Argentine Industry Plummets 12.8% in 2024 Amid Economic Reset


ByJuan Martinez
September 18, 2024

In 2024, Argentina’s industrial sector faced a notable decline, as reported by the Union of Argentine Industry (UIA).

This decline reflects broader economic challenges facing the South American nation. The industrial sector contracted by 5.8% in July compared to the previous year.

Over the first seven months of 2024, the cumulative decline reached 12.8%. This marks the 14th consecutive month of year-on-year decrease in industrial activity.

July saw a slight monthly growth compared to June’s low levels. However, August projections indicate a renewed contraction.

Key sectors such as cement dispatches and automobile production experienced sharp declines. Ten out of twelve industrial sectors reported significant year-on-year decreases in July.

The rubber and plastic industry led the decline with an 18.9% drop. Publishing and printing followed closely with an 18.5% reduction.

Argentine Industry Plummets 12.8% in 2024 Amid Economic Reset – Plastic Industry. (Photo Internet reproduction)

Two sectors showed modest growth, partially offsetting the overall decline. The food and beverage industry grew by 6.2%, while petroleum refining increased by 1.7%.

All sectors reported year-on-year decreases in the first seven months of 2024. Non-metallic minerals experienced the most severe decline, falling by 29.3% during this period.

August’s anticipated negative variation stems from several factors. Cement dispatches fell by 26.5% year-on-year.

The automotive sector decreased by 18.6%. Electricity consumption by large industrial users dropped by 9.4%.

Argentina continues to grapple with an extended economic recession. President Javier Milei’s fiscal adjustment policies have significantly impacted consumer spending.

These measures aim to address the country’s economic challenges but have led to short-term difficulties.

The Central Bank of Argentina’s recent market survey predicts a 3.8% contraction in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2024.

The 2025 budget projects a 5% growth, driven by the ongoing economic reset initiated in 2024.

Hungarian firm tied to pager blasts in Lebanon unmasked

Security officials arrive at Gold Apollo’s Taiwan office as company’s president addresses reporters, denying responsibility for pager explosions in Lebanon; devices reportedly made by Budapest-based BAC which has unclear ties to Middle East and EU

Alexandra Lukash, 

YNET

news agencies

18/09/24

The model of pagers used in detonations in Lebanon was made by Budapest-based BAC Consulting KFT, Taiwanese pager firm Gold Apollo said on Wednesday, adding it had only licensed out its brand to the company and was not involved in the production of the devices.
At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon on Tuesday. According to a senior Lebanese security source and another source, explosives inside the devices were planted by Israel's Mossad spy agency.

 
Gold Apollo
(Photo: REUTERS/Ann Wang)

Gold Apollo was identified through photos of the devices, based on stickers and their design. A Lebanese security official said Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 beepers from the company, believing they would provide more secure communication than cellphones.
"The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it," Gold Apollo founder and president, Hsu Ching-kuang, told reporters at the company's offices in the northern Taiwanese city of New Taipei on Wednesday.


Hsu Ching-Kuang
(Photo: Yan ZHAO / AFP)
The company said in a statement that the AR-924 model was produced and sold by BAC. According to Hsu, payments from BAC had been "strange" and came through the Middle East.

BAC’s website, filled with generic images, lists its CEO and founder as Cristina Arcidiacono-Barsony, and claims the company specializes in consulting across various fields including environment, development and international relations. The official address provided is a private residence in Budapest.


Website of BAC consulting

The website offers little detail on specific projects or clients, instead featuring vague descriptions and stock images. One project lists the European Union as a client, though the accompanying text is sparse and lacks specifics. Another claims the company helped develop technology and a "business bridge" in Asia, again with no clear details.
Gold Apollo authorized "BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in specific regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are entirely handled by BAC," the statement said.




Reuters calls and emails to BAC on Wednesday morning were not answered.
Hsu said earlier there had been problems with remittances from the firm.
"The remittance was very strange," he said, adding that payments had come through the Middle East. He did not elaborate further.
Hezbollah fighters began using pagers in the belief they would be able to evade Israeli tracking of their locations, two sources familiar with the group's operations told Reuters this year.


AR924 pager

Hsu said he did not know how the pagers could have been rigged to explode.
While Hsu was meeting with reporters, police officials arrived at the company. Officials from Taiwan's economy ministry also visited Gold Apollo.
The ministry said in a statement that there was no record of direct pager exports from Taiwan to Lebanon.
Hsu also said Gold Apollo was a victim of the incident and planned to sue the licensee.


