Rome: International Careers Festival 2017 for Young, Aspiring Diplomats. Scholarships Available

Application Timeline:

Deadline for scholarship applications: 9th December, 2016
Deadline for applications and admission tests: 16th December, 2016
Dates: March 11-14, 2017

If there are vacancies after the first deadline, there will be a second deadline of January 13th, 2017.

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: All

To be taken at (country): Rome, Italy

Eligible Fields of Study: These are suggested fields of academic study:

• RomeMUN: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, POLITICAL SCIENCE, LAW, COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT.
• Rome Business Game: ECONOMICS, MARKETING, MANAGEMENT ENGINEERING, COMPUTER ENGINEERING, STUDENTS/GRADUATES OF POLYTECHNICAL INSTITUTIONS.
• Rome Press Game: COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION
• International Careers Course: ALL FACULTIES WELCOME TO APPLY

If you are applying for a scholarship, please note that precedence will be given to those applying from these faculties.

About the Award: Designed by the Giovani nel Mondo Association, The International Careers Festival aims to have talented students and recent graduates meet with hundreds of international opportunities. You might be just a single click from the opportunity that will change your whole life! Join thousands of young people from around the world and take part in a one-of-a-kind festival.

International Careers Festival offers you various workshops and seminars, stands where students can directly acquire practical skills, and not to mention the acclaimed marathon and final concert planned as the coronation of this annual event.

Therefore, Rome will be an unprecedented stage of ambition and tenacity, innovation and cooperation, and languages and cultures from around the world.

International Careers Fair

What is more, during the festival, you can take part in International Careers Fair. It is a large exhibition area open to both participants and the public alike. It will be divided into two different sections the education/university area and the work/internship area.

The Fair is the meeting and interaction point between thousands of students, whether they are looking for studying, training, internship, work opportunities, and industry experts.

Above all, the festival gives a unique opportunity for interaction and networking between brilliant young people, institutions, companies, NGOs, international organizations, and television and radio networks. It’s your time to get involved!

The Festival is composed of four main projects:

• Rome Model United Nations – It’s your turn to practice diplomacy with the simulation of the United Nations. Recommended for students interested in the topic, especially of international relations, diplomacy, political science or law.

• Rome Business Game – It’s your time to take the challenge! Take part in a simulation of business realities involving case study competitions. If you study economics, business, management, marketing, computer science or if you are curious about this topic you are more than welcome to join.

• Rome Press Game – This is the place where journalism and media (the web, tv, radio) simulation happens. It’s your time to play! Sign up today, especially if you study communication, media, translation and interpretation, literature or philosophy.

• International Careers Course – Provides you guidance course filled with practical workshops for a successful international career. Sounds exciting? It’s your time to learn!

You are free to choose the one most suited to your academic background, professional aspirations or general interest.

For the 2017 edition of the International Careers Festival, Giovani nel Mondo will have 200 scholarships available which will cover partially, or in full, the conference and accommodation fees (the accommodation will be chosen by the Association).

Offered Since: 2016

Eligibility: 

• High school students in their last two years
• undergraduate, postgraduate, I or II Level Master’s and doctorate students
• students who have graduated (no more than a year after receiving their diploma)

Selection: 

The scholarships, for which all those interested must apply before the 9th of December 2016, will be awarded after an analysis and selection by the Research Committee of the Giovani nel Mondo Association.

Once you have completed the Application form, you will be given access to your reserved section of the International Careers Festival’s website and must become a member of the Association by paying the annual membership fee of 15 euros. Once you have uploaded your payment receipt to your account, you will have access to the online English Language test. To apply for a scholarship, it is necessary to pass the test with a score of 90/100. If your score is equal to/over 90/100, you will have access to the scholarship application where you must answer a series of questions, upload your CV, and write an essay.

The scholarships are very competitive, therefore we recommend that you apply for a scholarship in the case that you cannot attend the event without one or if you believe you have all the required qualifications.

Number of Awardees: 200

Value of Scholarship: Partial or Full.

Scholarships DO NOT cover travel expenses. Many students who could not afford to come to our events would use crowdfunding sites to try and pay for fees and/or flights.

