Church bells speak again in Spain thanks to effort to recover the lost ‘language’ of ringing by hand

 Sitting in a chair with ropes looped around both feet and hands, Joan Carles Osuna, a student of the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers, performs playing all four bronze bells at the church bell tower of the12th-century Sant Romà church, at the village of Joanetes, about two hours north of Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 29, 2024. A school set up to revive the manual ringing of church bells has graduated its first class of 18 students after learning their ringing skills. 

(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

BY JOSEPH WILSON
 July 6, 2024

JOANETES, Spain (AP) — Xavier Pallàs plants his feet on the belfry floor, grips the rope, and with one tug fills the lush Spanish valley below with the reverberating peal of a church bell.

Clang-clong! Clang-clong! Clang-CLONG! The swinging bronze bell resonates with each strike of the clapper, filling the small stone tower with an undulating hum. Once Pallàs finishes his peals, the metallic melody fades to stillness. Silence returns to the tower, giving the valley’s soundscape back to the birdsongs and rooster crows.

For most, church bells are just a quaint bit of automated background noise. But Pallàs and his 18 students at the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers are trying to change that by resuscitating the dwindling art of tolling — and communicating — by hand.

The shift to mechanical tolling devices over the past century has flattened the bells’ dynamic songs and muted their messaging powers, said Pallàs, the school’s founder and director. If played with the know-how, the sounding of church bells in various sequences, tones and rhythms can signal the time for rejoicing or mourning and when to run to the aid of a neighbor in need.

“For centuries, the tolling of church bells was our most important communication method,” said Pallàs, standing inside the belfry which doubles as his classroom.

“Machines cannot reproduce the richness of the sounds that we used to hear, so there has been a simplification and unification of bell ringing. The language has been lost little by little until now, when we are finally recognizing its worth.”

Before newspapers, radio, telephones, television and the internet, it was bellringing that transmitted important information. A physically demanding job that required long hours and complete dedication, to be a bellringer was to be a human clock and the public loudspeaker.

While manual church bell ringing has persisted in Eastern Orthodox countries, it has largely been replaced by bell ringing systems in Catholic and Protestant churches in Western Europe.

Many of Spain’s church bell towers that were automized in the 1970s and ’80s are in a dire state, said Pallàs, who witnessed widespread problems while researching the belfries of Garrotxa, a county in northeast Catalonia. The rural area is known for its verdant hills, dormant volcanoes and picturesque villages where most people speak Catalan before Spanish.

His research included the 12th century Sant Romà church in Joanetes, a tiny village about two hours north of Barcelona, where Pallàs has spent the past 10 months teaching the inaugural class one Saturday a month.

“Since the last generation of bellringers had died off, the only thing to do was to train new ones in how to toll the bells. And that’s where the idea of the school was born,” Pallàs said.

Intangible heritage

The initiative comes two years after UNESCO added manual bellringing in Spain to its compendium of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage. UNESCO described how the bells had knitted together communities even before they were functioning modern states.

“The first thing we have to do is rediscover the bells. That is why this school is so important,” said Roman Gené Capdevila, president of Catalonia’s Bell Ringers brotherhood. “There are so many ways to ring a bell, what we need are bellringers.”

The bellringing course, officially recognized by the ISCREB theology school in Barcelona, finished last week with a demonstration by the class. All drawn to the allure of the banging bells, the students were men and women with diverse professional backgrounds ranging from engineering to teaching. One was in his 20s; several were retirees.

They spent the past few months researching old chiming sequences, documenting their origins and learning to play them. That ethnographic task meant students had to search out old bellringers, or their family members, to record what they knew.

Roser Sauri jumped at the chance to reconnect with her childhood by recovering and playing the chiming sequence that had sounded in her grandfather’s village when he was baptized.

“The bells formed a part of my life,” said Sauri, who now works in artificial intelligence. She missed their constancy while studying for her computing doctorate in Boston, where she heard none.

“When I visited my family, I began to associate the sound of church bells with being back home.”

The human touch

The students took turns tolling sequences for everything from calls to Easter Mass, bad weather warnings, help for fighting a fire to orders for the village militia. They also could tell workers to get back to reaping wheat, or housewives when the fresh fish was coming to market and even how much it cost. Many of the ringers wore earplugs or headphones to muffle the deafening peals.

The students tolled a gamut of death announcements that could specify gender and social class. Juan Carles Osuna and two others tolled for the death of a woman. That meant swinging the largest bell at 429 kilos (945 pounds). It still had a clapper secured in the traditional method of using a dried skin of an ox penis.

Osuna, who paints church murals, also performed a complex sequence with all four of belfry’s bells that required him to sit in a chair with ropes looped around his hands and feet.

“Whew! It’s an emotional experience. You feel your blood pumping. You feel the strength, and how you are communicating with everyone in earshot,” he said. “For me it is an honor, it’s a way to honor both humans and God.”

The hesitation, the variation in the strength of each toll: in these details, and sometimes mistakes, the listener can hear the creator of the sound.

“The (automated) hammer will always be mathematically precise,” Osuna said. “There is emotion in the human touch. There is a human element.”
Utopian, quixotic? Maybe not

What might seem like a quixotic mission has so far had a promising start.

While admitting that his dream of having a bellringer for every bell tower is “utopian,” Pallàs said he has a full class lined up for the fall and some 60 more people on a waiting list. Many of his graduating pupils, including Sauri and Osuna, hope to continue playing at their local parishes or help convert their belfries into systems that allow manual ringing.

Pallàs believes that a recovery of bell ringing in a neighborhood or town’s life could help strengthen communities in this dizzying age of technological, economic and political change.

“This is a means of communication that reaches everyone inside a local community and can help it come together at concrete moments,” Pallàs said. “That can include a death in the community or the celebration of a holiday. It can help mark the rituals that we need.”
___

Local people sit around the12th-century Sant Romà church as they listen the students of the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers playing bells, in the tiny village of Joanetes about two hours north of Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 29, 2024. A school set up to revive the manual ringing of church bells has graduated its first class of 18 students after learning their ringing skills. 

Roser Reixach, a student of the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers, performs playing a bronze bell at the church bell tower of the12th-century Sant Romà church, at the tiny village of Joanetes, about two hours north of Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 29, 2024. A school set up to revive the manual ringing of church bells has graduated its first class of 18 students after learning their ringing skills.

Josep-Maria Grosset, a student of the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers, performs playing two bronze bells at the church bell tower of the12th-century Sant Romà church, at the tiny village of Joanetes, about two hours north of Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 29, 2024. A school set up to revive the manual ringing of church bells has graduated its first class of 18 students after learning their ringing skills. 

Sitting in a chair with ropes looped around both feet and hands, Joan Carles Osuna, a student of the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers, performs playing all four bronze bells at the church bell tower of the12th-century Sant Romà church, at the village of Joanetes, about two hours north of Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 29, 2024. A school set up to revive the manual ringing of church bells has graduated its first class of 18 students after learning their ringing skills.

