Ukrainian president seeks support from Western powers

Jason Melanovski

Newly elected Ukrainian President and former comedian Volodmyr Zelensky headed to Brussels this week to meet with EU and NATO officials in an attempt to shore up support for his government among the imperialist powers. The trip marked his first official foreign visit.

During a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday, Zelensky made clear that his pre-election, equivocal statements on Ukraine’s entrance into the EU and NATO were a ploy intended to gain the support of voters in the predominately Russian-speaking areas of the country where opposition to NATO membership remains especially high.

“The strategic course of Ukraine to achieve full-fledged membership in the EU and NATO, which is secured in the Constitution of Ukraine, remains unchanged. This is the priority of our foreign policy,” Zelensky declared this week. Previously, he had implied that any prospect of Ukraine joining NATO and the EU was far in the future and would be subject to voter approval through a national referendum.

While stating that he was willing to hold talks with Moscow over the pro-Russian separatist movement in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass, Zelensky also made clear his commitment to winning and maintaining the support of the US and its European allies at Russia’s expense.

“We are ready for the negotiations with Russia. We are ready to fulfill the Minsk agreements,” Zelensky said, adding, “But first of all we must be able to protect ourselves. I am grateful for the support Ukraine receives from the Alliance and allies.”

In a separate meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk, Ukraine’s new president indicated his support for the continuation and intensification of the EU’s anti-Russia sanctions.

“I today informed Mr. Donald Tusk and other partners about ongoing Russian aggression in Donbass and Crimea. I expressed my gratitude for the EU’s unchanged position in support of Ukraine and called for further consolidation of international efforts and strengthening of sanctions pressure in order to bring peace to Ukraine,” said Zelensky.

Prior to winning the presidency, Zelensky met privately with French President Emmanuel Macron allegedly to discuss ending the five-year old war in Eastern Ukraine that has claimed over 13,000 lives. Since his election, he has increasingly decried Russian “aggression.”

Zelensky also used his trip to Brussels to reaffirm his commitment to implementing the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) austerity policies. Distancing himself from comments made by Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky that the country should snub the IMF and default on its massive external debt, on Twitter Ukraine’s president stated that he told EU officials his administration had “nothing in common” with Kolomoisky’s views. His advisors have made clear in recent weeks that Ukraine will remain in the current $3.9 billion IMF program, which requires drastic hikes in the price of consumer gas.

In his efforts to drum up support among the Western powers, Ukraine’s president increasingly finds himself enmeshed in the growing tensions between the United States and the EU, in particular Germany.

In a meeting with EU officials in May, Zelensky appealed “for the EU’s solidarity in the matter of countering the completion of Nord Stream 2” gas pipeline, which threatens to undercut Ukraine’s position as the main transit country for Russian gas to Europe by transporting supplies directly to Germany via the Baltic Sea.

There is significant fear within the Ukrainian ruling-class that should Nord Stream 2 be completed as planned, support for Ukraine’s entrance into NATO and the EU within Europe would be significantly weakened. Zelensky’s predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, called the Nord Stream 2 a “Trojan horse” which would make Europe dependent on Russia.

NATO member Poland has backed Ukraine in its opposition to the pipeline, with Poland’s Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz stating that the pipeline “will kill Ukraine.”

Germany, which supported the so-called “Maidan Revolution” against elected President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, would be the main beneficiary of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The infrastructure project would ensure that Germany would receive Russian gas regardless of its policies towards Ukraine and the rest of Eastern Europe.

The pipeline has been a central component of the rapidly escalating tensions between Washington and Berlin. President Donald Trump, despite being depicted as a subversive Russian-agent by Democrats, told German Chancellor Angela Merkel to “to stop buying gas from Putin.”

US officials have also threatened Germany with sanctions over the pipeline. A bi-partisan bill that would target companies working on the project was introduced into the US Senate by Republican Senators Ted Cruz, John Barrasso and Tom Cotton and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has so far refused to budge on the Nord Stream 2 issue and adopt the rabidly hostile posture demanded by Zelensky and the United States. “Geostrategically, Europe can’t sever ties with Russia,” she recently told Deutsche Welle .

This week, a Zelensky advisor revealed that Trump has invited Zelensky to Washington after the upcoming G20 summit in Japan later this month. “Zelensky has been given a certain credibility from the United States,” he said.

Prior to the Ukrainian elections in April that brought to Zelensky to power, the United States ruling class tacitly supported the continuation of the Poroshenko regime, with Washington-based think tanks such as the Atlantic Council issuing warnings about Zelensky’s business ties to Russia through his TV production company.

Subsequent to Zelensky’s election, Kurt Volker, the United States Special Representative to Ukraine, in an interview with Hungary’s Valasz news magazine, sent a veiled threat that a negotiated deal between Ukraine and Russia would not be tolerated.

Zelensky “will insist on the full restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and he supports the process that is already in place to do that. Doing otherwise would turn people against him very quickly,” said Volker.

Zelensky’s first official trip took place as criticism is already beginning to appear in Ukraine that his presidency does not substantially differ from that of Poroshenko.

This week, two Ukrainian policemen were arrested for killing a five-year old boy in Kiev while drunkenly shooting their weapons at empty cans.

The boy, Kyrilo Tlyavov, was initially brought to the hospital in the capital with claims by police that he had fallen and hit his head. The story proved to be made up, with doctors finding bullet fragments in his skull. The head of the police force where the incident took place has resigned.

In Kiev and around the country there have been rallies calling for the removal of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, who controls the country’s police forces. Avakov so far has refused to step down. Zelensky, who has already removed several Poroshenko-allied ministers, has not moved against Avakov. He has instead called for an investigation of the official on his Facebook account.

The interior minister is said to have a close relationship with oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, who openly backed Zelensky against Poroshenko in another saga of the long-running, inter-oligarchic disputes that continue dominate Ukrainian politics.

