New US jobless claims once again exceed one million

Jerry White

More than one million workers in the United States filed new unemployment claims last week as the social and economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic continues to punish workers while the stock market reaches new highs.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1,006,000 workers filed initial claims for jobless benefit in the week ending August 22, slightly down from the 1,104,000 the week before. The total number of people claiming ongoing benefits in all programs for the week ending August 8 was 27 million. By contrast, there were 1.6 million claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019.

The Labor Department said the official unemployment rate had fallen from 10.1 percent to 9.9 percent for the week ending August 15. Only those who receive regular state benefits (14.5 million) are counted and not the 12.5 million receiving federal assistance for the self-employed and gig workers. If both figures were factored in out of the US labor force of 159.9 million, the unemployment rate would be 17 percent. Even this is an underestimation since it does not count the millions who are jobless and getting no unemployment aid or who have been forced to work part-time.

The territories and states with the highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending August 8 were in Hawaii (19.8), Puerto Rico (19.2), Nevada (17.3), California (16.1), New York (15.4), Connecticut (13.6), Louisiana (13.5), the Virgin Islands (12.8), Georgia (12.6), and Massachusetts (12.2). New Jersey, Florida, New York and Texas saw the highest number of first-time claims the week ending August 15.

In comments on the economy, President Trump boasted Thursday that the “country is doing very good,” adding, “We’re on a V, could even be a Super-V,” referring to the supposed V-shaped rapid plunge and recovery of the economy.

The reckless drive to reopen the economy added some 9.3 million jobs to the economy over the last three months. But this initial job increase, less than half of the 22 million wiped out in March and April, began to peter out last month as some businesses reclosed due to the surge of COVID-19 cases, and a swift rebound is not expected.

About 33 percent of the employees put on furlough in March were laid off for good by July, according to Gusto, a payroll and benefits firm, and economists predict that as many as half of all temporary layoffs could become permanent.

“The longer this drags out, the more the shape of the recovery will look like the Great Recession,” Dante DeAntonio of Moody’s Analytics told USA Today, adding that he expects unemployment to remain high at 9.5 percent by year’s end and 8.1 percent by the end of 2021.

Corporations are also exploiting the crisis to accelerate longstanding restructuring plans. This week, several companies joined the list of downsizing firms. These include:

• San Francisco-based Salesforce, the cloud software giant, sent out layoff notices Tuesday to nearly 1,000 workers, the day after company executives lifted their full-year earnings outlook and posted a record $5.15 billion in sales for the most recent quarter. The company, led by billionaire Marc Benioff, who made a “no layoff pledge” in March, said it expects to top profits figures in the current quarter in which the layoffs are unfolding. As of early July, more than 25,500 employees of Silicon Valley start-ups, including Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and Groupon had lost their jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported.
  
• Home goods retailer Bed, Bath & Beyond announced Tuesday that it was laying off 2,800 workers at its corporate headquarters and stores, “effective immediately,” as part of an “organizational realignment” to slash between $250 and $350 million annually and focus on its digital sales. Last month, the retailer said it would shut down roughly 200 stores over the next two years, increasing by fivefold store closing plans revealed in January.
  
• American Airlines said this week that it would eliminate another 19,000 jobs by October 1 if the company did not receive another tranche of corporate bailout money from the US government. The company, which has already forced 11,000 employees to take “voluntary separations,” spent $12 billion on stock buybacks and more than $1 billion in dividends over the past five years. Delta plans to lay off nearly 2,000 pilots and United Airlines has threatened to cut 36,000 jobs once the prohibition on layoffs included in the government bailout expires on October 1.
  
• Restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday is closing locations without even giving staff advanced warning. “If a store is shutting down permanently, Ruby Tuesday never, ever, ever, ever gives notice to anyone,” a current employee in Missouri, who has been with the company for 14 years, told Business Insider. “The district manager will call the general manager literally the night before and say, ‘Hey, you’re being shut down. Tonight is your last day of being open. Don't tell anyone until tomorrow.’”

Meanwhile, most small businesses that were able to qualify for the government’s Paycheck Protection Program have now run out of money, prompting a new wave of permanent layoffs. USA Today reported that 84 percent of small businesses have exhausted their PPP loans, up from 71 percent in July, according to a survey out this week from the National Federation of Independent Business.

While lower-paid workers are losing their jobs at about three times the rate of higher-wage employees, layoffs are hitting salaried employees able to work at home too. The “drop in overall employment that white-collar industries like real estate, information and professional and technology services have seen in five months is already on par with or worse than the hits they took during the Great Recession,” Politico recently reported.

It has now been a month since the $600-a-week federal unemployment payment was allowed to expire, and nothing has been done by the Democrats and Republicans to renew it. On the contrary, the economic desperation caused by this two-thirds or more reduction in weekly income for unemployed workers is being used by employers to pressure workers to return to unsafe factories, warehouses, offices and other workplaces

About 26.5 percent of adults either missed their last rent or mortgage payment or have either slight or no confidence that they can pay the next one, according to a recent survey by the US Census Bureau. More than a third expect someone in their household to lose employment income over the next four weeks, while 51.1 percent had already seen a loss in employment income, Forbes reported.

In addition to a wave of evictions and foreclosures due to the expiration of state moratoriums, tens of millions of households face the loss of gas, electricity and water service due to the expiration of state prohibitions on utility shutoffs by the end of September.

A new report by energy start-up Carbon Switch, cited by CNBC, said ten states had already let the prohibitions expire and throughout August and September 14 states will join them. Carbon Switch calculates that by October 1, about 76 million households will be without shutoff protections.

