UK: Left groups targeted for decades-long police infiltration

Alice Summers

A database compiled by the Guardian and the Undercover Research Group, activists that scrutinise police espionage, has shed light on the extent of state spying on political groups between 1968 and 2011.

Over 1,000 political groups were targeted by undercover police agents, with the overwhelming majority left-wing organisations.

According to the new database, it is known that covert police agents spied on at least 22 left-wing/socialist groups, 10 environmental groups, 9 anti-racist campaigns and 9 anarchist groups, as well as 17 justice campaign groups. This is in addition to several trade unions and to campaigns against apartheid, war, the arms trade, nuclear weapons and the monarchy.

By contrast, only three far right-groups were targeted—the British National Party, Combat 18 and United British Alliance, involving only five agents in total.

According to the information obtained, the Socialists Workers Party (SWP), known as the International Socialists until 1977, was the primary known victim of police spying. Twenty-four undercover agents were deployed by police to infiltrate the party between 1970 and 2007. Undercover officers were in the organisation almost continuously during this 37-year period, often with more than one officer embedded at a given time.

Four of the 24 officers who infiltrated the SWP deceived women into forming sexual relationships with them, before abandoning them once their spying operations were complete. One spy, whose name has not been released, married an unsuspecting female party member and fathered a child with her as part of his efforts to build his cover story. The emotional suffering inflicted can only be imagined.

The database was compiled using a variety of sources, as the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UPI)—set up in 2015 supposedly with the aim of investigating police spying between 1968 and 2011—has refused to release full details of those involved.

As well as the minimal official list, the database draws on information garnered from the Undercover Research Group’s own investigations and from whistle-blowers, including Peter Francis, a former undercover officer and UPI core participant.

Due to the dearth of information supplied by the UPI, the database lists only 124 of the 1,000 groups spied on by the police since 1968. It includes information only about groups targeted by spies from the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), the two Special Branch units responsible for carrying out much of the police infiltration. The SDS was active between 1968 and 2008, and the NPOIU between 1999 and 2011.

Many police spies worked within left-wing organisations for five years or more, with one infiltrator, using the name Dave Evans, working within the SWP for seven years. Another SWP infiltrator in the 1980s, Alan Bond, stole the name of a dead child for his fake identity.

The new data shows that other organisations infiltrated included the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC), an anti-war popular front organisation established in 1966 and largely dominated by the Pabloite International Marxist Group (IMG). The VSC was penetrated by nine covert officers between 1968 and 1972.

This is only the tip of an iceberg. Information revealed by ex-MI5 agents Peter Wright and David Shayler, among others, indicates that the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP)—until 1986 the British section of the International Committee of the Fourth International—and its predecessor, the Socialist Labour League (SLL), were the main targets of undercover police operations from the late 1960s onwards.

The database gave information about only two of the police spies infiltrating the WRP, cover names “Michael Scott” and “Peter Collins,” who penetrated the group in 1971-1976 and 1973-1977. But in a House of Lords debate on combating the influence of “subversive and extremist elements in our society” in January 1975, Lord Chalfont singled out the WRP, declaring it to be one of the “most important revolutionary group[s].”

The Earl of Kimberley warned that the WRP “must not be dismissed as just another fringe movement. It is by far the most dangerous of the Trotskyist organisations in this country. It is larger, better organised, and, from the point of view of industrial agitation, more intelligently led than its rivals.”

This extensive infiltration, carried out over multiple decades, is a fundamental attack on democratic rights. The Socialist Equality Party demands that all details of the spying operations be fully and immediately disclosed.

In 2015, the SEP sent a letter to the UPI demanding “the immediate release of the names of all undercover police operatives, especially those active in the Workers Revolutionary Party (and its forerunners and successor organisations), their pseudonyms and dates of operation.”

Lord Pitchford, the chair of the Undercover Policing Inquiry at the time, refused to investigate police surveillance of the SLL and WRP, despite the evidence from ex-MI5 agents and others. This only confirmed the UPI’s essential role as a police cover-up and exercise in damage limitation. The inquiry was only convoked after activists and journalists uncovered damaging evidence of state surveillance and legal challenges had been launched for compensation. Unable to keep a lid on the scandal, then-Home Secretary Theresa May launched the inquiry in 2015.

Since then, nearly 200 victims have been named as core participants, though the true numbers affected likely run into the thousands.

From the outset, the inquiry did not require the police to reveal their operations and accepted as participants only some of those who already knew themselves to be victims. The SDS alone employed 201 people over its 40 years of existence.

Three years later, and at a cost of nearly £12 million, the inquiry is still in the evidence-gathering stage. No single piece of substantive evidence has been heard in public due to police legal applications for anonymity. Instead, anonymous police officers will give private evidence to a judge, who will produce a final report in 2023 at the earliest.

Other organisations, including MI5’s F-Branch, are known to have undertaken extensive “counter-subversion” spying operations. F-Branch, which was active until 1988, particularly targeted the Trotskyist movement, focusing particular attention on the SLL/WRP. A section of F-Branch, F6, dealt with Trotskyist and radical organisations, while another section, F7, specifically monitored the Workers Revolutionary Party and SWP.

The former head of MI5, Stella Rimmington, director general from 1992 to 1996, admitted in 2017 that spying on the Trotskyist movement was a central part of its operations: “I now see in [pro-Jeremy Corbyn] Momentum some of the people we were looking at in the Trotskyist organisation of the 1980s, now grown up and advising our would-be prime minister Mr. Corbyn on how to prepare himself for power…their names are familiar, shall we say that much?”

Even though it has been revealed to be one of the most prominent victims of police infiltration, the pseudo-left SWP has produced one 201-word article on the revelations. The SWP’s response was to declare that the figures are “further proof that the British state is not neutral” and that “The best response is to keep up the fight against the system the spymasters defend.” In opposition to such an unserious response, workers and young people must recognise the vast extent of police spying as a serious and still-present threat.

Argentine Senate approves “zero deficit budget”

Rafael Azul 

With a nearly unpayable debt burden of over US$ 327 billion dollars (about 80 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product) and a dollar flight of nearly US$ 30 billion this year, Argentina’s economy teeters on the brink of disaster. An agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a new budget plan attempts to pay the debt through the policies designed to inflict hunger and social misery.

