In 1968 the US Supreme Court banned teachers from telling pupils that the theory of evolution is wrong, saying that to do so breached the principle of the separation of church and state. In 1987, the Supreme Court ruled that the mandatory teaching of creationism was unconstitutional because it was illegal to advance a particular religion in schools. This legislation is about to be overturned by new measures in Tennessee. "The measure has already passed through the state's legislature, dominated by the conservative Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, and Governor Bill Haslam has until today to veto it. If passed, Tennessee would become the second state after Louisiana to allow teachers to challenge the accepted science on evolution and climate change." (Daily Telegraph, 9 April) 150 years after the publication of the "Origin of Species" religious zealots are still denying the unassailable evidence for evolution. RD
The Glasgow & Edinburgh Branches Blog. Towards a better understanding of the world, in order to change it.
Friday, April 13, 2012
HARD WORK AND HARD FACTS
Workers are always being implored to work harder. In fact governments often say that the reason their standards of living are falling is because they don't work hard enough, but what about this American example? "In 2010, according to a study published this month by University of California economist Emmanuel Saez, 93 per cent of income growth went to the wealthiest 1 per cent of American households, while everyone else divvied up the 7 per cent that was left over. Put another way: The most fundamental characteristic of the U.S. economy today is the divide between the 1 per cent and the 99 per cent. .... Research by Julia Isaacs of the Brookings Institution, as part of the Economic Mobility Project, has shown that intergenerational mobility in the United States has fallen far below the levels in Germany, Finland, Denmark and other more social democratic nations of Northern Europe. Now, Saez's analysis of income data provides further evidence that mocks America's self-image as a land where hard work yields rewards." (Washington Post, 23 March) As workers we have found out that hard work makes us tired. It does make the owning class rich though! RD
More slums to come
Sri Lanka’s capital city Colombo is home to over 30 percent of the country’s population, one in every two people living in the Greater Colombo Area is a slum dweller.
Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, is home to 34 percent of the country's population and is the fastest growing city in Asia – around 40 percent of those living in Dhaka are slum dwellers.
In India fully half the population of the capital, New Delhi, lives in slums, while the figure could be as high as 60 percent in glittering Mumbai. Nation-wide 93 million people are estimated to be living in slums.
Ming Zhang, the World Bank sector manager for Urban Water and Disaster Management for South Asia, predicted that the urban population in South Asia would double in the next 25 years. Already one in every four persons is categorised under ‘informal population’ or living in shanties or slums in the urban areas of the region
Regional experts and those from the World Bank agree that most of the problems faced by the cities are man-made, primarily due to lack of proper planning.
"If we thought about proper urban planning, institutional coherence and community participation, we would be able to address a big chunk of this problem" Abha Joshi-Ghani, the World Bank's Sector Manager for Finance Economics and Urban Planning explained "We are depleting our resources by inefficient and indiscriminate use of resources." Joshi-Ghani told went on to say that any relocation of slum-dwellers has to take into consideration the incomes and lifestyles of those affected, which, if disrupted, could turn the solution itself turns into a problem. "Many think that cities make people poor, when in fact cities attract the poor who think they can make a better living there" she said.
Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, is home to 34 percent of the country's population and is the fastest growing city in Asia – around 40 percent of those living in Dhaka are slum dwellers.
In India fully half the population of the capital, New Delhi, lives in slums, while the figure could be as high as 60 percent in glittering Mumbai. Nation-wide 93 million people are estimated to be living in slums.
Ming Zhang, the World Bank sector manager for Urban Water and Disaster Management for South Asia, predicted that the urban population in South Asia would double in the next 25 years. Already one in every four persons is categorised under ‘informal population’ or living in shanties or slums in the urban areas of the region
Regional experts and those from the World Bank agree that most of the problems faced by the cities are man-made, primarily due to lack of proper planning.
"If we thought about proper urban planning, institutional coherence and community participation, we would be able to address a big chunk of this problem" Abha Joshi-Ghani, the World Bank's Sector Manager for Finance Economics and Urban Planning explained "We are depleting our resources by inefficient and indiscriminate use of resources." Joshi-Ghani told went on to say that any relocation of slum-dwellers has to take into consideration the incomes and lifestyles of those affected, which, if disrupted, could turn the solution itself turns into a problem. "Many think that cities make people poor, when in fact cities attract the poor who think they can make a better living there" she said.
PLAYING RISK WITH THE WORLD
It all began like a good disaster film. The gas alarm sounded and the emergency evacuation started. Only a small contingent stayed behind, labouring to plug the leak. Having failed to do so after hours of trying, they turned off all the machinery and electricity and fled the platform too. When the last helicopter lifted off, it left the drilling rig alone on a swelling cloud of highly flammable gas from the deep. For almost an entire week flickering way up at the tip of the 490-foot stack was an open gas flare. a company spokesman thankfully noted, the wind had been blowing the gas vapors away from the platform. If it hadn't, and the cloud of gas had come into contact with the flame, there could have been a massive explosion threatening to trigger an environmental catastrophe. Total, the French energy company that owns Elgin, the stricken platform, had lost complete control. Nor was this accident without warning. Weeks earlier, engineers working on the Elgin had noted troubling pressure fluctuations in the capped line. They tried to stop it with so-called drilling mud -- but the gas was quicker.
