 'corrupting British society'.

The Florida governor met Ms Badenoch, as well as Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, during a trip to Britain as he seeks to burnish his credentials ahead of a possible run against Donald Trump to be the Republican choice in the race for the White House.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr DeSantis commended Ms Badenoch, who is also the minister for women and equalities, for being outspoken on issues such as gender-neutral lavatories and the decolonisation of school curricula.

He describes 'woke ideology' as 'a war on the truth', telling the paper: 'When institutions get infected by woke ideology, it really corrupts the institutions.

The Florida governor met Ms Badenoch, as well as Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, during a trip to Britain as he seeks to burnish his credentials ahead of a possible run against Donald Trump to be the Republican choice in the race for the White House.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr DeSantis commended Ms Badenoch, who is also the minister for women and equalities, for being outspoken on issues such as gender-neutral lavatories and the decolonisation of school curricula.

He describes 'woke ideology' as 'a war on the truth', telling the paper: 'When institutions get infected by woke ideology, it really corrupts the institutions.'

'We look at woke infiltrating schools as a problem, woke infiltrating bureaucracies as a problem and woke infiltrating corporate America as a problem.

'We say that Florida is where woke goes to die.'

During his meeting with Ms Badenoch, Mr DeSantis said she 'complimented what we are doing in Florida'.

'She committed that it is what they are trying to do in Britain.,' he said.

'I commend her and her efforts to make sure that this is not corrupting British society.'

In a post on Twitter following the meeting, Mr DeSantis's press secretary Bryan Griffin wrote: 'Today @GovRonDeSantis met with @KemiBadenoch, who has been branded by British media as the 'Anti-woke darling of the right' (a badge of honor!) Two great conservative fighters on mission.'

Earlier, the conservative firebrand and Mr Cleverly discussed ties between Britain and the US state he represents while visiting the Foreign Office.

Mr DeSantis has not announced his intention to run for the Republican nomination but is widely expected to do so.

In his interview with The Sunday Telegraph, he also addressed speculation over his potential run at the White House, telling the paper: 'I'm going to go through our legislative session, get the people's business done. I'm still in the midst of that.

'I've got about another week or so of that, and then I have the Budget and everything. I'm not going to make any decision before then.

'But the end of that time is coming, it's closer now than it was six months ago. So just stay tuned.'

Mr DeSantis hoped his first international trade mission would generate lucrative business deals and boost his foreign policy resume ahead of an expected presidential run. Instead, he faced questions about losing ground to former President Donald Trump and being taken to court by Walt Disney World.

Mr DeSantis hoped his first international trade mission would generate lucrative business deals and boost his foreign policy resume ahead of an expected presidential run. Instead, he faced questions about losing ground to former President Donald Trump and being taken to court by Walt Disney World.

The trip reflected the intensifying pressure confronting DeSantis as some of his allies grow increasingly anxious about his White House prospects. Within a few short years, he rose from relatively a relatively obscure congressman to Trump's leading Republican rival by embracing the former president's cultural grievances without the constant tumult.

But it turns out DeSantis isn't immune from drama. Facing questions this week about his standing within the GOP and his fight with Disney, he's sometimes appeared agitated, reinforcing concerns within corners of his own party about his readiness for the rigor of presidential politics.

Some in the GOP said that rather than burnish his image as a fighter, the confrontation with Disney over an anti-LGBTQ law and the theme park's right to self-governor is becoming a distraction.

'My goal would be for this spat to end. They've been our longtime partner,' said Republican state Sen. Joe Gruters, the immediate past chair of the state GOP and a Trump supporter. 'We should be focused in a positive way on helping our job creators.'

Speaking in Israel, DeSantis expressed confidence in his actions and is showing no sign of letting the Disney issue go.

'I don't think the suit has merit, I think it's political,' said DeSantis, whose political team has used the Disney fight to raise money. 'The days of putting one company on a pedestal with no accountability are over in the state of Florida.'

The fight has been going on for more than a year. It began when Disney spoke out against legislation that would prevent discussion of sexual preference and gender identity in grades K-3. DeSantis responded by accusing Disney of being 'woke' and calling lawmakers to Tallahassee to punish Disney by stripping it of a decades-old right to make development and expansion decisions on its own.

'There's a new sheriff in town,' DeSantis said last year when he announced plans to get back at Disney. And in his new book, he boasted about outsmarting the company.

But some are questioning who is outsmarting who as Disney waited until the governor was out of the country before suing him, claiming that he's retaliating against the state's largest private employer for simply speaking an opinion.

Democratic state Sen. Linda Stewart, whose district is near Disney, said she understands that DeSantis made big headlines when he first stood up to Disney, and that it rallied his core supporters. But the longer the feud drags on, the more it could backfire.

'I'm betting on Disney. They probably have more money and lawyers than the state of Florida,' Stewart said. 'As he progresses on, people are getting mad at him. The citizens of Florida do not like him going after family-friendly, economic development for the community. People don't want government involved in business.'

Stewart says that DeSantis's anti-Disney comments are getting more petty. The governor this month pointed out that the Disney district the state took over controls a lot of undeveloped land. He told reporters that the land could go to a prison, a competing theme park or some other project.

'Really? A prison? A nuclear plant? A new theme park? I mean, what kind of rationale is he putting out there?' Stewart said. 'It doesn't even make any sense.'

DeSantis is eyeing a presidential campaign launch once the state legislature wraps up its session next month. As that moment nears, public familiarity with the governor is improving. Just 24% of U.S. adults say they don't know enough to rate him in the April AP-NORC poll, compared with 30% in October and 42% in July 2021.

Still, that increased familiarity has translated almost entirely to increased negative views toward DeSantis: 45% have an unfavorable view of him, up slightly from 40% in October and 30% in July 2021.

Overall favorable ratings for DeSantis have largely remained the same: 31% say they have a favorable opinion of him in the new poll. Unfavorable ratings, however, are concentrated among Democrats.

Among Republicans, 63% now say they have a favorable view of DeSantis, a tick up from 57% in October. The shift is concentrated among moderate and liberal Republicans, who have grown more familiar with him.

With that shift, favorable ratings of DeSantis (63%) and Trump (68%) are largely similar among Republicans. Trump's unfavorable ratings are slightly higher than DeSantis' (30% vs 20%), while more say they are unfamiliar with DeSantis than Trump. Overall, about half of Republicans say they have a favorable view of both men.

