Project 2025 Isn’t Just Anti-Abortion. It Attacks Surrogacy, IVF, Contraception.

The right’s 922-page policy agenda for a Trump presidency offers an extremist plan for rolling back reproductive rights.

By Eleanor J. Bader

July 28, 2024

Source: TruthOut


From left to right: Cody Carnley of Crenshaw County, Alabama; Carrie McNair of Mobile; Veronica Wehby-Upchurch of Birmingham and Lindsey Shaw of Birmingham hold signs at a rally in aupport of legislation to protect in vitro fertilization on Feb. 28, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

Early childhood educator Sammi Gerken, a married mother of a 3-year-old, became a surrogate in late 2022 and calls the experience “rewarding on all fronts.” “I was proud and happy to give a couple who had struggled with infertility for 11 years what they’d dreamed of — a baby — something that would have been impossible without me,” she told Truthout.

Even as a child, Gerken says that she was fascinated by birth, pregnancy and motherhood. “I used to watch YouTube videos, which is where I learned about in vitro fertilization, surrogacy and infertility. Watching people struggle to achieve a healthy pregnancy pulled at my heart. I couldn’t imagine longing for a baby and not being able to have one. After a successful pregnancy with my daughter in early 2021, I felt it was time to explore becoming a surrogate.”

And, although Gerken said that she had to go through numerous medical procedures, including hormone injections, to sustain the pregnancy, she is “beyond glad” she did it.

She is also thrilled that she and the receiving family continue to be in touch. Throughout the pregnancy, Gerken said that they exchanged daily texts and frequently met over Zoom. Then, after the baby was born, she pumped breast milk for four months. “It was a beautiful way to stay connected,” she said. “Although we no longer text as often, I’ll see them in August for the baby’s first birthday. We all want to have a lifetime relationship. Our hearts will forever be connected.”

As Gerken speaks, it’s obvious that she is passionate about the efficacy of surrogacy. This is why Project 2025, a 922-page right-wing wish list and game plan that is explicit about its intent to impose a nationwide ban on abortion and limit access to contraceptives, IVF and surrogacy, enrages her. “Why should outsiders decide how people grow their families?” she asks. “Surrogacy is love. It’s a valid way to build a family.”

The right-wing, of course, disagrees — even as the Republican National Committee’s official platform strategically steers clear of a direct attack on reproductive autonomy. But Project 2025 is far more explicit, and its authors are hell-bent on creating what Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, the organizational mastermind behind Project 2025, calls “the second American revolution.”

For Heritage and the more than 100 organizations that endorse the plan, that revolution involves the creation of a policy agenda for the first 180 days of a GOP presidency and lays “the groundwork for a White House more friendly to the right.” The plan also includes the creation of a personnel database of conservative movers and shakers, something that Paul Dans, director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project at Heritage and Trump’s former director of the Office of Personnel Management, likens to a LinkedIn or Facebook for the right. Should this roster include people new to government, he says, a Presidential Administration Academy has been established to train potential staffers for every federal agency. A series of free, online, asynchronous classes covers everything from how to get a security clearance, to “the dangers of the administrative state,” to how federal budget processes and procurements work. This, of course, is to ensure that a well-trained workforce is ready to jump in on day one to serve the MAGA cause.

What’s more, Project 2025 provides an agency-by-agency playbook that explains what each government department will advocate for and do.

In an interview with The Washington Stand, the daily news site of the Christian nationalist Family Research Council, Dans stressed that,


We want new folks to come in and serve, essentially, but to do that they need to know how this game is played and the rules of the road. That’s what we are hoping to do. We’re going to identify talent and then we’re going to teach you essentially what our core group of beliefs is…. We need to have an entire army of conservatives coming to Washington.… In the past, the transition effort has really been the second thought for the candidate.

But not this year.

“We want every potential applicant to curate his or her own page and upload their resume, list their social media, take some background diagnostic tests,” and make themselves known, Dans told The Washington Stand.

Unsurprisingly, anti-abortion credentials and a commitment to eroding access to reproductive health care are feathers in the cap of job applicants.
Project 2025 Threatens Reproductive Care

According to Media Matters for America, a media literacy and watchdog organization, the Project 2025 plan, officially called the “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” aims to remove the word “abortion” from all federal laws and regulations; roll back the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of medication abortion; use the Comstock Act, a Victorian-era law that was passed in 1873, to ban the mailing of abortion pills and stop clinics from receiving shipments of supplies and equipment; and limit access to birth control, in vitro fertilization and surrogacy. Moreover, Project 2025 seeks to end research using fetal tissue and stop the sale of nonprescription emergency contraception, including the popular over-the-counter pill Ella, which it erroneously claims is an abortifacient.

The Media Mattersreport, “Inside Project 2025’s Attacks on Reproductive Rights,” further states that Project 2025 hopes to elevate draconian state policies, like a Louisiana law that makes “carrying abortion medication without a prescription” a crime, into federal law.

Additionally, Media Matters zeroes in on Project 2025’s promotion of fallacies, among them that taking a daily birth control pill causes infertility; that IVF is unregulated; and that frozen embryos are children. Media Matters also points out that “at least 17 partner organizations of Project 2025 have published and publicly presented anti-surrogacy arguments,” including the idea that surrogacy is “morally wrong.”

“From the moment of conception,” Project 2025 states “every human being possesses inherent dignity and worth and our humanity does not depend on our age, stage of development, race or abilities.”

This statement is a particularly bitter pill to swallow for Stetson Law School professor Robyn M. Powell, a nationally recognized expert on disability law and its intersection with reproductive justice. “The anti-abortion movement has used disabled people as pawns for years, and the idea that legal abortion encourages eugenics — policies that dictate who is fit and who is unfit to have children — is absurd,” Powell told Truthout. “People with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by anti-abortion policies that tell us what we can and can’t do with our bodies.”

In addition, she says that despite lip service about the value of every human life, those who oppose abortion do little to nothing to support or improve the lives of those living with disabilities. “As disabled people, we understand that attacks on the rights of the poor, the LGBTQIA+ community and women are attacks on us since we are part of multiple marginalized communities,” she said.

In addition, Powell sees Project 2025’s emphasis on deregulation as another potent area of attack, since eliminating federal agencies such as the Department of Education and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — long-standing goals of the Heritage Foundation as well as many others on the right, and explicitly advocated in Project 2025 — would cause irreparable harm to the disabled.

“Project 2025 impacts everything,” Powell told Truthout. “It is infuriating.”

Andrew Beck, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, agrees that the project has deep tentacles, but is keeping his eyes on Project 2025’s implications for abortion access. “Despite Trump’s efforts to obfuscate the issue, abortion is on the ballot this year,” Beck told Truthout. He calls Project 2025 “a 900-page nightmare,” and says that some of the document’s most egregious provisions are buried deep within it.

“The Comstock Act is never mentioned by name,” Beck noted. (Instead, the document references “long-standing federal laws that prohibit the mailing and interstate carriage of abortion drugs.”)

“For many decades, the Comstock Act was assumed to have no application whatsoever for abortion care,” Beck said. “But in the last few years, a drumbeat has been heard and echoed by Project 2025 to use Comstock, a law that is already on the books, as a back door to a nationwide abortion ban. This statute makes it a crime to mail or ship ‘any article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion.’ If they use Comstock, they do not need Congress to pass an abortion ban.” Project 2025, he continues, is also “gunning for medication abortion. This has been a target of anti-abortion politicians for a long time, but now that two-thirds of all U.S. people who have abortions use pills, this goal has been heightened.”

