US Government TechWomen Programme for Women in STEM Fields 2017

Application Timeline: 

• Application opens: 15th November, 2106.
• Application closes: 17th January, 2017.
• Semifinalists will be contacted via email in/around March 2017.
• Final decisions will be made no later than early May 2017.
• September 2017: TechWomen program begins in San Francisco, CA
• October 2017: TechWomen program concludes in Washington, DC

Eligible Countries: Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, SierraLeone, South Africa, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan or Zimbabwe.

To be taken at (country): USA

Eligible Field of Study: Any STEM fields

About the Award: From the moment the Emerging Leaders arrive, they are immersed in the innovative, constantly evolving culture of Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. Emerging Leaders work closely with their Professional Mentors to design meaningful projects while exploring the San Francisco Bay Area with their Cultural Mentor and fellow program participants.

TechWomen Emerging Leaders will:

• Challenge themselves with new questions and concepts
• Collaborate with like-minded women in their fields on an innovative project
• Network with influential industry leaders
• Discover their own innovative leadership style
• Create meaningful friendships with women from all over the world
• Explore the diverse communities of the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C.
• Inspire the next generation of women and girls in their home countries

Type: Training/Fellowship

Eligibility: Applicants must

• Be women with, at minimum, two years full-time professional experience in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. Please note that internships and other unpaid work experience does not count toward the two-year professional experience requirement.
• Have, at minimum, a bachelor’s degree/four-year university degree or equivalent.
• Be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Be citizens and permanent residents of Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan or Zimbabwe at the time of application and while participating in the program.
• Be eligible to obtain a U.S. J-1 exchange visitor visa.
• Not have applied for an immigrant visa to the United States or participated in a visa lottery in the past five years.
• Not hold U.S. citizenship or be a U.S. legal permanent resident.

Preference will be given to applicants who

• Demonstrate themselves as emerging leaders in their chosen professional track through their work experience, volunteer experience, community activities and education.
• Are committed to return to their home countries to share what they have learned and mentor women and girls.
• Have limited or no prior experience in the United States.
• Have a proven record of voluntary or public service in their communities.
• Have a demonstrated track record of entrepreneurialism and commitment to innovation.
• Demonstrate a willingness to participate in exchange programs, welcome opportunities for mentoring and new partnership development, and exhibit confidence and maturity.

TechWomen encourages people with diverse backgrounds and skills to apply, including individuals with disabilities.

Women committed to addressing concerns of global climate change and environmental issues are particularly encouraged to apply.

Selection: TechWomen participants are selected based on the eligibility requirements above. Applications are reviewed by independent selection committees composed of industry leaders and regional experts. Semifinalists may be interviewed by United States Embassy personnel in their country of permanent residence.

Number of Awardees: 100 women

Value of Scholarship: International travel, housing, meals and incidentals, local transportation and transportation to official TechWomen events are covered by the TechWomen program. Participants are responsible for the cost of any non-program activities in which they wish to partake, such as independent sightseeing and non-program-related travel.

Duration of Scholarship: The 2017 TechWomen program will occur over five weeks from September – October 2017. Due to the fast-paced nature of the program, arrival and departure dates are not flexible.

How to Apply: Interested TechWomen participants should apply based on the application requirements in link below.

Visit Programme Webpage for details

Award Provider: US Department of State

Imperial College Fully-funded PhD Scholarship for International Students 2017/2018

Application Timelines: 

• Candidates who apply before 11th November 2016 and are awarded a scholarship will be notified by 31st January 2017. 
• Candidates who apply before 24th January 2017 and are awarded a scholarship will be notified by 31st March 2017. 
• Candidates who apply before 28th March 2017 and are awarded a scholarship will be notified by 31st May 2017. 

The earliest start date for funded places is 1 August 2017, the latest start date is 1 November 2017.

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: International

To be taken at (country): London, UK

Eligible Field of Study:

About the Award: If you are a high performing undergraduate or Master’s student and have a strong desire to undertake a PhD programme at a world class research institution, you could be selected to receive full tuition fees and a generous stipend for a PhD place at Imperial College London. The President’s PhD Scholarships aims to provide up to 50 research students with great potential the opportunity to work within their chosen research field with the support of an excellent supervisor.

Opportunities for PhD funding via this scheme are extremely competitive, with higher than usual eligibility requirements. Applicants should be confident that they are able to demonstrate outstanding academic performance before applying for this scholarship scheme. Previous successful recipients of the scholarship have ranked highly in their class, often achieving grades of 85% or higher in their degree(s).

Type: PhD Research

Eligibility: 

1. Applications are accepted from talented candidates from Imperial College London, the UK and worldwide. There are no restrictions on nationality.
2. Candidates must be among the highest achievers in their undergraduate cohort, and in receipt of, or due to receive a first class UK degree or equivalent.
3. Candidates with Master’s qualifications should have achieved a distinction or, where this has yet to have been achieved, be able to provide evidence of high performance that will lead to a distinction. They should also hold a first class UK undergraduate degree or equivalent.
4. Candidates with degrees from overseas institutions are strongly urged to determine if their scores/grades are equivalent to the relevant eligibility criteria.
5. Prior to applying candidates must have made contact with a supervisor in an academic department at Imperial College London who has agreed to supervise their research project. Please note that supervisors are limited to supervise one scholar at any time. Please review the President’s PhD Scholarships – Unavailable Supervisors page for more information. Please note: current registered Imperial PhD students are not eligible to be considered for a President’s PhD Scholarship. The scheme is only open to new PhD applications.

Selection Process: Applications will be reviewed by a two-stage process:

1. Candidates meeting or predicted to meet the eligibility requirements will be reviewed by the Department to which they have applied. Departments will select a shortlist of the very best candidates to present to the Imperial College Selection Panel for consideration.
2. The final decision will be made by the Imperial College Selection Panel. The members of the panel are the Vice-Provost (Research) and the Faculty Vice-Deans for Research. The Panel will consider shortlisted candidates from all Faculties. Scholarships will be awarded to the candidates who show the most potential.