US coal producer Cloud Peak Energy files for bankruptcy

Zachary Thorton

Wyoming-based Cloud Peak Energy has become the latest major US coal producer to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a move that threatens the livelihoods of over 1,200 workers and their families.

The company is the third-largest producer of coal in the US. It operates three mines, two in Wyoming and one in Montana, in the largest coal mining region of the country, the Powder River Basin. In 2017, Cloud Peak was responsible for 7.4 percent of total US production, after Peabody Energy (20.2 percent) and Arch Coal (12.9 percent). Both Peabody and Arch filed for bankruptcy in 2016.

On May 10, Cloud Peak submitted its Chapter 11 filing in Delaware following wide speculation that the company was preparing to do so. With a $1.8 million interest payment due on March 15, the company did not make its payment and was granted a 30-day grace period. By May 8, Cloud Peak was issued its third forbearance, giving the company three days to make its payment or default. Extensions following the grace period were gradually reduced from two weeks, to one week, to just a few days.

The bankruptcy of Peabody Energy in 2016 followed a similar course, with the company submitting its own filing after the expiration of a 30-day grace period for a $71 million interest payment on its debt.

On March 27, the New York Stock Exchange delisted Cloud Peak due to poor performance. The company’s third quarter report released on October 25, 2018 revealed a 15 percent reduction in coal shipments compared to the same period the previous year.

The insolvency of the company has coincided with savage attacks on coal miners. Last August, management announced it would be cutting health care benefits for its retirees. Worker Anne Zollinger, who retired last May after dedicating twenty years to Cloud Peak, expected to receive a paltry $600 a month, but now receives only $250. Speaking to Wyoming Public Media, she said, “I put my time in, worked safely for over twenty years and now I don’t have what was promised to me.”

Companies seeking to offset their losses by attacking the pensions and benefits of workers and retirees is a well-established principle within the industry. When Patriot Coal, a subsidiary of Peabody Energy, filed for bankruptcy in 2012, it sought to discharge health care and pension obligations for more than 2,000 active union miners and more than 10,000 retirees. Alpha Natural Resources, which filed for bankruptcy in 2015, was determined to cut medical and life insurance benefits for non-union retirees, impacting up to 4,580 workers and their spouses, as well as 6,670 future retirees.

The United Mine Workers (UMW) union has long overseen the erosion of workers’ gains through the betrayal of strikes at AT Massey, Pittston, Peabody and other coal companies in the 1980s and 1990s and the imposition of one concession after the other. This facilitated the shell game of changing company names, mergers and acquisitions and bankruptcies that have robbed retirees of their hard-earned pensions.

Richard Trumka, who oversaw the defeats of what was once the most militant section of the American working class, was rewarded with the highest position in the AFL-CIO, while his right-hand man, Cecil Roberts, has run what remains of the UMW since 1995. The union, which had 160,000 working coal miner members in 1978, has fewer than 50,000 members today and a large number are not miners.

A recent court ruling has established a precedent that could allow mining companies to shred collective bargaining agreements. In February, Westmoreland Coal Company, which operates mines in the US and Canada, was given the go-ahead to eliminate health care benefits for retirees and their union contract after a Texas bankruptcy judge ruled in the company’s favor.

While Cloud Peak miners face devastating losses, the executives, investors and advisors are walking away from the bankruptcy proceedings unscathed and oftentimes substantially wealthier. For navigating the process, Cloud Peak’s CEO, Colin Marshall, was granted a one-time “retention” bonus of $1.15 million in addition to his annual salary of $765,000, and any additional annual bonuses and compensation he might receive. The company’s other top executives each stand to pocket annual payouts of $2 million or more.

In its Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Cloud Peak reported that it will be offering over $16 million in bonuses and incentives for “key” executives, and $40.2 million in “professional fees” for the bankers and advisors guiding the company through bankruptcy.

Cloud Peak’s insolvency is in part the result of financial incompetence, particularly the squandering of a $300 million cash investment on a mining project in 2012 that today remains at the permitting stage. However, more importantly, it is an expression of the overall decline of coal production in the US. Coal has been hit by the sharp decline in the price of natural gas—which is roughly on par with coal—and most of all, the slowing of demand due to the crisis of American and world capitalism, which has been exacerbated by the trade war between the US and China.

The 2008 financial crisis has left lasting effects on the coal industry and the economy as a whole, and although coal managed for a time to weather the storm, by 2011 coal prices had peaked. A January 30 report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that more than half of the US coal mines operating in 2008 have since closed.

Schneider Electric lays off over 300 in Peru, Indiana

Michael Walters

Schneider Electric has announced the closure of its Square D production plant in Peru, Indiana, 80 miles north of Indianapolis, destroying more than 300 jobs. The French multinational says approximately 70 percent of the plant’s production will be moved to Monterrey, Mexico, with the remainder shifted to plants in Texas and the US East Coast.

Corporate executives claimed the closure was necessary due to “competitive market dynamics and to meet the needs of Schneider Electric’s customers.” In reality, the closure is only necessary to meet profit goals for the investors.

Schneider’s 2018 profits were $2.73 billion, and CEO Jean-Pascal Tricoire pocketed an estimated $7 million (€6.2 million) in compensation, according to Bloomberg.

The closure takes place amid a global assault on jobs and record corporate profits. Ford is expected today to announce the closure of its British engine plant in Wales, wiping out 2,000 jobs. This is the latest cut by global automakers, which have announced tens of thousands of layoffs since late last year in the face of declining sales and mounting signs of a new global recession.

Schneider Electric (Credit: WikiMedia Commons)

In the first half of 2019, six employers in Indiana have fired over 2,200 workers. As one of the largest employers in Miami County, Indiana, Schneider’s closure of the plant will have a devastating impact on the town of 11,000. Since 2017, the plant has cut 120 jobs, almost 25 percent of its workforce. The area already suffers from a 14 percent official unemployment rate with the real rate much higher due to the number of workers who have dropped out of the labor force.