Despite the massive expenses and technical challenges involved in "high pressure/high temperature" drilling, multinationals like Total are currently investing several billion euros in them. The reason for this is simple. As Hauge, the president of the Norwegian environmental group Bellona puts it: "The easily recoverable reservoirs in the North Sea will soon be empty." Indeed, there are not many deposits left that can be exploited using conventional means.
The combined output of all British drilling platforms now lies at only half of what it was in 1999. In the meantime, the fleet of several hundred British platforms is becoming superannuated, with accidents as well as minor oil and gas spills more common. Forty-four of these monsters even date back to the 1970s, and workers on them are forced to labor just as hard against rust as they do for oil. Jake Molloy, an organizer for the union representing oil workers, has said "ageing infrastructure, a lack of maintenance and installation integrity" are among the union's primary concerns and noted that oil-rig crews often work under life-threatening conditions.
The major oil companies are increasingly handing over their ancient equipment to smaller firms, which then go after every last drop of oil and liquid gas they can. Hauge, the Norwegian environmentalist, finds this worrisome. "Small companies have less capacity to manage big accidents, both financially and technologically," he says.
Given today's oil prices, it's now worth it for companies to go after deposits that would have once been considered uneconomical. BP recently obtained permission to drill for oil in waters more than 1,200 meters deep northwest of the Shetland Islands, off Scotland's northeastern coast. Despite obvious dangers, the region's rich deposits make it appealing. BP has acknowledged that, in the worst-case scenario, a blowout here could threaten the far northern regions with an oil spill that would far exceed even the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster in size. It calculates that twice as much oil would gush up and cause several times as much environmental damage. But the company also adds that this is, of course, "extremely unlikely."
That is also precisely what engineers thought when they were drilling for oil over 21 years ago off the Scottish coast under contract from the energy giant Mobil, which would later become today's ExxonMobil. Their huge drill was penetrating at a depth of some 500 meters when it inadvertently punctured a methane bubble under high pressure. In an instant, the sea surrounding the drilling platform was transformed into something resembling a whirlpool. As has happened with the Elgin, the entire crew made it safely off the platform. But methane, which as a greenhouse gas is extremely harmful to the climate, continues to bubble up out of the sea floor even today. And nobody can stop it.
Despite the massive expenses and technical challenges involved in "high pressure/high temperature" drilling, multinationals like Total are currently investing several billion euros in them. The reason for this is simple. As Hauge, the president of the Norwegian environmental group Bellona puts it: "The easily recoverable reservoirs in the North Sea will soon be empty." Indeed, there are not many deposits left that can be exploited using conventional means.
The combined output of all British drilling platforms now lies at only half of what it was in 1999. In the meantime, the fleet of several hundred British platforms is becoming superannuated, with accidents as well as minor oil and gas spills more common. Forty-four of these monsters even date back to the 1970s, and workers on them are forced to labor just as hard against rust as they do for oil. Jake Molloy, an organizer for the union representing oil workers, has said "ageing infrastructure, a lack of maintenance and installation integrity" are among the union's primary concerns and noted that oil-rig crews often work under life-threatening conditions.
The major oil companies are increasingly handing over their ancient equipment to smaller firms, which then go after every last drop of oil and liquid gas they can. Hauge, the Norwegian environmentalist, finds this worrisome. "Small companies have less capacity to manage big accidents, both financially and technologically," he says.
Given today's oil prices, it's now worth it for companies to go after deposits that would have once been considered uneconomical. BP recently obtained permission to drill for oil in waters more than 1,200 meters deep northwest of the Shetland Islands, off Scotland's northeastern coast. Despite obvious dangers, the region's rich deposits make it appealing. BP has acknowledged that, in the worst-case scenario, a blowout here could threaten the far northern regions with an oil spill that would far exceed even the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster in size. It calculates that twice as much oil would gush up and cause several times as much environmental damage. But the company also adds that this is, of course, "extremely unlikely."
That is also precisely what engineers thought when they were drilling for oil over 21 years ago off the Scottish coast under contract from the energy giant Mobil, which would later become today's ExxonMobil. Their huge drill was penetrating at a depth of some 500 meters when it inadvertently punctured a methane bubble under high pressure. In an instant, the sea surrounding the drilling platform was transformed into something resembling a whirlpool. As has happened with the Elgin, the entire crew made it safely off the platform. But methane, which as a greenhouse gas is extremely harmful to the climate, continues to bubble up out of the sea floor even today. And nobody can stop it.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Life begins before conception!
