It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, July 10, 2020
UPDATED Fourth day of virus protests in Serbia as virus cases spike Issued on: 11/07/2020
Some demonstrators also threw firecrackers and chanted nationalist slogans, according to AFP journalists ANDREJ ISAKOVIC AFPBelgrade (AFP) VIDEOS AT THE END
Thousands protested for a fourth day Friday across Serbia over the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as officials condemned the demonstrations and announced a record jump in cases.
Some demonstrators threw firecrackers and chanted nationalist slogans, according to AFP journalists.
The protests were held as the Balkan nation announced a record daily death toll from COVID-19.
Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said earlier Friday the Balkan state recorded 18 fatalities and 386 new cases over 24 hours in what she described as a "dramatic increase".
At the same time, Brnabic condemned as "irresponsible" protests held in Belgrade and other cities on Thursday, after demonstrations in the capital on the previous two days had spilled over into violence.
"With regard to the demonstrations, there is no more irresponsible behaviour right now," said Brnabic.
"We shall see the results of the protests in three to four days," she said and called on people to respect measures to restrict the spread of the virus.
President Aleksandar Vucic condemned the actions of demonstrators who had blocked the main road into the second-largest city of Novi Sad as "pure terrorism", speaking on national TV.
Vucic added, "we are in this situation because of the irresponsibility of those who are calling for people to be on the streets".
"I am begging people not to protest because they will end up seeking medical help," he said, adding the demonstrations were unlawful.
Protesters have given vent to their frustration with Vucic, who is seen by many as having facilitated a virus second wave by lifting an initial lockdown so that elections could be held on June 21 and which his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) largely won.
The first demonstration on Tuesday was triggered after Vucic announced the return of a weekend curfew to combat a second wave of coronavirus infections that has overwhelmed hospitals in Belgrade.
The president later backtracked on his plan, but the protests continued, turning into a general rebuke of his handling of the health crisis.
On Thursday, the government formally dropped the curfew plan and announced restrictions on public gatherings of more than 10 people -- effectively barring protests.
A wave of new infections came after a number of sporting events were allowed to go ahead amid minimal social distancing.
These included a tennis tournament organised by multiple grand slam champion Novak Djokovic, who tested positive for coronavirus along with three other participants at his ill-fated Adria Tour.
Several senior politicians also tested positive in the wake of SNS celebrations of its election triumph.
To date, Serbia has logged 370 coronavirus deaths and almost 18,000 cases.
Neighbouring Croatia and Bosnia likewise posted 24-hour records for new virus cases Friday -- 116 and 316 respectively.
Virus Unrest Turns Violent As Serbs Protest Being "Lied To For Political Ends"
Social unrest has rocked Belgrade and other cities in Serbia this week in response to President Aleksandar Vucic's reintroduction of government-curfews over surging coronavirus cases.
Serbian police fired tear gas and were dressed head to toe in riot gear, as demonstrators, mostly young people, assaulted police on Tuesday and Wednesday. The New York Times said the unrest was some of the first in Europe since the pandemic began - also indicating the severity of the unrest was worst since the rule of Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s.
Young Serbs quickly took the streets on Tuesday after Vucic announced Belgrade would be placed under a new order restricting movement in the region for three days to mitigate the spread of the second coronavirus wave. Many were infuriated by the re-implementation of the lockdown after coming out of some of the strictest ones in Europe to allow the general election last week.
"We don't mind staying home for another three days — that wasn't the problem," said Dragana Grncarski, 45, who has been protesting this week.
"However, they're playing with our minds and with the truth," Grncarski added. "When it suits them to do elections, there is no corona. They organized football matches and tennis matches, and because of that we have a situation where the hospitals are full."
"Citizens have been constantly deceived and lied to for political ends," said Tena Prelec, a political expert on Southeast Europe at the University of Oxford.
BREAKING - All hell breaking loose in Serbia's Belgrade amid protests over the government's handling of #COVID19 for the second day.pic.twitter.com/3JnxJG3BiJ
Jelena Vasiljevic, an expert on Balkan unrest at the University of Belgrade, said the expiration of the lockdowns for election purposes - then re-implementation of the lockdowns took the population "from one extreme to another."
Vasiljevic said the "excessive use of force" by the government to combat rioters hasn't been seen since the days of "Milosevic in 1996 or 1997." Milosevic led Serbia through the Balkan Wars and was later charged for war crimes.
Demonstrators stormed the Serbian parliament building in Belgrade after President Aleksandar Vucic announced stricter measures, including the lockdown of the capital, over the weekend to halt the spread of the coronavirus https://t.co/dFlIVgyOkGpic.twitter.com/3E24L77ftv
Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin was convinced the demonstration against the re-implementation of the lockdowns in Belgrade and other cities were "carefully planned" - and aimed at igniting a civil war.
"We have terrible violence on the streets, we have an attempt at a coup, we have an attempt to seize power by force and an attempt to provoke a civil war in Serbia. It cannot be described and explained differently. There is no reason, there is no reason to set fire to the Assembly, to set fire to the City Hall in Novi Sad, to attack the police, to beat people on the streets, to endanger life and to endanger the property of Serbian citizens ," said Vulin, a guest on the show Novo jutro on TV Pink, was asked to comment on the events in the previous two evenings.
"There were indications of foreign involvement, and some criminal faces were there, too," Vucic said on Wednesday afternoon. He added that virus cases will likely flare-up because of the mass unrest.
"I wonder who will be responsible for the fact that hundreds and thousands of people became infected yesterday and the day before yesterday," he said
Vucic has also backtracked on the curfew after several days of unrest - instead, the government is expected to impose restrictions on public spaces and possibly limit business hours. There's also talk of fining people for not wearing masks.
When it comes to outside forces meddling in Serb domestic affairs, Russia came out on Thursday, denying it had any involvement.
Russian Times caught some of the unrest on video earlier this week. Young Serbs can be seen clashing with riot police in front of government buildings
Lebanon’s neo-liberal wheels sped to a dream future, but the past applies the brakes
Issued on: 10/07/2020
File photo taken June 13, 2020 of Lebanese anti-government protesters in Beirut participating in a symbolic funeral for the country. AFP - ANWAR AMRO
For decades, Lebanon was a poster child of the triumph of private enterprise, its failure to close its civil war chapter overlooked in the hopes that prosperity would overcome the weakness of the state. But now that the current economic crisis has ripped the neo-liberal band-aid, can the Lebanese confront the wounds of the past?
