The son of a Fiji assistant minister is under investigation for allegedly driving a government vehicle without authority and causing an accident that killed two men.

The accident took place along Bau Road, Nausori, last night.

The vehicle involved in the accident was the official government vehicle issued for the assistant minister.

It is alleged the 17-year-old took the vehicle without the knowledge of his father.

Police have confirmed the incident.

“The suspect is alleged to have taken the keys of the vehicle from his father while he slept and was driving along Bau Road, when he bumped the two victims standing on the roadside, and he fled the scene,” said the Fiji Police Force.

“He later relayed the matter to his father who reported the matter to police.

“The two victims in their 40s were conveyed to the Nausori Health Centre where their deaths were confirmed by medical officials.”

Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

China’s mixed and managed economy is designed to match its stage of development and is well managed. The U.S. non-managed economy has no design and does not match its advanced stage of economic development. China uses exports to grow its economy and limit debt. The U.S. runs severe deficits in its trade balance and needs a growing debt to finance the trade deficit and to increase the GDP. The rapidly growing debt portends economic decline, and there is no certified way to escape the predicament. U.S. hegemony and world leadership appears doomed. The sooner the U.S. leaders recognize the dangers and readjust the economy, the less will be the slide. More on this later. Facts and statistics supply the proof that the PRC has successfully met the challenges.

Overly contentious USA

Using sanctions from legislative directives, rather than pursuing cooperative efforts to combat China’s rise to the world’s number one industrial power, the U.S motivates China to become self-sufficient in technological applications, temporarily interrupts China’s advances, and eventually causes havoc to American companies

Citing security concerns, the U.S. Congress, in 2019, passed the National Defense Authorization Act and essentially banned use of telecommunication equipment from 5G network pioneer Huawei and smartphone manufacturer ZTE. In June 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated ZTE a national security threat. The security concerns proceeded from a possibility that the Chinese government could demand the habits of American citizens, similar to the information that Google and a host of advertising firms gather from internet searchers.

Huawei is of more major significance, but ZTE’s shrugging off the sanctions deserves mention. Its steady revenue growth until facing competition from other companies, relates its success.

This telecom company entered the smartphone market in 2010 and now has the 12th spot in the listing of the Largest Smartphone Manufacturers & Brands in the World. ZTE is also the 6th largest supplier in the Global 5G Infrastructure Market.

Huawei, global leader in development of 5G networks and China’s technology powerhouse, reeled from U.S. sanctions and stumbled as a boxer from an unaware punch. Predictions had Huawei barely surviving. Labelled as a company the U.S. could not do with, Huawei is now the company the world cannot do without. Refuting U.S. attempts to restrict its advances, Huawei expanded into new markets, into new industries, and developed unique alternatives to the denied technologies.

After years of “barely surviving,” Huawei is a leading network company on the globe, having constructed approximately 30% of worldwide 5G base stations, and is fourth in global smartphone manufacturing. After losing access to Google’s Android and Oracle’s software, Huawei developed its own operating system, Harmony OS, which has become the second most popular mobile operating system in China and, by 2025, was installed in over 900 million devices.

In 2022, the Commerce Department informed NVidia and AMD to restrict exports of AI-related chips to China, and informed chip equipment makers — Lam Research, Applied Materials and KLA — to restrict sending tools to the PRC for manufacturing advanced chips. China’s tech giant responded by challenging NVidia artificial intelligence dominance with its Ascend 910D AI processor chip, which “reflects China’s strategic push to develop indigenous semiconductor capabilities.” The U.S. did not respond to Huawei’s advance with its own technology advancements and again responded with threats. On May 15, 2025, the Trump administration warned that using Huawei’s AI chips might violate US export laws.

Ignoring U.S. threats, Huawei expanded use of its chips into the automotive industry and set a new standard for smart driving and self-driving technology.

Huawei’s ambitious undertaking includes the introduction of cutting-edge smart vehicles equipped with advanced autonomous driving technologies. The company is leveraging its prowess in artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to enhance vehicle performance and safety features. With a focus on seamless connectivity and user experience, Huawei is positioning itself as a significant player in the highly sought-after smart driving space, previously dominated by traditional automotive giants and tech firms like Tesla.

In August 2023, President Biden issued an Executive Order “Addressing United States Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products in Countries of Concern.” The order prohibited U.S. investments in semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence technologies in China. In November 2024, “The U.S. reportedly ordered TSMC to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers that are often used in artificial intelligence applications.”

As a result, Xiaomi, a leading smartphone manufacturer, which has expanded into electric SUV car production, developed its 3-nanometre XRing O1 system-on-a-chip (SoC). Following Apple, Qualcomm, and MediaTek, Xiaomi became the fourth tech company in the world to design a 3-nanometer mobile SoC for mass production. A Chinese company can now compete with American companies in selling the unique chips, and Qualcomm, which has been a long-standing supplier of mobile chips to Xiaomi, might have its sales disrupted.

Statistics tell the story

What have all these underhanded means to stifle the Chinese economy accomplished? Statistics in the following table tell the story. The Chinese economy surpassed the U.S. economy in 2022 and is leaving Uncle Sam far behind.

The U.S. has a higher GDP than China. China has a higher GDP/PPP. Unlike nominal GDP, which uses current exchange rates, GDP/PPP adjusts for differences in price levels between countries and provides a more realistic measure of the value of goods and services produced. Another consideration is the value given to components of the GDP. Capital, hard goods, and agriculture supply the most needed wants to a community, and their purchases play a more significant role in the economy. The service economy, a paramount feature of the U.S. economy, exaggerates its GDP. One dollar of purchase in goods production requires time for feedback to the manufacturer before other goods are replenished and additional purchases augment the GDP. Purchases in the service economy quickly pass the same money from one service provider to another and elevate the GDP. Industrial output, whether for domestic or foreign use, more appropriately demonstrates the robustness of an economy. China leads the United States in industrial output and demonstrated robustness by becoming the leading manufacturer and exporter of automobiles.

A comparison between two dynamos of each nation, U.S. Tesla and China BYD, automobile manufacturers and innovators that rose rapidly against established competitors, complete the story. BYD, which started at about the same time as Tesla, has surpassed Tesla in automobile sales.

BYD Revenue

Tesla Revenue

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More than that, BYD has accomplished what was never considered possible; with a fully charged battery and a full tank of gas, unbiased testing of its new hybrid auto technology showed a driving range of 1,305 miles before charge or fill up. Its fully electric models use advanced sodium ion batteries and, in 5 minutes, can be charged to obtain a 250 mile range. A vertically integrated company, which manufactures its parts and is a leading provider of electric car batteries, BYD sells its autos at the lowest prices in China.

Revisions by BYD include paring the price of its Seagull hatchback to 55,800 yuan ($7,780), a 20% reduction to a model that was already the carmaker’s cheapest and one that had garnered global attention for its sub-$10,000 price tag. The Seal dual-motor hybrid sedan (direct competitor to the $37,000 Tesla Model 3) saw the biggest price cut at 34%, or by 53,000 yuan to 102,800 yuan ($14,333). (ED: These may be temporary price cuts.)

Fatal Decline of the Imperial Power

The U.S. cannot compete with or contain China. Using China as a scapegoat for its global economic decline has proved counterproductive. Better for the U.S. to cooperate with the PRC, realistically examine its economy, become aware of its limitations, and take decisive action to prevent a fatal decline.

The hindrances to economic progress is fourfold:

(1) Debt drives the economy and the debt has become unmanageable.
(2) Manufacturers have established offshore facilities to open new markets and to compete more effectively.
(3) Off shore production and having the dollar as an international currency has produced a high trade deficit.
(4) U.S. markets in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America have eroded.

Debt drives the U.S. economy and, the two charts indicate that without increasing the exorbitant debt, the economy will stagnate.

GDP/PPP

All Sectors Debt

Given a money supply to purchase goods and services, how can production and eventual sales of goods and services advance without increases in the money supply? One way is to increase the velocity of money, which occurred with on-time inventory, credit card purchasing, and computer speedup of financial transactions. These phenomena occurred during past decades and exploded the GDP. Another means is by having a positive trade balance; selling goods externally. If these means are not occurring, and they no longer are, increases in the money supply are required to increase production and sell additional goods.

U.S. goods trade deficit increased in 2024 to a record $1.2 trillion, and, although many economists excuse the trade deficit, saying that,

a trade deficit can only arise if foreigners invest more in the US than Americans invest abroad. In other words, a country can only have a trade deficit if it also has an equally sized investment surplus. The US is able to sustain a large trade deficit because so many foreigners are eager to invest here,

is more a rationalization than a reality. The trade deficit arose because American industry found it more profitable to produce overseas and made the dollar the international currency. As an international currency, the dollar is in demand and its exchange rate is high compared to other currencies. The strong dollar raises the prices of U.S. goods, makes its exports expensive and its imports cheap. Yes, the balance of payments must be equalized, and the dollars return as either purchase of government securities ─ one principal reason for rise in government debt ─ or purchase of U.S. assets. The former has become unwieldly, leading to high interest rates and the latter gives foreign interests increased power in the American system. Having a positive balance of trade reduces government debt and foreign influence.

Government debt is not the total problem. A system that exists by debt is the real problem. For a free wheeling and profit first economy that generates huge trade deficits to grow, the money supply must grow. Because money is created by either bank loans (debt) or Federal Reserve borrowings from the Treasury (debt), all money is debt. For the economy to continually grow, debt must continually grow. Soon, financing the debt and its increasing interest rates will be a difficult problem. Credit will freeze, loans will default, and the money supply will shrink. Boom will become bust. The United States has no choice but to have its economy more managed and align government and industry in common goals that correct the trend to a fatal decline.

Tariffs as a government money raiser and incentive to produce locally will be another tax on the American consumer and will not stimulate private investment in internal production to replace foreign imports. So, why not maintain low priced imports and tax the consumer for another goal ─ government investment in competitive industries. Cooperation between government and industry, rather than free-wheeling economics will enable more rational decisions and predictable operations.

The United States pioneered the global economy but globalization is no longer a perfect fit for the economically mature nation. Markets once lost are usually lost for a long time. Preserving present markets and finding niche markets for specialized goods, which the omnipresent U.S. economy has many, will stabilize exports.

History shows that private industry has never been the source of solutions to economic lapses. Changes in life style and a return to the cohesion and social legislation that characterized the Franklin Delano Roosevelt era might solve the economic, social, and political declines predicted for America’s future. The democratic socialization of America is begging to begin.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Dan Lieberman.

