Modi government’s “terrorism” frame-up vendetta leads to death of 84-year-old tribal-rights activist

Wasantha Rupasinghe & Kranti Kumara

The shocking July 5 death of Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old tribal rights activist and Jesuit priest, after 9 months of cruel imprisonment has sparked widespread condemnation of the Narendra Modi government and India’s police, penal authorities and courts, both in India and internationally.

The Indian state is undeniably responsible for Swamy’s death. He succumbed to complications after contracting COVID-19 while in prison awaiting trial on frame-up terrorism charges. He is yet another victim of the vicious police-state measures now firmly institutionalized by Modi, his chief henchman, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

Stan Swamy in 2010 (Wikimedia Commons)

Swamy was arrested and thrown in jail by India’s notorious National Investigation Agency (NIA) last October under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). His arrest was based on a 10,000-page NIA charge-sheet that accused him of conspiring to bring together Dalit and Muslim forces to create an armed militia to take on what Swamy supposedly referred to as the “fascist government.” Swamy was also alleged to have instigated “violence” on January 1, 2018, at the annual Elgar Parishad event, a Dalit celebration-rally in Koregaon, Maharashtra.

During its six years in office, the Modi government has used the UAPA to victimize thousands of its opponents, including left-wing student activists, lawyers, playwrights, poets, and journalists. Muslims, particularly in disputed Jammu and Kashmir, have been especially targeted.

Persons charged under the UAPA or under the Modi government’s other preferred legal bludgeon, “sedition,” can be made to rot in prison indefinitely without bail awaiting a court trial that due to India’s clogged, bureaucratic judicial procedures might come only a decade or more after their arrest.

The courts cruelly denied Swamy temporary release from prison to seek medical treatment although he was in very poor and rapidly declining health. Ultimately, he died in a private hospital in Mumbai from cardiac arrest, a direct result of his having contracted COVID-19.

The special NIA court which oversees and adjudicates cases filed by the NIA twice denied his request for release for medical treatment. In an act of extreme cruelty, it even refused to order prison authorities to immediately supply Swamy, who could not raise a cup since his hands shook uncontrollably due to Parkinson’s disease, with a straw-equipped cup with which to drink fluids.

The sixteen activists, writers and intellectuals caught up in the India’s Elgar Parishad frame-up case. From left to right, beginning with the top-most row: Surendra Gadling (lawyer and Dalit rights activist), Nagpur University Professor Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut (rural activist), Rona Wilson (anti-UAPA campaigner). Second row: Sudhir Dhawale (Dalit activist), Sudha Bharadwaj (lawyer), Vernon Gonsalves (trade unionist and Dalit activist), Arun Ferreira (human rights lawyer). Third row: Varavara Rao (poet), Dr. Anand Teltumbde (journalist), Gautam Navlakha (journalist), Delhi University Professor Hany Babu. Bottom row: Artists Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Jagtap of Kabir Kala Manch, deceased Jesuit Priest Stan Swamy. (Photo: Free Them All)

The rejection of Swamy’s two petitions to the NIA court for temporary release played out over five months. Subsequently, his lawyers were able to initiate proceedings before the Bombay High Court. It too was in no hurry to act and dragged its feet for over a month before finally on May 28 granting him a measly two weeks for medical treatment. The High Court also ruled that Swamy bear the full cost of his medical care. This despite the fact that the state imprisoning him in an overcrowded prison was why he contracted COVID-19 in the first place.

As soon as Swamy was shifted to a hospital, he was diagnosed as having COVID-19. As his condition worsened, the Bombay High Court kept extending his bail by two weeks with his third extension granted until July 5, the day Swamy died.

The claim that Swamy was in any way responsible for the violence that ensued on January 1, 2018, during the 200th anniversary of Elgar Parishad was entirely cooked up. This yearly event commemorates the gallantry that several hundred Dalit soldiers enrolled in the British colonial army displayed in a battle against the much larger force fielded by the upper caste Peshwa-ruled kingdom, now a part of the state of Maharashtra. This defeat has come to be celebrated by sections of Maharashtra’s historically oppressed Dalit population as a fitting humiliation of the Brahmin Peshwas who were notorious for their ill treatment of Dalits.

Swamy, however, had absolutely nothing to do with this event, let alone the violence that ensued. Living hundreds of miles away, he neither participated nor had any hand in organizing it. As for the violence, it was incited by two Hindu-communalist leaders who exhorted a mob of their followers to attack the gathering, which had tens of thousands of Dalit participants. The latter fought back. The two masterminds of the Elgar Parishad attack continue to run around scot-free, because they enjoy the protection of the Modi government. One of them, Sambhaji Bhide, a prominent Hindu supremacist leader, has been personally praised by Modi.

Instead of arresting the true culprits, the police and NIA, in what is becoming an all too familiar pattern, have sought to pin the blame on 16 prominent pro-Dalit anti-Hindutva activists, including the now dead Stan Swamy. All 16 have been charged under the UAPA and accused of being what the government and police term “urban Naxals,” that is clandestine urban supporters of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), which for decades has been waging a guerrilla insurgency in some of India’s most remote jungle regions.

The NIA has claimed proof that they are Maoists was found in the form of documents and letters on computers they seized from the activists. The accused have vehemently denied any knowledge of these documents and, from the outset, suspicion among all but government and police partisans has been that they were deliberately planted.

In February of this year, the Washington Post reported that a forensic analysis performed on the computer belonging to one of 16 arrested activists, Rona Wilson, by US-based Arsenal Computing, has shown that the documents were indeed planted. This was done by an unknown, well-financed hacker using malicious software (Malware).

The incriminating documents, which were injected over a span of two years, were never opened by Rona Wilson since he was not even aware of their existence on his computer. They resided in a hidden folder the malware had created to copy the documents into. Arsenal Computing in its report notes that this “is one of the most serious cases involving evidence tampering that Arsenal has ever encountered.”