A pager that exploded in Lebanon

"We may not be a large company but we are a responsible one," he said. "This is very embarrassing."
Oleg Brodet, from the Cyber Labs at Ben-Gurion University, suggested the operation took years to execute, noting the complexity of supply chain cyberattacks. "To send a 'compromised' device, changes must be made during manufacturing or shipping. We believe something similar happened here, where devices intended for the terrorist organization were altered," he said.
Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Eyal Pinko told Ynet: "This isn’t science fiction. Many countries possess such capabilities. If we go back 14 years, there was a virus that targeted the Natanz nuclear facility, an operation attributed to Israel, which crippled Iran’s enrichment program."

Taiwanese firm denies making pager devices that exploded in Lebanon

Apollo Gold firm says devices made by BAC company, based in Budapest

Anadolu staff |18.09.2024 -


A Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo on Wednesday denied making pager devices that exploded in Lebanon.

In a statement, the company said Apollo Gold Corporation has established a long-term private label authorization and regional agency cooperation with BAC company, which has a license to use its brand.

"According to the agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in specific regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are entirely handled by BAC," it said.

The BAC Consulting KFT is based in Budapest, the capital of Hungary.

"Regarding the recent media reports about the AR-924 pager, we clarify that this model is produced and sold by BAC. We only provide brand trademark authorization and have no involvement in the design or manufacturing of this product," it further said.

Earlier, the company founder Hsu Ching-kuang also denied any involvement of his company in making of the said pager.

The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad planted explosives in the batteries of pager devices that detonated Tuesday in Lebanon, killing nine people and injuring around 2,750 others, including 200 in critical condition, according to Sky News Arabia channel.

The New York Times, citing officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the pagers the Lebanese group ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan had been tampered with before arriving in Lebanon.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid

Taiwanese pager manufacturer reveals new details following Lebanon explosions



2024-09-17 

Shafaq News/ 

In a coordinated cyberattack against Lebanon's Hezbollah, pagers used by the armed group were reportedly manufactured by a European distributor called BAC of the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, according to the company's founder and president, Hsu Ching-Kuang, in a statement made on Wednesday.

At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when the pagers detonated simultaneously across Lebanon on Tuesday.

"The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it," Hsu Ching-Kuang told reporters on Wednesday.

The company said in a statement that the AR-924 model was produced and sold by BAC.

"We only provide brand trademark authorization and have no involvement in the design or manufacturing of this product," the statement said.

Hsu earlier said that the firm with the license was based in Europe but later declined to comment on BAC's location.

While Hsu was meeting with reporters, police officials arrived at the company.

Hezbollah had instructed its members to avoid using mobile phones since the beginning of the Gaza conflict, instead relying on a proprietary telecommunications network to avoid potential Israeli surveillance.

Hsu said that he "did not know how the pagers could have been rigged to explode."

Iran-backed Hezbollah said it was carrying out a "security and scientific investigation" into the causes of the blasts.

Precision Pager Weapons

Precision warfare takes a darker and more individualized direction


Mick Ryan
Sep 18, 2024






In the past 24 hours, nearly 3000 pagers carried by members of the terrorist group Hezbollah exploded across Lebanon. This audacious and imaginative attack on Hezbollah killed at least nine people and injured thousands. While no organisation or country has admitted responsibility for the attack, many, including Hezbollah itself, have pointed the finger at Israel.

If Israel was responsible, it will carry profound implications for Hezbollah and its leadership.

First, Israel is demonstrating that it can identify and target members of Hezbollah regardless of their location or position in the organisation. This is indicative (again) of a sophisticated Israeli intelligence apparatus, which despite its failures leading up to the 7 October Hamas massacres, can execute complex and audacious attacks.

Second, Israel is responding asymmetrically to Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel. These rockets, while improving in accuracy, are generally indiscriminate in who they affect in Israel. Hezbollah has shown no distinction between civilians and military targets. Israel however, with these pager attacks, has shown that it can respond not only with aerial bombardment but in a more discriminate and imaginative way.

Third, Israel (if it did conduct the attacks) is saying to Hezbollah’s leadership that it can and will reach out personally, and that it can remove entire layers of the Hezbollah chain of command instantly. Doing so will cause confusion in Hezbollah’s ranks and significantly degrade its ability to plan and coordinate large-scale attacks on Israel.

Finally, the Israelis have demonstrated that they are inside Hezbollah’s communications networks and its supply chains. This will give every member of Hezbollah pause to reconsider whether to trust the communications and other equipment issued by the organisation. But more generally, the Israelis have shown they can intercept and tamper with supplies bound for Hezbollah. What else might they have tampered with?

There are implications for Australia in this attack.