Arizona lawmakers gave final passage to an anti-abortion bill that declares life begins two weeks before conception. A sentence in the bill defines gestational age as "calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman," which would move the beginning of a pregnancy up two weeks prior to conception.
Representatives passed a bill to prohibit abortions after the 18th week of pregnancy. Arizona the earliest definition of late-term abortion in the country; most states use 20 weeks as a definition. Nationally, 1.5 percent of abortions in the U.S. occur after the 21st week and 3.8 percent occur between the 16th and 20th weeks.
Representatives passed a bill to prohibit abortions after the 18th week of pregnancy. Arizona the earliest definition of late-term abortion in the country; most states use 20 weeks as a definition. Nationally, 1.5 percent of abortions in the U.S. occur after the 21st week and 3.8 percent occur between the 16th and 20th weeks.
Shift work is unhealthy
Shift work has been associated with a host of health problems. The evidence is clear that getting enough sleep is important for health, and that sleep should be at night for best effect”
Shift workers getting too little sleep at the wrong time of day may be increasing their risk of diabetes and obesity, according to researchers. The team is calling for more measures to reduce the impact of shift working following the results of its study.
Changes to normal sleep meant the body struggled to control sugar levels. Some participants even developed early symptoms of diabetes within weeks.
Participants in the study started with 10 hours' sleep at night. This was followed by three weeks of disruption to their sleep and body clocks. The length of the day was extended to 28 hours, creating an effect similar to a full-time flyer constantly getting jet lag. Participants were allowed only 6.5 hours' sleep in the new 28-hour day, equivalent to 5.6 hours in a normal day. They also lived in dim light to prevent normal light resetting the body clock. During this part of the study, sugar levels in the blood were "significantly increased" immediately after a meal and during "fasting" parts of the day. The researchers showed that the hormone that lower levels of insulin - the hormone that normally controls blood sugar - were produced. Three of the participants had sugar levels which stayed so high after their meals they were classified as "pre-diabetic". They also highlighted a risk of putting on weight as the body slowed down. "The 8% drop in resting metabolic rate that we measured in our participants... translates into a 12.5-pound increase in weight over a single year," they wrote.
Dr Orfeu Buxton said: "We think these results support the findings from studies showing that, in people with a pre-diabetic condition, shift workers who stay awake at night are much more likely to progress to full-on diabetes than day workers. Since night workers often have a hard time sleeping during the day, they can face both circadian [body clock] disruption working at night and insufficient sleep during the day."
Socialist Courier has previously reported the risks of shift ork and this lqatest finding simply confirms that capitalism is bad for your health.
Shift workers getting too little sleep at the wrong time of day may be increasing their risk of diabetes and obesity, according to researchers. The team is calling for more measures to reduce the impact of shift working following the results of its study.
Changes to normal sleep meant the body struggled to control sugar levels. Some participants even developed early symptoms of diabetes within weeks.
Participants in the study started with 10 hours' sleep at night. This was followed by three weeks of disruption to their sleep and body clocks. The length of the day was extended to 28 hours, creating an effect similar to a full-time flyer constantly getting jet lag. Participants were allowed only 6.5 hours' sleep in the new 28-hour day, equivalent to 5.6 hours in a normal day. They also lived in dim light to prevent normal light resetting the body clock. During this part of the study, sugar levels in the blood were "significantly increased" immediately after a meal and during "fasting" parts of the day. The researchers showed that the hormone that lower levels of insulin - the hormone that normally controls blood sugar - were produced. Three of the participants had sugar levels which stayed so high after their meals they were classified as "pre-diabetic". They also highlighted a risk of putting on weight as the body slowed down. "The 8% drop in resting metabolic rate that we measured in our participants... translates into a 12.5-pound increase in weight over a single year," they wrote.
Dr Orfeu Buxton said: "We think these results support the findings from studies showing that, in people with a pre-diabetic condition, shift workers who stay awake at night are much more likely to progress to full-on diabetes than day workers. Since night workers often have a hard time sleeping during the day, they can face both circadian [body clock] disruption working at night and insufficient sleep during the day."
Socialist Courier has previously reported the risks of shift ork and this lqatest finding simply confirms that capitalism is bad for your health.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
United Fans
For some on the Left, sport is little more than a way to enforce hegemony and control on the duped masses, another opium for the people to divert their attentions from their social problems and delay the revolution.
Following football is expensive, the games less competitive (between 1985-95, 13 different clubs finished in the top three of the , exactly the same number as in the previous decade and the decade before that. In 1995-2005 years, that figure was just six) and the matches less atmospheric than ever in all-seated stadiums with traditional albeit bigoted songs outlawed. So why do supporters still love it?