On Tuesday, April 8, unions, unionized federal workers, and their supporters around the country mobilized for a national “Kill the Cuts” day of action to protest the Trump administration’s cuts to life-saving research, healthcare, and education programs. As organizers stated on the Kill The Cuts website:

“By cutting funds to lifesaving research and medical care, the Trump administration is abandoning families who are suffering and costing taxpayers billions of dollars. These cuts are dangerous to our health, and dangerous to our economy. On Tuesday, April 8th, 2025 workers across the country are standing up and demanding NO cuts to education and life-saving research.”

In this on-the-ground edition of Working People, we take you to the front lines of the Kill the Cuts rally that took place in Washington, DC, and we speak with workers and union representatives whose lives and work have already been affected by these cuts.

Speakers include: Margaret Cook, Vice President of the Public, Healthcare, and Education Workers sector of the Communications Workers of America (CWA); Matt Brown, Recording Secretary of NIH Fellows United (United Auto Workers Local 2750); Rakshita Balaji, a post-baccalaureate researcher at the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and Amanda Dykema, shop steward for American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1072 at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Additional links/info:

• Kill the Cuts website
• NIH Fellows United website
• Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / The Real News Network, “What’s really behind Trump’s war on federal unions?”
• Jocelyn Kaiser, Science, “NIH under orders to cancel $2.6 billion in contracts”

Permanent links below…

• Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!
• Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page

Featured Music…

• Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song

Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez
Post-Production: Jules Taylor

Transcript

The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.

Speaker 1:

I got work. Who protects us? We protects us. Who protects us, who protects us, who protects us? We protects us.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Welcome everyone to another on the Ground edition of Working People, a podcast about the lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles of the working class today brought to you in partnership within these Times Magazine and the Real News Network produced by Jules Taylor and made possible by the support of listeners like you. My name is Maximilian Alvarez and I’m here in Washington DC right in front of the US Capitol Building where dozens of local union members and union leaders just held a rally as part of a national Kill The Cuts Day of Action. Similar protest rallies were held today from California to Illinois to New York. Organizers called for the National Day of Action to raise awareness and fight against the Trump Musk administration’s cuts and proposed cuts to federal research, health and education. As the homepage of the Kill the Cuts website states by cutting funds to lifesaving research and medical care.

The Trump administration is abandoning families who are suffering and costing taxpayers billions of dollars. These cuts are dangerous to our health and dangerous to our economy. On Tuesday, April 8th, 2025 workers across the country are standing up and demanding no cuts to education and lifesaving research. The National Day of Action is sponsored by a plethora of labor unions, including the United Auto Workers, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Association of University Professors, the Communications Workers of America, ame, SEIU, the Debt Collective and more. I came down to the DC action to talk to union members about this fight and what their message is to the Trump administration, to the labor movement and to the public.

Speaker 3:

Alright, we’re our last speaker. We have got Margaret Cook, who is the vice president of the Public Healthcare and Education Workers Sector of the Communication Workers of America. Let’s give it.

Margaret Cook:

I am a little short. Let me move this back a bit. Good afternoon everybody. Yes, I am your last speaker and I promise I won’t be like a Baptist preacher. I’m not going to keep you for another hour. My name is Margaret Cook and I am the public healthcare and education worker sector Vice President of Communication Workers of America representing over 130,000 state municipal and higher education workers across the country in Puerto Rico, including thousands of researchers, lab technicians, public healthcare clinicians and nurses, and thousands of additional support and wraparound staff, many of whom have seen their work shut down, cut off, and possibly killed by these cuts. You’ve heard from all of these people about today. Cuts that are illegal, cuts that are unethical, cuts that are immoral cuts that are unacceptable, cuts that are fatal. And I don’t mean just figuratively

Speaker 1:

Because

Margaret Cook:

As you’ve heard today, these cuts to research that will, these are cuts to research that will save lives. And so our message is pretty clear today. Kill these cuts before they kill us. I’m proud to stand here today with all these other members and leaders from labor who are going to work each day to deliver care and discover solutions for each and every one of us, which is a lot more than you can say for the people who are doing the cutting. You got the world’s richest man on one hand and the world’s most arrogant man on the other.

These men are living in a fantasy world, which may explain one of the reasons why they are so hostile to science. I’ve sat back and I’ve listened to them talk about how they need to cut back on the size of our federal government and to do so by going on a rampage against these workers who are doing some of the most critical and vital work that our government does. Well, what they aren’t telling you because they’re liars and cheats is that today the size of the federal workforce is the smallest it has been since the Great Depression at just over 1.5% of the jobs in this country, years of plundering public dollars for corporate greed, decades of austerity and slashing and burning the public good has left our government smaller than it has ever been, and these jackals aren’t done tearing away at it. And for what? Let’s cut the crap on the racist dog whistles about DEI, setting aside for the sake of argument, the fact that we do need to address inequality and injustice. Are you really telling me that the cuts to people working on cancer research is about DEI, that the cuts to people working to deliver vital aid and care is about DEII see right through it and I know you do too.

The reality is we need more public investment, not less because what is it that our investments really do? What these workers do is they discover, they educate, they provide care, and they prevent and act in emergencies, in labs and research settings across this country, these workers are discovering cures and treatments for diseases that threaten all of us. My grandfather died two days ago from stage four cancer, and my mother currently has stage two in campuses and schools. They’re educating and helping elevate the knowledge of future generations in clinics and hospitals and public service facilities. They’re delivering care to people who need it and in dire straits from outbreaks of viruses like measles. Measles, y’all.

These are people who put themselves at risk to protect the rest of us, and that’s who Trump and Musk and a bunch of kids without any real world knowledge and experience are trying to fire Trump and Musk whose genius lies and putting their name on work and breakthroughs of other people and then have the nerve to charge rent for it well enough. This money is the public’s and we demand that it be used for the public good. Not one penny less. No. I firmly believe for us to meet the incredible challenges and realize the potential of our country, we need so much more public investment. That’s why we’ve got to unite across our unions, across all kinds of work and across our communities to stand up, speak out, resist these attacks, and defend the services and work we do for the people we serve and work for. Lives are on the line. These cuts are wrong. So I say again, kill these cuts or they’ll end up killing us. Thank you.

Matt Brown:

My name is Matt Brown and I’m the recording secretary for NIH Fellows United. We’re a local of the UAW number 27 50.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Well, Matt, thank you so much for talking to me, man. The kill cuts rally just concluded here. The Senate building is right behind us, but for folks who aren’t here right now and are listening to this, can you just say a little bit about what we just witnessed? What brought you guys out here today?

Matt Brown:

Of course. Yeah, max, I really appreciate the opportunity to be on the pod and what brought us out here is saving the completely devastating cuts that are currently happening to publicly funded research here in the US at NIH Fellows United. We’re members of the intramural scientific team at the NIH that are working on things like carrying cancer and making treatments for diabetes, and we’re partnering up with all the folks that are being affected by the cuts to the extramural side of the NIH. So all of the universities and other institutions that receive grants to work on those same things outside of the NIH. And yeah, it’s been really great to see all of these people come together to save the life-saving work that we’re all doing.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Say more about the extent of these cuts and the impact on research intra and extramural. I guess give listeners a sense of how deep this goes and what the impacts are really going to be.

Matt Brown:

This is truly an existential crisis for biomedical research in America. Flat out the cuts to the intramural program have seen thousands of jobs cut from the people that support the science that we do. And on the extramural side, the cuts that we’re seeing to grants these so-called indirect costs, it’s a bit of a jargon term that can be hard to parse, but really that goes towards supporting the life-saving research that we do. The cuts that we’re seeing are going to decimate the amount of research that we can get done on these awful diseases that people face. And like I said, this is an existential question, do we want biomedical research to continue or not?

Maximillian Alvarez:

And what about, let’s talk about the flesh and blood workers who are making this research happen and the working people who benefit from that research. Who are these cuts actually hurting right now?

Matt Brown:

These cuts are going to affect every single person. Historically, scientists and researchers have been considered somewhat apolitical quote because, hey, who doesn’t know somebody that’s been affected by cancer? Right? It’s pretty easy to fund cancer research because it can be so devastating. And so yeah, everybody’s going to be affected by this. It’s not just the researchers here at NIH and Bethesda. It’s not just the researchers at universities, but it’s going to be every single person who has or has known someone with a really awful life altering disease.

Maximillian Alvarez:

And what’s the message? What was the rallying message that we heard here today for folks in attendance and folks who aren’t in attendance? What are these unions doing to fight back and what are you saying to other folks about how they can get involved?

Matt Brown:

Well, really what I think the rallying call is, is to look around us. It’s look at who are the people that are trying to save each other’s lives. Here it’s the organized workers that are involved in biomedical research around the country. We’re not hearing things from NIH leadership. We’re not hearing things from university leadership. We’re hearing things from the organized researchers who are getting their butts out here to try to save what we do. And that’s really what this is, is it’s about getting as many people out here as possible and all moving in the same direction to not just save our jobs and not just save science, but to save lives around the country.

Maximillian Alvarez:

And last question. I mean, there were a number of different unions present here and represented here. What does it mean that this is such a crisis, that it is bringing together different sides of the labor movement and uniting around a common fight?

Matt Brown:

Absolutely. And actually that’s a very special question to me because as NIH Fellows United we’re one of the unions that was part of organizing this as well as reaching out to other universities, one of them being my former bargaining unit with teachers and researchers United, which is local of UE 1 97. And so

Yeah, it’s been really special to see people come together and not just start organizing the workers in their own workplaces, but reaching out to everybody else in their own regions, in their own careers and making sure that we’re all pointed at the same thing, which is saving lives. This is obviously not some sort of move towards government efficiency, that everything that the Trump and Musk administration is doing right now is entirely done to antagonize workers and make us feel like we’re hopeless. But things like today show us that we’re not and we need to continue doing things like this along in the future to make sure that they can’t move on with their destructive agenda.

Rakshita Balaji:

So hi, my name is Rakshita Balaji Currently I’m a post-baccalaureate fellow, a researcher at the NIH. So what that means is I’ve been spending the last almost two years now post-graduation from getting my undergrad degree working at the NIH and getting training in order to prepare myself for success in my next step of my career stage, which is to go to graduate school and I’ll be a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania coming this fall. So what I’m interested in is neuroscience research, and that’s what my career trajectory has been so far.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Oh yeah. Well, congratulations on your acceptance and good luck. We need you out there. For folks who are listening to this who only see an acronym when they hear NIH, I’m not asking you to sort of describe everything that goes on there, but could you just give folks a sense of who actually works in the NIH and what kind of work is being done there?