There's an open question of whether the continuation of the Disney fight will dent DeSantis' political standing. Now that it's in court, the lawsuit will keep popping up in headlines if DeSantis eventually enters the presidential race.

DeSantis' own U.S. senator and predecessor as governor, Republican Rick Scott, told Fox Business that he agrees with DeSantis on the law Disney spoke out against, but he said he hopes the feud will die down.

'What I hope is that cooler heads are going to prevail here,' Scott said Wednesday. 'We've got to figure out how to solve this problem, how to make sure Disney continues to grow in our state, how Disney continues to invest and add more jobs.'

MEN'S World Chess title heads into rapid-play tiebreak

AFP
Sat, April 29, 2023 

Since the 14-game series played under classical rules ended tied, the match goes to tiebreak games with tighter time control

The World Chess Championship will be decided in a rapid-play tiebreak Sunday, after Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi and China's Ding Liren remained deadlocked following 14 games played under classical rules.

Both players finished on seven points after the first-stage games played in the Kazakh capital Astana.

Each won three, while the other eight ended in a draw.

For the tiebreak stage of the match, also in Astana, the contenders will play an initial set of four games in which they have only 25 minutes to make their moves, plus an additional 10 seconds for each move played.

After drawing lots Saturday, Ding will play white in the first game, giving him the advantage of the first move.

- Breaking the deadlock -

The winner will succeed Norway's Magnus Carlsen as world chess champion, after he chose not to defend his title and stepped aside after a 10-year reign, during which he dominated the game.

But Carlsen, considered one of the best players of all time, will remain the world's top-rated player regardless of Sunday's outcome.

If Sunday's initial tiebreaker round does not end the deadlock, the time constraints will be dramatically shortened in further games.

In that case, they would be given an initial five minutes each to play -- then, if need be, just three minutes until a winner emerges.

As well as having the advantage of playing white in the first tiebreak, Ding is rated higher than Nepomniachtchi in the faster formats of the game.

But he has played very little such chess in official competitions since January 2020.

- Feeling the pressure-

Saturday's game demonstrated once again that at this level chess is as much a question of nerves as it is a battle of minds.

Both players seemed to be feeling the pressure, making uncharacteristic mistakes in their play, while failing to take full advantage of the other's errors.

Although Nepomniachtchi pushed hard to convert a slight advantage into a win, he finally had to settle for a draw in what was the longest game of the tournament: 90 moves played over more than six and a half hours.

The two-million-euro ($2.2-million) prize would have been split 60-40 between the winner and the runner-up if the match had been decided in the initial 14-game series.

Because it has reached the tiebreak stage however, the prize money will now be split 55-45.

fs/jj/kjm/lb

Tax rises fuel merchants' discontent in impoverished Gaza

AFP
Sat, April 29, 2023 

Palestinian fishermen in 2020 with fish caught in the Mediterranean Sea off Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip

Hikes in import and export tariffs imposed by the Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip since last year have fuelled discontent among merchants in the impoverished, blockaded territory.

In March, Gaza's Hamas rulers imposed new duties on the import of fruit and the export of fish.

Although the fruit levy was later reversed after traders went on strike, the seafood duty remains. Traders refusing to pay risk having their perishable goods stalled at crossing points from the enclave.

The increases are the latest in a series of new levies on goods entering and exiting the coastal territory where 2.3 million Palestinians struggle to survive.

In July 2022, Hamas imposed tax increases on 24 other items including bottled water and certain clothes, forcing traders to remove some brands from the market when shoppers could not afford the newly inflated prices.

Wassim al-Hilu, a food importer-exporter and member of Gaza's chamber of commerce, said Gazans are already saddled with taxes paid to Israel -- which collects a range of fees on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

A split between Hamas and the PA, which administers the Israeli-occupied West Bank, often leads to disputes over taxation and Hilu said the new fees are harming Gaza's "already ailing economy".

The territory has been under a crippling Israeli-led blockade since Hamas -- designated a "terrorist" entity by the United States, the European Union and Israel -- took power in 2007.

The poverty rate has reached 53 percent, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and unemployment has hit 45 percent, the International Monetary Fund said.

- Rising prices -

In October, dozens of Gazan merchants took legal action against last year's tax hikes, which were then frozen pending a court ruling.

But in supermarkets, traders have already reduced their reliance on imports pending the court decision, said Riyad Sawafiri, from the chamber of commerce.

Critical imports of bottled water, which the territory's residents depend on due to shortages of potable water, have halved as a result.

Osama Nofal, director of planning at Gaza's economy ministry, said the levies aim to encourage consumers to "support the local producer", referring to a desalination plant that makes drinking water.

Since the introduction of the tariffs on imported bottled water, bulk prices for consumers have jumped from 1.67 shekels ($0.36) per bottle to 2.17 shekels.

Baby formula is another product whose price has escalated since last year's tax increases. A pharmacist in Gaza City told AFP that for some types of formula prices went from one shekel per box to nine shekels.

Gaza-based economist Mazen al-Ajlah said the new fees are "illegal".

With Gazans already suffering from a dire economy, the administration should reduce taxes on imported raw materials and offer free electricity to factories, he said.

The latest increases prompted a two-week strike by traders, forcing a reversal to the tariffs on fruit imports.

But authorities refused to budge on the seafood tax affecting an industry that employs around 4,500 people.

The levy on fish is six shekels per kilogram (2.2 pounds) if it comes from Egypt and is then shipped on to the West Bank. For fish locally caught off Gaza the export tax is three shekels a kilogram.

But perishable goods are not the only ones affected. Garment traders decry a new 10 shekel tariff on some clothing items.

Nahed al-Souda, secretary of the clothes traders' syndicate, said a compromise was eventually reached, allowing for the tax-free importation of 600,000 pairs of jeans and 150,000 abayas per year.

Those exemptions are extremely small considering trade volumes in the sector, Souda said, calling the decision to impose the new tax unjust.

For the economist Ajlah, imposition of the levies resulted from an "arbitrary" assessment by Gaza's rulers.

"This reflects a lack of professionalism -- and blackmail," he said.

my-az-gb/rsc/noc/it

Charles’ coronation seized on by republicans as chance to ditch monarchy

When King Charles III is crowned in a lavish ceremony next week, the main anti-monarchist movement in Britain will gather along the procession route next to a statue of Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649, resulting in a brief republic. 

https://www.marxists.org/archive/hill-christopher/english-revolution

Christopher Hill: The English Revolution 1640 (1940) 

Republic supporters, an organization created in 1983 that pushes for an elected head of state, are organizing their largest demonstration yet. They think Charles’ succession to the throne represents their greatest opportunity of bringing the monarchy, which dates back more than 1,000 years, to an end.

