A Non-Traditional Security Perspective on Sino-Indian Border Management

Siwei Liu

The unresolved ‘border dispute’ is undoubtedly the core issue in Sino-Indian relations. Border issues are not only important for the two sides’ territorial and military security but also concern many non-traditional security issues, such as water resources and ecological environmental issues. In view of the fact that both countries are currently strengthening the exploitation and utilisation of related resources and carrying out infrastructure construction in the border areas, both China and India should pay more attention to protecting the local ecological environment. Otherwise environmental deterioration around Sino-Indian border areas may deepen mutual grievances and upgrade the current security dilemma between two Asian giants.

The intrusion of border issues in the development of bilateral relations between China and India in recent years is obvious. In addition to regular border negotiations, the two countries have spent much time and diplomatic effort in dealing with their differences and friction incidents on border issues, including the 2013 tent confrontation and 2017 Donglang crisis, which had significant negative impact on bilateral ties.

Admittedly, Sino-Indian border issues are very complicated and there are many reasons for dispute that are difficult to resolve. For instance, the present upsurge of nationalist sentiment in the two countries is undoubtedly one of the important reasons for this. It is worth mentioning that both sides intensifying their development and utilisation of related resources such as water and minerals, as well as infrastructure construction in the border areas over recent years, also seem to have deepened each other's suspicions and divergent attitudes. Both regard the other side’s actions as seeking to change the status quo.

Fortunately, both China and India are willing to make efforts to manage differences and avert conflict escalation. The two countries agreeing on the establishment of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs in 2012 can be regarded as one such effort. Thanks to these bilateral mechanisms, they have been able to maintain consultations and dialogue during crises. In addition, the respective top leaders having various meetings through multilateral platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) has provided a productive channel to ease the tense situation and manage differences. This may be an important reason why the two countries can safely weather all kinds of border crises.

However, numerous potential risks still exist and many issues need to be addressed by two sides. For instance, ecological environmental challenges in Sino-Indian border areas are one issue that deserves more attention from both China and India. The warming of the earth’s climate is accelerating the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas, and is inevitably threatening the ecological environment of border areas to some extent. Other potential challenges also cannot be ignored. Both countries have attached great importance to the development and utilisation of water and mineral resources projects in border areas. If these projects are not carried out according to strict green environmental regulations, they may have a negative impact on local ecological environments.

It is clear that if environmental problems are not taken seriously, they are likely to complicate the Sino-Indian border dispute further. Another salient example of the negative effects of these problems on the interaction between the two countries is the uneasiness both have concerning the other's dam construction along the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin.

In the future, China and India should ensure that every project in border areas is thoroughly studied and rigorously planned so that project aims and the need for ecological environmental protection can be taken into account. Water resource projects should take environmental protections especially seriously. Due to the growth of domestic water demand in both countries, it is foreseeable that their water development and utilisation projects around the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin will keep growing. It is necessary for both to ensure that those projects will not change and damage the quality of local soil and water resources.

In addition, the two countries should strengthen green cooperation more widely. Given the sensitivity of border issues, China-India green environmental cooperation in border areas faces certain difficulties. But much wider cooperation between the two sides should be enhanced, such as through joint reduction in air pollution, tackling global warming, improving wastewater treatment and other waste disposal, and engaging in other areas where their interests align. Exchange and cooperation between both sides’ environmental protection agencies should also be encouraged.

If possible, China and India could also try to jointly launch a Himalayan Regional Environmental Action Initiative and invite other countries in the region to create a multilateral platform for environmental information-sharing about the Himalayan region. They could both also strengthen joint actions in dealing with natural disasters and reducing environmental pollution with other stakeholders in the region.

Crick African Network (CAN) African Career Accelerator Awards 2019 for Early-career Researchers

Application Deadline:

• Deadline for Expression of Interest is 1st January 2019
• Deadline for full applications is 1st February 2019, 16:00 GMT

Eligible Countries: African countries

To Be Taken At (Country): The African Career Accelerator Awards Fellowships will be undertaken in two locations:

• At the Francis Crick Institute (‘the Crick’, UK) and
• At one of the five African partner institutions: The University of Ghana (Ghana), Stellenbosch University (South Africa), University of Cape Town (South Africa), MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM (The Gambia) and MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit.

About the Award: The Crick African Network’s African Career Accelerator awards will provide Fellowship support for African Post-Doctoral researchers aiming to make the transition to becoming an independent researcher and launching their own research group.
The CAN African Career Accelerator Awards will invest in early-career researchers who have demonstrated strong scientific and leadership potential, as well as a commitment to continuing their research on the African continent. This call is made possible by funding from the UK’s Global Challenges Research Fund.
The fellowships will accelerate careers that have already shown great potential both scientifically and in leadership. These awards will identify individuals who will go on to make significant contributions to research as well as science and knowledge on the African continent and applicants should articulate how this award would establish them as a research leader.

Research Areas: The scope of the research themes which can be undertaken as part of this Award can be defined as the infectious diseases of poverty, with an emphasis on Tuberculosis, Malaria and HIV/AIDS, but also extending to neglected tropical diseases or non-communicable diseases with an infection component.
Clinical research is possible, but will have to be discussed specifically with potential supervisors/ advisors and institutions to confirm whether resources are available to support the research.

Type: Research, PhD

Eligibility: To be eligible for the African Career Accelerator Awards:

• Applicants must be a citizen of one of the 55 African nations, as defined by the African Union.
• Applicants will also have a PhD and have no more than 6 years’ post-doctoral research experience (with allowances for legitimate career breaks) but more than 2 years’ post-doctoral experience unless the applicant has an outstanding track record, supported by publication and employment history.

Competitive applicants

• will have a strong track record of research.
• will have a PhD, and have progressed to a postdoctoral role through which they are on a demonstrable path to independence.
• Prior experience of applying for grant funding is desirable but not required.
• Neither is it essential to currently be employed on the African continent, but applications should demonstrate the applicant’s desire to establish themselves as an independent researcher on the African continent.