Following 12 hours of debate, during the dawn hours of Thursday, November 15, the Argentine Senate approved a shock-therapy budget for 2019, a savage attack on jobs and wages. Having endured two years of supposedly “gradual” austerity measures that have eroded living standards, social services and public investment, the new budget signals that much worse is coming.

The so-called zero deficit budget, approved in October by the lower house, passed comfortably in the Senate (45 for, 24 against, one abstention) thanks in part to the votes of a conservative wing of the Peronist Party (the Federal Block), whose leader, Miguel Pichetto, declared that his faction would not allow a government paralysis.

The four-billion-dollar budget includes a budget cut of 300 billion pesos, relative to 2018. For workers it means another year of falling real wages, increasing unemployment and cuts in pensions and social benefits.

With a rate of unemployment and underemployment of 9.7 percent and 11 percent, during the first semester of 2018, Argentina’s poverty rate now exceeds 27 percent of the population, about 12 million people. President Macri recently warned that Argentines should brace for further increases in joblessness and poverty.

Further devastating living standards and increasing social inequality, the budget includes significant increases in regressive value added taxes, while slashing taxes on corporate profits, mining companies and soy exporters.

There will be no increases in public investments, further eroding the promises made by Macri in 2016.

In response to the collapse in the dollar-value of the Argentine Peso (currently 37 pesos up from 19 pesos to the dollar in January 2018), the budget sets aside increasing amounts of pesos to service Argentina’s debt to foreign banks and hedge funds in accordance with the agreement with the IMF in return for a US$ 57 billion rescue package from that institution.

Beginning with the decision to remove controls on the dollar, and now with this budget, the IMF has effectively taken control of Argentine fiscal policy, which is now oriented to insuring the debt payment above everything else. The budget does provide for increases in money destined for debt payment; one third of fiscal spending is earmarked for debt payment.

The government has declared that it anticipates that inflation, 45 percent in 2018, will fall to 23 percent in 2019 and that GDP growth will decline by 0.5 percent relative to the 1.5 percent decline in 2018. It predicts that the price of dollars will stabilize at 40 pesos, as Central Bank interest rates remain at a usurious 70 percent, slamming the brakes on economic activity. Unable to raise capital except at extremely high rates, medium and small firms are on the verge of financial collapse.

Government spending will shrink by seven percent in order to reach the zero fiscal deficit goal. For 2020, government officials predict a budget surplus.

There is an atmosphere of disbelief in Argentine society in relation to all the government projections. To many, they appear to be intended for foreign consumption; to reassure the IMF and Wall street bond holders. In the words of a TV commentator: “there is little bread and a lot of circus” in government statements.

Every day Argentine residents wake up to the announcement of mass layoffs in auto, steel, textiles, and other industries. So far this year, 250,000 workers have lost their jobs. Industries operate at 60 percent capacity, auto at less than 45 percent, textiles at less than 50 percent. As a consequence of the layoffs, along with cuts in pensions and cuts in social programs for children of the unemployed and poor, consumption spending has collapsed, further weakening industries that produce consumer goods for the domestic market.

For its part, IMF officials congratulated the Macri administration on the passage of the zero-deficit budget. At the fund’s regular Thursday press conference in New York, IMF official Gerry Rice called the new budget a “positive step” and key to restoring confidence in the Argentine economy.

Government authorities have announced some minimal palliative measures, such as a US$ 140 bonus (in 2 payments) in order to compensate for inflation, and a ten-day notice for layoffs.

As the social and economic crisis develops, on November 30, leaders of the G20 nations will gather in Buenos Aires and other Argentine cities, amidst extraordinary security measures. Interior Secretary Patricia Bullrich has suggested that residents of Buenos Aires leave the city during the days of the summit (November 30 to December 1). President Macri has announced that Argentina will shoot down any unauthorized airplanes that fly over the sites of the meetings. The infiltration of protest groups and attacks on immigrants are being carried out by Argentine security forces.

This December marks 17 years since one of the most significant mass protest movement in Argentina’s post-war history. Chanting “¡Qué se vayan todos, que no quede ni uno solo!” (Out with all [politicians], that not one remain!) hundreds of thousands poured into the streets of Buenos Aires and other cities.

What triggered this popular rebellion that forced the collapse of the administration of then-president De la Rua was the debt crisis driven by the failure of the neo-liberal model of former Peronist president Carlos Ménem, the resulting massive outflow of US dollars, the closure of the banks, mass unemployment and collapsing living standards.

“An austerity policy of this magnitude has never taken place without the collapse of the government,” declared Economics Minister Nicolás Dujovne referring to these events, undoubtedly expressing the fears within the Argentine government and ruling class.

US-China trade conflict leads to Wall Street sell-off

Nick Beams 

A fall in US equity markets yesterday, in the wake of the escalation of the trade war between the US and China at the Asia Pacific Economic Community (APEC) summit at the weekend, has wiped out all the limited gains made earlier this month, following a sell-off in October.

The APEC meeting, held in Papua New Guinea, broke up in acrimony, with no final communiqué able to be issued, after US Vice President Mike Pence launched a broadside against China’s trade and economic policies deliberately aimed at sabotaging the meeting.

The reaction in US markets was immediate. The Dow fell 395 points, a drop of 1.56 percent after dropping by more than 500 points in the course of the day, the S&P 500 index was off by 1.7 percent and the tech-heavy NASDAQ index dropped by 3 percent.

The sell-off was led by high-tech stocks which are sensitive to heightened trade war tensions because of the impact on their global supply chains and fears that trade conflicts will lessen demand for their products.

Markets had risen earlier this month, following the US mid-term elections, on the back of a resumption of talks between Washington and Beijing and statements by Trump of the prospect of a deal when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the end of the month.

This was taken as indicating there was a possibility that the escalation by the US of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent at the start of next year could be put on hold. That now seems highly unlikely.

In his speech to the APEC meeting, Pence repeated Trump’s threat to impose the tariff hike and said the US “will not change course until China changes its ways.”

China has indicated that it is willing to increase its imports of US goods, in the areas of agriculture and energy, in order to reduce the US trade deficit as well as making other concessions. But this has been ruled out as insufficient by Washington.

The key US demand is that China undertake a fundamental shift in its economy by essentially scrapping its “Made in China 2025” economic program for the advancement of hi-tech industries as the next stage in its economic development.