Rakshita Balaji:

Yeah, this is a great question and a question. I actually had myself when I was young and going into the NIH or the National Institute of Health, I was 22 when I joined, and I actually also had no idea what goes on behind those gates. And it turns out what I’ve learned so far is that the N NIH is full of awesome people who are passionate about their work, but they’re also not, maybe the scientists you think of in the media that work isolated in a lab in an ivory tower doing crazy experiments. These are people who have families, people who have loved ones who have been affected by diseases and people who really want to make a difference in healthcare in America. And so I just want to first make the point that the NIH is full of regular people who just happen to love what they do and love science, just like everyone in this country is passionate about what they work on.

And so National Institute of Health is comprised by a bunch of different sub institutes. So they’ll work on things like allergies and diseases, cancer, pain, neuroscience, looking at neurodegenerative diseases, looking at aging. There’s a bunch of different types of research that’s going on in order to serve every subset of someone’s health profile and all of the different types of diseases or different afflictions that people can have throughout the us. And what’s also really special about the NIH in particular is their ability to use their knowledge and their resources to target diseases and conditions that are not necessarily as prevalent. So for example, rare diseases where people oftentimes don’t always find care in their own physician settings or don’t always find the right answers, just going to the doctor that doesn’t have the research or the exploratory privileges that people do at NIH. So for example, we look at diseases where the population of people that suffer from them can be so small, yet they don’t go ignored because our clinical center has people who are specialized in learning about specific genetic mutations or specific, I think that’s, yeah, specific genetic mutations for example, or specific diseases that don’t always get studied.

And so the NIH not only tries to serve the general public in terms of looking at complete profiles of people’s health, but they also can target their resources to looking at things that oftentimes go under the radar and give care to people who oftentimes don’t find answers whenever they go to the doctor and they actually find those answers in possible treatments at the NIH.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Could you tell folks listening what these cuts, everything Doge and the Trump administration are doing, what does this all look like from your side of things and how are you and your colleagues been responding to it? What do you want folks on the outside to know about what it looks like on the inside?

Rakshita Balaji:

Yeah, so the first thing that really comes to mind when I was thinking about these cuts, especially what’s happened February 14th, April 1st, it’s almost like a trap door. You’re sort of walking into work, you’re getting prepared. Maybe you got your kids ready for the day, maybe you got up and made breakfast and lunch and you made sure that everyone was ready, you got into work and suddenly the four just falls apart beneath you because you no longer have access to your work email. You no longer have access to your data. You are no longer as appreciated as you thought you once were as a federal employee, and all of a sudden you are left stranded without a job, maybe on administrative leave, not knowing if you’d have the chance to come back. And it sort of is almost like a disappearing act is what it really felt like for no apparent reason.

And that’s the worst part to hear that the numbers are the most important thing. How many people can they get rid of? How many people can they actually eliminate? Rather than thinking about how many lives are actually just being torn from underneath people? That’s kind of all I can describe it as. It’s a really strange disappearing act. You don’t know, we had the manager of our building, someone who takes care of our building when we have leaks or have issues with our labs, be fired on this random day and then reinstated the next. It’s all very chaotic. And this chaos is preventing us from actually being able to move forward with our work, which might’ve been the goal, but actually ends up harming way more people than just us doing the work, but the people that we’re trying to serve. So that’s the best way I can describe it. It was immediate, it was forceful, and it was completely and utterly uncalled for. I mean, we had people who were dedicated employees for over 10 years, 20 years, just suddenly say, I’m no longer able to come in. People who couldn’t even email anyone telling anyone that they were fired and had to shoot texts to people that they knew because they were immediately locked out of their computer. I mean completely. It just felt like a huge slap in the face.

Maximillian Alvarez:

I think the response from so many people has been fear and shock, and it’s almost been immobilizing because there’s so many executive orders, so many cuts, so much bad news hitting us day after day, which we know is part of the quote, flood the zone strategy. But what we are seeing, especially in recent weeks is anger, mobilization, organizing and the coming together like today of different unions. So there are different kinds of actions that folks are taking, whether it be going to these town halls and screaming at their elected officials or writing emails or doing mass protests. What we’re seeing here today is more about what unions and what workers can do when they come together with their labor power to fight this. So I was wondering if you could just talk a bit about that. What is the message here about what workers and unions in these agencies and what the labor movement can do to fight back against the Trump agenda?

Rakshita Balaji:

Yeah, so I think the first word that comes to mind is solidarity. I mean, we’ve now seen that an ultimate betrayal take place from our own employers and from our own administration showing us that we’re not valued. And so the only solace and the primary solace that I think is the most powerful has been within one another. We come into work, the morale has been extremely low. It feels like you’re trudging through molasses just trying to get one day to the other. And really all you can do with all that pent up frustration in order to not let it implode you is to actually share it with others and to bring community about it. And I think the most important thing that our union has brought about is that sense of solidarity, that sense of information, connection, network, especially when the actual protocol for all of these things has been so unclear going from a fork in the road to a riff, more acronyms might I add. The only place that we can really get answers is by sharing information and having open lines of communication with one another. And so the community that we fostered, I think that’s our strength and that’s what we want to preserve through all of our labor movements and unions is to understand that knowledge is power and we’re not afraid to share it with one another. We’re not afraid to speak the truth time and time again and to talk about our experiences and we will not be shut behind a door and left out of this conversation anymore.

Maximillian Alvarez:

And what comes next? I guess for folks listening to this, what’s your message about why this is the time to get involved and what they can do?

Rakshita Balaji:

I think with regards to when is the time, my only answer would be when else is the time? This whole period of time since the inauguration has felt like an avalanche, like you mentioned, it’s a barrage of information that usually makes little to no sense and has harmed so many people. So what other time do we have? I think because the only question I’d have, when else do we come out and do this as we need to be active and keep pushing back in the moments that things are happening and that’s how change occurs, what people can do. I think if you’re hopefully angry just like we are, you can call your representatives, keep telling them the stories, especially if you have been a victim of these removals from your job or a victim of the lack of funding for your research or even how this administration has been shaking up your life.

Those are important stories. Your story is as important as everyone else’s, and to not undervalue the power of your voice, whether it’s calling your representative, showing up to these protests, being in unison and harmony with other people, because not only will you find solace in that, but you’ll create strength and to look and try to plug into your local communities as well because typically you’re not the only one who’s going through this. And you can definitely find people who are willing to help you, willing to give you information and speak up. Don’t be afraid to ask questions whether it’s about, regardless of, for example, if you’re worried about things related to your immigration status, if you’re worried about things related to how your funding’s going to work, how you’re going to receive, are you going to receive a pension? These questions that have gone unanswered, echo it as much as you can because through those echoes, you’ll find answers within other people and eventually those echoes will be heard by people who can do more to help make a change and actually protect us from these kinds of ridiculous actions.

And again, if you’re angry, I think anger only will boil up inside of you if you let it fester. So the best thing to do is to release it at places like this, find local movements, do some searching, and look for places you can actually get your voice heard. And I promise that you don’t, don’t feel like you need to be someone special with the name or an acronym that helps you move forward. Just let yourself be heard and give yourself grace during this time too. And I hope that together we’ll be able to make this change together. Don’t lose sight of the power we have within one another when it feels like we’re being towered over. We actually are on an even playing field if we have each other, and we can begin to even that out in numbers if not in position.

Amanda Dykema:

My name is Amanda Dykema and I am a shop steward with AFSCME Local 10 72 at the University of Maryland College Park.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Well, Amanda, thank you so much for talking to me today. I know you got a lot going on and the crowd is dispersing, but I wanted to ask if you could just tell us a bit about what we just witnessed here and what brought all these folks out here to DC today?

Amanda Dykema:

Yeah, well, I think you saw people from all kinds of different unions and different kinds of workplaces who are all impacted by the same thing, which is these cuts that are happening to research and medicine and scientific innovation and education, and they’re hitting all sectors. And what we’re seeing is at the University of Maryland, faculty’s grants that were approved and have been ongoing for years being abruptly terminated with no cause. We’re seeing faculty grants that went in last year not being reviewed on review panels and we’re seeing cancellation of programs that have had huge impacts for things like expanding the STEM pipeline to people who have been historically excluded from it.

Maximillian Alvarez:

What’s on the ground impact of this? What would you want folks to know who are maybe just hearing about that and they’re saying, oh, that’s good. That’s eliminating waste. It’s getting rid of woke programs. What do you want folks to know about what these cuts are actually doing to your members and the people who benefit from their work?

Amanda Dykema:

So my members at the University of Maryland, we support all university services. You can see my t-shirt says we run this university. And so what it does for our members is those of us who work for research centers are concerned about the futures of their jobs. And for our students, we’re seeing student workers who are being let go because the funding’s not there anymore. For students who were looking for careers in these sectors who came to the University of Maryland to learn how to do this kind of research, if a research lab gets shut down, they’re not able to learn how to do that. They’re not able to prepare for grad school, they’re not able to go on. But mainly what we’re seeing is a chilling effect that faculty, students, and staff really have to work together and get organized to fight against. They want people to stop this kind of research. They want people to be scared, and we are here to get organized and work together so that we can fight against that.

Maximillian Alvarez:

What are the long term effects? If that doesn’t happen, if these things go through unchallenged, what are the long-term effects going to be for the University of Maryland specifically and higher ed in the United States more broadly?

Amanda Dykema:

That’s a big question. I’ll give it my best shot. The University of Maryland is a preeminent public research university. It’s the flagship of the state, and we have hundreds of millions of dollars of research funding every single year, and it funds all kinds of work. We heard today from a climate scientist. I work really closely with a lot of people in the College of Education who do work on K 12, and we have researchers in the humanities, in history, in museums, in data science. All of those agencies that fund that type of work have been subject to significant cuts, and those people will not be able to do their jobs or there’ll be a greatly reduced scope and the trickle down effect or the very obvious effect of their research. And when it comes to broader impacts on society, we’re not going to see those things. We’re not going to learn what is the best way to teach kids what is the best way to create climate resilient communities? We’re not going to learn those things if we don’t have this research funding.

Maximillian Alvarez:

So what was the message today about how workers and unions can fight back? I mean, it was really powerful to see so many different unions represented

Amanda Dykema:

Here,

Maximillian Alvarez:

And so that in itself seems significant. But I guess where does it go from here? What can rank and file folks listening to this do to get involved?

Amanda Dykema:

Yeah. Well, the number one thing, I’m going to say it every time is get organized. If you have a union at your workplace, join it. We’re more powerful together. If you don’t have a union at your workplace, work on getting one because we’re not going to be relying on whether it’s the president or whether it’s university administrators. We can’t rely on them to protect us. We have to work together to protect ourselves. But otherwise, the thing I really heard today was a lot about medical advances and people’s health. We’re going to see, if someone is not familiar with a research university, they might not know what this means, but if they go to their doctor and there’s not a clinical trial available for their diagnosis, they’re going to see what it means. And so I think what we’re trying to do now is reach out to our legislators who, the thing I haven’t said so far is that research is a huge economic driver for every state in this country.