Selection Criteria: Applications will be assessed predominantly on the quality of the science proposed, which will take into account the project, the individual, the research environments and the timeliness, relevance and feasibility of the project, by peer reviewers. The leadership potential of applicants and statements from supervisors will also be taken into account.

Number of Awards: Up to 6

Value of Award: Each Fellowship has a value of up to approximately £130,000.

• Fellowships may include personal salary, visa costs and research expenses to implement the research.
• Provision has been made to cover costs of travel for both relocation and conferences, as well as research related costs for consumables.
• Each fellowship also includes the option of the purchase of up to two pieces of equipment, each up to a value of £10,000.
• Fellows will be supported by two supervisors/advisors: one each from the Crick and the chosen African partner institution, as well as having the option of support from one of the 14 Crick Science Technology Platforms (STP) which specialize in specific techniques and technologies.

In addition to conducting the proposed research programme, Fellows will participate in advanced training which will provide the skills and competencies to make the transition to becoming an independent research leader on the African continent. To facilitate this, Fellows will be supported to submit a research grant proposal to major international funders in order to be able to continue their work after the end of the Fellowship.

Duration of Programme: Up to two years. Fellowships will commence no later than 31^st March 2019.

How to Apply: To apply for the African Career Accelerator Awards, applicants must first submit a mandatory Expression of Interest form (see Link below for Expression of Interest form) by emailing it to CAN-Fellowships@crick.ac.uk.


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World Bank XL Africa Acceleration Program 2019 for Technology Start-ups in Francophone Africa

Application Deadline: 14th January 2019

Eligible Countries: Francophone African countries

To be taken at (country): Bamako, Mali and Paris, France

About the Award: The program highlights include two one-week residencies, one in Bamako, Mali and another in Paris, France, giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to grow their business network and learn from mentors, peers, and local partners. The France residency will culminate in the Venture Showcase at the 2019 VivaTech conference in Paris, where the founders will present their business models to a large audience of corporations, investors, technology experts and media.
The program has partnered with leading VC funds and angel groups active in Francophone Africa, including Orange Digital Ventures, Investisseurs & Partenaires, Brightmore Capital, AHL Ventures, Outlierz, TLcom Capital, Accion, Goodwell Investments, Blue Haven Ventures, Comoe Investments, and IFC Venture Capital. Associated investors will play a key role in vetting and selection process, and will guide the entrepreneurs through investor readiness process. L’Afrique Excelle will also collaborate with corporate partners, such as Orange and GSMA.

Type: Training, Entrepreneurship

Eligibility:

• Your startup is for profit and registered, with a team of at least three people
• Your team is based in Sahel & Francophone Africa (please see list further down this page for a list of eligible countries)
• You have a very strong management team
• You have a digital or tech product/service available on the market right now, with tangible traction and evidence of revenue
• You have the potential to scale
• You are seeking investment capital in the range of $250K – $1.5m
• While there will be exceptions, mostly likely your startup has already received investment capital, as debt or equity, or received grants from donor organizations.

Number of Awards: 20

Value of Award: Entrepreneurs will receive mentoring from global and local experts, learn through a tailor-made curriculum, increase their brand visibility, and get access to potential corporate partners and investors. Through collaboration with prominent Francophone Africa-focused investment groups, L’Afrique Excelle will help the selected start-ups attract early stage capital between $250,000 and $5 million.

How to Apply:  Apply now

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

The World Order that’s Now Emerging

Eric Zuesse

The Post-World-War-II world order was dominated by the one WW II major combatant that had only 0.32% of its population (the lowest percentage) killed by the war: the United States. The Soviet Union’s comparable number killed by the war was the highest — it was 13.7% — 42 .8.times higher than America’s. The U.S. was the main force that defeated Japan and so won WW II in Asia. The U.S.S.R., however, was the main force that defeated Germany and so won WW II in Europe. The U.S.S.R. suffered vastly more than did the U.S. to achieve its victory. In addition to suffering 42.8 times the number of war-deaths than did U.S., the U.S.S.R.’s financial expenditures invested in the conflict, as calculated by Jan Ludvik, were 4.8 times higher than were America’s financial expenditures on the war.

Thus, at the war’s end, the Soviet Union was exhausted and in a much weaker condition than it had been before the war. By contrast, the U.S., having had none of the war’s battles occurring on its territory, was (by comparison) barely even scratched by the war, and it was thus clearly and overwhelmingly the new and dominant world-power emerging from the war.

That was the actual situation in 1945.

The U.S. Government did not sit on its haunches with its enormous post-war advantage, but invested wisely in order to expand it. One of the first investments the U.S. made after the war was the Marshall Plan to rebuild the European countries that had now become the U.S. aristocracy’s vassal-states. The heavily damaged U.S.S.R. possessed no such extra cash to invest in (rebuilding) its vassals. Furthermore, the U.S.S.R.’s communist regime was additionally hobbled by Karl Marx’s labor theory of value, which produced prices that contained no useful information about demand and thus no constructive information for planners. (Planning is essential regardless whether an enterprise is private or public.) Thus, the U.S.S.R. was doomed to lose in its economic competition with The West, so that the Cold War was actually a losing proposition for them, from the very start of the post-war era. America’s post-WW-II dominance, combined with Marx’s crippling economic theory, and produced the exodus of East Europeans to The West.

America’s aristocracy thus increasingly rose on top internationally. Like any aristocracy, the American aristocracy’s main concerns were foreign trade, and so U.S. international corporations increasingly expanded even at the expense of the corporations owned by its competing, now-vassal, aristocracies, and the U.S. aristocracy’s corporations and brands thus came to dominate the entire capitalist sphere. The growth-bug, if it becomes an addiction, is itself a disease. Out of control, it is a cancer, which can destroy the organism. This is what happened in America. Conquering also the communist sphere was the U.S. aristocracy’s long-term goal, so that they would ultimately dominate every nation, the entire world. By the time of 1980, the U.S. aristocracy’s top goal (world domination) became also the U.S. Government’s top goal. The cancer had spread to the culture’s brain. Growth, backed by “Greed is good” economics, became practically the American religion, viewed as patriotic, and not merely as the nation’s economic model (which was bad enough, with its increasingly imperialistic thrust — such as 2003 Iraq, 2011 Libya, 2012- Syria, 2014 Ukraine, 2016- Yemen, and maybe now Iran).