Accusing China of the theft of intellectual property rights and imposing forced technology transfers, and demanding an end to what it calls market-distorting subsidies to state-owned industries, the US regards China’s economic policies as a direct threat to its economic and ultimately military hegemony.

For its part, China is prepared to offer some concessions to the US but regards the demand that it scrap its key economic agenda as non-negotiable because it would reduce China to a position of economic subservience to the US as a kind of semi-colony.

The conflict at the APEC meeting means that rather than the meeting between Trump and Xi leading to an easing of trade tensions it could bring a further escalation. Trump said last week that he had received a long list of proposals from Beijing but they were not sufficient and were missing four or five big issues.

China does not appear to be holding out hopes for an easing of the conflict with its top trade negotiator, Vice-Premier Liu He, cancelling a plan to visit Washington for discussions with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in advance of the Buenos Aires meeting between Trump and Xi.

Reporting on the cancellation, the South China Morning Post cited a source who said the sudden change of plan was the outcome of “work-level discussions.” But the events at the APEC summit—indicating that the anti-China hawks in the Trump administration are directing operations—were no doubt the key reason.

Liu was badly burned last May when he reached a deal with Mnuchin only to have it overturned by Trump a few days later.

The escalating trade tensions are not the only factor in the market sell-off. Another key ingredient is the slowdown in the global economy and the prospect that the effect of the Trump tax cuts, which have boosted the US economy this year, will wear off in 2019.

All of the fastest growing stocks, the so-called Faangs—Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google’s parent company Alphabet—have moved into bear market territory with their stocks down 20 percent from their peak.

Apple fell by 4 percent yesterday following a report in the Wall Street Journal that it had cut production orders for all of the three iPhone models in September. The report followed news that a series of Apple suppliers had lowered their earnings expectations.

The shares of one of those companies Lumentum Holdings dropped 33 percent last week after reporting that it had received “a request from one of the largest industrial and consumers” to “materially reduce” the supply of 3D sensors that power the facial recognition technology on the latest iPhones.

The slide in US markets is part of an emerging global trend. The Financial Times has reported that global bond and equity markets have contracted by $5 trillion so far this year, placing them on course for the worst year since the financial crisis of 2008 when they lost a total of $18 trillion.

The sell-off is taking place amid signs of a slowdown in the world economy. In 2017, the prospect was held out for “synchronised” global growth. But that is now very much a thing of the past.

Earlier this month it was reported that the gross domestic product in Germany, the key European economy, contracted at an annualised rate of 0.8 percent in the third quarter. This was the first quarterly decline in three and a half years, while the eurozone economy grew at an annualised rate of 0.7 percent in the same period, its weakest performance since early 2013.

The US economy has maintained a growth rate of above 3 percent, boosted by the stimulus provided by the Trump administration’s corporate and personal income tax cuts. But the claim by Trump that this would be “fantastic for the economy” and lead to increased investment and sustained expansion has been exposed for the fraud it always was.

Last month the National Association for Business Economics reported that while its members reported rising sales and improved profit margins in the third quarter the tax cuts had “not broadly impacted hiring and investment plans.”

Most of the increased cash has been used to finance share buybacks, rather than providing a boost to investment and economic expansion, and the impetus will now start to wear off under conditions where the world economy is starting to enter a period of “synchronised” slowdown amid rising trade conflicts.

IJP Journalism Exchange Programme 2019 for Young Journalists in Africa and Germany

Application Deadline: 15th February, 2019

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: SADC-Member States: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe + Kenya

To be taken at (country): Germany and countries in Africa

About the Award: The Southern African-German Journalists’ Programme is a multiyear effort to shape an integrated understanding of the other country and region and to foster relations between Africa and Germany. It has been offered as a response to concerns about an increasing political and cultural detachment between Africa and Europe. The bursary is intended to enable young journalists to gain valuable insights into the political, economical, cultural as well as the social fabric of the host country.
For all selected IJP-Fellows the Programme starts with an Introductory Conference for all delegates. This will allow the participants from Southern Africa to familiarise themselves with the host country. After that they will work for several weeks with media houses before going out to undertake individual research within Germany. Applicants are asked to submit their preferences for the newspaper, radio or TV station or news agency they would like to work with. The possible location will be chosen by the IJP organisers in dialogue with each delegate. It is expected that former and new participants assist one another with regard to accommodation and contacts.

Offered Since: 1998

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: 

• All journalists from Southern Africa (SADC Member States and Kenia) between the age of 25 and 40 who regularly work for a media organisation can apply.
• It is assumed that all candidates have a strong command of the English language. German language abilities are an advantage but are not mandatory.

Number of Awardees: six young Africans and up to five young German journalists.

Value of Fellowship: The Southern African delegates receive a fixed payment of 3,000 Euro. This is expected to cover most of their travel, accommodation and living expenses. No further payments will be made: delegates are expected to use their own funds for any further costs. Payment for their work with the host media is not envisaged. To receive the full grant participants are obliged to write a report of at least three pages and provide copies of their published journalistic work after returning home.

Duration of Fellowship: 2 months

How to Apply: 
Enclose a CV with a passport photograph.
2. Write a 800 word essay addressing the following topics:

• Why you would like to work in Germany

• What you expect from IJP and what you think you can contribute to it?

• What are the 3 research topics you want to pursue during the fellowship?

• What role you expect to play at your home media in the future?

• How you will spend the bursary?

3. Include a one-page resume detailing your education and work experience, your standard of German and English (copies of certificates/ e.g. Goethe Institut/Toefel), plus 2 copies of articles written by you (TV and radio journalists must type up their reports since no audio or video tapes can be considered)
4. A journalistic reference from your editor or head of department is required (freelancers should submit a reference from a senior journalist). It should also guarantee your leave of absence for the duration of the program.
Applicants are asked to send the application documents (E-Mail) not before December 15th, 2018 and until February 15th, 2019 to the following address:
sa-application@ijp.org

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details


Award Provider: The International Journalists‘ Programmes (IJP)

KECTIL Youth Leadership Program 2019 for Young Leaders in Developing Countries (Fully-funded to the US)

Application Deadline: 30th November, 2018

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries

To be taken at (country): Online, USA (for the Youth Leadership Conference)

About the Award: KECTIL that refers to the Knowles Educational and Charitable Trust for International Leadership, is based on the following principles:

• Creating an authentic, collaborative network of high potential youth from developing and least developed countries can break down prejudices, lead to cultural, religious and gender understanding and give youth the comfort that they are more than just themselves– they are part of a mutual youth-based support system with the goal to make a positive difference in their lives, their Colleagues’ lives and the lives of those in their communities.
• Identifying, embracing and mentoring high potential youth (17-24) from developing and least developed countries can have a dramatic effect on the youths’ dreams, service to others and life accomplishments.
• Nothing comes easy and there is “no free lunch.” The results will not be achieved without hard work, dedication and an open mindedness to cultural understanding and compassion.