The report said 8 out of 10 of the nation’s biggest utility companies are planning to return to normal operations by September 15 and will start cutting off customers’ electricity and gas if the bills are overdue.

“There’s going to be a tidal wave of utility shutoffs,” Michael Thomas, founder and head researcher of Carbon Switch, told CNBC. “That’s because in some states, as many as a third of households are behind on payments. Typically, only about 7 percent to 9 percent of Americans are delinquent on their payments, he explained. “It’s just crazy by any measure.”

While tens of millions face Great Depression-like conditions, major corporations, like Disney, General Motors and Yelp, have already restored temporary pay cuts to corporate executives, which were announced earlier this year with great fanfare about “equal sacrifice” as they slashed jobs and cut pay.

The vast bulk of executive compensation comes from stock options. Driven by the rising stock market, CEO compensation rose to its highest level in seven years last year, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) recently reported, and is poised to rise again in 2020, despite the economic and social crisis. According to EPI, top executives at the largest US companies pocketed “an average of $21.3 million in realized compensation in 2019, setting the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay at 320 to 1, up from 293 to 1 in 2018 and more than five times as high as the 61-to-1 ratio in 1989.” Between 1978 and 2019, according to EPI’s analysis, CEO compensation, adjusted for inflation, rose 1,167 percent. By contrast, the typical worker’s compensation grew by only 13.7 percent over the past four decades.

Trump administration sabotages COVID-19 testing

Marcus Day

The Trump administration is intensifying its murderous efforts to cover up the spread of the coronavirus pandemic through the suppression of testing for the virus, under conditions in which COVID-19 is already raging out of control in the United States.

On Monday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) modified its testing guidelines, dropping its earlier recommendation that those who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 but who do not yet show symptoms should get tested. The guidelines now state that those who have been exposed and are asymptomatic “do not necessarily need a test,” except if they are vulnerable, or if a health care provider or state or local health official recommends it—which fewer will now do.

The change to the CDC guidelines was made under significant political pressure from the White House, overriding concerns by the administration’s own public health advisors.

Conspiratorial methods were employed. The decision was made while Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, was under general anesthesia for surgery last week. Admiral Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health and the US “testing tsar,” had previously falsely claimed in comments to the press that Fauci had signed off on the decision.

In his typically understated fashion, Fauci criticized the new guidelines, telling CNN, “I am concerned about the interpretation of these recommendations and worried it will give people the incorrect assumption asymptomatic spread is not of great concern. In fact, it is.”

The change in testing guidelines will fuel the further spread of the pandemic throughout workplaces, homes and communities, causing untold numbers of unnecessary deaths and leaving many more irreparably harmed. By the CDC’s own “best estimate,” 50 percent of the coronavirus’ transmission occurs before symptoms appear, with an upper-end estimate as high as 70 percent.

The decision has been roundly condemned by scientists, public health organizations and infectious disease experts. “This change in policy will kill,” Allison Galvani, director at the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis at Yale School of Medicine, put it the most bluntly in a tweet Tuesday.

The politically motivated sabotage of the CDC’s public health guidance comes as testing in the US has already declined significantly from its high point near the end of July, from a seven-day daily average of 820,978 on July 29 to 693,794 on August 27, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

Trump and his media supporters, with their accumulated stupidity and callousness, attempted to present the surge in new cases over the summer as the result of increased testing. The president has repeatedly stated his desire to reduce testing, telling a rally in June, “I said to my people: Slow the testing down, please.” Administration spokesmen sought to play off the comment as a “joke,” but Trump belied these claims, saying later, “I don’t kid.”

The disastrous response to the pandemic has already resulted in a horrific toll in human life and suffering, now set to worsen substantially amidst the drive to reduce testing. Over 6,000,000 million have tested positive for COVID-19 in the United States, and nearly 185,000 have died.

The ignorant psychopath occupying the White House has made clear his indifference to the mass death gripping America, stating infamously, “It is what it is.” But the brutal and homicidal policy pursued by Trump is not the outcome simply or primarily of his own diseased personality. Rather, it is driven by the class interests of the ruling corporate and financial aristocracy, to which Trump gives the most ruthless expression.

Across countless workplaces, working people are confronted with a deadly conspiracy to cover up the spread of COVID-19. As a lengthy article in Bloomberg Businessweek Thursday explained, “In the past few months, U.S. businesses have been on a silencing spree.” The companies accused by workers of attempting to muzzle any discussion of COVID-19 cases include top names among America’s corporate giants: Amazon, Target, Smithfield Foods, General Electric, Delta Airlines, McDonald’s, Cargill, and others.

“Hundreds of U.S. employers across a wide range of industries have told workers not to share information about Covid-19 cases or even raise concerns about the virus, or have retaliated against workers for doing those things, according to workplace complaints filed with the NLRB and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).”

Workers have found no restitution or redress of their grievances through these state institutions, however, which represent the same corporate interests defended ruthlessly by the Trump administration. As the article notes, OSHA has issued citations against just two companies out of thousands of complaints filed related to COVID-19. As for the NLRB, a worker at the restaurant chain The Cheesecake Factory who filed a complaint with it said, “It doesn’t feel like it has a lot of teeth. I’m not convinced it will ultimately change their behavior, or any other company’s.”

Not mentioned in the corporate weekly Businessweek, but exposed in numerous interviews with autoworkers, teachers, and other workers on the World Socialist Web Site, is the role of the trade unions in enforcing these corporate gag orders. From the United Auto Workers to the American Federation of Teachers, the unions have deployed the same fraudulent arguments, falsely invoking privacy laws, in an attempt to prevent workers from sharing information and getting a real picture of the spread of the pandemic in their workplaces. At the same time, they have served as company PR reps, touting illusory safety measures that have been all but discarded.