The trains in Lebanon are an unfortunate metaphor for the state. They’re going nowhere. In fact, they haven’t budged since the national rail system ground to a halt during the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war.
But they live in the public memory, an object of yearning and a testimony to the limitations of private enterprise. Artists put up shows offering sepia-tinted nostalgia of a heritage service. Newspapers feature profiles of “Lebanon’s last living train driver”. NGOs raise awareness, via songs and video clips, hoping it will lay the groundwork for a modern railway system linking cities as they did under Ottoman and colonial rule.
The wheels of the dream however are stuck, like the country’s trains going rusty in yards roamed by packs of wild dogs.
Meanwhile, Lebanon has a Public Transport and Railway Administration – or Office des Chemins de Fer et des Transports en Common (OCFTC) in French. The department is staffed by civil servants and has a budget of more than $8 million a year.
But the OCFTC’s only transportation offering is a fleet of public buses with a grand total of 35 vehicles officially running nine routes nationwide. In reality, many OCFTC bus drivers never get behind a wheel. Some confess they haven’t driven for years because they’re afraid of being attacked by the drivers of private minibuses, who dominate Lebanon’s public transport sector.
Transport regulation services, meanwhile, range from corrupt to non-existent. Red registration plates necessary for public transport vehicles are issued by the Transport and Vehicle Management Authority (TVMA) under the Interior Ministry. But they can be bought and sold or simply forged, with the number of red plate vehicles on the streets far exceeding TVMA-issued registrations.
But Lebanon nevertheless kept moving, its estimated 4 million citizens – famed for their enterprise, resilience and business acumen – getting where they needed to somehow. The rich and upper middle classes in their cars maneuvered traffic snarls, the less fortunate hailed minibuses or “service” – Lebanon’s celebrated shared taxis.
The money also flowed, with Lebanese banks – the historic “jewel” of the country’s economy” – offering high interest rates, attracting currency from local and regional depositors as well as the large Lebanese diaspora across the world.
“Little Lebanon” has long been the hailed liberal island in an autocratic Arab neighbourhood. After the civil war, it turned into a neo-liberal dream, the absence of effective state services, it was believed, could be filled by private enterprise, mirroring the post-Soviet zeitgeist of privatisation against the sin of “bloated” governments. International attention instead was focused on Lebanon’s precarious political equilibrium in a volatile region. The Lebanese, it was believed, could manage finance.
But the neo-liberal bubble has burst with deadly consequences. A spiraling economic crisis driven by a currency collapse is driving the state and its people into destitution. The Lebanese pound in recent days fetched more than 9,000 to the greenback on the black market, hyper-inflation has wiped meat off many Lebanese tables – including the army’s menu – and the desperation has triggered a spike in suicides.
Four Lebanese killed themselves last week in suicides apparently linked to the economic downturn.
In one case, a 61-year-old man shot himself before a Dunkin’ Donuts shop in the heart of capital, Beirut. A suicide note on his chest quoted a line from a popular song, “I am not a heretic. But hunger is heresy,” according to local media reports.
IMF as ‘defenders of widows and orphans’
Meanwhile talks between Lebanon and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an emergency bailout have stalled over the country’s inability to overhaul its entrenched patronage systems.
Two members of Lebanon’s negotiating team resigned last month, including one of the main architects of the government’s rescue plan. Alain Bifany, the top civil servant in the Lebanese finance ministry, told a news conference he “refused to be part of, or witness to, what is being done”.
A blame game has since dominated the Lebanese airwaves. But it hasn’t changed the facts on the ground. The collapse of talks was not due to differences between Lebanon and the IMF, the two negotiating parties. It was sparked by infighting within the Lebanese team, pitting civil servants against bankers and politicians over the extent of losses accrued by the banks, particularly Lebanon’s central bank.
The government’s assessment of central bank losses of around $50 billion – equivalent to more than 90 percent of Lebanon’s 2019 total economic output – was rejected by the central bank governor and some parliamentarians who maintained the amount was lower, according to the Financial Times. The IMF is more in line with Lebanese civil service figures, estimating losses of over $90 billion.
The collapse of IMF talks “is really disappointing. Basically, there is no plan B and it was the last hope to inject badly needed foreign currency which could offer a respite to the economy,” said Karim Emile Bitar, senior fellow at the Paris-based Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS) and director of the Institute for Political Science at St. Joseph University, Beirut.
While IMF bailouts, with the accompanying austerity and belt-tightening measures, tend to be unpopular across the world, the reverse is true in Lebanon, Bitar explained.
“The irony in Lebanon is that there’s such a degree of egregious corruption, political clientelism and kleptocracy that the IMF ended up being seen as defending the widows and orphans,” said Bitar in a phone interview with FRANCE 24 from Beirut. “This is one of the very few cases when the IMF is seen on the side of social justice against political elites in cahoots with private interests, banks and big depositors – the few who have over $10 million each [in bank deposits] and don’t want to contribute to a fair solution.”
The IMF bailout of around $5 billion in aid – after Lebanon for the first time defaulted on its sovereign debt – would pave the way for contributions from France, the EU, and Gulf states keen to rescue the country, but wary of pouring money into the morass.
But overhauling Lebanon’s entrenched patronage systems has proved to be easier said than done. “You would not think this would be difficult,” a senior European diplomat told the Guardian. “We have been begging them to behave like a normal state, and they are acting like they are selling us a carpet.”
Beautiful, but threadbare national carpet
The Lebanese national carpet though is a structurally threadbare tapestry of sectarian divides that has been historically managed – more often mismanaged – by feudal lords, warlords and their families and friends.
The carpet is ripped in times of war, but when the conflict ends – with an invariable division of spoils – the fabric of the nation is rarely strengthened. The country’s once warring elites and weary populace instead place their hopes on the magic of the market and the memory of the last bloodbath as a deterrent against future man-made disasters.