Beck further notes other potential incursions that could impact reproductive health, including the desired weakening of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), passed in 1996 to keep medical information from being shared without the patient’s permission, and an end to the over-the-counter sale of emergency contraceptives.

“The ACLU is doing all it can to raise the alarm about Project 2025 to elevate public concern about a second Trump administration,” Beck said. “We’re also working with members of Congress to address the threat the Comstock Act poses.”
Repealing Comstock

That effort got a boost from Tina Smith (D-Minnesota), who introduced the Stop Comstock Act into the Senate in June. The bill has 18 co-sponsors: A companion bill was introduced in the House by Representatives Becca Balint (D-Vermont), Cori Bush (D-Missouri), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-New Jersey), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) and Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pennsylvania).

Reproductive justice activists and care providers know that getting the Stop Comstock Act passed is important — albeit a long shot in a GOP-controlled House of Representatives — but they also know that much more is needed to keep Project 2025’s policies at bay.

“Abortion is a vehicle to access our full humanity,” Merle Hoffman, president and CEO of Choices Women’s Medical Center in New York City, told Truthout. As a care provider since 1971, when New York State first legalized abortion, Hoffman says, “We need a unified movement to fight a defensive battle.” She explains that one way to do this is to train and mentor the next generation of physicians, midwives, nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants and social workers — something that Choices has made part of its mission.

“The people behind Project 2025 are serious and they believe wholeheartedly in what they’re advocating,” she said. “Heritage has worked on this agenda for decades and the pro-choice movement has underestimated them and treated their aspirations as ridiculous and unachievable. At the same time, the Democrats have certainly not been knights on white horses. They’ve allowed abortion to be referred to as something that should be safe, legal and rare rather than a normal part of reproductive health care. They’ve allowed the Hyde Amendment to cut off Medicaid funding for abortion. They have never been our saviors … neither they nor the courts will save us.”

She and others are working tirelessly to fight back and she is cheered that the newly formed Abortion Access Now coalition has unveiled a 10-year plan to win back abortion access and move beyond what Roe v. Wade provided. The $100 million initiative will bring nine groups together. Among them are the ACLU, the Center for Reproductive Rights, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Freedom for All. These groups pledge to work together to build “a future where abortion, and all sexual and reproductive healthcare, is not only legal but also accessible, affordable and free from stigma or fear.” The Hill reports that the 10-year plan includes “lobbying efforts, grassroots organizing and public education initiatives” to “build a long-term federal strategy to codify the right to abortion.”

Despite this formation, Hoffman concedes that the magnitude of the attacks on reproductive freedom can feel overwhelming but says we can’t let fear and demoralization keep us from organizing and educating people about the threats we’re facing. “It’s all of our responsibility to fight for abortion and reproductive justice without borders,” she says.

With Project 2025 and Agenda 47, the USA’s Coups Come Home to Roost

The authoritarian, dystopian settings that the U.S. created in so many places across the world are being reconceived by ultra-conservative forces affiliated with Trump for the purpose of introducing them here.

By CJ Polychroniou

July 28, 2024

Source: Common Dreams

Since the rise of the United States into a global power, U.S. policymakers have been keen on halting the spread of popular government abroad by undermining democratic institutions; overthrowing or assassinating elected leaders; and installing brutal, vicious military dictatorships. Indeed, the fact of the matter is that the United States has invaded more countries, organized more coups, and installed more military dictatorships than any other imperialist power in the course of history. During the Cold War alone, Washington staged dozens of invasions, orchestrated or sponsored numerous coups that installed subservient governments, and engaged in total in over 70 attempts at regime change.

U.S. involvement in foreign coups was so widespread that a common joke was that there has never been a coup d’état in the United States because there is no U.S. Embassy there. Of course, the joke was before the political era of former U.S. President Donald J. Trump and thus has lost some of its sting. Because what happened at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 was a coup attempt incited by the rhetoric of an outgoing president as part of his effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Moreover, Trump has warned voters of a “bloodbath” for the country if he is not elected in November 2024.

The roosters have come home to roost. The U.S. is sleepwalking toward democratic collapse and into a Trump proto-fascist dictatorship. If Donald Trump gets elected in November, “the gloves are off… its four years of scorched earth,” as Republican National Committee boss Lara Trump proudly announced to an audience a few months ago. Never mind people like John Bolton who tried to make the argument that Trump did not attempt a coup on January 6 because he is not competent enough to have done so. Those who entertain such thoughts seem to imply that it takes brilliance to destroy democracy. Yet, a reactionary revolt against democracy (or what’s left of it in the U.S.) has been underway since Trump gained control of the GOP. Trump encouraged violence during his 2016 campaign and levied harsh attacks against his opponents. Upon assuming office as president, he exhibited blunt authoritarian tendencies and levied attacks against the press. And when he lost a free and fair election in 2020, he tried to block a peaceful transfer of power.


There should be little doubt in any concerned citizen’s mind that the reactionary forces in this country, led by one of the most authentic con artists in political history, are as close as they have ever been to dismantling U.S. democracy.

But even if Trump isn’t capable enough to draw up a plan on his own for the dismantling of our democracy from within, there are plenty of extreme right-wingers able and willing to show him how it can be done. Indeed, the authoritarian, dystopian settings that the U.S. created in so many places across the world from the end of the Second World War to the present—through Washington’s support of oppressive political regimes that committed massive violations of human rights against their own citizens and forced them to live under constant threat—are being reconceived by ultra-conservative forces affiliated with Trump for the purpose of introducing them here inside the United States. This is precisely the aim of Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation plan to reshape the United States in a manner consistent with the ideology and vision of neoliberal proto-fascism.

Project 2025 is not Trump’s plan, but a plan for Trump. It’s also fair to point out that Trump has publicly denied knowing anything about the dystopian Project 2025. Yet, many of the people who worked in high-level positions during his presidency served as authors of the project. In fact, CNN reported finding some 240 people “with ties to both Project 2025 and to Trump.” It is thus ludicrous for Trump to claim ignorance of this extreme far-right agenda and having “no idea who is behind it.” Also, Paul Dans, director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project at The Heritage Foundation and who had previously served in the Trump administration as the chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management, said on a radio show during the Republican primary race last year that “Trump’s very brought in with this.” Last week, the same person suddenly claimed that the idea that Trump is attached to Project 2025 is a “hoax.”

More important, while Trump and his campaign staff have pointed out that Agenda 47 is their official policy platform for the 2024 presidential election, Project 2025 and Agenda 47 have a lot of overlap in terms of ideas and policy plans. They both contain plans for the reshaping of U.S. government and civil society that can only be described as “fascist.” They both assert that the mission they serve is to rescue the country from the influence of the radical left.