The identification with a team, its colours, and history involves football’s most direct appeal to the gut. The tribalism displayed by a community of fans has an almost immeasurable force. It creates instant rivalries where none may have previously existed. For a few hours supporters inhabit a place where only one identity is acceptable: to be a Rangers or Celtic or Aberdeen fan. Any statement that violates the group’s one idea can prove dangerous, and, in a few cases, fatal. Being a football fan entails loud, aggressive, expressions of triumphalism and total team worship.
The term “imagined community” comes not from an analysis of sports, but, from Benedict Anderson’s book on nationalism. Anderson sets out to study why people love, die, and kill for countries. According to Anderson, a nation is “an imagined political community—and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign.” Nationalism, then, is not “an awakening of nations to self- consciousness; it invents nations where they do not exist.” As Anderson puts it, “It is imagined as a community, because, regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep horizontal comradeship.” This phenomenon is not limited to political communities. Hence, beneath all the commercialism and competitive rivalry is a deeper yearning for community that we dismiss at our peril.
To yearn for the football stadium crowd is to yearn for belonging in community, to dream of some kind of connectedness with your fellow humans. The further our alienation moves towards an ever-more-atomised society, one solely centered on the isolated individual, the greater there will be attempts to reclaim our to-getherness. People look to sports for a sense of something larger because social relationships with one anotherhas severely eroded throughout our society. So people look for some kind of connectedness with the tribal identity of their football club allegiences. They believe that - on some level - there's a bond between them, the players and their team. They follow them everywhere, even fight for them.
Sadly, it's not reciprocated. Kiss the badge when a player first scores for their new club. Most fans buy it every single time. The fact that they'd switch employers for a 200% pay rise without a second's thought seems lost on them. And that's not all they buy. There's the pricy season ticket, the home strip, the away strip, the third alternative away strip, the premium rate text services and so on.
When are people going to realise that when your favourite club isn't counting your cash, it's laughing at you? Rick Gekoski writes in "A Fan Behind The Scenes In The Premiership". "I was reminded of a conversation I'd had with John Salako. 'Fans,' he said, 'most of them are sad. They think the game is more important than it is, it says something about the miserable kind of lives they must lead. They get things out of proportion.' Another player, who did not wish to be named, said: 'Fans? Come on. Players hate fans.' "
Don't become a slave to football's pointless merry-go-round. In 2005 there were just seven clubs in the country owned by supporters' trusts - while only 23 trusts have elected directors on the board. When it's your club being dragged over the coals by insolvency accountants or re-located by new owners , you fight tooth and nail. When it's the club up the road, you merely give a shrug of the shoulders. Time for real football supporters to stand united and kick off.
"Football without fans is nothing" - Jock Stein
Following football is expensive, the games less competitive (between 1985-95, 13 different clubs finished in the top three of the , exactly the same number as in the previous decade and the decade before that. In 1995-2005 years, that figure was just six) and the matches less atmospheric than ever in all-seated stadiums with traditional albeit bigoted songs outlawed. So why do supporters still love it?
The identification with a team, its colours, and history involves football’s most direct appeal to the gut. The tribalism displayed by a community of fans has an almost immeasurable force. It creates instant rivalries where none may have previously existed. For a few hours supporters inhabit a place where only one identity is acceptable: to be a Rangers or Celtic or Aberdeen fan. Any statement that violates the group’s one idea can prove dangerous, and, in a few cases, fatal. Being a football fan entails loud, aggressive, expressions of triumphalism and total team worship.
The term “imagined community” comes not from an analysis of sports, but, from Benedict Anderson’s book on nationalism. Anderson sets out to study why people love, die, and kill for countries. According to Anderson, a nation is “an imagined political community—and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign.” Nationalism, then, is not “an awakening of nations to self- consciousness; it invents nations where they do not exist.” As Anderson puts it, “It is imagined as a community, because, regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep horizontal comradeship.” This phenomenon is not limited to political communities. Hence, beneath all the commercialism and competitive rivalry is a deeper yearning for community that we dismiss at our peril.
To yearn for the football stadium crowd is to yearn for belonging in community, to dream of some kind of connectedness with your fellow humans. The further our alienation moves towards an ever-more-atomised society, one solely centered on the isolated individual, the greater there will be attempts to reclaim our to-getherness. People look to sports for a sense of something larger because social relationships with one anotherhas severely eroded throughout our society. So people look for some kind of connectedness with the tribal identity of their football club allegiences. They believe that - on some level - there's a bond between them, the players and their team. They follow them everywhere, even fight for them.
Sadly, it's not reciprocated. Kiss the badge when a player first scores for their new club. Most fans buy it every single time. The fact that they'd switch employers for a 200% pay rise without a second's thought seems lost on them. And that's not all they buy. There's the pricy season ticket, the home strip, the away strip, the third alternative away strip, the premium rate text services and so on.