The roots of the current crisis lie in the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war and the country’s failure to effectively close that historical chapter by addressing existential issues. The lessons of the past are important not just for Lebanon, but also for other countries in the region, such as Syria and Iraq, grappling with sectarianism and strife.
Lebanon’s brutal civil war between internecine sectarian groups backed by regional powers ended with the Taif Accord. The agreement reached in the mountainous Saudi city of Taif ended the fighting, but failed to effectively secure the peace. Instead of abolishing colonial era divide-and-rule policies, imperative for newly independent democracies, the parties merely updated the confessional equation.
Post-conflict justice and reconciliation was avoided in favour of national amnesia, encapsulated by the dictum “la ghalib, wa la maghloub” (no victors, no vanquished). The old system of zaims, or feudal overlords, providing protection and services in exchange for patronage survived with a few nomenclature tweaks: warlords became politicians, their funding sources switched to international business and finance, territories turned into ministries, and profiteering proceeded at usual unregulated levels.
The postwar healing focused on obliterating the visual signs of the conflict, particularly in Beirut with its bombed out buildings and pockmarked concrete carcasses.
But the national reconstruction, which was essentially a construction boom, soon became a symbol of the ailments infecting the state.
The country’s first postwar prime minister, Rafik Hariri, led a reconstruction that set the bar for politico-business enrichment. A businessman tycoon with close Saudi ties and dual citizenship, Hariri was the largest stakeholder in Solidere, a joint stock company that snagged most of his government’s reconstruction projects. Hariri also owned Lebanon’s largest private construction company, whose director was appointed the head of the Council for Development and Reconstruction, leading an architect to explain to the Washington Post that “the agency that the government used to control private development has now reversed its role.”
The fact that Hariri was not a warlord and had the drive and pockets to rebuild his country made him a popular figure in Lebanon. The corruption was evident – Hariri was called “Mr. Lebanon” – but it was tolerated as the price of Lebanon’s “reentry in the world” as the businessman-prime minister repeatedly proclaimed.
Critics of his rebuilding – particularly architects and heritage groups bemoaning the demolition of historic sites – were brushed aside. Downtown Beirut turned into a glitzy giant shopping mall financed by debt on the detritus of Lebanon’s past, a perfect symbol of the reemerging nation.
File photo from May 2001 shows construction in downtown Beirut. AFP - RAMZI HAIDAR
“We were sold a myth, that many had an interest in telling, that there was no need for a strong state, Lebanese resilience would always come on top. Today, those truly resilient are the oligarchs, ruling class and corrupt elites while average citizens are no longer capable of making ends meet,” said Bitar.
The construction and reconstruction boom was financed by borrowing, increasing the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio to recent peaks of nearly 150 percent, putting Lebanon in the world’s top three most-indebted countries. Interest payments, meanwhile, covered more than a third of the government’s annual spending.
But the banks, which own most of the debt, happen to be controlled by politicians and their families and friends who are sinking Lebanon.
Toward a zaim-less state
The “Mr. Lebanon” template for the state could be negotiated, with wry humour, by the affluent and upper middle classes. But it was never amusing for the less fortunate, who were driven to their communities – Hezbollah for the Shiites, modern day zaim-politicians for others – to survive. This entailed non-state patronage networks that often exploited the state.
The defunct railways was just one of several departments staffed by salaried cadres who secured jobs by wasta (influence) but did precious little. The system, at the very least, managed to prop a middle-class. But the current crisis has pulled the rug on that. “The country had a solid middle class. Today, the middle class has all but vanished. Many are thinking of leaving the country,” said Bitar.
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The Lebanese, acutely aware of the brewing problem, have been trying to do something about it. Grassroots movements have included the 2015 “You Stink” protest campaign against the garbage collection problem. In the 2018 parliamentary elections, a record number of civil society figures, under an umbrella coalition called Kuluna Watani, stood for the long-delayed polls. But while that fired up hopes on the campaign trail, it did little to change the post-election power dynamic since electoral rules ensured the survival of the old guard.
Anti-government protests once again broke out in October, with demonstrators demanding an end to the system. They got, instead, a change of government with Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s resignation, but nothing changed. Ministry posts are still doled out on patronage terms, the trains are still stuck.
The only silver lining of the current crisis is that this time it’s so serious, the Lebanese will not be hoodwinked by a bailout band-aid on the national wound.
“There must be a rejection of the old clientelist system. Many aspire to a new Lebanon based on citizenship rather than community affiliations,” said Bitar. “They want rights from the state without having to go begging to sectarian leaders begging for jobs, asking for money for medicine. Today, Lebanon needs a new social contract.”
Councillor Anna Rothery, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, says its links to the slave trade amounts to "an awful, wicked history for the city" OLI SCARFF AFP
Liverpool (AFP)
Anna Rothery is the first black woman to hold the position of Lord Mayor of Liverpool, a largely ceremonial role for elected councillors to promote the interests of the city.
But she finds hard one aspect of Liverpool's past that made the city what it is today -- its links to the international slave trade.
"It's an awful, wicked history for the city," the city council member told AFP, pointing to a street sign named after one of Liverpool's leading slave-trading dynasties.
"Earle Street depicts a family that expanded over a century in terms of dealing with ships, slavery, working with plantations, transporting goods from Virginia," she said.
At the junction of Cunliffe Street and Sir Thomas Street, she points out that both were named after owners of the first registered slave ships to leave the city in northwest England.
"Everybody from around the world comes to the city to visit because they want to understand the role that Liverpool played in the transatlantic slave trade," she went on.
"And it was a huge role."
- Apologies -
The death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, during a US police arrest sparked outrage across the world and a wave of anti-racism protests.
In Britain, as elsewhere, it also sparked heated debate about whether prestigious buildings and streets should still be named after people at the forefront of the slave trade.
Statues erected to honour slave traders have been torn down or cautiously removed by councils in response to the public mood.
For visitors, Liverpool is football, the Beatles and its so-called "Three Graces" -- the imposing Liver Building, Cunard Building, and Port of Liverpool Building.
But for locals, Rothery said "everybody recognises where the finance came from" to develop the port and grand buildings dating from the 18th and 19th centuries that still stand.
The city is coming to terms with its past: the International Slavery Museum opened in 2007 in Royal Albert Dock, yards from where slave ships were fitted out and repaired.