And so we’re reaching out to our legislators to say, not only on its merits should this research be funded, but this is going to gut communities. This is people work in these labs and then they go and they spend their paychecks in their hometowns. And so what we’re asking is for people to understand that this isn’t a kind of an ivory tower thing that only impacts universities. It’s a thing that impacts everyone in this country. Senator Markey talked about health doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor, and so people need to realize how this will impact them and their loved ones.

Maximillian Alvarez:

I mean, I was a PhD student at the University of Michigan, which is like the largest or one of the largest employers of that entire state.

Amanda Dykema:

Exactly. I’m from Michigan.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Yeah,

Amanda Dykema:

Now that you’re listeners will care, but yes.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Well, and any final messages that you have because we are also at the same time that these cuts are being pushed through experiencing a violent, vicious state crackdown on the very right to dissent against such things to speak out against such things, and universities are becoming the flashpoint for that war on free speech.

Amanda Dykema:

Well, I think the other reason we’re all here today, the people who came to this rally, we work at agencies like NIH and institutions like the University of Maryland, and we have to pressure our administrators to stand strong in the face of this. Trump clearly wants to stifle free speech, but what is a university, if not a place where people learn and grow through free speech expression and exposure to ideas. And so if that’s really our value, we have to call upon not only our legislators, but our administrators at these institutions to stand strong.

Maximillian Alvarez:

Alright, gang, that’s going to wrap things up for us this week. I want to thank the guests who spoke with me today. It’s cold out here in DC and I’m about to head back home to Baltimore. But I also want to thank you all for listening, and I want to thank you for caring. We’ll see you all back here next week for another episode of Working People. And if you cannot wait that long, then please go explore all the great work we’re doing at the Real News Network where we do grassroots journalism like this that lifts up the voices and stories from the front lines of struggle. Sign up for the Real News newsletter so you never miss a story and help us do more work like this by going to the real news.com/donate and becoming a supporter today. I promise you it really makes a difference. I’m Maximilian Alvarez reporting from Washington DC. Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. Solidarity forever

This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Maximillian Alvarez.

This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by Deconstructed.

The victim’s wife posted on Facebook this week that the suspect’s father – Prohm Vicheatsophea – attended the funeral of badminton gold medalist Seang Kimhong and offered the family US$1,000 if they agreed to not pursue criminal charges against his 23-year-old son.

The victim’s wife, Kruy Chhin Liang, said on Facebook that she rejected Prohm Vicheatsophea’s proposition and said she would continue to demand justice for her husband.

Her post has received hundreds of comments from Cambodians outraged by the offer. 

Justice Minister Keut Rith responded by ordering Phnom Penh Municipal Court prosecutors to “investigate and resolve the matter properly and strictly according to the law,” ministry spokesman Chin Malin told the Khmer Times.

The Dec. 14 accident between a jeep and a motorcycle took place in Phnom Penh’s Toul Kork district, an area of the capital known for its large villas. Seang Kimhong was riding on the motorbike, according to Kruy Chhin Liang.

Prosecutor Plong Sophal wrote in the warrant that evidence proves that Prohm Vichet Sosakda was the driver of the car and fled the scene “without responsibility.”

The suspect has been ordered to appear at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court before Jan. 9.

Seang Kimhong won the gold medal in badminton at this year’s SEA Games, a regional Olympiad that takes place every two years and was hosted by Cambodia for the first time in May.

Because of its rampant corruption and inadequate constraints on government power, Cambodia often places near the bottom of global rankings for adherence to the rule of law. In October, the World Justice Project put Cambodia at 141st out of 142 countries.

Soeung Sengkaruna, a spokesman for human rights group Adhoc, said authorities should take strict measures against the suspect, regardless of his background. Several NGOs are closely monitoring this case, he added.

Typically, prominent suspects are able to escape justice when they are accused of a crime, he told Radio Free Asia. 

“But we are looking to see if the authorities are working hard to bring this suspect to justice,” he said.  

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

Photograph Source: Berthold Werner – Public Domain

A school trip to an amusement park.  The West Bank near Jerusalem. An extremely rainy day causing some parents to hesitate about sending their children on the trip.  The children, however, are so excited about the day’s potential fun they convince the hesitant parents to let them go.  The bus hired to ferry the children to the park is old and in terrible condition; a condition made worse the weather which is flooding the roads and exposing its poor state.  Because this is the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, the route the driver must take is a circuitous one.  After all, certain roads are for Israelis only in this land of separation and apartheid.  What seems almost inevitable happens. The bus is hit by a runaway eighteen wheeler driven by an inexperienced driver with multiple violations on his record. It only gets worse.  The school bus rolls over and bursts into flames.  Israeli emergency services, including the police and the military, never come despite their close proximity to the accident.  Palestinian services are further away and required to pass through checkpoints manned by the Israeli military and designed to slow down traffic from the Palestinian sectors to Israel and its illegal settlements.  Bystanders join the driver and a school teacher in pulling children and faculty from the burning bus.  What would be a tragedy in any place in the world becomes an indictment of the Israeli occupation—its racism and inhumanity.

This is the setting for the new book from Nathan Thrall.  Titled A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy, this text describes the travails of Abed as he tries to find out the fate of his son Milad, a clever and lovable five year old involved in the bus crash.  This story line provides the author Thrall with an entry to the intricacies, inconveniences and outright maliciousness of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.  The aggressive intrusions and land thefts of the settlers, the obtuse, suspicious and often hateful behavior of the Israeli military, and the often servile nature of the Palestinian police under the Palestinian Authority (PA).  But even more than this, it is a story of individuals and families interacting with each other to save their children despite their family feuds and differing political alignments.  In Palestine, those alignments can often mean death given the nature of what is at stake.

The events in the book take place just after first Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization were signed.  Abed Salama is a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a secular leftist group.  The other main organization in the PLO is the more popular Fateh, whose politics are not as leftist and, as it turns out, ultimately considerably more collaborationist.  Indeed, it is Fateh’s leader Yassir Arafat whose name became not only synonymous with the Accords, but also with those elements seen as giving into Tel Aviv’s demands.  Perhaps the greatest of these is the role of the Palestinian Authority, which is ultimately one that serves the Occupation, both in perception and fact.  In the text, this dynamic is represented by Ibrahim Salama, who as a member of the Palestinian Authority refugee authority, works closely with the various Israeli military and civilian officials.  In fact, he considers one of the Israelis as one of this closest friends.  This works in his favor in the text because he is able to use that connection to get information from the otherwise uncooperative Israeli civilian and military authorities.

Then there are the women.  Often involved in marriages to men not of their choosing and somewhat restricted by social expectations in their social circles, they carry on, finding joy in their roles as mothers and caregivers even while they hope for something better.  Of course, this is not unlike the state of affairs for women around the world, although in a culture where arranged marriages are often still the preferred practice the women’s sense of empowerment might suffer more.  Yet, throughout the text, the women the reader is introduced to fulfill their maternal roles with love and efficiency.  At the same time, the deadly accident exposes the fragile nature of the women’s relationships with their husbands and families.  Indeed, the mother of one of the children is ostracized from her in-laws because, in their search for a reason to the tragedy, they blame her for allowing the child to go on the school trip.

The story inside this book’s covers is a tragedy; one that should never had to have been written.  The heartlessness of the occupation, with its apartheid laws, separation walls, military incursions, deadly police raids and harsh imprisonments are part and parcel of the author Thrall’s story.  A Day in the Life of Abed Salama is a beautiful, heartbreaking and necessary tale made that much better by the his telling. This story reminds the reader of the humanity we all share.  The tragic tale of the bus accident and the emotional and physical consequences for the children on the bus and their families could happen anywhere in the world.  It is also true that only in the political reality of the Israeli Occupation could this tragedy occur in the manner it did.  The description in prose both emotive and detailed of the parents’ pain, fear and even anger makes that common humanity as real as if it were happening to the reader themselves.  The harsh and cruel reality of the nature of Israel’s occupation is omnipresent. So is its racism.  So, too, are the individuals whose humanity ignores those cruel realities in their attempts to save the children.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ron Jacobs.

It’s hard to find words after yet another brutal police killing of a Black person, this time of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, captured in horrifying detail on video footage released last week. But the words we use—and in that “we,” the journalists who frame these stories figure critically—if we actually want to not just be sad about, but  end state-sanctioned racist murders, those words must not downplay or soften the hard reality with euphemism and vaguery.

The New York Times (online 1/27/23) writes of the “enduring frustration over Black men having fatal encounters with police officers.”

Yet that’s exactly what the New York Times did in recent coverage. In its January 28 front-page story, reporter Rick Rojas led with an unflinching description of the brutal footage, noting that Nichols “showed no signs of fighting back” under his violent arrest for supposed erratic driving.

Yet just a few paragraphs later, Rojas wrote: “The video reverberated beyond the city, as the case has tapped into an enduring frustration over Black men having fatal encounters with police officers.”

People get frustrated when their bus is late. People get frustrated when their cell phone’s autocorrect misbehaves. If people were merely “frustrated” when police officers violently beat yet another Black person to death, city governments wouldn’t be worried, in the way the Times article describes, about widespread protests and “destructive unrest.”

By describing protest as “destructive,” while describing state-sanctioned law enforcement’s repeated murder of Black people as “Black men having fatal encounters with police officers,” the Times works to soften a blow that should not be softened, to try to deflect some of the blame and outrage that rightfully should be aimed full blast at our country’s racist policing system.

That linguistic soft-pedaling and back-stepping language was peppered throughout the piece, describing how police brigades like the “Scorpion” unit these Memphis police were part of are “designed to patrol areas of the city struggling with persistent crime and violence”—just trying to protect Black folks from ourselves, you see—yet they mysteriously “end up oppressing young people and people of color.” Well, that’s a subject for documented reporting, not conjecture.

The New York Times (2/1/23) doubles down on its new euphemism for “killing.”

When a local activist described himself as “not shocked as much as I am disgusted” by what happened to Tyre Nichols, the Times added, “Still, he acknowledged the gravity of the case”—as if anti-racist activists’ combined anger, sorrow and exhaustion might be a sign that they can’t really follow what’s happening or respond appropriately.

Folks on Twitter (1/28/23) and elsewhere called out the New York Times for this embarrassing “Black people encounter police and somehow end up dead” business, but the paper is apparently happy with it. So much so that the paper came back a few days later with an update (2/1/23), with the headline: “What We Know About Tyre Nichols’ Lethal Encounter With Memphis Police.”