Top Democratic Party politicians, for their part, have responded to the CDC’s change by falsely posturing as champions of a scientifically informed response to the pandemic. But the Democrats, a party of Wall Street and the military-intelligence apparatus, have worked at the local, state and federal level to pursue the same basic class policy as Trump: to enrich the financial aristocracy, including voting virtually unanimously to pass the CARES Act and transfer trillions of dollars to the super-rich, at the expense of the working class. While voicing insincere and hollow criticisms of Trump’s response to the pandemic, they are just as complicit in engineering the premature reopening of businesses and schools, driving workers and their children back into death traps in order to ensure that profits continue to be pumped out.

These conditions have set the stage for an eruption of opposition in the working class of historic proportions. Already, autoworkers and teachers have begun to establish new democratic organizations, rank-and-file safety committees independent of the unions. These committees are raising demands which correspond with the scientific response necessary to secure public health, including the disclosure by employers of the true spread of COVID-19 in workplaces, full income protection for the unemployed, furloughed and quarantined, regular, freely provided testing, and an end to the victimization of those who blow the whistle on unsafe conditions.

These committees and their demands must be taken up at workplaces throughout the US and beyond, forming a vast network of rank-and-file workers’ organizations, taking as their starting point what workers need, not what the ruling class and its representatives claim can be afforded.

Danish Government Masters in Engineering Scholarship 2021/2022

Application Deadlines:

• 1st September 2020
• 1st February 2021

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: non-EU/EEA countries

To be taken at (country): Denmark

About the Award: There are a few scholarship schemes at the University of Southern Denmark. The largest one is the Danish Government Scholarship – supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education.
Through this scheme the Faculty of Engineering offers scholarships to highly qualified students enrolled in the following two-year master degree study programmes:

• MSc in Engineering – Mechatronics
• MSc in Engineering – Electronics

Type: Masters taught

Eligibility: 

• Candidates  from a non-EU/EEA country applying for one of the following Engineering Master’s programme in Sønderborg (programme start in autumn) and be eligible to pay tuition fees
• The scholarship will be awarded to the best qualified of the eligible applicants to the above mentioned master degree study programmes.

Selection Criteria: The best qualified candidates based on grades and a motivated application will be awarded the scholarship.

Value of Scholarship: The scholarship consists of two parts: full tuition fee waiver and a grant, to help cover living costs amounting to DKK 3000 per month before taxes.

Duration of Scholarship: 2 years

How to Apply: The best-qualified candidates based on points will be awarded the scholarship. Please look under the section  “Entry requirements” for each programme. All documentation must be available before application deadline, to make sure that we can process your application.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Fogarty Global Health Fellowship 2021/2022

Application Deadline: 2nd November 2020 by 11:59pm

Eligible Countries: U.S. pre- and post-doctoral students, as well as postdoctoral fellows from Lower and Middle Income Countries (LMICs).

To Be Taken At (Country): HBNU Fogarty Fellowship projects must be hosted by one of twenty-one training sites across fifteen countries in Africa, Asia, and South America available through the Harvard-BU-Northwestern-UNM Consortium.

About the Award: The program provides opportunities to generate a new cadre of global health researchers, educators, and professionals who will be prepared to address the new challenges in global health. The program provides fellows with a 12-month, mentored research fellowship in innovative global health research to promote health equity for populations around the world.

Type: Fellowship, Training

Eligibility: Applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:

1.  U.S. Pre-Doctoral Fellowship
a.    U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
b.    Enrolled in accredited doctoral level program (MD, PhD or equivalent) in public health, government, business, design, engineering,    education, medicine, nutrition, law, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, or nursing.
c.    Health-professional students who wish to interrupt their studies for a year or more to engage in full-time research training before completing their formal training programs are also eligible.
d.    Available to dedicate 40 hours per week to the research fellowship for 11-12 months at the international site, beginning in July.

2.  U.S. Post-Doctoral Fellowship
a.    U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
b.    Received, as of the beginning date of the training period, a PhD, MD, DDS, or comparable doctoral degree from an accredited       institution. Comparable doctoral degrees include, but are not limited to, the following: DMD, DC, DO, DVM, OD, DPM, ScD, EngD, DrPH, DNSc, DPT, PharmD, ND (Doctor of Naturopathy), DSW, PsyD, as well as a doctoral degree in nursing research.
c.    Available to dedicate 40 hours per week to the research fellowship for 11-12 months at the international site, beginning in July.

Note: U.S. applicants affiliated with universities that are not part of an FIC Global Health Program Consortium (HBNU, GloCal, GHES, UJMT, NPGH, VECD) are welcome to apply through this consortium. Applicants who are affiliated with a university that is part of an FIC Global Health Program Consortium should apply through their university’s consortium.

3.  LMIC Post-Doctoral Fellowship
a.    Citizen of one of HBNU’s collaborating LMICs. LMIC postdocs must be affiliated with the site of their proposed research project.
b.    Received, as of the beginning date of the training period, a PhD, MD, DDS, or comparable doctoral degree from an accredited institution. Comparable doctoral degrees include, but are not limited to, the following: DMD, DC, DO, DVM, OD, DPM, ScD, EngD, DrPH, DNSc, DPT, PharmD, ND (Doctor of Naturopathy), DSW, PsyD, as well as a doctoral degree in nursing research.
c.    Available to dedicate 40 hours per week to the research fellowship for 11-12 months at the international site, beginning in July.
Preference is given to any applicants with co-funding from their institution’s NIH T32, D43, MEPI or other grants.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: 
– Monthly stipend for 12 months. All stipends are potentially taxable under U.S. and international law.
– Funding for research support (lab supplies, software…)
– International health insurance for U.S. applicants
– Required vaccinations for U.S. applicants
– Visa and passport fees
– Roundtrip overseas travel to the training site for U.S. applicants
– Travel and accommodation to attend the orientation at NIH in July

Duration of Programme: Applicants must commit to dedicating 40 hours per week for an 11-12 month period at the international site.