When are people going to realise that when your favourite club isn't counting your cash, it's laughing at you? Rick Gekoski writes in "A Fan Behind The Scenes In The Premiership". "I was reminded of a conversation I'd had with John Salako. 'Fans,' he said, 'most of them are sad. They think the game is more important than it is, it says something about the miserable kind of lives they must lead. They get things out of proportion.' Another player, who did not wish to be named, said: 'Fans? Come on. Players hate fans.' "
Don't become a slave to football's pointless merry-go-round. In 2005 there were just seven clubs in the country owned by supporters' trusts - while only 23 trusts have elected directors on the board. When it's your club being dragged over the coals by insolvency accountants or re-located by new owners , you fight tooth and nail. When it's the club up the road, you merely give a shrug of the shoulders. Time for real football supporters to stand united and kick off.
"Football without fans is nothing" - Jock Stein
Sunday, April 08, 2012
Food for thought
Drones are going mainstream in the US. According to an Associated Press release, February 27, civilian cousins of the unmanned military aircraft that have tracked, spied on, and killed terrorists in the Middle East and Asia are in demand by police departments, border patrols, power companies, news stations, and news papers, all wanting views that are too dangerous for planes and helicopters to get. It matters nothing to these groups that the ordinary citizen may object to being spied on. The only worry that the US government has is that they could collide with planes or come crashing to the ground. Better that capitalism takes the nose -dive!
Toronto Hydro is laying off almost two hundred workers as it struggles to trim $20 million in costs. John Camilleri, head of C.U.P.E. Local One, told demonstrators that cuts are raising questions about whether there will be enough staff left to do the work, " There's no shortage of work. In fact, there is a back-up of maintenance work to be done." So workers are being laid of when there is plenty of work to keep them busy. One thing about capitalism -- it's sooo logical.
A recent Toronto Star article focused on the plight of gold miners at La Rinconada in Peru, which, at 5 200 metres above sea level, is the highest mine in the world. Corporation Minera Ananea S.A., the owners, allow groups of young men to work for two weeks for no pay, and, if productive, are allowed to work for a day or two for themselves. Like all mining, it's dangerous work with a constant fear of rock falls, inhalation of toxic gases ,and the need to extract the gold by hand using mercury, itself a highly toxic chemical. A group of miners excavated 65 grams that brought each of them $238.50 It might be several weeks before they are so lucky again and several months before the UN environmental program decides on a legally binding global mercury treaty. Nobody forces these men to work for so little, for so long, and in such dangerous circumstances. So what does? It's something called economic necessity, bearing in mind they have families to support. Let's speed the day when such conditions of work will not be necessary. John Ayers
Toronto Hydro is laying off almost two hundred workers as it struggles to trim $20 million in costs. John Camilleri, head of C.U.P.E. Local One, told demonstrators that cuts are raising questions about whether there will be enough staff left to do the work, " There's no shortage of work. In fact, there is a back-up of maintenance work to be done." So workers are being laid of when there is plenty of work to keep them busy. One thing about capitalism -- it's sooo logical.
A recent Toronto Star article focused on the plight of gold miners at La Rinconada in Peru, which, at 5 200 metres above sea level, is the highest mine in the world. Corporation Minera Ananea S.A., the owners, allow groups of young men to work for two weeks for no pay, and, if productive, are allowed to work for a day or two for themselves. Like all mining, it's dangerous work with a constant fear of rock falls, inhalation of toxic gases ,and the need to extract the gold by hand using mercury, itself a highly toxic chemical. A group of miners excavated 65 grams that brought each of them $238.50 It might be several weeks before they are so lucky again and several months before the UN environmental program decides on a legally binding global mercury treaty. Nobody forces these men to work for so little, for so long, and in such dangerous circumstances. So what does? It's something called economic necessity, bearing in mind they have families to support. Let's speed the day when such conditions of work will not be necessary. John Ayers
Who's country does it belong to?
Scotland is on the verge of having its first Chinese laird. Wealthy Chinese investors are said to be scouring the property market to find a Scottish castle to buy.
Leading property agents are reporting a rise in interest from rich Chinese and Taiwanese buyers, who have made their fortunes in the Far East boom. Wealthy Russians are also snapping up prime properties in Edinburgh for the first time. Prices in central London have been driven up by wealthy Russians seeking a safe environment to invest. Agents say the next step could be the purchase of Scottish landed estates, which, even with thousands of acres, are relatively inexpensive compared to London. In Kensington, the average residence costs £2m.
Jamie Macnab, of estate agent Savills, said it had also seen an increase of interest in Scottish rural properties from China. “It’s a market we expect to grow. We’re constantly looking at how to attract Asian money, and we’re confident it will come. We had one young Chinese man who came into the Edinburgh office recently, hired a cab and then went to view eight properties in Fife because of the golfing interest. Golf is a key reason why the Chinese and the Koreans want to buy property here.”
John Coleman, head of residential and farm agency at Smiths Gore in Scotland, said: “There have been one or two large Chinese consortiums looking for investments in the UK and have looked at a few Scottish estates but we’re unaware of any transactions having gone through yet. They are testing the water, and they’ll do it in London first.”