You can read my full article (for free) at the Lowy Institute site here.

How does a pager work? Here's why Hezbollah used low-tech devices instead of smartphones

At least nine people were killed and around 3,000 injured after pagers used by Hezbollah operatives exploded in Lebanon and Syria

Web Desk Updated: September 18, 2024

Hezbollah believes that the explosives were planted by Israeli spy agency Mossad in the pagers during the production stage itself | Reuters

At least nine people were killed and around 3,000 injured after pagers used by Hezbollah operatives exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday.

How does a pager work?

A pager is pre-mobile phone era telecommunication device which transmits radio signals from its network through a specific frequency. The AR 924 pager used by the Hezbollah did not allow phone calls and were used to communicate via text messages.

ALSO READ: How Israel's Mossad planted explosives in Hezbollah devices and detonated them remotely

Iran-backed Shia group Hezbollah believes that the explosives were planted by Israeli spy agency Mossad in the pagers during the production stage itself. Lebanon security officials claimed the pagers were manufactured by Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese firm.

However, Gold Apollo stated that it did not manufacture the AR 924 pagers, which it claimed were actually produced by BAC, a company which has a licence to use Gold Apollo's brand.

Why did Hezbollah use pagers instead of smartphones?

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on February 13 warned the group's supporters that their phones were more dangerous than Israeli spies. He advised them to break, bury or lock them in an iron box.

Following this, the paramilitary group ordered around 5,000 Taiwanese AR 924 pagers. The choice to switch to pagers was simple: They allowed Hezbollah evade location tracking by Israel as they did not have cameras or allow telephone calls. They also have a low digital signature.

Climate Change & Modern Slavery Hub launch

Webinar

The Climate Change & Modern Slavery Hub is an initiative to address the urgent global issue of modern slavery within the context of climate-induced migration. This event will launch the hub and bring together leading experts in climate change, migration and human rights.

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 - 
1-2pm BST (GMT+1)
Online, via Zoom
Register via Eventbrite
Check out the climate change and modern slavery hub
Last updated 18 September 2024



More than 650k Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh since August 2017, fleeing persecution in Myanmar, more than half of them women and girls (Photo: UN Women, via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)


The intersection of climate change, migration and modern slavery is complex and poorly understood. This knowledge gap results in inadequate policies and programmes to protect vulnerable populations.

The Climate Change & Modern Slavery hub, co-developed by IIED, Anti-Slavery International and Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program, brings together existing evidence on these links, aiming to support informed decision-making and reduce vulnerability to all forms of modern slavery in the context of climate change.

The hub was designed to equip policymakers, researchers and practitioners with the knowledge and tools to address this growing crisis. The hub will:Provide a comprehensive knowledge base on the links between climate change, migration and modern slavery
Offer an interactive map and resources for easy access to information
Support policymakers, researchers and practitioners in developing effective strategies
Highlight gaps in current understanding and areas for further research, and
Promote the integration of modern slavery considerations in climate change actions.

This event will provide an opportunity to explore the critical intersections between climate-induced migration and modern slavery, and learn about the new tools for researchers, policymakers and practitioners.
AgendaKeynote speech by Elisa Morgera, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change
Overview of the Climate Change & Modern Slavery Hub
Presentation of the key findings of the hub
Expert panel discussion with representatives from Anti-Slavery International, IIED and OKUP
Question-and-answer session

IIED events newsletter

Sign up to our mailing list for updates and invitations to events throughout the year, including webinars, critical themes and debriefs.

Contact


Anne Schulthess (anne.schulthess@iied.org), marketing manager, IIED's Communications Group

Ecology: our perspectives and work

Submitted by webadmin on 9 September, 2024 - https://www.workersliberty.org/



The AWL affirms the following points based upon sections of our 2019-20, 2013, and 2008 conference documents as policies for our intervention in the labour movement and in environment-activist groups, and the following summary of new policy on geoengineering. We note that discussions will continue on transformation of land-use and agriculture, growth and limits, and other issues.

The working class is the agent with the capability and interest in transforming society: through immediate reforms as well as in the battle for democratic, rational control of the economy and society as a whole.

We have no confidence in the capitalist class, or their states, to stop climate change. Powerful sections of the capitalist class will fight to stop a green transition. But significant reforms, including environmental reforms, can be and have been won under capitalism. These can limit the speed of climate change, reducing harm and buying us time.

Beyond global warming, there are several major independent environmental threats.

All major industries should be socialised - taken into public ownership, under democratic control of workers - to facilitate transition. Expropriating the banks, and the wealth of the rich, would make available resources to fund rapid transition and adaptation.