Project 2025 envisions the end of the administrative state by placing the entire federal bureaucracy under direct presidential control. In other words, the plan is for Trump to rule as a Unitary Executive, long considered a pathway for autocracy. Likewise, Trump’s plan in Agenda 47 is to dismantle what it calls the “deep state” by firing thousands of civil servants and replacing them with party hacks (though in Agenda 47 they are called “patriots who love America”). In doing so, Trump claims, federal bureaucrats and politician will be “held accountable to the American people.” Not to the president, mind you, who will now have complete control of the federal bureaucracy, but to the American people. Of course, not a single word is mentioned in Agenda 47 about how the “people” even enter the power equation of holding bureaucrats and politicians accountable to the popular will. But authoritarian leaders and wannabe dictators have always been masters of propaganda who engineer techniques of mass manipulation through the politics of illusion. And no propaganda tool is more effective in the authoritarian playbook than the one that justifies the dismantling of checks and balances as “corrupt obstacles to the popular will.”

State control over public education and teachers has always been an integral component of fascist ideology and strategy. In the neoliberal proto-fascist mentality that guides the thinking of the architects of Project 2025, the contention made however is that federal intervention in education should be severely limited and that, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated. This is because their reactionary vision for the future of the United States would not object to the conversion of public schools into religious zones and calls for the rejection of “gender ideology” and the banning of “critical race theory.” Thus, it is of paramount importance that complete authority over primary and secondary education, including funding, transfers to the state and local level. Likewise, Project 2025 also endorses universal school choice and allowing families to access public funds to pay for private school tuition. Moreover, Project 2025 wants to ban any public education employee or institution from using a pronoun in addressing a student that does not “match a person’s biological sex” without the written permission of a student’s parents or guardians.

The call for the banning of “critical race theory” is utterly revealing of the ideological underpinnings of the architects of Project 2025. They want to see “critical race theory” forced out of classrooms because, they argue, its emphasis on the racist history of the United States “disrupts the values that hold communities together.” It’s rather shameful though that they omitted mentioning slavery as one of the values that should “hold communities together.”

As for higher education, which comes under severe attack by the reactionary minds behind Project 2025 for being “hostile to free expression” and “American exceptionalism,” student loans and grants should be placed into the hands of the private sector. They also call on the next president to downplay the value of a bachelor’s degree by removing it as a requirement for any federal job unless it is specifically demanded.

Agenda 47 is an even more extreme version of Project 2025 on the issue of education and comes much closer to authentic fascism. Trump’s proposals for K-12 schools call for, among other things, ending federal funding to any school teaching “critical race theory,” certifying only teachers who embrace “patriotic values,” firing Department of Education employees deemed radical zealots and Marxists, pushing prayer in public schools, and abolishing teacher tenure.

Trump’s Agenda 47 and Project 2025 also share the same extremist views on immigration and climate change. Project 2025 wants to demolish the entire U.S. immigration system while Trump wants to engage in draconian measures against undocumented immigrants, which includes a pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

Regarding climate change, Project 2025 is all about a project that backs a fossil fuel agenda and wants to go so far as to eliminate the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration because it’s “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.” Trump’s stance on energy and climate as expressed in Agenda 47 is in full alignment with Project 2025 and can be summarized by three words: “DRILL, BABY, DRILL.”

Finally, both the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and Trump’s Agenda 47 (along with his already established record on the matter) make abundantly clear that serving the interests of a plutocracy is of equal importance to them as destroying the environment and turning back the clock on social and cultural progress through the implementation of extreme authoritarian measures. Among other major changes to the tax system, Project 2025 calls for reducing the corporate tax to 18% and cementing the tax on capital gains and dividends at 15%. A second Trump presidency would most certainly also see another round of tax cuts targeted at the very rich.

In sum, there should be little doubt in any concerned citizen’s mind that the reactionary forces in this country, led by one of the most authentic con artists in political history, are as close as they have ever been to dismantling U.S. democracy and replacing it in turn with a dystopian setting guided by the very same vision, values, and even tactics that have been the hallmark of U.S. imperialist efforts to install and support neo-fascist regimes around the globe.

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CJ Polychroniou

C.J. Polychroniou is a political scientist/political economist, author, and journalist who has taught and worked in numerous universities and research centers in Europe and the United States. Currently, his main research interests are in U.S. politics and the political economy of the United States, European economic integration, globalization, climate change and environmental economics, and the deconstruction of neoliberalism’s politico-economic project. He has published scores of books and over one thousand articles which have appeared in a variety of journals, magazines, newspapers and popular news websites. His latest books are Optimism Over Despair: Noam Chomsky On Capitalism, Empire, and Social Change (2017); Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving the Planet (with Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin as primary authors, 2020); The Precipice: Neoliberalism, the Pandemic, and the Urgent Need for Radical Change (an anthology of interviews with Noam Chomsky, 2021); and Economics and the Left: Interviews with Progressive Economists (2021).

The Official Death Toll In Gaza Is A Lie. 

The Casualty Numbers Are Far, Far Higher

The figures have been stalled for months. The goal is to minimise Israel’s barbarism, while lulling western publics into a false sense of complacency

By Jonathan Cook

July 31, 2024

Source: Jonathan Cook Substack



The death toll in Gaza is way too low by every imaginable metric. We need to be stressing this – all the more so when Israel’s apologists are vigorously engaged in a disinformation campaign to suggest that the figures are inflated.

On 6 May, 7 months into Israel’s slaughter, there were reported to be 34,735 dead. That was an average of 4,960 Palestinians killed each month.

Today, nearly three months on, the reported death toll stands at 39,400 – or an increase of 4,665.

It should not need a statistician to point out that, were the rise linear, the expected number of deaths would stand by this point at around 49,600.

So, even by the simplest calculation, there is a large shortfall in deaths – a shortfall that needs explaining.

Such an explanation is easy to provide: Israel destroyed Gaza’s institutions and its medical infrastructure, including its hospitals, many months ago, making it impossible for officials there to keep track of how many Palestinians are being killed by Israel.

The death toll figures started to stall in the spring, around the time Israel completed its destruction of Gaza’s hospitals and kidnapped much of the enclave’s medical personnel.

More than a month ago, Save the Children pointed out that some 21,000 children in Gaza were missing, in addition to the 16,000 known to have been killed by Israel. Many are likely to have suffered lonely, terrifying deaths under rubble – gradually suffocated to death, or dying slowly from dehydration.

But again, even those shocking figures are likely to be a severe undercount.

The linear figure entirely misses the bigger picture. How?

1. Because in addition to the continuing Israeli bombardments, Palestinians have had to endure three more months of an intensifying famine. With each day of a famine, more people die than died the day before. The deaths in a famine are not linear, they are exponential. If 5 people died yesterday of starvation, 20 people will die today, and 150 tomorrow. That is how prolonged famines work. The longer you are starved, the higher the probability you will die of starvation.

2. Because Palestinians have had three more months deprived of medical care after Israel destroyed their hospitals and medical institutions. If you have a chronic illness – diabetes, asthma, kidney problems, high blood pressure, and so on – the longer you are forced to go without medical attention, the greater the chance you will die from an untreated condition. Again, the death rate in such circumstances is exponential, not linear.

3. Because without medical care, all sorts of other things that happen in everyday life become more dangerous. Childbirth is the most obvious example, but even cuts and grazes can become a death sentence. So given the fact that Palestinians now have even less access to medical care than they had in the first six months of Israel’s war on Gaza suggests that people are being killed by life-events in even greater numbers than was the case earlier in Israel’s slaughter.4. Because, for exactly the same reasons, those injured by Israel’s continuing bombardments are likely to have poorer outcomes than those similarly injured in earlier attacks. Fewer doctors means less chance of treatment, means greater chance of dying from your wounds.