Recent closures by KMart and Shopper Value Foods in the area have already hit working-class communities with the loss of ancillary jobs and tax revenue, and this is expected to lead to local governments slashing education and other vital services.

Schneider Electric purchased the company Square D in 1991. In 2014, after a 13-day strike, the workers at the plant were forced to accept a concessions contract that froze their pensions and switched them to a 401(k) defined contribution plan. The contract pushed by the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and its 2017 successor gave the workers below-inflation pay raises. However, these concessions and the string of layoffs were not enough for Schneider’s corporate investors.

The closure of the Peru facility was first announced in February 2019. Since then, the local government and the IAM have groveled before Schneider, offering tax incentives as well as wage and benefit cuts in exchange for keeping the plant open.

Tony Wickersham, a representative for the IAM, told the Kokomo Tribune, “We made proposals to show the company some additional savings that might have them change their minds to stay, and they’re still intent to close. We tried to show them how much savings we could create through different means, but they’re moving the plant.”

Echoing Trump’s national chauvinism, IAM President Robert Martinez sent a letter to Indiana politicians calling Schneider Electric a “French multinational company that has no regard for the talent or skill of American workers in Peru.” Martinez, who receives more than half a million dollars in annual compensation, goes on to cite that IAM members at the plant make an average of $24.55 while workers in Mexico earn $3.49 an hour on average for doing the same work.

Far from fighting to unify US and Mexican workers in a common fight against the multinational corporations, the unions have long peddled economic nationalism to demand endless sacrifices from workers in the name of improving “competitiveness” and corporate profits. The enemies of US workers are not Mexican, Chinese or any other workers, but the capitalist profit system, which subordinates the jobs and living standards of workers for the endless enrichment of wealthy investors and corporate executives.

The company employs 130,000 people in over 100 countries. Last year, workers in India struck against Luminous Power Technologies—owned by Schneider—to fight unsafe working conditions. Maintenance workers employed by Schneider in Australia also struck at the Melbourne Airport against company plans to introduce a two-tier system with new employees hired at a substantially lower wage rate.

Earlier this year, Mexican workers at the maquiladora auto parts and electronics factories carried out strikes in opposition to the company-controlled unions and marched to the US border to unite with their American counterparts. Conditions are arising for a unified, international struggle against plant closings and mass layoffs.

Sri Lankan Muslim ministers resign amid growing threats of anti-Muslim violence

K. Ratnayake

Nine Muslim ministers of the Sri Lankan government resigned on Monday in response to renewed threats by fascistic Buddhist monks, Sinhala racists and other reactionary elements to violently attack the country’s minority Muslim population.

The resignations followed a provocative “fast unto death” protest on Saturday by Athuraliye Rathana, a Buddhist monk and Sri Lankan parliamentarian. Rathana demanded the removal of cabinet minister Rishad Bathiudeen and the governors of the Western and Eastern provinces, Azath Salley and M.L.A.M. Hizbullah, who are all Muslims.

Rathana has made unsubstantiated claims that these individuals assisted the Islamic extremist National Thowheeth Jamma’ath (NTJ) group which carried out the terrorist attack on Christian churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on April 21. His protest is in line with the ongoing efforts of Sri Lanka’s ruling elite to whip up anti-Muslim sentiment. Rathana is an advisor to President Maithripala Sirisena.

Representatives of the Sirisena-led faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) met with the fasting monk on Saturday and expressed their solidarity with his demands, as did officials from the SLFP faction led by former President Mahinda Rajapakse. The Rajapakse-led opposition group also tabled a no-confidence motion against Bathiudeen in the parliament encouraging chauvinist groups to step up the anti-Muslim campaign.

On Sunday, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, who leads the fascistic Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) group, met with Rathana and declared that if his demands were not carried out by noon the next day there would be nationwide protests. On Monday, monks organised racist thugs in Kandy, Colombo and several other towns in preparation for violence.

Following the April 21 terror attacks, tens of thousands of troops and police have been mobilised in search operations and indiscriminate arrests in Muslim areas, but nothing has been done to stop racist mobs threatening violence.

On May 12 and 13, Sinhala racist groups attacked Muslims in the north-west and at Minuwangoda in the western province destroying property, killing one individual and injuring many others. Police and military officers turned a blind eye to the anti-Muslim attacks.

On Monday, Azath Salley and M.L.A.M. Hizbullah sent their resignations to Sirisena who then appealed Rathana to end his provocative protest. He promptly obeyed. Later that day cabinet minister Bathiudeen submitted his resignation.

Addressing a press conference, key cabinet minister Rauf Hakeem appeared with other Muslim ministers and declared that all nine ministers had decided to resign in order to protect the Muslim community, which had been “terrified” by the escalating threats. He said the ministers wanted the government to expedite an inquiry into any allegations against the Muslim leaders. “If any of us are found guilty, we should be punished,” he declared.

Hakeem said that the Muslim ministers would continue to support the government as elected MPs until the investigation ended. The decision of the Muslim political leadership, who are part of Colombo establishment and have backed the government’s repressive measures, will only encourage the Sinhala racist and Buddhist extremist groups.

The ever-increasing threats against Muslims are a warning to the entire Sri Lankan working class. Every faction of the ruling elite is systematically using Islamophobia to divide the working class along ethnic and religious lines as part of its preparations for autocratic forms of rule.

The Sri Lankan ruling class is infamous for its use of Sinhala chauvinism against the Tamil minority to divide the working class and defend capitalist rule. Its anti-Tamil discrimination and pogroms culminated in the 30-year war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It was provoked in 1983 by the then United National Party (UNP) government, to divide the working class and break its resistance to Colombo’s “open market” restructuring.

While the Sri Lankan ruling elite and the media continues whipping up anti-Muslim hysteria, it is a fact that the defence establishment was warned in advance by Indian intelligence that a terrorist attack was planned for April 21. Evidence is now trickling out that a section of the government leadership also knew about the impending disaster but allowed it to occur.