America’s unchallengeable dominance lasted from then till now, but clearly has now reached near its end. The United States is trying to restore its post-Soviet (post-1991) global supremacy, by intensifying the U.S. regime’s secret war against Russia and its allies, which started on the night of 24 February 1990 and which could reach a crescendo soon in WW III unless something will be done by America’s allies to force the by-now wildly flailing U.S. aristocracy to accept peacefully the end of the American aristocracy’s hegemony — the termination of their, until recently, unchallengeable control over the world. By now, with the Soviet Union and its communism and its Warsaw Pact mirror of America’s NATO military alliance gone since 1991 and yet no peace-dividend but only ever-increasing wealth-concentration into the tiny number of billionaires who benefit from war weaponry-sales and conquests, America needs to abandon its addiction to growth, or else it will proceed forward on its current path, to WW III. That’s its current path.

According to Josh Rogin in the Washington Post on November 14th, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence had just said, as Rogin phrased it, that “the United States has no intention of ceding influence or control over the [Pacific] region to Beijing” and that if China won’t do everything that the U.S. demands, then the U.S. is fully prepared to force China to obey. The same newspaper had earlier presented Robert D. Kaplan, on October 9th, saying, “The United States must face up to an important fact: the western Pacific is no longer a unipolar American naval lake, as it was for decades after World War II. The return of China to the status of great power ensures a more complicated multipolar situation. The United States must make at least some room for Chinese air and naval power in the Indo-Pacific region.” But the U.S. regime is now making clear that it won’t do that.

The U.S. regime appears to be determined to coerce both Russia and China to comply with all American demands. With both of those countries, as with Iran, the U.S. regime is now threatening hot war. Trump, as the “deal-maker,” is offering no concessions, but only demands, which must be complied with, or else. The United States is threatening WW III. But what nations will be America’s allies, this time around? If many European nations abandon the U.S., then what?

Key for the U.S. regime is keeping the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

Rockefeller Capital Management, Global Foresight, Third Quarter 2018  presents Jimmy Chang, Chief Investment Strategist, headlining “Nothing Trumps the Dollar, Yet”. He writes: “The reserve currency status gives the U.S. a significant advantage in handling its finances. American economist Barry Eichengreen observed that it cost only a few cents for the U.S. to print a $100 bill, but other countries would need to produce $100 of actual goods or services to obtain that $100 bill. The world’s need for the greenback allows the U.S. to issue debt in its own currency at very low interest rates. French Finance Minister Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who later became the president, coined [in 1965] the term ‘exorbitant privilege’ to describe America’s advantage” of the U.S. dollar over any other nation’s currency. That “exorbitant advantage” never went away. Chang concludes: “As for the King Dollar, its short-term outlook appears robust.” However, few other observers now share that view. Increasing numbers of countries are pricing goods in other currencies, and China’s yuan and the EU’s euro are especially significant contenders to end dollar-dominance and to end the advantages that U.S.-based international corporations enjoy from dollar-dominance.

Other than dollar-dominance, the key barrier to world peace is NATO, the military alliance of the northern aggressor-nations. Proposals have been put forth for the EU to have its own army, which initially would be allied with NATO (i.e., with the U.S. regime). On November 17th, Russian Television bannered “EU army: Will it be easy for Europe to get rid of American political diktat?” and pointed to the U.S. vassal-nations that would be especially likely to stay in NATO: UK, Poland, Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Perhaps the other EU nations and Russia could form their own military alliance, which will formally be committed to the independence of those U.S. vassal-nations, and which will welcome individual peace-treaties with each of them, so as to indicate that aggression is only the U.S. regime’s way, and thus to lay the groundwork for peace instead of war, going forward. Clearly, the people who control the U.S. are addicted to invasions and coups (“regime-change”s), instead of to respecting the sovereignty of each nation and the right of self-determination of people everywhere. America’s conquest-addiction threatens, actually, every other nation.

Perhaps a reformed and truly independent EU can provide the new reserve currency, and also in other ways the foundation for global peace between nations. NATO will be irrevocably opposed to this, but it could happen. And if and when it does, it might tame the aristocratic beast that rides the American warfare state, but this isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. A step forward toward it is the courageous statement by “The Saker” at the American news-commentary site, Unz dot com, on November 15th, “Thanking Vets for Their ‘Service’ – Why?” He boldly notes that after World War II, all U.S. invasions have been criminal, and that it’s a remarkably long string of evil — and this doesn’t even include the many coups, which have likewise destroyed some nations.

Nationalism is just as evil in today’s America as it was in Hitler’s Germany. It is hostile to people in any other nation. It demands conquest. And wherever nationalism rules, patriotism dies and is replaced by nationalism.

Only by restoring patriotism and eliminating nationalism can WW III be avoided. Ending dollar-dominance is part of the path toward an internationally peaceful world that focuses more on serving the public’s needs and less on serving the aristocrats’ cravings. But ending NATO is also necessary.

Either these things will be done, or there will be WW III.

Protests over PetroCaribe continue as Haitian president seeks imperialist support

John Marion

For the second time in a month, thousands of Haitians took to the streets on Sunday to demand that the government come clean about embezzlement of PetroCaribe funds, and to call for the ouster of President Jovenel Moïse.

Tires were set on fire in the streets of Port-au-Prince, and rocks were thrown at the office building of Prime Minister Jean-Henry Céant. More than 3,000 police were deployed in the capital. As of Sunday evening, 11 people had been killed across the country, 45 injured and 75 arrested, according to protest organizers.