5. Because we know that – given the insanitary conditions, the lack of water and food, the weakened health status of the population, and the destruction of hospitals – epidemics now are breaking out. The WHO has already warned of a likely outbreak of polio, but there are sure to be other diseases emerging such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery that have yet to be isolated and identified. Even the common cold can become a killer when people’s health status is this compromised.

A letter from researchers to the Lancet medical journal this month warned about the likely massive undercount of the dead in Gaza, even relying, as they had to, on the established death toll.

Their point was that indirect deaths – of the kind I enumerate above – need to be factored in as well as the direct deaths from Israeli bombs. They very conservatively estimate that the total number who will die over the coming months – not just from bombs but as a result of the lack of medical care, insanitary conditions and famine – is 186,000, or 8 per cent of the population.

But that figure assumes that Israel’s current slaughter and starvation policies come to an immediate halt, and that international organisations are able to bring in emergency aid. There are precisely no signs that Israel is going to allow any of that to happen – or that western states are going to put any pressure on Israel to do so.

The medical researchers suggest a less conservative estimate could ultimately put the death toll in Gaza nearer 600,000, or a quarter of the population. Again, that assumes Israel reverses course immediately.

Remember too that for every person killed, several others are maimed or badly wounded. According to the current figures, more than 91,000 Palestinians are reported injured, many of them missing limbs. But again, that is likely to be a massive undercount too.

Harrowing as these figures are, they are just numbers. But Gaza’s dead are not numbers. They were human beings, half of them children, whose lives have been snuffed out, their potential erased forever, their loved ones left with an all-consuming grief. Many victims died alone in extreme pain, or endured unimaginable suffering.

None of their lives should be reduced to cold statistics on a graph. But if that is where we are at, and sadly it is, then at the very least we need to point out that the headline figures are a lie, that Israel’s barbarism is being grossly minimised, and that we are being lulled into a false sense complacency.



Jonathan Cook
British writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His books are Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State (Pluto, 2006); Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto, 2008); and Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair (Zed, 2008).

UK

The Labour Party Is Promising More Misguided Austerity

The Labour Party’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, is arguing for austerity on the grounds that the government is broke. In fact, the UK’s economic woes are due in large part to a decade-plus of insufficient public investment.

By Grace Blakeley

July 31, 2024

Source: Jacobin

Rachel Reeves at the World Economic Forum (Photo: WEF)

Britain is broke. This is the message that Rachel Reeves has just delivered to the nation as she announced forthcoming cuts to public spending and investment. Reeves claims that the Tories left the country in a much greater fiscal mess than the Labour Party could have realized while they were in opposition — and it’s now up to her to fix it.

Her claim is reminiscent of that made by the Tories in 2010. David Cameron and George Osborne justified their austerity agenda based on the argument that Labour’s reckless spending had damaged the nation’s economy and that tough choices would have to be made to get things back on track. Pat McFadden echoed Cameron’s language today, when he said that the chancellor was going to have to make some “very difficult spending decisions.”

A swathe of proposed infrastructure projects are set to be axed — including plans to build forty new hospitals laid out by Boris Johnson and plans to sell off yet more publicly owned property.

Reeves has also chanced upon some more positive revenue-generating measures. She plans to curb nonessential spending on private consultants, who have spent decades pushing the marketization of the public sector — an agenda that has reduced efficiency and accountability while increasing costs. The road tunnel bypassing Stone Henge is also set to be dropped, which, as Siân Berry has already pointed out, is the right decision made for all the wrong reasons.

These measures will, however, only get Reeves so far. To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, the problem with neoliberalism is that you eventually run out of public assets to sell.

More cuts will be coming down the road. And we are certainly not likely to see much-needed increases in spending on areas like health, social care, and decarbonization. After more than a decade of Tory austerity, everyone knows that when a government says it has to make “tough choices,” it intends to be much tougher on working people than on the wealthy.

None of this will, of course, achieve Reeves’s alleged aim of improving the public finances. As hundreds of economists — not to mention trade unionists, environmentalists, and historians — warned in 2010, austerity always and everywhere fails on its own terms.

The idea behind austerity is that day-to-day public spending cannot exceed the amount collected in taxes over a long period of time. The issue is not that the government might “run out of money” — everyone knows that sovereign central banks can create money to finance a government’s spending needs.

The issue is that excessive public spending can fuel inflation, and relatedly, expectations of excessive public spending can reduce investors’ demand for government debt, driving up borrowing costs. Over the long term, this cycle of rising debt, inflation, and interest rates can create the kinds of sovereign debt crises often seen in poor countries in the past.

These are real economic issues — no government can, as some argue, simply create money ad infinitum. At a certain point, excessive and wasteful public spending will start to drive up inflation — and investors’ demand for government debt is likely to have fallen even before that point.

But similar economic problems can also be caused by insufficient public spending.

The reason higher public spending can cause inflation is that it can increase demand at a much faster rate than the supply of resources in an economy permits. If a government decides to employ millions of workers to build bridges to nowhere, then wages will increase without a commensurate rise in productivity. Over the long run, inflation will increase, and investors will start to question the nation’s solvency.

But the same problem can be caused by a long-term dearth of productive public sector investment. If a government spends decades cutting spending on public services, allowing infrastructure to degenerate without being replaced, and cutting spending on research and development, then the supply of productive resources in the economy dwindles. There are fewer productive, healthy, well-educated workers, fewer roads, bridges and ports to transport people and goods to where they are needed, and fewer new technologies for businesses to exploit.

The end result is that economic growth stalls and, in this brittle economic context, an external shock — like a pandemic or a war or an environmental catastrophe — can send inflation soaring. Investors then realize that a country is experiencing a long-term economic malaise due to a persistent dearth of investment and low productivity, making any investments in that country less desirable.

The worst possible scenario is some combination of the two — cuts to productive investment alongside increasingly wasteful public spending decisions that do not increase long-term productivity. This scenario is, as you might have guessed, not some far-off possibility. It describes our current economic reality. Successive governments have dished out billions to the wealthy and powerful while allowing the resources everyone else needs to survive to collapse.
An Alternative Economy

For many years now, we have been forced to choose between excessive and wasteful public spending on the one hand and austerity on the other hand. But there is an alternative.

Rather than wasting money on private sector consultants, unnecessary and polluting infrastructure projects, or just outright corruption, the government could prioritize investments that would actually expand the supply of available resources over the long run. What would such an approach look like?

It would mean fewer massive, glamorous infrastructure projects that made use of expensive private sector financing and advice, and many more smaller, more sustainable investments. Investments like improving existing public transport capacity in areas currently underserved by our woeful privatized bus and rail services; or expanding renewable energy across the country; or funding desperately needed research into the climate crisis, and the development of new technologies to tackle it.

Neoliberals point out that the problem with public investment is that the government often makes mistakes when it attempts to allocate resources. While the intention might be to boost economic capacity through sensible, sustainable investment, you end up with white elephants that make politicians look good.

This is an argument with which I sympathize. Politicians use their power to promote their own interests, which often leads to wasteful public spending decisions. But the solution to this problem is not to cut public spending and investment. The solution is to democratize it.

