ECOCIDE

Gas tank graveyard has Mexico City residents up in arms

Mexico City

Thousands of disused gas cylinders were made to sit outside down the sun at a former refinery in Mexico, producing a foul smell that neighbors say has made their lives a nightmare.

over every night, Cesar Rivera and his wife leave their apartment because the odor becomes too much, the 37-year-old web programmer told AFP.

“The smell is so strong at night so unbearable that it’s like the stove isn’t turned off properly,” he said.

The couple also fears that the liquefied petroleum gas seeping from the cylinders which are used by many households in Mexico City — will cause an explosion or make them sick.

“The building administration has asked us not to smoke or use the stove burners when the smell’s stronger. It has completely changed our lives,” said Rivera.

“It’s a time bomb,” he added.

Aerial images were taken by AFP show what looks like a huge graveyard in the west of the capital, surrounded by residential districts.

But instead of human remains the disused refinery of state-owned oil giant Pemex has become the resting place of thousands of old multicolored gas cylinders.

Rivera said that he and his wife had suffered due to the smell for eight months, but only discovered in January what the source was.

An aerial view of the former 18 de Marzo refinery in Mexico City where thousands of disused gas cylinders are stored CLAUDIO CRUZ AFP

– ‘Vomiting, headaches –

LP gas, made up mainly of butane and propane, is odorless so producers add mercaptan to give it a nauseating smell that allows it to be detected.

Although “the gases produced by its combustion are not toxic or carcinogenic” a leak can cause a build-up that “can be explosive and can suffocate people in small spaces,” Mexico’s National Commission for the Efficient Use of Energy says on its website.

The tanks were stored at the old refinery by the state firm Gas Bienestar, which was created in 2021 to expand competition in the sector, after exchanging old or damaged cylinders free of charge for new ones.

In January, the Mexico City authorities said in a statement that Pemex was in the process of removing them.

Contacted by AFP, the company said it was unable to give an interview about the matter.

Mexican civil protection authorities did not respond to a request for information about the risks posed by the cylinders.

According to Ricardo Torres, an expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, LP contributes to the formation of ozone, which at ground level is a harmful pollutant for people and the environment.

Firefighters at a nearby station said they receive daily reports of gas leaks, when in fact the odor comes from the disused tanks.

“We’ve gone to the former refinery, but they don’t see us,” says station chief Cesar Suarez.

Juan Macias, who runs a carpentry workshop next door to the old refinery, said that he now closes the windows in the afternoon despite the stifling heat.

“We feel like vomiting and have really bad headaches,” he said.

“The authorities say there’s nothing to worry about,” the 44-year-old added.

“But everyone here thinks there’s some danger, so we always take care not to light anything when it smells a lot for fear of an explosion,” he said.

Study: Africa cyclones exacerbated by climate change

Wanjohi Kabukuru
The Associated Press

Monday, April 11, 2022


A house lays in ruins in Mananjary, Madagascar, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022.

 (AP Photo/Viviene Rakotoarivony)

MOMBASA, KENYA -- Extreme rainfall in southeast Africa has become heavier and more likely to occur during cyclones because of climate change, according to a new analysis released Monday by an international team of weather scientists.

Multiple tropical storms that pummeled Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique earlier this year were analyzed by the World Weather Attribution group, who determined that the storms were made worse by the increase in global temperatures. In just six weeks between January and March the region saw a record three tropical cyclones and two tropical storms make landfall. The heavy rains, storm surges and floods left more than 230 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands across the region.

The countries remain vulnerable to devastating weather this year, with cyclone season set to end in May.


A man caries belongings from his house destroyed by tropical storm Ana in Antananarivo, Madagascar, Jan. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexander Joe, file)

The team of climate scientists used established peer-reviewed methods, including weather observations and computer simulations, to model scenarios using both preindustrial global temperatures and today's - which is approximately 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer. The difference between the models determined the impact of human-caused global warming.

Sarah Kew, from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and participated in the study, said they investigated the influence of climate change using 34 prediction models but data gaps made it difficult to determine the full impact of increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

“While our analysis clearly shows that climate change made the storms more damaging, our ability to establish precisely by how much was hampered by inconsistent data and lack of weather observations,” said Dr. Kew. “This would also help to improve forecasts of extreme weather events and their impacts.”

 

 Heavy rain falls during Cyclone Gombe in Nampula Province, Mozambique, March 12, 2022. 

In both Madagascar and Malawi, the study was contrained by a lack of weather stations with suitable data. And of the 23 weather stations in the affected regions of Mozambique, only four had complete records dating back to 1981.