At least three country castles on sale for more than £2 million have been sold or are under offer after buyers sought to avoid the end of the stamp duty holiday in last month’s Budget. Sales prior to the Budget attracted a 5 per cent tax, which has now risen to 7 per cent. Deals signed prior to change will have saved the buyer £40,000 on a £2 million property.
Saturday, April 07, 2012
PUTIN AND PLAY ACTING
When the opposition brought 100,000 people onto the streets of Moscow, pro-Kremlin activists tried to match that number, filling a square across town with legions of people chanting slogans in support of Putin. His supporters organized a demonstration bigger than anything the opposition has been able to muster. More than 100,000 people gathered at the walls of the Kremlin. Suspended high above the throng, the state-run television cameras captured an image that night of overwhelming, even fanatical support for Putin. That was the image beamed into millions of Russian households on election night. But at ground level, the picture looked a lot more complicated. "About an hour after Putin addressed the crowd, TIME followed a group of demonstrators into a nearby subway tunnel, where about 100 of them lined up to receive about $10 apiece. Policemen stood by the entire time watching because it is not a crime to pay people for attending a political rally. And as far as moral qualms are concerned, one brigadier on duty that night told TIME he had none. "It's a paid flash mob," he said, smiling as he declined to give his name. "It's normal." (TIME, 21 March) That is capitalism for you - bribery is normal. RD
POLICE AND PREJUDICE
Ever since the days of Dixon of Dock Green on the television, the media have always depicted the police as decent even loveable characters, but recent events have shown this up as a complete fiction."Eight Metropolitan Police officers and one other member of staff have been suspended as the IPCC investigates 10 complaints of racism against the force. Earlier the Met said an acting sergeant and two PCs based in Newham had been suspended over a claim of racist abuse after last year's London riots. .... In total, 20 officers are being investigated in relation to the 10 claims of racism." (BBC News, 5 April) Unfortunately like other members of the working class many policemen are prejudiced against other ethnic groups despite the rosy TV fiction. RD
Friday, April 06, 2012
Olympic Holocaust Deniers
We have all heard of the Jewish Holocaust - of the Armenian holocaust by the Turks, and through history there were many other such genocides.
Circassians have been outraged by the selection of Sochi, a Russian resort city on the Black Sea, to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Sochi was the site of the Circassian capital and the area where the Ubykh tribe made the Circassian "last stand" in 1864. The Olympics will be held on the 150th anniversary of these mass killings. The Sochi Olympics, in other words, will be played on a gigantic graveyard.
The Circassians are a mostly Muslim people who self-identify as Adyghe. The traditionally nomadic Circassians were organised into tribes and clans and lived by a code of behaviour known as khabza, which stressed honour, hospitality, respect for elders, egalitarianism and liberty. This ethos helped the Circassians, renowned for their warrior prowess, to successfully defeat every major power that passed through their mountainous region, including the armies of Attila the Hun and the Mongols. Khabza would also allow the Circassians to preserve their identity through the anguish and turmoil of exile. Circassians dominated the ranks of the Mamluks, a caste of elite soldiers who were taken from the Caucuses and dispatched across the Muslim world. In the 18th century, Russia acted to exert direct control over Circassia by military conquest and was met with fierce resistance. Over time, the Circassian tribes began to more efficiently organise and formally declared Circassian independence, which was recognised by Britain in 1838. By the 1860s, however, the Circassians proved unable to hold out any longer against an expanding Imperial Russia who coveted their mountainous homeland. One by one, the Circassian tribes were decimated with thousands killed, their lands settled by Cossacks, Slavs and others.
The Circassians fought so tenaciously that the Russians decided to remove them, either by death or deportation. The Circassians describe this operation as the first modern genocide. Of a population of 2.5-3 million Circassians, the Circassians told us, around 1.5 million were killed and roughly the same number expelled, of which around half died within months of famine and disease. These figures were corroborated by many scholars from around the world. Only a very small number of Circassians survived in the Caucuses and today, 90 per cent of the world's 5-6 million Circassians live in the global diaspora, while around 700,000 are split between three Russian republics.
Similar to the Turkish denial of the Armenian holocaust, the Russian government does not appear to recognise that a genocide occurred. When President Vladimir Putin gave his speech to the International Olympic Committee in 2007 to secure Russia's bid, he described Sochi as a place inhabited by ancient Greeks with no mention of the Circassians. Putin has renewed policies to curb the expression of Circassian culture, prohibiting schools from teaching the language and restricting Circassian language media. Circassians also faced restrictions on travel between the republics, which required permits that were often difficult to obtain.
A country that gives the most rights to Circassians is Israel, where they are allowed to preserve every single aspect of identity. Perhaps, they remember with gratitude the protection the Circassians gave their Jewish communities during the Second World War when Hitler's Nazis hunted them down.
