Washington escalates military threats as Venezuela regime change falters

Bill Van Auken

Three weeks after the January 23rd US-orchestrated self-swearing-in of the right-wing opposition legislator Juan Guaidó as “interim president” of Venezuela, Washington’s regime change operation appears no closer to installing its puppet in the Miraflores presidential palace.

As a result, the White House, the Pentagon and the CIA are steadily escalating threats of US provocations and military intervention.

The current focus of the attempt to oust the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro is a cynical charade over the delivery of USAID relief supplies across the country’s borders.

Guaidó announced at a mass rally in Caracas on Tuesday that February 23 would be the day that food and medicine the US has stockpiled across the border in Colombia would be brought into Venezuela by “caravans” of “volunteers.”

“Here is a direct order to the armed forces: allow in the humanitarian aid once and for all (and) end the repression,” Guaidó proclaimed.

The Venezuelan military, however, has shown no inclination to follow the orders of Guaidó, a US-trained and funded operative of the extreme right-wing Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) party who was a virtual political unknown before Washington recognized him as Venezuela’s “legitimate” president.

The command of the armed forces issued a statement declaring that it does not “recognize any lackey of US imperialism as its leader, much less accept the orders of a cowardly usurper of the constitutional rights of the people. The only commander in chief of the FANB (Bolivirian National Armed Forces) is Nicolas Maduro, elected by the people …”

Guaidó’s postponement of a choreographed provocation on the Venezuelan-Colombian border until February 23 is undoubtedly designed to provide time for US attempts to blackmail and bribe a section of the military command to desert the government and support the regime change operation.

The pretext that Guaidó is championing the Venezuelan people by attempting to bring in food and medical supplies trucked in by USAID (an agency that has repeatedly served as an instrument of CIA operations) is obscene. His aim is to provoke a bloody confrontation that would serve as a pretext for US intervention.

The amount of food and medicine that is being stored in a warehouse in Cucuta, Colombia, across the border from Venezuela is less than a drop in the bucket in terms of meeting the needs of the Venezuelan population, whose increasing impoverishment is a result of the global economic crisis and falling oil prices. The crisis has been compounded by US sanctions and the pro-capitalist policies of the Maduro government, which has continued paying off the country’s debt, while defending the interests of international and domestic finance capital.

The supplies on the border are a small fraction of the $20 million worth of aid pledged by Washington as part of the regime change operation. This total amount, meanwhile, is considerably less than the $30 million that the oil embargo imposed by Washington last month is expected to cost the Venezuelan economy each and every day.

The purpose of this embargo is to starve the Venezuelan population into submission, creating such abysmal social conditions as to render the country ungovernable. In this context, the demand to allow in the piddling supplies stored at the warehouse in Colombia is farcical.

Virtually every major aid organization, including the Red Cross and the Catholic Church-affiliated Caritas, have refused to participate in the US aid provocation, stressing that humanitarian assistance cannot be manipulated for political aims.

This has not stopped the US and Western media, however, from engaging in a relentless propaganda campaign based on the narrative that the evil dictator Maduro is deliberately starving his own people by refusing to accept the aid offered by a beneficent US government.

Leading Democrats have also jumped on this bandwagon, using the aid provocation to justify their support for the Trump administration’s regime change operation. Former Vice President Joe Biden issued a bellicose statement, declaring “Only a tyrant would prevent the delivery of food and medicine to people he claims to lead. The international community must support Juan Guaido … It is time for Maduro to step aside and allow a democratic transition.”

Similarly, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared her support for Guaidó, adding, “Maduro’s regime of repression and impoverishment for his personal enrichment continues to gravely violate human rights, and must be condemned ... His recent decision to block bridges and cut off channels of food and supplies imperils the health and futures of the Venezuelan people, and must be immediately reversed.”

The supposed decision to “block bridges” is a propaganda invention. The Tienditas bridge linking Venezuela and Colombia was built in 2015 and never opened because of border tensions between Colombia and Venezuela, with both governments having long ago installed fences and barriers on their respective sides.

It is noteworthy that a corporate media and a Democratic Party leadership that has made relentless and unsubstantiated allegations over “Russian meddling” the focus of their opposition to the Trump administration have accepted without question the lies of this administration as it engages in a form of “meddling” that has every possibility of producing a bloodbath in Venezuela.

Underlying this bipartisan unity lies not concerns over democracy or humanitarianism, but rather the strategic interests of US imperialism, in particular the control of Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world, and denying them to both Russia and China, which have extensive trade and investments with the country.

The threat of direct US military intervention in support of these aims has been steadily ratcheted up as the “interim president” Guaidó has proven incapable of asserting control over anything more than the Venezuelan assets stolen by the US government.

Trump Wednesday met at the White House with Colombia’s right-wing President Ivan Duque to discuss the drive to overthrow the Venezuelan government. He reiterated the refrain that “all options are on the table,” and refused to discuss the disclosure of a note by his National Security Adviser John Bolton about sending 5,000 troops to Colombia, declaring “I never talk about that.”

Meanwhile, the head of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Adm. Craig Faller, spent two days this week in Brazil meeting with the country’s military brass and officials of government of Jair Bolsonaro, the fascistic former army captain who assumed the presidency at the beginning of this year.

Venezuela was also the central topic in these discussions. Brazil has strongly backed the regime change operation in Caracas, and leading officials have publicly mooted the possibility of a military intervention. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security announced a 60-day extension of the deployment of Brazilian army troops in the state of Roraima bordering Venezuela, where Brazil has agreed to set up a staging point for the US “humanitarian” aid provocation.

In Washington, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, James Inhofe, told reporters on Tuesday that the US military would have to intervene in Venezuela if Russia established a military presence in the country.