Roser Reixach, a student of the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers, performs playing a bronze bell at the church bell tower of the12th-century Sant Romà church, at the tiny village of Joanetes, about two hours north of Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 29, 2024. A school set up to revive the manual ringing of church bells has graduated its first class of 18 students after learning their ringing skills.

Xavier Masó, a student of the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers, performs playing two bronze bells at the church bell tower of the12th-century Sant Romà church, at the tiny village of Joanetes, about two hours north of Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 29, 2024. A school set up to revive the manual ringing of church bells has graduated its first class of 18 students after learning their ringing skills.

Guillem Pujolriu, a student of the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers, performs playing a bronze bell at the church bell tower of the12th-century Sant Romà church, at the tiny village of Joanetes, about two hours north of Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 29, 2024. A school set up to revive the manual ringing of church bells has graduated its first class of 18 students after learning their ringing skills. 

Roser Reixach, a student of the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers, performs playing a bronze bell at the church bell tower of the12th-century Sant Romà church, at the tiny village of Joanetes, about two hours north of Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 29, 2024. A school set up to revive the manual ringing of church bells has graduated its first class of 18 students after learning their ringing skills.

Students of the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers, perform playing all four bronze bells at the church bell tower of the12th-century Sant Romà church, at the tiny village of Joanetes, about two hours north of Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 29, 2024. A school set up to revive the manual ringing of church bells has graduated its first class of 18 students after learning their ringing skills. 

View of the bell tower of the12th-century Sant Romà church, where students of the Vall d’en Bas School of Bell Ringers perform playing bells, at the tiny village of Joanetes, about two hours north of Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 29, 2024. A school set up to revive the manual ringing of church bells has graduated its first class of 18 students after learning their ringing skills.

 (AP Photos/Emilio Morenatti)

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Why this disastrous WWI defeat should serve as a warning about climate change

Columnists
By Ian Johnston
Published 7th Jul 2024
THE SCOTSMAN

Historical society members dressed in First World War uniforms take part in a ceremony at Nimy Bridge, Mons, on the 100th anniversary of the battle 

(Picture: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

In war, hard reality cannot be avoided. The same is true in the fight against climate change

Climate change is an existential threat. It is already a matter of life and death – as shown by the loss of life in record-breaking heatwaves, powerful storms, and other forms of extreme weather around the world – and eventually, if we are particularly stupid, humanity’s very survival could be in doubt. So it is unsurprising that some people talk about the ‘fight’ against climate change, while others have called for the world to go onto a “war footing”.

However, it’s clear that the vast majority of people do not even remotely think they are in a war. There is certainly very little sense that the population as a whole is prepared to make significant sacrifices in order to defeat our nebulous enemy, even as the signs of its growing strength multiply.


In times of war, food supplies are a crucial consideration. And climate change is starting to have an impact on agriculture, with knock-on effects on prices and global supplies. For those hoping the people saying this are the usual, easily dismissed Just Stop Oil-type activists, I have some bad news. It’s actually coming from hedge-fund managers.

Adam Davis, co-founder of global agricultural hedge fund Farrer Capital, recently told the Financial Times that climate change had helped drive up prices for a long list of food commodities. “Wheat is up 17 per cent, palm oil 23 per cent... sugar 9 per cent and pork 21 per cent.” And Frederic Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC, also told the paper: “There’s a material impact from climate change on global food prices… It’s easy to shrug off individual events as being isolated, but we’ve just seen such a sequence of abnormal events and disruptions that, of course, add up to climate change impact.” Repeated abnormal events, he added, would result in “a permanent impact on the ability to supply food”.

Are we listening? Are we paying attention to this? If that’s not worrying enough, a new report by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries – again, the very epitome of hard-headed financial types – highlighted another alarming problem: many of the computer models used by financial services have been “significantly underestimating” the risks with “real-world impacts of climate change... largely excluded”.

Scientists urge Scots to cut water consumption amid warning ‘wet’ country could run dry

“Some models implausibly show the hot-house world to be economically positive, whereas others estimate a 65 per cent GDP loss or a 50-60 per cent downside to existing financial assets if climate change is not mitigated, stating these are likely to be conservative estimates,” it added.

One of the authors of the report, climate scientist Professor Tim Lenton, warned of the growing threat of climate tipping points – “thresholds which, once crossed, trigger irreversible changes, such as the loss of the Amazon rainforest or the West Antarctic ice sheet... Once tipped into a new state, many of these systems will cause further warming – and may interact to form cascades that could threaten the existence of human civilisations.”

We are heading towards multiple tipping points on climate change – Professor Tim Lenton

However, before you surrender to despair, he added that there were also “a variety of positive tipping points in human societies that can propel rapid decarbonisation, in areas including transportation, agriculture, ecosystem regeneration, politics and public opinion. This concept could unlock the stalemate – the sense that there’s nothing we can do about climate change.”

So there is still hope. We are far from beaten yet. However, if we are to win, we may need to start thinking about climate change as a war and learning lessons from the real ones.

In 2014, to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, the BBC broadcast a drama-documentary of British soldiers’ first battle, at Mons in Belgium, called Our World War: The First Day, based on their first-hand accounts. In a scene before the main battle begins, a German cavalry officer is captured. As he is being led away, he tells the young British officer escorting him: “I wish you luck, Lieutenant Dease.”

Conveying the confidence of the well-trained, professional British troops as they prepared to face Germany’s largely conscript army, Maurice Dease – who, along with Private Sidney Godley, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in the coming fight – replies: “Thank you, but I don’t believe in luck.”

“Believe in luck, Lieutenant Dease, or believe in God because you are not ready for what’s coming here,” the German says as he shakes his enemy’s hand. Despite great courage, the British are comprehensively defeated by sheer weight of numbers and forced into a long retreat. Had intelligence about the strength of the enemy been better, perhaps things might have been different.

A decade on, the programme’s emotional impact has stayed with me. In the years since, I’ve covered climate change as an environment and science correspondent and a general news reporter. The warning signs – in the shape of extreme weather – have grown, the optimism that global warming can be kept to within 1.5 degrees Celsius, as recommended, has looked increasingly ridiculous, and global carbon emissions have continued to rise.

The reassuring tone of complacent politicians who downplay the risks has been undercut by the rising tone of desperation from scientists, who have demonstrated over the past 40 years that their ‘intelligence’ about the threat posed by climate change is accurate.

We think our defences are strong, and that we will defeat the approaching enemy, a few still doubt it even exists. But our confidence seems based on a mixture of poor intelligence – like the financial institutions’ flawed models – or ignorance of the science. I fear the day may be coming when we will be forced to finally admit to ourselves that we must “believe in luck or believe in God because we are not ready for what’s coming here”.