In it, Rojas and co-author Neelam Bohra wrote in their lead, “The stop escalated into a violent confrontation that ended with Mr. Nichols hospitalized in critical condition. Three days later, he died.”

Journalism school tells you that fewer, more direct words are better. So when a paper tells you that a traffic stop “escalated into a violent confrontation that ended up with” a dead Black person, understand that they are trying to gently lead you away from a painful reality—not trying to help you understand it, and far less helping you act to change it.

ACTION ALERT: You can send a message to the New York Times at letters@nytimes.com (Twitter: @NYTimes). Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective. Feel free to leave a copy of your communication in the comments thread.

The post You Don’t Stop Police Killings by Calling them ‘Fatal Encounters’ appeared first on FAIR.

This content originally appeared on FAIR and was authored by Julie Hollar.

Memphis police released disturbing footage on Friday showing the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by five former police officers who now face murder charges over the 29-year-old Black father’s death. The videos show officers kicked, punched, electrocuted and struck Nichols with batons for several minutes while he offered almost no resistance. It took more than 22 minutes for medics to appear on site and treat Nichols, who died three days later from his injuries. Memphis has since disbanded the SCORPION police unit that the five ex-officers belonged to and which was known for its aggressive practices, but activists are calling for deeper changes, including the end of qualified immunity that shields police officers from being sued by victims and their families. Larry Hamm, chair of the People’s Organization for Progress, and DeRay Mckesson, executive director of Campaign Zero, join us for a discussion about Tyre Nichols, police violence and more.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Social justice advocates on Friday registered the Memphis police chief's response to footage of the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols by five officers as evidence that the video "must be awful," as Chief Cerelyn Davis said the soon-to-be-released footage shows "acts that defy humanity."

"You're going to see a disregard for life, duty of care that we're all sworn to, and a level of physical interaction that is above and beyond what is required in law enforcement," David toldCNN.

The footage is expected to be released Friday. Officials in a number of cities including Memphis, Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, and Minneapolis have all said they are preparing for large-scale protests.

"Just the disregard for humanity... That's what really pulls at your heartstrings and makes you wonder: Why was a sense of care and concern for this individual just absent from the situation by all who went to the scene?" Davis toldCNN.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland also called the footage "deeply disturbing," and President Joe Biden acknowledged that nationwide protests may break out over Nichols' killing, demanding "accountability when law enforcement officers violate their oaths" and joining Nichols' family in "calling for peaceful protest."

"I called on Congress to send the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to my desk," said Biden on Thursday. "When they didn't, I signed an executive order that included stricter use of force standards and accountability provisions for federal law enforcement, as well as measures to strengthen accountability at the state and local level. Today, we all must re-commit ourselves to the critical work that must be done to advance meaningful reforms."

Nichols died on January 10 from cardiac arrest and kidney failure, three days after he was pulled over by Memphis officers—allegedly for reckless driving—although Davis said her department has been "unable to substantiate that at this time."

The 29-year-old had two violent "confrontations" with the officers, according to the Memphis Police Department, before being rushed to a hospital in critical condition.

The five officers were fired from the department after the attack and on Thursday were charged with crimes including second-degree murder.

Antonio Romanucci, an attorney representing Nichols' family, called on the nation's police unions to condemn the killing.

"Where does the Fraternal Order of Police stand on this?" he asked at a press conference. "We have not heard from you... We want to hear you say that what happened to Tyre, what happened to this family, should never, ever happen again."

FBI Director Christopher Wray announced the bureau will open a civil rights investigation into the killing.

"I've seen the video myself," said Wray. "I'm struggling to find a stronger word, but I will tell you that I was appalled."

Grassroots organizer Bree Newsome Bass expressed disgust over the latest police killing and the drawn-out lead-up to the video being made public.

"The way they've spent days and hours emphasizing the violence of Tyre Nichols' murder like it's a countdown to a movie release tells you everything about the depravity of the system we live under," said Newsome Bass.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Julia Conley.

Unprecedented protests have erupted in multiple Chinese cities over President Xi Jinping’s strict zero-COVID policies, which have resulted in extended strict lockdowns across the country. The protests were triggered by a deadly fire Thursday at an apartment building in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, where local COVID restrictions reportedly prevented firefighters from reaching the trapped residents. This comes as hundreds of workers at the world’s largest iPhone factory, Foxconn, clashed last week with police over restrictions that have forced many workers to live at the factory. “China now for three years has seen a level of lockdown that is simply inconceivable,” says Cornell labor scholar Eli Friedman, who calls the cross-class, cross-ethnic protests a “movement against surveillance.” Friedman says although China enforces the country’s COVID restrictions, top U.S. corporations like Apple and Tesla are implicated in upholding the closed-loop management system at Foxconn and other Chinese manufacturers.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Rebecca Barlow-Noone.

The WHO identified the medicines as Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup, and Magrip N Cold Syrup. These products contained unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG) as contaminants. The report says, “Diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol are toxic to humans when consumed and can prove fatal.” It also adds that the “toxic effects can include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental state, and acute kidney injury which may lead to death.”

The press release requested ‘increased surveillance and diligence within the supply chains of countries and regions likely to be affected by these products.’ It also advised increased surveillance of the informal/unregulated markets. Below is a screengrab of the four products mentioned by WHO.

Later, a joint team of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and the Haryana Drugs Controller Authority inspected the Sonipat unit of Maiden Pharmaceuticals during which it found 12 violations or deficiencies. The state government took cognizance of this and ordered that all drug production at that unit be stopped.

Weeks after this alert, reports started pouring in about the death of at least 99 children in Indonesia due to acute kidney failure after allegedly taking ‘Indian-made’ cough syrup. Among the proponents of this claim was the social media page called South Asia Index (@SouthAsiaIndex).

On October 20, the page tweeted, “Just IN:— Death of 99 children in Indonesia linked to Indian-made cough syrups. Govt bans all cough syrups.” The page sent out subsequent tweets making a correlation between the two events with the prefix ‘Just IN’. At the time of writing, the first tweet by the page garnered around 5k likes and 1800+ retweets.

A Twitter user, KJ (@KarenJohnstone), while sharing an Al Jazeera article, tweeted that “…99 in Indonesia, have died due to ingredients in Indian-manufactured Paracetamol Syrup that caused Fatal Acute Kidney Injury (AKI).” Readers should note that the Al Jazeera article did not contain any information about Indian-manufactured liquid syrup causing fatal Acute Kidney Injuries in Indonesia.

Fact-check

To find information related to the incidents of AKI in Indonesia, Alt News performed a keyword search on Google and came across various news reports on the issue. According to The Guardian, Indonesia is investigating 206 cases of acute kidney injury (AKI), mostly in children under the age of five. It added that as precaution, the government had put a blanket ban on the sale of all cough syrups medicines warning that the liquids may contain ingredients linked to fatal kidney injuries.

As per Al Jazeera, the rise in cases of AKI in the south east Asian country began in January this year and accelerated further since late August, and a probe related to it was launched last week. The report also adds, “A health ministry letter dated October 18, and seen by Reuters, requested hospitals collect all medicines that families had given to those children admitted with AKI, so toxicology tests could be conducted. Chemists should halt the sale of syrup-based medicine until further notice, the letter stated.”

It is pertinent to note that both The Guardian and Al Jazeera clearly mention that Indonesia’s food and drug agency has clarified that the four cough and cold syrups in question in the Gambia, believed to have been manufactured by India-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals, were not available locally.

This can be further confirmed if we take a look at the press release by Indonesia’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) on October 15. The press release clearly says that the four Indian-manufactured products that were found in The Gambia were not registered in Indonesia. It also adds that no products of Maiden Pharmaceutical Ltd, India, had been registered with BPOM.

In another press release on October 20, BPOM shared an update on testing 39 batches of 26 drug syrups suspected of containing EG and DEG contamination. The results showed the presence of EG contaminants that exceeded the safe threshold in 5 (five) products.

This press release contained the names of three manufacturers that produced the five products. These are PT Konimex, PT Yarindo Farmatama, and Universal Pharmaceutical Industries. The press release does not mention whether these manufacturers are based out of India. Alt News dug further and found that the two companies — PT Konimex and PT Yarindo Farmatama — are based out of Indonesia.

According to Bloomberg, PT Konimex’s, “line of business includes the manufacturing, fabricating, or processing of drugs in pharmaceutical preparations for human or veterinary use.”

Alt News could not find authentic pieces of information related to Universal Pharmaceutical Industries and hence it reached out to Indonesian journalist Pizaro Gozali Idrus who told us that PT Universal Pharmaceutical Industries, also known as Universal Pharmaceutical Industries was based in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. The address of the company is also available on online registries.

The press release by BPOM also says that “the results of the EG contamination test have not been able to support the conclusion that the use of the drug syrup is associated with the incidence of acute kidney failure, because in addition to the use of drugs, there are still several risk factors that cause acute kidney failure.”

However, on October 21, the Indonesian news outlet Detik Health reported that the minister of health had confirmed that the cases of Acute Kidney Failure were triggered by EG and DEG contamination.

“We tested the children, it turns out that from the children we tested, who were at the RSCM [Government Hospital chain], out of 11, 7 children were positive for the harmful compounds, namely ethylene glycol (EG) and diethylene glycol (DEG), so it was confirmed,” said the minister.

Detik Health also added that as a result of the findings, the Indonesian ministry of health had decided to prohibit the sale of drugs that may be contaminated with DEG and EG to avoid the risk of increasing death cases.

On October 31, an Indonesian news outlet called Benar News reported that Indonesia has revoked the licenses of pharma companies linked to kidney failures. “Police are investigating the companies, PT Yarindo Farmatama and PT Universal Pharmaceutical Industries, for possible criminal offenses because they may have used industrial-grade chemicals instead of pharmaceutical-grade substances to cut costs during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the report.

In addition to the two names reported by Benar News, another Indonesian news outlet Detik reported that a third pharmaceutical company was also under investigation. The name of the company is Afi Farma, which was established in 1985 in Kediri, East Java, Indonesia

To summarize, so far the Indonesian government has not released any details that may suggest that the sharp rise in Acute Kidney Injuries (AKI) among Indonesian children was caused by India-manufactured drugs.

The post Child deaths in Indonesia: No evidence so far of Indian syrups causing fatal kidney diseases appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Kalim Ahmed.

The post Letter From Crimea: The Fatal Charge of the Light Brigade appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Matthew Stevenson.

The disaster was the third mishap to occur along the elevated route since March 2021, and the second deadly one since last month. China’s Gezhouba Group is building the 20.2-km (12.5-mile) rapid transit line, which will connect the Gazipur area of Dhaka with Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

On Tuesday, the Transport and Highways Division of the Bangladesh Road Transport and Bridges Ministry submitted a preliminary report blaming the Chinese firm for the collapse.