“You’ve got a guy down there that is killing everybody,” he said. “You could have him put together a base that Russia would have on our hemisphere. And if those things happen, it may be to the point where we’ll have to intervene with troops and respond.”

Moscow has stated that Venezuela has made no request for military assistance.

In testimony on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, the Trump administration’s special envoy on Venezuela, Elliot Abrams was asked whether the US had increased its troop deployments in South America in response to the Venezuelan crisis and responded, “I don’t believe so.” He added that direct US military intervention was not Washington’s “preferred route.”

Asked by a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee whether the US was funneling arms to Venezuela’s right-wing opposition, Abrams said that his answer was “a simple and unequivocal no.”

The committee’s Democratic chairman, Eliot Engel, introduced Abrams citing his posts in the Reagan and Bush administrations and his positions in various think tanks. Unmentioned was the fact that he pleaded guilty in 1991 to lying to Congress about the illegal funneling of money and guns to the CIA-backed “contras” in their terrorist war against Nicaragua and avoided jail only because of a pardon by Bush senior.

One member of the committee, Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar, challenged Abrams, citing his guilty plea in the contra affair, stated, “I don’t understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful.” She went on to detail his defense of the El Mozote massacre of some 800 civilians in El Salvador and similar genocidal acts by the dictatorship in Guatemala.

Abrams treated the questioning with contempt, interrupting Omar and declaring that her questions were an “attack” that did not merit an answer.

That the same kind of operations that Abrams defended in Central America are ongoing in Venezuela was indicated by the Venezuelan government’s interception of a shipment of 19 assault rifles, 118 explosive charges, 90 military-grade radio antennas and six latest generation smartphones on a Boeing 767 cargo flight by the 21Air company to the Valencia airport.

“This materiel was destined for criminal groups and terrorist actions in the country, financed by the fascist extreme right and the government of the United States,” a spokesman for the Venezuelan military charged.

The air cargo company, 21 Air, had previously run flights between US cities, but in recent months had shifted its operations to Venezuela, with stop-offs in Colombia.

Heavy snow storm exposes depth of social crisis in US Pacific Northwest

Kayla Costa

A major snow storm, named Winter Storm Nadia, hit the Pacific Northwest region of the United States this past weekend bringing record snowfall and low temperatures, placing heavy burdens on the most vulnerable residents and causing damage to infrastructure.

Total snowfall varied across the region’s cities and rural areas. The city of Seattle, Washington, received more than 14 inches of snow, the highest recorded snowfall for the entire month of February since 1916. In Portland, Oregon, snowfall reached an average of four inches across the metro area. The snowstorm also hit parts of Northern California and even Hawaii, which was hit with 60 mph winds and gusts as high as three times that on its highest summit.

In addition, residents faced record low temperatures and dangerous road conditions, leading to many health and safety concerns. Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency on Friday, which is still in place. Road closures and car accidents due to icy road conditions are common. These unsafe conditions are especially severe in southwest Washington and northern-central Oregon, where flooding began Tuesday from heavy rainfall and melting snow, causing mudslides and road blockages.

On Monday, a semi truck hauling two diesel fuel tanks crashed on Interstate Highway 84, which connects Portland to northeast Oregon, spilling roughly 2,500 gallons onto the road and into a nearby pond. Three semi trucks crashed near the industrial suburb Troutdale off the same interstate highway on Tuesday.

The storm has knocked over trees and power lines, causing mass power outages. More than 70,000 Washington state residents lack electrical power, while an untold number have experienced intermittent outages. Without consistent power, residents are struggling to maintain electronic communications, food storage and heat.

While in much of the US such winter weather conditions are routine, it is highly unusual for the Pacific Northwest region. The social impacts of the storm have exposed the underlying conditions confronting wide layers of the population, generated from decades of growing social inequality.

Perhaps the most astounding social impact of the storm is on the area’s massive homeless population. Hundreds of homeless people, often living in tents and cars throughout Portland, Seattle and other cities across the region, packed into temporary shelters organized by thinly-stretched nonprofit organizations. From what has been reported so far, at least one homeless man, 59-year-old Derek Johnson, has died from exposure and hypothermia. His body was found early Monday morning at a light rail station in downtown Seattle.

Seattle has an estimated homeless population of some 10,000 individuals today, up from 8,500 in 2017. According to the 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Seattle’s King County had the highest rate of growth in its homeless population, a situation tied directly to the rising costs of rent. At least four thousand homeless people reside in Portland, which has similar housing and wage trends as Seattle. Hundreds die each year from homelessness, and the hardships intensify in extreme weather conditions.

Deaths have been reported outside the homeless population as well. Carl Soderberg, 53, died from hypothermia in Maple Valley, Washington, and Stanley Little, 84, died from exposure in Fall City, Washington. On Tuesday, two people were injured from a roof collapse at a nursing home in Shoreline, Washington. More deaths and injuries are expected from lack of shelter, proper heating or access to food and medications.

The storm’s impact can also be seen within the job conditions of the working class. Forced to work either by their bosses or necessity to make ends meet, workers are dealing with heavier burdens and dangerous work conditions. Truck drivers still have to keep up with the long 60-hour weeks characteristic of the logistics industry, hauling heavy loads on icy and wet roads. Airport workers have to carry the frenzied weight of canceled flights and delays, and low-wage retail workers have to process high volumes of customers for storm preparation.

The situation of grocery stores in the days leading up to the storm revealed the pressures on food supply networks. Though news media announced the storm days in advance, grocery companies made no significant changes to their food supply or staffing. Thus, stores were wiped clean of essential food items like water and bread, and staff were overwhelmed with a rush of customers.