Liverpool University is planning to rename a student hall of residence named after the former prime minister William Gladstone because of his family's links to slavery.
But Rothery said "in 2020 you look around the city, you will see very few black people employed", denouncing "systemic racism".
University College London recently published a database of leading British institutions and companies that profited from slavery.
Included on the list were the Church of England, the Bank of England, insurers Lloyds of London, and the Greene King brewery chain.
Recognising the public mood, they apologised but the debate has not subsided, with discussion centred on the extent to which the British economy benefited from the practice.
A 2018 report by Klas Ronnback, professor of economics at the University of Gothenburg, estimated that in 1800, the slave trade accounted for 11.1 percent of Britain's economic output.
After Britain's abolition of slavery in 1833, damages were paid either directly or indirectly to thousands of former slave owners for the loss of "property".
In all, £20 million was paid -- a colossal sum for the time.
- Damages -
Today, it is damages to descendants of victims of slavery that are under discussion.
Some oppose such a move, arguing that descendants are impossible to identify or that organisations with links to the slave trade are not responsible for what happened 200 years ago.
Others, like Rothery, want money to fight inequality and give black people a fairer chance in society and the workplace.
"We must not only move forward on the question of statues and street names but also on the lack of economic opportunities for the black population," she said.
Joe Anderson, the city's directly elected mayor, has acknowledged Liverpool "hasn't done anywhere near the amount of things it should have done".
That included in the workplace and political representation.
UCL historian Keith McClelland, who works on the slavery database, believes funding scholarships for black students from disadvantaged backgrounds and donations to anti-racist associations would be a good way of addressing the issue of reparations.
This is already happening, with Greene King and Lloyds committed to offering "significant" payments to support black and ethnic minority communities, and improve racial diversity in their businesses.
Bella Hadid says ‘proud to be Palestinian’ after Instagram deletes story showing her father's birthplace
July 8, 2020 Palestinian-American supermodel Bella Hadid
July 8, 2020
Bella Hadid has hit out at Instagram after the site deleted a Story post of her father’s expired passport, which listed his place of birth as Palestine, saying she’s “proud to be Palestinian”.
Hadid, 23, shared the picture last week, writing, “My baba and his birthplace of Palestine”, but revealed yesterday Instagram had removed the post for violating “community guidelines”.
The 23-year-old supermodel, who is of Dutch and Palestinian descent, explained yesterday why the Story had been removed, writing: “Instagram removed my story that only said, “My baba And his birthplace of Palestine”, with a photograph of his American passport. @instragram exactly what part of me being proud of my fathers birth place of Palestine is “bullying, harassment, graphic, or sexual nudity”?”.
Adding, alongside a screenshot of the notification from Instagram:
Are we not allowed to be Palestinian on Instagram? This, to me, is bullying. You can’t erase history by silencing people. It doesn’t work like that.
“Do you want him to change his birthplace for you? I am proud to be Palestinian”, Hadid added alongside a repost of the picture of her father’s expired passport.
It was not immediately clear the exact reason Hadid’s post was removed under Instagram’s “community guidelines on harassment or bullying”, but the supermodel’s fans were quick to show their support on Twitter.
One user praised Hadid, writing: “Too many Arabs allow society/Hollywood/social media to shut them down & then they participate in their own erasure. You said, “not today.” And the rest of us say, “Not ever.”
Thank you @bellahadid for being a visible & vocal advocate of Palestine. Too many Arabs allow society/Hollywood/social media to shut them down & then they participate in their own erasure. You said, “Not today.” And the rest of us say, “Not ever.” #FreePalestine 🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/NBFp6vVAFH — Philistine Ayad 🇵🇸 Free Palestine (@PhilistineAyad) July 8, 2020
While another wrote: “I am absolutely here for a young woman as prominent and influential as Bella Hadid openly discussing Palestine and the struggles of the Palestinian people. She’s the only “A-lister” I’ve seen do it”.
Bella Hadid, along with siblings Gigi, Anwar and father Mohamed, have been vocal advocates of Palestinian rights for years, using their platforms to promote the cause.
In December 2017, the 23-year-old reportedly spontaneously joined a Palestinian solidarity march in London. While, in the same month, the supermodel condemned the US’ recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, writing on Instagram: “Watching the news and seeing the pain of the Palestinian people makes me cry for the many many generations of Palestine… the treatment of the Palestinian people is unfair, one-sided and should not be tolerated. I stand with Palestine”.
bellahadid
Verified
💔I've been waiting to put this into perfect words but I realized there is no perfect way to speak of something so unjust. A very very sad day.Watching the news and seeing the pain of the Palestinian people makes me cry for the many many generations of Palestine.
Seeing the sadness of my father, cousins, and Palestinian family that are feeling for our Palestinian ancestors makes this even harder to write. Jerusalem is home of all religions. For this to happen, I feel, makes us take 5 steps back making it harder to live in a world of peace.
The TREATMENT of the Palestinian people is unfair, one-sided and should not be tolerated. I stand with Palestine.
There is no hate against anyone... There are no sides... All religions living side by side.. Now it is Just one man..it has always been a factor of trying to bring peace... Where is the hope..?
Coronavirus: Yemen's hungry turn to begging as crisis deepens
Many Yemenis are losing their sources of income because of the pandemic and fear hunger far more than Covid-19 'No one wants to beg or to see their children beg but this
is better than staying at home and going hungry,'
Azizah Hayani said (MEE/Khalid al-Banna)
By MEE correspondent in Sanaa Published date: 21 June 2020 Azizah al-Hayani is a 40-year-old displaced woman in al-Kadaha camp, which lies south of the Yemeni city of Taiz.
After the fighting between Houthi rebels and government forces reached their village in 2017, her family of 10 fled Maqbana district, located on the road between Taiz and Hodeidah provinces.
Hayani’s husband was a day labourer, but after being forced to leave their home, he started suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes, leaving her to become the family’s main provider. Yemenis do not need a fundraising conference. They need the war to endRead More »
“I’ve been the breadwinner since 2017. I started going from house to house selling vegetables in this area,” Hayani told Middle East Eye.