In the first place, socialisation of and investment in energy production and transport.

We demand an immediate ban on fracking, tar sands, other “extreme energy”, and any new fossil power plants. We advocate the least polluting - which to first approximation means fastest - possible phasing out of all fossil-fuelled power stations, heating, and transport.

Renewable energy production should be expanded. An integrated and coordinated electricity system using “smart grid” technology would maximise efficiency and reliability.

The urgency of the need to replace fossil-fuel electricity generation makes blanket opposition to nuclear power wrong. The development of solar, wind, tidal, etc. power is an urgent necessity; and so is the redesign of cities and buildings and transport to reduce energy use; but the scale of the task of replacing fossil fuels demands that governments pursue all these changes simultaneously.

Nuclear power will be an essential part of any concerted social effort to control carbon emissions and global warming, at least in the next few decades.

We advocate and fight for a comprehensive programme of measures to redesign living spaces, industry, transport, etc to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions while protecting and improving living standards. This includes fighting for a shorter working week and longer holidays.

In the energy sector, as in others, we champion a transition organised on the basis of worker planning, and in particular the retraining of workers from polluting or obsolete roles into socially-useful jobs.

Workers' control of production! Workers' plans are central to reducing carbon emission at work. Workers' control is necessary to deal with the shift from wasteful, high-emission or polluting production to alternative jobs. Workers' control is essential for protecting the interests of workers in jobs in existing, often ecologically damaging, forms of production. We fight for the labour movement in the industries affected to discuss and develop ecologically friendly alternatives to existing jobs.

Beyond these sectors, widespread workplace environmental action is important for a society-wide transition, for sparking and spreading class struggle, and for stoking working-class environmentalism on the political front of the class war.

We advocate public programmes of insulation, electrification of cooking, and electrified large-scale heating systems.

We support a moratorium on airport expansion, advocating an expansion of high-speed, affordable, electrified and efficient rail, and policies to radically reduce flights. We support increased taxation on flights and phasing-out of short-haul flights where there are less-polluting alternatives, with flights rationed on the basis of need.

We seek an expansion of local free or low-cost good-quality electrical and efficient public transport, and policies to support cycling and walking.

We support crop rotation and scientific methods to enable more sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture.

Animal-based food production is more energy- and land-intensive and so has a higher environmental impact (in particular a much higher level of carbon emissions) than directly plant-based food production. A societal shift away from animal-based food to more plant-based food is an essential part of a programme to sharply reduce carbon emissions and would also free up substantial land for carbon sequestration through tree-planting. There already exists a widely-consumed range of substitute foods (relatively protein-rich, plant- and fungus-based food alternatives to meat, dairy products, etc.). We advocate promotion and subsidy of such substitute foods to help reduce consumption and production of animal-based foods in the immediate term, as well as seriously funded further research and development into substitute foods to facilitate a society-wide transition. Genetic engineering is in itself not problematic, and genetic engineering of low-emissions substitute foods is positive.

We demand huge public investment in an ambitious programme of ecological restoration - and mass tree planting - to increase biodiversity and natural carbon sequestration.

We advocate a huge redistribution of wealth from the richest to the poorest countries. Wealth from the global north can help societies in the global south develop to support a high quality of life on a low-emissions, environmentally-friendly basis.

Geoengineering is not a substitute for sharp emissions reductions. Some of the geoengineering technologies might have major downsides and risks. But they may prove necessary to confront a world we never wished for.

The present stage is mostly about research, experiments and testing. On balance, it makes sense to support authorised, publicly-funded research. We raise the questions of governance of geoengineering, pushing for democratic safeguards, scrutiny and accountability, including by the labour movement.

We work to build struggles around workplace environmental demands, including on campuses.
We want to work with the radical environmental movement as a whole and win it to our perspectives. But we want to move the focus of that movement from direct action by small, self-sacrificing groups to mass action.

We see environmental activism as a crucial part of our work.

WORKERS LIBERTY

UK

David Lammy's ambitious green foreign policy plans will require cash and commitment

Sky News
Tue 17 September 2024 

David Lammy chose to make his first major policy speech as foreign secretary in the lush surroundings of a glasshouse at Kew Gardens.

He recalled how his father brought him to Kew as a schoolboy to experience the rainforest environment of his native Guyana.

The sort of opening you might expect to hear from a politician - especially one promising to make climate change and biodiversity "central to all the foreign office does."

There's evidence Mr Lammy's ambition for a new kind of foreign policy is genuine, however.

Take the education centre he and his wife founded in Guyana four years ago for local students to learn about the country's last remaining rainforest and how to conserve it.