Sri Lankan government and defence authorities have not provided any explanation for their inaction but have used the attack to impose a draconian state of emergency and deployed armed forces with sweeping powers throughout the country. Muslims have been ordered to provide information about the “terrorists” and Muslim women’s traditional attire, including the burqa and niqab, has been banned.

The Colombo media, which fully backs these repressive measures, is maintaining a vile anti-Muslim campaign, publishing inflammatory and sensationalist articles about the police and military raids and violent arrest operations.

The real target of all these repressive measures is the working class. The rising wave of workers’ strikes and protests over the past six months has been subdued by the government’s so-called anti-terror campaign, with the backing of trade unions and the pseudo-left. This is only temporary.

In December, over 100,000 plantation workers held a nine-day national strike to demand the doubling of their daily basic wage. In March, 200,000 teachers held a one-day national strike and were preparing for a two-day strike in May. Rural unrest has been developing and students have been involved in ongoing protests against the privatisation of education.

Terrified by this opposition to the government’s austerity measures, President Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Rajapakse have all been preparing for authoritarian methods of rule. All factions of the ruling elite are now using the bogus campaign to “defeat the international terrorism” to support police-state measures.

Sirisena is systematically promoting anti-Islamic groups and on May 23 granted a presidential pardon for BBS general secretary Gnanasara and released him from prison. Gnanasara was serving six-year jail term for contempt of court. The BBS is notorious for its provocations against Muslims and Christians. In March 2014, Gnanasara instigated violent attacks on Muslims at Aluthgama and adjoining small towns. Scores of properties were destroyed, four Muslims killed and many others injured in the mob attacks.

Last week Prime Minister Wickremesinghe told a Jaffna meeting that his government would “show no mercy to those who sow the seeds of communal disharmony to achieve their political ends.” He claimed to have intelligence information about attempts to create violence and the individuals involved.

Wickremesinghe’s posturing is bogus. The UNP-led government and its political allies support the anti-Muslim hysteria and have passed a number of laws strengthening the military and the state apparatus.

The Rajapakse-led faction is likewise fanning the anti-Muslim campaign, while denouncing the government for “weakening” the military and its intelligence wing, and claiming that this paved the way for terrorist attacks.

Rajapakse’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) hopes to win government with the backing of section of the military. The SLPP has announced that its next presidential candidate will be the former president’s brother, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the former defence minister. He was responsible for the bloody final phase of the war against the separatist LTTE and also ruthlessly mobilised the military and the police to suppress struggles by workers and the poor.

On Monday, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce secretary Dhara Wijethilake wrote to the defence secretary and army commander, voicing his concerns about the danger of mob attacks. The letter declared, “As the highest-ranking official vested with responsibility for the maintenance of law and order, we expect you will ensure that all necessary measures are taken to maintain peace, law and order...”

Wijethilake’s “law and order” letter is another indication that Sri Lankan business chiefs will not hesitate to demand the military be used against the working class as it comes into conflict with the government and corporations.

Sri Lankan workers must seriously take stock of the situation. The working class must resolutely oppose the anti-Muslim campaign of the ruling elite and all its emergency rule measures and fight for unity of the workers across ethnic and national lines. Workers must take the initiative to build action committees in workplaces, large estates and neighbourhoods and call for support from youth, students and the poor.

The drive to dictatorial rule can only be defeated through the independent mobilisation of the working class in the struggle for a workers’ and peasants’ government to implement socialist policies as part of struggle for international socialism. This is the program the Socialist Equality Party fights for.

Military junta launches counter-revolution in Sudan

Jean Shaoul

The counter-revolutionary bloodbath launched by the junta in Sudan’s capital Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman ongoing since Monday has killed some 100 people, including an eight-year old child, and injured hundreds more.

The number of victims includes 40 bodies pulled from the Nile River that the army dumped there. But with many protestors still unaccounted for the final total is likely to rise. A Sudanese journalist on Britain’s Channel 4 cited a former security officer who said that some of those thrown into the Nile had been beaten or shot to death and others hacked to death with machetes, declaring, "It was a massacre."

Victims of Monday’s massacre

The bloodbath is part of a broader move by the Transitional Military Council (TMC) to forcefully close down the protests and sit-ins in Khartoum and throughout the country. The TMC had seized power on April 11 after months of mass protests, in a preemptive coup against the 30-year rule of President Omar al-Bashir in a bid to preserve the military-dominated regime.

It is a prelude to a bloody military dictatorship along the lines of General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s Egypt, with the full backing of Washington’s reactionary and ruthless regional allies, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. It was el-Sisi, then the Defence Minister in the elected government of Mohammed Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood-led government, who led the murderous assaults on pro-democracy demonstrators in Cairo in 2013.

On Tuesday, TMC chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, announced the cancellation of a three-year power-transfer deal tentatively agreed with opposition leaders organized under the umbrella of the Alliance for Freedom and Change (AFC). Instead, it would hold elections in nine months’ time under “regional and international supervision.”

The Sudanese Professional Association (SPA), one of the groups within the AFC, rejected the move, accusing the junta of a “systematic and planned” crackdown. Calling for the “overthrow of the military junta,” they urged demonstrators to return to the streets for Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of Ramadan, to honour those killed on Monday and to “demonstrate peacefully” in a nation-wide “civil disobedience” protest.

The SPA also called for an international inquiry into the killings, rejecting the junta’s investigation. It is opposed to early elections which, if indeed they are held, would likely be rigged and/or dominated by ousted dictator President Omar al-Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP), the only organised political party with the resources to mount an election campaign.

On Monday, the TMC had cut off electricity to the central area of Khartoum and country-wide access to the internet, before deploying convoys of heavily armed members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to guard the entrances to the bridges across the Nile and patrol the streets around both cities.