While weather can have deadly effects no matter what social-economic relations are in place, these relations determine societal-level response and the related human impacts. The underlying basis of the capitalist system determines, for example, the preparedness of the cities, the vulnerability of the poorest residents and the subsequent recovery process.

Other recent weather events and natural disasters, such as the “Polar Vortex” that hit the American Midwest in January and the fires that raged across the West Coast in the fall, have exposed the irrational character of capitalist society. As climate change makes weather patterns and temperatures more extreme, these events reveal the inherent inability of capitalism to meet social need despite the immense material resources and scientific knowledge that exists.

Union federation stages national strike in South Africa

Eddie Haywood

On Wednesday, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) held a national strike against job cuts and chronic unemployment.

The value of the South African currency, the rand, and prices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange dropped in response to the strike. Tens of thousands of workers participated in the walkout, bringing economic activity to a near standstill across the country.

In speeches before crowds of workers, leaders of COSATU and allied parties made demagogic statements of allegiance to the working class and denunciations of “capitalists who exploit workers for profit.”

In reality, the call for a national strike is an attempt on the part of the trade union apparatus and its political allies, such as the South African Communist Party (SACP), to bind workers to the African National Congress.

As South Africa’s largest trade union federation, COSATU is a coalition of 21 unions that comprise workers employed in nearly every economic sector across the country, including mining, education, health care, textile, government, transportation, hospitality, and manufacturing. There are a total of 1.6 million workers represented by the federation. Nationwide, nearly one-quarter of South African workers belong to a union.

The national walkout comes amid a four-day electricity blackout across many areas of the country, with workers employed by state-owned electric utility Eskom participating in the strike. Eskom supplies over 90 percent of South Africa’s electricity.

Eskom has faltered in recent years under crippling debt due to government cuts. In breaking up Eskom last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa called for “bold and decisive action” to save the troubled utility. As a prelude to complete privatization of public infrastructure, the president declared, “To ensure the credibility of the turnaround plan and avoid a similar financial crisis in a few years’ time, Eskom will need to develop a new business model.”

In announcing the national strike to South African media, COSATU stated, “The preparations for the strike against job losses are in full swing and the workers stand ready to fight and defend their livelihoods. Currently, the real unemployment rate is 38 percent, with close to 10 million people struggling to get jobs and over 17 million on welfare.” COSATU cynically stated that it will fight the Ramaphosa government’s plan to privatize state-owned entities, such as electric utility Eskom.

The union federation also declared that it would call on the ruling ANC government for a “significant” redistribution of wealth, increased social spending, and better pay and benefits to workers employed in the public sector.

The SACP, a close political ally of COSATU, also participated in the national march in Johannesburg, with SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila making a speech decrying the mining sector’s job cutting.

While making several demagogic denunciations of capitalism and the exploitation of workers, Mapaila told the crowd that the ANC’s aim of privatization would be “fiercely” resisted.

Coinciding with COSATU’s strike, today the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) is conducting a walkout against pay cuts, cuts in funding for public infrastructure, and intolerable working conditions that the entire public sector suffers.

In its announcement, NEHAWU stated it aimed to stop academic and learning activities at “all the technical and vocational education and training and community education (TVET) and training colleges” across South Africa.

NEHAWU declared the strike would be of an indefinite duration, with NEHAWU general secretary Zola Saphetha telling journalists in Pretoria, “The strike will commence at workplaces on the 14th of February in the morning and run indefinitely until all our demands are met by the department of higher education and training.”

The claims by COSATU and NEHAWU that they are conducting a fight on behalf of the working class are completely cynical and fraudulent. Over a period of several years, the ANC, in alliance with the trade unions, has presided over the destruction of millions of jobs and the slashing of wages and living standards for the South African working class, as well as gutting social spending.

The social misery experienced by the South African working class is in stark contrast to the obscene wealth amassed by a tiny handful of elites.

In South Africa, with a population of 56 million and the second largest economy on the continent, the unemployment rate has persisted at 27 percent. Among youth, the prospects are exceedingly gloomy, with a jobless rate of over 50 percent.

According to UNICEF, 84 percent of children in South Africa have no health care coverage. The paltry budget for health care in the country is a criminally low 13 percent.

Additionally, according to the Department of Labour, workplace injuries and fatalities in the country are at an all time high, with the construction industry, representing some 12 percent of GDP, suffering an average of two fatalities a week.

The unions are exposed for working in collusion with companies to slash the living standards of their workers, as illustrated by the actions of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in 2012 that culminated in the Marikana massacre.

NUM sought to stop the strike at Lonmin Mines at Marikana that was overwhelmingly approved by mineworkers. Acting on behalf of Lonmin to break the rebellion, NUM deployed armed thugs who assaulted and shot at striking miners.

Escalating matters further, the ANC government under then President Jacob Zuma deployed security forces to Lonmin to break the strike, which resulted in the killings of over 40 miners. The current president, Ramaphosa, was a director at Lonmin at the time of the massacre, and he denounced the strikers in bloodthirsty terms, applauding the massacre.

To soothe the increasing animosity among the South African masses toward the ANC government, during his state of the nation address last week, Ramaphosa, a multi-millionaire and former union boss, cynically promised several initiatives to improve the economy, including the construction of new housing, increased funding for education, and the creation of a national health insurance system.

Contradicting his populist rhetoric, Ramaphosa revealed the true aim of the ANC government of completely privatizing state-owned industries. Clearly speaking to soothe financial markets, Ramaphosa declared that his government would seek “strategic equity partnerships” with the private sector to rescue ailing state-owned entities. In this, Ramaphosa is laying the groundwork for the complete giveaway of public utilities to private corporations.

