5 Jan 2019

Social media and violation of human rights

Sheshu Babu

Advancement of technology, more than benefiting masses, is becoming dangerous in the hands of miscreants. Increase of smart – phones and computers have spread the use of social media platforms. Instead of using the platforms for messaging information or decent discussion, it is becoming a medium to spew hatred, upload incidents of human rights violations mostly by perpetrators themselves with impunity and almost open consent of political parties or communal groups or organizations.
Use of social media
Incidents of hate crimes have risen sharply in the last few years and most of these crimes have been recorded live. “The rise of hate crimes in india – cow related violence and lynchings – has been coupled with extensive use of social media. While fake news and fake videos have often helped spark communal violence, they have also been ‘ celebratory’ in nature: participants bragging about being a part of the mob involved in the lynchings and the violence” . ( Lynching as a Public Spectacle, by Prabhir Purkayastha 4 Jan 2019, newsclick.in ). The article further says, ” For a number of commentators, it is the tool – social media and therefore technology – that is the root of the disease of communal violence and mob lynching, not the political forces behind the violence. ” Many blame cell phones as the heart of the problem.
Impact on people
Social media has huge impact. Research conducted by Perse.ly shows that the life expectancy of a story posted on the web is 2.6 days compared to 3.2 days when the story is shared on a social media. That’ s a difference of 23% which is significant when considering billions of people using internet daily.( What is the Real Impact of Social Media?, Maryanne Gaitho , September 12, 2018, simplilearn.com). A new study from Pew Research claims that 62 percent of people get their news from social media with 18% of them very often. The longer the information is in circulation, the more discussion it generates and greater the impact of social media.
Rights violations
When contents posted on social media pose danger to society, the need to regulate arisesand responsibility of people as well as those posting it becomes important. In India, more than 20 crore use WhatsApp and even more Facebook. Thus, false news rumours can be spread easily. Even real incidents posted on social media have caused several deaths of innocent persons. The brutal lynching of a 26 year old man on suspicion of child lifting made rounds on social media. On May 25, 2018 in Karnataka, the video showed the victim being dragged by two men in the streets of Bengaluru ‘s Chamrajpet area. In the same way, a video surfaced purportedly showing a mob beating up a man and forced him to confess cow slaughter on June 19, 2018. ( 16 lynchings in 2 months. Is social media the new serial killer?,Prabhash K Dutta, July 2, 2018, indiatoday.in). The brazen uploading of videos showing gross human rights violations reflect apathy of the administration and fearlessness of criminals in committing horrors and shamelessly load them on social media. The famous Pehlu Khan lynching was posted on social media. This is a case of human rights violations.
Future
Therefore, social media is being used by the hindutva forces to garner votes by spreading rumours, glorifying murders on social media and different groups. Even the government sometimes adds by announcement of mass surveillance. Human rights violations and exploitation have been under scanner. The government should try to stop people from posting content and videos with gross rights violations like murders and sexual abuse. Steps must be taken to promote healthy content and not hate speech or messages that hurt marginalised sections. Religious fanaticism of any religion should not be available on social media. Real news, views which promote harmony and enhance spread of knowledge must be encouraged on social media to develop healthy society and peaceful existence.