The RSF, previously known as the Janjaweed and notorious for their brutal suppression of the uprisings in Darfur and the east of the country, is controlled by the TMC’s deputy leader, Lieutenant General Hamdan Dagalo (known by his nickname “Hemeti”), who has ambitions of stepping into al-Bashir’s shoes. He was given carte blanche to unleash a general carnage.

Dagalo’s forces used live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas to break up the more than five-month-old sit-in outside the country’s defense ministry in Khartoum, where tens of thousands of Sudanese had encamped demanding an end to military rule and the transfer of power to a democratically elected government. They then set about demolishing the barricades, beating up anyone who resisted, with protestors shouting in disbelief, “During the month of Ramadan?”

Videos on social media show the military shooting and beating unarmed, defenceless civilians and setting fire to the tents. One soldier was filmed shouting to other soldiers, "Kill them, kill the child of the dog.” There were also reports of the paramilitary forces raping women.

Much of Khartoum is now under lockdown. One resident told the BBC, “We have reached the point where we can't even step out of our homes because we are scared to be beaten or to be shot by the security forces.” Another said members of the Janjaweed had pulled him from his car and beaten him on his head and back.

The TMC justified its crackdown with ludicrous claims that the security forces were pursuing “unruly elements” who had fled to the protest site and were causing chaos. The RSF’s Major General Othman Hamed accused the sit-in of attracting prostitutes and hashish sellers and demonstrators of throwing stones at soldiers.

The Sudanese Doctors’ Committee, a supporter of the SPA that has played a key role in organizing the protests, appealed for "urgent support" from international humanitarian organisations to help the wounded. It said that it was struggling to cope, with people being treated on hospital floors, while soldiers patrolled outside, preventing doctors and even volunteers from entering.

According to witnesses, the RSF and the military had looted and destroyed property in hospitals and threatened doctors and medical workers with reprisals if they treated the wounded.

Video clips showed troops beating medical staff at Khartoum’s Royal Care Hospital, in some cases so severely that they too needed hospital treatment. They demanded the evacuation of all the patients. Soldiers arrested one of the doctors, Waleed Abdullah, after shooting him in the leg. One Sudanese doctor told the Middle East Eye web site, “If they know I'm a doctor, they will arrest me,” while another said it was “chaos everywhere.”

The assault on the protest had been openly prepared for days after negotiations between the junta and the civilian opposition popular alliance broke down over whether a military or a civilian figure would head a joint military-civilian regime during a proposed three-year transitional period in preparation for presidential elections.

Demonstrators had remained in the streets, rejecting the protracted transition and demanding an immediate end to the ruling junta. Last week, the country was paralysed by a two-day general strike called by the SPA.

The murderous crackdown began just after the TMC chief al-Burhan and deputy Dagalo’s tour of the three countries--Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE--that have backed the junta and are Washington’s chief allies in the Arab world.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE had already pledged $3 billion to prop up Sudan’s junta. The quid pro quo is the dispatch of Sudanese troops to support Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s near-genocidal war against Yemen. After the meeting in Riyadh, Dagalo declared that “Sudan stands with the kingdom against all threats and attacks from Iran and the Houthis [Yemen’s anti-Saudi rebels].”

The military junta’s brutal crackdown gives the lie to the treacherous line of Britain’s Socialist Workers Party, which backed its sister party, the Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists’ (RS) support for the Egyptian military’s ouster of Mursi, that paved the way for el-Sisi’s bloodbath and repression that have been even more ferocious than that of his predecessor Hosni Mubarak.

RS’ Hossam al-Hamalawy, writing in SWP’s monthly journal Socialist Review,called for Sudan’s revolutionaries to negotiate and ally with the lower ranks of the officers and among soldiers, and seek their participation.

The SPA and AFC, under the influence of the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), are seeking to build a broad popular alliance of workers with political parties and armed groups, the same groups that have dominated Sudan since independence, to form a civilian-led transitional government. The notion that such a government--in a country dominated by a small, wealthy clique—would be capable of resolving the enormous social and economic problems confronting Sudanese workers is a dangerous illusion.

Egypt’s revolutionary struggles contain enormous political lessons, obtained at a terrible price, for the working class throughout the Middle East and North Africa where there is a growing movement of strikes and demonstrations by workers in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

The only way to establish a democratic regime in Sudan is through a struggle led by the working class, independently of and in opposition to the liberal and pseudo-left forces in the middle class who will stop at nothing to block a social revolution, to take power, expropriating the regime’s ill-gotten wealth in the context of a broad international struggle of the working class against capitalism and for the building of socialism.

Whither Indo-Pacific?

Sandip Kumar Mishra

At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore this June, the US Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan released the US Indo-Pacific Strategy Report. The subtitle of the report talks about the US goals of "preparedness, partnerships and promoting a networked region," and the 55-page report appears to be a new and clearer vision of the US Indo-Pacific strategy.

A few important points reveal themselves at the first reading. One, the Indo-Pacific strategy appears to have been accorded more priority in US foreign and defence policies, with the report stating that the Indo-Pacific is a "priority theatre" for US interests. In fact, it goes on to say that the "Indo-Pacific is the single most consequential region for America’s future."

Two, the US strategy is now going to be more overt in contending with China. For example, the report openly alleges that China "seeks to reorder the region to its advantage by leveraging military modernization, influence operations, and predatory economics to coerce other nations." This posture comes in the wake of unending US-China trade disputes, China’s visible move to alter the economic order of the region through the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea (SCS), and non-cooperation with the US in the denuclearisation of North Korea.

Three, the US Indo-Pacific strategy is aimed at involving more like-minded countries rather than being just a quadrilateral network among the US, Japan, Australia, and India. For example, the strategy envisages a more active role for Southeast Asian countries. This ties back to the US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver asking ASEAN countries during his visit to Kuala Lumpur in April 2019 to aim for a code of conduct (CoC) in the SCS that would be "consistent with existing international laws and norms." The report indicates that the US will reach out to Taiwan, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam more proactively to convince them to fight for a free and open SCS, as around US$ 5 trillion worth of global trade passes through it. China, in recent years, has built military installations on around seven islands in the SCS. Thus, a horizontal expansion of the Indo-Pacific network is another important motive of the newly released strategy. However, this does not imply that the quadrilateral network would be diluted in the process.