COMMUNISM;  ABOLISH THE WAGES SYSTEM

China to impose annual salary cap for workers of state-backed financial institutions

The government is doubling down on its promise to eradicate extravagance from the industry to narrow income gap amid sluggish economic growth.


Ruth Chai |  

July 07, 2024

MOTHERSHIP
 

China is set to impose a three million yuan (approximately S$557,000) 

(USD 412,653.72648) annual salary cap for financial workers of all state-backed financial institutions, sources tell the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The government is doubling down on its promise to eradicate "extravagance" from the industry to narrow income gaps amid sluggish economic growth.

The limit will be applied to all state-backed brokerages, mutual fund firms and banks, but will not apply to financial institutions backed by private investors.

Those who have earned more than the salary cap will need to return the excess money to their companies, sources say, as the measure will be applied retroactively.

Wealth distribution

This move aligns with China's President Xi Jinping's "Common Prosperity" policy, which is committed to reducing income inequality.

The financial industry, seen as the elite in China, has therefore been the subject of multiple government crackdowns and investigations.

The industry is also perceived to be unprofitable lately, having underwent a three-year period of price decline and a slumping property market.

This has prompted companies to tighten their budgets and avoid rolling out pay increases and bonuses, with some companies even issuing pay cuts.

Imposition

The government is also seeking to diversify revenue sources due to a decline in tax collection and land sales. The pay cap could potentially alleviate some of the fiscal stress the government is facing.

A few Chinese-listed companies have been asked to pay overdue taxes dating back three decades as the authorities strengthen tax enforcement.

A source told SCMP that some big financial companies have stepped up scrutiny of expense reimbursements as a guise for salary payments in an attempt to circumvent regulatory oversight.

Another said that the public's perception on the cuts and caps were "positive".

Top photo via Hanny Naibaho/Unsplash

Pëtr Kropotkin

Communism and the Wage System

COMMUNISM AND THE WAGE SYSTEM

[Communism implies expropriation and a complete denial of the principle of private ownership, whereas Social Democracy implies only the transfer of the ownership of land and certain portions of capital to the State and by maintaining the wage system maintains the principle of private property and distribution according to deserts,]

I.---EXPROPRIATION.

Few Socialists doubt that if all owners of land and manufacturers, all shareholders of mines and railways emigrated to-morrow to New Guinea to "civilise" the Papua, railways would run, crops be grown and manufactures of necessaries carried on nevertheless. We are agreed as to the possibility of producing all necessaries for a community without having the soil, the machinery, the capital in short, in the hands of private owners. We all believe that free organisation of workers would be able to carry on production on the farm and in the factory, as well, and probably much better, than it is conducted now under the individual ownership of the capitalist.

But the same unanimity does not prevail with reference to the question: How would the workers share the produce of their labour? How would they exchange it? How many yards of cotton would be exchanged for one pair of boots? How many pairs of boots for a quarter of wheat? And so on.

To this question various Socialist schools give such various answers that the workers who are not very much accustomed to the economical slang used by these schools, are often at a loss to understand what is advocated by the different sections of the great Socialist movement. Let us try to throw some light on the question.

First of all let me tell out with full frankness what I believe to be the real cause of these discrepancies of opinion. It seems to me chiefly due to the ambiguous words which Socialists have introduced in order to please too many persons at once, including the capital owners. It is due to a want of frankness in expressing our thoughts and to the ambiguous formulas which we often use.

You often hear Socialists talking about Nationalisation of Land, Nationalisation of Capital, and you know that anything can be understood by these words, invented not distinctly to set forth an idea, but to conceal its real meaning.

Let us drop these words and plainly say what we want, what we expect to obtain. It will be the first step towards understanding one another better.

We Anarchists, we use the word expropriation. And by expropriation we mean that as soon as possible---and we hope it will be possible soon---the nation, the territory, or the commune, which have understood the necessity of this action, shall take possession of all the soil, the dwelling-houses, the manufactures, the mines and the means of communication, and organise themselves in order to share in the most equitable way all the riches accumulated within the commune, the region, or the nation by the work of the past and present generations.

Of course, when we see a peasant who is in possession of just the amount of land he can cultivate, we do not think it reasonable to turn him off his little farm. He exploits nobody, and nobody would have the right to interfere with his work. But if he possesses under the capitalist law more than he can cultivate himself, we consider that we must not give him the right of keeping that soil for himself, leaving it uncultivated when it might be cultivated by others, or of making others cultivate it for his benefit.

Again, when we see a family inhabiting a house which affords them just as much space as under present average conditions of life, are considered necessary for that number of people, why should we interfere with that family and turn them out of their house? But when we see a palace inhabited by a Marquis and a Marchioness, while thousands of honest workers live in slums, we consider that the community has a right to interfere, and to see how far the palace may be rendered habitable for those over-crowded honest workers. Nay, we suppose that when the Marchioness can find no servants to keep her household in a palace, she herself will prefer a workman's house to her ball rooms which would soon be covered with mould and dust in the absence of housemaids.

And finally when we see a Sheffield cutler, or a Leeds clothier working with their own tools or handloom, we see no use in taking the tools or the handloom to give them to another worker. The clothier or cutler exploit nobody. But when we see a factory whose owners claim to keep to themselves the instruments of labour used by 1400 girls, and consequently exact from the labour of these girls the 22 1/2 per cent profit of which we have heard of late, we consider that the people of London are fully entitled to take possession of that factory and to let the girls produce matches for themselves and the rest of the community---a most useful product I dare say---and take what they need of house, room, food and clothing in return. As to the present owners of the factory, they may be invited each to make---not five gross of boxes a day---that would be too cruel---but, say one or two gross of those boxes.

Such are our ideas, and we suppose that the word expropriation tells all that very plainly, and needs but few commentaries to be understood.

Now, the first question which we must ask our Socialist friends from other schools than ours, is this: Are they prepared to endorse the above ideas of expropriation? And if not, to what extent are they prepared to abolish the private ownership of capital. At least, to what extent do they aim at abolishing it?

What may happen during a revolutionary period---I mean during a period when old and rotten institutions are undergoing a rapid remodeling---what may happen during such a period? How far the reconstruction will go, nobody can foretell. But what we are bound to know is, How far are we ourselves prepared to go? For what shall we strive? For the expropriation on a grand scale of which I have just spoken, or for a few partial measures which may or may not be an approach to that.

We must exactly make up our minds upon that subject, because as long as we have not done so, it is no use to discuss about the remuneration of labour.

If somebody says, for instance, as many collectivists do, that the dwelling-houses must remain the private property of their present owners, then he is bound to advocate also the maintenance of the wage-system in one shape or another. The owner of the house will not permit a worker to dwell in his house unless the worker pays the owner in some kind of money---gold, bank-notes, or hours-of-labour cheques--- which the owner may be able to exchange against any commodities he takes: Cape diamonds, Siberian sables, or fresh strawberries in January.