But delivering on his pledge would test even the greenest of foreign secretaries.

Mr Lammy announced three new initiatives: A clean power alliance that would allow poorer countries to "leapfrog" polluting fossil fuel energy in favour of renewables with the help of richer ones; an overhaul of international finance to help poorer countries reduce their carbon footprints and adapt to the climate impacts they didn't create; and international leadership on protecting biodiversity.

All of these would be delivered by exploiting the UK's diplomatic "heft," he said.

Essential goals if we're to enjoy a habitable planet - but all very similar to pledges we've heard before.

The main challenge is how to divert flows of finance from fossil fuel projects or unsustainable agriculture that drives deforestation to cleaner, more sustainable ones.

And while investment globally is shifting rapidly into renewable energy - which is often less expensive to build - carbon emissions are at all-time highs (though possibly peaking).

The reality is that fossil fuels and conventional agriculture are where the biggest profits are still to be made.

You only need to follow the money, as a recent report by NGO Action Aid did, to see that.

It concluded since the Paris Agreement in 2016, $3.2trn (£2.4trn) of investment - much of it from banks in the UK - has flowed into fossil fuel projects and $370bn (£281bn) into industrial agriculture.

I asked Mr Lammy how he could compete with that, given the UK had just £11.6bn to spend on climate finance in developing countries between 2019 and 2026.

The reply suggested that even that amount of money was no longer guaranteed.

Mr Lammy said: "Meeting the £11.6bn remains our ambition." But, as we've heard repeated by ministers throughout Westminster in recent weeks, he added that "difficult choices" lie ahead for Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her autumn spending review.

However, if, in the absence of much money to play with, Mr Lammy can exploit the UK diplomatic machine to attract partner governments in a climate alliance, it might not be a futile exercise.

There is much governments can do to remove subsidies, favourable tax regimes and other incentives, to make environmentally harmful investments more difficult - and to encourage the kind needed to stabilise the climate and protect biodiversity.

But that requires genuine partnerships that typically are built not just with trust, but cash on the table

UK

Ministers step up bid to end 'exploitative' zero-hours contracts

Sky News
Tue 17 September 2024 


Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, will hold talks with union bosses and business leaders on Wednesday as the government pursues its ambition of ending "exploitative" zero-hours contracts.

Sky News understands that Ms Rayner, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Justin Madders, the employment rights minister, will meet representatives of major business groups including the CBI and FSB as part of Labour's 'Make Work Pay' reforms.

Sources said it would provide a forum for ministers to outline further details of their plans amid a growing backlash from the private sector.

Officials from the TUC, Unite and USDAW, the shopworkers' union, will be among those in attendance, according to one insider.

Figures suggest that the number of workers on zero-hours contracts has risen over the last decade to more than one million.

The government has argued that the level of insecurity they create leaves workers in a vulnerable position.

"It cannot be right that someone on a zero-hours contract can have their shift cancelled at the last minute on the bus to work," a government source said.

Ministers are expected to say that the government does not intend to ban zero-hours contracts altogether, with students and carers able to remain working on such terms if they are offered guaranteed hours.

The government has held a series of roundtable meetings with bosses in recent weeks, pledging that the private sector would be able to have its say on the reforms "at every stage".

MakeUK and U Hospitality will be among the other business groups represented at Wednesday's talks.




Jacob Rees-Mogg’s attacks on working from home were ‘bizarre’, says Labour

Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor
Tue 17 September 2024 at 2:08 am GMT-6·3-min read


Reynolds says flexible working proposals could reduce regional inequality and contribute to productivity.Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA


The business secretary has defended Labour’s plans to introduce new flexible working laws, calling it “bizarre” that Jacob Rees-Mogg had launched a “war on people working from home”.

The comments by Jonathan Reynolds come as he and the communities secretary, Angela Rayner, attempt to thrash out the final details of the workers’ rights legislation in time for the employment bill that is expected to be introduced in the first fortnight of October.

One area of contention is day-one rights, which Labour intends to introduce to give people the right to sick leave, maternity pay and the right to sue for unfair dismissal from day one of their employment, rather than after a longer period.

Rayner is understood to believe that probation periods should still apply but should remain at the industry norm of three to six months. There are pressures from senior industry figures, however, to allow longer probation periods of up to a year. The issue is reportedly a source of tension between Rayner and Reynolds.

Reynolds said in an interview with the Times on Tuesday that he would press ahead with key changes to flexible working laws, which he said could reduce regional inequality and contribute to productivity. He said the minimum wage should also be increased in order to guarantee “a decent quality of life”.