Graham Smith, its head, sees the grand coronation at London’s Westminster Abbey as the perfect opportunity to expose what he regards as an anachronistic institution with no place in a 21st century democracy, particularly at a time when people are facing the worst cost of living crisis in decades.

Smith said he expected over 1,000 people dressed in yellow shirts to join the protest on May 6, where they will hold up placards, and give speeches.

When the newly crowned king passes in his gold coach, through streets lined with tens of thousands of well-wishers, they plan to boo loudly and chant “not my king”.

Polls show Charles is less popular than his mother Queen Elizabeth, the world’s second-longest reigning monarch, whose death last year marked the end of an era in Britain.

According to YouGov, in 2012 73% of the public said the monarchy was good for Britain, but that figure has dropped now to 53%.

Smith said the public’s respect for the queen meant she had been an “obstacle” to the republican cause.

“I think the monarchy is in a lot of trouble because they have lost their star player, support is clearly going down, interest is going down and that is a big problem for them,” Smith told Reuters.

“Charles has not inherited the deference, respect and sycophancy that was enjoyed by the queen, so people are far more willing to challenge him.”

The British monarchy traces its history back to William the Conqueror who invaded England in 1066, though royals ruled the patchwork of kingdoms which stretched across what became England, Scotland and Wales for centuries before that.

While the monarchy has gradually ceded power to parliament over the centuries, the king or queen still plays a significant, if almost entirely symbolic, role in British life such as the appointment of prime ministers and the judicial system.

UK anti-monarchy pressure group optimistic amid coronation apathy

Republic group says idea of a royal family is starting to fall apart as polls indicate deep generational split

Ben Quinn

THE GUARDIAN

Wed 26 Apr 2023

On a midweek evening two weeks before King Charles’s coronation, supporters of a bloodless overthrow of the monarchy had gathered inside a west London church to hear they might finally have cause to cheer.

“The good news is that it can be got rid of and will be got rid off,” a smattering of about 70 people were promised by Graham Smith, the chief executive of the republican pressure group Republic, from behind a pulpit.

The low-key event underlined the relatively small scale of active British republicanism. At least 10 of those present were journalists, including a Japanese TV news camera crew, and the sense of a not-entirely-youthful and largely white audience of the converted being preached to was hard to avoid.

Yet in the run-up to the coronation, those who have long banged the drum for the republican cause have something of a spring in their step, with more than 1,400 people pledging to join protests in London on 6 May.

Some believe an unprecedented focus on royal finance and funding – particularly by the Guardian – has the potential to gain traction among the public. A YouGov poll found 51% do not believe the coronation should be publicly funded, against 32% who do.

“The gloves are coming off a bit more now,” said Norman Baker, the former Lib Dem government minister who chronicled the royal family’s use of public money in his book And What Do You Do?

While disapproving of such stunts, Baker said he could not remember an egg being thrown at the Queen in the way that Charles was recently targeted.

“It’s clear that the public at large – including many royalists – are extraordinarily unhappy with what the royals take from the public purse and I think that is where they really are vulnerable,” Baker said.

Founded in 1983, Republic is undergoing a modest boost. A membership-based movement that claims to have the support of at least 80,000 republicans, it received £70,000 in donations in the month of the Queen’s death last year – a considerable sum given its 2020 income was just over £100,000.

Republic believes it can build on this momentum before, during and after 6 May – when yellow-clad supporters will chant “not my king” and carry bright placards in groups along the procession route, creating an “unmissable sea of yellow”.

Elsewhere, protests and marches are planned in cities including Cardiff and Nottingham, while there are due to be anti-monarchy street parties in Oxford and London. In Scotland – home to the UK’s highest levels of opposition to the monarchy – protests will take place in Edinburgh and Glasgow at the same time as the coronation service.

Republicans face a stubborn bedrock of support for the monarchy. According to polling, the percentage who believe royals are good for Britain is down to just over 50% – from 60% in 2019.

But a closer glance at polls indicate a deep generational split. A survey this week showed nearly 40% of those aged 18 to 24 would prefer an elected head of state.

In recent months, Republic have been building up a campaign using billboards and social media as well as shadowing outings by King Charles. In the garrison town of Colchester in Essex last month, the Guardian witnessed one of the protests that have served as dress rehearsals of sorts for 6 May, as Smith and a group of poster-wielding Republic supporters used a loudspeaker to try to challenge the king to a debate.

Watched over warily by police, the protesters were in turn heckled by members of the crowd. Perhaps interestingly, however, one of the loudest of them paused and agreed they might have a point when Charles – within earshot of the megaphone but studiously ignoring it – was challenged about the use of royal funds to support the legal travails of his brother, Prince Andrew

But what continues to be absent from British republicanism is any form of full-throated campaign from MPs.

Former parliamentarians such as Baker insist that significant number of Labour and Lib Dem MPs are anti-monarchy but “don’t want the hassle” of talking publicly about it. Labour under Keir Starmer has been eager to brandish its respect for the monarchy as he seeks to emphasise patriotism as a way of distancing the party from the Jeremy Corbyn years.

Even so, Ken Ritchie, of the internal party grouping Labour for a Republic, insists there is appetite among the party membership and points to increasing attendance at its meetings during party conferences. Several constituency Labour parties, branches and clubs also backed a motion recently fed into the party’s policy forum by the group.

Republican Labour MPs “keep their heads well down,” he said, with the exception of outspoken voices such as Clive Lewis. Last week, Richard Burgon told the Commons that the king should pay for the coronation.

Back at Republic’s event in Kilburn, one of the two loudest rounds of applause came when the journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown told how she had refused to curtsy during a meeting with the Queen.

Otherwise downbeat, she added: “I don’t share Graham’s optimism because they have been so clever in manipulating the population.”

Nevertheless, public apathy was cited by Smith as a reason for republicans to have cause for optimism. Asked by YouGov how much they cared about the coronation, 64% of people said “not at all” or “not very much”.

“The monarchy is an idea that is starting to fall apart. Only 9% of people are enthusiastic about the coronation. It’s something that for the most part is passing people by.”