Maintain private ownership in any of the four great departments of necessaries without which man cannot work---dwellings, clothes, food, and instruments of labour---and you are compelled to maintain the wage-system. And it would be a sheer loss of time if we Anarchist-Communists were to discuss with you about the advantages of Communism above the wage-system, as long as you think it necessary to maintain in any form the private ownership of the necessaries for production.

With those who advocate the maintenance of private ownership, the discussion must first turn upon the advantages and disadvantages of that ownership. If a Land or Capital Nationaliser says that the organisation of society he will advocate will be the renting of soil, manufactures, and dwelling-houses by the State to private persons, or to associations of workers, then we shall lose our time in discussing how the produce of labour must be shared. The wage-system must he maintained under that system of private ownership and State property.

II.---THE NEW WAGE-SYSTEM; OR, PAYMENT BY RESULTS

UNDER the Social Democratic Commonwealth, "productive workers will each receive for every day's common labour a check entitling him to one day's common labour in return less his share of the impost (tax for rent) . . . Those engaged in unproductive vocations will receive similar salaries out of the rent or impost fund.... A day's work will mean the simplest work of average efficiency of a normal working day.... Both professional and skilled labour is multiplied common labour." Both are common labour plus the years of apprenticeship required to learn them, and will be remunerated at a proportionately higher rate. "The members of each branch of industry will be entitled as a body to the proceeds of all the labour they have embodied in the product they create, and that they distribute amongst themselves just as they please, subject to appeal to the commonwealth (or state) as arbitrator."

Such is the outline of the Social Democratic wage system as sketched out by Gronlund in his 'Co-operative Commonwealth.' It is a renewed attempt to secure to every man the fruits of his own labour, of substantially the same character as Owen's labour notes and Proudhon's mutual banking. A system that at first sight appears charmingly simple, but on a nearer view bristles with difficulties.

In the first place its seeming equality exists only on paper. The distinction between skilled and unskilled labour is treacherous und misleading. It would tend only to create a workmen's and scientists' aristocracy over the heads of the toiling masses. Already in the industrial countries of Western Europe we see class distinctions amongst the workers growing sharper and more accentuated. The distinction acknowledged by the Social Democratic state between skilled and unskilled labour would but serve to increase an existing evil.

This is so self-evident that many collectivists have been compelled to deny the distinction between skilled and unskilled labour and accept "equality of wages" as a watchword. Every one's hour of labour, they now say, is to be considered equal to every other person's hour of labour, regardless of length of apprenticeship.

Quite right. But if you maintain the wage-system, do you know who will be the greatest adversaries of such a system of equality of wages? The skilled workmen, and all that immense class of workers who stand between the middle class and the labourer. Shall we deny that fact? Shall we imitate the ostrich who conceals its head in the sand in order not to see danger? And can we expect other results? Because, as soon as you try to introduce any exact valuation of the services rendered by everybody, you proclaim that services rendered to society can be precisely valued and ought to be paid according to their importance.

You introduce the distinction of quantity by saying that two hours of labour are worth more than one hour. How can you expect that men will not also measure the quality of the work and take account of its productivity? Once you say that two hours of labour are worth twice as much as one hour, you must be prepared to see men discriminating the amount of nervous energy spent during the two hours of skill, of brain energy, as well as the length of the apprenticeship required by each kind of work.

We are told that the average work of the average man is to be the criterion. But the average man does not exist, and real men of flesh and bone differ from one another by the amount of their needs. There is the young unmarried woman and the mother of a family of five or six children. For the employer of our days there is no consideration whatever of the needs of the materfamilias as compared with those of the girl of 19. If the girl can produce more than the mother of a family, she will be paid more by the capitalist employer. And the labour cheque of the economist acts in the same way, he does not care about the needs of the family, and pays twice as much to the girl who has worked twice as many hours as the mother, in total disregard of the fact that for society as a whole the mother is giving twice as much labour as the young girl. But we know where that system lands us. The family reduced to misery is precisely what the capitalist wants. A well-to-do workman does not suit his book, because it is the misery of the masses which makes the riches of the rich. Mr. Booth reckons that there are no less than one million poor in London, ready to work at any price, and therefore there are in London so many Bryant and Mays and so many Maples, who accumulate their hundreds of thousands.

You may say, of course, that all kinds of provisions may be made to enable the mother to bring up her children. You may quote the French municipal councils which already supply gratuitous food to all school children. But that is Communistic; and so, without perceiving it yourselves you advocate Communism. Communism as a corrective to the false system which you advocate. Were it not a hundred times better openly to say that there can be no equitable organisation of society without Communism?

In fact, each useful work performed, be it in the field, or in the factory, or on a railway engine, is a service rendered to the community. And any attempt at measuring and valuing these services necessarily will be a failure.

Let us take a mine. Here you have miners extracting the coal from the seam, men and boys conducting the waggons to the bottom of the shaft, and the engineer who manages the engine for lifting the cages with coal and men. He has in his hand the handle of the engine, and for hours keeps his eye on an apparatus on the wall which shows him at what height or depth is the cage which runs at railway speed from the bottom of the shaft to its mouth and back. A second of negligence and the cage runs to the top of the wheel and destroys the whole machinery. Or let this man lose two or three seconds on each movement of the handle which he uses to stop the cage or to reverse its movement, and the daily output is reduced by from 5O to 100 tons. Well it seems as if he is the man who in the whole mine renders the greatest service. But will you value and remunerate his service ten times more highly than the service of the miner who is down in the mine and at every moment risks his life? Or, will you consider the man who gives the bell-signal for the movements of the cage as rendering the most useful service? Or may be the mining engineer who by making a slight error in his computations will lose the seam and make you extract stone instead of coal?

Whose services are greater? Those of the doctor at a typhoid patient's bed, or those of the nurse? Those of Eddison, or of the man in his laboratory who has discovered the best material for making the cylinder of the phonograph? Those of the engine-driver or of the signalman?

Look round you. Analyse each work performed in society, however small, and compare it with thousands of other kinds of work done, and try to find out the measure, the true value of each respective work. I defy you to find it out.

Of course there are some sorts of work which at a given moment are more necessary than others. We may say, for instance, that so much of bread, meat, butter, tea, sugar, salt, and so on, must be reckoned as absolutely necessary; so much clothing and 80 many cubic feet of house room. And we may say that musical instruments and performances, books of fiction and science, newspapers, works of art and telescopes and microscopes, are so many necessities, but less urgent than the preceding. And we may therefore agree, all of us, to work five hours a day on primary necessaries first, leaving the studies in art, science, and literature to the good will of each person, after having performed the most necessary work. Each community of peasants coming to cultivate a virgin soil would do this by free agreement. We see it constantly in Siberian colonies. The colonists say: Now we must first till and sow so many acres of land, and build our houses; and as the time presses, we must work, say, 1w hours a day until it is done. Later on, they say: Now let us agree to work 5 hours a day for our common needs, and in the rest of his time everybody is free to do what he likes: to embroider towels, or to decorate his house; to read the Bible, or to play the violin.