Four, the US Indo-Pacific strategy is going to become more stringent in the implementation of Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs), and for that the US will provide technical assistance to willing Southeast Asian states. Under its Maritime Security Initiative, the US plans to provide ScanEagle 2 Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) to several countries free of cost, such as the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It is interesting to note that the US is ready to give concessions to these countries despite its Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which restricts arms supply to those countries that do business with Russia in the defence domain.

The US Indo-Pacific Strategy Report is an important US statement on regional politics, and it says in clear terms that this strategy will be more focused, prioritised, horizontally expanded, but non-compromising. It will, in all probability, further intensify US-China contestation for regional influence. However, its efficacy and success are not certain. First, a horizontal expansion of the strategy may lead to a less cohesive approach, and there could be more varied shades of the same strategy pursued by different countries. Second, many of the regional countries are not going to be comfortable with the aggressiveness inherent in the US Indo-Pacific Strategy Report. Third, Southeast Asian countries are more diverse than the report assumes them to be. They are not so likely to be willing members of any overt counterbalancing strategy vis-à-vis China. Several of these countries recently sent their warships to China when on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Chinese Navy, Beijing displayed its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.

Overall, the US Indo-Pacific Strategy Report is significant development on matters that relate to regional security equations, but it is yet unclear as to how it could play out. Through the report, the US has shown its firmness against China’s 'revisionism', and China, in return, has also shown a similarly uncompromising stance. It is now time to witness how other countries of the region respond to it, which will play a big role in how the strategy unfolds. 

TY Danjuma MBA Scholarship for African Students to Study at Leading Business Schools 2019/2020

Application Deadline: 30th June 2019

Eligible Countries: African countries

To Be Taken At (University):  The Financial Times MBA Global Ranking for 2018 lists the top ten schools as; Stanford Graduate School of Business, INSEAD, University of Pennsylvania: Wharton, London Business School, Harvard Business School, University of Chicago: Booth, Columbia Business School, Ceibs, MIT: Sloan, and University of California at Berkeley: Haas. Click the link below for details.

About the Award: Launched in 2011, The TY Danjuma MBA Scholarship aims to help up to seven students a year. Since launching, scholarships have been awarded to 30 students in total attending Harvard Business School, INSEAD, London Business School, MIT: Sloan, Stanford Graduate School of Business, University of California at Berkeley: Haas, University of Chicago Booth, University of Pennsylvania: Wharton, IE Business School and University of Cambridge: Judge. Our scholars have come from Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ghana.

Type: MBA

Eligibility: 

• All successful African MBA applicants to the top ten Business Schools (as ranked by the Financial Times) are eligible to receive The TY Danjuma MBA Scholarship regardless of domicile.
• The grant is awarded to successful candidates prior to the annual intake for that Business School.

Number of Awards: 7

Value of Award: The TY Danjuma MBA Scholarship is intended to provide additional financial support to help African students bridge some of the financial burden attached to taking on MBA programmes, it will not be enough to act as the primary source of funding for these programmes.

Duration of Award: Duration of MBA programme

How to Apply: Eligible students should email mba@tyd-fo.co.uk sending the following information between 1 May and 30 June 2019:
• Full Name
• Nationality
• Full contact details
• Name of Business School where you have been accepted onto their MBA Programme
• Year of enrolment at the Business School
• Copy of offer letter from the Business School
• Copy of your CV
• Copy of your budget and funding shortfall (include all scholarship and loans information). Note, the TY Danjuma MBA Scholarship is to help support by providing additional financial aid, it will not be enough to act as the primary source of funding for the MBA.

Visit the Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers:  TY Danjuma Foundation


Important Notes: Note, the TY Danjuma MBA Scholarship is to help support by providing additional financial aid, it will not be enough to act as the primary source of funding for the MBA.

Earth Journalism Network 2019 Reporting Fellowships to the UNCCD COP14 (Fully-funded to New Delhi, India)

Application Deadline: 23rd June 2019 at 5pm IST.

Eligible Countries: African Countries and India

To Be Taken At (Country): New Delhi, India

About the Award: Internews’ Earth Journalism Network is pleased to announce a Fellowship program that will allow selected journalists to attend and cover the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP 14)  to the UN CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION (UNCCD) taking place in New Delhi, India in early September, 2019.
The UNCCD COP14 will be a key gathering to review progress made to control and reverse further loss of productive land from desertification, land degradation and drought. A mix of representatives from national, regional and local governments, science and research communities, the private sector, international and non-governmental organizations and all forms of media are expected to address these issues during the two-week event.
As part of this Fellowship program, the 2019 group will comprise five selected journalists from Africa and India. We’re putting particular emphasis on selecting reporters from arid regions, or regions impacted by drought and desertification. Fellows will attend the conference between 6-14 September, where they will engage with other participants and Fellowship program organizers in a series of specially designed activities that will include mentorship, an orientation workshop, breakfast briefings and interviews and sessions with high-level officials.

Type: Conference, Fellowship

Eligibility: To be eligible for the Fellowship, applicants must:

• Be a professional journalist from or representing an established media house and reporting from a developing country;
• Fill out the application form using the link below, including answering essay questions that illustrate his/her experience reporting on desertification and degradation issues. We also ask you to describe the kinds of stories you might pursue at the conference;
• Be available to arrive in India on Friday, 6^th September and stay until departure on Saturday, 14^th
• Commit to participate in all Fellowship activities;
• Provide a letter of support from an editor, producer or supervisor who can confirm your ability to publish or broadcast your material in an established media outlet. Freelancers are welcome to apply but must provide a letter of support.

Selection Criteria: Criteria for evaluating applicants will include the prospective Fellow’s demonstrated experience covering desertification, climate change and other environmental topics, their interest in continued coverage of these issues and their audience and outlet’s reach.