Kectil comprises of the following program categories:

• Web-Based Mentoring Program
  • Monthly Kectil Talks with Leaders in Science, Business, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Public Service
• Assignments & Sharing
  • Connect with other students on social media (Facebook & Twitter) with facilitated web-based group discussions
• Youth Leadership Conference
  • Intensive Leadership Training, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Workshop, Meetings with Successful Leaders, and Creation of Network of Youth Peers in Developing Countries
• Alumni Web-Portal
  • Maintenance of Network of Youth Peers in Developing Countries, Interaction with New Youth Participants, Availability of Mentorship from Program

Type: Training

Eligibility: Participants must be talented Youth (aged 17-25) in least developed and developing countries who have demonstrated a talent and passion for leadership, scholarship or innovation, are proficient in English and have access to a computer and the internet.

Number of Awardees: 15

Value of Programme: 

• The Kectil Program will select fifteen of the most active participants in the Web-based Program to be given a special award.
• The participants will have attended all of the Sessions and completed the online pre and post assignments.
• The Kectil Program will host a Youth Leadership Conference in Atlanta the first week of August 2018 for a select group of highly qualified youth from least developed and developing countries.
• The conference will include intensive leadership training, an innovation and entrepreneurial workshop, community service training, and meetings with successful leaders in a small group interactive setting.
• The Conference will provide additional instruction over and above the year-long web-based program to Kectil Colleagues who have the greatest potential to be future leaders and who come from communities in most need of passionate and positive youth role models.
• The Conference will be held on the campus of Emory University. Participants will stay in University dormitory rooms and will eat in a cafeteria serviced by the University dining program.

Duration of Programme: 1 year

Eligible Countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial, Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

How to Apply: Please Register to Submit An Application

• Interested Participants must go through the Application requirements before registering to submit an application.
• GOODLUCK!

Visit Programme Webpage for details

Award Provider: Knowles Educational and Charitable Trust for International Leadership (KECTIL)

UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) Member from Africa 2019

Application Deadline: 18th December 2018 (12 noon GMT)

About the Award: Four members of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) [HRC resolution 33/25]:

1. EMRIP member from Africa*
2. EMRIP member from Central and Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia
3. EMRIP member from Central and South America, and the Caribbean
4. EMRIP member from the Pacific

*This vacancy arose due to the resignation of the current mandate holder. The new mandate holder will serve out the remainder of the term of the previous African member.
The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) was established by the Human Rights Council in 2007 in its resolution 6/36 as a subsidiary expert body of the Council. The mandate was amended in 2016 by Council resolution 33/25. The Expert Mechanism is now made up of seven independent experts on the rights of indigenous peoples and it provides the Human Rights Council with expertise and advice on the rights of indigenous peoples as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and assists Member States, upon request, in achieving the ends of the Declaration through the promotion, protection and fulfillment of the rights of indigenous peoples.

Type: Job

Eligibility:

• Candidates should be experts of indigenous origin or experts with recognized competence and experience in the rights of indigenous peoples of a certain indigenous sociocultural region.
• Candidates are requested to indicate, in their Word application form, for which indigenous sociocultural region they are applying and to include in the motivation letter why they are applying for the specific indigenous sociocultural region.
• Candidates may submit up to three reference letters in support of their application.Candidates are encouraged to consider submitting letters from organizations or entities representing indigenous peoples.

Number of Awards: 1 for each region

Duration of Programme:

• Award will be given at the fortieth session of the Human Rights Council to hold from 25 February – 22 March 2019.
• The independent experts are appointed in the same way as other special procedure mandate holders, but for a three-year term renewable once.

How to Apply: Individual applications,including a motivation letter,must be submitted and received by 18 December, 2018 (12 noon Greenwich Mean Time / GMT) through the on-line application procedure, which consists of (1) an online survey and (2) an application form in Word format.

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Art of the Smear: the Israel Lobby Busted

Sheldon Richman

In 2016 and 2017 Al Jazeera produced a program that unmistakenly documents the Israel government and U.S. Israel lobby’s all-out effort to spy on, smear, and disrupt American students and other activists who are working to build an understanding of the Palestinians’ plight. The Lobby — USA, however, has never been broadcast by Al Jazeera. Reporting indicates that it was suppressed after pressure from the lobby on the government of Qatar, which funds Al Jazeera. Nevertheless, it is now available at The Electronic Intifada and on YouTube. Watch all four parts here and here. What the program presents is shocking.

The Lobby — USA, which features an undercover journalist who won the trust of key pro-Israel operatives and who videoed revealing meetings, demonstrates beyond question the lengths to which the Israelis and their supporters in the United States will go to prevent a change in American thinking about the beleaguered Palestinians. The effort aims to smear Palestinian students in the United States and pro-Palestinian American activists and political candidates who criticize Israeli policy as anti-Semites and enablers of terrorism. The paid pro-Israel operatives, guided by Israeli government officials and embassy staff, have used social media and other channels in an attempt to destroy the career potential of student activists who work to raise Americans’ consciousness about the Palestinians. Establishment news operations, such as the Washington Post, are also implicated. Major targets are activists in the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement and Students for Justice in Palestine.

Al Jazeera produced a similar program about Israeli interference in British politics, which led to resignations of a key Israeli embassy official and other reactions that confirmed Al Jazeera’s damaging charges.

I could not do justice to the program even in a long article. Instead, I will urge readers to watch it in its entirety — and think carefully about what it means.

As one critic of Israel asks on the program, if Russia or Iran or China were doing what Israel and its American friends are doing, most people would be outraged. This is hardly the first time that Israel and friends have been caught covertly and overtly trying to influence discourse and even elections here through smear campaigns against activists, writers, and political candidates, but this is certainly among the most flagrant and elaborate examples.