I understand that a community might thus agree to work 80 many hours for necessaries, and to specify what must be considered as necessary at a given moment. When the crop is going to be spoiled from want of harvesting, the most necessary work is to get the crop in. And when there is an epidemic of scarlet fever, the most necessary work may be nursing end the cleaning of the sewers. One year, gardening will be the great work of the season, and another year the manufacture of rails may be considered as the most necessary work. That can be agreed upon. But I cannot understand how it is possible to measure and to value in any kind of money the services rendered to society by those who take part in these various kinds of work. The only equitable means of sharing the produce of common work is according to everybody's needs. And that method of distribution is so inherent in human nature that we see it applied everywhere where individual appropriation does not prevent it.

Our friend Cafiero has once pointed out that in the family which shares in common the produce of the work of all its members, the sharing according to needs is the rule. When bread and meat are in plenty, then everybody consumes just as much as he likes. But when there is scarcity, then the best piece is given not to him who has earned most, but on the contrary, to the feeblest; to the child who earns nothing yet, or to the old who earn nothing more.

And this principle is so natural that, as soon as men are brought by stress of circumstances to do something in common, forgetting mine and thine, they immediately resort to needs as the measure of each one's share. Nay, one of the most striking features of even the present society is that it so much feels the impossibility of living under purely individualist principles, that it constantly resorts to communist principles in order to correct the vices of the individualist organisation.

Take, for instance, the friendly societies which assure to every member a certain income in case of inability to work. The instalments paid to the society are alike for all members. But the payments they receive in ease of disease or old age, are distributed according to needs.

Take public hospitals where for a uniform payment, or without any payment at all, each patient is again treated according to his needs.

During the earlier part of the medieval times each commune practised communist principles to a very great extent. The produce of the labour of every gild was sold by the Commune or, later on, by the gild as a whole, and the gild took measures to secure the existence of each of its members. The agricultural commune also undertook to repair to a certain amount the evil done by the individualist system of payment by coming to the aid of each member according to his needs. The system has degenerated into the Poor Law of our times, which also is nothing but a corrective to the abominable conditions created by individualism.

In fact, millions and millions of people are now living under practically communistic conditions. When the Russian mir work in common on some public piece of land, they share the produce of the common labour according to needs, admitting as a foregone conclusion that in common work each worker has done his best.

And even the individualistic society of Western Europe admits that principle, as soon as work is done in common. We see it in besieged cities during war, or amongst the Swiss peasants when they go woodcutting. If to-morrow some such circumstances occurred as would require an appeal to all the capacities of the Londoners for some public work, be persuaded that they would respond to the necessity, and immediately they would admit that the produce of their common toil must be shared according to every one's needs, not according to every one's share of work.

Work in common, with common tools, in a common building, and for the Commonwealth's sake, is a new form of work---an old one, I rather ought to say, from which humanity has been diverted by capitalism,--- a new departure, at any rate, for the communities of our time.

This new organisation of work requires unavoidably a new form of political organisation which cannot be the Representative Government of the capitalist period.

And it requires also a new organisation of consumption, not a mere modification of the wage-system. The wage-system came into existence with Capitalism; it was its corollary or rather the very means of maintaining it. The wage-system means private ownership and private possession of the instruments of labour.

We are therefore of the opinion that those Socialists who refuse to recognise private ownership, but maintain the State, Representative Government, and the Wage-system, either commit a capital error in not perceiving that the wage-system (and representative government too) cannot be reconciled with the abolition of private property; or else, they do not foresee the abolition of private property to the extent we do, and, I must say, to the extent to which the workers mean to abolish it.

Permit me to conclude by a remark. As far as my own experience goes, I have always observed that workers with difficulty understand the possibility of a wage-system of labour-cheques and like artificial inventions of Socialists. But I have been struck on the contrary by the easiness with which they always accept Communist principles. If they do not always fully express and advocate these principles it is chiefly because they are always told by leaders whom they trust, that Communist principles are not applicable, that intermediate stages must be gone through, and the like. That has been my personal impression, and the other day while looking through the new edition of the Manifesto of the Communist party published in 1848, I found a confirmation of that impression.

Indeed Engels writes in the preface to the Manifesto that before '48 the Socialists were all kind of middle-class dreamers who proposed all kinds of palliative measures; while the mass of the workers were Communists. It seems to me that the same holds good for the workers at the present moment. They were and have remained Communists, and Communism is precisely the society for which, with more or less complete consciousness they look in the future.

In doing so they are quite right. Those who have let themselves be persuaded by bourgeois economists that articles are exchanged according to the amount of labour necessary for their production, may fancy that a system of labour-cheques would afford an outlet from the present difficulties. But the mass of the people will never be induced to agree with that system. Such a system could not act for even a few days after the houses, the soil, the factories, the mines, and the means of communication have been recognised as common property

The very necessities of supplying food, clothes and shelter to all members pf the community as soon as a revolutionary movement shall stop trade and commerce, will reduce the workers to resort at once to some

sort of partial Communism as far as the necessities of existence are concerned. And this first step towards Communism will compel them to go further in the same direction.

They will be compelled to abandon the wage-system under whatever new forms it may be reintroduced. They will be compelled to proclaim that the needs of each member of the community must be the real measure of his share of the common produce.

Robert Reich: The Pile-On – OpEd

 July 7, 2024 

By Robert Reich

Joe Biden is being treated far worse than Donald Trump by the two institutions critical for deciding the outcome of the 2024 election: the political parties and the media. 

The Republican Party has closed ranks around Trump — despite the fact he’s a convicted felon, twice-impeached con man, sexual abuser, fraudulent businessman, self-described aspiring dictator for a day, pathological liar, and ringleader of an attempted coup against the United States. 

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is in a panic about Biden. Many party insiders are trying to force Biden out now, at the last minute, because he had a bad debate performance. 

Democratic leaders in Congress are telling their members they should “feel free to take whatever position about Biden’s candidacy is best for their district,” according to people involved in the conversations. For some, this means blasting Biden’s debate performance and calling on him to withdraw or suggesting he seriously consider it. 

The media is just as bad. It has normalized Trump’s nonstop lies during the debate as “old news.” Rather than treat those lies as further evidence of his proven dishonesty and criminality — and emphasize that another term with him at the helm will ruin the country — the media has focused on Biden’s halting speech and vacant gaze as evidence he’s incapable of running the country. 

Almost every member of the chattering class says Biden must go. None says Trump must go. 

They say Biden has another — perhaps “last” — chance this evening when he’s interviewed by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. 

But even if Biden is coherent tonight, I doubt it will stop the uproar because the uproar feeds on itself: Some of it may be responsible for Biden’s waning polls. If Biden decides to stay in the race, the tumult will hurt his chances even more. 