Meanwhile, China’s ambassador to Bangladesh, Li Jiming, conveyed his deep sorrow over the disaster and said Beijing would not object to punitive actions taken against those found to be responsible for the collapse, according to officials at the Bangladeshi ministry.

“The ambassador expressed his grief and condolences to the families of the victims,” the ministry said in a news release.

Along with the five who were killed in the latest incident, a newlywed couple suffered injuries in the collapse. All seven people are from the same family.

On Monday, a girder being placed for the bus rapid transit line project crashed on top of a car in the Jashim Uddin Avenue area in Uttara on the Dhaka-Mymensingh national highway, one of the busiest roads in the country.

Since the collapse, members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested 10 people at locations throughout the country, according to Khandaker Al Moin, the battalion’s media wing director. 

“Those arrested include the crane operator, his assistant, Chinese firm officials responsible for supervising the construction work and safety measures, and officials of the firm that provided the fitness-expired crane,” Moin said.

In July, a crane collapsed on a Bangladeshi worker and killed him along a stretch of the bus transit line at the Gazipur end. And in March 2021, six workers, including three Chinese citizens, were injured in an accident involving the setting of a girder broke along another stretch of the route.

The latest accident occurred weeks after Bangladesh’s prime minister opened the country’s largest-ever and most expensive infrastructure project, the gleaming Padma Bridge, to much fanfare.

A Chinese firm built the 6.15-km (3.8-mile) span across the Padma River.

Bangladesh’s government said it financed that project on its own, although China has invested billions of dollars through loans for other infrastructure projects in the South Asian nation and is involved in constructing multiple projects there. 

In the case of the elevated transit line, the Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Company Limited, along with the Roads and Highways Department, Bangladesh Bridge Authority and the Local Government Engineering Department contracted out the 42.6 billion taka (U.S. $450 million) project to the Gezhouba Group in 2016.

On Thursday, Road Transport and Bridges Ministry announced that a team of the senior officials from the Chinese contractor had reached Bangladesh.

“The team is prepared to assist the probe committee formed by the Road Transport Highway Division,” Li said after meeting with A.B.M. Amin Ullah Nuri, the ministry’s highway division secretary.

Nuri told reporters that because the collapse was related to the Chinese firm and its delegation members had arrived, they would conduct their own investigation while the Bangladesh investigation continues.

During a news conference on Thursday, Moin alleged that the crane being used did not have the capacity to handle the weight of the girder and its operators, who were among those arrested, were not licensed to operate it.

Others arrested include company officials responsible for supervising the construction work and safety measures and officials of the firm providing the crane.

“There were several anomalies at different stages from Chinese contract firm officials, including ensuring safety compliance,” he added.

Moin said a Gezhouba Group official instructed work during a public holiday despite a manpower shortage including workers responsible for safety and traffic management. Some of those working were new and inexperienced.

The collapse occurred on Monday afternoon after the crane operator moved a girder into place and asked his assistant to move a second one, according to investigators.

“The crane now has the capacity of moving 45 to 50 tons, while each girder weighed over 60 tons,” Moin said.

The RAB officer said company officials confirmed that the crane was at least 25 years old and its proper certification to operate expired a year ago.

Asked about potential failures by Bangladesh officials to oversee the project, RAB spokesman Moin said the ongoing Bangladesh investigation could find failures by officials in those agencies responsible for overseeing the project that could lead to charges.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Ahammad Foyez for BenarNews.

Maj. Hoang Van Minh of the 937th regiment, 370th division, of Vietnam People's Air Force, formally called the Air Defense-Air Force, was driving a seven-seat military vehicle when he ran into 18-year-old Ho Hoang Anh on June 28.

Minh is being temporarily detained for three months while investigators look into the crash, according to the Criminal Investigation Agency of Division 2 of the Air Defense-Air Force, authorities said.

The provincial public security and information and communications departments held a press briefing on Aug. 2 to announce the action against Minh.

Sr. Col. Ha Cong Son, deputy chief of the Phan Rang-Thap Cham city police, said that Minh has confessed to using his mobile phone while driving.

Son also said the initial investigation indicated that before the accident Minh had changed lanes in an unsafe manner, causing Anh’s death as she drove her scooter along the right lane of the street and within the speed limit. 

 He added that he believed there was sufficient evidence to prosecute Minh.

Security camera footage shows that on the day of the crash, Minh turned the military vehicle right into the driveway of a bank office, colliding with Anh’s scooter. The impact knocked Anh off the scooter and into an electricity pole, smashing her head. She died en route to the hospital.  

The video also shows Minh still holding his mobile phone and talking while getting out of his car following the collision.  

Medical authorities at Ninh Thuan Provincial General Hospital initially reported that Anh’s blood-alcohol concentration level was 0.79 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood. That led to fears among her family and the public that the release of the test result was a part of an effort to exonerate Minh by placing the blame on Anh. 

Ahn’s father filed a complaint asking for a review of claims that his daughter’s drinking caused the crash, and spoke with newspapers to make the point that alcohol was not to blame, according to an RFA report earlier this month. 

After receiving his petition, the People's Committee of Ninh Thuan province asked provincial police to verify the young woman’s blood-alcohol test result.

On July 29, the hospital’s director apologized to the family for issuing an incorrect alcohol test result, blaming a technician for not following test regulations. 

A week later, hospital administrators visited the student’s family to apologize in person and promised to invalidate the test result. On Tuesday, the hospital’s disciplinary committee said it would discipline those responsible. 

Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“This is just perfect for Switzerland,” exulted a high-level Swiss defense official when Switzerland joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) in 1996. “We can have access to the bar without being full country club members.” He added: “I don’t like playing golf anyway,” an allusion to Swiss neutrality which forbids Switzerland from joining any military alliance such as NATO.

The PfP was a creative idea, allowing countries like Switzerland to participate in various NATO activities while not actually being members. Today, it has become even more attractive as NATO re-emerges as a major force countering Russia after its February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

But the attraction of becoming closer and closer to NATO as a military alliance risks disqualifying Switzerland as a neutral convenor and international actor. Switzerland helped Russia join the World Trade Organization and represents Russian interests in Georgia as well as Georgian interests in Russia. While joining European Union sanctions against Russia was a small step away from neutrality, becoming more and more active in the PfP could be a step too far.

Is the PfP and NATO a fatal attraction for Switzerland today?

While Finland and Sweden’s membership in NATO has topped front pages, there continues to be active NATO partnership arrangements with other countries. The Swiss recently hosted the third NATO Partnerships 360 Symposium in Geneva, which was attended by 250 civilian and military representatives from NATO member and partner states. There are roughly 20 partner countries.

Why should a neutral country like Switzerland be interested in continuing its PfP relationship with NATO? According to the website of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs: “The PfP provides Switzerland with an institutionalised framework for security policy dialogue with NATO, the member countries and other partner nations…The PfP is also important to the Swiss Armed Forces, enabling it to develop expertise, where required, and build on its own defence capabilities and preparedness for peacekeeping and disaster assistance operations.”

As an example of closer Swiss transatlantic military ties, Switzerland recently chose America’s F-35A fighter planes for its next generation of defense over France’s Rafale and the Airbus Eurofighter.

The official Swiss communiqué about the Symposium declared that “NATO preserves security and stability in Europe and the Euro-Atlantic area. Switzerland therefore benefits from a strong NATO.” How does it benefit as a neutral? According to the NATO communiqué about the meeting, “The ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine exemplifies the negative impact that the resurgence of geopolitical competition has had on the rules-based international order…. As authoritarian powers become more assertive and try to shift the global balance of power in their favour while undermine international norms and values, the rules-based international order is only likely to come under growing strain in the coming years. A test to which NATO and its Partner Nations must be ready.”

 (It should be noted, and repeated, that although the 2008 Bucharest meeting confirmed that Ukraine and Georgia would someday be members of NATO, both countries were not accepted in NATO’s Membership Action Plan. NATO realized that neither country had the capacity to fulfill membership requirements. In addition, while Russia’s fears about Western troops on or near its borders may be justified, Ukraine’s membership in NATO is also not for tomorrow.)

The Symposium was initiated before the February 24 invasion, just like the recent Lugano meeting on rebuilding Ukraine. The NATO language of authoritarian vs. rule-based international order is the current code for democratic vs. autocratic or the previous calling for a “coalition of the willing” against “non-democratic” adversaries. The binary Us vs. Them credits those associated with NATO with democratic, liberal values, and NATO the military wing of the rule-based international order.

Since the United Nations has no active military force, NATO, in the eyes of its members and partners, becomes the physical defender of the international order. The question of the legitimacy of the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999 remains questionable. Was NATO acting as a regional organization to preserve peace and security? What specific authorization did it have from the United Nations? The UN Secretary General at the time, Kofi Annan, supported the action in principle but criticized NATO’s unilateral bombing without UN approval.

Given the current polarization, countries like Switzerland are walking a very thin neutrality line. Terms like “active neutrality,” “committed neutrality,” or “cooperative neutrality” are being tossed around by experts before a highly anticipated update of the 1993 Swiss government report on neutrality.

Switzerland has an ambassador at NATO headquarters and increasing logistical cooperation with NATO. On the other hand, the Swiss just refused to accept wounded Ukrainians. While the cantons were ready to accept the wounded, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs vetoed the idea: “There were obstacles tied to the law of neutrality in accepting military patients,” it said. “The distinction between civil patients and military patients is not really possible.”

The current attraction of NATO is obvious. Loose coalitions like the PfP are especially attractive for countries such as Switzerland that share NATO’s narratives about rules-based values in the international order. But, and this is not a small but, NATO as the military defender of that international order goes diametrically against Switzerland’s tradition of neutrality. NATO is a military alliance and not a political club.

The separation of bar rights and full club membership is harder and harder to maintain. But in the interests of Switzerland, and the world’s perception of its neutrality, it must be maintained. The price of full membership in this club is much too expensive and the bar bill is getting heavier and heavier.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Daniel Warner.

A flurry of peaceful rallies and protests erupted in West Papua and Indonesia on Friday, June 3.

Papuan People’s Petition (PRP), the National Committee for West Papua (Komite Nasional Papua Barat-KNPB) and civil society groups and youth from West Papua marched in protest of Jakarta’s plan to create more provinces.

Thousands of protesters marched through the major cities and towns in each of West Papua’s seven regions, including Jayapura, Wamena, Paniai, Sorong, Timika/Mimika, Yahukimo, Lanny Jaya, Nabire, and Merauke.

• READ MORE: What is at stake with new provinces in West Papua?

As part of the massive demonstration, protests were organised in Indonesia’s major cities of West Java, Central Jakarta, Jogjakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, and Bali.