The NIA, no doubt egged on by Home Minster Shah and his cronies behind the scenes, has persisted in its now years-long vendetta over the Elgar Parishad affair. Last September 30th, it ordered Swamy to show up at its Mumbai offices within five days, although this would require he travel 1800 km from his home in Ranchi, the state capital of Jharkhand. Prior to this, police had grilled Swamy in July 2020 for about 15 hours over 5 days.

The NIA claimed that it was summoning Swamy to Mumbai for interrogation about his role in the violence at the January 1, 2018 event. The tribal rights activist and priest refused, pointing out that to travel such a long distance during a raging pandemic would put his life at risk. The police agency would not relent and sent a team to forcibly arrest Swamy and transport him to Mumbai.

However, having brought him there, instead of interrogating him about the Elgar Parishad event, the agency dragged him before the NIA kangaroo court charging that he had links to the banned Maoists. The NIA court promptly ordered his imprisonment in Taloja Central Jail.

Swamy was targeted for his pro-tribal activism in the state of Jharkhand where tens thousands of tribals have been dispossessed of their lands due to mining activities by state and private corporations, and thousands of tribal youth have been thrown in prison for opposing the mining projects on their traditional lands. Swamy in a video states that he became a thorn in the side of the national and state governments after he formed the Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee (PPSC) along with the labour lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, one of the fifteen others targeted in that Elgar Parishad frame-up. They challenged the imprisonment of around 3,000 tribal youth by filing a case on their behalf in Jharkhand High court.

In response to a question in the Indian parliament, the Modi government revealed in February that as many as 1,948 persons were arrested under the UAPA just in 2019. Between the years 2015 and 2018, over 4,000 were incarcerated.

India’s Supreme Court has played a particularly foul role in giving a free hand to the NIA to carry out its Gestapo-style activities. It has struck down lower court rulings granting bail to those accused under the UAPA. A particularly egregious case involves two Muslim men, Mohammed Ilyas and Mohammed Irfan, who were arrested in 2012 under the UAPA on the basis of the most shoddy evidence. In 2019, the Bombay High Court granted Ifran bail, after observing that there was no prima facie evidence that the grave charges against him were true. But when the NIA appealed to India’s highest court, arguing that his release may “[affect] the security of the nation,” the Supreme Court dutifully stayed Irfan’s bail and he was back in prison just four months after his release. Subsequently, the NIA special court, notorious for conniving with the prosecution, had to exonerate both men. But by that point, because they were arrested under the draconian provisions of the UAPA, they had spent nine years in prison.

In July 2019, the Modi government rammed through parliament an amendment to the UAPA that vastly increases the power of the NIA and permits the government to declare an individual a terrorist and seize his or her properties. While this amendment was making its way through parliament, India’s Supreme Court ruled in its July 2019 Watali judgment, that the NIA’s evidence has to be considered “prima facie true” even if the charges are based upon evidence that would be inadmissible in a trial.

Death toll rises following torrential rains and floods in China

Ben McGrath

The death toll following torrential rains in Henan province, in central China, has risen to at least 69 as authorities continue to clean up following the extensive flooding that took place last week. The floods have caused at least 65.5 billion yuan ($US10 billion) in damages, while raising serious questions about the dangers of climate change.

A woman moves a sandbag along a flooded road in the aftermath of the heaviest recorded rainfall in Zhengzhou in central China's Henan province on Saturday, July 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Dake Kang)

As of Sunday, approximately 1.24 million people in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, have been displaced. Rescue teams continued to drain flooded portions of the city over the weekend as they searched for survivors. The industrial city is home to over 12 million people.

Other cities in the region have also been hard hit. Xinxiang, a city just to the north of Zhengzhou, with a population of six million, experienced similar record-breaking rains, with 260mm of precipitation falling in just two hours. The Wei River, running through the city, overflowed, leading to extensive flooding. In Gongyi, 80 kilometers west of Zhengzhou, floods and landslides killed at least four people.

Scientists are warning about the increasing danger from climate change, as extreme weather events including heat waves and intense wild fires take place around the world. Chris Rapley, a professor of climate science at University College London, told the Financial Times, “I think I would be speaking for many climate scientists to say that we are a bit shocked at what we are seeing. There is a dramatic change in the frequency with which extreme [weather] events occur.”

As Earth’s temperature rises, this is contributing to the increased rainfall. For each 1C of increased temperature, the air is able to hold approximately 7 percent more water moisture. This means regions with monsoon seasons are seeing an even higher amount of rain than usual. Zhengzhou, in fact, experienced more than a year’s worth of rain, 671.1mm in just over three days, with 201.9mm falling in just one hour on July 20.

Chinese authorities are being criticized for failing to adequately plan for the extreme weather event. An emergency was declared in Zhengzhou, but little action taken to protect the population. Cheng Xiaotao, a former director of the Institute of Flood Control and Disaster Mitigation at the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, told Chinese media that, “After the warnings, in what type of situation should we halt work and manufacturing? How should various departments co-ordinate? What are the actual emergency actions to take in response?”

The lack of preparation meant that many people were placed in danger, as waters flooded the city’s subway system and highways. At least 13 people were killed on a subway train. Another victim was discovered on Saturday, raising the previous death toll. At least another four people were killed after being trapped in the Jingguang traffic tunnel in Zhengzhou, where some 200 to 300 cars were blocked by flooding water.

These tragedies were entirely avoidable. The Jingguang tunnel was built in a low-lying area, prone to flooding. It was opened in 2012, the same year that 80 people died in Beijing after being trapped in a flooded underpass, following a large storm. The New York Times reported that an investigation into the new tunnel’s possible dangers was published in 2011, which stated, “If water accumulates in the tunnel it will seriously threaten the safe operation of the tunnel.”

The danger from climate change is all the more acute as 98 percent of China’s 654 major cities are vulnerable to flooding. About two-thirds of China’s 1.4 billion people live in cities. Zhou Jinfeng, of the non-governmental organization, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, warned that “because of global climate change, the rainfall statistics will continue to break new records in the future.”