Duration of Scholarship: Duration of programme

How to Apply: 

The online application process for the various projects is simple and straightforward. It allows participants to choose the program best suited to their academic background to launch their careers and take advantage of one of the many scholarships available.

In order to take part in the festival, your English language skills must be at least B1. To complete the application, you must either take an online English test or upload a certificate confirming your level of English.

Finally, you have to submit the application form and pay the participation fee, either the whole amount or in two installments.

You may also apply for a scholarship to cover all programme expenses.

Visit Programme Webpage for details

Award Provider: Giovani nel Mondo Association

Erasmus Mundus Scholarships in Journalism, Media and Globalization 2017

Application Deadline: 10th January, 2017

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: international. The programme has received special Erasmus Mundus scholarships for Latin American students in 2017-19 programme.

To be taken at (country): A consortium of eight universities from Europe, North and South America, and Australia run the Erasmus Mundus Journalism Master’s.

Eligible Field of Study: Journalism, Media and Globalization

About Scholarship: As the Mundus Journalism programme is selected by the EU to receive Mundus scholarships (€34.000/€47.000) for EU/non-EU nationals respectively), the Mundus Journalism Consortium is able to offer a number of scholarships for the programmes running in 2017-2020. All Mundus Journalism students, who do not receive an Erasmus Mundus scholarship, can apply for an Erasmus+ stipend for the second year of the Mundus Journalism studies.

Each year we receive around 500 applications and admit 80-90 students. As we have 20 Erasmus Mundus scholarships for the 2017-19 programme we expect that 25% will be offered admission as scholarship students, while 75% will be offered admission as self-funded students. Only applicants being superior in all categories can expect to be offered admission as scholarship students.

Erasmus Mundus Category A scholarships for third country (non-EU) students

Category A scholarships are expected to be worth €47,000 for the 2017-2020 programme.

Category A scholarships can be awarded to students from countries other than the 28 EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Nederlands, Portugal, the UK, Sweden, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain) and the EEA-EFTA states (Norway, Lichtenstein, Iceland).

Max €47,000 for the 2-year programme to cover tuition, travel (varies with country of residence) and living costs. Free insurance.

Furthermore, students granted a Category A scholarship must comply with the 12 months rule: not to be a resident nor have carried out studies, training or work for more than a total of 12 months over the last five years in the above mentioned countries. The five-year reference period for this rule is calculated backwards as from the application submission deadline. If you do not comply with the 12 months rule, you can apply for a Category B scholarship

Additional Category A scholarships are expected to be available within the Windows Scheme for a limited number of students from:

1. Western Balkans and Turkey (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo)
2. ENPI South (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Occupied Palestinian Territory)
3. ENPI East (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine)

Erasmus Mundus Category B scholarships for European (EU/EEA) students and others

Category B scholarships are expected to be worth €34,000 for the 2016-2017 programme.

Category B scholarships can be awarded to any student who does not fulfil the criteria for a category A scholarship. The Category B scholarships are connected to the ‘Study Abroad’ programme at our non-European partners (Please find further details in the application form)

European students who are granted a Mundus scholarship will have to study module 5 and 6 in the spring semester at one of our international partner universities: University of California at Berkeley; University of Technology Sydney; and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Offered Since: 2012

Type: Masters degree

Eligibility: 

• Students fulfilling the eligibility criteria for both Category A and B (students with a double nationality) must select the Category of their choice. As a result, they are only entitled to apply to one of the two categories of scholarships.
• Students must have obtained a first higher education degree before the course start of the Mundus Journalism
• Individuals who have already benefited from an Erasmus Mundus scholarship for a Master’s programme are not eligible for a second scholarship for another Erasmus Mundus Master’s programme
• Students benefiting from an Erasmus Mundus scholarship cannot benefit from another European Commission grant while pursuing their Erasmus Mundus Master’s studies.