“Strengthening scientific resources in Africa and other parts of the global south is key to help us better understand extreme weather events fueled by climate change, to prepare vulnerable people and infrastructure to better cope with them,” Dr. Izidine Pinto, a climate system analyst at the University of Cape Town, said.

The 33-page study was conducted by 22 researchers, including scientists from universities and meteorological agencies in Madagascar, Mozambique, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK and the US.

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP's climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

'Why not us?': Latinos stuck at Mexico border as Ukrainians enter US

Thousands of Latino refugees arrive in the Mexican city of Tijuana each year, dreaming of one day crossing the border that separates them from the United States.

© Patrick T. FALLON The Movimiento Juventud 2000 shelter near the US-Mexico border lies not far from Unidad Deportiva Benito Juarez, which has become the staging post for thousands of Ukrainians hoping to enter the United States after fleeing their war-torn country

But as Ukrainians who fled Russia's invasion have recently begun to cross the same frontier with little delay, many Latinos stuck waiting for months are wondering why they are not being treated the same.

"Why are we -- neighbors of the United States -- not given the same opportunity to seek asylum? We came here fleeing almost the same thing," said L., a 44-year-old Mexican man.

Because of the war raging in their homeland, Ukrainians have been granted special humanitarian permission to enter the United States. Washington said last month it would take in up to 100,000 refugees

.

© Patrick T. FALLON Young Haitian, Mexican and Central American children at the Movimiento Juventud 2000 shelter in Tijuana, Mexico do not have any dedicated space and few toys and materials

Thousands of Ukrainians have since flown to Tijuana to cross the land border to the United States -- easier than getting the visa required to fly direct.

Volunteers in Tijuana and the neighboring US town of San Ysidro say that, on average, new Ukrainian arrivals wait just two or three days before crossing, using an entrance available only to them.

"I think we all deserve a chance," L.'s wife said, with tears welling up in her eyes.

The couple fled their central Mexican hometown of Irapuato with their three children, carrying only a change of clothes, after suspected cartel members torched their home and the bakery where they made their living.

Staring down at the floor and nervously clutching a piece of paper in her trembling hands, the woman spoke to AFP hesitantly, declining to give her name for fear of something happening to her or her family.

© Patrick T. FALLON At Movimiento Juventud 2000, some families have been waiting as long as six months for a change in border restrictions that would allow them to apply for asylum

"We came here not by choice but out of necessity -- we have endured a lot of violence," she said.

"We want to give them a better life," she added, pointing to her children, who are living in one of several tents at the Movimiento Juventud 2000 shelter.

The family are just three blocks from Unidad Deportiva Benito Juarez, which has become the staging post for thousands of Ukrainians.

"Why don't they give us a chance?" she asked.

- 'Almost a war' -

The contrast between the two shelters could hardly be more stark.

At Movimiento Juventud 2000, the atmosphere is heavy with frustration and sadness, while at Benito Juarez, relief and hope abound.

Volunteers at the Ukrainian shelter have created a database to keep up with the rapid turnover of asylum seekers.

By Saturday afternoon, more than 2,600 Ukrainians had registered.

At Movimiento Juventud 2000, some families have been waiting as long as six months for a change in border restrictions that would allow them to apply for asylum.

R., who also did not want to give her full name, is from Honduras, and has five children aged between one and nine. She said they were forced to leave their city eight years ago when her journalist husband was attacked.

They fled to Guatemala, where her husband received medical treatment. But they realized they could not remain when one of the doctors who treated him was murdered.

Another attempt to rebuild their lives in Mexico was scuppered when a flood destroyed their new home, and so the family headed to the US border, encouraged by the election of Democratic President Joe Biden.

"We have been applying for asylum since we lived in Guatemala, but a long time has passed and we are still waiting," she said, sitting on a plastic bucket next to the tent in which the whole family has slept for months.

The youngest of her babies learnt to walk between tents.

Like the Ukrainians, "we also came fleeing," she said.

"It's different, but it's almost a war with the gangs... we can't go back."

- 'Suffered' -

Thanks to donations from both sides of the border, Ukrainian volunteers installed a children's play area at their shelter.

Toys, crayons and books are available, with a new crate of plastic yellow ducks arriving Saturday.

Nearby, young Haitian, Mexican and Central American children do not have any dedicated space and few materials, although they are entertained a couple of times each week by UNICEF workers and individual volunteers.

Teacher Nelly Cantu, who is part of that effort, says she was approached about helping at the Ukrainian shelter, but decided to stay put.