How to Apply: Apply Here

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Northwestern University, University of New Mexico (HBNU) Consortium.

International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO) Fellowships 2020/2021

Application Deadlines:

• 31st March 2020
• 30th September 2020

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries

To Be Taken At (Country): Various countries depending on fellowship applicant chooses.

About the Award: The ICO Three-Month Fellowships help promising young ophthalmologists from developing countries improve their practical skills and broaden their perspectives of ophthalmology.  Fellows are expected to bring the acquired knowledge and skills back to their home country and take part in programs to preserve and restore vision.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: 

• Residency training must be completed before applying for the fellowship.
• Specialist exam in ophthalmology must be successfully passed.
• Applicant must be under 40 years of age at the time of applying.
• Applicant must return to home country after the training, resume previous positions, and apply the knowledge gained during the fellowship.
• Applicant must be reasonably fluent in the language of the fellowship training center.
• The ICO recommends that candidates pass one or more ICO exams. We consider this in the assessment of applications (www.icoexams.org).
• Applicants from countries with ophthalmologic societies that are Members of the ICO will receive special consideration.

Number of Awards: 60

Value of Award: US$6000 (maximum) to cover travel and living expenses for three months.  The exact amount is subject to actual student-style living expenses in the host country.

Duration of Program: 3 months

How to Apply: Learn more about the online application.

• Applicants cannot reapply if their previous application was rejected.
• For applications submitted by the March 31 deadline, the fellowship is awarded and notices are sent out in July.  The earliest start date is October 1 of the same year.
• For applications submitted by the September 30 deadline, the fellowship is awarded and notices sent out in January.  The earliest start date is April 1 of the same year.

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: International Council of Ophthalmology (ICO)

Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship 2021

Application Deadline: 4th September 2020 by 5pm (BST).

About the Award: By bringing together women activists and peacebuilders from a range of conflict affected countries the fellowship provides expert guidance and capacity building training in topics such as mediation, peacebuilding, and dialogue methodologies with an emphasis on inclusivity and sustainable conflict resolution. The fellowship also includes sessions on personal self-care strategies for those living in conflict areas and those involved in conflict-based work. To date, the fellowship has been held three times a year in Edinburgh and has so far involved over 200 women from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kashmir, Lebanon, Libya, the Maldives, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and Yemen.
The Fellowship Programme aims to:

• Provide a platform enabling the sharing of experiences in relation to UNSCR1325 and the global Women, Peace, and Security agenda; women’s roles in peace building and conflict resolution; and gender equality;
• explore the equal and meaningful participation of women in peace processes, peace building, and more widely in society, including identifying challenges and entry points;
• facilitate a network of women engaged in an on-going learning and experience sharing process, building a sustainable and evolving alumnae community;
• provide guidance on topics including: mediation; reconciliation; political participation; transitional justice; constitution building; gender equality; policy advocacy; and self-care strategies, among others.

The programme facilitates peer to peer learning providing a safe space for fellows to learn from each other through sharing experiences, ideas and challenges faced in their different contexts. The connections established during programmes continue to be crucial in the implementation of future fellowship programmes, and the Fellowship continues to build sustainable networks of fellows from the MENA and South Asia regions and facilitates local and inter-regional networks and collaboration.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: This programme is open to women from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, who:

• Are working in fields such as:
  • Mediation and dialogue;
  • Women’s rights and/or empowerment & advocacy;
  • Reconciliation;
  • Cultural dialogue;
  • Issues relating to gender-based violence;
  • Issues relating to refugees or displaced people;
  • Human Rights;
  • Humanitarian assistance;
  • Transitional Justice;
  • Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration

• Are available from November 1st to December 6th and are able to manage the time commitment (see above) of 6 hours of live sessions per week, plus self-paced work between sessions;
• Are fluent in Arabic and/or English

Eligible Countries: Countries in Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia

To be Taken at (Country): In 2020/21, due to the implications of COVID-19, the Fellowship Programme will take place remotely through use of a video conferencing platform and online resources. 

Number of Awards: No specified

Duration & Value of Award:

• This programme will take place remotely over six weeks, and will include a combination of live sessions using a video-conferencing platform and self-paced work made available online. This will include reading materials, videos, infographics, worksheets, and topics for group discussion;
• Precise dates will be confirmed, but the live programme sessions will likely begin on November 1st and end on December 6th at the very latest – some course materials will be made available, and introductory activities will take place in advance of the start date;
• The anticipated likely time commitment per week is two 3-hour video conferencing sessions (6 hours in total) plus a maximum of 4 hours of self-paced work;
• Simultaneous Arabic-English interpretation will be available for all video conferencing sessions, and course materials will all be available in Arabic and English

How to Apply:

• Please send the completed application form and an up to date cv to fellowship@beyondbordersscotland.com – by 5pm (BST) on Friday 4th September.
• Applications can be accepted in English or Arabic. Late applications will not be accepted.
• Please ensure that you meet the criteria above before applying. You will be contacted if your application has been successful.