REPUBLICAN PROTESTS PLANNED

More Than 1,000 Anti-Monarchy Campaigners Set to Disrupt King Charles' Coronation

The ceremony is set to cost the public around £100m. With a quarter of voters backing abolition of the monarchy, will the opposition get a hearing? Josiah Mortimer reports

King Charles is thought to be nervous about the future of the monarchy under a Labour government. Photo: PA Images/Alamy

Republican protesters will line the route of the King’s coronation ceremony in two weeks, in plans for the most significant anti-monarchy event in a generation.

Over 1,000 people are expected to gather in Trafalgar Square, and in a move designed to show a republican presence throughout the procession, smaller groups of one to three people will be stationed at numerous points along the route.

Graham Smith, Chief Executive of anti-monarchy group Republic, said: “This is the first time a big royal event has been directly covered by a larger protest. It will be very colourful and very loud.  We’ve not asked for permission, the plan is to just show up and protest.”

Republicans will wear yellow on the day, with yellow placards and flags – the colour of republicanism. Amid fears they will receive no coverage from the main broadcasters, they will make their presence known with megaphones and loudspeakers.

“The idea is that even if the BBC cameras pan away, they won’t be able to avoid hearing the protesters,” Smith said. Labour for a Republic’s Ken Ritchie added that the groups were having “arguments” with the BBC over “very one-sided coverage”.

“If we have 25% of voters saying we don’t want a monarchy, that’s quite a body of opinion that needs to be recognised by a national broadcaster. We’d be delighted if we got 10% of that,” Ritchie added.

Around 1,200 people have pledged to attend already, according to Republic. Protest organisers plan to base their activities on the day – by grim coincidence – near the statue of beheaded King Charles I, where protesters will wave their flags against Charles III.

Asked why they will be disrupting the coronation, Republic boss Smith said: “When people hear they’re spending £100m of our money on his parade, it annoys people. It’s a pointless parade. [King Charles] could have said ‘we’re not having a coronation’. Instead they’re doubling down on holy oil and all the rest.”

It comes as The Guardian reports that the King is a billionaire, with an estimated fortune of £1.8bn. Republican protest organisers plan to release more information on Friday. Several republican protesters were arrested last year, including one who held up a blank piece of paper (he was later released without charge).

A City Hall source said the Greater London Authority – which owns Trafalgar Square – was not aware of the planned protests or had any plans to accommodate protesters.

Republican revival?

Ken Ritchie, chair and co-founder of Labour for a Republic, told Byline Times that the main organisation, Republic, had a “bonanza” surrounding the Queen’s funeral last year. “Its fortunes rose rapidly,” he said.

Labour for a Republic’s much smaller membership has risen to around 200 (up from 50 before the Queen’s funeral) and a supporter list of 1,000.

The Labour party and leader Keir Starmer supports the monarchy. But Ritchie said: “We’re making inroads. What we feel is that there’s no chance that Labour is going to say it wants to get rid of the monarchy or even make a major challenge. So we’re focusing on things any reasonable member would agree with.”

The group recently made proposals to the party’s National Policy Forum to demand that the Equalities Act applies to the monarchy. It is currently exempt. “The staff it employs are not covered by anti-discrimination legislation. It’s a small point, but we felt that the principle of taking a stand should be a first step,” Ritchie said.

L4R is also focused on ensuring the monarchy is covered by Freedom of Information Act legislation, from which it is also exempt. A petition in Scotland called for this in recent weeks, but was dismissed by the Scottish Parliament this Wednesday. 

Few Labour MPs are on the record as republicans. Left-wingers Clive Lewis MP and Richard Burgon MP have publicly supported an end to the monarchy. While there are understood to be more, few speak out about it.

Ken Ritchie said: “There are people that we know are republicans. But they wouldn’t raise their heads and say so. Some are very supportive but always have another meeting on when we ask them to speak…”

Ex-Kensington Labour MP Emma Dent Coad made a joke in 2017 about Prince Harry, saying he “can’t actually fly a helicopter…he just sits there going ‘vroom vroom’.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was previously a republican, according to a leaked video reported by the Guido Fawkes blog in 2021. Photo: James Manning/PA/Alamy

She said afterwards she was “slaughtered” by the press. “I was Queen of the May at the conference in 2017, after Grenfell. And then…I made [this] joke about Prince Harry not being very clever… I had to get police protection,” she told Byline Times.

“I was followed around all the next day, and I had hateful comments, letters, emails – really hateful, scary mail. I had to report it to the police…They had to go through all my post in case people sent anything nasty. It was quite frightening,” the former Labour MP added.

“People say much worse things…But after Grenfell there were people following us and going through the bins to find anything they could on me. My staff went into my office and said ‘don’t look at the post’. It was really horrible,” she said. Dent Coad was blocked from re-standing for Labour last year over a series of comments for which she apologised.

Ken Ritchie says Labour for a Republic are not currently calling for the Labour party to “stand up and say we’re for a republic – we know what the reaction would be.”

---

Starmer’s position

“With the election looming, we know Starmer is doing damn all, waiting to win the election. He’s not going to take kindly to anyone stirring anything more controversial at this stage,” Ritchie said.

Starmer touched on wanting a “slimmed-down” monarchy during his leadership campaign. However, many of his leadership pledges have since been abandoned.

Intriguingly, Byline Times can report that Keir Starmer was credited by the journalist Jonathan Freedland for help with his 1998 book arguing that Britain needed to become a republic. “Bring Home the Revolution: The Case for a British Republic” listed Keir Starmer in its acknowledgements, thanking him for his help with the book. “It doesn’t mean he backs a republic now, but it’s interesting,” Ritchie said.  

Keir Starmer thanked for his support for the 1998 Jonathan Freedland book calling for a monarchy. Labour did not respond to a request for comment. Credit: Labour for a Republic

Nearly a quarter of the public back a republic. Some polls show opinion among people who voted Labour in 2019 is fairly evenly split on support or opposition to the monarchy.

---

Low down the list

Richie argues that support for republicanism is “more advanced” than support for Brexit at the stage that Farage was getting “huge amounts” of political coverage. “By the time debate begins, it will change very quickly,” he added.

The campaigner branded the coronation a “complete absurdity”, adding: “It’s nonsense. It’s about consolidating respect for the monarchy. If the monarchy stops getting attention it will cease to exist. If it’s not seen and worshipped, it no longer has a function. It’s all about marketing.” He acknowledged however, that the debate “had not started” about the need for a republic.

He accepted too, a problem that republicans face: that of priorities.

At an event in the 1990s, Lib Dem Baroness Seers, a woman of the establishment, was heckled. Someone called out “but are you a republican?” during a talk she was giving on proportional representation.