The floods have called into question the viability of China’s so-called “sponge cities,” supposedly meant to deal with these types of weather events. Zhengzhou was among the cities included in the first phase of this program, which includes the use of permeable asphalt and the expansion of green spaces to better drain water.

In Zhengzhou, thousands of kilometres of new drainage were built to eliminate some 125 flood-prone areas and create large new green spaces, some of which were quickly inundated as torrential rains hit the city. The so-called “sponges” were never designed to absorb downpours on the scale of those that occurred last week.

As cited by the New York Times, academic Konstantinos Papadikis at the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, explained: “Although the sponge city initiative is an excellent sustainable development approach for stormwater management, it is still debatable whether it can be regarded as the complete solution to flood risk management in a changing climate.”

In recent decades, there has been a massive urban expansion, as China has industrialised and drawn in tens of millions of migrant workers from rural areas. According to one commentator, there are at least 93 cities with more than one million residents and a number, like Zhengzhou, have a population greater than 10 million. A significant proportion of these are built on river flats and thus are vulnerable to flooding—a danger that will only increase with climate change.

Typhoon In-fa, which was a major contributing factor to the heavy rains in Henan province, lashed the coastal city of Shanghai, with its population of more than 26 million last Sunday, before moving north to hit the city of Pinghu. No deaths were reported as of Monday evening, but the wild weather caused the suspension of above ground rail services, with some roads being submerged, along with local blackouts and the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

COVID-19 daily case numbers exceed 1,000 in Fiji

John Braddock

The Fiji government reported a daily record 1,285 cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8am Monday. That compares to 626 cases and nine deaths in the previous 24-hour period. The seven-day average of new cases has risen to 1,046 per day.

A nurse stands outside Tamara Twomey hospital in Suva, Fiji, Friday, June 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Aileen Torres-Bennett)

Fifteen deaths, including that of a 102-year-old woman, and 918 cases were reported on Thursday. That followed 1,091 infections and 21 deaths on Wednesday, the sixth of seven days that had topped 1,000 cases, including 1,054 cases and 12 deaths last Tuesday.

Fiji has over 18,000 active cases in isolation, with 195 deaths, all but two of them from the outbreak that started in April, and all but three unvaccinated. There have been 24,354 cases recorded during the current outbreak and 24,424 total cases since March 2020. In the whole of last year, just 70 cases had been recorded.

Health Secretary James Fong said that while the recent surge was contained to the main island, Viti Levu, primarily in the Lami-Suva-Nausori corridor, the Health Ministry had seen increasing cases in the Western Division over the past week. Tens of thousands of people who live in crowded conditions in “informal” settlements, in the affected areas, are particularly vulnerable.

The latest victims include a pregnant health worker and two other pregnant women. The health worker from Suva presented to a medical facility on July 16 with shortness of breath and chest pain. Her baby was delivered by emergency caesarean section two days later, but her condition worsened and she died five days after admission.

The other two pregnant victims had been unwell with COVID-19 symptoms at home, before going to health facilities in severe respiratory distress. Physicians made the decision to conduct emergency caesarean operations, saving both babies. Fong noted that the maternal deaths were a “clear indication of the severity of this outbreak.”

Fiji’s national seven-day average daily test positivity has hit 22.8 percent and continues on an upward trend. Just three weeks ago it was 7.4 percent. The World Health Organisation’s benchmark rate, which indicates widespread and uncontrolled community transmission, is 5 percent. A rising positivity rate signals that the virus is spreading faster than the growth seen in confirmed cases.

The latest surge in cases has seen the government issue Viti Levu residents with new curfew hours, from 6.00 pm to 4.00 am. However, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama continues to oppose a full lockdown, declaring such a move would “cripple” the economy and impact jobs. With no change to its pro-business strategy, the government is pursuing a mandatory vaccination campaign. Workers have been told they must be fully vaccinated by November or face losing their jobs. Only those who are vaccinated can obtain the paltry government income support.

While 441,171 people, or 75.2 percent of the target population, have received their first dose of vaccine, only 97,268, or 16.6 percent, have received both doses.

Auckland University modelling expert, Shaun Hendy, told Radio NZ that a full lockdown would be the “logical” way to address the crisis. He said whether Fiji had a lockdown or not, New Zealand should be moving faster to get supplies of vaccine to Suva, and offering financial assistance to support the economy. A supply of 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca and Modena vaccines is due to be sent from NZ, but not until next month.

Head of the Pasifika Medical Association (NZ) Debbie Sorensen appealed for more international medical staff, as her Fijian colleagues were “exhausted and overworked.” Only about 20 medical specialists, from Australia and New Zealand, are currently in Fiji.

Describing the situation as “grim,” Christchurch anaesthetist Wayne Morriss, said doctors and nurses in Fiji were working incredibly hard, often seven days a week. The main hospital was effectively closed a month ago to patients other than COVID cases. With ongoing health needs during the pandemic, “there’s still lots of patients with medical or surgical problems that need treatment,” he said.

More than 4,000 COVID-positive people have been turned away from hospitals because there are not enough beds. They are being forced to try to recover at home. There are also 87 crew members and passengers, who have been placed into isolation on four inter-island ships.

TVNZ Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver reported on July 23 that a leaked document from Fiji’s Ministry of Health showed that health workers who have tested COVID-19 positive, but have exhibited no symptoms, are being ordered to keep working. NZ epidemiologist Michael Baker said he was extremely worried as it was still possible to catch the virus from someone who is asymptomatic. “There are many vulnerable people in Fiji’s health system,” he noted.

Cellphone footage from Suva’s Colonial War Memorial Hospital, released to TVNZ, has highlighted the dire situation. Distressing scenes show patients sharing wards with dead bodies that have been left for hours; people in and around the COVID Care tents unmasked; and only one filthy toilet for all patients. “Even the dead wouldn’t want to go in there,” the woman who did the filming declared.

With the highest official daily infection rate per capita in the world, the Fiji government is no longer testing for COVID-19. “One way of getting rid of that statistic is to stop testing. What we are seeing is a disintegrating health system, a health system in crisis, and a tragedy unfolding for the people of Fiji,” Dreaver observed.