All of this demonstrates the discipline of authoritarianism and the messiness of democracy. But that’s the nature of these two systems. Authoritarian fascism, such as Trump and his coterie are now peddling, is even more disciplined. 

All over the world (except in the UK), voters are choosing discipline over messiness, authoritarianism over democracy. 

To restate the obvious, we are living in dangerous times.

• This article was published at Robert Reich’s Substack

US President Joe Biden. Photo Credit: Edited White House photo by Oliver Contreras

Robert Reich

Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies, and writes at robertreich.substack.com. Reich served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written fifteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and"Beyond Outrage," and, his most recent, "The Common Good," which is available in bookstores now. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, "Inequality For All." He's co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism," which is streaming now.

Tens of thousands fill Madrid with colour for gay pride parade

People attend the annual LGBT Pride Parade in Madrid, Spain, on July 6, 2024.
PHOTO: Reuters
PUBLISHED ONJULY 06, 2024 

MADRID - Tens of thousands of people marched and danced on Saturday (July 6) along the main streets of Madrid, filling the Spanish capital city with coloured flags for the main LGBTI pride parade in the country.

"This is wonderful, I think this is the only place where people are truly free," Maria Alvarez, 43, told Reuters.

Through the slogan "Education, rights and peace: Pride that transforms,", the parade's organisers called for education in diversity as a "key tool" to fight against LGTBIphobia.

Representatives of the coalition in government, as well as some members from the main opposition party, attended an event full of music and floats, but also demands.

"Far-right is always against progression and the opposite should always be supported, society should move forward," said Rober, 37, a hairdresser.


WORLD
Benedict backed me up on rights for LGBT couples, Pope Francis says


Protesters and organisers also called for an end to the war in Gaza.

Source: Reuters

Women fight Tokyo election in male-dominated Japan

By AFP
July 6, 2024

Polls suggest Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike (C at a campaign rally Saturday) will win a third term running the Japanese capital - Copyright AFP Yuichi YAMAZAKI
Kyoko HASEGAWA

Polls opened Sunday to elect a new Tokyo governor with incumbent Yuriko Koike challenged by opposition figure Renho, two prominent women in Japan’s male-dominated political sphere.

Japan has never had a woman prime minister and a large majority of lawmakers are men, but Tokyo, accounting for a tenth of the national population and a fifth of the economy, has been run since 2016 by former television anchor Koike, 71.

While few now tout the former defence and environment minister as a possible future prime minister, as many once did, polls suggest that the media-savvy conservative will win a third straight term in the metropolis of 14 million people.

This will be some relief ahead of national elections due by late 2025 to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of deeply unpopular Prime Minister Fumio Kishida which backs Koike, even though she broke away from the LDP in 2017.

Kishida, whose public support rate has been dwindling to around 20 percent, partly due to a political funds scandal revealed late last year, will also face the LDP leadership election later this year.

The Tokyo vote comes after new government data showed the birth rate hit a record low of 1.20 last year, with Tokyo’s figure 0.99 — the first Japan region to fall below one.

– Pledges of family support –

Both Koike and her nearest rival Renho, who goes by one name, have pledged to expand support for parenting, with Koike promising subsidised epidurals.

“After having their first child, I hear people say they don’t want to experience that pain again,” Koike said, according to local media.

“I want people to see childbirth and raising children as a happiness, not a risk,” said the incumbent, who has campaigned with an AI-version of herself.

Renho, meanwhile, pledged to support young people “and expand their life choices.”

“I will implement genuine long-term fertility measures,” said Renho, who is backed by Japan’s main opposition parties.

“I will also realise transparent fiscal reforms, where everyone can check the situation.”

A dark horse in the race could be independent candidate Shinji Ishimaru, 41, a former mayor of Akitakata in western Japan, recent polls also suggested, with some swing voters preferring him over Koike and Renho.

“If you look away, interest-based politics and pork-barrel projects will rear their ugly heads,” he said in a speech Saturday, stressing his financial expertise as a former banker.

A record 56 people are standing in the election, not all of them serious, with one dressing as “The Joker” and calling for polygamy to be legalised. Others are campaigning for more golf, poker or just to advertise their premises in the red-light district.

Local media speculate that the turnout may be up given that early votes cast through July 5 reached 1.65 million, up 20 percent from 1.38 million in 2020.
Overall turnout was 55 percent in the last vote, down from nearly 60 percent when Koike was first elected in 2016.

With nearly nude women, the Joker and pets, a Tokyo election descends into madness

By Mari Yamaguchi
July 7, 2024 — 
Tokyo: 

Tokyo voters are electing a new governor this weekend, but residents say personal publicity stunts have overtaken serious campaigning to a degree never seen before, with nearly nude women in suggestive poses, pets, an AI character and a man practising his golf swing.

It’s impossible to ignore. With internet campaigning still relatively new, candidates traditionally use designated election billboards — more than 14,000 of them — to promote themselves. The makeshift billboards are set up only during the short campaign season and are valuable space for exposure in a city already crammed with advertising.

A person looks at an election poster board for Tokyo gubernatorial election.CREDIT:AP

But this year’s wackiness — notably from non-candidates renting the billboard space — is proving exceptional, and residents have flooded election offices with angry calls and messages.

“They are distasteful. As a Japanese citizen I feel embarrassed, as I see many foreign visitors pass by those billboards and they must wonder what’s going on,” said Mayumi Noda, an office worker. “As a voter, I think it’s outrageous and disrespectful to the other candidates who are seriously competing.”

A record 56 candidates, including incumbent Governor Yuriko Koike, who seeks her third four-year term, are running in the election. Many of the candidates are fringe figures or influencers seeking even more exposure. They include a man dressed as The Joker, who supports freedom of sexual expression, including allowing polygamy to help Japan’s falling birth rate.

Tokyo, a city of 13.5 million, has outsized political and cultural power in Japan. Its budget equals that of some nations, and its policies impact the national government.

The Joker, who is running as a candidate in this weekend’s governor election in Tokyo.

CREDIT:YOUTUBE

Hours after official campaigning began on June 20, residents faced a stunning array of posters. For some, it’s not even clear whether the person behind it is a candidate or simply seeks exposure.

One billboard featured racy posters for an adult entertainment shop. Another had an almost naked female model in a suggestive pose with a message that said “Stop restricting free speech.” Others showed photos of a pet dog or a female kickboxer. One candidate called AI Mayor used an image of a metallic humanoid.

Campaign video clips have also drawn criticism. One shows female candidate Airi Uchino saying, “I’m so cute; please watch my campaign broadcast,” and repeating her name in a high-pitched, anime-style voice while asking voters to be friends on social media. She then strips down to a beige-coloured tube top.

In another video, a male candidate who represents what he calls a “golf party” talks about his policies while occasionally practising his golf swing.