Australian stripped of citizenship despite being made stateless

Mike Head 

Aided by the complicity of the opposition Labor Party, Australia’s unstable Liberal-National Coalition government began the political new year by revoking the citizenship of an Australian-born young man, Neil Prakash, 27, even though he lacks citizenship rights anywhere else. That annulment can be extended to his three infant children, reportedly born in Syria.
Prakash, still awaiting trial in Turkey on terrorism-related charges, has become the 12th person to be stripped of Australian citizenship since the Labor Party backed the introduction of new arbitrary revocation powers in 2015. His case has set a further far-reaching precedent because the government has proceeded despite authorities in Fiji rejecting Canberra’s declaration that Prakash is a Fijian citizen on the basis that his father was Fijian.
Once again, the fraudulent “war on terrorism” declared by the US and its allies in 2001 has been invoked to overturn fundamental democratic rights—in this case, the right to citizenship itself, which carries with it essential civil and social rights such as voting, residence and access to healthcare and welfare. Without any kind of trial or due process, Prakash has been rendered stateless, in violation of international treaties.
When the Coalition and Labor pushed the draconian amendments to the Australian Citizenship Act through parliament in 2015, they claimed that the provisions were restricted to dual citizens—those who were “a national or citizen of a country other than Australia.” That itself posed a potential threat to an estimated six million dual citizens—about a quarter of the country’s population.
By revoking Prakash’s citizenship, the Australian government has taken a lead in an anti-democratic drive that has implications far beyond the supposed fight against terrorism. Similar powers have been introduced in the allied countries, including the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, that fuelled the rise of terrorism by invading and laying waste to Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton this week defended the cancellation of Prakash’s citizenship after the director of Fiji’s Immigration Department, Nemani Vuniwaqa, declared that Prakash was not, as claimed by Dutton, a Fijian citizen. Interviewed by the Fiji Sun, Vuniwaqa confirmed Prakash had never entered the country or applied for citizenship. Nor had his father applied on his behalf.
Nevertheless, Dutton insisted the revocation of Prakash’s citizenship was legally sound, while refusing to detail the government’s legal advice. In a display of contempt for legal rights, including Prakash’s prospect of a fair trial in Turkey, Dutton declared he would “do whatever I can neutralise that threat” of “terrorists” returning to Australia and Prakash “should rot in jail in Turkey.”
Every aspect of the Prakash case highlights the reactionary and politically-driven character of the citizenship-stripping powers. Dutton announced the move on December 29, as part of a fresh government scare-mongering offensive on the issues of “national security” and anti-refugee “border protection.” Yet the Australian reported that the decision was actually made in August and Prakash was notified in late December, more than four months later.
This secrecy underscores the trashing of basic legal rights involved in the citizenship revocation process. Without any hearing, due process or even notice to the citizen, the government simply announces the decision, acting on a recommendation of a shadowy Citizenship Loss Board, made on the basis of unreliable material supplied by intelligence agencies. No appeal is permitted, except to the High Court or Federal Court after the decision has been made already, and then only on the legality of the process, not the facts or evidence. For someone in Prakash’s situation, locked in a Turkish prison cell, such an appeal is virtually impossible.
Prakash, who appeared in Islamic State (IS) propaganda videos, has been accused of going to Syria to fight with IS, of being an IS member and of being involved in two alleged terrorist plots in Australia. How unreliable the intelligence allegations are likely to be, however, is highlighted by the fact that the US and Australian agencies twice celebrated killing Prakash. In May 2016, then Attorney-General George Brandis said US officials had confirmed that a US bomb strike killed Prakash in Mosul. Two months later, the US Central Command said four civilians had died in a strike targeting Prakash during April of that year.
As for the Citizenship Loss Board, it is not even mentioned in the legislation. It operates without any legal power or regulation. No protections against arbitrary government power, such as jury trials, the presumption of innocence and procedural fairness, apply. Even the board’s membership remained secret until a Guardian freedom of information application revealed limited details.
As of 2016, the members included seven senior officials of the immigration department (now the home affairs department), plus the prime minister’s counter-terrorism coordinator, and high-ranking officials from the foreign affairs and attorney-general’s departments, and the Australian Crime Commission. They were joined by unnamed representatives of the defence department, Australian Federal Police, the Australian Security Intelligence Service (ASIS) and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
Until 2015, no one’s citizenship could be revoked, unless it was obtained by proven fraud. Now, governments can unilaterally cancel citizenships in three ways, via sections 33 to 36 of the Australian Citizenship Act.
First, a person is deemed to “renounce by conduct” their citizenship if the home affairs minister is “satisfied” they participated in certain terrorist-linked or “hostile activity” overseas. Second, an individual “ceases” to be a citizen by “fighting for” or “being in the service of” any organisation listed by government decree as terrorist.
Third, a person “ceases” to be a citizen if jailed for more than six years for any of a long list of terrorism and politically-motivated offences, including “advocating terrorism,” assisting an “enemy” of Australia, “foreign incursions and recruitment” and leaking security information. The list also includes offences that were redefined and expanded in last year’s “foreign interference” legislation—treason, treachery, sabotage and espionage, and foreign incursions and recruitment.
Because of the sweeping definition of terrorism in the post-9/11 laws, a person could lose their citizenship, for example, for supporting the right of individuals, whether in Syria or any other country, to resist a US-led invasion. And the extended “foreign interference” crimes could affect anti-war and anti-government activists.
While defending the Prakash decision, Dutton foreshadowed further such actions. He said the government was working with Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US to get “evidence or intelligence” on others.
News of Prakash’s annulment came after the government, supported by the Labor Party, unveiled further amendments last November to make it even easier to revoke citizenship. Ramping up the government’s nationalist propaganda against “violent radical Islam,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared that “extremists” would be stripped of citizenship and deported, regardless of their status in any other country. If no other country would take them, they would be detained indefinitely.
The new provisions would apply regardless of whether a person is actually entitled to another citizenship. The home affairs minister would only have to be “reasonably satisfied” that the person was a “national” of another state. In addition, the requirement of a six-year prison sentence would be removed from most of the offences for which citizenship automatically “ceases.”
After the Fijian objection to the Prakash edict, the Labor Party accused Dutton of proceeding rashly in a manner that could undercut the 2015 legislation. Labor’s immigration spokesman, Shayne Neumann, stated: “National security is too important an issue to be played with flippantly, and Labor supports the right of any government to strip dual nationals of their Australian citizenship to protect the Australian people.”
This is consistent with Labor’s record of supporting every measure since 2001 to bolster the powers of the state apparatus.
Throughout the media coverage of Prakash’s plight there has been no mention of the fact that IS is largely a creation of the US-led wars in the Middle East, the real aim of which is to ensure US control over the resource-rich region and the entire Eurasian landmass, where Washington confronts Russia and China.
Likewise, there has been no reference to the economic and social conditions that enable Islamic fundamentalists to recruit vulnerable youth. In Australia’s working-class suburbs, young people from immigrant backgrounds face high levels of unemployment, poor educational and social facilities and constant police harassment.
Prakash grew up in the Melbourne southeast suburb of Springvale South, largely raised by his Cambodian mother, who suffered mental illness. He did not finish school, nor a mechanic’s apprenticeship. He reportedly became involved in youth gangs before exploring Buddhism and then Islam.
Now the political establishment that created those conditions is stripping him of all rights and setting a dangerous precedent for use against others.