The escalating economic, social and health crisis is producing sharp political ruptures within the ruling elite. At least seven opposition politicians were arrested last Sunday, following their criticism of the government’s proposed amendment to the iTaukei Land Trust Act 1940, which covers the use of iTaukei (indigenous Fijian) land holdings. The parliament is due to sit this week to debate the land legislation, as well as the 2021/2022 budget.

The annual budget, worth $US1.78 billion, relies on loans to make up almost 45 percent of the funds to run the country into 2022. National Federation Party leader Biman Prasad said the budget was designed to quell increasing anti-government sentiment. He called it a “bogus budget” that was overly optimistic and avoided acknowledging the reality of the COVID crisis, which would require “deep cuts” to government spending.

The fresh arrests highlight the increasingly authoritarian methods of the government, which still rests on the military, following the 2006 coup, led by Bainimarama. The opposition politicians taken into custody include those who have lately criticised the government’s failed handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

Indonesian government moves to loosen restrictions amid mass deaths

Robert Campion

Despite a surge in death rates, amid an uncontrolled outbreak of the Delta variant of COVID-19, the Indonesian government of President Joko Widodo is moving to loosen localised restrictions.

Last week, deaths due to COVID-19 broke record highs on four separate days, the heaviest toll being 1,566 on Friday. Daily fatalities were 1,487 on Monday, bringing total deaths in Indonesia, since the pandemic began, to more than 84,000. As the world epicentre of the virus, the death rate remains three times higher than the global average, according to Our World In Data.

Workers in protective gear lower a coffin of a COVID-19 victim for burial at the special section of the Pedurenan cemetery designated to accommodate the surge in deaths during the coronavirus outbreak in Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia, Monday, July 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

While it took over a year for Indonesia to reach 2 million infections—a mark that was registered in early June—a million more were recorded in the past month alone. Due to dire testing levels and very limited contact tracing, the official figures likely understate real infection levels by several orders of magnitude.

The positivity rate, a key indicator of the true spread, is just under 30 percent across the country. In Jakarta, the capital city and a major hotspot, it is at 43 percent, meaning that almost half of all tests return positive. World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines state that anything above a five percent positivity rate indicates substantial transmission that is going unrecorded.

The surge of the virus is producing a catastrophe. On the hardest hit island of Java, hospitals have “functionally collapsed,” the Indonesian Medical Association has stated. Hallways are overflowing with patients, spilling out into tents outside. Gravediggers are working around the clock, and coffin makers are struggling to keep up with the demand.

According to Edhie Rahmat, executive director for Indonesia at the nonprofit healthcare group Project HOPE, about two-thirds of adult patients are being forced to self-isolate at home, increasing the chance that other community and family members will be infected. This has led to the highest infection rate for children in the world, making up 1 in every 8 cases. The Indonesian Pediatric Society reports that more than 700 children have died from the virus, half of them under the age of five.

As the government scrambles to fast-track its inoculation program, with only 7 percent of the adult population fully vaccinated, the country has lost ground in vaccinating for other diseases, such as measles and polo.

Al Jazeera reported that thousands of puskesmas, or common vaccination centres, on Java had been converted into isolation wards and temporary morgues. This comes on the back of reports, by the World WHO and UNICEF, that last year, 800,000 Indonesian children missed out on routine vaccinations, a jump of 40 percent compared to 2019.

“It is true that there was a drop in routine immunisation for kids from March to December last year, because kids don’t go to school, public places and hospitals, so the coverage was low,” Dr. Siska Sinardja, a spokeswoman for the Indonesian Pediatrician Association, told Al Jazeera. “The effect of the delay on the immunisation of children will be an increase in infectious diseases. But no data is available on this yet, because the COVID rate is still increasing and all the focus is on fighting COVID in Indonesia.”

In the midst of this unprecedented medical disaster, President Widodo announced the easing of localised restrictions on Sunday, despite a clamour of warnings from health experts.

“With our hard work together, God willing, we can soon be free from COVID, and the socio-economic activities of the community can return to normal,” Widodo insisted.

Under the new guidelines, restaurants, small businesses, offices and even select shopping malls have been allowed to reopen, as well as parks and mosques. These measures are being applied to the hardest hit islands of Java and holiday-island Bali, even in the worst affected areas. The limited restrictions in place have only been extended for a week, until August 2, when there may be a further lifting of safety measures.

The government is seizing on a sudden drop in the number of daily cases, to press ahead with a “reopening,” based on the profit interests of big business. According to government figures, infections dropped from their daily highs of 50,000 late last week, to 28,228 on Monday.

At the same time however, testing has reportedly decreased, making it impossible to tell if transmission is actually decreasing. The government has generally fallen far short of its stated target of 400,000 tests a day, with a daily low of 115,000 last week.

Senior minister Luhut Pandjaitan, said the government factored the “sociological condition of the people” into its decision to wind back the already inadequate safety measures. This was a cynical reference to the social crisis facing millions of people, who have been given the alternative of starving at home or risking infection and death by continuing to work.

“Lifting restrictions will bring more infections and deaths,” Indonesian epidemiologist Dicky Budiman told Agence France Presse on the weekend. “Restrictions must be in place for a minimum of four weeks and [the government] needs to increase testing, tracing and treatment to have maximum results. Otherwise, it’s just the same as having no restrictions.”

Alexander Raymond Arifianto, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, stated: “The government has never taken this pandemic seriously from the beginning. The voice of the actual experts in how to best handle the pandemic is simply not being heard.”

With a population of over 270 million people, the removal of minimal restrictions in place threatens an even-greater catastrophe than has already occurred, including that COVID-19 becomes widely transmitted on islands of the archipelago, where transmission has been low. Virologists are also warning of the potential for new variants to emerge, something that has previously occurred when the virus has been allowed to run rampant in countries with large populations.