The strike comes amid acute worker unrest and growing class struggle across Africa and internationally. Above all, the South African ruling elite fears an independent mobilization of the working class outside of its control.

The strikes in South Africa must be understood in the broader context of the growing international class struggle, as evidenced by the recent strikes by teachers in Zimbabwe, the nurse’s walkout in Kenya, the anti-government demonstrations in Sudan, to the “yellow vests” protests in France, teachers’ strikes across the United States, and the wildcat strike by auto parts and other workers in Matamoros, Mexico.

The show trial of the Catalan nationalists and the far-right danger in Spain

Alex Lantier

Yesterday, after the show trial of Catalan nationalists began in Madrid, Catalan nationalist legislators declined to support the minority Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) government’s budget. PSOE Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s budget failed by 191-158. After meeting with his council of ministers on Thursday, he is expected to call elections this spring.

Polls show that if elections were held today, the Popular Party (PP, 23.1 percent), Citizens (Cs, 19.2 percent) and the new anti-Catalan, pro-fascist PP split-off VOX (8.9 percent) together would win a 51 percent majority. PP leader Pablo Casado called yesterday for a “common front” of these right-wing parties, after they formed a regional governmental alliance last month in Andalucia.

The response of the Spanish ruling class to growing strikes and protests in Spain and across Europe, against European Union (EU) austerity is to build a fascistic regime. Objectively, this faces powerful working class opposition. However, this historically-rooted opposition to the legacy of Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco, who conquered Spain in the 1936-1939 Civil War and whose regime ruled until 1978, finds no expression through the existing parties.

The PSOE and its pseudo-left ally, Podemos, are reactionary and bankrupt. Podemos was the key supporter of the PSOE government, trying until the last moment yesterday to secure a deal with Catalan nationalists to approve the budget. Promoting nationalism and populism and pouring scorn on the working class’s struggle for socialism, the Stalinist and Pabloite professors leading Podemos have allowed the ruling class to resuscitate Spanish neo-fascism. The fascistic danger is very real.

Podemos brought the PSOE to power last year not through elections, but back-channel talks to assemble a narrow parliamentary majority of the PSOE, Podemos, and the Catalan and Basque nationalists. This coalition then put Sanchez in power, ousting PP Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Podemos General Secretary Professor Pablo Iglesias explained the nationalist perspective underlying his electoral strategy: “We’re proud to be Spanish, and we will use the words that you use to win in politics. Because if you don’t win, you can’t change things.”

In fact, with a “realistic” policy taking over conceptions of the nationalist right, Podemos prepared not victory but defeat. Once in power, the PSOE—the main party of capitalist rule in Spain since 1978—predictably pursued an agenda indistinguishable from that of the PP, alienating workers and strengthening the neo-fascists. It kept the PP’s 2018 austerity budget, poured billions into the army and, critically, continued the PP’s repression of the Catalan nationalists.

Tuesday, the trial began of twelve Catalan nationalists arrested after the October 1, 2017 Catalan independence referendum, on charges of rebellion and sedition. The Catalan nationalist parties are reactionary pro-austerity parties, tacitly backing NATO wars and the EU. But this trial is an attack on democratic rights, including freedom of thought and of assembly, and a threat to illegalize all opposition to the state, that is unprecedented since the fall of Francoism. It must be opposed.

Catalan regional vice-premier Oriol Junqueras, or Catalan cultural association leaders Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart face 25 years in jail for peaceful political activity: organizing a referendum, or calling demonstrations. They have already been in prison for over a year, on charges of organizing a violent uprising. However, the only violence during the referendum was the PP’s police crackdown on peaceful voters, sending over 800 to the hospital.

After the referendum, the PSOE supported Rajoy’s government as it incited anti-Catalan protests where Francoite songs were sung, and the head of the Spanish army declared Catalan nationalism the “greatest threat to our democracy.” It is now clear that this campaign, echoing Francoite denunciations of “reds and separatists” was an attempt by the entire ruling class, amid mounting social anger after a decade of EU austerity, to shift politics far to the right.

Under the Podemos-backed PSOE regime, prosecutors are making the Orwellian claim that the prisoners are guilty of the violence committed by the state against their supporters. “I don’t think responsibility for the violence on referendum day can be attributed to Spain’s law enforcement but to those who, knowing the law, mobilized thousands of citizens. They acted as human walls impeding the legitimate police operation,” prosecutor Javier Zaragoza said at trial yesterday.

VOX has been allowed to constitute itself as a “public prosecutor” allied to the state, and is demanding prison sentences of over 60 years for the defendants.

At the same time, VOX president Santiago Abascal publicly defended Franco’s record in the Civil War. “We are the voice of those whose forefathers fought in Franco’s army and who do not want to condemn what their families did,” he declared last month. “There are those who do not want street names to change just because of the political fanaticism of those who want Spain to have a one-sided memory.”

This is a defense of fascist suppression of the working class via state terror and mass murder. Franco led a coup against the Spanish Republic in 1936. After a bloody three-year Civil War—in which Franco exploited above all the role of Stalinist and social-democratic parties, who suppressed working class uprisings and murdered Trotskyists fighting for revolution in Spain—he cemented his regime with the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of left-wing workers and youth.

Nonetheless, the EU is expressing full confidence in the show trial of the Catalan nationalists. “We fully trust the legal system in Spain,” European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen said yesterday, adding that “this is not a political question. We do not make political statements on the developments.”

The sharpest warnings are in order: after three decades of imperialist war since the Stalinist bureaucracy dissolved the Soviet Union in 1991, and a decade of deep EU austerity since the 2008 crash, European capitalism is rotting on its feet.