Growing signs of Australian economic fragility

Oscar Grenfell 

A rapid fall in the east coast’s inflated housing market, a sharp decline in the currency, slowing economic growth and stagnant wages—these are among the indicators of Australian capitalism’s fragility, amid mounting global turbulence.
Indices covering all those sectors have prompted nervous warnings that 2019 could see the Australian economy wracked by recessionary tendencies.
End of year figures released by CoreLogic showed that median house prices across the country fell by 4.8 percent in 2018. It was the largest annual decline since the global financial crisis of 2008–2009. The group’s analysts predicted that the trend would intensify in 2019.
Commentators noted that the figure obscured how precipitous the fall has been on the east coast, which has been at the centre of a frenzied investment-fuelled property bubble.
Sydney’s median property price fell by around 10 percent in 2018, equivalent to roughly $100,000 per dwelling. This took the total fall since the city’s market peak in early 2017 to 11.1 percent, the sharpest correction in over 35 years. The annual decline in Melbourne was 9.1 percent, or an average of about $75,000 per property.
The figures indicated an acceleration of the downturn, with Sydney and Melbourne median prices falling by over 4 percent, or more than a third of their total annual decline, in just the final three months of 2018.
In a sign of dwindling investor confidence, property purchases across the country by foreign-based buyers plunged by 11 percent over the year.
Mortgage rate rises by three major banks—Westpac, ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank—in the last half of 2018 were also a factor in the price declines. They increased the difficulties of working people seeking to buy a home, amid a soaring cost of living and stagnant or declining wages.
Figures for the September quarter, released late last year, showed that price declines were beginning to affect the middle and lower segments of the Sydney and Melbourne markets, not just more expensive dwellings, as previously had been the case.
The property market downturn is one aspect of broader uncertainty surrounding the Australian economy. The dollar fell to 67.49 US cents on Thursday, its lowest level in a decade, before rebounding to close to 70 cents later in the day. That volatility demonstrated the vulnerability of Australian capitalism to global economic headwinds.
Thursday’s sharp fall, following declines last year, was bound up with moves by international traders away from currencies perceived as risky. Their concerns were intensified by figures this week showing a decline in the pace of Chinese manufacturing output, reflecting the initial fallout of the US Trump administration’s trade war measures against Beijing, and Apple’s announcement of major China-related losses, which prompted a 7.45 percent fall in its share price. China is Australia’s largest trading partner and export market.
The currency decline is one expression of a broader recessionary trend. Australian gross domestic product (GDP) figures released last month showed seasonally adjusted growth of just 0.3 percent for the quarter to September.
The rate was the lowest in two years and well below forecasts of 0.6 percent. The fall was driven by a sharp downturn in construction, indicating the broader economic impact of the property slowdown, as well as decreased household spending.
The figure was artificially boosted by government spending, especially in large infrastructure projects geared to the profit interests of big business, which added 0.2 percent to real GDP.
The confluence of potential flashpoints for a new financial crisis, including ongoing turbulence on the Australian and global share markets, has intensified the dilemmas confronting the ruling elite.
Last month, the Reserve Bank maintained its official cash rate at the record low figure of 1.5 percent. The bank had foreshadowed possibly raising the rate over the next couple of years. Last month, however, Guy Debelle, the bank’s deputy governor, told business executives that further rate cuts and unprecedented quantitative easing-style measures could be on the agenda.
This would be a desperate attempt to stimulate the economy. It would clash with the move toward interest rate increases in the US and Europe, and the winding back of quantitative easing there as well. The major private banks, moreover, are under pressure to increase their own lending rates, in line with hikes on the international markets, where they borrow their funds.
Debelle’s comments reflected fears within the ruling elite that having promoted the frenzied property market, through low interest rates and government incentives to investors, including negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions, any move to rein in the market could lead to a credit crunch and recession.
Indicating the extent to which the property bubble has been based on an orgy of speculation and reckless lending, cosmetic regulatory measures introduced last year appear to have contributed to the housing slowdown.
In December, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), a regulatory body, lifted restrictions introduced at the beginning of 2018, which had stipulated that less than 30 percent of banks’ new residential mortgage holdings consist of “interest-only loans.” Such loans are considered especially risky, because for a fixed period, usually seven years, the mortgage holder is not required to make any repayments on the principal. At the end of this period, borrowers face a steep increase in their repayments, which they may be unable to meet.
APRA’s introduction of the regulation in early 2018 resulted in a 57 percent fall in new interest-only loans over the following months. It decided to scrap the rule after warnings by the Reserve Bank, Australia’s central bank, of a potential credit squeeze with broader implications.
The Australian economy largely has been propped up since 2012 by the property market, following the collapse of the mining boom, on top of the post-2008 slump in manufacturing and retail.
The unravelling of the property bubble has created the conditions for a new financial crisis. Mortgage debt accounts for over 60 percent of the assets of most major banks, and 30 percent or more of their holdings are interest-only. These loans are expected to mature over the next two years, prompting warnings of a sharp increase in defaults.
Already, an estimated one million households are suffering mortgage stress—their household income is insufficient to cover ongoing expenses. Modelling has indicated that some 60,000 of these households are at risk of defaulting on their mortgages over the next year.
Analysis by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in September found that a mere 0.5 percentage point interest rate rise would increase the proportion of households suffering mortgage stress from around one in four, to one in three. A 2 percent rate increase would send half of mortgaged households into stress.

Protests against poverty, housing evictions and repossessions spread across Ireland