“It is very difficult being a mother of eight children and the breadwinner of the family."
Hayani and her family live under one tent made of wood and tarp, where the only food to be found is whatever she brings in that day.
“When we arrived to this area, the residents helped us set up the tent and then some displaced people helped us with food. They still do that sometimes," she said.
The income that Hayani earns from selling vegetables was already hardly enough to buy the most basic necessities, but when coronavirus spread in Taiz, things became even worse.
“I used to earn around 1,500 rials ($2) per day and I struggled to provide my children with food and buy my husband his medicines," she said.
“But there’s no more work these days. People stopped buying vegetables from me, saying I’m spreading corona from house to house." Closed doors
Hayani wasn’t fully aware of Covid-19 and its dangers until her customers started closing their front doors in her face because they were afraid of contracting the virus.
“I used to have some customers who supported my work over the past three years, but nowadays they close their doors, telling me not to knock on them again," she recalled.
Hayani believes that her customers are good people but the danger of Covid-19 has forced them to behave this way.
“I’ve lost my work and if I stay at home, we would starve to death and my husband wouldn’t get his medicines. We had no other solution but to beg in the market."
In the morning, Hayani sends her children to the market daily to beg until noon so that the family has food to eat that day. She sometimes begs herself.
“No one wants to beg or to see their children beg but this is better than staying at home and going hungry."
UNHCR estimates that more than 3.6 million people have been forced to flee their houses in Yemen since the start of the latest conflict in 2015 (MEE/Khalid al-Banna)
Most of the displaced people in al-Kadaha have sent their children to beg in the streets and markets after having lost their jobs either after fleeing their homes or with the spread of Covid-19.
Many women in the camp have also been forced to beg.
'I don’t care about corona as this is a disease from God, but I’m worried about my children starving to death'
- Azizah al-Hayani
Hayani said she is not afraid of the virus.
To her, it is not more dangerous than hunger, and the family cannot take any precautionary measures in an overcrowded camp.
“We are ten people under the same tent and there are thousands of people living in this overcrowded camp who are in need of all basic services, including water and soap, so how can we save ourselves from corona?” she said.
“I don’t care about corona as this is a disease from God, but I’m worried about my children starving to death."
The UN refugee agency said last month that its work in Yemen was approaching a "potential breaking point" as the coronavirus spreads, with rising numbers of families resorting to begging, child labour and the marrying of children.
An estimated 80 percent of the population - 24 million people - require some form of humanitarian or protection assistance, including 14.3 million who are in acute need, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The first Covid-19 case was confirmed in Yemen on 10 April. There are currently more than 900 confirmed cases in the areas under the control of the internationally recognised government, while the Houthis have announced only four cases with one death, all in Sanaa. However, the number of cases is likely far higher than what has been reported.
Ahlam Mohamed, a member of Shiryan al-Ata, one of the civil society organisations working in Taiz, said there has been an increase in the number of beggars after the virus broke in Yemen.
She said people cannot afford to maintain social distance, otherwise they would starve, with many having lost their jobs and now dependent on charity. Food vs Covid-19
Soleiman al-Moghabesh, a young displaced man in al-Kadaha, said that most of the displaced families do not have food in their tents and rely on begging.
“Some families in this camp have been depending on begging since 2017, while others only started in the past few months after they lost their jobs due to corona”, Moghabesh told MEE.
'If the children don’t beg, who is going to provide us with food? Can you imagine how hunger will kill us in our tents?'
- Soleiman al-Moghabesh
“Food is the priority for us. We still go to the market to look for work and our children beg to help us provide for our families.”
While Moghabesh is aware of the spread of Covid-19 in Taiz he, like Hayani, believes that it is not more dangerous than hunger.
“We’ve heard that some people got infected with corona, but they have recovered as it isn’t always very dangerous,” he said.
“At the same time, we’ve also heard that malnutrition has led to the death of many people, including many children."
Almost 20 million people in Yemen are food insecure, while an estimated quarter of a million are on the brink of starvation.
Moghabesh said that he will not stop going to the market, even if the virus spreads in his area. The children of the camp, he says, will keep working the markets and the streets.
“If the children don’t beg, who is going to provide us with food? Can you imagine how hunger will kill us in our tents? I thank the generous people who are helping the children and women with some food and money because they are helping us to stay alive.”
Soleiman al-Moghabesh is aware of the spread of Covid-19 in Taiz but believes that it is not more dangerous than hunger (MEE/Khalid al-Banna)
Moghabesh is pessimistic. He has had many hopes dashed across the course of his life, including his dream of returning home.
“I used to dream to have my own project, but in displacement all we can think about, all the time, is getting food and basic services,” he added.
“The biggest dream has become to return home.” No place like home
The sociology professor Mamoon Mohammed says that the increase of beggars is an expected result of the ongoing war and the pandemic.
While people have lost their jobs due to Covid-19 all over the world, the situation is more critical in Yemen, Mohammed believes, because it was already dire before the virus.
“It is very difficult to tell people to stay at home when they don’t have food to eat or water to wash their hands,” he said. Coronavirus: Yemeni expats, from breadwinners to dependentsRead More »
“The government and organisations should intervene and provide displaced and needy people with enough food to stay home.”
It is estimated that more than 3.6 million people have been forced to flee their houses in Yemen since the start of the latest conflict in 2015, according to the UNHCR.
Hayani said she hopes to return to her house and resume her normal life. That’s proving difficult, with fighting ongoing there.
“There is no place better than home," she said.
“If I was at home, I would have cared about corona, but here I’m facing many challenges and corona will not be worse.”
US envoy slammed for accusing Jewish-American group of antisemitism
Elan Carr's remarks draw outrage as J Street accuses diplomat of using charge of antisemitism 'for political purposes' J Street promotion image from last March, which US envoy
Elan Carr said promoted 'crude antisemitic conspiracy theories'
The United States envoy to combat antisemitism has sparked outrage after accusing a liberal Jewish-American group of using an image that he said promoted "crude antisemitic conspiracy theories".
Elan Carr on Wednesday tweeted a screenshot of a J Street post, featuring a picture from March 2019 in which US President Donald Trump is looking up at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surrounded by White House advisers who happen to be Jewish Americans.