Among the changes the government has pledged to bring in are a ban on the use of zero-hours contracts, apart from when an employee specifically requests one; making flexible working the default; ending restrictions on trade union organising; and ending fire-and-rehire policies. The bill was promised to come within 100 days, which means it should be tabled before the October budget.

Reynolds said there was no reason for anyone to object to working from home as long as it was managed well. “We’ve had flexible working laws for quite some time in the UK. I think where people reach agreement with their employer … it does contribute to productivity, it does contribute to their resilience, their ability to stay working for an employer.”

Related: ‘Condescending’: Jacob Rees-Mogg leaves notes for WFH civil servants

He added: “The UK has very significant regional inequality. It could play a significant contribution to tackling that.”

Reynolds said he had been alarmed at the Conservatives’ approach to working from home, especially in the civil service. He said: “Jacob Rees-Mogg made this big thing as business secretary, declaring war on people working from home. That’s pretty bizarre given the economic position the country was in and the real business agenda that needs to be pursued.”

He said that for employers there was “genuinely nothing to worry about” regarding plans to introduce the right for employees to disconnect, meaning they cannot be contacted outside work hours.

“Good employers understand that their workforce, to keep them motivated and resilient, they do need to judge people on outcomes and not a culture of presenteeism,” he said.

 UK

Remembering William Jobling, the last man to be gibbeted

William Jobling was found guilty of murder in 1832 at Durham Assizes. He was executed and gibbeted

byAmanda Ellison

 17-09-2024 18:53

in History, North East

Photo by Juroreight CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

When I joined Jarrow’s only secondary school as an English teacher in 2003, I determined to build on my limited knowledge of the town and its history. I knew, of course, the story of the Jarrow March, the 1936 organised protest against unemployment and poverty. The backdrop to the story is well chronicled and has placed Jarrow firmly in the national consciousness. Somewhat less well known, though, is the story of William Jobling, a local pitman and last man in the country to be gibbeted.

Jobling was born in Jarrow in 1794. Like most of the male townsfolk, he was destined for the pit. The work was arduous and dangerous: two years prior to Jobling’s arrest in 1832, 40 men and boys had lost their lives in a local mining accident. This was not uncommon.

Moreover, the miners were not adequately recompensed for their labour. Local pitmen would be obligated to sign a bond (effectively placing a cross on a piece of paper), tying them to a pit for a year and a day and accepting payment in the form of ‘Tommy checks’ (vouchers). These vouchers would be used as payment for overpriced goods. So, while the 1807 Slave Trade Act was on the cusp of being enacted in 1833, slavery of sorts was alive and well much closer to home. It is little wonder that 1832 saw pitmen, led by Tommy Hepburn, striking for better pay and conditions – Jobling among them.

In the late afternoon of 11 June 1832, Jobling was returning from the pub (Turners) in South Shields with companion Ralph Armstrong. Near Jarrow Slake, the two encountered 71-year-old local magistrate Nicholas Fairles, who was passing on his horse. The impoverished Jobling begged for money, and Armstrong pelted sticks and stones at horse and rider when Fairles refused.

Fairles died from his injuries ten days later, but had identified his principal attacker as Armstrong – not Jobling. Nevertheless, Jobling was captured on the beach at South Shields and ultimately found guilty of murder at Durham Assizes. He was sentenced to death by hanging. It took the jury only 15 minutes to return their verdict. Armstrong, a seaman, disappeared.

Execution

On 21 August Jobling was publicly executed. Local legend has it that Armstrong was amid the crowd that witnessed the hanging, and shouted an audacious farewell just as Jobling swung to his grim and agonising death. Jobling’s body was then covered with tar and placed in a gibbet, a metal cage built to house the body as it decomposed over several months. Left to sway in the wind, it would stand as a warning to all potential criminals.

Less than a month later, Jobling’s body vanished in the dead of night. The stench emitted from the body would have been putrid. The whereabouts of his body are unknown, but rumour has it that his family buried his remains near the entrance to the modern-day Tyne Tunnel entrance, where a memorial now stands.

Following the pitman’s death, his wife Isabella was destined for the workhouse. His children may well have ended up there too. And only two years later the brutal practice of gibbeting was outlawed – too late for Jobling and his family.

A bleak past

Like many former mining communities, Jarrow has a clear history of subservience at the hands of the ruling classes. The town still bears the scars of its bleak past – statistically, it is one of the most deprived areas in the country according to the Office for National Statistics, and more than half of its school-aged children are eligible for free school meals. Jobling was ostensibly punished for murder but, given Fairles’s testimony and the absence of compelling evidence, his fate can alternatively be seen as a symbol of injustice and exploitation. That’s worth remembering.