"Besides the language barrier, I preferred to stay here because the children need me. They have suffered a lot, and have less support. This is also a war," she said.

Some 125 people, mainly from Haiti and Central America, live in the shelter staffed by six people, said its director Jose Maria Garcia.

"We try to explain to them that they have to be patient," Garcia said.

Pregnancy trap for workers in controversial Japan scheme

Tomohiro OSAKI
Mon, 11 April 2022


Japan's "technical intern" programme is a valuable source of labour given Japan's ageing population and small pool of migrant workers, but the scheme has been dogged by allegations of discrimination and physical abuse 

(AFP/Charly TRIBALLEAU)


When Vanessa, a worker with Japan's "technical intern" programme, told her supervisors she was pregnant, she says they first suggested an abortion and then pressured her to quit.

It's an example, activists say, of the abuses faced by vulnerable workers in a controversial programme that helps Japan meet its labour needs.

The programme, which had around 275,000 workers from countries including China and Vietnam last year, is supposed to give participants specialised experience that will be of use in their home country.

It's a valuable source of labour given Japan's ageing population and small pool of migrant workers, but the scheme has been dogged by allegations of discrimination and physical abuse.

And female technical interns can face particular pressure around pregnancy.

Vanessa, who asked to be identified by her first name only, was working in a care home in southern Japan's Fukuoka when she discovered she was pregnant, and hoped to return to work after the birth.

Instead, the 25-year-old Filipina says bosses pushed her and her partner for an abortion despite terminations being both taboo and a crime in her deeply Catholic homeland.

"I thought, 'how dare (they),'". "Having an abortion is a mother's choice, not someone else's," she told AFP.

When she refused to have an abortion, her supervisors forced her to quit.

Japan's health ministry says 637 technical interns quit because of pregnancy or childbirth between 2017 and 2020, including 47 who said they wished to continue the programme.

But advocates say that is likely the "tip of the iceberg", and no statistics capture how many others have been pressured to avoid or end pregnancies.

- Interchangeable, cheap labour -

"Most technical interns are of reproductive age... but the idea of them getting pregnant during their stay in Japan is often considered out of the question," said Masako Tanaka, a Sophia University professor who studies the reproductive rights of migrant women.

Technical interns are covered by Japanese laws banning harassment or discrimination based on pregnancy.

But "maternity harassment" remains a problem for Japanese women, and foreign technical interns are often even more vulnerable.

Reports of pregnancy-based discrimination in 2019 prompted Japan's immigration agency to remind employers about the rights of interns.

"We understand that it's entirely possible that technical interns, as human beings, get pregnant and give birth, and they shouldn't suffer detrimental treatment for that," an immigration agency official told AFP.

Hiroki Ishiguro, a lawyer who has represented technical interns, says employers often consider them interchangeable cheap labour.

"For some employers, it's easier to just send them back home and have them replaced with entirely new trainees, rather than go through these extra burdens (to accommodate pregnancy)," he told AFP.

Now back in the Philippines, Vanessa says she was told her pregnancy would give fellow Filipina trainees a bad reputation.

They said "because of my situation... the 'value' of Filipino trainees will decrease," she recalled.

- 'I'm sorry you two' -

Financial pressures, including debt from recruitment fees and the needs of family, also weigh on interns like Le Thi Thuy Linh, a Vietnamese worker on a farm in southern Japan's Kumamoto who found out she was pregnant in July 2020.

She feared her family back home would be "destroyed financially" if she was deported over the pregnancy, said Ishiguro, who is representing Linh.

She hid the pregnancy from her employer and sought a termination.

But abortion pills are not approved in Japan, where surgical terminations typically cost upwards of 100,000 yen ($815), and some interns fear clinics could reveal the procedure to their employers.

That leaves some women seeking unauthorised abortion pills -- a "very risky act that could see them charged with foeticide," Tanaka said.

Linh took abortion pills that she got over the internet soon after she discovered her pregnancy in July, but to no avail.

Her employer began to suspect the pregnancy, though Linh denied it, and warned her of "difficulties" if she gave birth and raised a child, Ishiguro said.

In November, she gave birth prematurely, alone and at home, to stillborn twin boys.

Exhausted, she wrapped them in a towel and placed them in a cardboard box in her room, tucking a note inside: "I'm sorry you two."

She sought help the following day from a doctor, who reported her to authorities. In January, she received a three-month suspended sentence for having "abandoned" her babies' bodies. She is appealing.