"How dare @jstreetdotorg use this picture in this context. Their imagery uses #Antisemitism and crude anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to advance their agenda. They should withdraw this and apologize to @POTUS @realDonaldTrump and to #Jewish Americans who serve our great country," Carr wrote.
The photo was used as a promotional image for an anti-annexation campaign launched by J Street, which describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace. The Jewish-American group has been calling on US senators to oppose Israel’s plans to claim large swaths of the occupied West Bank.
How dare @jstreetdotorg use this picture in this context. Their imagery uses #Antisemitism and crude anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to advance their agenda. They should withdraw this and apologize to @POTUS@realDonaldTrump and to #Jewish Americans who serve our great country. pic.twitter.com/g4nz13g8K3— U.S. Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism (@USEAntiSemitism) July 8, 2020
The organisation was quick to respond, calling Carr's comments "a shameful, bad faith attack".
"This is a photo of some of the primary contributors to Trump's disastrous annexation plan. Please do your job & combat actual antisemitic bigotry instead of launching transparently partisan attacks against critics of your boss' Mideast policies," the group continued.
J Street's president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, tweeted that Carr was using a "charge of Anti-Semitism for political purposes" and should be disqualified from his postion for doing so.
Just making sure I understand, @simonwiesenthal, you're asking us to remove an actual photo of Donald Trump, Bibi Netanyahu and their advisers at the White House because the picture - which ran in many news outlets - is anti-Semitic? This so demeans your name and mission. https://t.co/rrov61BOaq— Jeremy Ben-Ami (@JeremyBenAmi) July 8, 2020
Harry Reis, director of policy and strategy at the New Israel Fund, an Israeli lobby group, called the accusation of antisemitism "a grotesque distortion".
"These are literally the plan's authors," Reis said, referring to the most recent US plan for the Middle East. "That [Trump] appointed three Orthodox Jews with deep ties to the settlement enterprise to draft a US 'peace' plan does not make a photo op of these senior policy makers anti-Semitic. What a shande."
Others also expressed outrage and confusion at Carr's accusation.
"This is a real photo, though. What is antisemitic about it? What are the conspiracy theories?" Arieh Kovler, a communications consultant based in Israel, tweeted.
The photo, which was tinted red, is a real image taken during a meeting last year, during which Trump signed a declaration recognising Israel’s claimed sovereignty over Syria's Golan Heights.
Also sharing Carr's post, Ben Friedman, an adjunct professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, accused the US envoy of making "a mockery out of anti-semitism by applying the term to speech he dislikes".
Friedman called Carr's comments a "timely reminder of how people have used the specter of anti-semitism to block debate".
Here the "U.S. Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism," @USEAntiSemitism, makes a mockery out of anti-semitism by applying the term to speech he dislikes. https://t.co/rnIlrLjQTF— Ben Friedman (@BH_Friedman) July 8, 2020
Middle East Eye reached out to the US State Department, which oversees the envoy's office, but did not receive a response by the time of this article's publication.
Replying to a request for comment from the Jewish News Syndicate, J Street pointed out that all the men in the photo, with the exception of Jason Greenblatt, who no longer has a White House position, "are now publicly, openly coordinating together on the potential illegal annexation of the West Bank".
"If the Trump administration wants to provide us with photos from their closed-door meetings with the Netanyahu government to discuss illegal annexation and unilaterally redraw the map of the West Bank, we’d gladly use those pictures as well," the group said.
UK discreetly called Saudi Arabia in support after imposing Khashoggi sanctions
Defence minister reportedly told his counterpart in Riyadh that Britain was keen to strengthen military partnership between the kingdoms UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace's call was not publicised by the British government (Reuters)
The British government discreetly called Saudi Arabia and reportedly praised the kingdom, a day after imposing sanctions on a number of Saudis accused of killing Jamal Khashoggi.
On Monday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced 19 Saudis, including former officials close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, were being sanctioned as part of a raft of penalties targeting human rights abusers.
However, the next day, it has emerged, Ben Wallace, secretary of state for defence, called his Saudi counterpart Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz in a conversation unpublicised by the British government.
In it, Riyadh's official Saudi Press Agency reported, Wallace "expressed his country’s appreciation for the kingdom’s role in addressing threats to stability in the region" and "affirmed the country's government's keenness to strengthen defence relations between the two friendly countries, especially in the field of military exports".
UK sanctions against Saudi Arabia and Myanmar are an exercise in saving face
The British government did not publicise the call or provide a readout. However when contacted by Middle East Eye, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed that Wallace spoke to Saudi Arabia to "discuss wider regional security and export licences".
An MoD spokesperson added: "The government takes its export responsibilities seriously."
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss made the announcement on Tuesday saying the government regarded any breaches of international law as "isolated incidents".
She said the government had completed a review of how arms export licences were granted, complying with an earlier court ruling that suspended sales over rights abuse concerns.
"The incidents which have been assessed to be possible violations of international humanitarian law occurred at different times, in different circumstances and for different reasons," Truss said in a statement.
The government said it would not approve new licences prior to a review.
'The Saudi-led bombardment of Yemen has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and the government itself admits that UK-made arms may have played a central role on the bombing' - Andrew Smith, CAAT
In a statement, the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) slammed the decision as "morally bankrupt".
"The Saudi-led bombardment of Yemen has created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and the government itself admits that UK-made arms may have played a central role in the bombing," said CAAT's Andrew Smith.
"We will be considering this new decision with our lawyers, and will be exploring all options available to challenge it."
Many opposition politicians noted the juxtaposition of sanctioning Saudi officials over human rights abuses one day, then opening up arms exports the next.
While announcing the sanctions in parliament on Monday, Raab said the new sanctions would make it "crystal clear to those who abuse their power to inflict unimaginable suffering: we will not look the other way, you cannot set foot in this country and we will seize your blood-drenched, ill-gotten gains if you try".
Caroline Lucas, of the Green Party, tweeted: "How the foreign secretary can say on one day that the UK will act as a force for good in the world, standing up for human rights, and then on the next, agree to this moral outrage is just unbelievable".
"The hypocrisy leaves me lost for words," she added.
