Stunning discovery of pre-human fossil skull in Ethiopia

Frank Gaglioti

The discovery of a nearly complete australopithecine skull has greatly extended our understanding of the earliest period of human evolution. The fossil find was reported on August 28 in the science journal Nature in a paper titled “A 3.8-million-year-old hominin cranium from Woranso-Mille Ethiopia.” Hominins include modern humans and all species considered ancestral to them.

Australopithecus, or southern apes, emerged in Africa around Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania about four million years ago and are known to have survived to two million years ago. They had a small brain similar in size to a chimpanzee, but had a hand with an opposable thumb enabling them to use tools. This is considered to be the crucial feature diagnostic of humans. The use of tools led over millions of years to the development of a larger brain and other traits such as language.

Over this period, the east African climate was drying out, leading to the shrinking of the forested areas. Australopithecus were an evolutionary adaptation to the new conditions, as they evolved to walking upright rather than dwelling in trees.

Yohannes Haile-Selassie, PhD with “MRD” cranium. Photograph courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

The discovery of a nearly complete skull from this period is incredibly rare. It will enable a reassessment of what is known of the earliest period of hominin evolution, particularly the development of the australopithecine species and their development into true humans.

The lead scientist was Yohannes Haile-Selassie, a paleoanthropologist from Cleveland Museum of Natural History, aided by a researcher from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Stephanie Melillo.

The upper jaw was originally discovered by a local goat herder, Ali Bereino, from the Mille district of the Afar Regional State. After Haile-Selassie examined the site he found the upper part of the skull three metres away.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted the rest of the cranium. It was a eureka moment and a dream come true,” said Haile-Selassie.

“MRD” cranium, photographed by Yohannes Haile-Selassie, PhD. Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

The fossil has been named MRD-VP-1/1 or MRD. It has been designated as Australopithecus anamensis through a detailed examination of the jaw and teeth. The name derives from anam—the word for lake in the Turkana language, spoken in north west Kenya.

The skull most likely belonged to an adult male. It has wide cheekbones, a long protruding jaw and a large canine tooth. The scientists used micro-CT scans and 3D reconstructions in order to definitively identify the species.

“Features of the upper jaw and canine tooth were fundamental in determining that MRD was attributable to A. anamensis … It is good to finally be able to put a face to the name,” said Melillo.

The Woranso-Mille site in central Afar is rich in fossils and palaeontologists have been exploring the area since 2004. They have discovered 12,600 fossil specimens from 85 mammalian species and 230 hominin fossils dated from 3.8 to 3.0 million years ago.

A. anamensis is considered to be the direct ancestor of A. afarensis made famous after Donald Johanson’s discovery of the almost complete skeleton of “Lucy” in 1974. A. afarensis is thought to have led directly to Homo, or true human species. The transition from A. anamensis to A. afarensiswas believed to have occurred 2.8 million years ago.

The cranium specimen from the front. Photograph(s) by Dale Omori, courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

MRD’s age suggests that A. anamensis and afarensis lived contemporaneously for 100,000 years, making this early period of human evolution more complex than previously thought.

Paleoanthropologist Meave Leakey originally named A. anamensis in 1994 from teeth and bone fragments discovered in Kenya. An earlier, previously unnamed specimen of an arm bone indicated a tree climbing existence. A. anamensis has features of the more advanced A. afarensis as well as more primitive features at the same time. The discovery of MRD enables the consolidation of the species designation.

Haile-Selassie and his team believe that it is highly probable that A. anamensis did evolve into A. afarensis. This likely occurred due to the isolation of a small group of A. anamensis that made the transition to A. afarensis, which then became the dominant species. However, the original A. anamensis species was able to survive for some time longer.

Older people keep working due to economic necessity in Australia

Margaret Rees

Workers aged over 65 are increasingly remaining in employment or seeking work in Australia. They are the single fastest growing age group securing work—up by 11 percent in the past 12 months alone, according to a Nine Media report.

This is primarily due to financial necessity, produced by higher age pension qualification ages, falling real wages and inadequate superannuation retirement incomes. Instead of enjoying the right to retire after decades of labour, workers are being forced to keep going.

Age pension eligibility is rising in stages from 65 years of age to 67 by 2023, due to measures imposed by the Rudd Labor government in 2009. An increase to 70 years has been mooted, but not yet attempted by the current Liberal-National Coalition government.

Governments around the world are implementing similar retirement age increases. OECD countries on average have registered a three-year increase, from 63 years for men born in 1940, to 66 years for those born in the middle of the 1990s.

Existing pension arrangements are being declared unaffordable, purportedly due to ageing populations. In reality, retirement periods are being reduced as part of a broader offensive against all welfare entitlements, in order to slash corporate and income taxes, and push more workers into low-paid work.

In Australia, the labour force participation rate for those over 65 started to accelerate from around 2004. The rate for men aged over 65 increased from 10.1 percent in 2004 to 17.6 percent in 2018. The rate for women over 65 increased from 3.3 percent to 10.3 percent. The overall rate more than doubled from 6.2 percent to 13.7 percent.

A record 610,000 workers aged over 65 are in the paid workforce, either part time or full time. Many others are trying to obtain work. There has been a 39 percent jump in the number of unemployed over 65-year-olds seeking full-time employment, and total unemployment among these age group—of those seeking any kind of job—has grown by 27.9 percent.