“All I can say is that when you give an RNA virus like this the opportunity to run wild, it will accumulate random mutations more frequently, and the chances of a new variant will increase,” said Indian virologist Shahid Jameel in an interview with Al Jazeera.

“They should learn from India’s experience,” he said, referring to the emergence of the Delta variant, which ravaged that country and has driven the humanitarian catastrophe in Indonesia. Among those lessons, Jameel said, was the need for a “very quick surge in hospital capacity and oxygen availability. Because unfortunately, the worst is yet to come for the region.”

Dr. Robert Bollinger, a professor of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, warned that COVID-19 “has the potential to mutate into a new variant every time it infects a new person. So the risk of new variants is highest in communities and countries with the highest number of new cases, which includes Indonesia.”

Sex Workers and COVID-19: Resisting the Pandemic and Criminalization

Taroa Zúñiga Silva

Georgina Orellano, secretary-general of the Association of Women Sex Workers of Argentina (AMMAR), says that “the pandemic has highlighted the inequality” in society and deepened the problems faced by sex workers. Sex work, which is not recognized in Argentina, has become more precarious, she says.

Although in Latin America many countries do not have legislation criminalizing sex work, the lack of a legal framework in this regard lends itself to all kinds of abuses. According to an investigation published by the Network of Women Sex Workers of Latin America and the Caribbean, “the application of laws is interpretative and discretionary,” resulting in recurrent violations of the rights of workers, including arbitrary detention; torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment; discrimination in access to health care; and unequal treatment within judicial systems.

Multilateral organizations have called for inclusive responses to cushion the impact of COVID-19. Such policies should not neglect the workers who are criminalized, such as sex workers. There is nothing inclusive about the policies that states have adopted. “If we have something to celebrate about the pandemic,” Orellano tells me, “it is that it made it clear—to ourselves—that the only way out of this type of context is to strengthen unionization.”

The Organization of Women Workers

For labor movements in most industries, there is usually a clear target for workers to organize against, such as business owners or factory managers. But in the context of a sex workers’ union, who takes the place of a boss—the client or the state?

“The historical boss of us,” Orellano tells me, “was for a long time the police.” But Orellano is aware that the police—in turn—play a role as agents of the market. It is the police who de facto work to regulate the marketplace of sex work. AMMAR was formed in the 1990s to respond to the desire to end “the naturalized logic in our collective of having to make financial arrangements with the police in order to work,” Orellano says.

“What the state does not regulate,” Orellano says, “the market regulates.” The market, for sex workers, is framed by the fact of the criminalization of sex workers. Because sex workers “lack recognition and rights, markets emerge that thrive through our precariousness,” states Orellano.

Overcoming Fear to Organize

AMMAR was born from the first marches organized in Argentina to demand the rights of sex workers. During these marches, it was common for sex workers to attend wearing wigs or oversized dark sunglasses. In interviews with the media, sex workers would ask the television producers to distort their voices, show only their hands but not their faces, or give the interview with their backs to the camera. All this, Orellano explains to me, was “so that the family would not know that the person speaking, defending the rights of sex workers, was their mother or daughter or neighbor.”

Sex workers who rally for unionization and fight for their employment rights carry the additional burden of having to overcome the stigma associated with sex work. Orellano says shame, concealment, and silencing are unfortunate byproducts of the prejudices against the industry. “Basically,” she says, sex workers can’t effectively organize when they are hamstrung by the feeling of “not being able to truly tell [people] who you are [when you march or speak to media], for fear of being ostracized by your community.”

AMMAR’s approach is to fight the self-marginalization of sex workers. The demand to emerge from the shadows opened several doors. First, it encouraged sex workers to overcome the stigma associated with their work. Second, it permitted many sex workers to move toward unionization. Third, it forced the state to ensure that sex workers have rights and that these rights are not violated—“to accept that we are an existing group,” says Orellano, and to ensure “that not only are our rights as sex workers not violated, but, basically, that our rights as citizens are not violated.”

Pandemic and Sex Work

The restrictions imposed by governments to curb the advance of COVID-19 are a direct threat to the possibility of working in the streets. Quarantines, physical distance, and time restrictions—among other measures—have narrowed the possibilities of livelihoods for sex workers. Many have turned to the virtual world, but those who have continued working on the streets—either because of their own work preferences or because of technological and/or generational gaps—have suffered from institutional violence.

Faced with this, AMMAR had to respond, to “occupy the role of the absent state,” in the words of Orellano. The organization has focused on establishing codes of self-respect for sex work in public spaces. And it has focused on building psychological and economic support networks, which are urgently needed in view of the growing number of women who do not know if they will be able to pay their rent or feed their children every month.

Even if they comply with basic sanitary measures, this is a job that involves close contact. There is a lot of fear of COVID-19 among clients. Some clients wait to receive vaccines before resuming contact; many have also lost their jobs or lost income as a result of the pandemic, and so they constantly haggle over rates. “This is a fact,” Orellano tells me, “that does not differentiate between those of us who work virtually or those who work on the street.”

Political Recognition

The fact that sex workers are the ones who have supported their peers to survive the pandemic has reinforced awareness within this labor sector of the importance of political agency and collective organizing, Orellano concludes. AMMAR is part of the Argentine Workers’ Central Union(CTA). One of the most important achievements they have had in recent years, from Orellano’s perspective, has been the recognition of sex workers within political and labor organizing spheres.

“During the pandemic, our organization has done everything it had to do as a union and much more,” states Orellano. “We have given absolutely everything so that our coworkers can subsist and go through the pandemic on equal terms with the rest of the population.” This has been possible thanks to this labor sector’s efforts to articulate with local and central governments recognition of the political agency of sex workers.

“The advance of the expansion of rights—that is, of the visibility of our claims—has generated a lot of violence from some sectors,” adds Orellano. “But also, we received a lot of solidarity from other unions, and from social, feminist and partisan organizations that stretched out their hand to [be] with the whores.”

Human Progress

James Haught

Enormous human betterment has occurred since The Enlightenment, chiefly because crusading liberals overcame conservative resistance, time after time.