Successful candidates will receive written confirmation of their scholarship. Any offer of a PhD place will be conditional on final interview by the Department and (if applicable) on the candidate receiving the predicted qualifications.

Applicants not selected for the scholarship will automatically be considered for the PhD.

Number of Awardees: up to 50

Value of Scholarship: 

• Full funding for tuition fees
• A stipend of £20,800 per annum to assist with living costs
• A consumables fund of £2,000 per annum for the first 3 years of study
• A programme of bespoke opportunities and events delivered by the Graduate School

Duration of Scholarship: up to 3.5 years

How to Apply: The scheme will open for applications from early October 2016.

There is not a specific scholarship application form.  You should submit your application for admission to study at Imperial through our online admissions system and your department will put you forward for the scholarship based on academic merit and potential.

1. When prompted for a personal statement you must ensure that it consists of approx. 1000 words (maximum 2 pages) and outlines your academic and research achievements to date, explaining in brief your planned research project. The selection panel will not consider statements exceeding the 2 page limit. You may submit updated versions of this statement if required following application submission.
2. To be considered for the President’s PhD Scholarship scheme, applicants must select this option in the funding section of the additional questions tab within the online application form.
3. You must also meet any additional application requirements stated by your department of choice.

Eligible candidates will be advanced to the next review and selection process; please see the deadlines below.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Imperial College

Iran Launches Multiple Oil Projects In Ahwaz While Ahwazis Sink In Poverty

Rahim Hamid

Young unemployed people of Ahwaz have protested against widespread poverty and disenfranchisement during President Hassan Rouhani’s recent visit to oil facilities in Howeyzeh, west of Ahwaz, on 13th November.   The demonstrators, who came from the neighboring villages around the giant oil facilities, held up banners with slogans denouncing the heinous practices of confiscation of agricultural lands for the benefit of the Iran regime’s oil projects, as well as slogans against the racial discrimination to Ahwazi Arabs exercised by state officials in recruiting workers in oil companies.

Protesters are particularly concerned with the way in which, despite they are being located in an oil rich region, Ahwazi Arabs continue not to benefit from this and raised placards reading “our resentment is over the limit” and    “why our only share of the oil wealth is smoke, toxic gases, and unemployment”.  As is now well known, there have been outbreaks of disease as a result of environmental pollution caused by oil installations and rising unemployment, which has now reached record numbers.

Qassem al-Saadi, the Ahwazi MP in Iran’s parliament admitted in his recent speech that, in the areas of Khafajiyeh and Howeyzeh (Maysan), the percentage of Ahwazi workers at oil installations is 10% or less, adding that there are 83 oil, service, and urban companies active in the Maysan area, but all of these companies came from outside the Ahwaz region to make money, rather than invest in, the Maysan region.   Moreover, Ahwazi human rights sources have confirmed that, although around 8,250 workers are employed in the Maysan oil installations, Arab employees make up 5% or less, and they are mostly forced to work in low paid jobs as guards and janitors in the company offices.

A report of the Centre for Statistics in Maysan in July 2016 revealed that 66% of Ahwazis of working age in 2016 are unemployed.  Rouhani, in his recent visit, there, opened several new projects which will allow Iran to steal more Ahwazi oil in Maysan region, where according to the regime media’s own reports, investments in this sector have now risen to $6 billion.

Maysan region contains a large stockpile of crude oil estimated by studies to be more than 83 billion barrels. This stock is distributed among several fields as Iranian regime oil companies currently produce 300 million barrels a day. In recent months, many young Ahwazi Arabs in cities such as Muhammarah and Bandar-e Mahshor have committed suicide in protest against poverty, deprivation, deteriorating living situation, and rampant corruption in the region.

In recent months, many Ahwazi workers have been subjected to work stoppages, dismissal, termination of employment, and discrimination, forcing the Ahwazi population to sink further into economic poverty and suffering (over 85% of the population currently lives below the poverty line).

Companies dominated and chaired by Iranians who are racist have fired a disproportionate number of Ahwazi workers on several occasions during the last few of months.  This was in response to peaceful protests against the desperate situation facing the Ahwazi people, as detailed above. Many of the sacked workers have (illegally) not been paid their salaries, and their protests at backdated wages have gone unanswered, even though the average monthly payment of most of the sacked workers was a mere $ 290 per month.

These dismissals can therefore clearly be seen as nothing less than a ‘political purification’ of the oilfields as workplaces—or another form of ‘ethnic cleansing’ by the regime.  This systemic injustice and oppression of Arab workers even takes place against Arabic-speakers trying to use their native language while at work (it is standard policy for Farsi-speaking employers and administrators to punish those who speak Arabic in the workplace).

Persian employees working for industrial companies receive a wide variety of disproportionate benefits and support from the  government, and this enforces the increasing marginalization of the Arab people, establishing a mafia-like domination by Persians in the workplace. There is no opportunity for a union-type organization to address the issues facing the Ahwazi community, with all such bodies prohibited by law.

In clearer words, the regime mafia continues to violate the rights of the Ahwazi Arab workers, imposing barriers on them by restricting access to any civil society groups that might report the abuses, such as forcing Ahwazi workers to accept lower wages, longer hours, and ever-worsening work conditions.

The mafia family of regime has replaced Ahwazi workers with Persian workers across the board. In a pathetic attempt at appeasement, a token number of Ahwaz Arab workers are hired, but these few live in poor and marginal rural and urban areas in their home country, and are forced to accept significantly lower wages than their Persian colleagues for doing the same job, nor do they have the same labor rights or benefits.