Older workers are also taking on more than one job. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that between 2011–12 and 2016–17 the proportion of people over 60 working more than one job grew by 18 percent—4 percent more than the national average.

Many older people are returning to work to maintain a decent quality of life, after discovering they did not have enough savings for retirement, partly due to longer life expectancy. Between people born in 1940 and those born in the middle of the 1990s, life expectancy is projected to increase by six years on average.

Medical studies have proven that good health and life expectancy in older people is related to income. Moreover, some jobs are more physically demanding, and more damaging to health. Asking a construction worker, shop assistant or cleaner to keep working beyond 65 is very different from asking a company executive or professional worker.

There has been a media barrage promoting the “world of work” as more fulfilling than retirement. Yet when driven back into the labour force by harsh economic necessity, older workers are competing with younger workers and may have no choice but to accept minimum wage jobs.

Even when they qualify for the age pension, those renting privately often fall into debt and face poverty. At least 24 percent of aged pensioners do not own their own home. According to the Benevolent Society, older renters spend less on healthcare than those who own their homes. This is also true for insurance, utilities, vehicle fuel and food.

Bushfires in Australia: Another symptom of climate change

Frank Gaglioti

The spring season has started in Australia with unprecedented bushfires devastating rural areas in Queensland and New South Wales (NSW). The fires, driven by extreme weather and drought conditions, have affected large swathes of the landscape, destroying homes and livelihoods.

From early September, blazes hit part of the Gold Coast hinterland in southeast Queensland and the Sunshine Coast, 100 kilometres north of the state capital, Brisbane, as well as the southern Granite Belt region. About 15,000 hectares were burnt out across the state over a week, fanned by strong winds.

A fire on North Stradbroke Island, 40 kilometres east of Queensland capital Brisbane [Credit: Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Facebook]

Several homes were destroyed at Peregian Beach on the Sunshine Coast, where the police declared a state of emergency. At the height of the crisis, hundreds of residents were forced to abandon their homes and flee to evacuation centres.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) North Coast Chief Superintendent Michelle Young told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that fast winds fanned ember attacks at least two kilometres ahead of fires, threatening areas from Peregian Beach to Marcus Beach.

Young said wind gusts of 50 kilometres per hour caused embers to travel huge distances, sparking spot fires because of the dry conditions. Residents at Castaways Beach, Sunrise Beach, Sunshine Beach and Noosa Springs were told to prepare to leave their homes.

According to fire authorities, 87 fires were raging across the state, including on the Atherton Tablelands in the far north. Eleven schools had to be closed in the affected areas. Approximately 97 properties suffered damage.

“Those fires went through like a freight train, it was like a plane going past, they were moving so fast,” Tracey Beggs, a Gold Coast hinterland resident, told the ABC.

The fires in that region ravaged sections of rainforest. This is unprecedented, as these areas were considered too wet to burn. Historic Binna Burra Lodge, located in the rainforest, was largely destroyed, potentially leaving 70 workers out of a job.

A firefighter battles the blaze in Queensland [Credit: Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Facebook]

Meanwhile, 50 fires were burning across NSW, destroying numbers of homes. Large planes were used to dump fire retardant, while hundreds of firefighters confronted the fires on the ground.

Although more benign conditions have since returned to the fire zones, authorities are warning of a disastrous fire season. Very dry conditions are affecting much of NSW and southern Queensland. Fires are still burning in less accessible areas. Firefighters said that only sustained rainfall will put out these fires, but this is an unlikely occurrence.

QFES Predictive Services Unit Manager Andrew Sturgess said: “It is an historic event. [We’ve] never seen this before in recorded history—fire weather has never been as severe, this early in spring… So this is an omen, if you will—a warning of the fire season that we’re likely to see ahead in the southeastern parts of the state, the driest parts of the state, where most of our population is.”

Scientists are pointing to the significance of the fact that sections of rainforest were burnt out. This is extremely rare, although areas in central Queensland were affected last year. While the dominant eucalypt forests are adapted to fire, as a regular feature of the environment, fire will kill trees outright in rainforests.

Jordanian teachers continue strike into second week

Jean Shaoul

Some 146,000 public school teachers are in their second week of an open-ended, nationwide strike in Jordan over their poverty level wages.

The strike, which is uniting teachers in both the traditional East Bank and the Palestinian communities, is part of a broader upsurge in the class struggle that is taking place all over the world and testifies to the primacy of class over ethnicity, nationality and religion.

The starting salary of a public-school teacher with a university degree is $500 a month, barely over the “absolute poverty line” of $479 for a family of five each month. After the first year, a teacher gets an automatic annual increment of $5 to $13, depending on their qualifications and experience, rising to a maximum of $635 a month. As a result, teachers have to take a second job in order to support their families.

On September 5, tens of thousands of teachers protested outside the government offices in the capital Amman and in other towns and cities to demand Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz intervene directly to resolve the teachers’ complaints and honour the pledge the government made five years ago to increase their salaries by 50 percent to compensate for the soaring cost of living and deteriorating living conditions.

The government denies it ever agreed to such a raise and has moved swiftly to prevent the protests spreading to other groups of workers as happened last year. According to a trade union official who spoke to Al Jazeera, the police and paramilitary forces used tear gas to disperse the protestors and verbally abused and physically assaulted some of the teachers during the September 5 demonstration. They arrested more than 50 teachers who were later released. Some complained that they had been strip-searched while in detention.