Steve James

Protests and occupations have been held in Ireland against impossible housing prices, high rents and homelessness. On December 1, around 15,000 people marched through central Dublin. The march was in remembrance of Jonathan Corrie, a homeless man who froze to death in 2014 outside Leinster House, home of the Irish parliament.
Figures released by the Department of Housing last July showed that nearly 10,000 people in Ireland are living in emergency accommodation. Housing campaigners suggest the real figure is double that. According to the Simon Community, some 81,000 people were living in insecure accommodation. Three hundred more people, including 86 children, were made homeless in November alone.
Testifying to pervasive levels of poverty in the city, some 3,000 people, including many elderly and children, queued December 20 for Christmas food parcels outside Dublin’s Capuchin Centre.
In Cork, 328 adults were in emergency accommodation in July. This represented the highest monthly number of adults in emergency accommodation—an increase of 32 percent in 12 months and a rise of 59 percent in two years.
Rural Ireland is gripped by the same social tensions. Since April this year, the Irish Farmers Association has been operating a land sale boycott against sales imposed to extract debts from farmers. Some 2,500 farmers are said to be affected.
On December 11, two brothers and a sister, all in their 50s and 60s, were forcibly evicted from their farm in Strokestown, County Roscommon. This was in pursuit of £300,000 in debts, said to be owed to the Belgium-based KBC Bank of Ireland and dating to 2009. The move followed a High Court judgment for debt enforcement.
The eviction was peacefully but unsuccessfully opposed by local supporters of the family. Videos posted online showed uniformed security guards manhandling to the ground one of those being evicted. Sixty-four-year-old David McGann suffered bruises and lacerations while Gardai (police) looked on.
The security guards were reported to be from a Northern Ireland-based security company with Loyalist connections.
Five days later, in the early hours of the morning December 16, the security guards still in occupation of the house were themselves thrown out. Unidentified supporters of the family mobilised en masse. A number of the security guards were beaten and their vehicles burnt out. The McGanns are now back in their home.
The family have broad sympathy. As many as 1,200 people demonstrated in support of the family the following week in Strokestown. Protesters denounced the Gardai, the banks—including KBC—the Fine Gael government and its Fianna Fail prop. One placard compared the evictions with the actions of the despised Black and Tans—military veterans recruited by the British government after World War I. The Black and Tans became infamous for burning Irish villages and murdering civilians.
Protests were also staged against KBC Bank.
“Yellow Vest” type protests have emerged involving hundreds of people, emulating the larger protests in France. On December 22, hundreds of Yellow Vests marched around Dublin opposing evictions, high rents, bank bailouts, climate change and the high costs of living. One week later, a smaller group marched through the Port Tunnel in Dublin, blocking all traffic. One protester carried a banner reading, “Ireland, probably the most corrupt country on earth.”
Behind the protests lie the extreme daily pressures being exerted on workers, sections of the middle class, farmers and small businesses by the banks, corporations and hedge funds that dominate Ireland.
House prices are unaffordable for many. Dublin is one of the highest priced cities for accommodation in the world. Average house prices in the city are now as a high as €370,400, while even in Limerick the average is now €194,200—up 9.8 percent in just one year.
The banks and hedge funds, backed by the government, are seeking to maximise returns on thousands of mortgage debts in long-term arrears. Some of those date to the financial crash of 2008, in which the European Union, at the behest of the Irish government, bailed out Ireland’s banking system to the tune of €62.7 billion. To claw this back, years of savage austerity measures were imposed on the working class by successive Fianna Fail and Fine Gael governments.
Attention has focused on the role of so-called “vulture funds.” These are hedge funds or private equity firms that buy up “distressed” sovereign or property-related debt from governments and banks at a fraction of the nominal value of the debt. The funds make a quick return on their investment, before selling on the debt.
In Europe, after 2008, particularly in Ireland, Greece and Spain, hundreds of thousands of ordinary mortgage holders found themselves unable to pay back loans on property whose value had collapsed, and for which the market had disappeared.
According to the Debt and Development Coalition Ireland, in 2014 there was an estimated €879 billion worth of distressed debt across Europe, mostly in the form of bad property loans. Of this, some €233 billion was held by “bad banks”, such as Ireland’s state-owned National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), which originally took on €73 billion worth of debt.
NAMA and the now defunct Irish Banking Resolution Corporation (IBRC)—the nationalised remains of Anglo-Irish Bank—sold on vast sums of bad debt to the vulture funds. In 2013 and 2014, NAMA and the IRBC accounted for over one third of all assets, €36 billion, sold to vulture funds such as Lone Star Capital, Cerberus, Oaktree Capital, CarVal and Marathon. Lone Star also acquired Lloyds Bank’s entire book of mortgages—some 4,000 accounts. Permanent TSB Group Holdings (PTSB), also mostly state-owned, dumped subprime mortgages onto Mars Capital Ireland.
Irish banks were recently forced by the European Union to accelerate these transfers. Earlier this year, PTSB confirmed another loan portfolio worth €1.3 billion had been sold to Lone Star. Through these sales, PTSB has reduced its non-performing loans from €9 billion to €5 billion. The portfolio includes 7,400 owner occupier mortgages, a quarter of which have been in arrears for more than 40 months. Subsequently Ulster Bank sold 5,200 mortgages to Cerberus.
Overall, according the Irish Central Bank, of a total 728,000 mortgages in Ireland. 64,500 were in arrears. Of these 45,200 had over 90 days arrears.
Homeowners behind with their mortgage to vulture funds are more likely to face eviction than if the mortgage had stayed with a state-owned bank. In total, vulture funds now hold 13 percent of all mortgages over 90 days in arrears and 17 percent of those over 720 days in arrears, a total 28,100.
As night follows day, housing repossessions have sharply increased, with all the signs that more are to follow. Irish-based affiliates of CarVal, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank racked up £32.7 million of debt enforcement judgments in their favour in one eight-day period at the end of September alone.
Enforcements registered by vulture funds in 2018 to date are already more than five times the entire 2017 total. Enforcement allows the distressed borrowers’ assets to be seized. One hundred sixty-one homes were repossessed in the third quarter of 2018.
This brutal policy has been determinedly upheld by Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s government. In a recent interview Varadkar, who postures as socially liberal, complained about the use of the term “vulture fund.” Defending their policies, Varadkar was “reluctant” to use the term because “you’ll know, from the numbers, that they’re often better at write-downs of loans than our own banks are.”