The denial of job opportunities and the absence of a steady income due to discrimination in the private sector and state-owned businesses have driven many Ahwazi Arabs to work as street vendors.  It should also be noted that making ends meet as a street vendor is near-impossible.To make matters worse, the municipal authorities frequently target the poorest of the Ahwazi vendors, who are mostly women and therefore facing double discrimination, using the excuse that the women do not have a formal license for operating as street vendors.

In recent months, the municipal authorities and security forces have brutally mistreated, arrested and confiscated the goods of Ahwazi street vendors and cut off their income, leaving them in limbo and facing destitution. A history of such measures has forced millions of Ahwazi Arabs to live as outcasts.

In this video we can see how the Iranian security forces beat and arrested Ahwazi Arab workers in Mahshor city after the Ahwazi workers protested in front of the petrochemical company because they had not received their wages for six months.  A number of jobless Ahwazis were also brutalized for joining in the demonstration, demanding equal employment rights and an end to the regime’s apartheid-style racial discrimination.  Regime personnel arrested and beat them before forcibly dispersing them.

Ahwazi people also face a multitude of other problems.  Despite the fact that the Ahwaz region houses over 90% of Iran’s oil and gas resources, they endure levels of poverty, malnutrition, slum housing, unemployment and illiteracy comparable only with the poorest states in sub-Saharan Africa.

This video shows how sadly a poor and hungry population of Ahwazi Arabs in Falahiyeh city who are gathered in front of a bank are rushing to receive monthly cash subsidy of around $12 for a person.

To sum up, Ahwazi people have been systematically excluded from and segregated in every aspect of life; they have been neglected and isolated from mainstream society and denied access to social, economic and educational opportunities. Many of the poorest Ahwazi communities have been pushed into adopting unofficial and underground economies, and even into crime, simply to survive.

In Ahwazi urban areas, the regime, under its colonial urban planning, has constructed ethnically-segregated developed neighborhoods solely for Persian settlers in line with the deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing in Al-Ahwaz.  This also leaves Ahwazi Arab populated areas neglected and resembling deprived rural villages rather than city neighborhoods, without even paved roads, public lighting or street cleaning.

Due to their Arab ethnicity, Ahwazis are denied all rights, as discussed above, brutally persecuted, subjected to outrageous racial discrimination, forced displacement, political repression and compulsory assimilation.

They are banned by law from any form of peaceful protests and from forming trade unions, political parties or establishing media outlets. With anti-Arab racism endemic in Persian culture, Persian immigrantswho are settled in Al-Ahwaz by the regime and have been granted the whole socio-economic privileges, treat Ahwazi Arabs as little more than chattels, inferior beings at best.

The ongoing international silence on human rights situation in Iran amounts to a lethal weapon empowering the hands of the Iranian regime, the constant oppressor of people in the country, particularly Ahwazi Arab people who see all their wealth being stolen while they are left in growing economic impoverishment and treated with injustice solely because of their Arab ethnicity. The plight of Ahwazi people has long been neglected by the international community, with very few exceptions. Iran has occupied the lands of these people and dominating them by committing atrocities. Their struggles should be better supported by international human rights activists to pressurise the Iranian regime to grant the demands of this long oppressed nation.

Sri Lankan budget deepens austerity offensive

Saman Gunadasa

The Sri Lankan government’s 2017 budget, which cuts social spending and increases a range of taxes and levies, is a direct assault on the social conditions of the working class and the poor.

Announced last week by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, the budget is in line with International Monetary Fund (IMF) dictates. It aims to cut the budget deficit to 4.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2017. The budget deficit is currently 5.4 percent. The IMF wants it reduced to 3.5 percent by 2020.

Tax revenue will be increased by 27 percent, while government expenditure is reduced from 1.94 trillion rupees to 1.81 trillion rupees (about $US12 billion) over the next 12 months.

Ten days before releasing the budget, the government increased its value added tax (VAT) from 11 to 15 percent and applied it to most of the products and services used by the working people. The VAT net was also expanded to include businesses with a turnover of 1 million rupees ($6,800) per month.

Early this month the government also increased the tax on cigarettes by seven rupees. Including the VAT increases, the overall tax rate on cigarettes has gone up by close to 90 percent.

The budget itself includes:

*A new 25 percent tax on Internet use (with this, taxes on Internet users go up to a staggering total of 45 percent).

* A 200-rupee tax for new mobile number (SIM) activation.

* A 0.05 percent tax on cash transfers through mobile phones.

* A 5-rupee tax on lottery tickets.

* An increase in the airport embarkation tax, from 4,500 rupees to 7,500 rupees.

* A 50 to 100 percent rise in vehicle emission (carbon) taxes.

Other measures include tax hikes on low-cost cigarettes (beedi), alcohol concentrates (ethanol) and television dramas. A new tax has been introduced on filing cases in the law courts. Traffic fines beginning with the minimum of 20 rupees will be raised to 2,500 rupees.

On November 12, the government also announced that water tariffs would be increased by 30 percent on December 1.

The new tax hikes, along with the VAT rises implemented on November 1, will produce sharp rises in the prices of essential consumer goods and services and the overall cost of living. Last month the inflation rate in Colombo rose by 4.3 percent.

In a crude attempt to deflect attention from the social impact of the government’s measures, Karunanayake said the cost of some essential food items would be reduced by 67 rupees, which will have no real bearing on living costs.

In addition, the budget cut funding to primary and secondary education by 60 percent this year, down from 185 billion rupees to just 76 billion rupees. Confronting widespread criticism, Karunanayake said he would increase the allocation by about 17 billion rupees, a pittance when compared to the overall cut.

University education will be slashed by 5 billion rupees, down from 38 billion rupees this year, and health cut by 13 billion rupees, from 174 billion rupees this year to 161 billion rupees in 2017.

The finance minister’s speech mainly concentrated on government plans to expand the privatisation of education. “We must facilitate more non-state degree awarding institutes in the country,” he said, and announced an 800,000-rupee bank loan scheme for students to further encourage private higher education.