This infuriated the teachers who immediately brought forward their planned strike, set for the end of September, to the start of the school year on September 8, affecting some 1.3 million school students.

The teachers’ union, the Jordanian Teachers’ Syndicate, is demanding the government formally apologise for the physical abuse of teachers at last week’s protest, recognise their right to the 50 percent raise and hold a meaningful dialogue. Teachers are calling for the security forces to be held accountable for their actions and their chief, Minister of Interior Salameh Hamad, to be fired.

The government has rejected the union’s demands, saying that a 50 percent salary increase would cost JD 116 million ($163m) and is unaffordable. Instead, it has offered only a performance-related pay increase. It has called for the union to end the strike and return to negotiations without any pre-conditions. Minister of State for Legal Affairs Mubarak Abu Yamin even insinuated that the government would resort to the courts to disband the union.

The government has taken a particularly belligerent attitude towards the teachers as it fears that that any concessions will trigger struggles by other workers. Earlier this month, Ali Abbous, who heads the doctors’ union, demanded the government carry out its promise to increase its incentive scheme from $49 to $119 for doctors conducting medical examinations on foreign workers in Jordan. Ahmad al-Zoubi, the head of the engineers’ union, called for a 10 percent pay rise for its public sector members.

The teachers’ strike comes at a time of mounting anger over the soaring cost of living and the detention of activists calling for political reform. The official unemployment rate is 20 percent, and particularly acute among Jordan’s predominantly youthful population. Inflation has risen due to a 3.7 percent tax on basic commodities, including fuel, and an increase in sales tax and the price of basic commodities.

Jordan faces a severe economic crisis, which led in June last year to days of anti-government protests in Amman and other major cities against planned International Monetary Fund (IMF)-imposed measures that included a new law lowering the income tax threshold, a hike in the sales tax, and increases in the cost of fuel, electricity and water. King Abdullah, the country’s real ruler, cancelled his planned overseas trip and appointed al-Razzaz, a former World Bank economist, to replace Prime Minister Hani Mulki in a bid to defuse the protests.

The country has been badly hit by the US’s termination last year of its $300 million annual funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), representing about a quarter of the agency’s budget. UNRWA provides aid and vital social services to five million Palestinians and their descendants who were driven out of or fled their homes in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories in the 1948-9 and 1967 wars and are now living in camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, and Lebanon. The cuts are having a devastating impact on schooling and essential services, such as medical clinics and trash collection, for hundreds of thousands of refugees.

US drone massacre in Afghanistan

Jacob Crosse

A US drone attack Wednesday evening in Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border hit farm workers resting after a day’s labor, killing at least 30 people and injuring 40 more, all civilians. Many more are reported missing. Unverified reports say the number of dead is significantly higher.

The bloody attack has all the earmarks of a deliberate massacre.

At a joint press conference Friday with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Trump made no mention of the drone atrocity and was not asked about it by reporters. However, he took the occasion to reiterate his previous threat to kill millions of Afghans, saying he could easily “win” the war that way.

After initially denying involvement, US military officials on Thursday confirmed that the drone attack was carried out by US forces, not Afghan troops as originally reported.

The US carried out the attack on the workers despite the fact that village elders had sent a letter to the Nangarhar provincial governor, Shah Mahmood Miakhel, on September 7, explaining that approximately 200 workers would be in the region on September 18, the day of the attack, picking and shelling pine nuts.

According to Reuters, over 150 workers were sleeping in tents when at least one US Predator drone fired an AGM-114 (Hellfire) missile on their encampment.

Amongst the sleeping group were day laborers, farmers and children from local villages looking to earn some money picking pine nuts. After spending all day in the heavily forested mountains harvesting the dry fruit, the tired group lit several bonfires and pitched five large tents to bed down for the evening.

Malik Rahat Gul, a town elder from the region, told Reuters over the phone that the exhausted workers were either sitting or lying down at the time of the attack. Despite no visible signs of terrorist activity, Gul said it was clear that the drone had “targeted them.”

On Thursday, a spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Sonny Leggett, sought to justify the wanton murder of civilians by stating that the operation was meant to kill “Da’esh terrorists in Nangarhar.” He then sought to pin the blame for the mass killing on the Taliban and ISIS, saying they had a history of “hiding behind civilians” and frequently used “dishonest claims of noncombatant casualties as propaganda weapons.”

Millions march against climate change, capitalism and war

Bryan Dyne & Will Morrow

Four million people participated in the global climate strike across every continent on Friday, many of them school students who skipped school on that day. Demonstrations in more than 5,800 locations in 161 countries began in Australia and the Pacific, and moved to Asia, Antarctica, Africa and Europe, and North and South America. This is the third such climate strike this year, following similar mass global demonstrations this past March and May, and the largest to date.

The protests were directed at the inaction and inability of world governments to take any significant measures to resolve the crisis, despite increasingly dire warnings from the United Nations and other agencies that if greenhouse gas emissions are not immediately halted, at least half the world’s population will face one or more climate-related catastrophes likely in the next decade. Similar outrage was directed against international climate summits such as the 2015 Paris Agreement, which have proven worthless in the face of the crisis.

Tens of thousands protest at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate

Some of the largest demonstrations occurred in Germany, where over 100,000 protested in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, according to news reports, and up to 270,000 according to the protest organizers, for a total of 1.4 million people across the country. More than 330,000 demonstrated across Australia, 100,000 in Britain and up to 300,000 in the United States. Thousands more took to the streets in Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, across North Africa, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan and New Zealand.