Report: 452 child workers died in the US from 2003 to 2016

Jessica Goldstein

About 452 child workers died in the United States from 2003 to 2016, according to a December 20 analysis by the Washington Post. Over 16 percent of those, or a total of 73, were children aged 12 years and younger. The age groups with the next highest number of deaths were 16- and 17-year-olds, with 110 and 145 deaths during those years, respectively.
A child worker is recognized by the US government as any worker under 18 years of age. According to the Fair Labor Standards Act—a set of federal laws which set age, hours worked, wage and safety requirements for minors in the US—14 is the minimum age for most non-agricultural work.
However, there are many exemptions to the law. In the US, children are legally allowed to deliver newspapers, perform in radio, television, movies or theatrical productions at any age. They are also allowed to work in businesses owned by their parents (except in mining, manufacturing or what are deemed to be “hazardous jobs”), perform babysitting or minor chores around a private home, and work as homeworkers to gather evergreens and make evergreen wreaths.
The majority of child deaths from 2003 to 2016—52 percent, or a total of 235—occurred in agriculture, although agricultural workers account for less than one-fifth of the total number of child laborers in the US. The disproportionate number can be attributed to the fact that the agricultural, forestry, fishing and hunting sector, which accounted for over 11 percent of total workplace deaths in 2017, is one of the most dangerous occupations in the US.
Another cause is that small family farms are exempt from most government regulations of child labor in the US. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal organization that regulates workplace safety, states that “youths of any age may work at any time in any job on a farm owned or operated by their parent or person standing in place of their parent.”
Children younger than 14 are allowed to work on a farm with their parents’ permission. Children younger than 12 can work only on farms so small that they’re not required to pay the minimum wage. Children are prohibited from working during school hours, which means they must work either in the early morning or evening hours. In some seasons, these are the hours with the least amount of sunlight, meaning that they make working conditions more dangerous.
Farmworkers 15 and younger are prohibited from operating a combine harvester or most larger tractors, using dynamite or other explosives, or performing other hazardous tasks. But there are exceptions for children who have been trained on certain tasks and machinery in a program such as 4-H. Children younger than 15 may and regularly do operate smaller vehicles, like tractors and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), on family farms.
According to a 2018 report by the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, the number of youth worker fatalities in agriculture has been higher than in all other industries combined since 2009. In 2015, child workers were 44.8 times more likely to be fatally injured in agriculture when compared to all other industries combined.
Transportation incidents were the most common fatal event, with tractors and ATVs being the primary vehicles involved. Transportation incidents also cause the most workplace fatalities in the entire US labor force, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data for 2017.
The high number of child deaths in agriculture can be traced to the reactionary policies of the Obama administration enacted after the 2008 financial crisis, in order to serve the profit interests of the major corporations and big banks and to suppress the class struggle.
In addition to stripping back health and safety regulations during his two presidential terms, Obama’s Labor Department in 2012 refused to enact proposed regulations that would have forbidden children younger than 16 years of age from completing “agricultural work with animals and in pesticide handling, timber operations, manure pits and storage bins.” The regulations also would have forbidden farm workers under the age of 16 from handling most “power-driven equipment” and from contributing to the “cultivation, harvesting and curing of tobacco.”
Outside of agricultural work, the Washington Post report shows that children died working in construction (56), administrative and support and waste management (28), restaurants, hotels and retail (39 total) and several other occupations.
There is no way to know exactly how many children work in the US at any given time, as no official data is available for the total number in agriculture, family businesses and household work, including babysitting and housekeeping work for pay.
Data for employment of 15- to 17-year-olds show that 2.5 million children in this age group were working during the summer of 2017, and the number fell to less than 2 million for the rest of the year, when school is in session in the US. Both statistics are the highest level of employment recorded for this age group in the post-2008 period.
According to the report, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey separately found about 524,000 children worked on farms in 2014. The survey found about 375,000 ‘working household children’ that same year. Two-thirds of them were 14 or younger, according to the [Government Accountability Office’s] analysis.”
The number of children working and killed at work in the United States exposes the stark reality of the capitalist system: Even in one of the most advanced capitalist economies in the world, child labor is not eradicated, nor will it be unless the profit system is replaced with a planned economy based on fulfilling social need.
That so many children are working points to the fact that living standards for the working class have fallen so low that children are going to work at younger ages out of economic necessity, evoking images of children in the Victorian era who risked their lives in dangerous factory and mine work in order to support their families.
Small farmers are especially susceptible to pressure to use child labor, with a general lack of capital making production costs exceedingly high when compared to the economic gain.
Unless the working class intervenes with its own strategy to take control of the means of production, not only will child labor continue to exist in the US, but conditions for child laborers in the US will begin to fall closer to those faced by children on the continents of Asia and Africa, where it is much more common.
Betsy DeVos, current education secretary in the Trump Administration and one of the few cabinet members who has not been fired or resigned, has been a member of the board of the Action Institute. This right-wing think tank advocates the abolition of mandatory schooling and the loosening of child labor restrictions, as illustrated by one of its blog posts from early November 2016, titled “Bring back child labor.”
None of the trade unions in the United States, including the United Farm Workers of America, have lifted a finger to fight against the exploitation of children in dangerous work in the US.
The working class needs its own strategy, independent of the two capitalist parties and their allies in the trade unions, putting forward a socialist program and linking up with workers around the world in the fight for a safe workplace for all workers and to put an end to child labor worldwide.