Karunanayake denounced ongoing protests by university students against the privatisation of education, declaring: “We cannot allow the country’s development to be held at ransom by a few placard-carrying, politically-motivated groups.”

The government is planning another major attack on pensions for public employees. The finance minister claimed that “the government’s unfunded pension scheme is a time bomb waiting to explode” and said the government was planning to introduce a “contributory pension scheme.” In other words, contributions will be deducted from employees’ salaries.

Karunanayake also lashed out at State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), saying they were “draining the treasury.” The IMF has demanded that the government stop funding the Ceylon Electricity Board, the National Water Supplies and Drainage Board and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, and increase tariffs to cover all SOEs expenditure and losses.

While the budget includes slight increases—around 2 percent—in the concessionary corporate tax applicable to education, agriculture and export businesses, and a 2.5 percent increase in the withholding tax (WHT), $100 million in tax concessions are provided for large investments.

The finance minister also proposed various incentives for foreign buyers of luxury condominiums, including local bank loans of up to 40 percent. In addition, corporate taxes have been waived for the headquarters of multinational organisations located in Sri Lanka.

These concessions are a desperate bid by the government to attract foreign investment and avert a looming balance of payment crisis. Hit by the global recession, Sri Lanka’s exports are in decline and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) dropped by 37 percent, to $339 million, in the first seven months of 2016.

Karunanayake announced that four new Free Trade Zones (FTZ) will be established, at Kalutara, Rathnapura, Puttlam and Vavuniya. The low-wage zones will be managed by the private sector and designed to produce rubber, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, mineral, fabric and automotive goods.

The finance minister declared that in these FTZs and other sectors, he expected the trade unions to allow flexible working hours within the 45-hour work week, an increase in the contract employment period from six months to one year, and wages based on performance. These proposals, which have won the support of various unions, are meant to force employees to work during their holidays, encourage contract work and impose high productivity targets.

President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe both declared that the budget was designed for the development of the country. These claims are laughable.

The new budget has been drawn up on the direct orders of the IMF. Its purpose is to provide more concessions to foreign investors and the rich, and impose the burden of the deepening economic crisis on workers and the poor.

Big business immediately hailed the budget. Referring to moves to cut the deficit and provide new capital incentives for investment, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce chairman Samantha Ranatunga said “some of the biggest challenges have been well covered.” National Chamber of Commerce president Tilak Godamanna said the government’s proposals were “quite promising.”

Magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits New Zealand

John Braddock

Thousands of people have been left isolated and two died in a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit New Zealand just after midnight Monday. The third most powerful quake in the past century, and just 15 kilometres deep, it was centred near the rural township of Culverden in the South Island. More than 400 aftershocks, some over magnitude 6, were registered throughout the south and in wide areas of the North Island, into Tuesday.

Tsunami warnings were issued for the eastern seaboard and waves of up to 2 metres struck overnight. The fishing and tourism township of Kaikoura was the worst affected, with water and sewage systems down. State Highway 1, which connects the town with Christchurch and the inter-island ferry terminal in Picton, has been cut in both directions. Military helicopters were mobilised to assess damage around the town. A landslip temporarily blocked the nearby Clarence River, which, when breached, caused a large wall of water to rush downstream.

Emergency services confirmed one death at an historic homestead in Kaikoura. Relatives of the family reported having trouble contacting emergency services due to congested phone lines and power cuts. A second person died of a heart attack at a property in Mt Lyford. The navy ship HMNZS Canterbury is being sent to evacuate 1,100 stranded tourists from Kaikoura on Wednesday, while the Chinese government chartered a helicopter to get Chinese nationals out of the stricken town.

An estimated 100,000 landslides have hit the northern Canterbury and southern Marlborough regions. Large tracts of State Highway 1 are blocked and remote areas of the South Island are cut off. The town of Waiau, close to the earthquake’s epicentre, has been isolated by slips and road damage. Power poles are down, large cracks are visible in the roads, bricks have fallen from the sides of many houses and chimneys have fallen from buildings.

Rural fire chief Richard McNamara said a number of vehicles were stuck on State Highway 1, after road and rail tunnels were blocked by slips. Rail services throughout the South Island and lower North Island were cancelled, some indefinitely. Cook Strait ferry sailings between the two main islands were cancelled Monday, as well as many long-distance bus services. Power is out in many areas.

Roads on the East Coast remain closed following massive slips and it could be weeks before they are ready to reopen. Freight remains stalled until roads and rail lines are cleared. Road Transport Forum chief executive Ken Shirley said there will be “severe disruption” to freight. “The weeks ahead are a worry. Logistics these days is governed by the just-in-time ethos,” Shirley said. “For a lot of these fast moving consumer goods, a couple of days will mean there will be shortages.”

There are risks a major aftershock could trigger more slips, as happened during the aftermath of the 2011 earthquakes.

On the North Island, the capital city, Wellington, was badly shaken. The central city was virtually deserted on Monday after residents were warned to stay away and engineering inspections carried out. The TSB Arena sports venue and Bank of NZ Centre sustained damage. There is major damage to the CentrePort wharves and the ferry terminal.

Shipping workers were forced to flee the Kings Wharf freight terminal, after cracks began appearing and water spurted from beneath them. “It was just panic stations,” one worker told media. “Water was coming up from the wharf. We had about five seconds to evacuate.” He and seven workers ran out and huddled for protection in case glass or debris fell from nearby buildings. Liquefaction appeared in reclaimed land between the city and the inner harbour.

Schools from North Canterbury to Wellington were told to remain shut until damage can be assessed, disrupting national exams.

A worker from the Taylor Prestons meatworks near Wellington told the WSWS that upon arriving onsite Monday morning, kill chain workers walked out due to their concerns over industrial safety and their families’ safety at home.