Vanessa's story ended differently -- she gave birth to her son in the Philippines, but still hopes to return to Japan.

"I want to prove that it's possible for a pregnant trainee to give birth in her country and go back to Japan to finish her contract," she said.

Syrians aid Ukrainians in ties forged by war

Members of the Syrian White Helmets use a dummy to demonstrate rescue skills in an instructive film intended for Ukrainians 


Syrians are mobilising to share with Ukrainians bitter knowledge gleaned from years of war involving Russian forces 

The White Helmets have worked as first responders, rescuing thousands from under the rubble of homes shelled by Russian and regime forces in rebel-held areas of Syria 

A unique bond has grown between Ukrainians and Syrians, as both seek accountability for the ravages inflicted by Russian forces in their countries

PHOTOS  (AFP/OMAR HAJ KADOUR)

Lynne Al-Nahhas
Mon, April 11, 2022

Syrians are mobilising to support Ukrainians, sharing hard-earned knowledge gleaned from years of war involving Russian forces, such as surviving shelling, helping refugees and responding to chemical attacks.

With both Ukrainians and Syrians seeking accountability for the ravages inflicted by Russian forces in their countries, they feel a unique bond is growing between them.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's grip on power had appeared to be hanging by a thread after the civil war erupted in 2011, until Russian forces stepped in four years later turning the conflict in the regime's favour.

"From our experiences in Syria, we might be among those most able of understanding the pain of the people of Ukraine," said Raed al-Saleh, head of the Syria Civil Defence force, known as the White Helmets.

"Syrians have lived the shelling, killing, and displacement brought on them by Russian forces.

"The time and place have changed, but the victim is the same -- civilians -- and the killer is the same -- the Russian regime," he told AFP.

During the fighting in Syria, which has claimed over 500,000 lives, the White Helmets have worked as first responders, rescuing thousands from under the rubble of homes shelled by Russian and regime forces in rebel-held areas of Syria.

The fate of Ukraine's besieged southeastern port of Mariupol, the scene of some of Moscow's fiercest assaults, has drawn comparisons with the eastern districts of Syria's northwestern city of Aleppo.

The former rebel stronghold was levelled by air strikes in 2016, during a months-long siege.

"Look at the city of Mariupol. This is exactly what we've seen in the city of Aleppo in Syria," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told an international forum last month.

He wanted to convey a message that "'Russia was always a bad actor, Aleppo is proof of that and now it is our turn to suffer'," Emile Hokayem, analyst at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, told AFP.

- 'We warned you' -

This shared suffering has prompted a series of initiatives.

A coalition of groups has launched the Syria Ukraine Network (SUN) that has helped Syrian doctors travel to Ukraine, said coordinator Olga Lautman, a Ukrainian living in Washington.

"We will be coordinating (with) Syrian experts on war crimes documentation and chemical attacks," Lautman told AFP.

It came from "the desire of Syrians to use their expertise to help", she said, describing the "bond" forming between the two peoples.

In northwestern Idlib, one of the last remaining rebel areas in Syria, doctors at the Academy of Health Sciences are training Ukrainian doctors and nurses online, its president Abdullah Abdulaziz Alhaji said.

Ukrainians are mainly asking to learn about chemical attacks, he said. "They want to benefit from our experience."

Although no chemical weapons use has been confirmed in Ukraine, chlorine or sulphur gas attacks were recorded during the Syrian conflict, according to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

White Helmets rescuers are also filming tutorial videos for Ukrainians on treating casualties.

On the Ukrainian-Romanian border, Syrian Omar Alshakal, founder of Refugee4Refugees association, has been assisting Ukrainians fleeing war.

And Ukrainian and Syrian activists will Wednesday launch a "Freedom and Justice Convoy" from Paris to the Ukrainian-Polish border to show the "Syrian people's solidarity".

"Syrians are keen to embrace the cause of Ukraine because it helps revive fading international attention to their own tragedy and to tell Westerners: 'We warned you but you preferred to look away'," said Hokayem.

- 'Accountability' -

Charles Lister, from the Middle East Institute, noted Syrian activists have "sought to ride this wave of anti-Russian sentiment, to bolster the Syrian cause, but also to foster new, meaningful geopolitical relationships in Ukraine."

Syrian opposition leaders had met Ukrainian leaders on the sidelines of international gatherings, and "their shared experiences have been clear cause for unity," he told AFP.

The most important question for both is whether Moscow -- and in Syria the Kremlin-backed President Assad -- will ever be held accountable.