Selection Criteria: During the admission process, all applications are assessed and graded in each of the categories below:

• Academic background
  The applicant’s academic ability, previous academic record and academic references.
• Journalism experience
  Based on the applicant’s examples of journalistic work and references.
• Motivation
  Based on the applicant’s personal statement – strong, clear statement that demonstrates the applicant’s motivation, commitment and relevant skills.
• Life experience
  Based on the applicant’s personal statement, CV and reference letters – cultural awareness, organisational skills, language ability, international experience, etc.
• Language skills
  In addition, applicants are expected to have a minimum Academic IELTS band score of 7.0 if they are not native English speakers (we only accept IELTS tests). Applicants who want to study at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chili are expected to submit a certified copy of their DELE results or other documentation of their Spanish skills if they are not native Spanish speakers.

Number of Scholarships: Not specified

Value of Scholarship:

Category A scholarships (for international students) are expected to be worth €47,000.

Category B scholarships (for European students) are expected to be worth €34,000.

Duration of Scholarship: for the duration of the program

How to Apply

To apply for the Mundus Journalism programme you will have to fill in an online application form as well as sending an email with a PDF-version of the required documents.

Visit Programme Webpage for details

Sponsors: European Commission

Important Notes: Please note that both the application form and ALL supporting documents must be sent in before the deadline – 10 January: otherwise your application cannot be considered.

Atlas Corps Fellowship for Young Leaders in Non-Profit 2017

Application Deadline: 19th December, 2016

Eligible Countries: All

To be taken at (country): Various host countries

About the Award: Atlas Corps is an overseas fellowship for the world’s best nonprofit leaders. Our mission is to address critical social issues by developing leaders, strengthening organizations, and promoting innovation through an overseas fellowship of skilled nonprofit professionals. The Atlas Corps Fellowship typically lasts 12-18 months. (For those serving in the United States, opportunities start in January, May, September.) Fellows serve full-time at Host Organizations, develop leadership skills, and learn nonprofit best practices through the Atlas Corps Global Leadership Lab professional development series and networking opportunities with other Fellows who are skilled nonprofit professionals from around the world. This prestigious fellowship includes health insurance, enrollment in Atlas Corps Global Leadership Lab, flight and visa costs, and a living stipend to cover basic expenses (food, local transportation, and shared housing).

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: 

• Two or more years of relevant experience
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent
• English proficiency (oral, writing, reading)
• Age 35 or younger
• Apply to serve in a country other than where you are from (U.S. citizens are not eligible for the U.S. Fellowship)
• Commitment to return to your home country after the 12-18 month Fellowship
• Commitment to living on a basic stipend that only covers food, shared housing, and local transportation

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Fellowship: This fellowship includes health insurance, enrollment in Atlas Corps Global Leadership Lab, flight and visa costs, and a living stipend to cover basic expenses (food, local transportation, and shared housing).

Duration of Fellowship: 12-18 months

How to Apply: Apply via the Fellowship Webpage

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Atlas Corps

Heinz-Kühn-Foundation Journalism Scholarships for Junior Journalists in Developing Countries 2017/2018 – Germany

Application Deadline: 30th November, 2016

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries and Germany

To be taken at (country): Various countries

About the Award: The foundation awards scholarships to young journalists from North-Rhine-Westphalia for six-week or three-month reporting trips in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The foundation also provides funds to enable candidates from developing countries to gain professional journalism experience in North-Rhine-Westphalia for up to three months.

The aim of the Heinz-Kühn-Foundation is to support the training and professional development of junior journalists.

Type: Training scholarship

Eligibility: Young journalists from North-Rhine-Westphalia and developing countries are eligible for a scholarship if they satisfy the following requirements:

• have a keen interest in development issues;
• have already gained substantial professional experience in journalism (a completed college education is desirable);
• are not older than 35 years of age; and,
• have a good command of the official language of their host country (candidates from abroad must at least have a basic knowledge of the German language).

Selection: Decisions are taken by the board of trustees of the Heinz-Kühn-Foundation on the recommendation of the selection committee.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Scholarship: Scholarship holders get

• a lump-sum contribution towards living expenses in the host country (with scholarship payments covering training and living expenses in the host country);
• a lump-sum allowance for flight and travelling expenses (the foundation pays a return air ticket for candidates from abroad);
• an allowance to cover costs of research materials (e.g. literature);
• an allowance for trips within the host country; and,
• (if neccessary, for scholarship holders from abroad) a German language course of up to four months at the Düsseldorf or Bonn based Goethe-Institut.