In every country, unpopular governments are inciting neo-fascist movements against the threat of domestic opposition. While the German Grand Coalition government backs right-wing extremist professors seeking to whitewash Hitlerism to defend their remilitarization policy, French President Emmanuel Macron is hailing fascist dictator Philippe Pétain and violently repressing “yellow vests.” Spain, which pundits sometimes claimed to be immune to neo-fascism due to workers’ hatred of Francoism, has been added to that list.

An upsurge in the international class struggle is developing. “Yellow vest” protests in France, mass one-day strikes in Belgium and Germany, and strikes by taxi drivers, port, retail, airport and metro workers, in recent months in Spain are all signs of the powerful eruption of the class struggle that is being prepared. However, an outpouring of militancy and social anger will encounter determined opposition in the ruling elite, and the working class internationally faces a political struggle.

The basis for a struggle to defend democratic rights is socialist internationalism and a turn to the working class, through a determined political break with the Stalinist and Pabloite politics of Podemos and similar pseudo-left parties across Europe. This signifies the struggle to build sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) to offer revolutionary leadership to the working class in Spain and in countries across Europe, opposing to capitalism and the EU the fight for the United Socialist States of Europe.

Jane M Klausman Women in Business Scholarships 2019/2020 for International Students

Application Deadline: 

• Applications must be completed and presented to Zonta clubs according to the club’s assigned deadline.
• A club recipient is selected, and the application is presented to the governor/regional representative by 1st July, 2019.
• The district/region recipient is selected, and the application is presented to Zonta International Headquarters by 1st September 2019.
• International recipients will be contacted by their Zonta club leader by November 2019.

Offered annually? Yes


Eligible Countries: Any country where Zonta international club has presence.

Eligible African Countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Mongolia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo. Also see the Important Notes (below).

Eligible Field of Study: Buisness related courses

About Scholarship: Because Zonta International believes in gender equality, the Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship program helps women pursue undergraduate and master’s degrees in business management and overcome gender barriers from the classroom to the boardroom. The Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship was established in 1998 from a generous bequest by Jane M. Klausman, a member of the Zonta Club of Syracuse, New York, USA, and the 1990-1995 Zonta International Parliamentarian. Since the program’s inception, Zonta has awarded 399 Scholarships to women from 50 countries.

Offered Since: 1998

Type: MBA, Training, Masters, Undergraduate, PhD.

Selection Criteria and Eligibility: 

• Women pursuing a business or business-related degree who demonstrate outstanding potential in the field are eligible.
• Online students are also eligible.
• Members and employees of Zonta International or the Zonta International Foundation are NOT eligible to apply for the Scholarships.

Number of Scholarships: Up to 32 scholarships

Value of Scholarship:

• Zonta International awards scholarships of US$2,000 each at the district/region level and six international scholarships in the amount of US$8,000 each.
• The Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarships are awarded annually and may be used for tuition, books or living expenses at any university, college or institution offering accredited business courses and degrees.

Duration of Scholarship: Onetime financial grant

To be taken at (country): Any country

How to Apply: The Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship program operates at the club, district/region and international levels of Zonta International. To download the 2018 JMK Women in Business Scholarship application, click here.
It is important to go through the Application process and more information on the Scholarship Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Junior Researcher at Mo Ibrahim Foundation 2019

Application Deadline: 24th February 2019 23:59

Eligible Countries: African countries


To be taken at (country): London, Marylebone

Type: Internship

Eligibility: The ideal candidate should have:

• postgraduate degree in a relevant subject
• knowledge of the international development sector, ideally with a focus on African development and governance/public policies. Experience in the thematic areas of participation, rights, democracy, gender, environment, health, education and/or welfare will be advantageous.
• 1-2 years’ work experience, including at internship level, in a similar position. Candidates without work experience should not be deterred from applying if they are able to demonstrate their ability to learn quickly, and their inclination for research, analysis and attention to detail.
• desire to carry out and learn statistical methods/analysis and index calculation
• some experience in conducting analysis and writing and editing research reports for publication
• some experience in presenting research findings to diverse audiences.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: Salary: £26,000-£28,000 depending on experience

Duration of Programme: Fulltime

How to Apply: Candidates should apply stating their current salary by sending a single page cover letter outlining your interest in the role, along with a CV, to applications@moibrahimfoundation.org.

• Please put your name and”Junior Researcherapplication” as the subject line of your message. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
• Candidates should have the right to work in the UK.

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development 2019

Application Deadline: 30th April 2019 (UTC+1, Paris time).

Offered annually? Yes


Eligible Countries: All

To be taken at (country): Japan

About the Award: The prize, which is funded by the Government of Japan, consists of three annual awards of USD 50,000 for each recipient.
The Prize and award winners recognize the role of education in connecting the social, economic, cultural and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The Global Action Programme on ESD (GAP) calls for scaling up of ESD action at all levels as a means of implementing all the Sustainable Development Goals.

Offered Since: 2015

Type: Contest

Selection Criteria: The three Prize winners are selected by the Director-General of UNESCO on the basis of recommendations made by an international independent Jury consisting of five experts.

The project/programme of the nominee are assessed by the Jury on the basis of the following criteria:

• Transformation: The project/programme practices Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as transformative education in support of sustainable development, , leading to individual and social change.
• Integration: The project/programme addresses the three dimensions of sustainable development (society, economy, environment) in an integrated way.
• Innovation: The project/programme demonstrates an innovative approach to ESD.

In addition to these three criteria, the project/programme should:

• be onging and have been running for at least four years
• have a high impact relative to the invested resources
• be replicable and scalable
• contribute to one or more of the five Priority Action Areas of the GAP.