Let’s step back from the poisonous trees for a moment to view the forest. In 1948 the leaders of a European and nominally Jewish movement, Zionism, unilaterally declared the existence of the State of Israel, which they proclaimed the nation-state of all Jews everywhere, a status recently reaffirmed by the Israeli Knesset. (The UN General Assembly recommended partitioning Palestine into a larger Jewish state and a smaller Palestinian state, but it had no power to actually create the state of Israel.)

It so happened this state was built on land taken by force from the long-standing majority indigenous Palestinian population, most of which was Muslim and Christian. Hundreds were massacred, three-quarters of a million were driven from their homes, and the remainder were subjected to martial law for two decades, before being given third-class citizenship with no power to improve their legal status. (Arab nations half-heartedly tried to assist the overwhelmed Palestinians, although the king of Jordan worked with Israel to divide the spoils.) Almost 20 years later, the rest of Palestine was taken through warfare, producing what are known as the occupied territories in the West Bank, with its apartheid-like regime, and the Gaza Strip, which is nothing more than an open-air prison under a cruel Israeli blockade.

Why? Because a “Jewish State” could not be realized if it were populated by non-Jews. And if some non-Jews remained, the state could not be a liberal democratic state, with equality under the law, for obvious reasons. All this was aided from the start by European Christians who, apparently guilt-ridden over how the Jews of Europe had been tyrannized, culminating in the Nazi genocide, opted to assuage their guilt with the land, blood, and liberty of the innocent people of Palestine, long the plaything of colonial powers.

Since that time, Israel has repressed the Palestinians in a variety of ways, depending on whether they are in the state as it existed in 1949; the West Bank, which was seized during the June 1967 war; or the Gaza Strip (also called the Gaza Ghetto), also seized in that war. Meanwhile, millions of refugees — people (and descendants of people) driven from their homes by Zionism’s terrorist militias, have been confined to refugee camps, stateless, rightless, and destitute. At various time, Israel, with America’s backing, has cut deals with Arab states and Palestinian quislings for the purpose of keeping the Palestinians from winning their rights either in a single secular democratic state or through a two-state plan. Western political and media establishments have overwhelmingly sympathized with the Israelis and demonized the Palestinians (and Arabs and Muslims generally). It didn’t take long for the public to be propagandized, against all evidence, into believing that the Palestinians are the aggressors and the Israelis the victims. Apparently, a person is anti-Semitic if he objects to having his property stolen by someone who claims that property in the name of the Jewish People.

But after so many decades of Israeli wars, massacres, repression, and routine brutal dehumanization, the tide has started to turn. Israel pulverized Gaza and its people one too many times; it shot and broke the bones of too many children before too many video cameras. And so public opinion, especially among younger Americans — and particularly among younger Jewish Americans, has been turning against Israel. Then the BDS Movement arose to accomplish what a similar movement help to accomplish against apartheid South Africa: bringing world attention to an intolerable situation and take concrete steps to change it.

All of this has been too much for Israel’s ruling elite and its supporters in the United States, Great Britain, and elsewhere, and they are fighting back. They know they can’t win on the merits. Well-documented historical studies and basic morality have seen to that. So they smear their opponents as Jew-haters and supporters of terrorism. As one Israel lobby operator puts it in the Al Jazeera program, you discredit the message by discrediting the messenger — which is what The Israel Project, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Israel on Campus Coalition, Canary Mission, Emergency Committee on Israel, Israeli Embassy in Washington, Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs, and the other co-conspirators have set out to do. Their goal, as their leaders themselves acknowledge, is to identify criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. (Also see this.)

But it goes beyond that. The Israel lobby realizes that the anti-Semitism charge no long sticks so tenaciously to people who merely indict Israel for its obvious mistreatment of the Palestinians. So the lobby has resorted to a broader brush: it says that those who support BDS and the Palestinians are anti-American, anti-democracy, and anti-all-blessed-things. BDS and Students for Justice in Palestine, the lobby contends, are hate groups. This of course is patently absurd, but Israel’s side observes no limits it what it is willing to say and perhaps do to destroy the reputations anyone who realizes that the Israeli emperor has clothes.

Al Jazeera, the Electronic Intifada, Max Blumenthal’s The Gray Zone Project, and others have performed a much-needed service on behalf of freedom, justice, and decency. I urge you to watch this program and spread the word.

May’s Brexit Deal is an Insult to the British People

Ludwig Watzal

The British Prime Minister Theresa May presented the draft of the so-called Brexit deal with the EU to the House of Commons. The three-hour long confrontation showed that she would never get this deal approved, not even by her party. The MPs robbed the agreement like a dead body. Nevertheless, she insisted multiple times, “to see it through” because it would serve British national interests. Although May’s presentation in parliament was a disaster, she kept very coolly and resilient.

Close inspections reveal that this deal is a Greek gift to Great Britain and the British people. This deal will tie the UK forever and ever to the European Union. It’s absolute surrender to this anti-democratic European Union. Britain can’t negotiate individual trade agreements with any country, not even the United States. Such agreements stay an absolute prerogative of the EU! It’s precisely the opposite of what the British people have voted for on 23 June 2016. It’s not a complete reclamation of sovereignty but will degenerate the United Kingdom to a vassal state of the EU Commission. One has to ask, how Theresa May and her government could have approved such a horrible deal?

Many ministers and deputies resigned, the most famous one was the Brexit negotiator Dominic Raab. The latest opinion poll shows that less than 20 percent of the people back it. The EU got everything they ask for by May. The EU did not negotiate in good faith with the UK government. They stonewalled in every aspect of the process. The main aim of the EU was to demonstrate to the rest of the member states what comes up to a country that dares to leave this club.

This deal has no chance to get approved by the British parliament on 10 December. It’s dead in the water. May will face a no-confidence vote in her party. Neither the British people nor the conservative MPs have confidence in May anymore. She should be replaced by a Prime Minister who stands for a true Brexit and stands up to the EU Commission and its anti-democratic policy. The UK should get its full sovereignty and self-determination back and set an example to other countries who want to leave the EU. If the EU doesn’t make further elementary concessions, the UK should leave this crumbling European Union without a deal.