Duration of Scholarship: In the lead up to the scholarship and throughout the duration of the scholarship, the Heinz-Kühn-Foundation will provide support.

How to Apply: Journalists who meet the requirements for a scholarship should first contact the foundation to discuss possible host countries and their topics of interest.

The foundation’s postal address is:

Ministerpräsidentin des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
Heinz-Kühn-Stiftung
Fürstenwall 25
40219 Düsseldorf

The following documents should be enclosed with the application:

• curriculum vitae in tabular form and a photograph;
• certificates of vocational training and present occupation;
• foreign languages certificates;
• German candidates should provide a detailed statement explaining their reasons for applying, their choice of host country and proposed topic of research.
• Candidates from abroad should provide a letter of motivation in German.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Heinz-Kühn-Foundation

The Godfather of Whistleblowers: Remembering Phillip Agee, Ex-CIA

Thomas C. Mountain

Before Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, there lived the godfather of whistleblowers, Phillip Agee, ex-CIA. Phil named names, exposed CIA agents and brought down whole agency operations back when he published his book Inside the Company: CIA Diary in 1975.

The difference with back then and today’s whistleblowers is that Phil Agee actually exposed CIA undercover agents, some of whom, being involved in covert wars, were killed as a result, something Snowden and Assange differ with Agee over.

From a Third World perspective, Phil Agee did us a lot of good by helping us kick the criminals working for the CIA out of our countries. The undercover agents who may have been killed were not the good guys Hollywood would have you believe. Kidnapping, torture, dissapearences and assasinations is what the CIA does or oversees.

If you are a political activist in the Third World, you want to know your enemy so you can protect yourself from these criminals secretly draped in the red, white and blue of Yanqui Imperialism.

Here in Africa we have learned from bitter experience that the CIA’s prefered fronts are aid workers, journalists and clergy. Now if Snowden or Assange would publish the names of the clergy, journalists and aid workers working for the CIA, then maybe we could prevent them from committing their malicious crimes of espionage, you know, save lives and protect our loved ones and fellow country men and women?

If people living in the western countries were shocked by Snowden’s exposé, then they were pretty naive. J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI never respected anyone’s privacy, least of all the President of the USA. And if you were deemed a threat, like over 200 Black Panthers and American Indian activists, the FBI had no compunctions about gunning you down..

Exposure of US government spying doesn’t really help us here in the Third World because we are being kidnapped, tortured, dissapeared and assasinated. Spying on our mobile phones is quite a way’s down on the list of our worries.

Hopefully the next generation of whistleblowers will remember Phillip Agee and not just expose crimes, but actively prevent any future damage by naming names, exposing agents and destroying the operations of the international criminal cartel known as the CIA.

Can the American People Defeat the Oligarchy That Rules Them?

Paul Craig Roberts

Aren’t you surprised that Hillary and the presstitutes haven’t blamed Putin for FBI director Comey’s reopening of the Hillary email case? But the presstitutes have done the next best thing for Hillary. They have made Comey the issue, not Hillary.

According to US Senator Harry Reid and the presstitutes, we don’t need to worry about Hillary’s crimes. After all, she is only a political woman feathering her nest, just as political men have done for ages. Why all this misogynist talk about Hillary? The presstitutes’ cry is that Comey’s alleged crime is far more important. This woman-hating Republican violated the Hatch Act by telling Congress that the investigation he said was closed is now reopened. A very strange interpretation of the Hatch Act. During an election it is OK to announce that a candidate for president is cleared but it is not OK to say that a candidate is under investigation.

In July 2016 Comey violated the Hatch Act when he, on orders from the corrupt Obama Attorney General, announced Hillary clean. In so doing, Comey used the prestige of federal clearance of Hillary’s violation of national security protocols to boost her standing in the election polls.

Actually, Hillary’s standing in the polls is based on the pollsters over-weighting Hillary supporters in the polls. It is easy to produce a favorite if you overweight their supporters in the poll questions. If you look at the crowds attending the two candidate’s public appearances, it is clear that the American people prefer Donald Trump, who is opposed to war with Russia and China. War with nuclear powers is the big issue of the election.