The Red Cross predicted a huge humanitarian challenge, saying dozens of its volunteers were struggling to get to affected regions . St John has activated its National Crisis Coordination Centre and has set up local Emergency Operation Centres in the South Island.

A state of emergency has been declared in the upper South Island. Speaking from parliament’s civil defence bunker, Prime Minister John Key said all 16 regions had activated civil defence requirements.

An incoming severe weather system was predicated to bring 140 kmph (87mph) gale force winds and heavy rain to hit Wellington and other areas on Monday evening, sparking fears the weather could exacerbate damage.

The causes of the quake appear to have been complex. The US Geological Survey said it was a result of an “oblique-reverse” fault that occurs when two tectonic plates are moving toward one another, and after enough tension is built up, one slips up over the other, releasing the tension. The epicentre of the quake was close to the Hope Fault, one of the major faults that mark the boundary between the Pacific and Australian Plates. In the area there is a maze of fault lines, some of which were responsible for the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 that devastated Christchurch, causing 185 deaths.

Visiting Kaikoura on Monday, Key tried to strike an encouraging note. “I know from the Christchurch earthquakes how much it undermines people’s confidence, but I want to reassure people that there will be support there,” he said. Key said the cost of the quake is expected “run into billions of dollars,” but claimed New Zealand is in “great shape” to meet any costs from the quakes.

In fact, questions are already being asked about the implications for insurance claims in the wake of widespread anger over the performance of the government’s Earthquake Commission (EQC) and private insurance companies following the Christchurch quakes. Five years on, entire suburbs have been abandoned and large areas of the central city remain rubble-strewn. A quake on February 14 this year produced further destruction, resulting in more than 2,000 claims.

The ruin of the lives of tens of thousands of residents has been caused by the government and corporate response, not the earthquakes themselves. Approximately 5,000 home owners are still waiting for insurers to settle claims. Many people have been living in overcrowded, badly damaged or makeshift housing for half a decade, leading to health problems from dampness and mould. Due to substandard workmanship, EQC has been forced to re-examine at least 5,500 of its repair jobs.

The day before the official 2011 anniversary last February, almost 1,000 people protested in the city, demanding an external review of the handling of insurance claims by the EQC. The protesters also called for an official deadline by which insurance companies would have to settle claims.

Fighting continues in eastern Ukraine

Jason Melanovski 

Cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine have been consistently increasing in the recent period, according to monitors with the Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE). On November 8 alone, the organization reported that “1,450 explosions and almost 200 projectiles (including 122 that were rocket-assisted)” were recorded in the Donetsk province, the center of a pro-Russian separatist movement. Cease-fire violations have continued in neighboring Luhansk province as well. Several Ukrainian soldiers were killed while fighting in Donetsk in October, said the country’s minister of Defense.

Earlier in the month, separatist leader Arseny Pavlov was assassinated in eastern Ukraine after a bomb was set off in the hallway of a building in which he resided in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. Pavlov led Sparta Battalion, which had been fighting the NATO-backed Kiev-forces since 2014.

Pavlov had survived several previous attempts on his life, including in June of 2016, when a car bomb exploded as he was leaving a trauma center. A Russian citizen by birth, Pavlov was infamous for a recording released in April 2015 in which he bragged about killing 15 prisoners of war from Ukrainian government forces.

His assassination has escalated tensions in the region, where a peace accord known as Minsk II is supposed to be in effect. The head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, told reporters, “As I understand, [Ukrainian President] Petro Poroshenko violated the ceasefire and declared war on us.” The Ukrainian government claims that Pavlov was killed by those within his inner-circle or a rival separatist militia over control of the black market in separatist-controlled areas.

The assassination took place just as both the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic were preparing to hold local elections. The contests, which were scheduled to take place on November 6, have been denounced by Kiev as “illegal” and a violation of the Minsk II protocols. They were ultimately halted by DPR leader Alexander Zakharchenko a week prior to their scheduled date, most likely under pressure from Russia.

The Kiev regime’s opposition to any sort of democratic local elections in eastern Ukraine stems from its fear that they would cement the region’s status as an independent entity. The issue of the elections was a main point of conflict in talks between Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who met in Berlin along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande for over five hours last week.

During the talks Poroshenko reportedly shouted angrily at Putin over Putin’s insistence that the elections go ahead on November 6. No serious agreements to end the war were made, and further talks are scheduled to be held later in November. A “roadmap” for peace in Ukraine is planned to be released by the end of this month.

Meanwhile, social and economic conditions in the rest of the country continue to deteriorate. The country’s $17.5 billion worth of loan agreements with the IMF have entailed the imposition of a harsh regime of austerity and severe price hikes for essential items such as gas, electricity, water and food. As a result, 24.3 percent of the country now lives in poverty according to the UN Development Program. Over 5 million Ukrainians must rely on state subsidies to pay their heating bills, subsidies which will continue to be cut as the country tries to meet IMF-stipulated budget limits.

Facing these conditions, tens of thousands of Ukrainians throughout the country are choosing to uproot their lives and leave. In addition to the already 1.7 million displaced by the war, over 100,000 Ukrainians left the country between January and August of this year.

Recent polling by the research group Rating showed that 30 percent of Ukrainians want to leave the country permanently to live abroad and 40 percent want to leave for work. Among the main groups wishing to leave the country include “residents from western and central regions, men, young people, and those with a level of education and income.”

The main reasons for wishing to leave the country are firstly “hope for better living conditions” and secondly to “secure a better future for their children.”

Swedish authorities finally question Julian Assange after six years

Robert Stevens

On Monday morning, Sweden’s deputy chief prosecutor Ingred Isgren arrived at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to question WikiLeaks founder and editor Julian Assange.

Isgren interviewed Assange in relation to bogus “minor rape” allegations. The interrogation is expected to last up to three days. This is the first time Swedish prosecutors have questioned Assange regarding the allegations, despite having every opportunity to do so since December 2010.