Modern democracy arose because America’s radical founders renounced the divine right of kings and took up arms against England and George III. They created government of the people, with no aristocracy.

Slavery ended because radical abolitionists hammered the entrenched institution until the horrible Civil War wiped it out.

Following the new knowledge given to humankind by Gandhi, many more gains in human rights started to be made with nonviolent struggle instead of war.

Women gained the right to vote because radical suffragettes fought for decades against their inferior status.

Couples gained the right to birth control because radical feminists – especially Margaret Sanger – battled against prudes and the church.

Workers gained the right to organize unions because Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal defeated corporate opposition and legalized it.

Retirees gained Social Security pensions because the progressive New Deal created the safety net program.

Jobless people gained unemployment compensation – and those injured on the job gained worker’s compensation — because the New Deal created them too. Additionally, it set the 40-hour work week, banned child labor, and set a minimum wage.

The poor gained welfare protection from the liberal New Deal also.

Censorship of sexy books, magazines and movies was wiped out by progressive court cases. So were bluenose laws forcing stores to close on the Sabbath.

The historic civil rights movement and the progressive Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren struck down America’s cruel Jim Crow segregation.

The Warren court also ended government-led prayer in schools. And wiped out state laws against birth control. Later liberal justices gave women and girls a right to choose to end pregnancies.

Taboos against lotteries, liquor clubs and other “sins” fell away.

Strides toward universal health care as a human right for everyone included Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance, Veterans care, government employees coverage and finally Obamacare.

Conservatives tried to prevent teaching of evolution in public schools, but they failed.

Conservatives tried to block sex education in public schools, but they failed.

Conservatives tried to teach “creation” in public schools, but they failed.

Puritanical right-wingers made racial intermarriage a crime, but the liberal Warren court legalized it.

Puritanical right-wingers jailed gay lovers, but progressives on the high court legalized gay sex.

Fundamentalists fought gay marriage, but Democratic state legislatures and the Supreme Court legalized it.

Humanism means helping people, and secular means doing it without supernatural religion. Decade after decade, century after century, leftist reformers defeated conservatives to advance secular humanism. At the same time, churches and their magical beliefs faded enormously from western democracies. And recently, international warfare has virtually disappeared.

Pioneer Unitarian minister Theodore Parker said the arc of history bends toward justice – and Martin Luther King Jr., who spent young years as a Unitarian, adopted the phrase masterfully.

The past shows a clear pattern of human progress – of civilization bending toward justice. Let’s hope it continues.

New Studies on High Risks of Wireless Devices and Non-Ionizing Radiation

Bharat Dogra

A recent peer reviewed study by the Environmental Working Group (USA) has made an important addition to the growing number of warnings by experts  regarding the high possibility of risks from radiofrequency radiation emitted by wireless devices including cell-phones and tablets. This study,  published in  Environmental Health journal, has made an important plea for revising the highly outdated health standards for wireless radiation which were set up by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), USA, about 25 years back in 1996.

This was a time when these devices were being used to a much lesser extent, particularly by children. Hence separate standards were not even set up for children. However since then the use of these devices has increased very rapidly, even by small children. Also sporadic research has revealed the risks to be particularly very high for children. Hence there is a pressing need for revising the health standards and in fact this should have been done a long time back.

In fact the Environmental Working Group (EWG) guidelines recommend that the exposure limits for children should be 200 to 400 times lower than the whole body specific absorption rate (SAR)  limit set by the FFC in 1996. For adults this should be 20 to 40 times lower than the  limit set by the FCC set up 25 years back. The EWG study says that the exposure limit should be set at whole body   specific absorption rate  of 0.2 to 0.4 milliwatts per kilogram while for adults this should be set at  2 to 4 mW/kg.

Earlier studies like those of the National Toxicology Program ( USA)  had also drawn attention to serious health risks of 2G and 3G wireless radiation, as observed in laboratory animals. The findings of Ramazzini Institute( Italy) have also been significant in drawing attention to these serious hazards.

This year (2021) another organization of prominent international experts  issued an important statement on serious and adverse health impacts of Non-Ionising Radiation (NIR). This statement was issued by Physicians’ Health Initiative for Radiation and Environment (PHIRE). PHIRE is an independent association of medical doctors and associated specialists assembled for the purposes of improving education regarding health effects of non-ionising radiation.

This statement says– Medical experts and practitioners from around the world have united once again to make clear their concerns regarding the health effects of escalating non-ionising radiation (NIR) exposures. NIR is electromagnetic energy ranging from Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) waves right the way up to Ultraviolet (UV). In particular, they are concerned about radiofrequency (RF) emissions from existing mobile phone networks, Wi-Fi, and the rollout of 5G.

Further this statement adds–Whilst such emissions were historically presumed to be biologically inert, and are still purported to be safe by many to this day, there is now highly credible evidence to the contrary. The main risks associated with exposure to such (wireless) non-ionising radiation in the peer-reviewed scientific literature include: increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in harmful free radicals, genetic damage, structural and functional changes of the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders, and negative impacts on general well-being in humans.

Summarizing the mounting evidence on high health impacts of NIR this statement asserts – Mounting human epidemiological evidence of increased cancer has now been corroborated by ‘clear evidence’ of carcinogenesis from animal studies. These include the two largest investigations ever undertaken globally, from the widely respected National Toxicology Program (USA), and Ramazzini Institute (Italy). What is more, law courts are now validating such links: with compensation for health damages from mobile phone radiation being won in a growing number of cases internationally. Some legal teams are so certain of negative health effects that civil suits for Wi-Fi and other wireless injury are now being brought on a ‘no win no fee’ basis, and insurance underwriters consider related risks to be ‘high’.

This statements draws attention to the fact that hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies have demonstrated adverse biological effects occurring in response to a range of NIR exposures below current safety guidelines; however, emissions continue to escalate. Medical evidence of harm has now reached the critical mass necessary to inspire the medical community to step out of their usual roles, stand up and speak out regarding their concerns.