Under a 1950 public office election law, candidates in Japan are free to say anything as long as they do not support another candidate or carry obviously false or libellous content.

This year’s escalation is partly linked to an emerging conservative political party that has fielded 24 candidates for governor. Since each of the election billboards across Tokyo has 48 squares for candidates to paste their posters, the party is renting out half the slots to anyone who pays, including non-candidates.

That kind of unexpected approach isn’t regulated.

The rental cost starts at 25,000 yen (about $230) per location per day, said party leader Takashi Tachibana.

“We have to be wacky or we don’t get media attention,” Tachibana said in a YouTube comment posted on the party website.

“The point is to make immoral and outrageous actions ... to get attention,” said Ryosuke Nishida, a Nihon University professor and expert in politics and media. “The reason why some people find these performances amusing is because they think their objections are not taken into consideration by politicians and existing parties or reflected in their politics.”

At a park near Tokyo’s busy Shimbashi train station, passersby glanced at a campaign billboard with half of its slots filled with dog posters.

“I don’t decide who to vote for by looking at the faces on their posters,” said Kunihiko Imada, a plumber. “But I still think these billboards are being misused.”

AP, Bloomberg

RIP

Titanic and Avatar producer Jon Landau dies aged 63

By Kathryn Armstrong, BBC News

Getty Images
Jon Landau's career spanned several decades

Jon Landau - the Oscar-winning producer of some of the world's highest-grossing movies of all time, including Titanic and Avatar - has died aged 63.

Landau, who was the long-time producing partner of filmmaker James Cameron, reportedly died on Friday after living with cancer for more than a year.

His sister Tina confirmed his death on social media, calling him "the best brother a girl could ever dream of".

"My heart is broken but also bursting with pride & gratitude for his most extraordinary life, and the love and gifts he gave me - and all who knew him or his films," she wrote.

Landau was the son of Hollywood producers Ely and Edie Landau and for a time was an executive at the film production company 20th Century Fox, overseeing films including The Last Of The Mohicans and Die Hard 2.

Alongside Cameron, he helped to create the 1997 hit Titanic, which was the first film to make it past the $1bn mark at the global box office.

Later films Avatar and its sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, which were released in 2009 and 2022 respectively, went on to break Titanic's record.

Landau also co-produced other hit films including Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Dick Tracy, and held a management position in Cameron's production company Lightstorm Entertainment.

Following news of Landau's death, Cameron told The Hollywood Reporter that "a great producer and a great human being has left us".

"Jon Landau believed in the dream of cinema. He believed that film is the ultimate human art form, and to make films you have to first be human yourself," he said.

"He will be remembered as much for his vast generosity of spirit as for the movies themselves.”

Director Sir Peter Jackson and his screenwriter wife Fran Walsh, whose visual effects company was used for the Avatar films, said in a statement that they were "devastated by the loss of Jon Landau".

"Jon brought unparalleled passion to the projects he worked on and his influence will continue to inspire for years to come."

The actor Zoe Saldaña, who starred in the Avatar films, wrote a message to Landau on Instagram, saying that his death was "hitting really hard".

"Your wisdom and support shaped so many of us in ways we will always be grateful for."

Jon Landau, award-winning producer of Avatar and Titanic, dies at 63



US producer Jon Landau (L) speaks as Canadian director/producer James Cameron looks on as they are honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at TCL Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California, on 12 January 2023. Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP

Jon Landau, an American producer best known for producing Titanic and the Avatar film series, has died aged 63.

The Oscar-winning producer died of cancer on Saturday (NZT), reported Variety, leaving behind his wife Julie Landau and their sons Jamie and Jodie Landau.

Landau worked closely with director James Cameron over many years and the pair's collaborative efforts saw them make cinema history, with Titanic becoming the first film to top US$1 billion at the box office in 1997.

The duo twice managed to significantly break their box office record with Avatar, released in 2009, and its sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, released in 2022.

Cameron and Landau's Titanic and Avatar films remain three of the four highest-grossing films ever made (Avengers: Endgame is the second highest-grossing film).

Landau entered the film industry in the 1980s and served as a production manager. Climbing the ladder, he was promoted and became the executive vice president of feature film production at 20th Century Fox at only 29 years old.

He oversaw projects across the company, including Power Rangers, Die Hard 2, and Cameron's own 1994 film True Lies.

Cameron shared a script of his project Planet Ice with Landau after he quit 20th Century Fox. Landau signed on and Planet Ice eventually became Titanic.

Despite the challenges involved in its creation, Titanic was a commercial success and received numerous accolades, including 11 Oscars.


Landau and Cameron's Titanic became one of the biggest movies of all time. Photo: 7e Art/20th Century Fox / Photo12 via AFP

"I can't act and I can't compose and I can't do visual effects, so I guess that's why I'm producing," Landau said on stage in his acceptance speech for the Best Picture award at the 1998 Oscars.

Landau and Cameron continued to work together after Titanic was released.

Landau joined Cameron's production company Lightstorm Entertainment as chief operating officer, and the pair's next big break was Cameron's visionary project Avatar.

The cult sci-fi movie, produced using industry-leading CGI and 3D technology, smashed Titanic's box office record and remains the highest-grossing film ever at US$2.92b (NZ$4.73b).

The success of Avatar continued years later when Cameron and Landau released its highly-anticipated sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, which made over US$2.32b (NZ$3.78b) at the box office.

Landau spoke of his time working in the film industry in a 2022 interview with The Talks.

"I could never just sit at a desk and sign off on anything. Not just as a producer but in life.

"I want to participate, I want to have a voice, I want to have an influence. I want to be able to inspire people to go beyond what they think their own capabilities are, for them to feel pride in what we're doing.

"I think that's a very big thing. I never want to be that guy just at a desk anywhere in life."

Sir Peter Jackson Photo: AFP / Getty

Sir Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh released a statement addressing Landau's death. Their company, Wētā FX, created the visual effects for the Avatar film series.

"We speak for the entire Wētā FX team when we say we are devastated by the loss of Jon Landau.

"Jon was not only a monumental figure in the film industry but also a cherished collaborator and friend. [He] brought unparalleled passion to the projects he worked on and his influence will continue to inspire for years to come.

"Our deepest condolences are with Jon's family and loved ones, as well as Jim and the Lightstorm Entertainment team."

Alan Bergman, the co-chair of Disney Entertainment, also shared in a statement: "Jon was a visionary whose extraordinary talent and passion brought some of the most unforgettable stories to life on the big screen.

"His remarkable contributions to the film industry have left an indelible mark, and he will be profoundly missed."

* This story was first published in the New Zealand Herald.

Activists hail Sierra Leone child marriage ban, urge action on female genital mutilation

AMERIKA STILL ALLOWS 

CHILD (RAPE) MARRIAGE

Agence France-Presse
July 7, 2024

(AFP)

Sierra Leone this week adopted a landmark law banning child marriage — a move heralded by rights groups and foreign partners but leaving some activists demanding more action to end pervasive female genital mutilation (FGM) in the country.