Fifteen Indian coal miners trapped, likely killed, in mine disaster

W. A. Sunil 

The bodies of 15 workers have remain trapped inside an illegal “rat-hole” coal mine at Ksan village in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya since water from the nearby Lytein River gushed into the 370-foot deep mine on December 13.
While such mining is officially banned in Meghalaya state it continues because coal seams are close to the surface in this part of India. The mining involves clearing ground vegetation and digging down to find a coal seam. Horizontal shafts are then created that follow the seam. These shafts are so small that miners, including women and children, have to crawl on their knees and use pickaxes to extract the coal, which is carried out in baskets and winched to the surface.
According to media reports, only five of the 20 people working in the Ksan mine, located in the state’s East Jaintia Hills District, escaped.
Sahib Ali, one survivor, said he was inside the mine, pulling a cart full of coal, when the flooding occurred. “For some unknown reasons, I could feel a breeze inside the mine, which was unusual,” he told reporters. “What followed was the loud sound of water gushing in. I barely made it to the opening of the pit. There is no way the trapped men will be alive. How long can a person hold his breath underwater?”
Rescue efforts have been hampered by inadequate equipment and the total indifference of India’s central and state government authorities.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Navy rescue teams have been unable to fully pump out the flooded mine. S.K. Shastri, who is heading the NDRF operations at the mine, told the media late last month that at least ten pumping machines with 100-horse power capacity were needed. The operation only had two pumps with 25-horse power, he said, calling on the central government to supply the required equipment.
The East Jaintia Hills District deputy commissioner also called on the state government to supply high-powered pumps and other equipment.
These urgent appeals have been ignored by the Meghalaya state administration and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government.
More than three weeks after the disaster, India’s Supreme Court, in response to a public interest litigation submission, criticised the state government’s reaction to the mine disaster. “We pray that all people trapped in mines are alive. They should have been rescued by now,” the court said. Legal counsel for the state administration responded by insisting that authorities had “taken adequate steps in the rescue operation.”
Rescue operation divers have reported a foul smell coming from inside the mine and suspect it was from the decomposing bodies of victims.
One person, Krip Chullet, who was allegedly involved in hiring the labourers and sending them down the Meghalaya mine shaft, has been arrested. The mine owner however, has reportedly fled.
In an attempt to pacify the victims’ families and deflect widespread anger, the state government announced a 100,000-rupee ($US1,438) interim relief payment to each trapped miner’s family.
Rat-hole mines were banned in Meghalaya in 2014 by the Supreme Court in response to a petition filed by the National Green Tribunal. The ban, however, largely has been ignored, not just by mine owners in Meghalaya. Tens of thousands of mines throughout India operate without even rudimentary safety procedures.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma admitted to the media that illegal mining was continuing. He cynically declared that his government would “take action.” In fact, the state government opposed the 2014 ban, declaring that it would cut 7 billion rupees (about $US100 million) per year from the mining industry in the state.
Like their counterparts in Meghalaya state, the more than one million workers employed in Indian mines are largely recruited from poverty-stricken remote villages with endemic unemployment.
A November 2016 report by Abhinav Publications noted that the socio-economic conditions of unorganised coal miners in India were “extremely deplorable.” They were “usually subject to indebtedness and bondage” because their income was so low.
Mine worker Abdul Hussain recently explained to NDTV: “We are uneducated, unskilled and poor. If we take up daily wage jobs in Guwahati (capital of neighbouring Assam state) we don’t earn more than 300 rupees a day. But in rat-hole mines, the pay starts at 1,000 rupees and goes up to 2,000 rupees per day. So in order to make sure that our kids have a better life, we do this work.”
Abdul Alim, who narrowly escaped from the Ksan mine accident, told the BBC about conditions in the mine: “Once we went down the mine, there was hardly any light streaming in from above. The mines I’d worked in previously were only about 30 feet (9 metres) deep but this one [370 feet deep] was far more dangerous.”
Alim explained that about 8 to 10 men would climb into a metal container suspended by a crane, which lowered them into the pit. “Once we touched the bottom of the mine, the shafts spread out in different directions. Each of us would crawl into one and go as far as 30 feet.”
Alim said the shafts were about two feet high. “We lie on our sides and chip the coal with a gaaithi [pickaxe]. I put my pushcart just under my legs, so that the coal would fall into it. Once it filled up, I would drag it and bring it to the central assembly point.”
The BBC report said the workers were paid according to the amount of coal they mined.
According to India’s Mines Safety Directorate, there were 752 documented fatalities in state- and privately-owned mines between 2009 and 2013. Data submitted to the national parliament last week revealed that the death toll is continuing, with 377 workers killed between 2015 and 2017.
The opposition Indian Congress criticized Modi’s BJP-led government over its “slow response” to the Ksan mine disaster. Congress president Rahul Gandhi criticised Modi for “strutting about” on Assam’s newly-opened Bogibeel Bridge and “posing for cameras” while the bodies of 15 miners remained inside the rat-hole mine.
Gandhi’s criticisms are utterly hypocritical. Congress, whether in government or opposition, defends big business profits and is equally responsible for the mining deaths and dangerous working conditions confronting workers throughout India.

4 Jan 2019

Ashoka Africa Young Changemaker 2019 for East Africans

Application Deadline: 28th February 2019

Eligible Countries: East African countries

About the Award: Ashoka Young Changemakers are a carefully selected network of young people who have found their power to create change for the good of all, and who are engaging their peers and the entire society in realizing a world where everyone is a changemaker. If you or someone you know fits this description, consider joining our community of leaders.

Type: Contest

Eligibility:

You are a changemaker

1. Your idea – You deeply empathized with a problem and from that understanding developed your own original idea for addressing it.
2. Your team – You built a team around this idea. You lead by helping others lead as well and find their power as changemakers.
3. Your world changed – You helped improve people’s lives and the environment around them. You are always committed to the good of all.

You want to co-lead the global “Everyone a Changemaker” Movement

4. You are a co-leader – You want to help others change their worlds. You will spread changemaking among your peers and you will help co-lead the global movement to give everyone the power you have found, i.e., to be a changemaker.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: The selected Ashoka Young Changemakers are inducted into a global community and gain access to workshops, strategic mentorship, fundraising support, media partnerships, exposure visits and more opportunities to grow themselves and their initiatives.

How to Apply: 
Stage 1: Apply, get nominated, or share your changemaking journey and ideas for helping everyone similarly obtain their power, i.e., become changemakers.
Stage 2: Talk with 3–5 social entrepreneurs and young changemakers from Ashoka’s global network. Gain insights to advance your changemaking journey.
Stage 3: Bring a team member (and perhaps an important adult ally of your work) to an in-person discussion and selection panel, including top social entrepreneurs, journalists, and other leaders. Meet other top young changemakers and discuss ideas for co-leading an Everyone a Changemaker movement.
Stage 4: Access resources to contribute to the movement. The panel and Ashoka will invite a select group to become Ashoka Young Changemakers.
The selected Ashoka Young Changemakers are inducted into a global community and gain access to workshops, strategic mentorship, fundraising support, media partnerships, exposure visits and more opportunities to grow themselves and their initiatives.
  • It is important to go through all application requirements on the Programme Webpage see link below) before applying

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Google Hash Code Programming Challenge 2019 for Students and Professionals in Africa, Europe and Middle East

Application Deadline: 25th February, 2019

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: countries in Africa, Europe & Middle East

To be taken at (country): For the Online Qualification Round, your team can participate from anywhere. To make this round a bit more exciting, you can volunteer to organize a hub (e.g. at your university) where local teams can come together to compete.
The Final Round will take place in Dublin, Ireland

About Scholarship: For each round of the competition we’ll present a problem (see past problems in Program webpage below) and your team will write a program that generates a solution. Your team can submit as many solutions as you’d like using the online Judge System, and a live scoreboard will let you know how you stack up against the competition. Top scoring teams will win cool Google prizes, because of course you can’t host a programming competition without something to work for! Convinced?