ISRAEL OCCUPATION West Bank village mourns Palestinian killed by Israeli forces on nighttime stroll Relatives say Ibrahim Abu Yaaqoub, was killed 'in cold blood' by Israeli forces in Kifl Haris on Thursday night Relatives and friends mourn 32-year-old Ibrahim Abu Yaaqoub in the village of Kifl Haris on 10 July 2020, a day after he was shot dead by Israeli forces (MEE/Akram al-Waara)
By Akram Al-Waara in Kifl Haris, occupied West Bank Published date: 10 July 2020 It was about 10pm on a Thursday night and Haitham Abu Hammad was taking a nighttime stroll with his friend Ibrahim Abu Yaaqoub, 32, along the main road of their village, Kifl Haris, in the northern occupied West Bank district of Salfit.
The pair had been bored at home, and thought they’d pass the time by taking a walk to their friend’s house down the road.
Ibrahim Abu Yaaqoub was 32 years old (Social media)
Halfway there, in the middle of conversation, Haitham and Ibrahim heard the sound of a gunshot. Before Haitham knew what was happening, Ibrahim stumbled, clutching his neck.
“He grabbed onto me and started saying ‘I’ve been shot’,” Abu Hammad told Middle East Eye, recounting the events of the previous night. “He gave me his phone and told me to call his family and tell them what happened to him.”
As Ibrahim lay on the pavement, blood spilling from his neck, Abu Hammad frantically looked around for whoever had shot his friend, trying to make sense of what happened.
“I couldn’t see the soldiers anywhere,” he said, speculating that Ibrahim was shot by an Israeli sniper positioned somewhere in a nearby olive grove. “It all happened out of nowhere.”
As Abu Hammad cried out for help, neighbours helped the pair into vehicles and began speeding towards the main entrance of Kifl Haris, just 500 metres away.
But when they arrived, they found that Israeli soldiers had closed the steel gate at the entrance of the village.
“As soon as we arrived, the soldiers stationed at the (nearby) military tower started firing towards our cars, forcing us to turn around and take the back roads to the Salfit hospital,” Abu Hammad said.
“By the time we finally arrived, Ibrahim was on his last dying breath,” he said, choking through tears.
According to Abu Hammad, what should have been a five-minute drive to the Salfit governmental hospital ended up taking close to 20 minutes.
“Maybe if we had gotten to the hospital faster, we could have saved him,” Abu Hammad said.
“I don’t know, I just don’t know what to say.”
The Israeli military later confirmed that it had shot at two people that night in the village. Killed in ‘cold-blood’
On Friday afternoon, hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the main square in Kifl Haris for Ibrahim’s funeral procession.
As they marched down the main road to the village cemetery carrying his body wrapped in a Palestinian flag, friends and family chanted slogans against the Israeli occupation and prayers for his safe passage into heaven.
Mourners carry Ibrahim Abu Yaaqoub's body during his funeral in the Palestinian village of Kifl Haris on 10 July 2020 (MEE/Akram al-Waara)
“We are devastated, absolutely shocked,” Rami Abu Yaaqoub, Ibrahim’s cousin, told MEE. “Ibrahim was loved by everyone. He was hard-working, self-made, and had big goals for his life.”
According to Rami, Ibrahim was the primary caretaker of his widowed mother, who has a number of chronic health issues including diabetes and hypertension.
“His mother is beside herself. She doesn’t know what to do,” Rami said.
According to locals, another youth from Kifl Haris, identified as 17-year-old Mohammed Abd al-Salam, was shot in the legs close to the permanent military tower at the entrance to the village. He was reportedly denied medical care from the soldiers, and locals were similarly prevented from taking him to the hospital.
Only when Palestinian ambulances arrived was Abd al-Salam allowed to be evacuated to the hospital.
Following Ibrahim’s killing, the Israeli army claimed it opened fire in response to "two assailants throwing Molotov cocktails".
‘They didn’t have to kill him’
- Rami Abu Yaaqoub, cousin of slain Palestinian
But his friends and family strongly rejected these accusations.
“We were just walking to go to our friend’s house,” Abu Hammad said, adding that he hadn’t heard any sort of commotion or clashes with soldiers before Ibrahim was shot.
“We were not throwing stones or Molotov cocktails, and we didn’t hear or see anyone else doing that either,” he said.
Rami Abu Yaaqoub pointed to the fact that Ibrahim and Haitham were both walking on the main road of the village, which is well-lit with a number of street lights.
“They were walking in perfect visibility,” he said. “Wherever the soldiers were, they would have been able to see Haitham and Ibrahim clearly. If Ibrahim was throwing any kind of stones or something at the soldiers, they could have fired warning shots, or gone to arrest him. They didn’t have to kill him.”
The fact that Ibrahim was shot in the neck, Abu Yaaqoub said, proved that he was “executed”.
“He was shot in cold blood by a sniper whose one goal was to kill. They killed Ibrahim not because of who he was, or because he was dangerous to them. They killed him because he was Palestinian.” A history of intimidation
Ibrahim’s death comes on the heels of a tense week in Kifl Haris, according to locals, who say Israeli soldiers have been terrorising them for several days. ‘This is what the occupation looks like’: Israeli forces beat, arrest Palestinian farmers
“In general, Kifl Haris has always had problems with the Israeli soldiers and settlers due to its religious and historical significance,” Rami Abu Yaaqoub told MEE.
Kifl Haris is an ancient Canaanite village, with religious and archaeological sites dating back hundreds, even thousands of years.
The village is home to what locals believe is the ancient shrine of Muslim prophet Thul-Kifl. The site is also believed by Jews to be the tomb of the biblical Joshua.
“For years the settlers have tried to claim this holy site as their own, and are constantly raiding the village under the protection of the soldiers to visit the site and pray there,” Abu Yaaqoub said.
“Every few weeks, groups of settlers come to the village to pray at the shrine, and the soldiers shut down our town, restrict our movement, fire tear gas, sound bombs, and use violent force against us,” he continued.
Just last month, settlers and soldiers were documented raiding Kifl Haris, shouting anti-Palestinian slurs as they passed through the village on the way to the shrine.
While the residents are used to Israeli incursions, in recent days soldiers have been stepping up their attacks on the village.