First published in Newcastle Magazine

TATA STEEL WALES

Thousands of jobs go in steel

Submitted by martin on 17 September, 2024 - 

 Author: Matt Dunn

https://www.workersliberty.org/

The deep-water harbour at Port Talbot, which served the steelworks, has already closed, on 2 September

Thousands of jobs will go at Tata Steel UK’s Port Talbot plant as its owners shut its last ageing blast furnace this month, September 2024. Thousands more look set to go at British Steel’s Scunthorpe works. The UK will be left with no ability to produce "virgin" steel – needed for industries like construction and vehicle manufacture. A huge economic impact will be meted out to the communities of Scunthorpe and Port Talbot. And we will pay billions.

Despite a high-profile campaign by Unite, with at best mixed support from Community and the GMB, workers at Tata voted with their back pockets. The voluntary redundancy scheme was oversubscribed.

New money was promised by the Labour Government for Port Talbot and the final deal does include talk of future investment in expansion. And it commits Tata to retaining 5,000 jobs in the UK steel sector. The government is promising a steel strategy to be produced in 2025. This is an improvement on the money-for-nothing deal struck by the previous government, but still lacks the clarity needed to give workers confidence.

Tata is a huge, rich corporation, headquartered in Mumbai. The UK Government has subsidised it through "pollution permits" to the tune of £1.4 billion over the last four years, and is now handing over another £500 million. According to the Mirror (Sunday 15 September 2024) Tata bosses, “could be in line for a windfall worth tens of millions of pounds”. If they don’t use their free permits, they can sell them. For a lot of money.

At the same time as they are shutting old, polluting blast furnaces in the UK, Tata is investing in new, greener steel in the Netherlands, and in new dirty steel produced in brand new blast furnaces in India. They are able to do this thanks in no small part to the largesse of the UK taxpayer.

Instead of bankrolling private conglomerates and their wealthy owners, we should demand the public ownership of polluting industries and the planning and financing required for a just transition to new, cleaner, socially useful industry. The voices of workers and affected communities – in industries like steel, oil and gas and automotive – must be at the fore of a worker-led transition.

 WALES/CYMRU

Islamophobic social media video of Cardiff Mosque condemned

17 Sep 2024 

Co-leader of Britain First Paul Golding – Image Aaron Chown PA media

Emily Price

The Muslim Council of Wales and Senedd politicians have condemned an Islamophobic social media post about a Cardiff mosque shared online by the co-leader of Britain First.

Paul Golding posted the video to X, formerly Twitter, of Alice Street in Butetown as the Call to Prayer was played from a tannoy outside the South Wales Islamic Centre.

The announcement recited in Arabic calls worshippers to the mosque for each of the five daily ritual prayers.

Sharing the video, Mr Golding wrote: “Islamic chants being blasted at full volume from a mosque in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. This is unacceptable.

“This is Britain, not Saudi Arabia. We are a Christian nation.”

The video went viral racking up millions of views and attracting a string of racist comments.

Butetown is home to one of the longest established Muslim communities in the UK after groups of Yemeni and Somali seafarers made their home there in the mid-1800’s.

The Muslim Council of Wales branded Mr Golding as a “divisive fringe voice” who was attempting to rewrite Cardiff’s rich multicultural history.

Secretary General, Dr Abdul Azim Ahmed, said: “Wales has one of the oldest Muslim communities in Britain, and the Cardiff docks is home to a Muslim community that dates back over a century. Muslims helped make Cardiff the capital city that it is today. Wales is a nation of many faiths, and Islam is a Welsh religion.

“Divisive and fringe voices are seeking to re-write history and undermine our common belonging to one another here in Wales and the United Kingdom. We must always reject their calls to hatred.”

‘Loving’

St Mary’s Church – which is located just minutes from the mosque – similarly hit out at Mr Golding for his offensive comments.

In an X post, they said: “Strange that this person makes this comment from a Christian perspective. Maybe he should speak to actual Christians who live just a few mins from this mosque where we have many friends with whom we work to make our community strong and loving. This is Cardiff. This is Butetown.”

Tory Darren Millar who is the Chair of the Senedd’s Cross Party Group on Faith also slammed the anti-migrant party leader for his attack on Cardiff’s Muslim community.

He said: “Relationships between Wales’ Muslim and other faith communities are warm and friendly. No matter how hard people like Mr Golding try to stoke division, we will continue to resist all attempts to promote hate and misunderstanding.”