November 18 was chosen as a protest date because it was the anniversary of the 1803 Battle of Vertières, in which Haitian forces under General Jean Jacques Dessalines triumphed over French troops shortly before Haiti won formal independence.

Although Sunday’s protests were smaller than those held on October 17, they posed enough of a threat to Moïse that he did not travel to Cap-Haïtien for the traditional ceremony marking the day. Only a year ago, he used the occasion to announce the remobilization of the Haitian army, which had been disbanded in 1994 by Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Haiti signed onto Venezuela’s PetroCaribe program in 2006. It is structured so that the Haitian government buys petroleum products on credit, sells them domestically, and then has 25 years to repay the Venezuelan government at very low interest rates. The funds retained by the Haitian government are supposed to be used for development and infrastructure projects. In reality, millions of dollars have been siphoned off by construction and energy companies in fraudulent schemes, or used for the purchase of police vehicles. Much of the corruption happened under President Michel Martelly, Moïse’s predecessor and mentor.

From the start of Haiti’s PetroCaribe participation through March 31, 2014, 29.4 million barrels of petroleum products were shipped from Venezuela to Haiti, and the Haitian government has reimbursed less than half the value. The growing protest movement has been demanding to know what happened to the rest of the money. Moïse has blocked Senate investigations into the question.

The Superior Court for Accounts and Administrative Litigation (CSCCA), which is in Moïse’s pay, also tried to stall investigations. However, it has done an about-face in response to the protests and is now promising an investigation to be completed in January.

The October 17 protests saw tens of thousands take to the streets across Haiti. Although a weekday, it was a holiday for workers because it marks the day when Dessalines was killed in 1806. Of the 10 departments in the country, only Nippes did not see large marches.

According to a report by the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH), three young protesters were arrested in the Martissant neighborhood of Port-au-Prince and executed in cold blood. Two journalists were threatened by police who fired their guns in the air and tried to confiscate a camera. A week later, on October 25, a protester was bludgeoned by the Haitian National Police for carrying a protest sign that depicted a replica of a check from the Venezuelan government to the Haitian government.

Eight people were killed on October 17. Two weeks later, on October 31, a funeral was held for six of the dead in the Port-au-Prince slum of Bel Air. The RNDDH report documents that Haitian National Police from the BOID (Brigade of Operations and Departmental Interventions) and UDMO (the Departmental Unit for the Maintenance of Order) were deployed outside. Funeral attendees threw stones and bottles and shouted that they didn’t need to be protected by the assassins themselves.

The police responded by firing their guns for 30 minutes, along with tear gas. While no one was hurt, panic filled the chapel and the funeral was delayed. As of November 9, two of the families still didn’t know where their children had been buried.

After the funeral, a march to protest the October 17 deaths was organized and it grew into a protest demanding information about the PetroCaribe corruption. During the march, one man was shot to death and at least eight others were injured by bullets.

There are also allegations that members of the BOID helped a gang leader called Ti Junior carry out a massacre in La Saline on November 13. More than 20 people were killed and their bodies left in piles of garbage on the street.

Moïse Jean-Charles, a former senator who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016, has been

seeking to divert the PetroCaribe protests into his Pitit Dessalines movement. His supporters have provocatively hoisted red and black flags in Cap-Haïtien and Port-au-Prince and carried them in marches. These colors were used by Dessalines before they were replaced with red and blue in 1806; the Duvalier dictatorship resurrected the red and black flag in 1964.

Jean-Charles ran on a program advocating political and economic sovereignty—particularly through making Haiti agriculturally self-sufficient—and a strong national government. In his biography, he boasts of his admiration for Fidel Castro, “whom on many occasions he had the privilege and honor of meeting.”

The United States and other imperialist powers are planning their next moves in response to the deepening crisis. US Ambassador Michèle Sison has met behind closed doors with the head of the two houses of parliament, while Prime Minister Céant met with Core Group representatives (from the UN, the OAS, the EU, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Brazil and the United States) at the Canadian embassy. After violent protests in July against austerity measures, the Core Group haughtily declared that “while concerns about the difficulties of everyday life are legitimate, nothing can justify behaviors that may threaten…the safety of property, as well as the progress made in recent years in terms of stability and security and democratic progress in Haiti.”

President Moïse has met with the UN special representative for Haiti and with members of the country’s big bourgeoisie. Helen Meagher La Lime, the chief of the UN’s MINUJUSTH police force, met with Senate President Joseph Lambert, who tweeted afterward that “they recognized together the urgent necessity of reinforcing Haitian institutions that are too often broken.”

Céant was sworn in as prime minister on September 17, two months after the July protests led to his predecessor’s resignation. Since October 17, there have already been calls for Céant to fire cabinet ministers.

UN says millions in Britain deliberately plunged into “great misery”

Robert Stevens

The report on poverty and human rights in Britain by United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston is an extraordinary depiction of the social catastrophe devastating the working class.

For years, the special rapporteur only investigated “developing” countries such as China, Ghana and Mauritania, where “extreme poverty” is endemic.

However, the offensive against the working class in the advanced capitalist countries is so severe that Alston has been forced to turn his attention to them. He visited the United States in 2017, where he was confronted with levels of poverty and inequality that “shocked” him.

Alston has now published a 24-page UK report into nine cities, including London, Oxford, Newcastle, Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast.

Opening the London press conference on his findings last week, Alston said that he wanted to contrast the “great prosperity in Britain,” the fifth largest economy in the world, with the fact “that a fifth of the people, 14 million people, are living in poverty. Four million of those are more than 50 percent below the poverty lines and one and half million are destitute.”

Child poverty rates are “staggering” and “are predicted to go up significantly over the next couple of years.”

Millions of people are suffering “great misery,” he writes, as “British compassion for those who are suffering has been replaced by a punitive, mean-spirited, and often callous approach.”