Ritchie says she turned around and said: “Yes, of course I am. You can’t be a true democrat and not.” But then she added: “And it’s number 73 in the list of my priorities.

'Not my king': Republicans to protest coronation | Reuters Video

Turkey's First-time Voters Turn Away From Erdogan

By Remi BANET

April 30, 2023

Student Emre Ali Ferli has known no leader other than Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

That's enough to make the 18-year-old back the Turkish president's main rival when he votes for the first time on May 14.

"I am tired of getting up every day and thinking about politics," said Ferli, referring to the tumult of Erdogan's 20-year rule.

"When President Erdogan is gone, young people will be able to focus on their exams and to speak freely."

Like Ferli, around 5.2 million Turks who reached voting age since Erdogan came to power in 2003 -- eight percent of the electorate -- will have their first say on election day.

The 69-year-old president's chief opponent, 74-year-old former civil servant Kemal Kilicdaroglu, is banking on students such as Ferli.

"It is through you that spring will come," the grandfatherly leader of Turkey's main secular party told a youth rally in Ankara.

Opinion polls suggest that Kilicdaroglu has reason to be optimistic.

One survey showed only 20 percent of Turks in the 18-25 age bracket ready to vote for Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted party in the presidential and parliamentary polls.

Both past Turkey's retirement age, Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu have been trying to seduce Gen Z voters with pledges to abolish a tax on mobile phone purchases and free internet packages.

Adding to Erdogan's problems, a third candidate, 58-year-old secular nationalist Muharrem Ince, is posing as a more fresh-faced alternative.

"The Erdogan vote is lower among young people," said Erman Bakirci, a researcher at the Konda polling institute.

"First-time voters are more modern and less religious than the average voter, and more than half are dissatisfied with the life they lead."

In Kasimpasa, a working-class Istanbul district where Erdogan played street football growing up, some have no fear of speaking out against their native son.

"Erdogan must go! All my neighbours will vote for him, but not me," Gokhan Celik, a 19-year-old in a green tracksuit, declared under two flags emblazoned with the president's face.

Firat Yurdayigit, 21, a textile worker, criticised Erdogan for building a third airport for Istanbul "instead of taking care of people".

"I will vote for Muharrem Ince," Yurdayigit said. "But no matter who is elected, anyone is better than Erdogan."

His friend Bilal Buyukler, 24, tried to defend the Turkish leader.

But even he conceded that Erdogan was "partly responsible" for years of economic turmoil, including historically high inflation and a currency collapse.

"I can't find work because of the Syrian refugees," said Buyukler, blaming his unemployment on the 3.7 million people who fled war on Turkey's southern border to big cities such as Istanbul.

"I can't get married -- it's too expensive," he said. "But I don't see any alternative.

"I can't vote for Kilicdaroglu because of religion. He walked on a prayer rug with his shoes!" he exclaimed, pointing to a campaign faux pas by the opposition leader highlighted by pro-government media and Erdogan.

Kilicdaroglu has taken pains to dispel the staunchly secular image of his CHP party, a constant worry for socially conservative voters who found a home in Erdogan's AK Party.

Last year, Kilicdaroglu proposed a law guaranteeing women's right to wear headscarves, trying to peel away voters won over by Erdogan's unshackling of religious restrictions.

"Mr Kemal will never let you lose your gains," Kilicdaroglu said in a video message aimed at conservative women.

His six-party alliance also includes three conservative Islamic groups, which Seda Demiralp, an associate professor at Istanbul's Isik University, called "a message of reconciliation intended for the religious electorate".

Sevgi, 20, lives in Eyup, one of Istanbul's most conservative districts.

She will vote on May 14 but does not want to "mix politics and religion".

"Erdogan is the main obstacle to my dreams," said the young woman, who is working to raise money to pay for design school.

Her boyfriend interrupted, listing some of Erdogan's achievements.

But Sevgi shook her head. "Even if he was a good president, he shouldn't be able to rule for so long," she said.

© Agence France-Presse

Turkey Nears Referendum On Erdogan's Two-decade Rule


By Dmitry ZAKS

April 29, 2023

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dives Sunday into the final two-week stretch before a momentous election that has turned into a referendum on his two decades of divisive but transformative rule.

The 69-year-old leader looked fighting fit as he strutted back on stage after a three-day illness and tossed flowers to rapturous crowds at an Istanbul aviation fest on Saturday.

It was the perfect venue for reminding Turks of all they had gained since his Islamic-rooted party ended years of secular rule and launched an era of economic revival and military might.

He was flanked by the president of Azerbaijan and the Ankara-backed premier of Libya -- two countries where drones built by his son-in-law's company helped swing the outcome of wars.

Istanbul itself has become a modern and chaotic megalopolis that has nearly doubled in size since Erdogan came to power in 2003.

But hiding beneath the surface are a more recent economic crisis and fierce social divisions that have given the May 14 parliamentary and presidential polls a powder keg feel.

The nation of 85 million appears as splintered as ever about whether Erdogan has done more harm than good in the only Muslim-majority country of the NATO defence bloc.

Polls show him running neck-and-neck against secular opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu and his alliance of six disparate parties.

The entry of two minor candidates means that Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu will likely face each other again in a runoff on May 28.

But some of Erdogan's more hawkish ministers are sounding warnings about Washington leading Western efforts to undermine Turkey's might through the polls.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu referred Friday to US President Joe Biden's 2019 suggestion that Washington should embolden the opposition "to take on and defeat Erdogan".

"July 15 was their actual coup attempt," Soylu said of a failed 2016 military putsch that Erdogan blamed on a US-based Muslim preacher.

"And May 14 is their political coup attempt."

Erdogan continues to be lionised across more conservative swathes of Turkey for unshackling religious restrictions and bringing modern homes and jobs to millions of people through construction and state investment.

Turkey is now filled with hospitals and interconnected with airports and highways that stimulate trade and give the vast country a more inclusive feel.

He empowered conservative women by enabling them to stay veiled in school and in civil service -- a right that did not exist in the secular state created from the Ottoman Empire's ashes in 1923.

And he won early support from Turkey's long-repressed Kurdish minority by seeking a political solution to their armed struggle for an independent state that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

But his equally passionate detractors point to a more authoritarian streak that emerged with the violent clampdown on protests in 2013 -- and became even more apparent with sweeping purges he unleashed after the failed 2016 coup attempt.

Erdogan turned against the Kurds and jailed or stripped tens of thousands of people of their state jobs on oblique "terror" charges that sent chills through Turkish society.