Swedish director of public prosecutions Marianne Ny insisted for years that Assange return to Sweden to be questioned even though the Swedish authorities have interviewed dozens of people in the UK over the last five years—even transferring an entire Stockholm court to Rwanda for war crimes proceedings in 2012.

Ny maintained, with no evidence, that having to conduct the questioning of Assange outside of Sweden would, as her spokeswoman said recently, “affect the quality of the interview.”

There is nothing impartial in what Assange’s Swedish prosecutors are up to. The Guardian noted yesterday, “Sources close to the Swedish investigation told the Guardian that a further reason for Ny’s insistence on interviewing Assange in Sweden was she was confident that she could secure an indictment and would therefore be able to arrest and charge Assange immediately.”

Speaking to the BBC, Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson said were he to go to Sweden, he risked, as the United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) also pointed out, losing his Ecuadorean asylum status. She added, “Sweden refused to provide assurances against onward extradition to the United States.”

Assange correctly fears that once in Sweden, he would be extradited to the US where a grand jury, empanelled by the Obama administration in 2010, is ready to bring a sealed indictment against him.

Assange’s persecution originates in the response of the Obama administration to the publication by WikiLeaks in 2010 of hundreds of thousands of secret documents relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan leaked by Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Pressure was put on US allies, including Sweden, which had been a centre of WikiLeaks operations, to do whatever they could to counteract Assange’s activities.

The British state is intimately involved in the frame-up of Assange and has instructed police to arrest him the moment he sets foot outside the Ecuadorean Embassy.

More than six years have passed since Assange was in Sweden, during a trip in which the offences are alleged to have been committed. At the time, Assange freely presented himself to the police and was found to have nothing to answer for. A leading prosecutor threw out the allegations as unsound before Swedish authorities resuscitated them later, in 2010.

In December 2010, Assange was detained in London under an arbitrary European Arrest Warrant (EAW). He has been in detention ever since—in prison and then under house arrest. For the last four years, Assange has remained in the Ecuadorean Embassy, which granted him diplomatic asylum in June 2012, after he was denied his basic democratic rights at the hands of the British legal system. In the embassy, Assange is confined to a tiny room and has no access to sunlight, with his health declining as a result. He has been denied access to basic health care.

Assange suffers this intolerable situation despite, to this day, never having been charged by Sweden with a single crime. Indeed, he has been incarcerated for so long that last year Sweden was forced to drop three of four of the allegations because a five-year statute of limitations expired.

Under the provisions of international legal assistance and the agreement reached by Sweden and Ecuador, the questioning session is being attended by Isgren and Swedish police inspector Cecilia Redell. However, the interrogation is being conducted by an Ecuadorean prosecutor who is asking Assange questions already submitted by Sweden. Isgren and Redell are allowed to ask for clarification of Assange’s responses. They will not be allowed any follow-up questions. It is reported that, subject to Assange’s agreement, the investigators intend to take a DNA sample.

According to reports, Assange’s Swedish lawyer, Per Samuelson, who was not allowed to be present at the interrogation, had concerns about the interview having to be translated into Swedish, saying this could lead to misunderstandings. He added that the interview “seems to be the only way to bring the case forward and we demand that the pre-investigation is dropped immediately thereafter.”

Assange’s answers will be transcribed and sent to the Swedish authorities. The Press Association said a statement on behalf of the Swedish prosecutors noted that the investigation would remain confidential. It reported, “Therefore, the prosecutors cannot provide information concerning details of the investigation after the interview.”

The Swedish authorities, in league with those in Britain and the United States, are blatantly flouting international law in their vindictive pursuit of Assange. In May, a Swedish court reaffirmed the EAW and explicitly rejected the conclusion UNWGAD that Assange has been arbitrarily detained, in violation of international human rights conventions.

In September, the Swedish Appeal Court upheld the EAW against Assange.

So vindictive are the Swedish authorities towards Assange that last month he was even denied the right to attend the funeral of WikiLeaks director Gavin MacFadyen. MacFadyen, a US journalist, died in London on October 22. Assange described the decision as “callous.”

The US Democratic Party has been at the forefront of attacks on WikiLeaks and Assange, even claiming that he is an ally of the Russian regime of Vladimir Putin and a stooge of President-elect Donald Trump.

Assange and WikiLeaks are being slandered in order to conceal the devastating indictment of the Democrats contained in WikiLeaks’ release of thousands of internal Democratic National Committee (DNC) e-mails. These exposed the methods that the Democratic Party utilises to raise funds, dole out privileges and cover up its dirty dealings.

The camp of defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton sought to deflect any questions regarding the support and assurances she gave to Wall Street bankers or the corrupt operations of her campaign, as revealed in the e-mail, by claiming, with no evidence whatsoever, that the material released by WikiLeaks had been hacked by the Russian government and therefore could not be trusted.

In October, in a blatant attempt to silence WikiLeaks, Assange had his Internet connection in the embassy cut off. The Foreign Ministry of Ecuador confirmed WikiLeaks’ charge that Ecuador had ordered the severing of Assange’s Internet connection, under pressure from the US government.

One million protestors in Seoul demand Korean president resign

Ben McGrath

Another mass protest occurred in Seoul on Saturday as the streets were filled with hundreds of thousands of people denouncing President Park Geun-hye and demanding she resign. It was the largest demonstration since June 1987, when military dictator Chun Doo-hwan was forced to allow open presidential elections at the end of his term in office.

All factions of the South Korean political establishment are maneuvering to find a way to get Park out of office in order to head off the deep-seated social discontent that is the root cause of the mass opposition to President Park.

While no formal charges have been levelled against Park, she has been accused of allowing a personal confidante, Choi Soon-sil, to decide policy matters. Choi, who held no actual position in the government, ran a suspected slush fund for Park.