Application form:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ztvtdi1iib7hy31/En_Application%20Qs.docx?dl=0

• It is important to go through all application requirements in the Award Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit Award Webpage for Details

Facebook/Africa Check Health Fellowship 2020

Application Deadline: 31st August 2020

About the Award: We are offering a year-long fellowship, in partnership with Facebook, to deepen our health misinformation work. Over the past several months, our team has increasingly focused on debunking Covid-19 misinformation, and we want to expand our capacity to combat health misinformation and surface more reliable information to people.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility:

• A bachelor’s degree
• Five years’ experience in fact-related fields such as media, research and academia
• Specialist subject knowledge in health
• Well-honed nonsense detector
• Passion for news, and in particular health news
• Ability to act impartially
• Attention to detail
• Ability to explain complex issues in simple language
• Strong numeracy, analytical and research skills
• Resilient self-starter who takes ownership of projects while working collaboratively in a team environment
• Fluency in an African language/French (advantageous)
• Experience in working across diverse geographies and cultures (advantageous)

Eligible Countries: African countries

To be Taken at (Country): University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, SA

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: Key responsibilities include:

• Researching and producing fact-check reports on key health claims circulating in public debate in South Africa and southern Africa
• Researching and producing health-related factsheets and guides to increase the public’s access to accurate and reliable information
• Acting as a spokesperson for Africa Check, including speaking at events, conferences and in the media on our health misinformation efforts
• Supporting our efforts to build impactful partnerships with reliable health experts and health bodies
• Monitoring both social and mainstream media and other relevant channels for health
  claims of concern
• Working with our impact team to identify trends in health misinformation across the continent, and effectively communicate those insights to help us and others in the fact-checking and media community continuously learn and improve our approach to
  health fact-checking
• Finding and implementing innovative ways to better coordinate our health misinformation efforts across our four countries of operation
• Assisting in training workshops and other events for media, civil society organisations, the general public and policymakers
• The fellow will have access to training modules from third-party experts as well as from the team at CrowdTangle, Facebook’s social analytics tool

Duration of Award: 1 year

How to Apply: Submit a CV with a cover letter explaining why you would be ideal for the position to info@africacheck.org by 31 August 2020 using the following subject line: “Application health fellow”. In your cover letter, suggest a health claim in the news that should be fact-checkedand importantly, why you think it matters, and what you would do to combat its spread.

Visit Award Webpage for Details

Berea College Fully-funded Undergraduate Scholarships 2021/2022

Application Deadline: 30th November, 2020 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).

Eligible Countries: International

To be Taken at (Country): USA

About the Award: Berea College, founded in 1855, is a racially integrated, coeducational liberal arts college. Berea’s motto, “God has made of one blood all peoples of the earth” reflects the conviction of Berea founder and ardent abolitionist, John G. Fee. Berea’s spiritual foundations are rooted in the Christian faith, but Berea welcomes people of all faiths, or no faith at all, to study in a diverse campus setting. Berea is committed to providing a high-quality education for highachieving students with limited financial resources.

Type: Undergraduate

Eligibility: Berea College encourages applications from students who:

• do not yet have a 4-year college degree;
• do not have dependents or are married.
• meet university entrance requirements in their own country;
• are able to present outstanding secondary and/or leaving exam results;
• are able to present IELTS, TOEFL, SAT, or ACT results;
• are fluent in the English language, both oral and written;
• are interested in living and learning in an environment that stresses the equality and kinship of all people regardless of race, class, age, religion, sexual orientation, or nationality;

Selection:

• Although international enrollment is limited to about 25 new students each fall, Berea College nevertheless seeks to serve students from as many different areas of the world as possible.
• Successful candidates for admission have a record of outstanding academic achievement and a strong sense of educational purpose.
• Berea College does not teach English to those who have not yet mastered the language.
• International students must have mastered the English language sufficiently to understand and participate in class lectures and discussions, read required texts and other materials, and complete written and other assignments. However, all enrolled international students will be assessed to determine whether they would benefit from an English as a Second Language (ESL) course in the first semester. An additional ESL course may also be required in the second semester for some students. The Nursing program has higher English proficiency requirements (TOEFL iBT 83, with a 26 on the spoken section). If admitted to Berea with lower English proficiency, students will not be admitted to the major until the required scores are achieved. Students will be given the opportunity to retest, however, students failing to meet the TOEFL iBT requirement by the first day of their third term of enrollment at Berea are ineligible to pursue the Nursing major. If admitted to Berea with lower English proficiency, students will not be admitted to the major until the required scores are achieved

Number of Awards: 25

Value of Award:

• There is no application fee to apply to Berea College.
• International students accepted by Berea College are funded for four years of study. We ask that each international student, once offered admission, to pay a one-time enrollment fee of $50 and a $2,200 deposit before coming to Berea to help with costs for medical, dental, emergencies, or other unexpected expenses. Students may apply for an exception to paying the deposit if there are inadequate family finances. The remaining balance of the deposit will be returned upon graduation. Having the deposit while at Berea is essential.
• The funding provided by Berea College includes cost of education (the equivalent of tuition) for up to four years. Costs for room and board are also covered completely for the first year

Duration of Award: 4 years

How to Apply: In order to be considered for admission, a completed application packet must be received in the Berea College Office of Admissions no later than 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) November 30, 2020.

• It is important to go through all application requirements in the Award Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit Award Webpage for Details

Belarus’s Options in the Midst of a Color Revolution

Roger Harris

A “color revolution” is a media term for a movement based on legitimate grievances only to be co-opted into a regime change operation backed by the US and confederates. There have been so many – Georgia in 2003, Ukraine in 2004, Kyrgyzstan in 2005 – that they have run out of colors. Belarus is amidst the “slipper” color revolution.