There is an “immense growth in foodbanks and the queues waiting outside them, the people sleeping rough in the streets, the growth of homelessness, the sense of deep despair that leads even the Government to appoint a Minister for suicide prevention and civil society to report in depth on unheard of levels of loneliness and isolation. …

“For almost one in every two children to be poor in twenty-first century Britain is not just a disgrace, but a social calamity and an economic disaster, all rolled into one.”

Most telling of all is Alston’s revelation that the impoverishment of the working class is a deliberate policy. Alston declares that austerity is not simply determined by economic circumstances but is driven by a political agenda for “radical social re-engineering.”

“Successive governments have brought revolutionary change in both the system for delivering minimum levels of fairness and social justice to the British people, and especially in the values underpinning it. Key elements of the post-war Beveridge social contract [welfare state] are being overturned,” he concludes.

Alston quotes National Audit Office figures showing that local governments in England have seen central government funding halved over the last seven years. As a result, more than 500 children’s centres closed between 2010 and 2018 and more than 340 libraries closed between 2010 and 2016.

The resulting level of social misery is appalling. “In England, homelessness is up 60% since 2010, rough sleeping is up 134%. There are 1.2 million people on the social housing waiting list, but less than 6,000 homes were built last year.”

Alston writes, “During my visit I have spoken with people who depend on food banks and charities for their next meal, who are sleeping on friends’ couches because they are homeless and don’t have a safe place for their children to sleep.”

The use of food banks is “up almost four-fold since 2012…there are now about 2,000 food banks in the UK, up from just 29 at the height of the financial crisis.”

The working poor are turning to food banks in droves. The Trussell Trust charity that runs many food banks told Alston that “one in six people referred to their food banks is in work. One pastor said, ‘The majority of people using our food bank are in work. … Nurses and teachers are accessing food banks.’ ”

Millions more are on the verge of going under: “A social safety net is not just for people already in poverty. … Many families are living pay check to pay check. And 2.5 million people in the UK survive with incomes no more than 10% above the poverty line. They are thus just one crisis away from of falling into poverty through no fault of their own.”

A sizable section of Alston’s report deals with the suffering imposed by the punitive Universal Credit (UC) system, which the government is attempting to roll out nationally during this Parliament. He notes: “no single program” involves the “promotion of austerity programs more than Universal Credit.” The move to UC was the government “wanting to make clear that being on benefits should involve hardship.”

Even claiming UC proves impossible for many people due to it being an entirely online process. Not only does “digital by default” entail severe hardship for claimants, but UC is “designed with a five-week delay between when people successfully file a claim and when they receive benefits. Research suggests that this ‘waiting period,’ which actually often takes up to 12 weeks, pushes many who may already be in crisis into debt, rent arrears, and serious hardship, requiring them to sacrifice food or heat.”

Central to UC is the “imposition of draconian sanctions, even for infringements that seem minor. Endless anecdotal evidence was presented…to illustrate the harsh and arbitrary nature of some of the sanctions, as well as the devastating effects that resulted from being completely shut out of the benefits system for weeks or months at a time. As the system grows older, some penalties will soon be measured in years.”

So draconian is UC, that Alston recalls conversations with local authorities and the voluntary sector “about their preparations” for its rollout. “I was struck by how much their mobilization resembled the sort of activity one might expect for an impending natural disaster or health epidemic. They have expended significant expense and energy to protect people from what is supposed to be a support system.”

Alston writes, “We are witnessing the gradual disappearance of the post-war British welfare state behind a webpage and an algorithm. … The impact on the human rights of the most vulnerable in the UK will be immense.”

He draws attention to the statement of philosopher Thomas Hobbes that without a social contract, life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

Turning the clock back decades, to the era before the existence of welfare state provision, will provoke a social backlash, Alston warns. “Almost all studies have shown that the UK economy will be worse off because of Brexit, with consequences for inflation, real wages, and consumer prices.”

If current policies “towards low income working people and others living in poverty are maintained. … This could well lead to significant public discontent, further division and even instability.”

Speaking to Channel Four News, Alston said government figures he spoke to “were pretty much unconcerned” about the devastation their policies had wrought and were “in denial.”

This is a charitable statement, given his insistence that austerity is a deliberate policy of social engineering. The newly appointed work and pensions secretary, Amber Rudd, is the former home secretary and a pro-European Union (EU) “Remainer.” Confirming the hostility to the working class shared with the “Brexiteers,” Rudd rejected Alston’s findings. Adopting a pose of outrage, she expressed how “disappointed” she was “by the extraordinary political nature of his language,” which “discredited a lot of what he was saying.”

This is a declaration by the ruling elite that, in or out of the EU, the offensive against the working class will continue unabated.

Thousands of Austrian metal workers on strike

Markus Salzmann

Since the beginning of last week, several thousand workers have been striking in the Austrian metal industry. Hundreds of plants across the country are affected by temporary work stoppages. A total of 130,000 workers are employed in the Austrian metal industry. They are striking for higher wages and against the tightening of labour laws by the right-wing government.

Company representatives broke off the pay negotiations for a collective agreement two weeks ago. Even during the talks, the chairman of the Association of Metallurgical Industry (FMTI), Christian Knill, announced to the media that he did not expect an agreement and that the companies were prepared for “combat measures.” As a result, the Production Union (Pro-Ge) and the Union of Private Employees, Printing, Journalism, Paper (GPA-djp) called for warning strikes. Since then, company representatives and trade unions have met several times, but without reaching an agreement. This week could lead to full-time strikes.

The unions are calling for a 5 percent wage increase and a mitigation of the new working time rules, with measures such as higher overtime pay increases. The government, a coalition of the right-wing conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) and right-wing extremist Freedom Party (FPÖ), has tightened labour legislation since September 1. Now, companies are allowed to work their employees up to 12 hours a day, 60 hours a week. The government had passed the amendment in close consultation with the companies.

The industrialists had initially offered a wage increase of 2 percent and then raised this to 2.7 percent, which is still a provocation. The annual inflation rate in Austria is 2.4 percent.