Significant protests were also held across the South Pacific, including in the Solomon Islands and Fiji. Countries in the region are among the hardest hit by the deepening climate crisis, as a result of rapidly rising sea levels.

The political views of those who attended were very varied. Capitalism, however, was a dirty word for the overwhelming majority of the protesters. Many expressed their outrage over the refusal of governments to take any action over years to address the issue, and spoke about the subordination of life to the interests of the rich under capitalism.

The protest in Sydney

“The problem is that the big companies aren’t being held accountable,” said Ondina, a Salvadorean worker IT worker living in Stuttgart, Germany. “They shouldn’t be allowed to be so powerful. They want to get the most out of everything—from the markets, from their workers, and from the environment. Everyone who is aware of this exploitation should begin to take action. Governments won’t change that—that’s why we have to do something.”

Many protesters, including many born after 2001 who have lived under perpetual US-led wars their entire lives, connected environmental to social inequality and the danger of war. Sarah, a Canadian student in Paris, noted that “there’s so many causes today, so much you can fight for… I’m also concerned about war. It’s because they spend so much money on the military and have these guns and tanks and they want an excuse to use them.”

Members of the Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) and other supporters of the World Socialist Web Site attended demonstrations in several countries, where they distributed copies of the WSWS statement “The only solution to climate change is world socialism,” explaining the SEP’s fight to mobilize the working class against capitalism.

Kourosh, a law student in San Diego, agreed that capitalism is the source of the climate crisis. “Any talk about climate change must include socialism and the economic system. Also the military is a huge polluter as well that doesn’t get talked about in liberal circles. I’m definitely for socialism.” Kourosh also mentioned that he is studying law to defend democratic rights, including the protection of whistleblowers like Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning.

Macron, Steinmeier visit Rome to prepare new EU repression of refugees

Alex Lantier

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday traveled to Rome to discuss refugee policy and the Libyan war. Both presidents met Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

The visits had the character of a political outreach of the European Union’s (EU) traditional Berlin-Paris axis to Italy’s new government. The fall of Conte’s previous coalition government between his Five-Star Movement (M5S) and the neo-fascist Lega of former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, and its replacement two weeks ago by a M5S-Democratic Party (PD) coalition, improved the climate of relations between Berlin, Paris and Rome. Macron and Steinmeier tried to smooth over violent diplomatic conflicts that erupted, particularly between Paris and Rome, over Libya.

The agreements made in Rome show, however, that the removal of the neo-fascists from the Italian government has not produced any shift towards a less militaristic and anti-refugee policy. Rather, the three largest euro zone powers are trying to reach a settlement to divide up the spoils from the plundering of Libya and a common agreement on a policy of intensifying repression of refugees across Europe.

On Wednesday night, Macron and Conte declared that they had come to an agreement in principle for an “automatic mechanism” to distribute refugees among the different EU countries. Currently, the Dublin Accords force refugees to request asylum in the EU state where they first arrive, so that southern and eastern European states like Italy or Greece process a large number of asylum requests from refugees fleeing imperialist wars in the Middle East or North Africa. Other EU states have refused to welcome any refugees at all.

Conte and Macron’s plan is not, however, to let refugees travel to countries of their choice, but rather to use the EU’s machinery to process and expel them more quickly from Europe. The centerpiece of their proposal was a demand for a “more effective” method to expel refugees to whom the EU refuses asylum. Under conditions where many EU countries are expelling even Afghan refugees back to their war-torn country, this is a blank check for mass expulsions of refugees across Europe.

Paris and Rome, Macron said, will now defend “a common position so that all the (EU) countries will participate in one or another form” in housing refugees “or be punished financially.” He added, “The European Union did not show enough solidarity with states of first arrival, especially Italy. And France is ready to shift its position on this issue and reconsider the Dublin Accords. And I want us to work together to find a stronger, fairer solution.”

Conte and Macron pledged to jointly defend this proposal for a new refugee policy at a planned meeting of EU interior ministers scheduled for Monday in Malta.

Conte insisted that Italy “will not let people traffickers decide who comes onto our territory” but that, in contrast with Salvini’s previous attempts to simply prevent any boat carrying refugees from the Mediterranean from reaching Italy, it was necessary to “manage the problem” more skillfully.

With this visit, the Macron goverment was signaling that it has no significant differences on refugee policy with the previous Conte-Salvini government. It primarily considered Salvini’s methods too ham-handed and likely to provoke popular opposition. His refusals to allow refugee boats into Italy prompted mass protests in Italian cities, and legal confrontations with ship captains who ignored his orders and landed refugees in Italy in defiance of the ban.

US healthcare workers face rise in workplace violence

Alex Johnson

Workplace violence against nurses and other healthcare workers has burgeoned in recent years, becoming a nationwide phenomenon across hospitals and clinics. In one report released by nurse.org last month, testimonials from workers and official injury statistics highlighted, as the article’s headline puts it, “a silent epidemic” of violence growing in healthcare settings.

The article cited a report released by the American Nurses Association (ANA), which found that a staggering one in four nurses is assaulted on the job on any given day. Drawing on figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the ANA report notes that 13 percent of days way from work in the healthcare and social assistance sectors in 2013 were the result of violence. Workplace violence includes physical assaults, physical or verbal harassment, and even homicide.