"If Putin was held accountable for his crimes in Ukraine, this means that he will be held accountable for his crimes in Syria as well. But if Putin gets away with it, then the next crime will only be a matter of time," said the White Helmets' Saleh.

Last month, Amnesty International's Agnes Callamard noted the situation in Ukraine "is a repetition of what we have seen in Syria".

Many have pointed to similarities in Russian tactics in Syria and Ukraine -- from targeting infrastructure to establishing so-called safe corridors and truces aiming to empty cities.

Moscow had shown a "lack of moral principles ... whether in its actions in Syria or Ukraine," said Ivan Cherevychny, 71, a resident of the Ukrainian town of Zaporizhzhia.

He also slammed "the irresponsible attitude of the United Nations and world leaders" faced with the two crises.

Others alleged that several commanders now playing leading roles in the Russian invasion had been involved in the Syrian war, naming among others Alexander Lapin and Alexander Dvornikov, commander of Russia's forces in Syria in 2016.

"Russia used Syria as a training ground for testing the effectiveness of strikes against the residential, social, and economic infrastructure," said a prominent Ukrainian lawyer-turned-fighter from Kyiv, who only wanted to be identified as Oleg.

Destroying the infrastructure makes the country "unsuitable for life," he added.

DECENDENTS OF POLITICAL PRISONERS

'Silent pain' of Algerians banished by France to the Pacific

Thomas Bernardi with Amal Belalloufi in Tunis
Mon, 11 April 2022,



Algerians walk near the Porte d'Alger on July 2, 1958 at Fort National in Kabylia, the ancestral home region of Christophe Sand who is descended from Algerian convicts deported to New Caledonia (AFP/-)

On the 60th anniversary of Algeria's independence from France, descendants of the North Africans deported to the Pacific territory of New Caledonia remember the "silent pain" of their ancestors.

Between 1864 and 1897, as French colonial troops advanced through Algeria, 2,100 people were tried by special or military courts and deported.

They were sent in chains around 18,500 kilometres (11,500 miles) to the other side of the world, to a penal colony on the Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia.

The palm-fringed islands east of Australia are one of France's biggest overseas territories.

"The number of dead, whose bodies were thrown overboard, during the crossing, remains unknown," said Taieb Aifa, whose father was on the last convoy of convicts bought to the colony in 1898.

Those who survived the tough journey became known as the "straw hats" -- a nod to the convicts' headgear as they worked in the blazing sun.

Today, their descendants say that so great is the pain, the story has to be "almost prized from them," Aifa told AFP.

Aifa described a five-month journey to the islands, during which convicts were "chained in the holds" of ships.

For many years, even speaking about his ancestors' tale was taboo.

"A code of silence reigned in the families of deportees," said 89-year-old Aifa, now regarded as a pillar of New Caledonia's "Arab community" after serving as mayor of the small town of Bourail for 30 years.

- Colonised 'became coloniser' -

Aifa's father was sentenced to 25 years for fighting against the French army in Setif, in eastern Algeria.

"From the colonised in Algeria, they became colonisers... On land confiscated from the Kanaks", he said, referring to New Caledonia's indigenous inhabitants.

"In New Caledonia, the French state aimed, as in Algeria, to create a settlement," Aifa said.

Christophe Sand, an archaeologist at the IRD Research Centre in Noumea, who is also the descendant of convicts, said that "the deportees were transformed into colonists".

While some French convicts were later able to bring their wives, it was forbidden for the Algerians.

Those sentenced to more than eight years in prison -- the majority -- were not allowed to return to Algeria after their sentence, said Sand.

"This process must have abandoned 3,000 to 5,000 orphans in Algeria", he said.

Maurice Sotirio, the grandson of a convict from Constantine in northeast Algeria, described the heartbreaking trauma of his family's past.

"My grandfather left two children in Algeria whom he never saw again", Sotirio said.

The suffering continued even in freedom.

In New Caledonia, the Algerians were second-class citizens since they often did not speak French, but Arabic or Berber, said Sand.

Their children suffered from the stigma, and only a few families kept hold of their origins.

At the end of the 1960s, the descendants came together to form an association, the "Arabs and friends of the Arabs of New Caledonia".

The islands -- so-called because a British sailor thought they looked like Scotland -- have been French territory since 1853.

Today, they have about 270,000 inhabitants, with the economy's mainstays the production of metals, especially nickel, of which New Caledonia is a major global producer.

Algeria, which Paris regarded as an integral part of France, is this year marking six decades since its 1962 independence following a devastating eight-year war.

- 'Healing process' -

In 2006, Aifa took his first trip to Algeria.