Georgia has given Circassians refugee status and has officially recognised that the Russian actions in the 19th century constituted genocide. Georgia will be the first country to build a commemorative monument to the Circassian genocide to be unveiled this May at the anniversary of the Sochi massacre.
Circassians have been outraged by the selection of Sochi, a Russian resort city on the Black Sea, to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Sochi was the site of the Circassian capital and the area where the Ubykh tribe made the Circassian "last stand" in 1864. The Olympics will be held on the 150th anniversary of these mass killings. The Sochi Olympics, in other words, will be played on a gigantic graveyard.
The Circassians are a mostly Muslim people who self-identify as Adyghe. The traditionally nomadic Circassians were organised into tribes and clans and lived by a code of behaviour known as khabza, which stressed honour, hospitality, respect for elders, egalitarianism and liberty. This ethos helped the Circassians, renowned for their warrior prowess, to successfully defeat every major power that passed through their mountainous region, including the armies of Attila the Hun and the Mongols. Khabza would also allow the Circassians to preserve their identity through the anguish and turmoil of exile. Circassians dominated the ranks of the Mamluks, a caste of elite soldiers who were taken from the Caucuses and dispatched across the Muslim world. In the 18th century, Russia acted to exert direct control over Circassia by military conquest and was met with fierce resistance. Over time, the Circassian tribes began to more efficiently organise and formally declared Circassian independence, which was recognised by Britain in 1838. By the 1860s, however, the Circassians proved unable to hold out any longer against an expanding Imperial Russia who coveted their mountainous homeland. One by one, the Circassian tribes were decimated with thousands killed, their lands settled by Cossacks, Slavs and others.
The Circassians fought so tenaciously that the Russians decided to remove them, either by death or deportation. The Circassians describe this operation as the first modern genocide. Of a population of 2.5-3 million Circassians, the Circassians told us, around 1.5 million were killed and roughly the same number expelled, of which around half died within months of famine and disease. These figures were corroborated by many scholars from around the world. Only a very small number of Circassians survived in the Caucuses and today, 90 per cent of the world's 5-6 million Circassians live in the global diaspora, while around 700,000 are split between three Russian republics.
Similar to the Turkish denial of the Armenian holocaust, the Russian government does not appear to recognise that a genocide occurred. When President Vladimir Putin gave his speech to the International Olympic Committee in 2007 to secure Russia's bid, he described Sochi as a place inhabited by ancient Greeks with no mention of the Circassians. Putin has renewed policies to curb the expression of Circassian culture, prohibiting schools from teaching the language and restricting Circassian language media. Circassians also faced restrictions on travel between the republics, which required permits that were often difficult to obtain.
A country that gives the most rights to Circassians is Israel, where they are allowed to preserve every single aspect of identity. Perhaps, they remember with gratitude the protection the Circassians gave their Jewish communities during the Second World War when Hitler's Nazis hunted them down.
Georgia has given Circassians refugee status and has officially recognised that the Russian actions in the 19th century constituted genocide. Georgia will be the first country to build a commemorative monument to the Circassian genocide to be unveiled this May at the anniversary of the Sochi massacre.
STUNNING STATISTICS
New statistics show an ever-more-startling divergence between the fortunes of the wealthy and everybody else. Even in the USA, a country that sometimes seems inured to income inequality, these figures are truly stunning. "In 2010, as the nation continued to recover from the recession, a dizzying 93 per cent of the additional income created in the country that year, compared to 2009 — $288 billion — went to the top 1 per cent of taxpayers, those with at least $352,000 in income. That delivered an average single-year pay increase of 11.6 per cent to each of these households. ....The bottom 99 per cent received a microscopic $80 increase in pay per person in 2010, after adjusting for inflation. The top 1 per cent, whose average income is $1,019,089, had an 11.6 per cent increase in income." (New York Times, 25 March) Most American workers counted themselves lucky if they had a microscopic increase on the previous year while the millionaires wallowed in additional millions. RD
Thursday, April 05, 2012
bankers cash in
Royal Bank of Scotland investment banking boss John Hourican pocketed £4.7 million yesterday as he exercised lucrative share options in the bank – after helping push through thousands of redundancies in the division last year.
Hourican’s sale of 17.6 million shares after exercising share options, at an average price of about 27p, comes after RBS’s global banking and markets division has made some 5,000 people redundant. This has been with the encouragement of the UK government as RBS has scaled back its investment banking activities to focus on UK lending. Recently, it emerged that Hourican received a total pay and awards package, including bonuses, of about £7.5m last year.
It came on the same day that Toby Strauss – insurance chief at Lloyds Banking Group, sold 1.2 million shares worth more than £380,000.
Hourican’s sale of 17.6 million shares after exercising share options, at an average price of about 27p, comes after RBS’s global banking and markets division has made some 5,000 people redundant. This has been with the encouragement of the UK government as RBS has scaled back its investment banking activities to focus on UK lending. Recently, it emerged that Hourican received a total pay and awards package, including bonuses, of about £7.5m last year.