Number of Awardees: 3

Value of Award: USD 50,000 each

How to Apply: While completing the Form, please also keep in mind that the project/programme will be assessed by the Jury on the basis of the selection criteria above.
It is important to go through the Application instructions on the Program Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit Award Webpage for details


Award Provider: UNESCO, Japan Government.

Matsumae Research Fellowship for Natural Science, Engineering and Medicine 2020

Application Deadline: 31st July, 2019 17:00 (Japan Standard Time).

Offered annually? Yes


Eligible Countries: International

To be taken at (country): Japan

Fields of Study:  Fields of study such as natural science, engineering and medicine are given first priority. Candidates are free to select host institutions (university research laboratories, national research institutions or the corresponding facilities of private industry)

About the Award: Upon the concept of the founder of the Matsumae International Foundation (MIF), “Towards A Greater Understanding of Japan and a Lasting World Peace”, MIF has started the Research Fellowship Program.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: To be eligible, candidates must:

• be of non-Japanese nationality;
• have a Doctorate degree;
• be 49 years old or under;
• not have been in Japan previously;
• have firm positions and professions in their home nations

Number of Awardees: Twenty (20)

Value of Scholarship: 

• Stipend for research and stay
• Insurance
• Air transportation (a round-trip air ticket to/from Tokyo)
• Lump sum on arrival

Duration of Scholarship: From three(3) to six(6) months.

How to Apply: Applicants should go through Application instructions on the the Program Webpage before applying.

Application Form

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Australia Awards John Allwright Fellowship 2019 for Developing Countries

Application Deadline: 30th April 2019.

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries


To be Taken at (country): Australia

About the Award: The Australia Awards John Allwright Fellowship is a scholarship offered by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and co-funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. John Allwright Fellowships are awarded to partner-country scientists involved in ACIAR supported collaborative research projects to undertake postgraduate training at Australian universities.
The primary aim of the John Allwright Fellowship is to enhance research capacity in ACIAR’s partner country  institutions. Whilst individual awardees will benefit from the Scheme, it is important to note that partner country institutions are the key targets.
The study and research opportunities provided by Australia Awards Scholarships develop skills and knowledge of individuals to drive change and contribute to the development outcomes of their own country.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: Applicants must be citizens of the country in which they are working.

To be eligible for selection, a candidate must:

• at the time of applying, hold qualifications that would be assessed to be equivalent to at least an Australian bachelor’s degree in a discipline that is relevant to the proposed area of postgraduate study;
• be a scientist or economist from the developing country partner, who is actively involved in a collaborative research project supported by ACIAR at the time of application (in some cases, ACIAR will consider supporting researchers from “advanced pipeline” projects, i.e. in cases where a full project proposal has been approved by ACIAR);
• be jointly supported in the application by the Australian and partner country Project Leaders;
• obtain approval from the employing institution who must agree to the absence of the candidate should he/she receive a Fellowship for the period involved in obtaining the postgraduate qualification; and
• demonstrate that he/she is employed on a permanent rather than short-term contract basis.

Within the Fellowship Scheme, ACIAR strives to meet the Australian government policy on gender equity, and reflect ACIAR’s training policies and strategies.

Value of Award: The following benefits generally apply:

• Full tuition fees
• Return air travel—payment of a single return, economy class airfare to and from Australia, via the most direct route
• Establishment allowance—a once only payment of A$5,000 as a contribution towards accommodation expenses, text books, study materials
• Contribution to Living Expenses (CLE) is a fortnightly contribution to basic living expenses paid at a rate determined by the department. From 1 January 2013, CLE payable to Scholars studying under an Australia Awards John Allwright Fellowship is A$30,000 per year.
• Introductory Academic Program (IAP)—a compulsory 4-6 week program prior to the commencement of formal academic studies covering information on life and study in Australia
• Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) for the duration of the award (for award holder only)—provided to cover the student’s basic medical costs (with the exception of pre-existing conditions)
• Pre-course English (PCE) fees—if deemed necessary PCE may be available for students for in-country and/or in-Australia training
• Supplementary Academic Support may be available to ensure a Scholar’s academic success or enhance their academic experience
• Fieldwork (for research students only)—may be available for eligible research students for up to two return economy class airfares for a Masters student or up to three for a PhD student, via the most direct route to their country of citizenship

Duration of Program: The Awards are offered for the minimum period necessary for the individual to complete the academic program specified by the Australian higher education institution, including any preparatory training.

How to Apply: 

• Go to the Online Australia Scholarships Information System (OASIS) here. The first step is to register in OASIS as this will enable you to logon, create and complete an application.
• For instructions on how to register and create an application in OASIS please see the OASIS Applicant User guide here.
• It is important to go through the Application and eligibility requirements before applying.

Visit Program Webpage for Details

Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) Grants 2019

Application Deadline: 30th April 2019

Offered annually? Yes


To be taken at (country): West African countries

Fields of Proposal: OSIWA seeks proposals aimed at achieving the following specific themes:

• Economic Governance and Advancement
• Justice Reform and Rule of Law
• Journalism
• Equality and Anti-Discrimination
• Democratic Practice

About the Award: The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) is a grant making and advocacy foundation that is part of the global Open Society Foundations Network. OSIWA works to support the creation of open societies in West Africa marked by functioning democracy, good governance, the rule of law, basic freedoms, and widespread civic participation. Its headquarters is in Dakar and it has offices in Abuja, Monrovia, Freetown and Conakry.

Type: Grants

Eligibility: OSIWA primarily awards grants to local organizations based in West Africa. In rare and limited circumstances, it provides support to West Africa-based international organizations with a strong commitment to transfer knowledge to local groups they partner with. It provides grants to government institutions as well as regional and sub-regional organizations working in its core priority areas. OSIWA requires all organizations seeking funding to submit a complete proposal, budget, and other relevant documents including leadership information (list of Board members, trustees and management staff who will be involved in the project), proof of registration and banking details.
Applications that are not submitted with all the relevant documentation may be delayed.