Protest organizers estimate there were one million people at Gwanghwamun Square, while the more conservative police estimate was 260,000. Many held signs reading or chanted, “Step down Park Geun-hye!” and “You are surrounded! Park Geun-hye, come out and surrender!”

The protests have remained peaceful though upwards of 25,000 police officers were stationed alongside water cannons and walls of police buses to prevent marchers from moving toward Cheongwadae, the presidential residence.

Like previous protests, a wide range of people participated, from students in school uniforms to parents with their young children, retirees and an estimated 150,000 unionised workers. Foreign workers have had a presence at each of the protests, an indication of the international character of Seoul and the broad impact that the scandal has had on non-Korean workers.

Tens of thousands also gathered in cities around the country, including 35,000 in Busan, 10,000 in Gwangju, and 5,000 in Jeju. Park is expected to make a third public address on the matter soon.

Another demonstration in Seoul is planned for November 26. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, the country’s largest union federations, have threatened a general strike if Park does not resign.

Student Lee Hyeon-a, 16, told the Korea Herald on Saturday: “I am participating in a rally for the first time. I am taking this opportunity to take more interest in politics so that my voice matters in the society.”

Lee Gi-beom, a 20-year-old student at Kwangwoon University, stated: “I feel this may be similar to the democratic uprising in the 1980s. A historic moment. This scandal has just reinforced the fact that the government is incompetent. It has definitely raised anger among youth.”

The anger felt by people throughout South Korea, and in Korean communities abroad where protests have occurred, is understandable. But the scandal surrounding Park is not the result of incompetence or even corruption itself. It is the South Korean ruling class’ response to the deepening economic crisis. Neither the ruling Saenuri Party nor the opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK or Democratic Party), the People’s Party, or minor Justice Party have any answers to declining economic conditions and rising unemployment.

Saturday’s rally was organized by approximately 1,500 civic groups, many with ties to the MPK, whose leadership took part in the rally. “If President Park continues to ignore the people’s demands and orders, the Democratic Party will stage a full-blown campaign for the ousting of the administration,” said MPK leader Choo Mi-ae. Presidential hopefuls in next year’s election, Moon Jae-in and Seoul mayor Park Won-soon, were also present.

Investigators in the Choi Soon-sil case expect to question Park on Tuesday or Wednesday and will ask about her involvement in pressuring corporations to donate money to Mir and K-Sports, two nonprofits run by Choi. Park has been accused of using the money as a slush fund for her retirement. An Jong-beom, a former presidential secretary, told prosecutors the two foundations were set up on the president’s “direct orders.” Park has been summoned as a witness, not a suspect.

On Sunday, 80 Saenuri lawmakers and leaders, led by the party’s anti-Park faction, called for the disbanding of the party as a way of deflecting public anger from the conservatives. Parties in South Korea are often renamed or reorganized in the wake of scandals, protests or electoral debacles.

Kim Mu-seong, a leading conservative who is opposed to Park, called for impeachment, saying: “The reason why it is so hard to address the problem is because the president is standing at the center of a constitutional violation, as opposed to protecting the constitution. The people’s cries yesterday were their judgment on the president.”

Impeachment requires two-thirds approval of the National Assembly. While the opposition controls 165 seats out of 300, at least 30 Saenuri lawmakers would be needed.

Some within the MPK have called for Park’s resignation, but the party has not formally demanded Park’s impeachment. For all the bluster at Saturday’s demonstration, the opposition previously sought to provide Park with a way out that left her as president. Last week, the MPK demanded Park accept a so-called neutral cabinet, with a prime minister selected by the National Assembly. The president would lose a great deal of power, but remain in office.

Many from both the conservatives and opposition have also demanded that Park leave the Saenuri Party.

Now, however, the MPK is calling for a plan to provide Park with a peaceful means of resignation. The People’s Party and Justice Party have been more forceful in calling for Park’s removal and are demanding Park’s impeachment. The Justice Party postures as a left-wing alternative to the MPK.

The deep-seated popular anger against Park is not the result of one scandal. Park’s administration has dealt with a series of issues since she came to office, all of which have generated hostility toward her. These include the involvement of South Korea’s intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Service, in the election that brought her to office; the mishandling of the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014, killing mostly high school students; attacks on political parties and unions; labor casualization; deployment of a US anti-ballistic missile system; and mass layoffs in the ship building and shipping industries.

None of the issues facing the working class or youth in South Korea will be solved if Park steps down or is removed from office. All the opposition parties, as well as the anti-Park faction in the ruling party, are diverting the widespread discontent in the hope of shoring up their own support bases ahead of next year’s presidential election.

Regardless of who wins the election, the winner will continue to push through the demands of big business and Washington.

Polish bourgeoisie divided over US election

Dorota Niemitz & Clara Weiss

The responses of the right-wing government and the liberal opposition in Poland to the US election have revealed sharp differences within the country’s ruling elites over foreign policy. Like other right-wing governments and movements in Europe, the ultra-nationalist ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) has welcomed the election of the right-wing businessman, whereas the country’s liberal press reacted to the news of Donald Trump becoming the 45th US president with disbelief and panic.

The stark contrast in the reaction of the two bourgeois camps has brought to the fore the differences between the liberals around the Civic Platform (PO) and the ruling conservative PiS. Under both the government of the PO and the PiS, Poland has been a key ally of Washington in Europe and has stood at the forefront of the NATO military build-up against Russia.

However, the establishment around the PO wishes to see Poland tied to the Franco-German alliance within the EU, in addition to maintaining close cooperation with Washington. By contrast, the bourgeois layers gathering behind PiS believe they could profit more from aligning themselves only with the US and trying to exploit the crisis within the EU, particularly following the Brexit vote, to strengthen Poland’s position in opposition to Berlin’s increasing hegemony in the EU.

While individual pro-PiS commentators voiced concern over a possible rapprochement between Washington and Moscow under Trump, the tenor of politicians of the PiS and pro-government media outlets has been to endorse Trump and hope for an even closer military cooperation between the US and Poland.