He said the visit was like "bringing back his father who, like other Arabs, had suffered from not being able to return and die in his native country".

Aifa, while proud of his Caledonian heritage, also celebrates his roots in Algeria.

"I am also Algerian, I have a link with Algeria, family, land... I managed to obtain my Algerian papers 20 years ago", he said.

Sand, who also travelled to Algeria with two other descendants, said he felt he was "carrying his ancestor on his shoulders" on the flight.

"When I saw, through the porthole, the port of Algiers, where my great-grandfather and his companions had been thrown into the hold, I felt the urge to scream," he said.

Arriving at his ancestral home in the village of Agraradj in the northern Kabylia region, he bent down to touch the earth.

"I felt that the symbolic weight that I had on my shoulders since the beginning of the journey had disappeared," he said. "I brought his exiled spirit back to the place where he was born".

For Sand, you have to go through "this process of healing, of closing the door" to "build a future" in New Caledonia.

"Healing from the trauma of exile allows the Caledonians that we are today to project ourselves into the future, without remaining prisoners of the past," Sand said.

In new shake-up, French politics fragments into three blocs

Power alternated for decades between the two main parties -- the Socialists and Republicans -- before Emmanuel Macron grabbed power in 2017 

(AFP/Nicolas TUCAT)


Fabien ZAMORA
Mon, April 11, 2022

France's political landscape is now fragmented into three blocs -- the centre, far-right and radical left -- after the abysmal performance of traditional parties in the presidential election.

Power alternated for decades until the 2010s between the two main parties -- the Socialists and Republicans -- before Emmanuel Macron took power in 2017 with a centrist platform.

His meteoric emergence -- and pillaging of key traditional right and left figures for his own centrist movement -- pushed the political centre of gravity on the left and right to the extremes.

Now, the traditional parties struggle to get even five percent of the vote, a situation that creates not just political but also financial problems for them under the French system.

"The first round of this presidential election confirms the three-way split of the electorate and the creation of three blocs with pretty much equal weight," said political scientist Gael Brustier.

It's the "cornerstone of the new world of French politics", he wrote in a Slate column.

Marine Le Pen, who will go head-to-head with Macron on April 24 in the second round of the election, and her National Rally (RN) party embody the far-right bloc.

Macron represents the centre while Jean-Luc Melenchon and his France Unbowed (LFI) party are the focus of the far left, taking a strong third place in Sunday's polls.

"The French political landscape has redefined itself around three political forces: a bloc which unites the centre-left and centre-right, embodied by Macron, the radical left, and far-right," Bernard Poignant, a former Socialist mayor who now supports Macron, told the Ouest France newspaper

- 'Season 2' -

Socialist Party candidate Anne Hidalgo and the Republicans hopeful Valerie Pecresse were crushed on Sunday, winning only 1.75 percent and 4.78 percent of the vote respectively.

They now find themselves in dire financial straits since they finished below the five percent threshold for having campaign spending largely reimbursed by the state.

Financial woes are familiar to the Socialists. The party was forced to sell its historical headquarters in late 2017 to try to salvage its finances.

And Pecresse has launched a humiliating appeal for donations to try to save the party as it faces a 7.0-million-euro ($7.6 million) hole in its finances.

"The breakdown and reshaping of French political life began in 2017 with the advent of Macronism and the collapse of the Socialist Party," political scientist Jerome Fourquet told France Inter radio.

"And we watched season two yesterday (Sunday)..., the confirmation of the obliteration of the Socialists, the second historical pillar in the French political landscape, and the Republicans have been devastated as well," Fourquet said.

The last Socialist president was Francois Hollande, a deeply unpopular leader who never ran for a second term.

"What is the Socialists' reason for existing? What is the Republicans' reason for existing in a political system where you have a radical left, a central bloc that goes from the centre left to the right, and a far-right bloc?" asked Brice Teinturier, head of Ipsos polling company, told AFP.

"It's extremely difficult to find," he said.

- 'Elitist bloc?' -

However, unity within the extreme blocs is more fragile because of their diverse social make-up, rendering them more difficult to structure.

"I reject the idea of three blocs, left, centre and right," said pollster and political scientist Jerome Sainte-Marie at PollingVox. He sees a clash between an "elitist bloc" including the wealthy behind Macron, and a double "popular bloc".

Sainte-Marie pointed to "an alignment of managers and the retired" supporting Macron in the elitist bloc that unites individuals from a higher social class.

The popular bloc is "more mixed", with private-sector workers supporting Le Pen, while public sector workers and immigrant populations usually opt for Melenchon.