Workers, communities, and citizens know precisely where public funding is lacking, and have near-endless creative ideas as to how this money could be used. Allowing public sector workers and service users a say in how education and health spending was allocated would promote efficiency and reduce waste. Allowing local communities to come together and decide how to spend money in their local areas would improve outcomes as well as strengthen democracy. In fact, it already has. Just look at places like Porto Alegre in Brazil, or Reykjavik in Iceland, where participatory budgeting has been hailed as a huge success.

Big government is not, as some on the Left have often argued, the solution to all society’s problems. But neither, as some on the Right have often argued, is small government. The only way out of the economic mess in which the UK currently finds itself in is to hand power over the economy back to the people who make up that economy. The result would be the precise opposite scenario to that which has prevailed over the last forty years: less wasteful spending that benefits the rich and more productive spending that benefits everyone.

The Anti-Extractivism of Mdou Moctar

By Christopher J. Lee

July 26, 2024
Source: Africa is a Country


Mdou Moctar on tour in Europe | Image credit Rene Passet via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.



“Dear African leaders, hear my burning question / Why does your ear only heed France and America?” begins the opening title track of Mdou Moctar’s new, internationally acclaimed album, Funeral for Justice. “They misled you into giving up your lands / They delightfully watch you in your fraternal feud / They possess the power to help out but choose not to,” continues the song, translated from the original Tamasheq, the common language of the Tuareg. And then the refrain, “Why is that? When your rights are trodden upon…” Even if the clues are self-evident, what exactly is Mdou Moctar’s agenda with this song?

In 1957, three years prior to Niger’s independence, uranium was discovered in the area of Azelik, approximately 750 kilometers from the capital, Niamey. Despite the relative remoteness of the mineral’s location in the Sahel, commercial extraction began in earnest by 1971. Today, Niger is responsible for roughly 5 percent of the world’s annual uranium output and provides Europe with nearly 24 percent of its annual uranium. Only Kazakhstan supplies more. It is said that one in three lightbulbs in France is powered by Nigerien uranium.

Unsurprisingly, European and especially French companies have long had a majority stake in Niger’s uranium industry. Political independence may exist, but Niger’s economy remains in the grip of foreign control. The open-pit mining operation near Arlit has been managed by the Société des Mines de l’Aïr (SOMAÏR) of which 63.4 percent is under French ownership through the company Orano. The remaining share is state-owned by the Société du Patrimoine des Mines du Niger (SOPAMIN). More recently, China has established a stake in Niger’s mineral wealth through the Société des Mines d’Azelik SA (SOMINA), founded in 2007, of which 62 percent is owned by Chinese business interests. Additional foreign shareholders with projects at different stages include Canadian and Korean investors. The government of Niger remains the minority stakeholder in these ventures.

Last year’s military coup complicated matters. On July 26, President Mohamed Bazoum, who was democratically elected in 2021, was arrested, with General Abdourahmane Tchiani declaring himself president two days later on July 28. Uncertainty has since prevailed. The Niger government expelled the French expeditionary force—a process completed at the end of 2023—that had been undertaking counterterrorism operations across the Sahel since 2012, when northern Mali was taken over by Ansar Dine, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The French effort was ultimately ineffectual, with two additional military coups occurring in Mali in 2020 and 2021, following the first in 2012, which was prompted by the surprise takeover of northern Mali. Furthermore, the establishment in 2017 of the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), a coalition of militant Islamicist groups across the Sahel region, has continued to foster insecurity.

This past year, the US military contingent in Niger, which has been assisting the French since 2013 as part of Operation Barkhane, has also been ordered to leave by mid-September. The escalation of anti-French and anti-American sentiments has accompanied growing ties to Russia through the Wagner Group, a situation of influence that first developed in Mali and has led to anti-Tuareg political violence there, including a high civilian death toll. Russia has also been perceived as a new player in Niger’s lucrative mining industry.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has also been skeptical of Niger’s new government. Bazoum had been president of ECOWAS, and member states quickly sought to isolate and put pressure on the new regime through sanctions so that democracy could return to Niger, to little avail. After the withdrawals of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso from the community, ECOWAS backtracked in February to try and restabilize the region.

Against this economic and political backdrop, what can a rock band do? Arguably not much, though Mdou Moctar, the Tuareg assouf outfit, has made their new album, Funeral for Justice, about these recent developments in Niger and the Sahel, including resistance to radical Islam and the foreign plunder of mineral wealth. Named after their lead guitarist and vocalist, whose birth name is Mahamadou Souleymane, Mdou Moctar has gained international attention the past several years through festivals, touring, and a recording contract with Matador Records, the prominent American independent label. But their politics have also distinguished them. Their last album, Afrique Victime (2021), firmly established a position against the neocolonial policy of Françafrique while also condemning the militant Islam that initiated a new period of violence across the Sahel. Funeral for Justice expands on these themes.

It is important to emphasize that the genre of assouf has always had a political orientation. In contrast to many assumptions, assouf is not traditional music that goes back for many generations in Tuareg culture. It is a recent style that is only fifty or so years old—roughly two generations—originating in the 1960s. At that time, the Tuareg hope of self-determination had been left aside by the Year of Africa in 1960, resulting in the First Tuareg Rebellion (1962–64), also referred to as the Alfellaga (“the Rebellion”). The suppression of this liberation struggle in Mali and Algeria left the Tuareg politically marginalized, a condition compounded by a regional economic downturn following severe droughts throughout the Sahel during the 1970s. Still, the Tuareg dream of an independent state endured.

Enter General Muammar Gaddafi of Libya. As part of his pan-Arabism and broader pan-African agenda south of the Sahara, Gaddafi began to provide military training for Tuareg men in 1982, with the ambition of creating an Islamic Legion of the Sahara. Gaddafi had founded the Islamic Legion in 1972, three years after his rise to power through the Libyan Revolution, though its activities had largely been limited to Sudan and Chad, where its focus remained until its dissolution in 1987. Gaddafi’s plan for a broader Legion of the Sahara fell short. However, the legacies of the Legion have continued in different ways, including the racialized violence in Darfur and the recent wave of Islamic militancy across the Sahel. It also sustained Tuareg aspirations for self-determination, fostering rebellions in Mali and Niger during the early 1990s.

Fortuitously, the future members of the Grammy-winning band Tinariwen, whose name is an abbreviation of Taghreft Tinariwen (“the development of deserts”), and Takrist Nakal, whose name is an abridgement of Tageuyt Takrist Nakal (“the rebuilding of the country”), met at a Legion camp outside Tripoli. They received military training during the day while organizing impromptu guitar jams at night. Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, a founder of Tinariwen, was among those present. As a child, he had witnessed the execution of his father, a Tuareg rebel, by the Malian government in 1963, and he lived in refugee camps in the years that followed. Also present was Abdallah ag Oumbadougou, the founder of Takrist Nakal. Following the Tchin Tabaraden Massacre in 1990, during which Nigerien soldiers killed hundreds of Tuareg, Abdallah became “the voice of the rebellion” in support of the Tuareg cause. He established music schools in the belief that cultural identity was integral to the Tuareg liberation struggle.