The government has arrogantly brushed aside any criticism of the tightening of labour laws. Minister of the Economy Margarete Schramböck (ÖVP) even claimed in parliament that workers would benefit from longer working hours. According to unconfirmed sources, the government is already planning further tightening of labour laws.

After pressure from workforces inside the plants, the unions responded with a warning strike. The trade unions, which are closely linked to the Social Democratic SPÖ, continue to move to the right with their accelerating decline and strictly reject a confrontation with government and business. With his assumption of office in June, the new head of the trade union federation (ÖGB), Wolfgang Katzian, had signalled the readiness of the ÖGB to cooperate and declared: “We are not a thorn in the side of the government, the economic chamber or anybody else.”

Although the union speaks of “compensating” for the effects of tightening the law in collective agreements, it strictly rejects a fight against the anti-social legislation.

In recent decades, there have rarely been major industrial disputes in the Austrian metal industry, and they have mostly been suppressed and sold out by the SPÖ and the trade unions. The biggest metal strike took place in May 1962. In 2003, opposition to the government’s pension reform (also an ÖVP and FPÖ coalition) led to the largest mass protests since 1945. In that year over 10 million working hours were lost in Austria due to strikes.

The last major strike in the metal industry took place in October 2011, when collective bargaining faltered. The workforces of almost all metal companies participated in work stoppages. The mass strike potential of the then more than 200,000 workers shocked the ÖGB. They stopped the strikes after a few days and started new negotiations, ultimately agreeing to a moderate wage increase.

As in many other European countries, protests against low wages and poor working conditions have become increasingly common in Austria. Tens of thousands of social workers took part in a warning strike in February. They called for a reduction in working hours with full pay compensation. Shortly before the beginning of a major strike wave, the union agreed with the employers’ camp and negotiated a ridiculous wage increase of 2.5 percent. The demand for shorter working hours was swept aside.

The unions are unwilling to tackle the ÖVP-FPÖ government’s social attacks. Under the guise of small-scale, superficial criticism, the ÖGB and its affiliated unions have increasingly adapted to the right-wing, anti-working-class policy of the government. Ex-ÖGB leader Erich Foglar, who was in office until the summer, had even publicly called for cooperation with the right-wing extremist FPÖ at the highest level. Josef Muchitsch, the head of Bau-Holz trade union, is also seen as championing close cooperation with the far right.

Preparing for a violent confrontation, the government is exploiting the unions’ sabotage of a growing willingness among workers to fight. Just a few weeks after its swearing-in, the government launched the “security package” that undermined basic democratic rights and created authoritarian structures. Now they are preparing further surveillance and censorship measures on the Internet.

Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) and Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ) have announced their intention to introduce a “digital anti-mask law” to make “association on the Internet more respectful.” Strache said they wanted to better define “hate speech” and “swiftly hold perpetrators to account.” He did not say anything more concrete. Since the FPÖ maintains close ties with neo-Nazis and the identity politics milieu, one can easily imagine how they will define the term “hate speech.”

According to the Wiener Standard, the government is considering extending the already existing duty of disclosure. Currently, Internet platform operators are required to provide user information when it comes to prosecuting criminal charges. The storage and disclosure obligations of the operators could now be extended. In addition, the government in Vienna wants to introduce a network enforcement law based on the German model, which obliges Internet platforms to censor far and wide. Chancellery Minister Gernot Blümel (ÖVP) told Austrian Broadcasting Corporation that the feasibility of a network enforcement law in Austria is currently being examined.

Thousands of GM salaried workers to lose jobs in 2019

Jerry White

Thousands of salaried employees at General Motors in the US and Canada will be thrown out of their jobs at the beginning of 2019 as the Detroit-based automaker accelerates its cost-cutting campaign. The white-collar job cuts, which are also coming at Ford, are part of an expected blood-letting of salaried and hourly jobs amid declining sales worldwide and telltale signs of an impending restructuring of the global auto industry.

Lordstown Assembly Complex

GM sources told the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News that at least 3,000 employees would be terminated because not enough had agreed to “voluntary buyout” offers sent out last month. The company is targeting 17,700 salaried workers with at least 12 years’ experience or more than a third of its white-collar workforce in North America.

According to internal sources who spoke to the Detroit media outlets, GM hoped to get at least 7,000 white-collar workers to sign up for the buyout offer by noon Monday, but managers told employees late last week that only 4,000 had done so. “That means 3,000 or more salaried workers in North America could be terminated starting in January if the automaker in fact opts for forced job cuts, which it has said it would consider if buyouts fell short,” the Free Press wrote.

GM managers held staff meetings last Thursday and Friday to ratchet up pressure on salaried workers to take the deals, which include six months’ of pay and health care coverage. It is unlikely many more will opt to do so since this is exactly the same severance package for a GM employee with 12 years or more seniority who is involuntarily terminated.

According to one source who spoke to the Free Press, “GM will complete the voluntary buyouts by Nov. 29. The managers we’ve talked to are already making their list and will select their cuts in January.” On January 15, he said, GM will announce the involuntary job eliminations, and “walk people out.”

Industry analysts said the cuts targeting engineers, designers, mid-level managers and others are only a prelude to slashing thousands of production workers’ jobs. Market economist Jon Gabrielsen, an adviser to the auto industry, told the Free Press, "I absolutely still believe that 7,000 to be the salaried job reduction number for GM in metro Detroit over the course of an auto downturn in the next two to three years, plus as much as another 7,000 in hourly based on how much sales soften," he said.

The global automakers are under enormous pressure from Wall Street to increase profit margins and shareholder payouts despite falling sales. Last month, GM reported that its third-quarter operating profits in North America increased by 37 percent to $2.8 billion despite an 11 percent drop in sales during the quarter in the company’s key US market.

Lordstown workers on last day of the second shift in June

In an internal memo obtained by the Free Press, which was sent out to managers after the profit announcement, GM said, "We can't confuse progress with winning. Today, our structural cost is not aligned with the market realities nor the transformational priorities ahead. We must take significant actions now while our company and the economy are strong” to “reduce structural costs and improve vehicle profitability."