Selection Criteria: Selection criteria and process applications are evaluated on the extent to which the organization possesses the vision, drive, experience and skills required to create and sustain a project that will advance OSIWA’s objectives.

Value of Program: There is no set maximum amount for OSIWA funding. OSIWA operates a limited budget for the ten countries it covers and its regional program. In the event that OSIWA cannot fund the entire project budget, it may choose to fund part of it and request the grant seeker to source for the outstanding balance.

How to Apply: Proposals should be sent preferably online via the online submission form or to: proposals@osiwa.org. Proposals will be accepted until April 30^th 2019. OSIWA encourages early submission of proposals and submitted proposals will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. Proposals received after the due date will not be considered. In order to assess diversity and inclusion in our grant making, kindly indicate in the application if the proposal is focused on women, youth or persons living with disability.

Visit Program Webpage for details

Fulbright African Research Scholar Program (ARSP) 2019 for African Researchers

Application Deadline: 1st June, 2019

To be taken at (country): USA


About the Award: Two categories of grants are offered in the ARSP:  research grants and program and curriculum development grants.

Research Grants: Awards of 3 to 9 months are offered for selected university faculty professionals to conduct research in any academic discipline at a U.S. academic or research institution.  Preference will be given to individuals with a doctorate degree, at least three years of university teaching experience, a productive scholarly record, and whose projects relate directly to their ongoing teaching and/or research responsibilities.

Program and Curriculum Development Grants: Awards of 3 to 5 months are offered for qualified university faculty to conduct research in any academic discipline at a U.S. academic or research institution.  Proposals should be linked to professional duties and demonstrate how the scholar will use the knowledge gained to develop new courses, curricula, or programs at the home institution.

HIV/AIDS: includes a special set of grants for scholars with proposals in HIV/AIDS-related research. Scholars in all academic disciplines are invited to formulate proposals with an HIV/AIDS focus.  Candidates may apply either as research scholars or as program and curriculum development scholars.

Type: Research

Eligibility: 

1. An intended applicant must be a citizen of Nigeria or a permanent resident, and should hold a valid passport issued from the country in which the application is made.
2. In addition, applicants must have at least three (3) years of post-doctoral degree training or teaching experience at the time of application.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Grants: Fully-funded
Grants are not for the principal purpose of:

• Attending conferences
• Completing doctoral dissertations
• Travel and consultation at multiple institutions, or
• Clinical medical research involving patient contact

How to Apply: The application is accessible here.
Application instructions are available here.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

London Gangs: a Tragic Remnant of British Colonialism

T. J. Coles

London is plagued by street gangs. By the year 2016 there were an estimated 3,600 gangsters. According to government figures, these form some 225 gangs. Of these, 58 gangs are regularly active and are thought by police to be responsible for two-thirds of gang-related offences, including assault, theft, murder and, most of all, drugs. Ethnically, gangsters are mainly white, Asian, black and Eastern European. In the absence of official data, on-the-ground reports suggest that the majority of gangsters dealing in drugs, where the most violent crimes occur, are young black males, particularly Jamaican. This is not only a symptom of how successive British governments have failed young ethnic minorities, it reflects the tragic legacy of colonialism.

The British Empire left Jamaica and its other regional colonies poor and devastated .One book on the topic notes that emancipation from slavery “removed the gross features of the slave system without basically upsetting the underlying class-colour differentiations.” Likewise, a London School of Economics report notes that although Jamaica’s Constitution of 1944 introduced so-called democracy, it was “overlaid onto a set of administrative structures and doctrines which had developed since the imposition of Crown Colony rule in 1866.”

Jamaica’s pre-Independence gangs, like The Yardies, emerged from the poverty of the 1950s. Caribbeans experienced similar hardships when they and their parents moved to the UK after the Second World War. According to the British National Archives, between 1948 and 1970, almost half a million people from the West Indies (including the Caribbean) came to Britain, many of them on government initiatives, “to run the transport system, postal service and hospitals. Other West Indians were returning soldiers who had fought for Britain during the Second World War.” Most of the immigrants settled in London. One academic paper notes that “Britain’s experience of West Indian immigration” was “traumatic … Both first and second generations in the U.K. have experienced open hostility” from media, politicians and the public. Inner city violence, including white gangs vs. black gangs, affected Liverpool in the north, Handsworth in the Midlands and, in London, Brixton, Notting Hill and Tottenham.

Within a generation, poverty and discrimination in London had given rise to the gangland culture, with children growing up poor and oppressed and turning to crime for prestige and money. In 1992, the British police launched Operation Lucy to crush the gangs. Not having learned their lessons, successive governments, including the Tories under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, as well as New Labour under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, failed to address the grievances of young ethnic minority Britons–the children and grandchildren of the migrant generations–and help them integrate into society. As in previous decades, some youngsters of this neglected generation have turned to gangs for profit and protection.

Britain has been condemned by the United Nations for its structural racism. Just 14% percent of British people are from ethnic minorities. Yet 26% of British prisoners are non-whites, with black offenders 53% more likely to be sent to prison than whites. By 2011, black people were, in some areas of the UK, 28 times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by police. The children of black Caribbeans are three times more likely than white children to be permanently expelled from school.