His penchant for campaigning and gift for public speaking enabled him to keep winning at the polls.

But the current vote is turning into his toughest because of a huge economic crisis that erupted in late 2021.

Erdogan's biggest problems started when he decided to defy the rules of economics by slashing interest rates to fight inflation.

The lira lost more than half its value and inflation hit an eye-popping 85 percent since his experiment began.

Millions lost their savings and fell into deep debt.

Polls show the economy worrying Turks more than any other issue -- a point not lost on Kilicdaroglu.

The 74-year-old former civil servant pledges to restore economic order and bring in vast sums from Western investors who fled the chaos of Erdogan's more recent rule.

Kilicdaroglu's party will send out 300,000 monitors to Turkey's 50,000 polling stations to guarantee a fair outcome on election day.



Opposition security pointman Oguz Kaan Salici sounded certain about a smooth transition should Erdogan lose.

"Power will change hands the way it did in 2002," he said of the year Erdogan's party first won.

A Western diplomatic source pointed to Turkey's strong tradition of respecting election results.

Erdogan's own supporters turned against him when the Turkish leader tried to annul the opposition's victory in 2019 mayoral elections in Istanbul.

But the source observed a note of worry among Erdogan's rank and file.

"For the first time, (ruling party) deputies are openly evoking the possibility of defeat," the source said.

© Agence France-Presse

Winners and losers of Erdogan's polarising rule

Fulya OZERKAN
Sat, April 29, 2023 a

Conservative Turkish women won the right to stay veiled in public under Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's two-decade domination of Turkey has seen some groups prosper and others suffer in the highly polarised country.

AFP looks at some of the winners and losers ahead of the May 14 parliamentary and presidential vote.

- Winners -

RELIGIOUS GROUPS:

The religious affairs directorate, or Diyanet, became a powerful force under Erdogan, a pious Muslim whose Islamic-rooted party has tested the secular foundations of post-Ottoman Turkey.

Diyanet has its own TV channel that it uses to weigh in on political debates, and enjoys a budget comparable to that of an average ministry.


Its expanded reach has turned it into a target of Erdogan's secular opponents, who complain about the growing number of mosques, Koran courses and the influence of religious sects.

Diyanet's former head, Mehmet Gormez, secured Erdogan's strong backing after becoming embroiled in controversy over his lavish lifestyle, which included the use of a flashy German car.

ERDOGAN TAKES ADVANTAGE OF EARTHQUKE TO ADVERTISE

CONSTRUCTION SECTOR:

Erdogan has spearheaded a building spree that has spurred growth but created controversial ties between government insiders and the winners of plump state contracts.

The development boom reshaped Turkey, offering modern homes to millions while filling ancient cities with high-rises.

The construction craze was accompanied by Erdogan's penchant for what he dubbed his "crazy projects".

These ambitious, mega-investments spanned Turkey with bridges, airports and high-speed rail. He even laid plans for a new canal to rival the Bosphorus Strait.

His detractors called them an environmental disaster that enriched government allies.

More than 200 contractors were arrested as part of a probe into safety violations that contributed to the death of more than 50,000 people in February's earthquake in Turkey's southeast.

CONSERVATIVE WOMEN:

Erdogan's government has championed the rights of conservative Muslims after decades of staunchly secular rule.

Some of the biggest gains were made by pious women, who were gradually allowed to start wearing headscarves at universities, in the civil service, parliament and the police.

The issue is personal for Erdogan, who has lamented how secular governments "did not allow my headscarf-wearing daughters" to go to university.

Erdogan's two daughters, Sumeyye and Esra, eventually studied abroad.

- Losers -

MEDIA:

Turkey's once-vibrant independent media scene -- admired by diplomats as a sign of pluralism -- has gradually withered under Erdogan.

Analysts estimate that 90 percent of Turkey's media are allied with the government.

Erdogan's government heavily taxed critical media and used cheap loans to encourage select businessmen to run newspapers and television channels.

This has been accompanied by a crackdown on opposition reporters, especially those in Kurdish media outlets, which gathered force after a failed 2016 coup.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Turkey is one of the world's most prolific jailers of journalists.

Turkey's P24 independent journalism platform says 64 reporters are currently in jail.

INFLUENCE OF THE MILITARY:

Turkey's army, a secular force with a history of staging coups, gradually lost its influence in politics.

The process accelerated after a renegade military faction staged a failed coup attempt in 2016, which Erdogan blamed on a Muslim preacher exiled in the United States.

Erdogan retaliated with purges that saw thousands of soldiers jailed -- hundreds of them for life.

The army's top brass was slashed back, hurting one of the most strategically located defence forces of the NATO alliance. The air force in particular lost some of its mostly highly trained pilots and officers.

- Mixed fortunes -

KURDS:

Repressed by past secular governments, Kurds helped Erdogan get elected and supported him early in his rule.

Erdogan tried to improve their cultural and linguistic rights, launching talks aimed at ending a Kurdish armed struggled for broader autonomy in Turkey's southeast.

But the community, estimated to be 15 to 20 million strong, came under pressure when those talks collapsed and violence resumed in 2015.

Dozens of Kurdish mayors were stripped of their elected office in 2019 and replaced by state trustees. The main pro-Kurdish party is in danger of being shut down over alleged terror ties.

MIDDLE CLASS:

Turkey enjoyed an economic boom during Erdogan's first decade in power that created a thriving new middle class.

But the economy has been lurching from one crisis to another since 2013.

Turkey's current gross domestic product -- a measure of a country's wealth -- has shrunk back down to levels at which it stood in the first five years of Erdogan's rule, according to the World Bank.

Unchecked inflation has erased the savings of millions, leaving many in deep debt.

Wars, Religion And Football: Five Faces Of Erdogan

By Anne CHAON

April 29, 2023

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become one of the most divisive and important leaders of post-Ottoman Turkey

ADEM ALTAN

Abhorred and adored, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been compared to sultans and pharaohs while stamping his outsized personality and domineering style on Turkey over 20 years.

Elected as prime minister and then as an uber-powerful president under a tailor-made constitution, Erdogan has become Turkey's most important and polarising leader in generations.

A builder, a political brawler and a campaign beast, here are five of Erdogan's most emblematic traits.

Filling Turkey with bridges, highways and airports, Erdogan has propelled the developing country into the 21st century with mega-investments, stimulating growth.