Melenchon benefitted from the support of other leftist formations, like the ecologists.

In addition to his base, he has "new reinforcements" with quite significant increases in... voters of immigrant origin", political scientist Fourquet said, adding that Melenchon had captured "even more of the culturally left-wing, teachers, students".

French Greens face crisis after failed presidential bid

 France's Greens party were facing a crisis on Monday after a deeply disappointing presidential election saw their candidate finish sixth and struggle to put climate change on the national agenda. The Covid-19 pandemic overshadowed the start of campaigning before Russia's invasion of Ukraine changed the dynamic completely, making foreign policy and the rocketing cost of living key issues for voters, as FRANCE 24's Environment Editor Valérie Dekimpe explains.

Albania's former 'Stalin City' looks West with NATO airbase


The renovation project was agreed in 2018 by the Balkan state and NATO, which has already committed $55 million (50.4 million euros) to the project 

Officials are also hoping the base, which once employed 700 people, will create new jobs in the poor region, 85 kilometres south of the capital Tirana

The aircraft now languishing on the airbase mainly consist of Chinese and Soviet MiGs, Soviet-made Antonovs and Yak-18s

The authorities have to yet to decide whether they will be auctioned, put in a museum or turned into scrap metal 

PHOTOS (AFP/Gent SHKULLAKU)

Briseida MEMA
Mon, April 11, 2022

In an Albanian city once named for Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, dozens of Soviet- and Chinese-made planes rust in the open air on a former communist airbase, some with flat tyres, others covered with dust.

The site in the central city now called Kucova is being transformed into a modern NATO airbase, a symbol of Albania's westward shift -- and a key military buffer in Europe as Russia wages war in Ukraine.

The renovation project was agreed in 2018 by the Balkan state and NATO, which has already committed $55 million (50.4 million euros) to the project, according to Albanian sources.

Construction began at the beginning of the year, ahead of Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine that has sparked fears of a spillover into NATO and EU member states.


Though the timing of the Kucova base redevelopment was a coincidence, for some it is a welcome one.

"The changed global security environment has now created considerable impetus for the completion of the (base) renovation plan," a NATO official in Brussels told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The base, due to be completed in 2023, will give the "alliance an important strategic facility in the Western Balkans, within short reach of the Mediterranean, Middle East and the Black Sea region", the NATO official said.

- 'Clear message' -

After decades of global isolation, Albania became a NATO member in 2009.

It was shunned by much of the world under paranoid Communist dictator Enver Hoxha, who forged close ties with the Soviet Union and China before falling out with them over their apparent deviation from true Marxism.

The country embraced the West after the fall of the communist regime in 1990, and today is eager to become an EU member.

The defunct aircraft at the Kucova base are reminders of a chapter of Albania's history many are happy to leave behind -- and a signal to Russia which has sought to extend its influence in the region.

"The construction of this base is a clear message to other players with bad intentions in the Western Balkans region," Albania's Defence Minister Niko Peleshi told AFP.

The construction is certain to irk Moscow, which strongly opposes any NATO expansion into eastern and central Europe -- especially in the Balkans which has traditionally been torn between East and West.

Today, Albania's neighbours Croatia, Montenegro and Northern Macedonia are all part of NATO too.

For Seit Putro, who has worked in the finance department at the base for more than 30 years, it's a welcome confirmation of Albania's political allegiances.

"Once in the East, we are now in our place, next to the West, which is a good step forward for all," he told AFP.

- Job creation -

The 350-hectare (865-acre) site in the former 'Stalin City' was built in the 1950s under Hoxha with help from the Soviets, and completed later with a network of the same kind of underground tunnels that were dug across the country in case of nuclear attack.

Once the NATO renovation is finished, it will function as a tactical operational base, kitted out with a refurbished runway more than two kilometres (1.2 miles) long, an updated control tower and new storage units.

It will have the capacity to host state-of-the-art military aircraft and can also be used for refuelling and ammunition storage.

Officials are also hoping the base, which once employed 700 people, will create new jobs in the poor region, 85 kilometres south of the capital Tirana.

It will have a "very positive economic and social impact", said deputy commander of the base, Major Leandro Syka.

- 'Natural alliance' -

The aircraft now languishing on the airbase mainly consist of Chinese and Soviet MiGs, Soviet-made Antonovs and Yak-18s.

At the end of the Cold War, the base had about 200 planes and 40 helicopters, which were put out of commission as they were obsolete.

About 75 remain today, and their fate remains uncertain.