Hillary’s problem has the ruling American Oligarcy, for which Hillary is the total servant, concerned. What are they going to do about Trump if he wins? Will his fate be the same as John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, George Wallace? Time will tell. Or will a hotel maid appear at the last minute in the way that the Oligarchy got rid of Dominique Strauss-Kahn?

All of the American and Western feminists, progressives, and left-wing remnant fell for the obvious frame-up of Strauss-Kahn. After Strauss-Kahn was blocked from the Presidency of France and resigned as Director of the IMF, the New York authorities had to drop all charges against Strauss-Kahn. But Washington had succeeded in putting its French vassal, Sarkozy, in the presidency of France.

This is how the American Oligarchy destroys those it suspects might not serve its interests. The corrupt self-serving Oligarchy makes sure that it owns the government and the media, the think tanks and increasingly all of the major universities, and, of course, through the presstitutes, Americans’ minds.

The Oligarchs are now hard-pressed to rescue Hillary as US president, so let’s see if the Oligarchs can once again deceive the American people.

While we wait, let’s concern ourselves with another important issue. The Clinton crime syndicate in the closing years of the 20th century allowed a small handful of mega-corporations to consolidate the US media in a few hands. This vast increase in the power of the Oligarchy was accomplished despite US anti-trust law. The media mergers destroyed the American tradition of a dispersed and independent media.

But really, what does federal law mean to the One Percent. Nothing whatsoever. The One Percent’s power makes them immune to law. Hillary’s crimes might cost her the election, but she won’t go to jail.

Not content with 90% control of the US media, the Oligarchy wants more concentration and more control. Looks like they will be getting it, thanks to the corrupt US government. The Federal Trade Commission is supposed to enforce US anti-trust law. Instead, the federal agency routinely violates US anti-trust law by permitting monopoly concentrations of business interests.

Because of the failure of the federal government to enforce federal law, we now have “banks too big to fail,” unregulated Internet monopoly, and the evisceration of a dispersed and independent media.

Not so long ago there was a field of economics known as anti-trust. Ph.D. candidates specialized in and wrote dissertations about public control of monopoly power. I assume that this field of economics, like the America of my youth, no longer exists.

Rahul Manchanda explains that “yet again another huge media conglomerate is being swallowed and acquired by another huge media conglomerate, to create another gargantuan media outlet, in another consolidation of the enormous power, money, wealth, intimidation, conspiracy and control” that eviscerates the US Constitution and the First Amendment.

Living in a 5G World: Wireless Pollution is Getting Out of Control

Lynne Wycherley

In Drowning in a Sea of Microwaves, the late geneticist Dr Mae-Wan Ho – a visionary voice who opposed GMOs – identified pollution from wireless technologies as a pressing issue of our times.

Noting evidence for “DNA damage … cancers, microwave sickness, [and], impairment of fertility”, she concluded: “Evidence is emerging that the health hazards associated with wireless microwaves are at least comparable to, if not worse than, those associated with cigarette smoking.”

Since the advent of radar, followed by mobile phones and dense WiFi networks, such anthropogenic radiation has sky-rocketed. Although it is non-ionising, and does not destabilise molecules directly, evidence of other harm has been growing since 1950s studies on radar workers.

According to the updated Bio-initiative Report (2012+) by 29 precautionary scientists, effects on biology feature in several thousand, peer-reviewed papers. Yet troubling new findings rarely filter into the media. Or global Green discourse.

Though many studies have reported ‘no significant effect’, research by University of Washington biology professor Henry Lai, and others, reveals that wireless-industry funding is far more likely to yield such findings.

“Toujours ils créent doubte” (‘they are forever creating doubt’), explains former Luxembourg Green MP Jean Huss, whose research on the wireless industry inspired the Council of Europe to call for many precautions (2011), including protection of warning scientists, and wired internet in schools.

But wireless-product marketing has a loud voice. Few of us realise that genetic effects and free radical damage – both disease risks over time – are the most common, cautionary findings. Device-crowded spaces, such as our peak commuter trains or all-wireless classrooms, may be creating a subtly toxic environment.