He calls them his "crazy projects": a towering third bridge over the Bosphorus, another one across the Sea of Marmara, a third spanning the Dardanelles Strait.

They all set records, as did Istanbul's Camlica Mosque -- the largest in Turkey, replete with six minarets and space for 30,000 worshippers.

But perhaps the grandest of the megaprojects is the Istanbul Canal, being built just west of the Bosphorus on land the city once envisioned as an evacuation zone in case of a long-feared earthquake.


There is much more, including high-speed rail, a third Istanbul airport -- designed to be the world's largest -- and power plants, including the country's first nuclear one, controversially built by Russia.

Raised in Istanbul's working-class district of Kasimpasa, the young Erdogan dreamt of little but football, kicking around a ball made of paper and rags, according to popular lore.

His tall frame -- 1.85 metres, or just over six feet -- made him a sought-after centre-forward.


Recep Tayyip Erdogan has had a lifelong love for football, almost becoming a player himself

YASIN BULBUL

He received offers from several professional clubs, including Istanbul's Fenerbahce.

But his father, an austere sailor from the Black Sea, told him to pursue religious studies.

Erdogan gave up reluctantly but remained a big fan, mingling with players throughout his career.

In 2014, businessmen with ties to Erdogan's ruling party acquired Basaksehir, the least storied of Istanbul's six clubs.

Based in a conservative district of the same name, Basaksehir quickly became a powerhouse, winning the league in 2020.

Erdogan's father would have approved if the future president had instead become an imam.

In the secular Turkey created by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Erdogan attended one of the first religious public schools, combining studies of the Koran with other subjects.

Islam became the rallying cry of his electorate and its new movement, called the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Erdogan advocates piety, frowns on smoking and drinking, and defends traditional family values at the expense of the LGBTQ community and emancipated women.

The AKP celebrates motherhood as well as the wearing of headscarves at school and in the civil service -- a right that Ataturk had abolished with Turkey's formation in 1923.

A master campaigner who comes alive on stage, Erdogan is a gifted public speaker who relishes a challenge, priding himself on never losing a national election.


Recep Tayyip Erdogan loves campaigning, taking pride in having never lost a national election

OZAN KOSE

Derailed by stomach issues in recent days, past campaigns have seen Erdogan hop between eight cities in a day, giving impassioned speeches to crowds of supporters.

A populist and a performer, he announces pay hikes, kisses babies, hugs elderly women and even hands out small change to kids -- a custom on religious holidays.

Pro-government media, which now dominates, lap it all up, broadcasting his performances live across the nation and replaying them deep into the night.

Erdogan has leveraged Turkey's strategic position between Europe and the Middle East -- guarding the southern shores of the Black Sea and the northern ones of the Mediterranean -- to diplomatic advantage.

He assumed the role of mediator when Russia invaded Ukraine, becoming one of the few world leaders with open access to Vladimir Putin and Russia's vast energy resources.

But he also supplied Kyiv with weapons and won international plaudits for helping broker a deal to resume Ukraine's grain exports.

On the other hand, he drew Western wrath for launching incursions into Syria. At one stage, he appeared to be simultaneously brawling with all of Turkey's neighbours, stretching from Iraq to Greece.

He broke off relations with Israel and Egypt, intervened in the war in Libya, and helped Azerbaijan defeat Armenia in their 2020 war over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Facing a new economic crisis, Erdogan has been mending fences, seeking investments and engaging in "earthquake diplomacy" with Greece after a massive February shock killed more than 50,000 people.

© Agence France-Presse

Heed the reed: thatcher scientist on mission to revive craft

Kiyoko METZLER
Sat, 29 April 2023

The CERN particle physicist turned thatcher hopes to revive the ancient art

Once upon a time many homes in the picturesque Burgenland wine-growing region of eastern Austria were thatched.

But now Jacobus van Hoorne's house is the only one in the entire neighbourhood with a reed roof.

And to get it approved he had to do battle for two years with the local authorities, culminating in having to set fire to a model thatched house to prove that his home wouldn't be a fire hazard.

"You are practically not allowed to have reed roofs in Austria," said Van Hoorne. "You have to find a way around it, which took a long time."

Buoyed up by his legal victory, the CERN particle physicist turned thatcher hopes to revive the ancient art as a part of more sustainable house building -- particularly as his reeds come from the region's UNESCO-listed salt-water lake.

"It's not just a natural raw material, but it also has great insulating properties," he told AFP.

"A roof like that... is only made of reed and (steel) wire. It's completely untreated. You can just compost it and recycle the wire.

"The nature, the material, the craft. It's just beautiful," he added.

A reed roof lasts about 40 years, said the Dutch-born scientist, and unlike conventional materials whose manufacture requires lots of carbon to be burned, reeds actually help store it.

- Carbon captors -

Like straw and earth they have an almost negligible carbon footprint, said Azra Korjenic, head of the Department of Ecological Building Technologies at the Vienna University of Technology.

In fact, marshlands and moors where reeds grow are some of the planet's main carbon sinks, surpassing even forests and grasslands, according to the 2015 Soil Atlas.

Yet one of the biggest stumbling blocks to sustainability is the construction industry, which favours prefab building modules over ecological materials, Korjenic added.

Current regulations and norms are also hampering the inclusion of natural building materials.

As Austria's only master thatchers, Van Hoorne and his father are in high demand, and they also farm their own reeds locally.

But even that is not easy because of low prices and droughts which stunt the reeds' growth as the climate warms, he said.

He and four other remaining reed farmers in Austria also face crushing competition from China, which has an 80 percent share of the European market.

With his customers for now mostly in England and the Netherlands, "shipping a container from Shanghai to Rotterdam costs around $2,000 -- just as much as a truck from Austria," he said.

kym/jza/fg

Germany's climate activists find sanctuary in churches

Hui Min NEO
Sat, April 29, 2023

Climate activists began their latest protests from the St Thomas church, one of several that have supported them

Copies of a climate change petition along with photos of the signatories lay at the foot of the altar. Metres away, a dozen activists were undergoing street protest training.

Other members of the Letzte Generation (Last Generation) group were having a vegan brunch buffet in the pews, minutes before they were to march out through the imposing doors of Berlin's St. Thomas Church for their latest demonstration to press the government to do more for the climate.

The Protestant church has become the unlikely staging point for the climate activists in their latest two-week campaign to bring Berlin's traffic to a standstill by glueing themselves onto the asphalt.