Mr Golding, who hails from Kent, co-founded Britain First in 2011 following a stint as a British National Party councillor.

In 2016, he was banned from entering mosques in Wales and England but was later jailed after breaching the injunction having attempted to enter a mosque in Cardiff.

Jailed

Two years later both he and Britain First’s deputy leader Jayda Fransen were jailed for harrassement after targeting religious minorities, particularly Muslims.

In 2020, he was found guilty under the Terrorism Act after he refused police access to his phone at Heathrow when he returned from a political trip to Russia.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson for Social Justice and Early Years, Sioned Williams branded Mr Golding’s attack on the Muslim faith “completely unacceptable”.

She said: “Such Islamophobia has no place in Wales. We are a proud multicultural and multifaith nation that has been built on tolerance and celebrating diversity.

“In the face of the far right’s threat to the peaceful and inclusive nature of our communities, it is important that we stand together to call out this type of racist hate.”

NATION CYMRU

UK

Join the march for Palestine to Labour Party Conference

17th September 2024ILeave a Commenton Join the march for Palestine to Labour Party Conference

“The reality is that David Lammy, Keir Starmer and the rest are continuing the British state’s support for these war crimes and a total commitment to war and militarism” – Jennie Walsh

As Israel’s genocide in Gaza continues to accelerate, along with the threat of a wider regional conflict, the pro-Palestine movement will be on the streets of Liverpool this weekend, writes Jennie Walsh of the Stop the War Coalition.

Benjamin Netanyahu has announced his goals have expanded to include enabling Israelis who have fled areas near the Lebanese border to return to their homes. With the daily crossfire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah and Israel’s apparent use of pager devices to commit a horrific act of terror, along with its continued rejection of a permanent Gaza ceasefire plan, a wider regional conflict looms ever closer.

Meanwhile in Gaza, schools, hospitals and refugee camps are being continually bombarded. The Palestinian Education Ministry says more than 11,000 students have been killed in the Gaza Strip and West Bank since 7 October, while a Lancet study estimated the true overall death toll in Gaza nearly one year on may be as high as 186,000.

The sickening bombing by Israeli war planes, likely US-made MK-84s, of displaced people’s tents in the so-called humanitarian “safe zone” of al-Mawasi killed at least 40 Palestinians last week. But with people apparently vaporised by the intensity of the blasts – which created three enormous craters – the true death toll is likely much higher.

The use of 2000lb bombs against civilians sheltering in tents, in an area with few large buildings for Israel to claim them as the real target, is an unspeakable act. It tears apart the myth of a distinction between defensive versus offensive weapons that the British foreign secretary David Lammy clings to to justify going on arming Israel.

His recent suspension of some arms licences to Israel actually amounted to fewer than 10 per cent. The reality is that he, Keir Starmer and the rest are continuing the British state’s support for these war crimes and a total commitment to war and militarism.

Their “tough choices” on public spending don’t extend to dropping the government’s commitment to a 2.5 per cent increase in defence spending, which is already one of the highest in Europe. There’s always more money for bombs, but not for heating pensioners’ homes and raising millions of children out of poverty.

So we must continue to demand a total embargo of all arms sales to the apartheid Israeli state and for welfare, not warfare. Which is why we are taking the national Palestine march to Liverpool this Saturday as the Labour party starts gathering for its annual conference.

After the TUC Congress took unanimous decisions, after initial resistance by some delegations, to align trade unions with the pro-Palestine, pro-peace and anti-war movements, and to call for an end to Britain’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza and escalation towards a wider war in the Middle East, including by ending all licences for arms traded with Israel, we now need no more prevarication from the labour movement.

The Labour government’s decision to reinstate funding for UNWRA and the abandonment of a proposal to block the ICC’s warrants against Netanyahu are victories for our pro-Palestine movement. Protest does work. But unions must now have a significant presence this weekend and at the following national demonstration on 5 October to strengthen our force for peace.

We are also starting to build for the next national workplace day of action for Gaza on 10 October, which is backed by the TUC, as we step up our efforts to keep the cause of Palestine in the forefront of politics.

We are 11 months in to a genocide happening in real time. We cannot look away now. Join Stop the War and our coalition partners on the streets of Liverpool at Labour conference to call on the government to push for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to immediately stop arming Israel. 

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• Jennie Walsh is the Press Officer for the Stop the War Coalition. You can follow Stop the War on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X.
• The national March to Labour’s Conference: End the Genocide in Gaza – Stop Arming Israel is this Saturday 21 September, 12pm, Liverpool, St. George’s Plateau (Outside Lime Street Station). Coach details here.