Wide-ranging, oxidative harm to animals has been found from WiFi sources. And linked pre-diabetic and pre-cancerous changes. Ground-breaking work by biochemistry professor Martin Pall, Washington State University – winner of eight international awards – reveals a viable mechanism for such harm. But as with other ‘inconvenient truths’, it is going unheard.

Bee-whispers: the sensitivity of life on Earth 

Life’s exquisite electro-physiology is still being discovered. Researchers at Bristol University reported in May that bees’ hairs are highly sensitive to flowers’ delicate EMFs. In controlled trials in Switzerland, bees reacted to mobile-phone signals with high-pitched ‘piping’: a cue to desert a hive.

Other studies show that mitochondria, the tiny power houses in our cells, are at risk from our new EMFs. And that even DNA, in its delicate antenna-like structure, may be frequency-sensitive.

The long-term, ecological implications of our new, anthropogenic radiation are not known. But peer-reviewed studies revealing harm to birds, tadpoles, trees, other plants, insects, rodents and livestock, offer clues.

Biology professor Lukas Margaritis, at Athens University, for example, uncovered harm to fruit flies from just a few minutes’ exposure to our everyday wireless devices, including cordless phones, Bluetooth, and even digital baby monitors. Reviewing research, India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests warned that sensitive habitats may need some protection.

The UK’s Digital Economy Bill, about to receive its final seal, has sensible proposals for increasing country-wide access to fibre broadband: a technology that does not, in itself, stoke microwave pollution, though wireless add-ons do so. But probe beyond the bill to Ofcom’s 5G consultations, and new EMF exposures emerge: part of global trend.

The worldwide rush towards 5G or ‘fifth generation’ wireless rollouts is set to raise our pulsing pollution to new levels. Untested, high microwave frequencies are being lined up to increase bandwidth, automation, and usage – at great profit to the industry.

These millimetre and centimetre waves, though too weak to heat us, may pose possible risks to our skin, and deeper surface tissue, including that of plants. High-density transmitters are envisaged. A troubling prospect for the many hundreds of patients seen by professor Dominique Belpomme‘s clinic in Paris: patients whose disabling symptoms from wireless technologies are supported by new brain scans and blood tests.

A delegation of scientists have petitioned for such electrosensitivity to be recognised as an environmentally-induced illness, with an International Disease Code (2015).

Rip-tides: when profits outpace caution 

Pushing for fast rollouts, the wireless industry is also in conflict with the Internatonal EMF Scientists’ Appeal to the United Nations. Signed by 223 scientists from 41 nations, it calls for remedial action – such as new safety limits, wave-free zones, and education of doctors – to protect our DNA, fertility, and nervous systems, plus children and pregnant women, from growing wireless exposure. And from rising, mains-electricity fields.

Signs that such caution may be needed are growing. The pulsed, polarized, microwaves used by wireless technologies pose more biological risks than smooth or natural waves. Weak millimetre waves have a known potential to increase antibiotic resistance: what ecological effects might they risk, perhaps, if used universally?

Studies also reveal a risk to skin pain receptors. Published associations between radio–masts and skin cancers, though at lower frequencies, plus mobile-phone masts and EMF-sensitive cancers (Adilza Dode, Minas Gerais University 2013), raise further questions.

In his summer press conference, Tom Wheeler – former head of the CTIA, the vast telecoms lobby- group, and controversial chair of the Federal Communications Commission – proposed unbridled “massive deployment” of commercial 5G transmitters, taking off in 2020.

Anticipating “tens of billions of dollars” of economic growth, with US telecoms “first out of the gate”, he warned “Stay out of the way of technological development! Turning innovation loose is far preferable to expecting … regulators to define the future”.

With no mention of health-testing, carbon costs, or corporate responsibility, the FCC voted unaminously to go ahead by releasing swathes of untested high frequencies for private sector exploitation – so setting a trend. To questionable ends: added to other issues, how will our communities be affected by addiction to 5G multi-stream videos? How will it impact our spiritual communion with Nature?

Many American health activists, and cautioning scientists, are aghast. Dr Joel Moskowitz, director of community health studies at the University of California, warns “precaution is warranted before 5G is unleashed on the world”.

Former government physicist Dr Ron Powell points out the plans “would irradiate everyone, including the most vulnerable to harm from radiofrequency radiation: pregnant women, unborn children, young children…the elderly, the disabled, and the chronically ill… It would set a goal of irradiating all environments”.