It came on the same day that Toby Strauss – insurance chief at Lloyds Banking Group, sold 1.2 million shares worth more than £380,000.
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
EUROPEAN CRISIS
An outsider often sees more of a situation than most of those involved at first hand do. Here is an example of a US observer's view of the present economic crisis in Europe. "Today, hundreds of thousands of people are living in campgrounds, vehicles and cheap hotel rooms. Millions more are sharing space with relatives, unable to afford the basic costs of living. .... Now, economists, European officials and social watchdog groups are warning that the situation is set to worsen. As European governments respond to the crisis by pushing for deep spending cuts to close budget gaps and greater flexibility in their work forces, "the population of working poor will explode," said Jean-Paul Fitoussi, an economics professor at L'Institut d'Études Politiques in Paris. (New York Times, 1 April) RD
Football Blues
Rangers and Portsmouth are not alone.
One-in-five clubs in the Football League (refers to the three divisions below the top flight - the Championship, League One and League Two) are in "poor financial health", according to a survey by administrators Begbies Traynor. Begbies Traynor are presently overseeing the administration of Port Vale FC.
"Many clubs are continuing to spend too much, principally on players' wages, as they always have done" it said.
Of 68 teams surveyed in those divisions, 13 have signs of distress such as serious court actions against them, including winding-up petitions, late filing of accounts and "serious" negative balances on their balance sheets. That 19% compares to just one per cent in the wider economy, the firm said.
"While Premier League clubs are guaranteed huge television money every year and some have extremely wealthy backers, there are signs of genuine financial distress among a significant number of football league clubs," said Gerald Krasner, a partner at Begbies Traynor. "The sales of season tickets for next season, many of which are paid for during April and May, could provide some short-term relief for struggling clubs, but it won't solve the underlying problems."
Monday, April 02, 2012
A FRIGHTENING FUTURE
An alarming advance in modern technology has been developed in Brazil. Children up to the age of 14 have had electronic chips implanted into their uniforms in the north-eastern city of Vitoria da Conquista. Authorities say the tracking devices will provide an easy way to combat truancy. "The students' whereabouts are fed into a central computer when school starts. Staff are informed immediately if the child is absent, and if any student is still absent 20 minutes after lessons begin, parents receive a text message to their phones. City education secretary Coriolano Moraes says the innovation, which cost the government $670 thousand to design, is aimed at helping parents. "We noticed that many parents would bring their children to school but would not see if they actually entered the building because they always left in a hurry to get to work," he told the Associated Press news agency." (Russia Today, 23 March) No doubt many dictators will be looking forward to obtaining this excellent method of surveillance to deal with their dissidents. Isn't capitalism a wonderful system? RD
A TRASH CAN SOCIETY
The assumption is often made that extreme poverty may exist in some backward Asian or African countries but that Europe is free from the worst examples of poverty. This is obviously not the case. "To see Gunther rummaging through trash cans in Berlin, you might assume he was homeless. But the 61-year-old is actually one of a growing number of pensioners looking to earn extra cash through bottle recycling. Significant numbers of financially destitute people are now resorting to collecting discarded glass and plastic bottles, which carry a redeemable cash deposit, as a means of supplementing their income. But whereas the majority of those collecting used to be the homeless, alcoholics and drug addicts, more recently it is Berlin's pensioners and long-term unemployed who are increasingly turning to the practice in order to make ends meet." (Der Spiegel, 23 March) Germany may be one of the most advanced capitalist nations in the world but that does not stop it from suffering from the same social problems as all capitalist nations. RD
Britain's '101 Wealthiest Asians 2012'
LN Mittal and his family continue to head the list at £13.5 billion.
The Hindujas, whose activities span from transport to oil, have seen their fortune improve further with a wealth of £9.5 billion during the year, up by £ 500 million, are second in the list.
Anil Agarwal chairman of Vedanta Group is third in the list with a fortune of £3.2 billion
Lord Swraj Paul chairman of Caparo and Chancellor of Westminster and Wolverhampton Universities is 7th in the list with a wealth of £675 million, up by £75 million from 201
The Hindujas, whose activities span from transport to oil, have seen their fortune improve further with a wealth of £9.5 billion during the year, up by £ 500 million, are second in the list.
Anil Agarwal chairman of Vedanta Group is third in the list with a fortune of £3.2 billion
Lord Swraj Paul chairman of Caparo and Chancellor of Westminster and Wolverhampton Universities is 7th in the list with a wealth of £675 million, up by £75 million from 201
Italian Inequality
The Bank of Italy reveals that the wealth of the country's 10 richest individuals equals that of Italy's 3 million poorest.
10% of the richest Italian families own 40% of net national wealth
10% of the richest Italian families own 40% of net national wealth
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