Offered Since: 2014

Type: Contest

Eligibility Criteria: 
  • Hash Code is open to university students and industry professionals in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
  • Participants register and compete in teams of two to four.
  • Registration is free
  • The only thing you need for the Online Qualification Round is a computer connected to the Internet. The Hangout on Air will be available on YouTube, so if you can watch YouTube videos on your computer then you should be able to view it. The Judge System will be available as a web application, compatible with recent web browsers. For the rest of your computer setup, you’re free to use the tools and programming languages of your choice.
Selection Process: Top scoring teams from the Online Qualification Round will be notified and invited to the Final Round at Google Dublin. We’ll present a second challenge, and the winning teams will be awarded cool Google prizes. In addition to the competition, participants will also get the chance to learn more about Google through a variety of tech talks and presentations.

Number of Winners: Not specified

Value of Program: For the Final Round, the three teams with the highest scores will be awarded cool Google prizes. Every participant will also get a certificate of qualification to the Final Round and a gift bag.

How to Apply: You should carefully review the rules of the competition. It may also be helpful to look at problem statements from past editions of Hash Code. We encourage you to practice together with your teammates, and agree on the programming languages and tools you’d like to use.
The only thing you need for the Online Qualification Round is a computer connected to the Internet.

Visit Program Webpage to apply


Sponsors: Google

Indonesian Government Scholarships 2019/2020 for Students from Developing Countries

Application Deadline: 1st March 2019

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries

To be taken at (country): Scholarships will be taken at the following universities in Indonesia.

Accepted Subject Areas? Agricultural Sciences, Education, Engineering, Humanities, Multi-Disciplinary Studies, Social Sciences and Sciences

About Scholarship: The Government of the Republic of Indonesia is annually offering the Darmasiswa Scholarship, a non-degree scholarship program offered to all foreign students from countries which have diplomatic relationship with Indonesia to study Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian Language), art and culture. Participants can choose one of selected universities (59 universities) located in different cities in Indonesia. This program is organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC) in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The scholarship will be awarded to 650 applicants.
The DARMASISWA program was started in 1974 as part of ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) initiative, admitting only students from ASEAN. However, in 1976 this program was extended to include students from other countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and USA. In early 90’s, this program was extended further to include all countries which have diplomatic relationship with Indonesia. Until to date, the number of countries participating in this program is more than 80 countries.
The main purpose of the DARMASISWA program is to promote and increase the interest in the language and culture of Indonesia among the youth of other countries. It has also been designed to provide stronger cultural links and understanding among participating countries.

Offered Since: 2002

Type: Undergraduate, Masters

Eligibility and Selection Criteria: Each student has to fulfill these requirements as the follows:
  1. Preferably Student;
  2. Completed secondary education or its equivalent;
  3. Minimum age 17 years and Not older than 35 years of age;
  4. Able to communicate in English and additional Bahasa Indonesia is required (Proven by English Language Proficiency Certificate : TOEFL/ TOEIC/IELTS or OTHER CERTIFICATE if applicable);
  5. In good health as proven by Medical Certificate;
  6. Unmarried
  7. Have basic knowledge of the field you’re applying.
Number of Scholarships: Several

Scholarship Benefit
  • Living Allowance and accomodation
  • Research and book allowances (will be given during the Master Program)
  • Health insurance
Duration of sponsorship
  • 8 months of Indonesian Language Program
  • 4 months of Preparatory Program
  • 24 months (4 semesters) of Master Programs
How to Apply: All documents must be submitted to your account in apply.darmasiswa.kemdikbud.go.id

Required Documents
  1. Curriculum vitae/resume
  2. Medical certificate
  3. Passport valid at least 18 months from time of arrival in Indonesia (estimated arrival : 28 August 2019)
  4. Recommendation Letter From Education Institution / Professional Institution on official letterhead and signature (in English)
  5. Last academic transcript and certificates (in English)
  6. Language certificate (if applicable)
  7. Other certificates that related to the field you’re applying (if applicable)
  8. Writing essay about purpose of study (in english or bahasa Indonesia maximum 500 words)
Visit the Scholarship Webpage


Sponsors: Indonesian Government

Why I am Still a Cryptocurrency Enthusiast, 2019 Edition

Thomas L. Knapp

Cryptocurrencies had a rough ride in 2018. As of January 7, 2018, the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap.com came to more than $800 billion, its highest point ever. As I write this on January 3, 2019, that total market capitalization is down to about $130 billion — about 1/6th of the market’s high point.
You might be surprised to learn that I’m still a cryptocurrency fan. But, just to be up front, yes, I am.
Not because I’m sitting on a huge pile of the stuff (as of this moment, my cryptocurrency holdings are worth less than $100 US), nor because I expect to make a killing speculating (when I get some crypto, I generally spend it without waiting very long to see if it increases in value).
I’m still enthusiastic about cryptocurrency because I’ve seen what it can do and make plausible predictions about what it will be able to do in the future. Cryptocurrency seizes control of money from governments and puts it in the hands of people. With improvements in its privacy aspects, that’s only going to become more true. In short, cryptocurrency fuels freedom.
But can it last? Will it win? I think that the last year, far from dispelling that notion, reinforces it. Let me explain.
Two kinds of noise related to cryptocurrency seem to have faded in tandem with the market cap’s downward trend. As one might expect, the ultra-bullish “Bitcoin will go to $100,000 real soon now!” voices have gone down in number and volume. But so have the voices comparing cryptocurrency to a Ponzi scheme or to the 17th century “tulip bubble.”
Yes, there are exceptions. One is Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman, who still seems to think that transaction costs and lack of “tethers” to fiat government currencies will make crypto a bad bet. Of course, Krugman also said, in 1998, that “[b]y 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.” So however expert he may be in other areas, I doubt I’m alone in discounting his predictive abilities when it comes to technological advancements.
This year-long market correction has been exactly that — a correction toward real values. After a period of hype (“Initial Coin Offerings” based on bizarre use cases) and scams (“pump and dumps” cons based on new fly-by-night “altcoins”), the wheat is separating from the chaff, the fraud is settling down to a level consistent with the rest of human activity, and the financial “mainstream” attitude has gone from dismissive to curious to “how do we get in on this?”
Cryptocurrency is getting better and better at what it was meant to do. It facilitates transactions without regard to political borders, it safeguards the records of those transactions through a distributed ledger system (“blockchain”), and to varying degrees (depending on which currency and the individual user’s habits) it protects the privacy of those who use it from prying eyes.
Cryptocurrency, and the freedom it entails, are here to stay. Welcome to the future.