Polish President Andrzej Duda rushed to congratulate the US president-elect by tweeting “My warmest congratulations to Donald Trump. I am confident US-PL bonds will remain as close & strong as ever. Hopefully even stronger.” Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz, who maintains close ties to various fascistic organizations, said similarly: “Polish-American relations will not only continue to be very good, they will be even better.”

The Polish minister of foreign affairs, Witold Waszczykowski, stated on Polish national television that he had “accepted the news with hopes for the US to correct its foreign policy by becoming even more explicit and determined.” When asked what he thought of Trump’s statement that under his leadership America would not necessarily come to the aid of a NATO ally (like Poland) under attack, he said: “Poland does not need to be afraid. Trump has met with the Polish community in the United States several times and has noticed the role of Poland in protecting the flank of NATO. His criticism of NATO will not affect Poland. We’ll want to get a confirmation that the allied decisions regarding our national security will be implemented.”

The pro-PiS daily Gazeta Polska ridiculed the “hysteria” of the liberal media worldwide, comparing the victory of Trump to that of PiS in the 2015 elections. “They use scare tactics against Trump the same way they used them against PiS,” the newspaper journalists declared, expressing their hope for allegedly pro-Polish Newt Gingrich to join Trump’s cabinet. “If the Republicans want to appeal to the subsequent generations of their electorate, they will have to abandon their centrist policies and turn more sharply to the right,” they demanded. For these mouthpieces of the authoritarian PiS, the Republican Party under George W. Bush, which waged endless imperialistic wars and attacks on the democratic rights of US citizens, was not “right” enough.

The conservative Rzeczpospolita announced Hillary Clinton’s failure to be “the defeat of Western elites” and wrote that “if Trump succeeds, America will come out of this stronger than ever before … we need to keep our fingers crossed for the new president.”

In stark contrast to the reaction of the government and its media, liberal commentators have reacted with shock and dismay to Trump’s election.

Like significant sections of the ruling elites in Europe, the Polish liberal bourgeoisie is also concerned about the growing political instability in the United States, its single most important partner in the foreign arena. Thus, Polityka featured an article headlined “The Divided United States of America,” in which the long battle for the White House has exposed the state of permanent chaos of the American system of rule as well as deep animosities between the opposing political camps.

However, the central fear of Poland’s liberal opposition is that the policies of a Trump administration will serve to further isolate Poland in Europe, and endanger the country’s national interest and war preparations against Russia. In contrast to PiS, the PO government had pursued a course in which it combined close cooperation with the US with an attempt to form an alliance with both Berlin and Paris. Under the PiS government, relations between Warsaw on the one hand, and Brussels and Berlin on the other, have significantly deteriorated.

In the run-up to the elections, liberal outlets that are close to Poland’s main opposition party Civic Platform (PO), such as Newsweek Polska and Polityka ,had joined the anti-Russian campaign of the Democratic Party against Trump, warning that the Republican candidate would represent a Kremlin stooge in the White House, endorsing full-heartedly the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Following the elections, the pro-PO newspaper Wyborcza, warned its readers that “Putin will propose a new Yalta to Trump.” At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, US president Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin agreed on a division of Europe into “spheres of influence,” with Central and Eastern Europe being assigned to the Soviet sphere.

For the Polish bourgeoisie, the conference has historically formed an important reference point for the whipping up of anti-communism, but also the fear that its imperialist allies in the West might strike a deal with the Kremlin at the expense of the interests of the Eastern European bourgeoisie. Fanning those fears, Wyborcza wrote: “Trump’s victory is the worst news since the war in Iraq, maybe even since Yalta.” The liberal Polityka declared: “Trump has won and Russia has reasons to be happy.”

Just days before the elections, the front page of Newsweek Polska, which is close to the opposition party PO, featured a photo collage of a half-face Donald Trump, half-face the leader of the conservative PiS, Jarosław Kaczyński. The cover posed the question: “Has the world gone mad?” Of the election results, the weekly wrote, “This is not good news for NATO and Europe.” Further, Newsweek Polska wrote: “The victory of Trump is a gigantic success for Kaczyński and PiS, but only on the level of internal party politics. This success, however, comes at a price of geopolitical catastrophe for Poland and the entire region. Even if, in response to Trump’s victory, the core of Europe will quickly begin to integrate, we are not part of it anymore.”

Liberal pro-EU politicians have seized on the elections as a case in point for a “turn back towards Europe.” Thus, the former minister of foreign affairs, Radek Sikorski (PO), tweeted: “With USA likely going introvert and transactional, the European Union is more precious than ever. Needs leadership in reform more than ever.” Sikorski urged the PiS government to re-evaluate its foreign and domestic policy before it’s too late, arguing: “The victory of Trump will give wings to European nationalists, but it can bury the European Union. The new president will not be interested in Poland, and that’s bad news.”

The most cowardly, vassal-like response to the new representative of the American ruling class came from the discredited former president of Poland and former Solidarity leader, Lech Wałęsa. Wałęsa, who had just recently declared his official loyalty to PO, asked the EU for help in removing the democratically elected PiS government from power and for EU sanctions on Poland.

In a move that traced the shift of the Democratic Party from viciously attacking Trump to endorsing him as president-elect, Wałęsa, who just days before the elections declared Trump to be unfit for office and a threat, sent his cordial greetings to the US president-elect. Posting a picture of the two of them, Wałęsa wrote on Facebook:

“I am glad that Mr. Trump remembers our conversation that took place in his club in Florida back in 2010. Apparently after our meeting he thought: ‘If it was possible for a worker to overthrow communism and become the president of Poland, why a millionaire could not become a president of the United States?’ As you can see, my story was an inspiration for him to act. As you all know I always root for changes if they lead to something positive. … I keep my fingers crossed for the success of the reforms in America.”