In northeastern Berlin, Gethsemane Church -- a key site in the peaceful revolution that brought down the Berlin Wall -- is hosting an open discussion on climate change every evening this week, before handing the baton to another church next week.

Although politicians including leading members of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government have blasted Letzte Generation's road blockade protests, the churches have thrown open their doors to the activists.

"We want to contribute to allowing the participants to remain in peace," said the St. Thomas Church's council in a statement.

"The radicalisation of the climate movement is the expression of the despair that too little is being done for the protection of the climate and thereby for the preservation of Creation. We're taking this despair seriously and confronting it," they added.

The churches' action is not without controversy, as surveys suggest a majority of the public frown on Letzte Generation's protests.

In a recent poll by national broadcaster ZDF, 82 percent of respondents felt the street blockades went too far.

Scholz's government, including the Greens, have also spoken out against the protests. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck of the Greens has said the street blockades were "not a helpful contribution to climate protection" because they don't win consensus, rather they "irritate people".

"The supposed saviours of the world in a church -- what hypocrisy," charged Focus magazine in a column.

- 'Jesus would have approved' -

Amid the accusations flying at the protesters, pastor Aljona Hofmann at Gethsemane Church said it was all the more important for both sides to have a platform to communicate directly and peacefully.

"The strength of the church is to bring together people with different opinions, in order to sound out what we have in common and where do we diverge," said the pastor.

At her church in 1989, dissidents including environmental activists held candlelight vigils against the East German regime, helping build the popular pressure that toppled the despised Wall.

Hofmann warned against drawing parallels with the church's actions under communism. "We're not living now in a dictatorship," she stressed.

"Each period has its own challenges."

She acknowledged, too, that not everyone in the congregation supported Letzte Generation's modus operandi, but argued that it was vital to get people to "step out of their bubbles" and speak with each other.

"Letzte Generation's method is to hold sit-ins. That is perhaps not the method of other people.

"Each person must find his or her own format, but what's important is to begin to think about what can I or what can we, as a society, do" on the issue of climate protection, she said.

Activist Axel Hake, 54, said the churches' contribution "show how strong the backing from society is".

"It was in the last autumn that relevant groups in the society, including churches, began showing solidarity with us...," he said.

"That is a real signal that we are anchored in society."

To those in the congregation who question the churches' action, activist Cosima Santoro, 68, herself a Catholic, said: "I think Jesus Christ would have fitted well with Letzte Generation.

"He also caused disruptions. He still disrupts today."

hmn/dlc/jj

PAKISTAN
Tuition fee increases

Faisal Bari Published April 28, 2023 



WHEN inflation has been above 10 per cent for some years, is expected to be around 30pc this year, and is set to range from 20pc to 25pc next year, by how much should schools and universities increase their tuition and other fees?

There was a court decision some years back that allowed private schools to increase their tuition fees but by no more than 5pc every year. However, this decision is from a time when inflation rates were much lower in the country. Would the same increase still apply? Is there a need for schools to go back to the courts to get the judgement changed? Or will they just go ahead and raise their fees as they deem necessary? Clearly, with inflation reaching 25pc to 30pc each year, private schools and universities cannot increase their fees by 5pc only.

The case of universities is a separate issue though. The judgement pertained to schools only and not to universities. There is no private university in the country that has any sizeable endowment. Most private universities — for or not for profit — depend on their tuition fees to manage expenses. University costs will go up, keeping pace with the level of inflation. Faculty and staff salaries will need to increase substantially to cover inflation pressures as well. So, universities will have to increase their fees to cater to higher costs.

The same argument will apply to private schools as well. All of their costs are going up and if they want to retain their teachers, they will have to pay them more as well. Tuition fees will have to go up. But here there is the 5pc judgement. Most schools will have to raise their tuition fees by more than 5pc, but how much will it be? And will the courts take suo motu notice, in case schools raise their fee by more than 5pc?

Where funds have been decreasing, the number of public-sector universities has been rising.

The public sector will also feel the pinch but in a different way. All schools in the public sector, up to Grade 12, are tuition-free. The government, through general taxation, covers the costs. The costs will go up. Will the education budget go up, too, by 30pc or so? Given the government’s current financial position (we cannot even afford Rs21 billion for elections currently!), it is unlikely that the education budget will be increased by 30pc. So cuts will be needed. Most likely, teacher salaries will go up only by 15pc to 20pc. And the government might increase non-salary expenses by a small percentage, or just give what they gave last year. In either case, there will be a reduction in the real budget for education and this will have consequences for the quality of education.

We are already seeing some impact. All governments in Pakistan were distributing free textbooks in all public-sector schools. Printing costs have gone up substantially over the last couple of years. Governments have not been able to raise allocations for textbooks by much, and so in many provinces, textbook printing has either been suspended by the printers until the arrears are cleared, or the government comes up with a new policy on free textbooks. In all probability, governments will try to get away with printing fewer books and arguing that internet access to textbooks might suffice, or something to that effect. Not having textbooks in schools will definitely have an impact on education.

Public-sector universities have been hurting for a number of years now and the story is not going to change this year either. Higher education funding and funds for the Higher Education Commission have been reduced over the last few years. It is hard to see the trend changing. At the same time, federal and provincial governments have been creating new public-sector universities. So, where funds have been decreasing, the number of universities in the public sector has been going up. Inflation, too, is high and is expected to remain so. Under these conditions, if public-sector universities are not allowed to raise their tuition and other fees by much, how can they ensure quality education? Some are already having difficulties paying salaries and pensions. The crisis is going to deepen this year and will, in all probability, result in severe damage to even some of the older and larger public-sector universities.

Private education institutions, schools and universities, will have to raise their tuition and other fees more or less in line with inflation. So, we can expect an approximately 50pc adjustment over this and the next year. This is going to play havoc with the quality of education. It is going to have an impact on who will or will not be able to study in these institutions. It will impact the ability of these institutions to offer financial assistance as well. But there does not seem to be a way around the issue. Apparently, the state does not even have the money to look after its own institutions, and it is unlikely that it will do anything for institutions in the private sector or help the students studying there.

The real fear is that the progress we had been making, even if slow and painstaking, in terms of overall enrolment, completion rates and quality enhancement, is very likely to get reversed as long as the financial crisis lasts. And the government, despite all its rhetoric about the importance of education, is not going to do anything about it. We will, if nothing is done, be set back by decades, and those who fall in the school-/university-going age category at the moment, will, together with their families and society at large, have to bear the consequences for decades to come.

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives, and an associate professor of economics at Lums.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2023