The idea of assouf, which has frequently been translated as “blues,” is therefore better understood as “longing,” reflecting a nostalgia for home from the vantage point of Libya but, more importantly, extending to a broader political longing for a future Tuareg homeland. Though Mdou Moctar did not originate in the military camps of Gaddafi’s Libya, it has continued this tradition of aspiration, while offering a new generational perspective. Funeral for Justice genuflects toward the motivations of his assouf forebears, while revitalizing the genre by addressing more immediate topics. Not least, Mdou Moctar’s brash guitarwork favors a louder slash-and-burn approach that is readily apparent on the opening title track. Like Mali’s Vieux Farka Touré, son of the legendary Ali Farka Touré, there is a sense of homage and revision at once, with adjustments often through amplification and volume.

This intergenerational difference and solidarity are also apparent in the lyrics. The song “Funeral for Justice” is a critical intervention against both foreign neoimperialism and the African elites who assist external business interests to the detriment of local communities. Health issues and birth defects have dramatically increased due to the minimally regulated nature of uranium-mining operations, the lack of protection for workers, and public exposure to radioactive waste. The remainder of the album goes on to engage with this elitist indifference that has adversely affected the Tuareg. Similar to the work of Tinariwen and Takrist Nakal, the music on Funeral for Justice serves as both a vessel for Tuareg history and culture as well as a manifesto for political change.

The second track, “Imouhar” (“Comrade”), for example, affirms the historical existence and unity of the Tuareg (“Imouhar, you know this, indeed we have a written history / Written in books, and the whole world knows it”). The song “Sousoume Tamacheq” is another paean to the Tuareg and their regional sense of statelessness (“Cease weeping Tamasheq / A helpless orphan amid three countries / Mali-Niger, Niger-Mali, and Algeria as the third”). Meanwhile, the track “Oh France” is another critique of Françafrique (“France’s actions are frequently veiled in cruelty / We are better off without its turbulent relation”), whereas “Djallo #1” is an appeal for racial reconciliation through Islam (“Skin colors are from God / We can’t afford to be divided / We have no time for hate / The best among you are the ones who fear God the most”). The plaintive “Modern Slaves” closes out the LP, returning to its main themes with lines declaring, “It’s a lie, we were never free,” and “My people are crying while you laugh / All you do is watch.”

Taken together, Funeral for Justice is bracing recording that blends the critical sensibility of Frantz Fanon with the melodies and guitarwork of a genre born from an ongoing liberation struggle. At a time when the politics of the Sahel remains underreported, Mdou Moctar have provided a vital commentary and intervention against elite interests in the region—a point often lost on Western audiences. In this way, the anti-extractivist politics of Mdou Moctar should be understood not only as literal, in relation to uranium mining, but also as metaphorical, in terms of how international record labels and listeners have approached bands and artists based in Africa. This outside attention has tended to favor the music (and its profitability) over politics. Like their predecessors, Mdou Moctar is resistant to this selective practice. They are more than ready for international attention, but on their own political terms.

Christopher J. Lee  is a historian, has published six books, including works on Frantz Fanon, Alex La Guma, and Kwame Anthony Appiah. He is a Contributor Editor at AIAC and an Editor of the journal Safundi.

Cuba, the Island of Olympic Champions

Since the advent of the Revolution in 1959, Cuba has made the development of sport a national priority, becoming a world reference.

By Salim Lamrani

July 29, 2024

Source: Originally published by Z. Feel free to share widely.

Members of the Cuban delegation at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games | Image via Prensa Latina



Before 1959, Cuba had a modest record of five Olympic medals, four of them gold, won in Paris in 1900, Saint-Louis in 1904 and London in 1948. At the time, sport was far from being a government priority, and the island’s few sports facilities were mainly concentrated in the capital and reserved for the bourgeoisie. The vast majority of the population was thus excluded from any access to sporting activities.

With the arrival of Fidel Castro to power, the revolutionary government introduced a national policy of social inclusion, universalizing access to education, health, culture, leisure and sport. In 1961, the National Institute of Sports, Physical and Sports Education and Leisure (INDER) was created, launching a nationwide sports development program, with a policy of identifying the best talent. Free public infrastructures, accessible to the greatest number, were built throughout the country, and physical and sports education was taught in every school on the same footing as any other subject. Sport thus became a people’s right, and ceased to be a privilege reserved for a minority.

Cuba made the political choice of the Olympic spirit by banning money-grubbing professional sport in 1962, and achieved spectacular results. After discreet results at the Tokyo Games in 1964 (1 silver medal) and Mexico City in 1968 (4 silver medals), the Caribbean island reaped the rewards of its commitment with 8 medals at Munich in 1972 (3 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze), 13 medals at Montreal in 1976 (6 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze) and 20 medals at Moscow in 1980 (8 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze).

For political reasons, Cuba did not take part in the 1984 Los Angeles or 1988 Seoul Olympics. After a long absence of twelve years, the island triumphed at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. Despite the serious difficulties caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union, the island won a total of 31 medals, including 14 gold, 6 silver and 11 bronze, ranking fifth in the world, just behind the new Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the United States, Germany and China.

In 1996, at the Atlanta Olympics, Cuba, hard hit by the disappearance of its historic Soviet partner and the resurgence of Washington’s economic sanctions, continued its momentum and achieved remarkable results, despite the “Special Period of Peace”. With a total of 25 medals, including 9 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze, the small Caribbean island climbed to 8th place in the world rankings, behind the USA, Russia, Germany, China, France, Italy and Australia.

The Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympic Games were also great successes for Cuba, with 29 medals (11 gold, 11 silver and 7 bronze) and 27 medals (9 gold, 7 silver and 11 bronze) respectively. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Cuba won 30 medals (3 gold, 10 silver and 17 bronze) and 15 medals (5 gold, 3 silver and 7 bronze) at the 2012 London Olympics. Finally, at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the island won 11 medals (5 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze), while its record at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is 15 medals (7 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze) and a remarkable 14th place.

Cuba leads Latin America in Olympic medals

For the period from 1896 to 2021, Cuba ranks first in Latin America with a total of 235 medals, including 84 gold, 69 silver and 82 bronze. The island has no rivals on the continent. Brazil, a demographic behemoth with a population of over 200 million, ranks second with 150 medals. Argentina ranks third with 77 medals. Mexico is fourth with 73 medals, and Colombia is fifth with 34. If the number of Olympic gold medals is divided by population, Cuba, with its 11 million inhabitants, ranks first in the world.

Boxing is Cuba’s king sport, with no fewer than 78 Olympic medals, including 41 gold, 19 silver and 18 bronze. Boxing legends Teofilo Stevenson and Félix Savón wrote the history of the noble art as three-time Olympic champions. Above all, they made their mark by refusing astronomical sums of several million dollars to turn professional. Stevenson was offered the sum of five million dollars in exchange for a fight against Mohamed Ali, but he preferred to remain faithful “to the affection of his people”. During his historic visit to Cuba in 1991, just after his release from prison, Nelson Mandela, a great boxing fan, asked Fidel Castro to meet Stevenson, one of his favorite boxers. Felix Savón, for his part, was approached by the famous promoter Don King for a fight against Mike Tyson, then at the height of his powers, in exchange for a $10 million purse. His response was identical: “I would never trade the love and affection of my people for all the millions in the world”.

Cuba has won 45 Olympic medals in athletics, including 11 gold, 14 silver and 20 bronze. Wrestling and judo are the island’s third and fourth Olympic sports, with 27 medals (11 gold, 6 silver and 10 bronze) and 37 medals (6 gold, 15 silver and 16 bronze) respectively. Greco-Roman wrestling legend Mijaín López has won four Olympic gold medals and is in the hunt for a historic fifth title.