Tribal Nationalism vs Global Unity

Graham Peebles

Change, discontent and uncertainty are some of the most prominent characteristics of the times. These interconnected terms are routinely used to describe global affairs and are key factors animating the global protest movement as well as the growing tide of nationalism: Both movements arise from the same seed, one is progressive and in harmony with the new, the other is of the past and seeks to obstruct and divide.
These are transitional times, as humanity moves out of one civilization imbued with certain ideals, values and beliefs to a new way of living based on altogether different principles; times of unease and insecurity certainly, but also times of great hope and opportunity.
If humanity is to progress and the natural environment is to survive, fundamental change in the way life is lived is essential, systemic change as well as an accelerated shift in attitudes and values. Many people throughout the world recognize this and are advocating such a shift; those in power – political and corporate – reject such demands and do all they can to maintain the status quo and perpetuate the existing unjust systems. Despite this entrenched resistance, the new cannot be held at bay for much longer: change is coming; the question is when, how and with what impact it will occur, not if.
Widespread uncertainty is in part the result of this sustained intransigence, coupled with the instability within the socio-economic systems, which are in a state of terminal decay; fuelled by the past, they are carcasses – forms without life. The pervading uncertainty is being exploited by the reactionary forces of the world; powerful forces using fear to manipulate people and drum-up what we might call tribal nationalism, as opposed to civic nationalism, in order to assert themselves, and in many countries they appear to be in the ascendency.
The current explosion of tribal nationalism or right-wing populism is a crude response to worries about immigration and national identity, coupled with genuine social injustices including economic hardship and unemployment. Throughout the world right-wing groups with protectionist economic policies and anti-immigration views continue to gain support and in some cases win power. The loudest sign of this regressive trend was the election of Donald Trump as president in 2016. His nationalistic, ‘America First’ message fuels intolerance and division and encourages national or self- interest. It casts a shadow of suspicion over foreigners, particularly those that think, live and pray differently, and it is by nature inward looking and brittle.
Strengthened by Trump’s election, far right and ultra conservative politicians in other countries have flourished. Throughout Europe right-wing and far right parties have been empowered: Prime-Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary (who has repeatedly called for an end to ‘liberal democracies’ in Europe); President Recep ErdoÄŸan in Turkey who has attacked the media, centralized power and is pursuing a form of Islamic nationalism; the Law and Justice government in Poland; Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister; The Freedom Party in Austria; Jair Bolsonaro the newly elected President of Brazil and Prime-Minister Narendra Modi of India. And in Russia, according to a series of studies conducted by the Research Council of Norway, “nationalism has been growing since the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1990-1991), along with attempts by the regime to commandeer it.
These political parties, and others, have adopted what The Economist states is “a pessimistic view that foreign affairs are often a zero-sum game in which global interests compete with national ones. It is a big change that makes for a more dangerous world.” The Brexit vote (52% voted leave, 48% remain in the 2016 referendum) in the UK was another example of how right-wing politicians manipulated a disgruntled populous by inflaming nationalistic sentiment and intolerance. The vote to leave was in many ways a protest vote – a negative vote – largely against freedom of movement of people from Europe, i.e. against immigration. Duplicitous advocates of leaving the European Union, mainly from the Conservative and UKIP parties, used slogans like ‘taking back control’ and taking ‘our country back’ to win support for their campaign. Consistent with the response in other countries many who were won over by the nationalists agenda and voted to leave where over 60 years of age; young people (those under 30) who will feel the impact of leaving most, commonly see themselves as ‘citizens of the world’ and overwhelmingly voted to remain part of the EU.
Civic nationalism and cooperation
Tribal nationalism plays on notions of identity, encouraging allegiance to a national and in some cases racial ideal; national bonds of belonging and personal identity rooted in the nation state are fostered, and in a world in which many people, particularly older individuals, experience a fragmented sense of self and a national feeling of loss, such ideals appear comforting, offering a sense of belonging. But far from creating security this type of nationalism (like all forms of conditioned constructs) isolates and excludes, strengthening false notions of superiority and inferiority, creating an atmosphere of distrust, and establishing a climate in which fear can flourish.
Images of self, which are rooted in any form of ideology (religious, political, racial, etc.), imprison and divide, feeding intolerance and division. All of which is in opposition to the movement and tone of the time, which is towards greater levels of cooperation, tolerance and understanding of others. Within the paradigm of Tribal Nationalism ‘the other’, other nations as well as people from other nations, are seen as a threat, as rivals, and are viewed with suspicion, if not outright hostility. When outsiders are described in inflammatory terms, such as ‘murderers’, ‘rapists’ and people who ‘infest’ the pristine nation, fear and anger is facilitated, violence legitimized and a process of dehumanization of ‘the other’ set in motion. And, as history shows when this takes place unbridled atrocities are perpetuated.
Civic nationalism on the other hand brings the people of a particular nation together around common values to work for the good of the community. It encourages cooperation, tolerance and sharing and can serve as a stepping stone to global responsibility; collective action in which the skills, gifts and abilities of the individual nations of the world are used for the benefit and enrichment of all, and not just for the nation state. Conversely, tribal nationalism is tied to the old ways of competition and suspicion, it is a dangerous ideology, which is being cynically employed by right-wing politicians, who see widespread public discontent as an opportunity to manipulate the argument and gain power. It is of the past, is detrimental to human development and has no place in our world.
As any child will tell you, beyond national constructs, beyond racial and tribal identities, humanity is one, diverse but part of a single unity. We are moving into a time when this essential fact will be the guiding principle of human affairs.