“Over the past week, soldiers have been raiding the village every night, into the early hours of the morning, firing sound grenades close to the houses, and scaring the townspeople,” Rami Abu Yaaqoub said, adding that his children have started sleeping in his room out of fear of the nightly raids.
In addition to the raids, Abu Yaaqoub said soldiers have been closing the main gate to the village more often as a “provocation”, and on a number of occasions, have patrolled the streets of the village in their military jeeps, shouting profanities over loudspeakers.
“This harassment is all part of Israel’s routine, and their policy to make life so hard for us Palestinians that we will leave our lands,” he said. ‘We demand accountability’
As the family processes the death of their son, Rami and other cousins of Ibrahim have been urging the young man’s relatives to begin the proceedings of filing a complaint against the soldiers.
‘It shouldn’t be illegal to take a walk with your friends, but in Palestine, it can get you killed’
- Rami Abu Yaaqoub
“We demand that an investigation be opened into Ibrahim’s killing,” Rami said, adding that while he didn’t have much faith in the Israeli justice system, “we need to try to hold someone accountable”.
“The killing of Ibrahim was a crime. It was a cold-blooded killing,” he said, choking up. “There is no excuse for the soldiers to use such excessive force against us, time and time again.”
Abu Yaaqoub urged the international community to take action, and hold Israel accountable for its “crimes against humanity, which they commit on a daily basis”.
“Ibrahim left his house to go visit his friend, and came back a martyr. This kind of tragedy only happens in Palestine,” he said.
“To the international community, and to all the people who claim to believe in human rights, look at what is happening in Palestine,” he said. “We are an oppressed people, under occupation, with no means to defend ourselves and our homeland.”
“He was going on a stroll with his friends. It shouldn’t be illegal to take a walk with your friends, but in Palestine, it can get you killed." Palestinian man fatally shot by Israeli forces in West Bank Ibrahim Mustafa Abu Yaaqoub was reportedly shot by Israeli troops as he walked alongside his friends Killing of Abu Yaaqoub follows numerous other shooting deaths at hands of Israeli forces (AFP/File photo)
Israeli security forces fatally shot a Palestinian civilian on Thursday, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.
The ministry did not give any details about the victim, but said "a civilian was killed by Israeli forces" after being shot in the neck in Kifl Haris, a village in the governorate of Salfit.
The Salfit governor Abdullah Kamil, identified the victim as 29-year-old Ibrahim Mustafa Abu Yaaqoub.
After being shot, Abu Yaaqoub was taken to the Salfit government hospital, where he was declared dead.
The Israeli military said it responded with fire as "two assailants were throwing Molotov cocktails".
Kamil, however, said that Abu Yaaqoub was simply out walking with his friends when he was shot.
The killing of Abu Yaaqoub follows a number of recent shooting deaths by Israeli forces, including that of 32-year-old Iyad al-Halak, an autistic Palestinian man who also slain by Israeli police.
Palestinians have drawn comparisons between Halak's death and that of African American George Floyd, after a police officer in Minneapolis pressed a knee into Floyd's neck while detaining him on 25 May, just a few days before Halak's death at the hands of Israeli police.
Palestinians have long accused the country of carrying out superficial investigations into crimes committed by Israeli forces or settlers against Palestinians. Israelis are rarely tried for killing Palestinians, and if found guilty, typically receive lenient sentences.
In response to the killing, Kamil called for unity and solidarity against Israel's plans for occupation.
"This is another despicable crime in the chain of crimes that occupation forces are committing against our people everywhere," Kamil said, as reported by the Palestinian Quds News Network.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has missed his self-imposed 1 July deadline to begin annexing parts of the occupied West Bank, as talks with the US have yet to yield results.
Last week, Netanyahu's coalition partner Benny Gantz told a US envoy that annexation would have to wait while the country deals with a surge in coronavirus cases.
MSF accused by staff of upholding white supremacy and colonialism
At least 1,000 former and current employees sign internal statement calling Medecins Sans Frontieres 'institutionally racist' Despite 90 percent of its staff being hired locally, most of its operations are run by European senior managers from one of its five operation centres in western Europe (AFP)
The medical NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres has been accused of propping up white supremacy and colonialism, according to an internal statement signed by at least 1,000 current and former employees of the organisation.
The statement accused MSF of failing to recognise the racism it perpetuated by its policies and how its workplace culture contributed towards propping up the "privileged white majority" within the organisation.
The statement called for an independent investigation into racism within the organisation and calls to address "decades of power and paternalism".
'Change requires brave and bold leadership and it requires a lot of 'do-gooding' white people with power to get out of the way' - Shaista Aziz, MSF aid worker
Prominent signatories of the statement include Agnes Musonda, president of the board in southern Africa, Florian Westphal, managing director of MSF Germany, and Javid Abdelmoneim, chair of the board at MSF UK.
Former MSF aid worker Shaista Aziz described the statement as a "moment of reckoning that is massively overdue".
Speaking to the Guardian, Aziz said: "Change requires brave and bold leadership and it requires a lot of 'do-gooding' white people with power to get out of the way".
This statement came after intense internal debate within the organisation following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Staff within the organisation were particularly concerned, according to the Guardian, by a statement released by MSF Italy which suggested it should not use the term "racism" and that everyone should discuss "all lives matter".
MSF is one of the world's largest humanitarian organisations, providing medical services to people in poor countries and conflict zones across the world. Its staff work in some of the most dangerous and difficult conditions in the world, and aid people in conflict-afflicted countries such as Syria and Yemen.
Despite 90 percent of its staff being hired locally, most of its operations are run by European senior managers from one of its five operation centres in western Europe, with only one centre, opened last year in Senegal, run from the global South.
Christos Christou, MSF's international president, welcomed the statement and described it as a "catalyst" for reforms planned for the organisation.
"I look at this as an opportunity that has come through a tragic event that triggered rage and discussion within our movement," said Christou.
“Our priority is to shift the decision-making closer to where the needs are, and involving the patients and community in designing strategies of intervention. To shrink the decision-making power of Europe and redistribute it to the rest of the world.”
July 8 Belgrade riot chaos. h/t Reuters
July 8 Belgrade riot chaos. h/t Reuters