Demonstrators said Papuans wanted an independence referendum, not new provinces or special autonomy.

3/6/22 Wamena, West Papua

“Papua: freedom!”
“Referendum: yes!”

Thousands of protestors are rejecting Jakarta’s arbitrary plan to create new provinces and Special Autonomy status. They are demanding an independence referendum. pic.twitter.com/QnxBu8egHp

— Veronica Koman 許愛茜 (@VeronicaKoman) June 3, 2022

According to Markus Haluk, one of the key coordinators of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), almost all Papuans took to the streets to show Jakarta and those who want to wipe out the Papuan people that they do not need special autonomy or new provinces.

[CW: blood]

This student protestor is the embodiment of West Papuan spirit. Indonesian forces beat him bloody but he will not be silenced.

Jayapura, 3/6/22 pic.twitter.com/knWxevAPvJ

— Veronica Koman 許愛茜 (@VeronicaKoman) June 3, 2022

Above is a text image that captures the spirit of the demonstrators. A young man is shown being beaten on the head and blood running down his face during a demonstration in Jayapura city of Papua on Friday.

The text urges Indonesia’s president Jokowi to be tagged on social media networks and calls for solidarity action.

Numerous protesters were arrested and beaten by Indonesian police during the demonstration.

Security forces brutalised demonstrators in the cities of Sorong, Jayapura, Yahukimo, Merauke, and elsewhere where demonstrations were held.

Hi Prof. Dr. MAHFUD….. where you get 82% people of West Papua supporting your government’s DOB and Otsus Jilid Il?
Even in these pictures can tell you the real fact that 99, 99% of indigenous West Papuans REJECTED your DOB and the Otonomi Jilid Il. pic.twitter.com/e9SS1QTi71

— WestPapua_SUN (@WestPapua_SUN) June 3, 2022

An elderly mother is seen been beaten on the head during the demonstration in Sorong. Tweet: West Papua Sun

People who are beaten and arrested are treated inhumanely and are not followed up with proper care, nor justice, in one of Asia-Pacific’s most heavily militarised areas.

Among those injured in Sorong, these people have been named Aves Susim (25), Sriyani Wanene (30), Mama Rita Tenau (50), Betty Kosamah (22), Agus Edoway (25), Kamat (27), Subi Taplo (23), Amanda Yumte (23), Jack Asmuru (20), and Sonya Korain (22).

Root of the protests in the 1960s
The protests and rallies are not merely random riots, or protests against government corruption or even pay raises. The campaign is part of decades-old protests that have been carried out against what the Papuans consider to be an Indonesian invasion since the 1960s.

The Indonesian government claims West Papua’s fate was sealed with Indonesia after a United Nations-organised 1969 referendum, known as the Pepera or Act of Free Choice, something Papuans consider a sham and an Act of No Choice.

In spite of Indonesia’s claim, the Indonesian invasion of West Papua began in 1963, long before the so-called Act of Free Choice in 1969.

It was well documented that the 1025 Papuan elders who voted for Indonesian occupancy in 1969 were handpicked at gunpoint.

In the six years between 1963 and 1969, Indonesian security forces tortured and beat these elders into submission before the vote in 1969 began.

Friday’s protesters were not merely protesting against Jakarta’s draconian policy of drawing yet another arbitrary line through Papuan ancestral territory, but also against Indonesia’s illegal occupation.

The Papuans accuse Jakarta of imposing laws, policies, and programmes that affect Papuans living in West Papua, while it is illegally occupying the territory.

Papuans will protest indefinitely until the root cause is addressed. On the other hand, the Indonesian government seems to care little about what the Papuans actually want or think.

Markus Haluk said Indonesia did not view Papuans as human beings equal to that of Indonesians, and this mades them believe that what Papuans want and think, or how Jakarta’s policy may affect Papuans, had no value.

Jakarta, he continued, will do whatever it wants, however, it wishes, and whenever it wishes in regard to West Papua.
In light of this sharp perceptual contrast, the relationship between Papuans and the Indonesian government has almost reached a dead end.

Fatal disconnect
The Lowy Institute, Australia’s leading think-tank, published an article entitled What is at stake with new provinces in West Papua? on 28 April 2022 that identifies some of the most critical terminology regarding this dead-end protracted conflict — one of which is “fatal disconnect”.

The conclusion of the article stated, “On a general level, this means that there is a fatal disconnect between how the Indonesian government view their treatment of the region, and how the people actually affected by such treatment see the arrangement.”

It is this fatal disconnect that has brought these two states — Papua and Indonesia — to a point of no return. Two states are engaged in a relationship that has been disconnected since the very beginning, which has led to so many fatalities.

The author of the article, Eduard Lazarus, a Jakarta-based journalist and editor covering media and social movements, wrote:

That so many indigenous West Papuans expressed their disdain against renewing the Special Autonomy status … is a sign that something has gone horribly wrong.

The tragedy of this irreconcilable relationship is that Jakarta does not reflect on its actions and is willfully ignorant of how its rhetoric and behaviour in dealing with West Papua has caused such human tragedy and devastation spanning generations.

The way that Jakarta’s leaders talk about their “rescue” plans for West Papua displays this fatal disconnect.

Indonesian Vice-President’s plans for West Papua

KOMPAS.com reported on June 2 that Vice-President Ma’ruf Amin had asked Indonesian security forces to use a “humanist approach” in Papua rather than violence.

Ma’ruf expressed this view also in a virtual speech made at the Declaration of Papua Peace event organised by the Papuan Indigenous Peoples Institute on June 6.

In a press release, Ma’ruf said he had instructed the combined military and police officials to use a humanist approach, prioritise dialogical efforts, and refrain from violence.

Ma’ruf believes that conducive security conditions are essential to Papua’s development, and that the government aims to promote peace and unity in Papua through various policies and regulations.

The Papua Special Autonomy Law, he continued, regulates the transfer of power from provinces to regencies and cities, as well as increasing the percentage of Papua Special Autonomy Funds transferred to 2.25 percent of the National General Allocation Fund.

Additionally, according to the Vice-President, the government is drafting a presidential regulation regarding a Papuan Development Acceleration Master Plan (RIPPP) and establishing the Papuan Special Autonomy Development Acceleration Steering Agency (BP3OKP) directly headed by Ma’ruf himself.

He also underscored the importance of a collaboration between all parties, including indigenous Papuans. Ma’ruf believes that Papua’s development will speed up soon since the traditional leaders and all members of the Indigenous Papuan Council are willing to work together and actively participate in building the Land of Papua.

Indonesia’s new military commander

Recently, Indonesia’s newly appointed Commander of Armed Forces, General Andika Perkasa, proposed a novel, humanistic approach to handling political conflict in West Papua.

Instead of removing armed combatants with gunfire, he has vowed to use “territorial development operations” to resolve the conflict. In these operations, personnel will conduct medical, educational, and infrastructure-building missions to establish a rapport with Papuan communities in an effort to steer them away from the independence movement.

In order to accomplish Perkasa’s plans, the military will have to station a large number of troops in West Papua in addition to the troops currently present.

When listening to these two countries’ top leaders, they appear full of optimism in the words and new plans they describe.

But the reality behind these words is something else entirely. There is, as concluded by Eduard Lazarus, a fatal disconnect between West Papuan and Jakarta’s policymakers, but Jakarta is unable to recognise it.

Jakarta seems to suffer from cognitive dissonance or cognitive disconnect when dealing with West Papua — a lack of harmony between its heart, words, and actions.

Cognitive dissonance is, by definition, a behavioural dysfunction with inconsistency in which the personal beliefs held, what has been said, and what has been done contradict each other.

This contradiction, according to Yunus Wonda, deputy chair of the Papuan People’s Representative Council, occurs when the government changes the law and modifies and amends it as they see fit.

What is written, what is practised, and what is in the heart do not match. Papuans suffer greatly because of this, according to Yunus Wonda.

Mismanagement of a fatalistic nature
Jakarta continues to mismanage West Papua with fatalistic inconsistent policies, which, according to the article, “might already have soured” to an irreparable degree.

The humanist approach now appears to be another code in Indonesia’s gift package, delivered to the Papuans as a Trojan horse.

The words of Indonesia’s Vice-President and the head of its Armed Forces are like a band aid with a different colour trying to cover an old wound that has barely healed.

According to Wonda, the creation of new provinces is like trying to put the smoke out while the fire is still burning.

Jakarta had already tried to bandage those old wounds with the so-called “Special Autonomy” 20 years ago. The Autonomy gift was granted not out of goodwill, but out of fear of Papuan demands for independence.

However, Jakarta ended up making a big mess of it.

The same rhetoric is also seen here in the statement of the Vice-President. Even though the semantic choices and construction themselves seem so appealing, this language does not translate into reality in the field.

This is the problem — something has gone very wrong, and Jakarta isn’t willing to find out what it is. Instead, it keeps imposing its will on West Papua.

Jakarta keeps preaching the gospel of development, prosperity, peace, and security but does not ask what Papuans want.

The 2001 Special Autonomy Law was supposed to allow Papuans to have greater power over their fate, which included 79 articles designed to protect their land and culture.

Furthermore, under this law, one important institution, the Papuan People’s Assembly (Majelis Rakyat Papua-MRP), together with provincial governments and the Papuan People’s Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Papua-DPRP), was given the authority to deal with matters that are most important to them, such as land, population control, cultural identity, and symbols.

Section B of the introduction part of the Special Autonomy law contains the following significant provisions:

That the Papua community is God’s creation and is a part of a civilised people, who hold high human rights, religious values, democracy, law and cultural values in the adat (customary) law community and who have the right to fairly enjoy the results of development.

Three weeks after these words were written into law, popular independence leader Theys H. Eluay was killed by Indonesian special forces (Kopassus). Ryamizard Ryacudu, then-army chief-of-staff, who in 2014 became Jokowi’s first Defence Minister, later called the killers “heroes” (Tempo.co, August 19, 2003).

In 2003, the Megawati Soekarnoputri government divided the province into two, violating a provision of the Special Autonomy Law, which was based on the idea that Papua remains a single territory. As prescribed by law, any division would need to be approved by the Papuan provincial legislature and MRP.

Over the 20 years since the Autonomy gift was granted, Jakarta has violated and undermined any legal and political framework it agreed to or established to engage with Papuans.

Papuan Indigenous leaders reject Jakarta’s band aid
On May 27, Governor Lukas Enembe of the settler province of Papua, told Reuters there were not enough resources to run new provinces and that Papuans were not properly consulted.

As the governor, direct representative of the central government, Enembe was not even consulted about the creation of new provinces.