Workplace violence in the healthcare sector remains higher than in most professions. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an estimated 75 percent of reports of workplace violence each year occurs in the healthcare and social service industry.

Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey has documented that healthcare workers have a 20 percent higher chance of suffering workplace violence than other workers. A recent poll conducted by the American College of Emergency Physicians found that 47 percent of emergency physicians had been assaulted while at work and over 70 percent report witnessing another assault.

The surge of violence against healthcare workers is a function of the US healthcare system itself. Nurses in particular are the frontline contacts for patients in their families, who are often in medical and emotional crisis and can lash out emotionally and physically against those providing them with care. But this has always been the case. What has changed?

Emergency rooms, hospital wards and clinics are a microcosm of the communities around them, concentrating their social and economic distress, as well as increased violence. Patients and their families seeking medical care also have the added stress that, even if their treatment is successful, they could return home to crushing medical debt.

A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Los Angeles Times found that 137 million Americans struggle to pay their medical bills. One in six Americans who get insurance through their jobs say they been forced to make “difficult sacrifices” over the last years to pay for healthcare, including cutting back on food, doubling up with relatives or friends, or taking on extra work. One in five say their medical bills have eaten up all of most of their savings.

Skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs are the result of dramatically increased deductibles and co-pays. Added to this is the impact of the Affordable Care Act on healthcare workers. While the ACA has reduced the uninsured rate, this means that more patients are utilizing their insurance, adding to patient loads for healthcare workers, who are also under pressure to cut costs for hospitals and other providers.

All of this translates into a potentially toxic environment for those providing patient care. The nurse.org article contains numerous stories of attacks on healthcare workers, revealing their workplace conditions to be veritable danger zones where they’re vulnerable to the most brutal assaults from patients.

Angela Simpson, a registered nurse from Maryland who was only employed for six months, suffered a severe head injury after being attacked by an agitated dementia patient.

Simpson compared the likelihood of her getting hurt while working to her husband, a corrections officer. “It is more likely that I will be hurt on the job by an assault than him,” she said. “He gets to use pepper spray and has a bullet-proof vest, and he has others to back him up. He has the right to defend himself.”

Despite the publication of numerous studies exposing the rising violence against nurses and other healthcare workers, the healthcare industry discourages nurses from reporting incidents of violence, even when injuries are sustained.

India: Motherson auto parts company in Chennai victimises strikers

Arun Kumar

Motherson Automotive Technologies & Engineering (MATE), a major auto-parts making company located at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, the Tamil Nadu state capital, is victimising workers who were active in forming a new union and organising indefinite strike action.

The strikers, who walked out on August 26, want recognition of their union—the Chengai Anna Mavatta Jana Nayaga Thozhilalar Sangam—a wage rise and an end to the harsh working conditions. MATE has responded by dismissing 22 trainees and 33 professionals and suspending 15 permanent employees.

The All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), to which the new union is affiliated, has refused to mobilise the remaining workforce at the plant or other MATE facilities to support the strike and defend the victimised workers.

In line with MATE’s attempts to divide the workers and maintain production, the union federation, which is controlled by the Maoist Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist-Liberation (CPI-ML-Liberation), claims that the non-striking employees would also be victimised. It has issued no appeal to other Indian auto workers or internationally to defend the strikers.

MATE is the largest supplier of moulded parts, assemblies and modules to India’s domestic automotive industry. The Tamil Nadu plant employs over 2,000 workers but only 568 are permanent. Another 1,000 are employed on contract and 500 as trainees under a government-sponsored program.

MATE workers established the new union in late July in order to fight low wages, brutal working conditions and sub-standard food at the plant’s canteen.

Addressing a meeting of MATE workers near the Sriperumbudur bus terminal on September 13, AICCTU National President S. Kumarasamy issued various pathetic appeals to the company whilst offering advice on how to boost the Indian economy.

The MATE workers should be paid a minimum monthly wage of 40,000 rupees ($US571), Kumarasamy said, because low wages had slowed the Indian economy. He claimed that the permanent workers’ strike had forced the company to increase contract employees’ pay and provide meals for night shift workers.

“Permanent workers should be happy about this gain for contract workers,” he insisted, ignoring the fact the miserable concessions, which were granted to stop contact workers joining the walkout, could be removed at any time.

While Kumarasamy told the strikers that the company was part of a giant global corporation that employed 150,000 employees he issued no call for these workers to be mobilised.

Kumarasamy claimed that union officials at Hyundai and Nissan plants in India were backing the MATE strikers. This “support,” however, consisted of warnings to Hyundai and Nissan managers that parts made by MATE’s contract workers and trainees would be substandard.

He also cynically declared that the MATE workers’ conditions could be improved if they elected CPI-ML-Liberation legislators in the 2021 Tamil Nadu state election. Notwithstanding its occasional “left” rhetoric, the CPI-ML-Liberation is a thoroughly bourgeois formation. In the recent parliamentary elections it supported the Congress party in Bihar to government.

Kumarasamy falsely claimed that the Stalinist Communist Party of India-Marxist or CPM-controlled Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) had led the auto workers’ wage struggle at Yamaha India in December. His praise for the new pay agreement, which is based on “three parameters,” points to the sort of deal that the AICCTU will attempt to impose on the Motherson strikers.

As the WSWS previously explained, the CITU shut down the Yamaha workers’ strike after signing a pay deal with the company in which it “pledged to promote ‘industrial peace’ and prevent sit-down strikes.”