The last Soviet republic

Belarus, a former constituent republic of the USSR, declared its sovereignty in 1990 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Under its new and now contested President Alexander Lukashenko, first elected in 1994, Belarus rejected the western-imposed “economic shock therapy” that looted the public wealth of many of the other former Soviet republics.

Earning the sobriquet of the “last Soviet republic,” Belarus retained state-run industry and agriculture, the social safety net, and the relative equality of the socialist period. Along with that came the enduring Cold War enmity of the US and its NATO epigones.

In contrast, the newly “liberated” Russian Federation, with its US-installed leader Boris Yeltsin and its cabal of nouveau riche oligarchs, was plundered by western capital. (Note: The Slavs have “oligarchs,” while the US has “philanthropists” like Turner, Gates, and Soros.) Its standard of living, social services, and life expectancy went into freefall. Initially, Belarus was more prosperous than Russia, but as the Belarusian economy slowed in the early 2000s, the Russian economy surged with the ascendance of Vladimir Putin.

The sprawling US embassy in Belarus occupies an area the size of a city block. Clearly, the Yanks do more than just issue visas. The US is preoccupied with regime change. In 2004, the US passed the Belarus Democracy Act overtly funding anti-government NGOs in Belarus and prohibiting loans.

The tribulations of triangulation

The official languages of Belarus are Belarusian and Russian. Some 80% of the population is ethnic Belarusian followed by Russian. In 2000, Belarus and Russia established the Union State, a supranational confederation for economic integration and common defense. Though the two sovereigns declared the goal of a single entity, efforts at implementation have variously been stalled by Lukashenko.

Russia sells oil and natural gas to Belarus at discounted rates. Belarus permits Russia to have a missile defense system on its territory, which is considered a critical deterrent against a NATO nuclear first strike.

Following the US-backed coup in neighboring Ukraine in 2014, Lukashenko took a more independent, nationalist tack, reflecting the predicament of Belarus as a buffer between Russia and an increasingly aggressive NATO. Lukashenko has tried to triangulate between Russia and the West. Muammar Gaddafi chose a similarly conciliatory path, which ended badly for him and his country.

Internationally, Belarus has sided mainly with Russia in addition to upholding Palestinian rights, warm relations with Venezuela, and trade with Syria. From Washington’s perspective, these have been fatal moves for Lukashenko. But the primary motivator of US foreign policy – with Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia joining NATO in 2004 and post-coup Ukraine likely on the way – is to complete the military occupation of Russia’s western border. Hence “Europe’s last dictator” must go.

Playing both carrot and stick, US Secretary of State Pompeo visited Belarus last February to conclude an oil deal to wean Belarus from dependence on Russian-sourced petrol. Then in April, the US and Belarus reestablished diplomatic relations.

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the quasi-governmental US agency which does legally what the CIA does extra-legally, currently lists projects in Belarus euphemistically described as “developing civil society,” “fostering freedom of the media,” and “fostering youth activism.” They sound so good that one might wish for the NED to import some “pro-democracy measures” back to the homeland.

Legitimate protest morphs in a reactionary direction

In the run-up to the August 9 presidential election in Belarus, credible reports circulated of suppression of the opposition. Lukashenko won with a less than credible 80% of the vote. Still most observers not aligned with the regime-change project believe he carried a majority.

The runner-up candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, received 10% of the vote. She absconded to Lithuania after the election, where she proclaimed herself the winner and ready to lead Belarus. The West now has their puppet president in exile.

Mass protests, including a showing of industrial workers, erupted calling not only for “free and fair elections,” but for total system change. A national protest strike, centered in Minsk, is in the making.

Angry young people wave the red and white flag that was flown during the Nazi occupation, as the opposition protest morphs into a force aligned with the West and against anything Russian. While the leadership of these protests is deeply anti-Russian, most of the protestors are not. But the winds of xenophobia are being fanned. An initially legitimate protest movement is being co-opted by foreign interests.

Program for a complete reorientation of the Belarusian state and society

The call for “democracy” raises the question of democracy for whom and under what kind of system. A coalition of opposition groups published a program of the Belarusian opposition. Among the sponsors of the program is the USAID, the cover agency for the CIA. A nearly identical document had been promulgated in 2014 after the Ukrainian coup.

This published opposition program calls for a complete reorientation of the Belarusian state and society from east to west and the establishment of a neoliberal political economy.

Politically, Belarus would withdraw from the Union State and all other structures where Russia is prominent and join the European Union and NATO. In conjunction with the privatization of state enterprises and the creation of a thorough market economy, purchase of Belarusian enterprises by Russia would be prohibited while being opened to western corporate interests.

Russian media along with scientific and cultural exchanges would be suppressed. The official use of the Russian language would be banned in a nation where 70% speak Russian at home. Even the Belarusian Orthodox Church would replace the Belarusian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The embers of reactionary nationalism would be fanned.

The situation is volatile

By just about all accounts, Lukashenko’s 26-year rule of Belarus degenerated with questionable elections, authoritarian practices, mismanagement, and corruption. Even if Lukashenko won the last election, he has lost much of his credibility with his people, certainly with the West, and even with his Russian ally.

The US involvement in Belarus is not nearly as overt as it was in the Ukraine coup and, given the circumstances, may not need to be to achieve desired outcomes. Obama’s former deputy national security advisor, Ben Rhodes, tweeted on August 11: “Americans have to recognize that the fight against Lukashenko in Belarus is our fight.”

Similarly, the UK, France, and Germany are fishing in these troubled waters along with Poland and the Baltic states. While Russia and China have recognized Lukashenko’s election, they have not more vigorously supported him publicly.