Yunus Wonda and Timotius Murid, two Indigenous Papuan leaders entrusted to safeguard the Papuan people and their culture and customary land under two important institutions — the Papuan People’s Assembly (Majelis Rakyat Papua-MRP) and People’s Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Papua-DPRP) — were not consulted about the plans.

Making matters worse, Jakarta stripped them of any powers they had under the previous autonomous status, which set the precedent for Jakarta to amend the previous autonomous status law in 2021.

This amendment enables Jakarta to create new provinces.

The aspirations and wishes of the Papuan people were supposed to be channelled through these two institutions and the provincial government, but Jakarta promptly shut down all avenues that would enable Papuans to have their voices heard.

Governor Enembe faces constant threats, terrorism
Governor Enembe has also been terrorised and intimidated by unknown parties over the past couple of years. He said, “I am an elected governor of Indonesia, but I am facing these constant threats and terror. What about my people? They are not safe.”

This is an existential war between the state of Papua and the state of Indonesia. We need to ask not only what is at stake with the new provinces in West Papua, but also, what is at stake in West Papua under Indonesia’s settler-colonial rule?

Four critical existential issues facing West Papua
There are four main components of Papuan culture at stake in West Papua under Indonesia’s settler-colonial rule:

1. Papuan humans
2. Papuan languages
3. Papuan oral cultural knowledge system
4. Papuan ancestral land and ecology

Papua’s identity was supposed to be protected by the Special Autonomy Law 2001.

However, Jakarta has shown no interest or intention in protecting these four existential components. Indonesia continues to amend, create, and pass laws to create more settler-colonial provincial spaces that threaten Papuans.

The end goal isn’t to provide welfare to Papuans or protect them, but to create settlers’ colonial areas so that new settlers — whether it be soldiers, criminal thugs, opportunists, poor improvised Indonesian immigrants, or colonial administrators — can fill those new spaces.

Jakarta is, unfortunately, turning these newly created spaces into new battlegrounds between clans, tribes, highlanders, coastal people, Papua province, West Papua province, families, and friends, as well as between Papuans and immigrants.

Media outlets in Indonesia are manipulating public opinion by portraying one leader as a proponent of Jakarta’s plan and the other as its opponent, further fuelling tension between leaders in Papua.

Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic who has a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University and who contributes to Asia Pacific Report. From the Lani tribe in the Papuan Highlands, he is currently living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

• Other Yamin Kogoya articles

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Papua New Guinea police have been tasked to furnish a full investigation report on the death of Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil and his bodyguard First Constable Neil Maino.

Prime Minister James Marape told Basil’s children that “no stone would be left unturned” by police as they investigate the deaths.

He was speaking on Sunday during the arrival of the casket of his deputy at the Jackson’s International Airport ceremonial car park.

• READ MORE: Other reports on the crash of the Deputy PM

Basil died in a head-on vehicle collision along the Bulolo Highway in Morobe Province last Wednesday night.

“I have instructed the police to give a full account of the last steps of the Deputy Prime Minister, the journey the oncoming driver took, and every circumstance behind what happened in the lead-up to his passing,” Marape said.

“A report is expected for us to bring to full conclusion the passing of our nation’s Deputy Prime Minister.”

Marape gave this assurance to family members, people of Bulolo and Morobe, friends, members of Basil’s United Labour Party (ULP), members of the disciplined forces and the public at the airport.

“Sometimes, in life, it is not easy to understand why such tragic circumstances happen in this manner,” he said.

Words cannot express loss
Marape said words could not fully express the loss of Basil to the nation.

“We stand with the family, we stand with the people and Wau-Bulolo, we stand with the people of Morobe Province, we stand with the United Labour Party, we stand with every citizen — men and women, boys and girls — of our beloved country to receive the Deputy Prime Minister of our country,” he said.

“It is his last time to leave Lae for Port Moresby, and for the last time to be with us in Port Moresby, for us to accord him the respect he deserves and send him back to rest.

“It is a moment none of us thought would happen, I never thought it would happen.”

Marape said he was in a meeting last Wednesday night when news came from Lae of the accident.

“I asked those who were seated with me to offer a prayer for him (Mr Basil), as we were hearing that he was struggling,” he said.

“Today, the nation is coming to grips with the passing, for the first time, of a deputy prime minister of our country while serving in office.

Highest dignity promised
“This is very, very sad.”

Marape told Basil’s family that the entire country joined with them in mourning the loss of their father, husband, son and brother.

He said Basil and himself first entered Parliament in 2007 and he was privileged to have served with him in Cabinet as a minister and later as DPM.

“He excelled to the highest standard in service to his people of Wau-Bulolo – which was second to none, to Morobe and to Papua New Guinea,” Marape said.

“The nation will give the highest dignity to a servant of our nation who has passed.

“We will give him, in his final tour-of-duty, the highest recognition that he deserves.”

Miriam Zarriga is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

On the eve of Papua New Guinea heading into its 2022 national general elections, the bearer of one of the highest offices in the country has tragically died.

Deputy Prime Minister Sam Basil died in a head-on vehicle collision along the Bulolo Highway in Morobe Province on Wednesday night.

With his death, the people of Wau-Bulolo and PNG have lost a patriotic and vibrant leader, who had also been a prime ministerial hopeful.

• READ MORE: PNG Deputy PM killed in road accident
• Personal tribute by independent PNG journalist Scott Waide

As investigations continue from Wednesday night into the cause of the incident, police said the driver of the vehicle that collided with Basil’s told them that he had attempted to avoid fallen rocks on the Wau-Bulolo Highway when he swerved into Basil’s vehicle at Sumsum village, Bulolo.

The driver has been identified as Mathew Barnabas, originally from Madang and married to a local woman from Banglum, also in Bulolo.

Killed in the accident were Basil and his close protection officer (CPO) Sergeant Neil Maino.

Northern Command Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Peter Guinness has confirmed that Barnabas had been charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death and four counts of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm.

Rocks ‘blocked road’
“It is alleged that when he [Barnabas] allegedly approached a section of the highway, fallen rocks had rolled over and blocked the road, Assistant Commissioner Guinness said.

He attempted to avoid the rocks and went into the other lane when he collided with the vehicle Mr Basil was driving.”

It is alleged that the suspect had been travelling at high speed and with small rocks like gravel on the road, his attempt to avoid the collision failed when the vehicle swerved into Basil’s vehicle, ACP Guinness said.

Barnabas is currently being treated for a chest injury sustained from the accident.

“A passing PMV truck helped rush the victims to Bulolo health centre for medical treatment,” ACP Guinness said.

Police Commissioner David Manning also confirmed that Basil had been driving at the time of the accident.

“From preliminary reports, Basil was driving the vehicle and was in the company of his two close protection officers and a publicity officer,” Manning said.

“They left Bulolo around 7pm and the accident occurred around 8pm.

A tribute by PNG journalist Scott Waide.

Passing PMV helped out
“It was fortunate that a passing PMV was able to assist and transported them to Bulolo where they were received and emergency medical attention was provided.

“Unfortunately, Mr Basil suffered extensive injuries, and as to the extent of that, a post-mortem will be able to ascertain how and what caused his demise.”

Sergeant Maino was confirmed dead an hour before the announcement of the passing of Basil, Commissioner Manning said.

“It is unfortunate [that Basil] succumbed to the injuries and he was confirmed clinically dead at 11:30pm,” he added.

Three roadblocks at Gabensis were removed by police who appealed for calm.

Morobe provincial police commander Superintendent Jacob Singura said police officers from Lae had been deployed to monitor the situation in Bulolo and along the highway.

PPC Singura also said that police had removed roadblocks and barricades set up by angry locals along the highway.

“A roadblock at Markham Bridge was also removed yesterday by police and I am now calling on everyone to refrain from such activities since the incident is before the police and investigation is still ongoing,” he said.

Miriam Zarriga is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

The post Why Sanctions Could Deal a Fatal Blow to Russia’s Already Weak Domestic Opposition appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Brian Grodsky.

Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.

• Governor Gavin Newsom signs + $532,00,00 wildfire preparedness and prevention bill.
• Officer in Duante Wright’s fatal shooting and chief of police resign, amidst protests.
• Ex-cop, Derek Chauvin’s murder trial-defense makes case.
• Voting rights advocates ring alarm over proposed restrictive state voting laws.
• Nation’s larges communications and media union calls for nationwide broadband plan.

The post Officer in Duante Wright’s fatal shooting resigns; Ex-cop, Derek Chauvin’s murder trial-defense makes case; Governor Newsom signs half billion dollar wildfire preparedness bill – April 13, 2021 appeared first on KPFA.

This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.

Comprehensive coverage of the day’s news with a focus on war and peace; social, environmental and economic justice.

• U.S. reports record daily COVID-19 death toll as L.A. County says morgues are full.
• San Francisco indefinitely extends Stay Safer at Home public health orders.
• Maskless conservative Evangelicals clash with protesters in L.A. on Skid Row.
• Senate leader Mitch McConnell blocks vote on $2,000 stimulus checks, for 3rd day in a row.
• Family of Andre Hill speak out after police release body camera footage of his fatal shooting.

The post U.S. reports record daily COVID-19 death toll as L.A. County says morgues are full; Senate leader Mitch McConell blocks vote on $2,000 stimulus checks, for 3rd day in a row; Andre Hill’s family speak out after police body camera footage of his fatal shooting released appeared first on KPFA.

This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.

• Speeches from Presidential candidate Joe Biden and President Donald Trump differ in visions.
• Progressive Democrat, Senator Ed Markey wins Massachusetts primary.
• Governor Gavin Newsom unveils details of eviction moratorium and coronavirus stats.
• San Francisco Mayor London Breed urges social distancing during Labor Day.
• Manslaughter charges filed against San Leandro police officer in fatal shooting.
• Firefighter dies battling wildfires in northern California.

The post Speeches from Presidential candidate Joe Biden and President Donald Trump differ in visions; Alameda County District Attorney files manslaughter charges against police officer in fatal shooting appeared first on KPFA.

This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.

• Speeches from Presidential candidate Joe Biden and President Donald Trump differ in visions.
• Progressive Democrat, Senator Ed Markey wins Massachusetts primary.
• Governor Gavin Newsom unveils details of eviction moratorium and coronavirus stats.
• San Francisco Mayor London Breed urges social distancing during Labor Day.
• Manslaughter charges filed against San Leandro police officer in fatal shooting.
• Firefighter dies battling wildfires in northern California.

The post Speeches from Presidential candidate Joe Biden and President Donald Trump differ in visions; Alameda County District Attorney files manslaughter charges against police officer in fatal shooting appeared first on KPFA.

This content originally appeared on KPFA - The Pacifica Evening News, Weekdays and was authored by KPFA.