The three-year agreement between Yamaha India and the union at the Chennai plant has not been made public. The “three parameters”—Individual Performance, Shop Performance and Plant Performance—are designed to drive up production and intensify exploitation.

Election set for November 10 as attempts to form Spanish government collapse

Alejandro López

Five months after the inconclusive April 28 general elections, Spain will hold new elections on November 10. Spanish King Felipe VI declared that Acting Prime Minister and Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sanchez had failed to secure enough support to be confirmed as premier.

On Tuesday, Sánchez announced: “It has been impossible to complete the mandate given to us by the Spanish people on April 28.” Attacking the opposition parties, he added: “They have made it impossible for us. There is no majority in Congress that guarantees the formation of a government, which pushes us to a repeat election on November 10.”

Yesterday, in parliament, Sánchez accused the leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, of “dogmatism,” Popular Party (PP) leader Pablo Casado of “lacking sense of state” and Citizens leader Albert Rivera of “irresponsibility.” Sánchez said that “they have not accepted” the result of the elections of April. He added that Spain needs “stability” and “moderation.”

Two years after the violent police crackdown on the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, Sánchez also warned the separatist Republican Left of Catalonia that he could again invoke Article 155 to remove the democratically-elected regional Catalan government “if you attempt to violate the Constitution.”

These elections would be the fourth in four years. In 2015, the grip of the two main parties that have ruled Spain since the end of the fascist Franco dictatorship in 1978, the PSOE and the right-wing PP, collapsed. Both of these parties have imposed brutal austerity measures since the 2008 Wall Street crash and global economic crisis. Since then, every successive election has produced a hung parliament.

The main opposition parties reacted not by welcoming Sánchez’s failure to hold onto power, but by denouncing the PSOE for failing to assemble a parliamentary majority that could form a functioning government. Casado (PP) accused Sánchez of wanting new elections “since the start,” referring to expectations of an uptick in votes for the PSOE in upcoming elections. Rivera, for his part, called on Casado and the PP to try to form an alternative government after the November elections.

Podemos asked Sánchez to “Clarify why you don’t want to rule with us.” Podemos deputy spokeswoman Ione Belarra added that the PSOE was “on the way to an electoral replay” because “their gurus tell them that they will win a few more seats.” She also speculated that the PSOE wants to “soften” the leader of Citizens, Albert Rivera, possibly to form a governmental alliance with his party.

These events mark a new milestone in the disintegration of the traditional political set-up in Europe. It takes place as the ruling class in the UK faces its most severe crisis since World War II over Brexit and is preparing for social unrest following a potential no-deal Brexit.

Driving all the major parties is their fear of the working class, with mass strikes in Portugal, the “yellow vest” protests in France and a global upsurge of the class struggle.

Inconclusive second elections intensify Israel’s political crisis

Jean Shaoul

Israel’s elections held on Tuesday have failed to deliver a conclusive result, delivering a potentially fatal blow to the political career of the likely soon-to-be-indicted prime minister and close Trump ally, Benjamin Netanyahu.

With 95 percent of votes counted in a poll that saw voter turnout of around 70 percent, up slightly from April’s deadlocked vote, Netanyahu’s Likud party has secured 32 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. This is one less than the 33 seats won by the Blue and White Party led by former Israel Defence Forces’ (IDF) chief of staff Benny Gantz.

Gantz’s so-called “centre left” bloc, which includes the Labour Party and the Meretz Party, which lined up with former prime minister and army chief Ehud Barak, has captured 44 seats. However, in staking claim to form government Gentz, like Netanyahu, will be able to point to the support of 56 Knesset members. This is because the Joint List, an alliance of Palestinian parties which is projected to win 12 seats, is ready to back the former IDF head’s Blue and White against Netanyahu.

The Joint List has even offered to join in a Blue and White-led coalition government, but Gantz has rejected this.

This leaves Avigdor Lieberman, whose right-wing nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is our Home) Party is set to win eight seats, as the potential kingmaker. In April Lieberman refused to join a Netanyahu-led coalition unless it introduced legislation to force ultra-Orthodox Jews to serve in the IDF. Now this longtime Netanyahu ally turned rival is demanding that Likud form a secular national unity government with Blue and White, excluding the religious parties, and threatening that if it doesn’t he could support Gantz in forming a government without Likud.

Yesterday, Lieberman reiterated his support for a “broad liberal unity government” that would include Yisrael Beiteinu, Likud, and Blue and White.

Gantz for his part said that while he is waiting for the final election results, “We will act to form a broad unity government that will express the will of the people.” However, he has ruled out serving under Netanyahu or sitting in cabinet with him.

Should a “national unity government” be formed, the Joint List would be the largest opposition party. Yesterday, its chairman Ayman Odeh said he was interested in becoming the first ever Arab leader of the official opposition in the Knesset, including “attending security briefings.”

In the short term, the results mean weeks of political horse trading and infighting, as Netanyahu seeks to cling to power. The elections were for him always a desperate gamble to evade the possibility of spending the rest of his life in jail for any one of several charges of corruption. He faces a pre-trial hearing within the next few weeks.

Israel’s prime minister since March 2009 and for three years in the late 1990s, Netanyahu has come to personify the Zionist state’s embrace of rabid militarism and Greater Israeli expansionism, and its cultivation of ultra-nationalists and the religious right. He spearheaded the recent adoption of the “Nation-State Law,” which enshrines Jewish supremacy as the legal foundation of the Israeli state. For years he has agitated for US military action against Iran. Boasts about his close friendship and political partnership with Trump were central to his election campaign.