While GM is planning to cut $6.5 billion in costs, it has squandered over $10 billion in stock buybacks and dividend payouts for its richest investors since 2017, and $25 billion since 2012.

Earlier this month Ford said it will reduce its salaried US workforce of 70,000 employees by an unspecified number as part of its $11 billion “fitness” cost-cutting plan. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas projected a 12 percent cut in Ford staff worldwide in a note to investors in August saying, “We do not see restructuring at Ford as a ‘nice to have’… but as a crucial step to set the global business on a more balanced footing.”

While seeking to slash jobs all of the automakers have increased the number of white-collar workers hired through temporary agencies who receive lower pay and few, if any, health care and pension benefits.

At the same time, the Detroit-based automakers have carried out temporary layoffs of production workers and permanent jobs cuts and plant closings are expected. Last month, Ford idled its Kansas City, Missouri plant, putting 2,000 workers on temporary layoff, and Fiat Chrysler idled workers at its Indiana transmission plants.

With sales of its Chevy Cruze compact falling, there are widespread concerns that GM may close its assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio, halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. GM laid off 1,200 workers when it eliminated the third shift at the plant last year and another 1,200 workers when the second shift ended in June.

A second-tier worker at Fiat Chrysler’s Belvidere, Illinois assembly plant told the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter that threats are being spread about the possible elimination of one shift at that facility. “A supervisor told me to start watching the Illinois.gov WARN site for them to post a 60-day notice of layoff,” the worker said, adding, “our union steward said there is a very good chance that we will be laid off December 15 for an unspecified amount of time. More and more talk of eliminating the first shift is causing people to transfer departments and shifts in hope of saving their jobs.”

Temporary layoffs have hit a number of Fiat Chrysler facilities including Belvidere Assembly and Kokomo, Indiana transmission plants.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) has not even made a pretense of opposing jobs cuts, echoing management’s claims they are necessary to ensure continued profitability in the face of slowing sales. The automakers have been able to extract huge profits in North America, despite falling sales, with the collusion of the UAW, which has signed labor agreements slashing the wages of new hires, eliminating income security for laid off workers and expanded the number of temporary part-time workers who pay union dues but have no rights and do not qualify for supplemental unemployment benefits.

The salaried and hourly job cuts are clearly a shot across the bow of autoworkers in advance of the negotiations for new labor agreements, after the current deals expire in September 2019. The threat of plant closures and mass layoffs were used by the automakers and the UAW to ram concession deals past the opposition of workers who initially voted down a contract at Fiat Chrysler in the first such defeat of a UAW-backed national deal in three decades.

In a letter sent to workers UAW Vice President for GM Terry Dittes made it clear the UAW would try to blackmail workers with job threats once again. “Filling our plants with product” would be the UAW’s top priority in the 2019 contract negotiations Dittes said before echoing Trump’s American First nationalism by railing against GM for expanding production in Mexico and China.

This underscores the need for autoworkers to build new organizations of struggle, including factory committees, controlled by rank-and-file workers themselves and independent of the corporate-controlled UAW, to wage a collective fight against coming attack on jobs and living standards. Such a fight must unite workers throughout the world against the transnational auto companies and the capitalist profit system, which enriches the corporate and financial elite at the expense of workers the world over.

“They’re instilling fears about cutting a shift and eliminating anyone hired after 2011,” the Belvidere worker told the Autoworker Newsletter. “Threatening more layoffs, all tactics are to get tier-two employees to take whatever they throw at us in upcoming contract negotiations.”

The worker referred to the corruption scandal that has erupted in the UAW, which revealed how union negotiators had taken million in bribes to sign “company friendly agreements.” “The tides have shifted. The UAW is no longer on our side and they haven't been in a long time. The more these cases are exposed, the more apparent that is becoming. It’s very sad, but it’s true.”

PTDF Masters & PhD Scholarships 2019/2020 for Study in UK, Germany and France

Application Deadline: 31st December 2018

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Nigeria

Fields of Study:  For 2019, the scholarships will be restricted to select courses (available on the PTDF website)

About the Award: Under this scheme, candidates are invited to apply through PTDF to specific programmes at the partner institutions in any of the countries (full list of sponsored courses is available below). The award includes the provision of flight tickets, payment of health insurance, payment of tuition and bench fees (where applicable) as well as the provision of allowances to meet the costs of accommodation and living expenses. The programmes will also include language classes to aid scholars settle into their new environments.

Type: Masters, PhD

Selection Criteria and Requirements: PTDF scholarships are highly competitive and only candidates who are outstanding across the board are selected. A selection committee will be constituted to assess applications using the following criteria;

• Academic merit as evidenced by quality of degrees, full academic transcripts, other professional qualifications acquired, and relevant publications (where available) to be referenced by applicants
• Awards for leadership and/or academic excellence (where available).
• Membership of professional bodies
• The viability of the study/research plan.
• Applicants are required to make a case for their scholarship by submitting a statement of purpose (maximum 500 words) stating the reason(s) they want to undertake the study, the relevance of the proposed study to the oil & gas industry and its expected impact on national development.

Requirements:

MSc

1. A minimum of Second Class Upper (2.1) qualification in their first degree or a Second Class Lower (2.2) with relevant industry experience
2. Must have completed the mandatory National Youth Service (NYSC)
3. Must be computer literate
4. Possession of 5 O/level credits including English Language.

PhD

1. Must have completed the mandatory National Youth Service (NYSC)
2. Must be computer literate
3. A minimum of Second Class Lower (2.2) in their first degree and a good second-degree certificate;
4. Must submit a research proposal relevant to the oil and gas industry (of not more than 5 pages) to include: Topic, introduction, objective, methodology and mode of data collection (Click here for a sample of Ph.D. research proposal format)
5. Applicants must also include their master’s degree project

Number of Scholarships: Several

Value of Scholarship: Full scholarship

Duration of Scholarship: for the duration of the degree programme

How to Apply: 

• Click the here or follow this link http://ptdf.flexisaf.com/
•  Applicants are advised to read through the requirements in the link below before applying.
• GOODLUCK!