Number of Awards: 15-20

Value of Award: Amongst costs covered will be

• nonrefundable economy-class airfare, hotel, meals, and transportation both in-location and in transit.
• We will also assist with the press accreditation process and provide other support services relating to travel.
• Please note that the process of obtaining any necessary visas is a Fellow’s responsibility; however, visa costs can be reimbursed.

The Earth Journalism Network fully respects the editorial independence of all journalists. Throughout the conference, Fellows are free to report as they see fit. As well as the requirements above, we ask that journalists agree to cross-post all stories they file during the UNCCD COP14 on the Earth Journalism Network website and local and regional partner sites (we expect the stories will first be published or broadcast by a Fellow’s home media outlet).

Duration of Program: September 6^th – Sept 14th 2019.

How to Apply: As part of the application process, journalists will be asked to submit examples of their work. These can be uploaded as text pasted into a Word document or as links. Stories can be sent in a native language as long as they are accompanied by a short English synopsis. A good command of English, however, will be needed to answer the essay questions and will also be important to participate in Fellowship activities.

Apply Now

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Short Story Day Africa Prize for African Writers 2019

Application Deadline: 31st October 2019.

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: African countries

To be taken at (country): Online

Offered Since: 2013

About the Award: The Short Story Day Africa Prize is an African writing prize open to African citizens, permanent residents of African countries, or second generation Africans living in the diaspora only. Unpublished works between 3000-5000 words in response to the theme are eligible for the prize.

Type: Essay writing contest

Eligibility: 

1. Any African citizen or African person living in the diaspora(Citizens of African countries or former citizens who have given up citizenship for whatever reason, and second generation Africans whose parents are/were African citizens), as well as persons residing permanently (granted permanent residence or similar) in any African country, may enter.
2. Writers may only submit one story for the competition. Repeat entries by the same writer will be disqualified.
3. Writers are welcome to submit stories in any fiction genre.
4. Stories must be between 3000 and 5000 words in length.
5. Stories must be submitted in English. While you are free to incorporate other languages into your story, the story must be able to be understood fully by its English content.
6. To facilitate easy reading and judging, please format your stories according to the format stipulated below. Stories not formatted in this way are at the risk of being disqualified.
7. Stories must not have been previously published in any form or any format.
8. Simultaneous submissions are not welcome. Any story entered or published elsewhere during the course of judging or publication will be disqualified.
9. You are welcome to enter under a pseudonym or nom de plume, as long as you also include your real name along with your entry.
10. All entries will be judged anonymously. Please DO NOT put your name or any other identifying details anywhere on your manuscript.
11. The judges’ decision is final.
12. By submitting a story the author attests that it is their own original work and grants exclusive global print and digital rights to Short Story Day Africa for one year, and thereafter agrees to seek permission to republish and when published elsewhere attributes first publication to Short Story Day Africa; non-exclusive digital rights to Worldreader to publish individual stories on Worldreader Mobile; and non-exclusive digital rights to BooksLive for publicity purposes.
13. By entering, the author agrees to allowing Short Short Story Day Africa to include their entry in an anthology should it be selected by the judges; and to working with editors to get their story publication ready.
14. We will not share your personal information with anyone. We will, however, add you to Short Story Day Africa mailing list for the sole purpose of informing you of next year’s even, or of other Short Story Day Africa events that may be of interest to you.

Submission Criteria: Candidates should:

• Type their document, using a single, clear font, 12-point size, double-spaced. The easiest font to use is Times New Roman, or a similar serif font.
• Put the title of their story halfway down the cover page. Please DO NOT title your story Migrations. Start your story immediately below the title.
• Put an accurate word count at the top right.
• Please number the pages.
• Left-justify their paragraphs.
• Ensure there is at least a 1 inch or 2 centimetre margin all the way around your text. This is to allow annotation to be written onto a printed copy.
• Indent each new paragraph by about 1/2 inch or 1 centimetre, except for the first line of the story or the first line of a new scene.
• Don’t insert extra lines between your paragraphs. A blank line indicates a new scene.
• Put the word “End” after the end of their text, centred, on its own line.

Number of Awardees: Three

Value of Award: 

• 1st prize  US$800
• 2nd prize US$200
• 3rd prize  US$100

addition three emerging writers will receive a 20 week online creative writing course. These will be selected from the long list or slush pile.

How to Apply: Candidates should go here to apply

Visit Award Webpage for details

Award Provider: Short Story Day Africa

Important Notes: Due to a lack of funding submissions will incur a small fee which pays for the Submittalbe platform. The fee is in dollars HOWEVER you do not need a dollar account to pay. All currencies are accepted and your bank will convert the amount taken off your account into local currency. Thank you for your understanding.

DAAD Postgraduate Scholarships for Development-Related Courses 2020 – Germany

Application Deadline: Each chosen course has its deadline (Sept-Dec).  Please consult scholarship brochure for more information (See link below).
Only exception is Cameroon. Students are to apply before 31st July 2019 through the German embassy.

Offered Annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Developing countries

To be taken at (country): Germany

Fields of Study: Individual scholarships exclusively for Postgraduate courses in Germany that are listed on the “List of all Postgraduate courses with application deadlines”.

About the Award: With its development-oriented postgraduate study programmes, the DAAD promotes the training of specialists from development and newly industrialised countries. Well-trained local experts, who are networked with international partners, play an important part in the sustainable development of their countries. They are the best guarantee for a better future with less poverty, more education and health for all.