For the Paris 2024 Olympics, Cuba is entering a modest delegation of 61 athletes (27 women and 34 men). It is true that the flight of athletes to other countries with greater resources has seriously damaged the island, which is currently facing one of the most serious economic crises in its history, mainly due to the state of siege imposed by the United States. In fact, no fewer than 21 Cubans born and raised on the island will be defending the colors of fourteen other flags (Spain, Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, USA, Canada, Turkey, Chile, Puerto Rico, Azerbaijan, Poland, Brazil, Belgium, IOC). But Cuba, the island of Olympic champions, accustomed to adversity and which has made resilience second nature, as usual, will proudly defend the colors of its flag and its people.

Salim Lamrani holds a doctorate in Iberian and Latin American Studies from Sorbonne University, and is Professor of Latin American History at the University of La Réunion, specializing in relations between Cuba and the United States.


Salim Lamrani
Salim Lamrani holds a PhD in Iberian and Latin American Studies from Sorbonne University, and is Professor of Latin American History at the Université de La Réunion, specializing in relations between Cuba and the United States. His latest book in English is Cuba, the Media and the Challenge of Impartiality: https://monthlyreview.org/product/cuba_the_media_and_the_challenge_of_impartiality/

The Beijing Declaration and Chinese Diplomacy in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The Beijing Declaration and Chinese Diplomacy in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
In a significant diplomatic breakthrough, China has facilitated the “Beijing Declaration,” a key development in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This agreement, which brings together 14 Palestinian political factions, signifies a major step towards Palestinian unity and a revitalized push for peace. Unlike previous agreements, the Beijing Declaration offers a genuinely transformative potential, representing a substantial shift in the dynamics of conflict resolution.

By Herta Manenti

July 29, 2024

Source: Pressenza


The Beijing Declaration | Photo via Pressenza

Signed on July 25, 2024, the Beijing Declaration marks a historic moment for Palestinian reconciliation. For the first time, a broad spectrum of Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas, have agreed to end their internal divisions and work towards common goals. This unity is crucial. In the past, the fragmentation among Palestinian groups has been a significant barrier to effective negotiation and peacebuilding. A unified Palestinian front, as facilitated by this declaration, strengthens the Palestinians’ negotiating position and provides a more coherent platform for advocating their rights and aspirations.

Chinese diplomacy’s role in this process is a strategic shift in its foreign policy, showcasing its growing influence in international diplomacy. Traditionally, China has maintained a low profile in Middle Eastern affairs, focusing more on economic interests. However, the Beijing Declaration signals a more proactive approach. By positioning itself as a neutral mediator, China has managed to gain the trust of various Palestinian factions and international stakeholders, a feat that Western powers have struggled to achieve due to their perceived biases.

The declaration itself reaffirms the goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. This is in line with the long-standing international consensus and numerous UN resolutions. By supporting this framework, China aligns its diplomatic efforts with international law, particularly the rulings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has deemed Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories illegal. This legal backing enhances the legitimacy of the Beijing Declaration and underscores the necessity of adhering to international legal standards in the peace process.

Moreover, the declaration emphasizes the urgent need to lift the siege on Gaza and the West Bank, ensuring unrestricted humanitarian and medical aid. The humanitarian crisis in these regions is dire, with blockades severely restricting access to essential goods and services. By prioritizing humanitarian assistance, the declaration addresses immediate needs and underscores the broader goal of alleviating Palestinian suffering as a step towards long-term peace.

No, this is not like other agreements. The Beijing Declaration stands apart due to several unique aspects:Inclusive Representation: Previous agreements often involved limited factions or were restricted to specific regions. In contrast, the Beijing Declaration includes 14 major Palestinian political factions, ensuring broad representation and legitimacy. This inclusivity enhances the agreement’s potential for success as it reflects a collective will across a wide political spectrum.

Balanced Mediation: The role of China as a neutral mediator is a significant departure from the traditionally Western-dominated peace processes. China’s involvement brings a fresh perspective and a balanced approach, gaining the trust of various stakeholders. This balanced mediation is critical for fostering genuine dialogue and cooperation.

Alignment with International Law: The Beijing Declaration is firmly rooted in international legal standards, particularly the ICJ rulings on the illegality of Israeli settlements. This alignment provides a strong legal foundation for the agreement, enhancing its credibility and enforceability.

Multilateral Support: Unlike past efforts that were often unilateral or limited in scope, the Beijing Declaration enjoys broad international support from countries like Egypt, Algeria, and Russia. This multilateral backing is crucial for ensuring the agreement’s implementation and sustainability.

China’s diplomatic strategy also reflects a broader geopolitical shift towards a multipolar world order. Unlike previous efforts dominated by Western powers, the Beijing Declaration benefits from a multilateral approach, involving support from various international partners. This collective effort enhances the declaration’s credibility and potential impact, demonstrating that a balanced and inclusive approach to mediation can yield significant results.

The alignment of the Beijing Declaration with ICJ rulings on the illegality of Israeli settlements further strengthens its position. The ICJ has consistently upheld the rights of Palestinians to self-determination and statehood, reinforcing the principles of international law that underpin the two-state solution. By advocating for these principles, the declaration not only legitimizes Palestinian claims but also pressures Israel to comply with international norms.

Countries that endorse the two-state solution and respect international law should actively support the Beijing Declaration. Failure to do so could be perceived as tacitly endorsing actions that may constitute war crimes or genocide. The declaration’s call for a ceasefire and negotiations aligns with the international legal framework, making it a moral and legal imperative for the global community to back this initiative. The silence around this major diplomatic success may indicate its importance and how it gives trouble to the Western double-standard community. This reluctance to acknowledge the declaration’s significance underscores the need for a more balanced and equitable approach to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Beijing Declaration, facilitated by Chinese diplomacy, represents a historical turning point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By fostering unprecedented Palestinian unity, promoting adherence to international law, and leveraging a multipolar diplomatic approach, this initiative has the potential to break the long-standing impasse and pave the way for a sustainable peace. The international community must seize this opportunity to support and build upon this diplomatic breakthrough, ensuring that the humanitarian and legal rights of the Palestinian people are upheld and that a just resolution to the conflict is achieved.

An Italian version of this article first appeared in Redazione Italia. English version provided by Pressenza.

 

What It’s Like for Palestinian Women Living Through the Gaza Genocide

Palestinian women have been forced to demonstrate remarkable resilience while navigating the harsh realities of Israel's genocidal war for themselves and their families.

By Yasmin Abusayma

July 29, 2024

Source: Mondoweiss

A woman feeds her child in a camp for displaced persons in Gaza | Photo: Natalia Cieslik / World Bank / Flickr

While the world often focuses on the political and military aspects of Gaza, the daily realities encountered by women are frequently overlooked. Women in Gaza bear heavy burdens, demonstrating remarkable resilience while navigating the harsh realities of Israel’s genocidal war.