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ISTR/WITS Africa PhD Seminar 2019 at Wits Business School, Johannesburg, South Africa

Application Deadline: 15th December 2018

Eligible Countries: African countries

To be taken at (country): South Africa

About the Award: The PhD Seminar is scheduled for May 14-15, 2019 prior to the first annual Conference on Philanthropy, organized by the Wits Business School’s Centre for Philanthropy and Social Investment in collaboration
with the Center for African Studies at Harvard University, TrustAfrica and Africa Philanthropy Forum on May 16-17, 2019. The conference will be held at the WBS School. The conference will address themes that include private sector giving, impact investing, sustainable development goals, philanthropy, civil society and various other topics. PhD Seminar students are required to attend the conference.

Type: PhD, Conference

Eligibility:

• Students must be currently enrolled in a university and must be able to attend the entire PhD Seminar and Philanthropy Conference
• . Past participants of ISTR Seminars are welcome to apply to participate.

Number of Awards: Approximately 20 doctoral students will be accepted.

Value of Award: ISTR/WITS will cover the cost of shared room accommodation for the PhD Seminar and the Conference on Philanthropy and meals during both events. Limited travel support is available to supplement support the student’s university can provide. ISTR will grant accepted students 2019 membership in ISTR with all of the associated benefits. Accepted students must attend the Conference on Philanthropy (attendance is free of charge)

Duration of Programme: Conference on Philanthropy begins the next morning on May 16, 2017 and concludes the afternoon of May 17, 2019. If traveling from out of town, participants are expected to arrive the evening of May 13, 2019 and depart the evening of May 17, 2019 or the next morning as flights require.

How to Apply: To apply, please complete the online form here before the December 15 deadline:
https://www.istr.org/page/WITS_ISTRPhDSeminarApplication

All applications must include the following information:

1. – Full name and gender
2. – Contact details (including e-mail and phone number)
3. – Disciplinary background
4. – Institutional affiliation and name(s) of the supervisor(s)
5. – Working title of PhD project and formal start/end dates
6. – Indication of the stage of your research
7. – Abstract of PhD research (min. 500 – max. 800 words). The abstract must include: research questions, theoretical framework, methods, and results if already applicable
8. – Feedback needed on your PhD research
9. – Letter from your faculty advisor/department head providing
   • information about the quality of the candidate,
   • specific information about how participation in the PhD seminar would benefit your doctoral studies, and
   • a statement of financial support the university is able to provide in support of your participation in the PhD Seminar.
10. – A brief description (100-150 words) of your motivation to participate in the ISTR PhD Seminar
11. – Research Keywords

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CERN Summer Student Programme (Member and Non-Member States) 2019 for International Students

Application Deadline: 31st January 2019

Eligible Countries: Member and Non-Member countries

About the Award: Over a period of 8 to 13 weeks, you will work on an advanced technical project in an experimental or engineering team.
During this unique and exciting time, you can attend a series of lectures specially prepared for you where experts and scientists from around the world share their knowledge about a wide range of topics in the fields of theoretical and experimental particle physics, engineering and computing. Visits to the CERN facilities, as well as discussion sessions and workshops are also key features of the programme. Find out more on the Summer Student information page: https://hr-dep.web.cern.ch/content/summer-students. A short report on your work and project at CERN will be expected at the end of your stay.

Type: Internship

Eligibility: In order to qualify for a place on the programme you will need to meet the following requirements:

• You are a Bachelor or Master student (not PhD) in Physics, Engineering, Computer Science or Mathematics and should have completed, by the European Summer 2019, at least three years of full-time studies at university level.
• You will remain registered as a student during your stay at CERN. If you expect to graduate during European summer 2019 (as of May), you are also eligible to apply.
• You have not worked at CERN before with any other status (Technical Student, Trainee, User or other status) for more than 3 months.
• You have a good knowledge of English; knowledge of French would be an advantage.

Candidates of all nationalities are welcome to apply for this Summer Student Programme.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: CERN would very much like to benefit from your expertise, commitment and passion.
In return, CERN will provide you with:

• A contract of association of 8 to 13 weeks* to work on a technical project.
• An extensive physics lecture programme (students will also be able to attend a series of IT lectures organized by Openlab).
• A 90 CHF per calendar day (net of tax) subsistence allowance to cover the cost of accommodation and meals in the Geneva area for a single person for the whole contract duration.
• A travel allowance on a lump sum basis paid at the end of your stay to help you with the cost of travel between Geneva and your residence at the time of the selection committee,
• Coverage by CERN’s comprehensive Health Insurance scheme (contribution already deducted from allowance).**
• Assistance to find accommodation on the CERN site or nearby.

Duration of Programme: 8 weeks

Possible arrival dates

• Every Monday from beginning of June to the 1st Monday in July inclusive, namely 3 June, 11 June*, 17 June, 24 June and 1 July 2019.
• *Exception is Tuesday 11th June, as Monday 10th 2019 is a bank holiday at CERN.

How to Apply: You will need the following documents to complete your application (please make sure to name the documents accordingly e.g. CV, motivation letter, academic transcript, reference letter):

• A CV in either English or French.
• A copy of your most recent academic transcript giving an overview of your marks (if you download it from your university portal please make sure the document is not protected so that we can open it).
• At least one reference letter (dated less than 12 months), preferably 2, from your lecturers.

Please make sure you have all the documents requested to hand when you start your application on our career portal as they cannot be added after its completion (only reference letters can be submitted afterwards).
Once your application has been submitted, you will receive a confirmation e-mail which contains a link. You must forward this link to at least one referee, so that they can upload their recommendation letter. Please note that this must be done before the application deadline (31 January 2019).


Visit Programme Webpage for Details