Lukashenko may have thought through the consequences of his previous stance: “There will be no other elections, unless you kill me.” He appears to have reassessed his options and is triangulating back towards the Union State with Russia in hopes of weathering the protests and, perhaps, holding elections in the new state.

The West is bent on Lukashenko’s ouster and Putin is at best lukewarm. Domestically the intelligentsia are alienated, workers discontented, and even his security services show signs of disloyalty. Lukashenko may try to save his skin and the quasi-socialist state he founded by a “phased leadership transition.”

A small fish in a superpower sea

Despite the complexity of contending interests, international law and the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign states must be upheld. Belarus needs to have the freedom to resolve the crisis without outside interference.

Based on the examples of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Poland, Armin Fischer, a German observer, warns that a color revolution in Belarus could bring:

“the liquidation of state enterprises, mass layoffs, collapse of collective farms, mass exodus from the countryside and the death of villages…disintegration of the social infrastructure of daycare centers, hospitals, old people’s homes and the consequences for life expectancy, alcoholism and neglect…. In return, you will certainly get new oligarchs.”

“Free elections,” Fischer admonishes, would bring the “freedom” to be migrant workers competing for low-paying, undesirable jobs in Western Europe.

The leaders of the eighteen Communist parties of the former Soviet republics recall the consequences of the dissolution of the USSR in their August 18^th statement on Belarus:

“In Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and Tajikistan, a bloody conflagration of fratricidal interethnic war broke out. In the Baltic States, the neo-fascists who came to power staged a real apartheid – they divided the entire population of their ‘independent,’ ‘democratic’ States into ‘citizens’ and disenfranchised sub-humans, the so-called ‘non-citizens.’”

Belarus under Lukashenko has its faults. Even so, a neoliberal coup would be worse for the people. The economic collapse of post-coup Ukraine, now the poorest country in Europe, serves as a cautionary example. Those who condemn the excesses of the present government need also consider the greater bloodbaths that followed rightist putsches in other former Soviet republics.

George W. Bush’s declaration of “you’re either with us or with the terrorists” epitomizes the dilemma of Belarus in a world dominated by a hegemonic superpower. The playbook is familiar. Years of foreign subversion feeding on genuine domestic discontent erupts into an orchestrated regime change movement.

Belarus shows that any small state with a mildly socialist system and independent foreign policy invites subversion by the Yankee hegemon and its collaborators. Even if Belarus had met the highest standards of democracy and efficiency, a western-backed color revolution might not have been avoided.

Listen To The Disabled

Shivam Shrivastava

The recently released circulars by NTA (national testing agency) and other institutions to conduct the entrance examinations is highly exclusionary in general and for the students with disabilities  in particular. As we are aware that in the current crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, the students with disabilities  have been particularly neglected by most of the universities as well as other authorities . This particularly  vulnerable section of the society during this pandemic is also confronting various difficulties in performing their day-today life activities. It is also need to be noticed that there are no guidelines which has been released, keeping in mind the different challenges faced by the persons with disabilities by the National Testing agency, universities, and centres Which clearly shows that the students’ with disabilities  are being highly marginalised and neglected in this ongoing crisis.

1. In this present crisis of the Covid19 pandemic, where there is always a risk of getting infected by the virus, persons with disabilities are at greater risks as most of the times while travelling long distances assistance is always required which cannot be possible without coming into physical contact. Where everyone is advised to perform social distancing persons with disabilities  are at higher risk of being getting infected  by the Covid-19.
2. In the country like India where the nearest examination centres are hundreds of kilometres away from the place of residence for most of the students. Changing the centre does not looks a feasible option for the students as whether the distance is 1500 kilometres or 500 kilometre’s for most of the students the risk does not lessens. These facts are of great concern for any disabled student as most students with disabilities are relied on their parents for travelling long distances and in this environment of suspicion there is no other way. most of the parents are old and are more prone to be infected by the virus  and who wants to risk the lives of their loved once.
3. Majority of the PWD students used to choose their centre preferences while taking care of all their desired comfortabilities. There is always an issue of finding a scribe for persons with blindness and suitable assistance for other disabilities. As this pandemic has created a suspicious environment where people avoid to come in contact with others in order to safe themselves from being infected, the aspirant appearing for an exam might put his/her life on stake but why should a  unknown scribe will put his life on risk for others exam?
4. Linguistic barriers are always unavoidable, where the students are appearing for exams which are not in English or Hindi language for example Sanskrit, Urdu Persian etc. getting or arranging scribes in an unknown centre [if changed]makes it, very difficult and discriminatory.
5. In the absence of any appropriate provisions and required guidelines, In the case where even NTA provides scribes for the exams there is always a risk of getting infected by unknown individuals.
6. As the pandemic continues, the economic setback for all need to be recognised. As we all are not getting any financial assistance to be a part of these entrances from anywhere, and the public transports are at halt . it becomes an unachievable task where our careers are at a higher risks to appear for the entrances .,
7. when most of the country is under lockdown And, cyber areas are not allowed to be opened with most of the sites being inaccessible with the screan readers, technical aids and assistance are being totally denied to all such students. The students residing in the areas from where proper internet cannot be accessed due to various issues have to face greater problems.
8. lack of proper academic environment for the persons with disabilities particularly coming from the economically and socially marginalised sections is of great concern as the persons with visual impairment need other assistive screen reading software such as jaws and are totally dependent on their listening capabilities, preparing for the exams in a clumsy environment without libraries seems to be a huge obstacle to appear for the examinations.
9. The other factors such as accommodation, assistance, travelling, financial support and lack of proper care and academic environment makes it even more difficult to appear for the exams for most of the students with disabilities.