A separation from the EU would not lead to a disaster such as the German economic class wants the public to believe. They cry wolf to keep their financial and economic domination over Europe intact. The Brits can get along without the EU comfortably. Their exports amount into the EU only to seven percent of the total. Germany is much more dependent on the British market than vice versa. The British government could make good for the temporary dent in the export industry by stopping their amount to the EU.

“Brexit means Brexit. Britain won’t remain half in, half out” of the EU, once Theresa May said. On this promise, May has still to deliver.

India’s prosperity hinges on Religious Freedom

Mike Ghouse

The Indian-Americans have a moral duty to prevent India from being labeled as a “Country of Particular Concern” by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

If India were to be ascribed with such a label, it would hinder the flow of foreign direct investments and subsequent reversal of economic prosperity achieved in the last twenty years. This label may not affect the poor Indians, but it will severely impact all those Indians working in information technology related jobs and businesses involved in software development and services.

South Africa once was an apartheid nation, and its prosperity came to a grinding halt when the foreign corporations realized that they are supporting a regime that discriminates her citizens. The harassment, lynching, and killing of Dalits, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and others in India needs to stop; if not, it will hurt all Indians as the investors will start pulling out of the country. Who wants to invest in a place where their investment is not secure?

The success of the American economy is based on the rule of law, the law is enforced equally, and no criminal will get away with the power of his or he monies. If someone violates the rules, the individual or the company will pay the penalty, and this builds confidence and trust in the society and frees them from tensions. Every Indian should feel secure about his or her faith, ethnicity, language and culture.

The First Amendment of America’s constitution serves as a model of success for any government. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Ambassador Sam Brownback had once said that the prosperity of a nation hinges on religious freedom. Indeed, the success of a country is directly proportional to religious liberty. It frees people from the daily tensions of what to eat, drink, wear and believe. It allows them to become a productive employee to the company, and a fully participating member of the family by giving the family the full attention it deserves instead of worrying about a fellow employee at the place of work.

Furthermore, the quality of life is directly proportional to freedom from religious and cultural tensions.

The sense of security is diminishing rapidly. A Christian is apprehensive of going to the Church on a Sunday, and a Muslim is afraid of storing meat in his refrigerator should the vigilantes descend on him. The women including little girls are not safe either. The murderers and rapists got felicitated with Garlands from among the current leaders instead of sending them to prison. The man who lynched and brutally killed a Muslim man was videotaped and shared on WhatsApp, and the lyncher was rewarded with a party ticket to contest elections. This is shamefully a weekly occurrence.

Ambassador Brownback had once said referring to mob violence around the world. If the leaders respond immediately to such incidents and tell the nation that the lynching and harassment of fellow citizens will not be acceptable, then the violence will cease or at least mitigate. Unfortunately, the current Indian leadership has remained silent when vigilantes kill and maim the people, causing every Indian to live in fear – both the minorities and the ones who frighten.

Please note that Hindutva ideology propagated by RSS and its family of parties is not Hinduism. Hindutva is to Hinduism; what Islam is to Islamists. Hindutva and Islamist are anti-Hinduism and anti-Islam respectively. It may take a few generations for Hindutvadis and Islamists to see the value of respecting the otherness of the other and accepting the God-given uniqueness of the other. When we get there, conflicts will fade, and solutions emerge. Ultimately, every Indian wants to live in peace and feel secure about his faith and focus on contributing to the common good of the nation.

The Indian Americans have equal access to all the opportunities in the market without discrimination, and I hope the Indian Americans would want India to treat her minorities as America does hers. It is an embarrassment to note that a few Indian Americans don’t want Muslims, Christians, and Dalits to have equal rights in India. On top of it, they are poisoning their children with ill-will towards each other.

The good news is that most of the American Indian youth are rejecting the ugliness of their parents and choose to respect the otherness of the other. After all, they have to work with people of different faiths and races, and it would be a pain for them to work with others if their parents have dumped their biases on their children. Should parents poison their children?

We appeal to all the India oriented American organizations including the Hindu America Foundation, the Indian American Muslim Council, Federation of Indian American Christian Organization of North American to support our petition.

The petition will be addressed to the Government of India to issue Visa’s to the Commissioners of USCRIF. They can do the investigations about the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, Sikh Genocides, Gujarat Massacre, Lynching and harassment of Dalits, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and others.

If India gets a “Clean Chit” it will ensure continued prosperity and investor confidence in India’s democracy. However, if the Indian government is found guilty of the violations of religious freedoms, then two choices left to deal with are; risk losing the confidence of the investors in the stability of India, or fix the problems and earn a clean chit. Every Indian American must ensure the sustainability of India’s democracy and prosperity.

In Washington DC, there are three Indians who regularly attend the meetings about religious freedom issues from among about seventy-five individuals to talk about the concerns in different nations. Jay Kansara has been representing the Hindu America Foundation, John Prabhudoss represents Federation of Indian American Christians of North America, and Mike Ghouse serves the Center for Pluralism, standing up for the rights of people from all faiths. Now, Ajit Sahi of Indian American Muslim Council has joined the group to address Religious freedom issues of Indian minorities. The Dalits and Sikhs have been represented on an off by different visitors.

Swami Agnivesh was in Washington DC and spoke to a group of defenders of religious freedom across the world. The Ambassador of religious liberty Hon. Sam Brownback presided the meeting. He was eloquent and precise, and it was an honor to meet the man whom I have come to admire for his stand on eradicating bonded labor, and fighting for religious freedom of all Indians.

Here is a short speech of Swami Agnivesh – https://youtu.be/eIwPXyQQi7g

Full speech of Swami Agnivesh delivered to the Religious freedom roundtable, chaired by the US Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Hon. Sam Brownback.

Dear Ambassador Brownback and my fellow campaigners for human rights and religious freedom. I am grateful to you for this opportunity to speak here. Since the time allotted for me to speak is limited, I will get to the point immediately.

There is a grave threat today to civil liberties in general and religious freedom in particular in India. Indeed, the levels of violence we see in today’s India against the social and religious minorities are in many ways unprecedented in recent decades. The victims of such vicious violence are some of India’s poorest and most disadvantaged communities. They include Muslims, Christians, the Dalits, who are the former untouchables of the Hindu caste society, and the Adivasis, or the indigenous tribal people whose very existence is under threat.