The document has been signed by medical groups representing over 3,500 medical doctors so far, including experienced clinicians and widely published and respected scientists who are experts in this field. It declares current safety levels to be inadequate and highlights some of the disease processes linked with NIR exposure in peer-reviewed publications; it points out the vulnerabilities of children  and other hypersensitive groups, whose symptoms may include sleep problems, impaired concentration, headaches, and mood disturbance.

Professor Anthony B. Miller, MD. Professor Emeritus, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto (UofT) has said, “This statement has been supported by several senior medical experts – This is an important statement that should be read by all concerned with public health. Those responsible for exposing children to non-ionising radiation, especially in schools, should take immediate action to reduce exposure to non-ionising radiation of the children entrusted to their charge. There is sufficient evidence to now classify radiofrequency radiation as a human carcinogen. Action must be taken now to reduce human exposure to non-ionising radiation to as low as can be achievable, including a moratorium on the introduction of 5G.”

The recent statements by EWG and PHIRE  as well as the opinion of several independent experts and scientists provide convincing evidence of the seriousness of these hazards and urgent action should be taken to reduce these hazards, above all for children.

Tibet and Xinjiyang: Cultural Revolution From Above

Hiren Gohain

Left-inclined people in India are usually left in a twilight between belief and scepticism when faced with conflicting reports on affairs in Tibet and Xin Jiyang from Western and Chinese sources.

Western sources dwell on massive social and cultural oppression attempting to recast by force the native identities of the peoples of these two regions. But Chinese sources trot out impressive-sounding figures on development of those regions. Recently important African politicians were taken on a conducted tour of Xin Jiyang, and reportedly they expressed admiration for the fantastic progress by the peoples of these regions under tutelage of CPC.

Some years ago the ‘Frontline’ magazine also reported fact-checking visits by Indian journalists to Tibet and according to the reports published in the magazine the widespread news on suppression of Tibetan cultural identity were also a lot of poppycock. It must also be pointed out in this connection that during that particular period there had been a remarkable relaxation of restrictions in place allowing not only visits by foreigners but also attempts to build bridges with the Tibetan leaders in exile. But the experiment ended with Deng Xiao Ping ruling out any sort of autonomy for Tibet and insisting that the Dalai Lama should reside in and work from Beijing! Yet the picturesque images of cultural rape of Xin Jiyang in Western media like banning beards, namaj and Roja, and the Koran to boot, appear too thickly laid on paint.

China is actually deeply concerned about foreign interference in its national security in these regions, which cannot be dismissed as baseless. Its memory of such interference dates back to the nineteenth century when British imperialism used Tibet and Central Asia as cockpits to stage their covert conflict with Russian imperialism with scant regard for Chinese claims of suzerainty over Tibet.

But that is not acceptable as sufficient reason to support wholesale disinfection of regional cultures of any element that poses a challenge to unifying, homogenizing thrust of modern Chinese culture. This sense of cultural superiority based on material parameters mutilates against the self-respect of minorities. But while it is true that for nearly three centuries China acted as a Suzerain power in Tibet, there had also been times in the past when Tibet had prevailed against China and indeed had once occupied Beijing. Tibetans may not feel like being clients of a superior power, however mighty and glorious it is made out to be.

The main bone of contention is of course the different religious heritages of the two regions. Tibet adhered to a form or type of Buddhism different from that which had marked Chinese Buddhism. And Xin Jiyang had an Islamic past which CPC finds disturbing. But any attempt to surgically eliminate those inheritances is just as impractical as any attempt to erase all traces of a broadly Hindu heritage from different regions of India will be bound to be infructuous.(This does not mean support for many unlovely and inhuman aspects.)The challenge is to adopt a vibrant modern culture without obliterating native cultural heritage. Secondly the change from a religious to a secular frame of mind is a momentous episode full of drama, and which may not be grafted at will on some culture without a spontaneous social stir.

This brings us to the vexed question of cultural revolution. Revolutionary leaders are vexed with the strong roots of outdated and reactionary traditions in the culture of vast numbers of the masses in their country, and they have often taken drastic steps to uproot them root and branch and replace them with new ideas, attitudes and values. Mao Ze-Dong introduced some variety by tasking the youth of the country with the hatchet job. But in the end results do not appear to have been any more fruitful. People forget Mustafa Kamal had attempted something similar in Turkey, but after a hundred years it has come unstuck and the country is back to square one.

Actually the system and signs of culture are imbibed through a thousand diverse practices, multiple daily exposure to strongly held beliefs and collective cultivation of values. It gives a certain colour even to his emotions and tastes and reaches out to unconscious regions of the mind. It is not possible to erase the lot by compulsion and threats. Even if some force succeeds in obliterating all such traces that does not automatically ensure the success of a new system.

Under incessant pressure from a newly imposed set of beliefs, practices and values, an individual may perform like a zombie or a parrot, but will not himself derive any satisfaction from it. He may even feel a singular lack of depth in his new habits of mind. The release of energy expected from cultural transformation will simply not be there. Worse, in his eagerness to prove his commitment he may engage in excesses that do more damage than good. This is far from the creative exuberance a new sprouting of cultural life usually stimulates.

This is not to brush aside the imperative need for dynamic cultural change, but rather affirm caution and circumspection in bringing the process of transformation. An immediate radical change in all is simply a pie in the sky. One can at best motivate a section of society to pioneer the change‌ and wait as the others are persuaded and moved in the new direction. It is likely that the younger generation will heed the call sooner and more eagerly than older members of society, but it will be foolish to drive a wedge between them. Some may remain stubbornly wedded to the old culture. But if they are a minority, there will be no need to suppress them.

Besides contradictions must be allowed to be played out in various spheres of culture rather than summarily and artificially accelerated by diktat. An abstract formula of contradiction applied in total oblivion of the concrete, grounded nature of the culture in question will destroy but scarcely regenerate.