Fracking the air? Fault-lines in safety 

This drive to mine the electromagnetic spectrum come-what-may has echoes of fracking, and other headlong trends. In Captured Agency, the Harvard ethics report on the FCC, and the wider wireless industry, Norm Alster exposes ruthless “hardball tactics”, supported by “armies of lawyers”, at expense to our health.

Microwaves, Science and Lies (2014), filmed by Jean Hêches across Europe, exposes similar patterns that are driving our pulsed radiation to risky levels. Western “safety limits”, based only on high levels that heat tissue, far exceed those of Russia, China, and some other nations.

Professor Yuri Grigoriev, long-serving chair of Russia’s non-ionising radiation protection body (RNCNIRP), warned the UK’s Radiation Research Trust “ionising radiation is monitored…[but] levels of non-ionising radiation are constantly increasing and ubiquitous: it is out of control … Urgent action is needed”.

Stealthy pollution-raisers, such as the 5G Internet of Things – with 30 billion tiny transmitters forecast for 2020 – and also, sadly, wireless smart-meters [1, 2*], vetoed by the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, may run counter to a cherished Green goal: that of nurturing healthy environments.

Can we manage our energy, perhaps, in more bio-sensitive ways? Court claims for wireless-meter health harm, supported by medical testimonies – including by neurology professor Andrew Marino (Louisiana) – are sweeping America. Professor Pall explains such meters’ “high intensity” microwave pulses may be more toxic than we realise: “We know from the nanosecond studies these can be very damaging”.

Data obtained by a judge revealed all-hour, house-piercing pulses every few seconds. New data-over-wiring innovations (if free of “dirty electricity”) may offer inspiring, alternative ways forward.

Chrysalis: a paradigm in waiting

To create – in Wheeler’s phrase – a global ‘5G ecosystem’ of wireless super-saturated environments, at insidious risk, over time, to living ecosystems, not least our own bodies, is dysfunctional. And spiritually disturbing. It suggests a mindset deeply at odds with the orchid-like beauty of the Earth.

But cleaner innovations, such as LiFi, ‘eco-dect-plus’ phones, and the latest fibre-optics, suggest a wiser course. A new paradigm – safer connectivity, plus more balanced use – is emerging. And reminds of other step-changes in awareness. From pesticides to organic, from smoke-filled to smoke-free.

We can accede, if we wish, to our rising, planetary smog. To safety limits as high as the moon, in many scientists’ eyes. And to wireless rollouts’ growing carbon costs. Or taking pause, we may begin to call the industry to account – plus governments lulled by it.

We may air helpful new findings, such as risks from tablet-like exposures (Alexander Lerchl, Jacob Bremens University, 2015). And stark risks from passive exposure, bared by Leif Salford, medical professor at Lund University. We may defend DNA, if we wish, from ionizing and published non-ionizing risks, just as we defend our planet.

And alongside French Green Party MPs Laurence Abeille and Michèle Rivasi, plus the international Baubiologie movement, we can explore electromagnetic hygiene. Uplifting possibilities for a safer, cleaner world.

Of Uprising And Unrest in Kashmir

Basharat Shameem

As we head well into the Himalayan autumn, the bloody season which began in Kashmir in July is still going on unabated. In its enduring bloody history, it can be stated with few doubts that this season is neither the first of its kind nor the last in Kashmir. However, what may be different about this particular uprising is the magnitude of public anger and the vastly disproportionate response of state in the form of unprecedented atrocities. Quite ironical, the unprecedented anger on the streets has been matched with unprecedented state oppression when on the contrary, there should have been steps taken to alleviate this anger through engaging political steps. But as it goes, things have gone totally out of order and to an abysmal level where it seems that the oppression seems to have been institutionalized in Kashmir. As if the last 25 years of pain and suffering have not been enough, tragedy after tragedy has unfolded in the form of 90 killings, 100s of blinded youth, 1000s of amputated teenagers, and much more in the form of raids,tortures,ransom, vandalisation, etc.