According to government figures, by 2016 the rate of employment for white Britons was 74.7%. For black Britons, however, it was 59.3%. While the rate of overall poverty for white Britons (according to the government’s questionable measure of poverty) was 17.2%, for black Britons it was 39.9%. The percentage of white people likely to get a good degree at college is 76.3% compared to 60.3% for ethnic minorities in general. Although just 7.3% of the British population supposedly experiences “persistent poverty” (again, by the government’s dubious measure), for black and Asian households, the percentage rises to 20. Poverty, unemployment, imprisonment and general discrimination put massive strains on ethnic minority families, hence many absent fathers. Twenty-two percent of white parents are single, but 51% of black parents are single. There are few means for ethnic minority women to make a decent living. By 2011, unemployment for ethnic women was 14% compared to 6.8% for white women.

These factors have merged to create a psychologically damaged demographic of socially alienated, angry youths, who believe that their only hope for respect and belonging is to join a gang. According to the Metropolitan Police’s database, by the year 2014 the average age of a London gangster was 21. The Mayor of London Office for Policing and Crime’s report on gangs notes that youths are “pulled” into joining gangs by a number of factors. Many of these factors are the same as those noted above: poverty, lack of education and employment skills, and family problems. The allure of gang membership, says the report, includes the perceived sense of “safety, protection, excitement, financial opportunities and a sense of belonging” that gangs appear to offer. Crucially, the report notes that “These young people are often the most excluded in our society, facing multiple levels of deprivations and often growing up exposed to traumatic and abusive environments.”

British governments used Caribbeans and their African ancestors as slaves and then as cheap labour to rebuild post-war Britain. Having been exploited, they and their offspring have been left to face poverty and discrimination.

Another indication of how badly the system has failed these young, mainly ethnic minority males is the extent to which many believe in casting magic spells (Obeah) for self-protection. Here, the link between modern gangland violence and colonialism is apparent. According to a four-part investigation into London gangs by the International Business Times (IBT), Obeah originated in the west African Ashanti. Centuries ago, the practitioners believed that their spells could protect them. The magicians were respected and feared. The Spanish and later English slave traders brought them and their tradition to the Caribbean and thus to modern London.

The IBT investigation concludes that many of today’s black London gangsters believe that Obeah will protect them from the police and bullets of rival gangs. It is significant that in the past the practitioners of Obeah “played a key role in slave rebellions and would create powders that supposedly possessed magical properties that would protect users from the white man’s weapons.” Today, the white man’s weapons are job discrimination, racism in policing, an economic system that favours wealthy and middle-class people, and the refusal of successive governments to get to the root of what drives young males to join gangs. Like so many things, London’s gang crisis is in no small part one of the tragic legacies of colonialism.

Extinction of Insects: A planetary distress call

Omar Rashid Chowdhury

Insects are facing extinction all over the world, at a rate that bodes disastrous ecological collapse, reports the first global scientific review published in the journal Biological Conservation. (FranciscoSánchez-Bayo, Kris A.G.Wyckhuys, Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers, Biological Conservation, Vol. 232, Apr. 2019)

More than 40% insect species are threatened with extinction and a third are endangered, according to the analysis. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, reptiles and birds. The total mass of insects is falling by 2.5% per year, that suggests with the best data available they could face total extinction within a century.

The planet is hurtling into the start of a sixth mass extinction with species losses reported in larger animals. Insects, difficult to study as they are, however are the most varied and abundant and outweigh humans by 17 times. They are a key component of all ecosystems as food for other animals, pollinators and nutrient recyclers.

While there have been reports on insect species loss in Germany and Puerto Rico, there had been no review on a global scale. The study, the first of its kind, strongly indicates that this is now a global crisis. The report asserts, “The trends confirm that the sixth major extinction event is profoundly impacting life forms on our planet… Unless we change our ways of producing food, insects as a whole will go down the path of extinction in a few decades,”. “The repercussions this will have for the planet’s ecosystems are catastrophic to say the least”, the report warns.

The analysis says intensive agriculture is the main driver of declines, particularly the heavy use of pesticides. It also adds agro-chemical pollutants, invasive species and climate change as driving factors of the extinction.

“If insect species losses cannot be halted, this will have catastrophic consequences for both the planet’s ecosystems and for the survival of mankind,” said Francisco Sánchez-Bayo, at the University of Sydney, Australia, who wrote the review with Kris Wyckhuys at the China Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing.The 2.5% rate of annual loss over the last 25-30 years is “shocking”, Sánchez-Bayo said: “It is very rapid. In 10 years you will have a quarter less, in 50 years only half left and in 100 years you will have none.” (“Plummeting insect numbers threaten collapse of nature”, The Guardian, 10 Feb 2019)

Sánchez in the same interview said, many birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish eat insects and with this food source vanished they will starve to death.

Butterflies and moths have been the worst hit in this massacre. In England, the total abundance of butterfly species declined by 58% on farmed land between 2000 and 2009. (Andre S. Gilburn et. al., “Are neonicotinoid insecticides driving declines of widespread butterflies?”, 24 Nov. 2015). There have also been decline in bumble bees, honey bees and beetles. With the species loss the vacuum may be occupied by other adaptable species, but they are not enough to outweigh the lost numbers.

The report asserts that there must be changes to the ways of food production with less use of pesticides and chemicals. These detritus practices are more common in industrial agriculture that invariably produces food only for profit.

Loss of insect species will almost certainly invoke disastrous irrevocable repercussions on the global ecology, leading to more species extinction in larger animals, impeding pollination and thus leading flora and fauna species loss that will incur even more species loss. It will set off a chain reaction that will keep on aggravating and that too within a few decades.

Unless the current ways of production, that deliberately debilitates ecological integrity, is changed within a decade or so, there will be no going back from this impending disaster. The more the system depends on poisons to make food the more will it destroy all that binds nature together, insects being a key integral factor among those. This crisis is a distress call from the planet; and our survival may well depend on how fast we respond.