It is here that the examples of Tibet and Xin Jiyang appear unsatisfactory, even if one concedes material improvement in conditions of life. In their native environments the indigenous people might not be able to draw the same kind of mental vitality from a replication of what works in Beijing and Shanghai. So far there has not been any independent, unforced, positive appreciation of the spontaneity and vitality of the new culture imposed on these regions by impartial observers, even if we dismiss the exaggerated lurid image of these regions as vast camps of slave-labour. Military strategic necessity as understood by CPC seems to be the motive force behind whatever changes, fundamental or superficial, have taken place there.

Drone war whistleblower Daniel Hale remains steadfast as federal prosecutors demand nine-year sentence

Kevin Reed

In advance of a sentencing hearing set for Tuesday, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) urged a federal court to send drone war whistleblower Daniel Hale to a minimum of nine years in federal prison.

In a 20-page sentencing memorandum in the case of the United States v. Daniel Everette Hale published on July 19, federal prosecutors argue vindictively that the former Air Force analyst stole classified information in order to “ingratiate himself” with journalists and that a “significant sentence is necessary to demonstrate that the unauthorized disclosure of classified information is a serious crime with significant consequences.”

Even though, in an effort to avoid a long prison term, he pled guilty last March to one of the five counts against him, and he has been held in custody at the William G. Tisdale Detention Center in Alexandria, Virginia since April, the DoJ is demanding the judge give Hale the harshest possible punishment.

Daniel Hale. (Image credit: Stand With Daniel Hale)

For example, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia refused to drop the four remaining charges against Hale and instead has been holding them in reserve for a potential trial if the sentencing by District Court Judge Liam O’Grady is deemed insufficient.

Part of the strategy of the DoJ is to compel Hale to admit that by turning over classified information about US military’s drone warfare program to the Intercept co-founder Jeremey Scahill, he risked “serious” or “exceptionally grave” damage to US national security. The prosecutors are holding out the possibility of a seven-year-and-three-month sentence for Hale, who is 33 years old and suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from his service in Afghanistan, if he agrees to the DoJ demands.

An important part of the prosecution’s argument for a harsh sentence for Hale is the existence of previously undisclosed and concealed “evidence” that a faction of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has published an “internet compilation” that includes two of the documents that the whistleblower disclosed.

Given that the US military itself is known to have collaborated with various Islamic fundamentalist militia groups, this particular aspect of the federal government’s sentencing memorandum shows the desperation of the DoJ and the military-intelligence state to successfully bring an Espionage Act case against a whistleblower.

Numerous attempts have been made by the DoJ to punish harshly those who have leaked or published classified information, including Reality Winner and Terry Albury, who both served limited sentences after reaching plea agreements, and deterring future exposures. There is also, of course, the ongoing case of WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange, who has also been charged with Espionage Act violations and is being held in London’s Belmarsh Prison while facing extradition to the US to face them.

Similar claims have been made by the US government that the material published by WikiLeaks exposing war crimes—as well as the details about the mass electronic spying on the public by former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden—“endanger national security” and “threaten the lives of servicemen.” However, as in Hale’s case, no evidence of harm or death to US programs or people has ever been presented to prove the assertion.

Hale joined the US Air Force in 2009 and was deployed to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan to work for the National Security Agency (NSA). In 2013, he left the Air Force and went to work for a private contractor with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) where he held a top security clearance. Due to his experiences with the military-intelligence apparatus, and the drone assassination program in particular, Hale became alarmed by the indiscriminate murder of individuals posing no threat to the US.

According to the original charges against him—which included four offenses for violating the Espionage Act and one for theft of government property—Hale began his collaboration with journalists while he was still in the Air Force and this collaboration continued after he was working for the NGA. In the information he provided to Scahill, Hale gave details about the drone “kill list” maintained by President Barack Obama, including the targeting of American citizens for assassination overseas without a trial or conviction of a crime.

In a powerful and moving letter to Judge O’Grady submitted to the court by Hale’s lawyers on July 22, the courageous whistleblower defends his decision to disclose the classified information to the media. Hale’s 11-page letter, written by hand from prison, is a devastating exposure of the criminality that he witnessed and an expression of his determination to remain steadfast in his exposures.

In the letter, Hale explains that he suffers from depression in connection with his PTSD and that his experiences in Afghanistan have “irreversibly transformed my identity as an American. Having forever altered the thread of my life’s story, weaved into the fabric of our nation’s history.” He then proceeds to explain how, beginning with his deployment in 2012, he “came to violate the Espionage Act, as a result.”

Hale also explains that he witnessed a drone strike within days of his arrival. He gives details about a group of armed men who had gathered before dawn to brew some tea and were targeted

for death. Hale writes, “I could only look on as I sat by and watched through a computer monitor when a sudden, terrifying flurry of hellfire missiles came crashing down, splattering purple-colored crystal guts on the side of the morning mountain.”

He writes that he witnessed several such episodes of graphic violence and that he began to question everything he was told about the “rules of engagement” in Afghanistan and holds himself responsible for being a part of it. “Not a day goes by that I don’t question the justification for my actions. By the rules of engagement, it may have been permissible for me to have helped to kill those men—whose language I did not speak, customs I did not understand, and crimes I could not identify—in the gruesome manner that I did. Watch them die.”

Hale draws broader and informed conclusions from his experiences, writing: “how could it be that any thinking person continued to believe that it was necessary for the protection of the United States of America to be in Afghanistan and killing people, not one of whom present was responsible for the September 11th attacks on our nation. Notwithstanding, in 2012, a full year after the demise of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, I was a part of killing misguided young men who were but mere children on the day of 9/11.”

Hale’s letter exposes the prosecution’s claim that he “ingratiated himself” with journalists to be a complete fabrication. The vendetta against him is part of the ongoing attacks on basic democratic rights associated with the wars of aggression carried about by US imperialism that have spanned the Bush, Obama, Trump and now Biden administrations. Class-conscious workers, students and young people must demand the freedom of Daniel Hale and all whistleblowers such as Julian Assange who are being persecuted for telling the truth about the war crimes of US imperialism.