One could say, we have just simply lost the count. This is how the state has responded which is completely bereft of sense and reason. The state now finds itself totally discredited and hugely repulsive in the eyes of the masses and has paved the way for situation to aggravate to dangerous levels. All the arguments of an ISI engineered disturbance as put forward by the state is just a frivolous evasion from facing the real issues. Had it been so, valley’s minorities like Sikhs, Pandits and Rajputs would not have joined the mass protests as has come to the fore recently. The atmosphere is now characterized by lockdown, confrontation and fear instead of efforts of reconciliation and redressal. Imagine the lives of the besieged populace in such circumstances. This writer was a witness to this siege in having spent over 100 days in curfew and e-curfew in a much maligned South Kashmir village. Having now finally been able to access the internet in Srinagar after a hiatus of 115 days, I was wondering about the sudden drought in the flowing Ganges of Digital India.

As disturbing as it can get, numerous reports are indicating that the forces also target the very livelihood of rural population—the vandalisation of apple and paddy harvest, alongwith the targetting of ambulances and electricity transformers. The state institutions have totally been exposed through their ineptness. The police and other security agencies have acted with impunity and utter lack of regard for law and life. Instead of ensuring security of the common people, the police has turned into a bandit force invoking awe and fear among the people. On a professional level, it is not able to tactfully handle a crowd of 50 teenagers or even save its own service rifles. Despite having been accustomed to this kind of a situation for last two decades, it still doesnot know how to handle a small law and order problem or a hostile community. Ironically, the police with its close affinity to the local psyche and sensitivities should have been more adept in handling this kind of a situation but it has been appalling.

On the contrary, there have been many instances, to few of which this writer has been a witness, where the police and paramilitary forces have actually themselves provoked and instigated the people to break the law by unwarranted raids, tear-gas shelling, vandalization and ransom in peaceful localities. One is obliged to ask the powers at the helm that is this really the way to redress the anger of your populace when at the rhetorical level, you talk about political engagement and solution? One is not able to fathom that how the much abused ‘normalcy’ is going to be restored in such circumstances? This clampdown is doing greater harm than one can simply imagine. Besides the obvious suffering and pain, the clampdown is strengthening the radical constituency which is going to further complicate and aggravate the matters. All through these previous years, people who had begun to understand the efficacy of politics of reconciliation and pacifism are now fast losing their faith again. Kashmiris are flabbergasted at how Secularism and Democracy, two sublime concepts that the Republic of India purports to offer to the Kashmiris, have gone to rack and ruin in the past four months. Because they saw on Eid, how Eid prayers and joys were not allowed while on the other side of the Pir Panjal, armed Hindutva volunteers were allowed and even facilitated to march freely in sensitive areas as in Doda and Kishtwar, and Cow Rakshaks were allowed to burn trucks and shops on a false rumour in Rajouri.

One is worried, this current impasse may usher in a new violent phase by throwing up a new breed of radicalized militants. One can only hope, not. But as it seems, no one is really bothered to care about where we are heading. In this respect, the apathy and indifference of the state has to be castigated in full measure, even more than the intransigent politics of the separatist camp. On their part, the separatists need to come out of their obstinate positions to ponder over workable solutions to the political problems the state is facing. Kashmiris are mature enough to make it a point that notwithstanding the massive importance of political struggle to their lives, the struggle for bread is equally important. How to cut a balance between the two, people at the forefront of the agitation never ponder which then results in the gradual wilting of the public sentiment. As is obvious, the working class has once again borne the brunt of the current turmoil because like all previous instances, it finds itself at the forefront. Most of the dead, blinded and amputated youth belong to this class. Not only these sacrifices, this class also finds itself cornered on the front of livelihood. While public servants are drawing salaries as normal and big businessmen conducting their businesses more or less with minor hiccups, it is the daily earners, labourers, stall wallahs, small shops, auto wallahs, drivers, etc who have not been able to earn a penny in the last 4 months. Their condition gets too worse when one sees them under the burden of heavy interest bank loans. Imagine the lives of these people in such conditions; the prolonged popular agitation threatens their livelihood and the state repression threatens their life. Either way, there seems no respite. So how do we address their problems besides the long overdue political problems? There must certainly be an answer but one has to leave it to the powers that matter to answer.