In April, UN Women released its latest Gender Alert on Gaza, highlighting the profound impact of the ongoing war. Six months into the war, at least 10,000 Palestinian women in Gaza had lost their lives, including approximately 6,000 mothers, resulting in 19,000 children left without parents. Surviving women face displacement, widowhood, and severe food shortages due to Israeli airstrikes and ground operations. This catastrophic impact underscores the war’s disproportionate toll on Gaza’s women. As the war continues to reshape traditional gender roles, the strength and perseverance of these women will undoubtedly have long-lasting effects on Gaza’s social dynamics and gender equality. 

The stories of Lina Alshanti, Salwa Mohammed, Hala, and Nedaa’ Alhemdiat highlight the incredible resilience and adaptability of women in Gaza during the war. Forced to take on new roles and responsibilities, these women contribute significantly to their families and communities despite facing immense hardships.

Lina

Lina Alshanti, a 33-year-old English teacher, represents the extreme adaptations women in Gaza must endure. Living in an overcrowded apartment in Khan Younis with her extended family, including her husband and two young daughters, Lina faces a constant struggle for privacy. “I had to wear a hijab 24/7 because the rooms were filled with men, and we had to share the same toilet,” Lina explains. “I almost forgot how it felt to be a girl. I missed seeing my hair and taking a normal shower with clean hot water.” When her family moved to another small, dilapidated apartment in Rafah, Lina’s struggle continued. “Even in this house, I had to wear a hijab all day because the situation was dangerous. I was afraid of being killed at any moment, and most of the windows were not covered and in poor condition,” she recalls. This constant need for coverage, particularly in the sweltering heat, severely impacts their personal comfort and well-being.

With many men targeted by Israel, women have become the primary providers and protectors of their families. Lina shares the difficulties of her responsibilities: “My two little daughters, Maria, 4 months, and Lina, 2 years, depended on both breastfeeding and milk formula. Every day, I would spend my morning looking for wood to set on fire due to the shortage of gas, just to boil water to sanitize their bottles.” Lina has had to learn skills traditionally held by men, such as queuing for water, often under dangerous conditions. “I also had to line up in queues in far places to fill my water bottles. It was so hard to take care of my two kids,” she says. Her husband, Khaled, would search for food for long hours. “Since I used to breastfeed my kids, I had to eat quality food, but my milk was affected by the tension and psychological effects on me,” Lina notes, adding another level of difficulty to her already challenging situation.

Numerous women and girls in Gaza experience severe hunger due to the lack of access to food, safe drinking water, functional toilets, and running water, which poses life-threatening dangers. Clean water is especially crucial for breastfeeding mothers and pregnant women, who require increased daily intake of water and calories. Additionally, it is vital for women and girls to maintain their menstrual hygiene with respect and safety.

Tragedy struck Lina’s family on October 22. “I was sitting with my sister and brother who came to visit. I spent the whole day contemplating my little daughter Maria. At night, a heavy bombardment hit near our house. When I woke up, all I could think of was ‘where are my daughters?’” Lina recounts the horrific event. “I was told my husband was in intensive care and might die. My little daughter Maria was killed in her cradle. My brother and sister were severely burned. Losing my daughter made my life come to a standstill. I lost all passion for life.”

Lina’s own injuries required her to travel to Qatar for surgeries. “I had pelvic fractures and stayed in the European hospital for two months, suffering from a lack of quality food and health facilities,” she says. “My husband wasn’t allowed to travel because males are not permitted to travel. After three months, my sister and mom were given the chance to travel to Egypt and then Qatar through coordination with the Ministry of Health. They brought my daughter with them. I was the happiest in that moment, but I still feel lost and disconnected, being away from my husband.”

Salwa

Despite their hardships, women in Gaza contribute significantly to their local economy and community resilience through informal work and resource management. Salwa Mohammed, a 39-year-old elementary teacher, continues to educate her children and those in her neighborhood despite the war. “Part of my social responsibility is to help those children who lost their right to education and have been exposed to inhuman conditions,” she says. Salwa balances teaching and family responsibilities with minimal resources. “In the morning, I make bread and prepare food for my family. In the afternoon, I take care of students, using teaching methods that entertain them despite the lack of resources,” she explains. “I always notice how traumatized the students are as a result of the ongoing war in Gaza through their responses and comments in class.”

She also plays a crucial role in her community beyond the classroom. “I teach my neighbors and those who are displaced in my house how to make bread and also offer them food as charity,” Salwa says. “We have to look out for one another. The bonds we form during these times of crisis are vital for our survival.”

Hala

Hala, 29 a pseudonym for another woman who lost her husband, reveals yet another layer of the burdens women carry. After the tragic loss, Hala, who is still trapped in the north, took responsibility for her own kids. She evacuated many times in Gaza and her husband, 33, was killed on June 30 in a heavy bombardment of the al-Zeitoun neighborhood. “It was an unimaginable loss,” Hala says. “But I had to stay strong for my three kids. They needed someone to rely on, and that person had to be me.” Hala, displaced with her extended family, faced the challenge of caring for traumatized children while dealing with her own grief. “We moved to an overcrowded shelter where privacy was non-existent,” she recalls. “I had to manage everything from finding food to providing emotional support to my kids. In the afternoon, I have to stand in queues just to wait for food aid and receive any kind of assistance from charity institutions, just to be able to provide for my family. It’s overwhelming! Also, my kids were infected with hepatitis due to contaminated water, and I had to take care of them. It’s hard to describe the power it takes to hold everything together when you’re falling apart inside.”

Hala concludes, “I lost my husband at a young age. I will never forgive Israel for killing him. My kids deserve a happy, dignified life with their father. That is too unjust. The whole world is responsible for this and should do something to stop this genocide.”

Nedaa’

Nedaa’ Alhemdiat, 31, is another woman whose life has been upended by the war. A mother of two young children, she lived in the al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza before the war forced her into a tent shared with 13 family members. “I never felt this old in my whole life,” Nedaa’ says. “I used to have a luxurious life, but now everything changed in a blink of an eye.” Like many women in Gaza, Nedaa’ has had to adapt to a life of scarcity and hardship. “I wake up every morning to prepare bread and send my kids to look for firewood. I also wait in queues holding many bottles to get water,” she explains. “My husband lost his source of income. He was a dentist, but now he doesn’t work.”

Nedaa’s daily life is filled with tasks that were once unimaginable for her. “I do the laundry manually, and my hands hurt so much, especially in the winter when they tremble with the cold,” she says. “I cry every night wishing this nightmare would end. We lack hygiene products, and sometimes I have to go to a hospital nearby or look for a friend’s house to take a shower and bathe my kids.”

Her family’s situation worsened when her father Nabeel, 63, paralyzed and unable to flee, was left in al-Shifa Hospital where he died due to the lack of medical care. “His medical health deteriorated, and he required urgent surgery, but all hospitals were not operating at that time,” Nedaa’ recounts.

Nedaa’s brother, Tareq, and his family faced a tragic fate when they moved to a land near the Khan Younis Training Center (KYTC) just days before the Israeli military took control of the area. “We were shocked by what we saw,” Nedaa’ says. “I couldn’t stop trembling. His car was turned upside down, and we had to dig deep. We recognized Tareq from his clothes and his body was decomposed. It was the most difficult moment in my life.”

Despite these immense challenges, Nedaa’ remains strong and continues to fulfill her responsibilities. “No one will ever understand what it means for a woman to live in the war except for us,” she concludes. “It’s a heart-wrenching experience. I really miss feeling like a woman like before.”