Australian media stokes fears over Papua New Guinea-China links

John Braddock

The Australian media is working hand-in-hand with the government to demonise China’s so-called “interference” in the country’s political, economic and educational affairs. It is also focusing on China’s involvement in the Pacific region, recently stoking fears over Beijing’s presence in Papua New Guinea (PNG), Australia’s former colonial possession.

The coverage underscores the interests of Australian imperialism in what it regards as its own “back yard,” and is designed to further whip up anti-Chinese sentiment in preparation for military conflict. PNG is regarded as vital as a buffer between, and a gateway into, the Pacific Ocean. Also, Australia’s huge mining and energy companies have investments in PNG worth $A5.8 billion.

The Australian Financial Review (AFR) featured a front-page article on August 11 headed “Huawei data centre built to spy on PNG.” It cited a 2019 Australian government report alleging that a centre in Port Moresby built by the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei and funded through a $US53 million loan from China’s Exim Bank, had intentionally exposed PNG government secrets.

The AFR article echoes moves led by the US to cripple Huawei’s operations and eliminate it from the rollout of 5G mobile phone technology. Worldwide bans on Huawei’s commercial activities, on the basis of unsubstantiated assertions the company spies on behalf of the Chinese government and its intelligence services, are part of Washington’s aggressive moves to isolate Beijing and prepare for war.

Canberra has already fallen into line, including in the Pacific. Following the intervention of US officials in 2018, the Morrison Liberal government applied pressure to stop Huawei from building a new internet cable to PNG and the Solomon Islands, on “security” grounds. The Solomons government had signed a contract with Huawei in 2017 to build the cable, but then agreed to renege on the agreement.

The report cited by the AFR was commissioned by the National Cyber Security Centre of PNG, which is funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and written by a cyber-security contractor, not named by the paper. The report could hardly be described as “independent.”

The AFR claims the 64-page report was the first to allege Huawei’s “complicity in Beijing's cyber espionage activities,” but it is nothing of the sort. While the report claims a series of failings in the security footprint at the centre, it fails to offer any actual evidence of espionage.

The author alleges that outdated encryption software was deployed by Huawei, and firewall settings were “insufficient for a centre designed to store the entire data archive of the PNG government.” Data flows could be easily intercepted, the report said, and remote access would not be detected by security settings. It alleges the algorithm used for encrypting communications was considered “openly broken” by cyber security experts two years before being installed.

The conclusion is drawn that there was a “deliberate effort” by Huawei to deploy lax cyber security in the centre’s build. In a statement, Huawei flatly denied the accusation, saying the project complied with “appropriate industry standards and the requirements of the customer.”

Despite the AFR’s lurid headline, the paper was forced to note that the centre had quickly fallen into disrepair as insufficient money was set aside for maintenance and operations. Financial assistance was sought from the Australian government, prompting the report’s commissioning, but which Canberra declined. In other words, the AFR article, based on a dubious report that is more than a year old, proves nothing.

The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) published an equally loaded article on August 16, proclaiming that a school in Port Moresby, the Butuka Academy, had become “a diplomatic weapon for China.” It cited a former Australian high commissioner to PNG, Ian Kemish, who declared the school, built by the state-owned China Construction Steel Structure Corp, “betrayed China’s broader intentions in the region,” purportedly demonstrating Beijing’s “soft-power capacity.”

The SMH was perturbed by the school’s popularity, highlighted by comments from a former teacher who pointed out the “facilities were excellent and the school was in high demand.” The students’ parents, she added, “think that the Chinese government is helping a lot.” The school has extensive facilities focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The SMH article pointed to concerns in Australian ruling circles over strengthening links between Beijing and PNG Prime Minister James Marape. He was installed last year after his predecessor Peter O’Neill resigned amid financial mismanagement and corruption allegations. O’Neill’s seizure of power in 2011, in violation of the constitution, was backed by Australia, which regarded him as a bulwark against the expansion of Beijing’s influence in the region.

On assuming office, Marape stirred fears in Canberra with a request that the Chinese government consider refinancing the country’s national debt of 26 billion kina ($A11.3 billion). While this did not eventuate, Marape has insisted he wants to move the country away from an “aid-donor” dependency on Australia.

A series of Beijing-backed ventures, in addition to the school, are also alarming Canberra. The SMH says the “CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is ramping up its infrastructure investment,” including airport runway expansions, seafood exports, COVID-19 medical aid and a national courthouse, backed by multimillion-dollar capital injections. It also notes that PNG supports China’s new national security law in Hong Kong that criminalises dissent with sentences of up to life in prison.

PNG is on the frontline of great power competition with China, as far as both Canberra and Washington are concerned. It is a contest in which Australian imperialism is determined to maintain its hegemony.

Australia uses its aid program to retain influence and actively works to ensure a pliant government in Port Moresby. It funnels some $A600 million annually into PNG through various grants, most of which are tied to specific projects. Morrison committed $A45 million on August 4 to fund technical and vocational training, while seeking to further negotiations on a bilateral “security” treaty and a proposed naval base on Manus Island. Australian military and police personnel are permanently on some form of exchange or assignment in the country.

The Australian ruling class never demonstrated the slightest concern for the PNG masses when it ruled over them, and has no concern for them today. Canberra has provided scant support to PNG as it currently battles a dangerous surge of over 300 new COVID-19 cases. While billions are plundered in profits, the majority of PNG’s nine million population—the working class and semi-subsistence rural villagers—live in extreme poverty and backwardness.