After failing to form a government in May following April’s similarly inconclusive elections, Netanyahu preempted President Reuven Rivlin’s right to call on another member of the Knesset to try and form a government, by forcing a bill through the Knesset calling for fresh elections. Had he won Tuesday’s elections, his bloc would have pushed through legislation granting a sitting prime minister immunity from prosecution and if necessary further legislation curbing the powers of the Supreme Court, which is viewed as likely to overturn any such immunity bill.

In a bid to secure his election victory, Netanyahu resorted to countless maneuvers, many of them illegal. Last week, Facebook suspended Netanyahu’s chatbot for 24 hours after it sent messages stating that “Arabs want to annihilate us,” which the technology giant said breached its policy on hate speech.

Much of his campaigning centred on fear mongering and attempts to suppress the Arab vote, with Netanyahu “warning” his supporters that they needed to counterbalance high turnout in Arab areas. He had sought legislation, opposed by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, that would have allowed political parties to film inside polling stations, a move seen as intended to intimidate Arab voters. In the event, this backfired, prompting a significantly higher Arab turnout than in April, when only 49 percent of Arab Israelis voted.

Just days before the election, in a move calculated to appeal to his ultra-nationalist support base and undermine other far-right parties, Netanyahu pledged to annex the Jordan Valley and settlements in the West Bank, illegally occupied since the 1967 war.

Gantz’s Blue and White have voiced no opposition to this. Indeed, Gantz has no major differences with Netanyahu on any political, economic and military issues. He focused his campaign almost entirely on Netanyahu’s personal scandals and divisive tactics, presenting himself as the only clean and responsible alternative, thereby underscoring the lack of any political vehicle through which the working class could express its opposition to the financial elite on whose behalf Israel’s militaristic and corrupt politicians speak.

Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Fellowship 2020/2021 for Women

Application Deadline: 7th November, 2019 for new applications (the deadline for reference letters is 14th November 2019).

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries and Emerging Economies

To be taken at: Top universities abroad

Accepted Subject Areas: Physical sciences and related disciplines

About Fellowship: Each year, The Faculty for the Future fellowships, Launched by the Schlumberger Foundation, are awarded to women from developing and emerging economies who are preparing for PhD or post-doctoral study in the physical sciences and related disciplines at top universities for their disciplines abroad. Grant recipients are selected for their leadership capabilities as for their scientific talents, and are expected to return to their home countries to continue their academic careers and inspire other young women.

Offered Since: 2004

Type: PhD/PostDoctoral, Fellowship
Selection Criteria: A successful application will have gone through four selection rounds, with the reviewers paying particular attention to the following criteria:

• Academic performance;
• Quality of references;
• Quality of host country university;
• Level of commitment to return to home country;
• Commitment to teaching;
• Relevance of research to home country;
• Commitment to inspiring young women into the sciences.

Eligibility: Applicants must meet all the following criteria:

• Be a woman;
• Be a citizen of a developing country or emerging economy;
• Wish to pursue a PhD degree or Post-doctoral research in the physical sciences or related disciplines;
• Have applied to, have been admitted to, or are currently enrolled in a university/research institute abroad;
• Wish to return to their home country to continue their academic career upon completion of their studies;
• Be very committed to teaching and demonstrate active participation in faculty life and outreach work to encourage young women into the sciences;
• Hold an excellent academic record.

Number of fellowships: Several

Value of Award: Faculty for the Future grants are awarded based on the actual costs of studying and living in the chosen location, and is worth USD 50,000 for PhDs and USD 40,000 for Post-doctoral study. Grants may be renewed through to completion of studies subject to performance, self-evaluation and recommendations from supervisors.

How to Apply: Interested candidates may Apply here

Visit Scholarship Webpage for Details

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation International Climate Protection Fellowships 2020 for Developing Countries – Germany

Application Timeline: 1st March 2020

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Citizenship of a non-European threshold or developing country (see list of countries in the Program Webpage Link below) which is also the fellow’s habitual abode and place of work;

To be taken at (country): Germany

Subject Areas: Climate Protection

About the Award: The International Climate Protection Fellowships enable prospective leaders to conduct a research-related project of their own choice during a one-year stay in Germany. Submit an application if you are a prospective leader from a non-European threshold or developing country working in the field of climate protection and resource conservation in academia, business or administration in your country.

Type: Fellowship

Selection Criteria:

• First academic degree (Bachelor’s or equivalent), completed less than 12 years prior to the start of the fellowship
• Extensive professional experience in a leadership role (at least 48 months at the time of application) in the field of climate protection and resource conservation or a further academic or professional qualification;
• Initial practical experience (at least 12 months at the time of application) through involvement in projects related to climate protection and resource conservation (possibly already during studies);
• Leadership potential demonstrated by initial experience in leadership positions and/or appropriate references;
• A detailed statement by a host in Germany, including a confirmation of support; details of the proposed project must be discussed with the prospective host prior to application;
• Very good knowledge of English and/or German, documented by appropriate language certificates;
• Two to three expert references by individuals qualified to comment on the candidate’s professional, personal and, if applicable, academic eligibility and his / her leadership potential.