Moreover, the perpetrators of this violence are directly linked with the RSS, which is the mother organization of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party. Especially since Mr. Modi became India’s prime minister in 2014, the attacks on the religious minorities have sharply increased. Armed mobs owing allegiance to the RSS and other Hindu groups have been lynching to death Muslims at will, accusing them of eating beef or slaughtering a cow. Such Hindu mobs also disrupt mixed-religion weddings in which the groom is Muslim, and the bride is Hindu because they don’t want Hindu girls to marry Muslim boys. There have been instances in which such Muslim grooms have been killed, too.

Similarly, these vigilante groups owing allegiance to the RSS have been attacking Christian Churches, priests, and congregants all over India. Once again, they blame the victims for the violence, accusing the Christians of converting Hindus to Christianity.

For thousands of years, the Dalits have suffered the worst violence and indignities at the hands of upper caste Hindus. However, now, that indignity is doubled because laws have been created to deny positive quota benefits to Dalits who convert out of Hinduism to Christianity and Islam. Converted Dalits face even greater violence and assault.

As for the Adivasis, the indigenous people, the RSS-BJP have for decades been forcing Hinduism on them even though millions of these Adivasis clearly state that they are not Hindus and they have their indigenous faiths. I have myself been a victim of their violence over the years. Twice in the last six months only I have been attacked by these violent mobs. Of course, it is futile to expect any police action against such violent perpetrators.

If I being a prominent human rights defender in India cannot expect the police to act against my attackers, you can imagine what would be the story of these social and religious minorities I have spoken about, the Dalits, the Adivasis, the Christians and the Muslims, who are being targeted in their hundreds of thousands across India.

Even more worrying is that some organizations in the United States that claim to represent the interest of the Hindus defend the highly divisive and violent activities of the RSS-BJP and instead blame the religious minorities. They try to create a false equivalence between the highly organized and structural violence of the RSS-BJP, who are in power in the federal government in India as well as more than a dozen and a half of India’s 29 states, and random acts of violence against Hindus that may occur.

The truth is that the biggest perpetrator of anti-minority violence in India is the RSS-BJP, which is now in power across India and is therefore grossly abusing its control of government machinery to provide impunity to its henchmen carrying out such violence. It would be a pity if the international community did not open its eyes and take notice of this worsening situation in the India of Mahatma Gandhi.

(Swami Agnivesh also added that he was coming from giving the keynote address at the Parliament for World’s Religions in Toronto, Canada and that the Hindu rightwing forces tried to prevent him from speaking there. He also said he had been a campaigner for justice for 50 years and had faced numerous attacks on his life, the most recent in Jharkhand in July, when hundreds of goons attacked him, and then again in Delhi in August. Swami Ji also spoke of his work with bonded laborers and said his organization had secured freedom and rehabilitation for more than 170,000 bonded laborers in India in the last thirty plus years.)

Educational Innovations through effective governance would be key to Sustainable Development Goals

Ravi Nitesh

While living in the world of information technology, today the ‘connectivity’ is what really matters. People of all age groups, gender, caste, religion and regions have access to global connectivity through internet available in their handsets and computers. This is comparatively a new phenomenon as a decade ago; neither connectivity nor hardware availability was in common reach, however with the visionary ideas of successive governments, gradually the connectivity was introduced. This enhanced connectivity and enhanced availability of hardware affected various fields of development. When it comes to education, that is one of the core foundations of development,  making people familiar with digital gadgets, computers becomes a primary need.

At a time when the world was working on laptops, many students in India were not even able to see how it looks like. They were unable to understand value of document storage in soft copies, e-books, soft note books and internet access. Having these was considered a privilege that could be entitled mostly by elites. Hardware (laptop/computer) was costly and a student could not afford to buy this on their own. Probably, by considering this need in Uttar Pradesh, It was the time when a political party named Samajwadi Party formed a new vision to remove this disparity. It is true that making an alignment with the time is what a wise decision should be and when it comes to ‘politics’, probably it should be more informed and visionary to take such decisions quickly.

In 2012, when the Samajwadi Party had brought a poll promise of laptop distribution to students with the aim to encourage them for higher education and remove disparity, the promise was very well received by people, particularly by youths. After forming the government, the party had distributed around 15 lacs laptops to students and it led the then U.P. Government of running world’s largest laptop distribution program.  Socialism, as understood with its theoretical form encourages bringing equality. In India, where inequality exists in social and economic status of population; this inequality affects educational system where poor, marginalised and deprived students do not get same opportunity as accessed by rich. To make balance, various schemes were made time to time, from mid-day meals to right to education. However, only ensuring the attendance in class cannot be said sufficient until students also receive useful resources to help them in their studies and to help them move with the time and technology. Another uniqueness of the program was the inclusiveness where students of all approved education systems (state and central boards, Sanskrit education, Urdu education and technical courses) were considered to take benefits to avoid any discrimination among them on the basis of their education system. A laptop couldn’t convert the life overnight, but could certainly help these students to dream and to achieve all what they want to. Success of the scheme can be understood with the fact that similar scheme was conducted by many other states also and even the present BJP government in Uttar Pradesh carried it.

As per report of All India Higher Education Survey, In India, enrolment in higher education (around 25%) is much lower than many countries (China 43%, USA 85%) and hence there is a strong need to frame policies that may encourage students to study, develop interest and understanding and getting enrolled for higher education. These can be achieved through working on focused approach starting from bringing equality and quality in primary, matric and intermediate levels; providing resources to students and to facilitate them to dream. This may be followed with establishing more universities and colleges to accommodate more and more students.  Facilitating students with laptops is not an imaginary or vague idea of equipping them towards education, but it also has proven research. A Michigan State University’s assistant professor researched in an educational institution about how distributing laptops to students can benefit their academics and found in its research results that students improved in various subjects and got opportunity to write, rewrite and edit their thoughts and answers. In many countries, students also have provisions to watch lectures of their teachers on laptops while at home.  Laptops allow enhanced access to technology, increase networking with peers, and develop enthusiasm and makes learning more interesting.

Though the Samajwadi Government had initiated the useful project of laptop distribution and the present government continued it, there is greater need now to bring more benefits with it where subject lectures can be recorded and stored, free connectivity can be provided to access academic resources and schools may have their digital libraries access with students laptops to allow them to go through various books, notes, assignments etc. Moreover, beneficiaries should also include open schooling system students. The state government may also consider creating a centralised portal where lectures on subject topics and standard books can be provided free. Doing these would be a serious effort towards SDG4 as it states ‘Achieving inclusive and quality education for all reaffirms the belief that education is one of the most powerful and proven vehicles for sustainable development. It also aims to provide equal access to affordable vocational training, to eliminate gender and wealth disparities, and to achieve universal access to quality higher education.’