The authorities have to yet to decide whether they will be auctioned, put in a museum or turned into scrap metal.

For some, they hold painful memories from past conflicts.

Former pilot Niazi Nelaj remembers clearly his first flight aboard a Mig-15, which bore bullet marks from combat in distant Asian countries.

But the 85-year-old is happy to see the airbase aligned with NATO, and he believes Albania's previous pivot toward the East was only an "accident of history".

"Albania's natural alliance has always been and will be with the West," he said.

bme-ev/ljv/gw

Syria's Ramadan drummers defiant as tradition wanes

Traditional dawn awakeners known as 'Musaharati' beat drums and chant religious songs to wake up Muslims before sunrise for the 'suhur' meal before the day's fast during the holy month of Ramadan - LOUAI BESHARA

by Maher AL MOUNES
April 11, 2022 — Damascus (AFP)

Ramadan drummers who awaken the faithful for their pre-dawn meal are dying out across the Muslim world but the tradition lives on in Syria's capital despite growing reliance on smart phones.

Around one hour before the call to prayer rings out at dawn, Ramadan drummers, known as Musaharati, walk through narrow streets to wake the faithful.

They include Hasan al-Rashi, 60, one of the 30 Musaharati left in Damascus.

His voice breaks the nightime silence in the capital's Old City, as he sings and pounds his drum.

"Despite the advent of smart phones and other technologies, people still like to wake up to the voice of the Musaharati," Rashi told AFP.

"The Musaharati is a part of the customs and traditions of the people of Damascus during the month of Ramadan," he added.

"It is a heritage that we will not leave behind."

While performing his Musaharati task, Rashi carries a bamboo cane in one hand and a drum made of goatskin in the other.

He walks quickly from home to home, using his stick to tap on doors of families who have asked for his services.

"Wake up for Suhur (pre-dawn meal), Ramadan has come to visit you," Rashi sings.

- 'Duty' -


Although they do receive gifts, the Musaharati don't usually expect financial rewards.

They sometimes carry bags or straw baskets to store food and other gifts that are given to them.

For Rashi, it's not about the freebies.

"We feel joy when we go out every day," he said.

"Some children follow us sometimes and ask to beat the drum," Rashi added.

Ahead of the call to prayer, Sharif Resho asks one of his neighbours for a glass of water before the start of his fast.

The 51-year-old Musaharati usually accompanies Rashi every night, also beating his drum and singing.

"My equipment is simple, it is my voice, my drum and my stick," he said.

Resho, whose father was also a Ramadan drummer, has carried out Musaharati duties for nearly a quarter of a century.

Syria's more than decade-long war and the coronavirus pandemic did not stop him from carrying on, he said.

"I will keep waking people up for Suhur as long as I have a voice in my throat," Resho told AFP.

"It is a duty I inherited from my father, that I will pass on to my son."

US monitoring rise in rights abuses in India, Blinken says

REUTERS
April 12, 2022

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was monitoring what he described as a rise in human rights abuses in India by some officials, in a rare direct rebuke by Washington of the Asian nation’s rights record.

“We regularly engage with our Indian partners on these shared values (of human rights) and to that end, we are monitoring some recent concerning developments in India including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police and prison officials,” Blinken said on Monday in a joint press briefing with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh.

Blinken did not elaborate. Singh and Jaishankar, who spoke after Blinken at the briefing, did not comment on the human rights issue.

Blinken’s remarks came days after US Representative Ilhan Omar questioned the alleged reluctance of the US government to criticize Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on human rights.

“What does Modi need to do to India’s Muslim population before we will stop considering them a partner in peace?” Omar, who belongs to President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party, said last week.

Modi’s critics say his Hindu nationalist ruling party has fostered religious polarization since coming to power in 2014.

Since Modi came to power, right-wing Hindu groups have launched attacks on minorities claiming they are trying to prevent religious conversions. Several Indian states have passed or are considering anti-conversion laws that challenge the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief.

In 2019, the government passed a citizenship law that critics said undermined India’s secular constitution by excluding Muslim migrants from neighboring countries. The law was meant to grant Indian nationality to Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Parsis and Sikhs who fled Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before 2015.

In the same year, soon after his 2019 re-election win, Modi’s government revoked the special status of Kashmir in a bid to fully integrate the Muslim-majority region with the rest of the country. To keep a lid on protests, the administration detained many Kashmir political leaders and sent many more paramilitary police and soldiers to the Himalayan region also claimed by Pakistan.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recently banned wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka state. Hard-line Hindu groups later demanded such restrictions in more Indian states.