Benefits

• Fellowship amount according to qualifications between €2,150 and €2,650 per month
• Two-month intensive language course in Germany
• Lump sum for travel expenses
• Allowances for visits by family members lasting at least three months
• Allowance of €800 per month for the host in Germany for projects in the natural and engineering sciences, and €500 per month for projects in the humanities and social sciences

Number of Awards: 20

Duration: One year

How to Apply: Apply online until 1 March 2020

Visit the Scholarship Webpage for Details

Sponsors: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Important Notes: Potential applicants who have spent more than six months in Germany or more than 12 months in a country that is not on the list of countries at the time of or shortly before application should contact the Humboldt Foundation (info@avh.de) before submitting an application as they may be ineligible on formal grounds.

Chivas Venture Accelerator Programme 2020 for Social Entrepreneurs (USD$1,000,000 Funding)

Application Deadline: 31st October 2019

To be taken at (country): In each participating country.

About the Programme: The Venture is a global search to find and support the most promising startups with the potential to succeed financially and make a positive impact on the lives of others.
The most promising startups – one from each country participating in The Venture – will make it to the global final and have a chance to win a share of $1 million in funding.
In 2014, Chivas Regal launched The Venture, a $1million annual fund and global search to reward those who are using business to create positive change. Over the last two years we have invested $2 Million in a new generation of extraordinary startups, that do well by doing good, because we believe generosity and success go hand in hand.

Type: Entrepreneurship contest

Eligibility:

• The founder, co-founder or a key decision-maker who will represent your business throughout the competition.
• You must be aged 21 years old or over (as of 31 October 2019), and speak fluent English.
• Your start-up must already be registered as a for-profit entity in the country you’re located, and earn no more than $1.5 million in annual revenue (from 1 September 2018 to 1 September 2019).

Selection Process: Each country participating in The Venture will select one winner to go to the global final. The selection process will vary between countries so please be sure to check your local Terms & Conditions to find out more.

If you are successful at the national final, you will head to The Venture’s Accelerator Week; an intensive five days of learning, where finalists will receive world-class mentorship and support in preparation for the high stakes pitch in July. The week will involve expert trainers and inspirational mentors recruited by the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship.

After the Accelerator Week, you will have the chance to inspire the public to vote for your startup in order to receive funding. During the voting period, we will allocate $250,000 of the $1Million fund by giving people the chance to vote for their favourite startup.

Final Pitch: At an exclusive event in front of a live audience of business experts, influencers and changemakers, you will have the opportunity to pitch to The Venture’s global panel of judges, who will decide where the remaining share of the $1Million fund will be awarded.

Selection Criteria: Every submission will be judged on five criteria. These criteria are:

• Market opportunity and size.
• Demonstrable impact: measurable social or environmental impact and a model that can scale.
• Sound business model and organizational strategy.
• Financial feasibility and sustainability: can earn revenue.
• Skills, experience and commitment of management team.

Number of Awardees: Not specified.

Value of Contest: 

• A share of the $1 million fund!!!
• finalists will also take part in a variety of intensive business master-classes at some of the world’s leading businesses to help them sharpen their skills.
• business and pitching support
• The global finalists will feature on The Venture website and crowdfunding site IndieGogo. Our international campaign will reach millions of people around the world, offering incredible exposure for your business.
• The Venture is an international project with some of the participating countries offering additional prizes.

How to Apply: We’re looking for innovative startups that use business to solve social or environmental problems. If that sounds like you, don’t wait – create a profile and fill in the application form here.

For the list of participating countries, please see our Frequently Asked Questions, and for full details of eligibility and competition rules, please read our Terms & Conditions.

Visit Contest Webpage for details

Award Provider: Chivas Regal

PEO International Peace Scholarships 2019/2020 for Women to Study in USA and Canada

Application Timeline: 

• Application closes: 15th December, 2019
• March 1, 2020: Last day to submit completed application materials from applicants already enrolled in the graduate program and school for which their scholarship is intended.
• April 1, 2020: Last day to submit completed application materials from applicants not yet enrolled in the graduate program or school for which the scholarship is intended. Last day to submit completed application materials for applicants who will be attending Cottey College

Offered Annually: Yes

About the Award: Members of P.E.O. believe that education is fundamental to world peace and understanding. The scholarship is based upon demonstrated need; however, the award is not intended to cover all academic or personal expenses.

Eligibility and Criteria

• An applicant must be qualified for admission to full-time graduate study and working toward a graduate degree in an accredited college or university in the united States or canada.
• A student who is a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or Canada is not eligible.
• Scholarships are not given for research, internships, or practical training, unless it is combined with coursework. Awards are not to be used to pay past debts.
• In order to qualify for her first scholarship, an applicant must have a full year of coursework remaining, be enrolled and in residence for the entire school year.
• Doctoral students who have completed coursework and are working only on dissertations are not eligible as first-time applicants.
• international students attending cottey college are eligible to apply for a scholarship.

Scholarship Worth

• The maximum amount awarded to a student is $12,500. Lesser amounts may be awarded according to individual needs.
• The scholarship is based upon demonstrated financial need; however, the award is not intended to cover all academic or personal expenses. At the time of application, the applicant is required to confirm additional financial resources adequate to meet her estimated expenses. Additional resources may include personal and family funds, tuition waivers, work scholarships, teaching assistantships, study grants and other scholarships.
• Awards are announced in May. The amount of the PEO International scholarship will be divided into two payments to be distributed in August and December

How to Apply: Click here for the Online Eligibility Form.

Visit P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship Fund for Details