Two Years after Demonetisation, the Nightmare Continues for India’s Informal Economy

Arun Kumar

The note-ban was a foolish attempt to tackle the black economy and a policy-induced self goal by the Narendra Modi government. The response to its fall-out is more authoritarianism.

Demonetisation is like a bad dream etched in our memories. Weddings were postponed and medical treatment was curtailed for lack of money. Long queues formed outside banks. Small businesses closed due to lack of working capital and their workers returned to their villages. Indians who never generated black money were the worst affected. Yet, the narrative that demonetisation would destroy the wealth of the corrupt was widely accepted.

This was because of the misperception that ‘black means cash’. If cash was squeezed out, the black economy would disappear at one stroke – justice being meted out to the corrupt. The Prime Minister said that for long-term gain one had to bear short-term pain. He likened it to ‘ahuti’ in a ‘yagya’. If the pain does not end in 50 days, Modi said, the public could give him any punishment and he would accept it.

Two years later, the pain persists but the government only continues to justify its error. It has refused to admit to the long-term damage to the economy, especially to marginalised Indians in the unorganised sectors. Instead, data from the organised sector is used to claim that the economy has recovered to a 7-8% rate of growth. This is treated as evidence that the pain was temporary.

The government did not survey the unorganised sectors to find out what was happening there. The underlying assumption is that the shock to the economy did not require a change in the old methodology for calculating growth. In that methodology, the organised sector is more or less the proxy for the unorganised sector. But the shock to the economy changed the ratio between the organised and the unorganised sectors. So, the ratio used prior to November 7, 2016, was no more valid after November 8, 2016.

Data from private surveys showed that the unorganised sector was hit hard. Surveys were conducted by Punjab Haryana Delhi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), All India Manufacturers Organization (AIMO), State Bank of India (SBI) and many others including NGOs. The RBI survey released in March 2017 showed a sharp decline in deremand for consumer durables and so on.

Agriculture faced a crisis due to notes shortage. Produce could not be sold, the sowing of crops was delayed and the demand for the perishables like vegetables collapsed. Prices fell sharply, thereby impacting incomes of farmers. Banking also went into a crisis since normal banking operations stopped for months. With industry, trade and agriculture facing a crisis, the problem of NPAs only increased.

According to the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE), investment fell sharply during that quarter. In effect, output, employment and investment declined, sending the economy into a tailspin from which it has not yet recovered. The impact of the goods and services tax (GST) from June-July 2017 again impacted the unorganised sectors and deepened the crisis. So, now the twin impact of demonetisation and GST is being felt in the economy. If the method of measuring quarterly growth of the economy is modified to take into account the decline in the unorganised sector (about 45% of GDP), the rate of growth would turn out to be less than 1% – what a crisis in an economy that was running well till October 2016.

Institutions like the RBI were damaged. Farmers, traders, workers and the young have been agitating. The government, sensing failure, has turned more authoritarian. The roots of the current problems with RBI are also contained in the impact of demonetisation. It was believed that Rs 3 to 4 lakh crore would not return and would become available to the government to give to the poor. Since this did not happen, now a dividend is sought from RBI out of its reserves.

Many identified the impact of demonetisation with a note shortage only. By the end of April 2017, 80% of the currency had come back into circulation and now it exceeds the amount on November 8, 2016.

Is the impact of demonetisation over? No. The impact was not just the shortage of currency in circulation, but via difficulties in transactions on the economy as a whole. It hit output, employment and investment, which will all have a long lasting impact.

All the demonetised notes were returned so little black money was squeezed out of the system. Black wealth held in the form of currency has got converted to new notes. People were being caught with lots of new currency. No one saw any rich people standing in the queues. They used various devices like Jan Dhan accounts, money mules and cash in hand to convert money.

Many saw demonetisation as a political move to eliminate the black money hoard held by the opposition before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. But the main reason was the constant attack by the opposition that the promised Rs 15 lakh per family had not materialised and it was just a ‘chunavi jumla’. The government’s steps to tackle the black economy such as the setting up of a SIT, the foreign money bill, Benami bill, etc., had yielded little results. The party in power needed a big bang and demonetisation was that step.

There are many misconceptions about the black economy. For instance, the promise to give every family Rs 15 lakh was based on the idea that all the black money is outside and can be easily brought back (within a month). If this was correct, demonetisation could not have worked because it has no impact on the black money held abroad. Further, only 10% of the black incomes generated annually go abroad and are partly round-tripped back. So, the bulk of it is here.

Another mistaken belief is that black incomes are generated in the informal sector. In a change of goal posts, it was argued that demonetisation will lead to the digitisation of the economy and to formalisation which would check the black economy.

But most incomes of this sector are way below the taxable limit. Black incomes are generated by only a few in this sector, like a well-off dhabawallah or a trader. Most black incomes are generated in the organised and formalised sectors, using under- and over-invoicing. If some from the informal sectors get formalised they would also resort to the same devices to generate black incomes.

Since all the money has come back into the banks, in another spin, the government has argued that a paper trail is now available to track those generating black incomes. To support this argument, data is cited on the increase in direct tax collection and the number of taxpayers. Given the expansion of the organised sectors at the expense of the unorganised and the rising disparities, this is to be expected. Further, the number of direct tax payers has increased due to the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission award.

However, the rise in tax collection is not commensurate with the increase in numbers. But this is nothing new. In the past also, a large number of those filing returns have either declared nil income or declared very low incomes. It is reported that tax officers have been given targets and they are forcing businesses to declare incomes. This will not last and there are complaints of selective tax terrorism. Possibly this is the reason that the number of millionaires leaving the country is rising rapidly.

In brief, the shortage of notes was painful and faded away slowly but its long term implications are playing out. Inadequate demand from the unorganised sectors which were hit hard, deterioration of the investment climate and the inadequate employment generation have meant that the crisis continues even today.

Demonetisation is a policy-induced self-goal which damaged several institutions. The response to its political fallout is more authoritarianism.