Hundreds of thousands of girls are married before turning 18 in the West African nation, where a persistently patriarchal society puts women at risk of multiple forms of gender-based violence.

Sierra Leone has some of the highest rates of child marriage, teenage pregnancy and maternal mortality in the world.

In a major step forward, the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act criminalises marrying girls below 18 with jail terms of at least 15 years or a fine of more than $2,000.

It also bans men from living with underage girls and sets out a compensation package for those who are married or fall pregnant before turning 18.

But the law — championed by Sierra Leone’s First Lady Fatima Maada Bio — remains silent on the harmful practice of FGM, which many see as deeply intertwined with the marrying of young girls.

“We’re saying (the law) is good work, but… you cannot be blinded to the fact that there is a practice that still perpetuates child marriage,” said Josephine Kamara, 31, advocacy director at women and girls’ activism organisation Purposeful.

“If you refuse to solve it, and if you’re silenced about it, then any action to end child marriage might just be lip service,” she told AFP in a phone interview.

FGM involves the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs, and can lead to serious health problems including infections, bleeding, infertility and complications in childbirth.

In Sierra Leone, 83 percent of women aged between 15 and 49 have undergone the practice, according to a 2019 Demographic Health Survey.

“The cutting of the clitoris symbolises that girls have now gone through a rite of passage from girlhood to womanhood,” Kamara said.

“That rite of passage says even if you’re seven years old, if you’ve gone through that process, you’re now seen as a woman”.

‘Marketplace for marriage’

While activists largely praised the child marriage ban, the lack of impetus behind ending FGM left some worried about mixed messaging from the government.

“It’s very confusing,” said Alimatu Dimonekene, 54, an FGM survivor and campaigner, who explained the two practices often went hand in hand.

“The reason in Sierra Leone girls are cut so early is because (the families) want them to get married,” she told AFP.

“Sometimes the families say, ‘Oh we found her a suitor or the suitor is paying for us to do the FGM’.

“Usually… that child is married off the next day to whoever, because it’s the same traditional leaders.”

Kamara also expressed concern about the implementation of the child marriage ban, particularly in rural areas, if communities were still able to carry out FGM.

“It’s really conflicting information we’re sending,” she said.

“We’re saying no more marriage, but then we’re leaving the institution that is a marketplace for marriage.”

Bans on both FGM and child marriage had already been included in a sweeping Child Rights Act, but the legislation has been stalled in parliament.

The activists AFP spoke to said they felt the child marriage issue had been cherry picked from the bill by legislators to avoid addressing FGM.

“We know why they’re refusing to talk about it, (FGM) marks itself in culture: ‘this is our culture, this is our practice’,” said Kamara.

“But ain’t nothing cultural about cutting clitorises, it’s a human rights violation,” she added.

The fear of criticising such a pervasive practice is what silences many legislators, said Rugiatu Turay, 50, the founder of anti-FGM organisation Amazonian Initiative Movement.

Turay herself underwent FGM at the age of 11, suffered severe bleeding and lost a cousin to the practice.

“Ending child marriage alone will not stop, will not reduce the practice of FGM,” she said.

“(Legislators) need to look at a holistic approach at ending the suffering of children, not separating one issue from the other.”

One of Ibiza's original ravers says laws will never stop party-goers taking drugs

UK PARTY ISLAND OF THE SIXTIES WAS REVIVED IN THE NINTIES

Party promoter Wayne Anthony arrived in Ibiza in 1988, at the same time as dance music and the party drug ecstasy. Despite hallucinating badly enough to make him give up the lifestyle forever, he says laws will never stop clubbers taking drugs.


By Mickey Carroll, reporter
Sunday 7 July 2024 

Wayne Anthony in Ibiza during the filming for Ibiza Narcos. Pic: Sky UK

One of the founding members of Ibiza's party scene says no amount of legislation will stop party-goers taking drugs.

"I don't think you can control these things," said former party promoter Wayne Anthony. He arrived in Ibiza in 1988 and began setting up club nights and raves in some of the island's most iconic venues.

In the years that followed, the sleepy Spanish island turned into a raver's haven of clubbing and hedonism, with party drugs like ecstasy commonly found.

"What Ibiza represented was this beautiful, hot island which was visually stunning and we knew you could party there quite legally," said Wayne.

"You didn't have to look over your shoulder. You could just be as free as you possibly could be."

That freedom came with a price. Along with the lavish clubs, all-day-benders and hot Spanish sun came drug cartels and crime.

Wayne Anthony in Ibiza. Pic: Sky UK

Their increasing hold on Ibiza is the subject of a new documentary series by Sky.

Ibiza Narcos explores how the island transformed into one the world's most vibrant party capitals, "fuelled by a dangerous and lucrative drugs trade which drew as many criminals to its shores as it did party animals".

Wayne, one of the contributors to the documentary, spoke to Sky News ahead of its release.

"I'm not going to sit here and say the cartels aren't there. They are all there and they've been there from the '90s," said Wayne. But he said most people tried to ignore the organised crime going on around them.

According to Wayne, clubbers usually took the approach of: "'Give me 10 E's [ecstasy tablets] and just f*** off,' type thing, 'I don't want to know what your life is'."

Image:Behind the scenes of the filming of Ibiza Narcos with Wayne Anthony. Pic: Sky UK

Hallucinating giant spiders

Although he described the Balearic island as the "motherland", it was eventually a bad experience with drugs that convinced Wayne it was time to leave Ibiza.

He'd been partying for days when he realised he'd taken too many drugs.

"I was phoning people in London [saying]: 'I'm f***ing out of my mind. What can I do?'" he said.

A friend told him to drink cough medicine, dangerous advice that he now says could have killed him.

"I saw the worst hallucination I've ever seen in all of my life. I ended up locking myself in the villa with all the shutters down. [I was] in one room with a baseball bat, with things all mounted at the door to stop giant spiders getting into the room."

When he sobered up, he realised he had "come to the end" of his party life on the island.

"I never looked back. I never took another drug. I got away from the club world."

'I don't think you're going to be able to stop it'

Despite his life-changing experience, he doesn't think criminalising drugs is a good idea - or particularly effective.

"If you're old enough to vote for who's going to be a world leader, if you're old enough to put your name down on debt for 25 years, I feel like you should be old enough to govern what you put inside your own body, you know?" said Wayne.

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When asked if he thought stronger laws may have stopped drugs taking such a hold in Ibiza, he said they wouldn't have.

"When you have these movements that are driven by music, that are driven by art, that are driven by fashion and drugs are a part of it, whatever you put up, whatever boundaries, whatever laws, I don't think you're going to be able to stop it."

Ibiza Narcos is streaming on Sky Documentaries from 7 July.