Type: Master’s, PhD

Eligibility: 

• Candidates fulfil the necessary academic requirements and can be expected to successfully complete a study programme in Germany (above-average result for first academic exam – top performance third, language skills)
• Candidates have a Bachelor degree (usually a four-year course) in an appropriate subject
• Candidates have at least two years’ professional experience
• Candidates can prove their motivation is development-related and be expected to take on social responsibility and initiate and support processes of change in their personal and professional environment after their training/scholarship

Selection Criteria: 

• The last academic degree (usually a Bachelor’s degree) should have been completed no longer than six years previously
• At least two years’ relevant professional experience
• Language skills: Depending on chosen study programme; please check scholarship brochure or the website of your chosen study programme.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Program: 

• Depending on academic level, monthly payments of 750 euros for graduates or 1,000 euros for doctoral candidates
• Payments towards health, accident and personal liability insurance cover
• Travel allowance, unless these expenses are covered by the home country or another source of funding

Duration of Program: 12 to 36 months (dependent on study programme)

How to Apply: It is important to check for your desired course HERE and go through the Program Webpage before applying.

Visit Program Webpage for details


Award Provider: German Exchange Education Services (DAAD)

Society Is In Decay – When the Worst is First and the Best is Last

Ralph Nader

Plutocrats like to control the range of permissible public dialogue. Plutocrats also like to shape what society values. If you want to see where a country’s priorities lie, look at how it allocates its money. While teachers and nurses earn comparatively little for performing critical jobs, corporate bosses including those who pollute our planet and bankrupt defenseless families, make millions more. Wells Fargo executives are cases in point. The vastly overpaid CEO of General Electric left his teetering company in shambles. In 2019, Boeing’s CEO got a bonus (despite the Lion Air Flight 610 737 Max 8 crash in 2018). Just days before a second deadly 737 Max 8 crash in Ethiopia.

This disparity is on full display in my profession. Public interest lawyers and public defenders, who fight daily for a more just and lawful society, are paid modest salaries. On the other hand, the most well compensated lawyers are corporate lawyers who regularly aid and abet corporate crime, fraud, and abuse. Many corporate lawyers line their pockets by shielding the powerful violators from accountability under the rule of law.

Physicians who minister to the needy poor and go to the risky regions, where Ebola or other deadly infectious diseases are prevalent, are paid far less than cosmetic surgeons catering to human vanities. Does any rational observer believe that the best movies and books are also the most rewarded? Too often the opposite is true. Stunningly gripping documentaries earn less than 1 percent of what is garnered by the violent, pornographic, and crude movies at the top of the ratings each week.

On my weekly radio show, I interview some of the most dedicated authors who accurately document perils to health and safety. The authors on my program expose pernicious actions and inactions that jeopardize people’s daily lives. These guests offer brilliant, practical solutions for our widespread woes (see ralphnaderradiohour.com). Their important books, usually go unnoticed by the mass media, barely sell a few thousand copies, while the best-seller lists are dominated by celebrity biographies. Ask yourself, when preventable and foreseeable disasters occur, which books are more useful to society?

The monetary imbalance is especially jarring when it comes to hawks who beat the drums of war. For example, people who push for our government to start illegal wars (eg. John Bolton pushing for the war in Iraq) are rewarded with top appointments. Former government officials also get very rich when they take jobs in the defense industry. Do you remember anyone who opposed the catastrophic Iraq War getting such lucrative rewards?

The unknown and unrecognized people who harvest our food are on the lowest rung of the income ladder despite the critical role they play in our lives. Near the top of the income ladder are people who gamble on the prices of food via the commodities market and those who drain the nutrients out of natural foods and sell the junk food that remains, with a dose of harmful additives. Agribusiness tycoons profit from this plunder.

Those getting away with major billing fraud grow rich. While those people trying to get our government to do something about $350 billion dollars in health care billing fraud this year – like Harvard Professor Malcolm K. Sparrow – live on a college professor’s salary.

Hospital executives, who each make millions of dollars a year, preside over an industry where about 5,000 patients die every week from preventable problems in U.S. hospitals, according to physicians at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The watchdogs who call out this deadly hazard live on a fraction of that amount as they try to save lives.

Even in sports, where people think the best athletes make the most money, the reverse is more often true. Just ask a red-faced Brian Cashman, the Yankees GM, who, over twenty years, has spent massive sums on athletes who failed miserably to produce compared to far lesser-paid baseball players. Look at today’s top ranked Yankees – whose fifteen “stars” are injured, while their replacements are playing spectacularly for much smaller compensation than their high priced teammates.

A major reason why our society’s best are so often last while our worst are first is the media’s infatuation with publicizing the worst and ignoring the best. Warmongers get press. The worst politicians are most frequently on the Sunday morning TV shows – not the good politicians or civic leaders with proven records bettering our society.

Ever see Congressman Pascrell (Dem. N.J.) on the Sunday morning news shows? Probably not. He’s a leader who is trying to reform Congress so that it is open, honest, capable and represents you the people. Surely you have heard of Senator Lindsey Graham (Rep. S.C.) who is making ugly excuses for Donald Trump, always pushing for war and bloated military budgets, often hating Muslims and Arabs and championing the lawless American Empire. He is always in the news, having his say.

Take the 162 people who participated in our Superbowl of Civic Action at Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. in May and September 2016. These people have and are changing America. They are working to make food, cars, drugs, air, water, medical devices, and drinking water safer. Abuses by corporations against consumers, workers and small taxpayers would be worse without them. Our knowledge of solutions and ways to treat people fairly and abolish poverty and advance public services is greater because of their courageous hard work. (see breakingthroughpower.org).

The eight days of this Civic Superbowl got far less coverage than did Tiger Woods losing another tournament that year or the dismissive nicknames given by the foul-mouth Trump to his mostly wealthy Republican opponents on just one debate stage.

All societies need play, entertainment, and frivolity. But a media obsessed with giving 100 times the TV and radio time, using our public airwaves for free, to those activities than to serious matters crucial to the most basic functioning of our society is assuring that the worst is first and the best is last. Just look at your weekly TV Guide.

If the whole rotted-out edifice comes crashing down, there won’t be enough coerced taxpayer dollars anymore to save the Plutocrats, with their limitless greed and power. Maybe then the best can have a chance to be first.