Masters and PhD in New Zealand Through the Commonwealth Scholarships 2018/2019

Application Deadline: 28th March 2018

Eligible Countries:

• Africa: Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia.
• Caribbean: Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines.
• Asia (Other): Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
• Pacific: Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.

To be taken at (country): New Zealand

About the Award: The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) is an international programme under which member governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries. The CSFP was established at the first Commonwealth education conference in 1959 and is reviewed by education ministers at their triennial meetings – the only scholarship scheme in the world to receive such high-level recognition.

Type: 

• Master’s
• PhD

Eligibility: Applicants must meet the following conditions to be eligible for a New Zealand Scholarship:

• Be a member of a Commonwealth country
• Be a minimum of 18 years of age at the time of commencing your scholarship.
• Be able to satisfy Immigration requirements for international student entry to New Zealand or the country in which you will undertake your scholarship (i.e. medical checks, police clearances/character checks, etc.)
• Be academically and linguistically able to obtain an Offer of Place for the proposed programme of study from the tertiary institute where you will undertake your scholarship.
• Not have been previously terminated from a New Zealand Government Scholarship
• Seek a qualification that will contribute to the sustainable development of your home country
• Commit to return to your country for a minimum of 2 years at the end of your scholarship.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Scholarship: New Zealand has first-rate education institutions that offer world-recognised qualifications. Successful applicants will have access to excellent academic knowledge in quality facilities. The scholarships include financial support for tuition, living costs while in New Zealand, and airfares. The partners of students are eligible for a work visa that allows them to live and work in New Zealand for the duration of their partner’s study.

Duration of Scholarship: New Zealand Commonwealth Scholarships are available for the following postgraduate qualifications:

• Master’s Degree (1 – 2 years)
• PhD (up to 3.5 years)

How to Apply: The application process for a New Zealand Commonwealth Scholarship is different to other New Zealand Scholarships. Applicants must submit their applications to their country’s ‘Nominating Agency’ first. The Nominating Agency then ‘nominates’ two applicants from the submitted applications to send to the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Read the Commonwealth section of the How to Apply page carefully before you submit an application.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: New Zealand Commonwealth Scholarships are funded by the New Zealand Aid Programme and managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).

Important Notes: only applications studying within your country priority sectors will be considered.

New Zealand Development Scholarships for African and Developing Countries’ Students 2018/2019

Application Deadline: 14th March 2018

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible African countries: Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

To be taken at (country): New Zealand

Fields of study: Preference will be given to candidates who apply to study in academic disciplines relating to one or more of the following:

Agriculture development

• Agri-business Management, AgriComerce, Agriculture Economics, Agricultural and Environmental Systems, Agriculture Systems, Agriculture Systems extension and innovation; Dairy Systems;
• Agriculture and/or Horticulture Management, Rural Development, Agriculture and/or Horticulture Domestic Supply Chain Management and Distribution, Natural Resource and Environmental Impact Assessment
• Public Policy, Administration, Finance, or Governance directly related to one of the above areas

Renewable energy

• Geothermal, Solar, Hydro-electric and Wind Energy, Energy Engineering and Renewable Energy Distribution Systems
• Market reform and sector management, including Energy Economics and Energy Efficiency
• Public Policy, Administration, Finance, or Governance in the above areas

About Scholarship: New Zealand Development Scholarships (NZDS) give candidates from selected developing countries an opportunity to gain knowledge and skills through study in specific subject areas which will assist in the development of their home country. Awardees are required to return to their home country for at least two years after the completion of their scholarship to apply these new skills and knowledge in government, civil society or private business organisations.

Who is eligible to apply? Applicants must meet the following conditions to be eligible for a New Zealand Scholarship:

• Be a minimum of 18 years of age at the time of commencing your scholarship.
• Be a citizen of the country from which you are applying for a scholarship.
• Not have citizenship or permanent residence status of New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, European Union countries, United Kingdom, Japan, Israel, South Korea, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia. Have resided in your home country for at least two years immediately prior to commencing your scholarship. Have at least 2 years of work experience (part time or fulltime, paid or voluntary).
• Not be serving military personnel.
• Be able to satisfy Immigration requirements for international student entry to New Zealand or the country in which you will undertake your scholarship (i.e. medical checks, police clearances/character checks, etc.)
• Be academically and linguistically able to obtain an Offer of Place for the proposed programme of study from the tertiary institute where you will undertake your scholarship.
• Not have been previously terminated from a New Zealand Government Scholarship
• Seek a qualification that will contribute to the sustainable development of your home country
• Commit to return to your country for a minimum of 2 years at the end of your scholarship.

Number of Scholarship: Several

What are the benefits? New Zealand has first-rate education institutions that offer world-recognised qualifications. Successful applicants will have access to excellent academic knowledge in quality facilities. The scholarships include financial support for tuition, living costs while in New Zealand, and airfares. The partners of students are eligible for a work visa that allows them to live and work in New Zealand for the duration of their partner’s study.

Duration of sponsorship: New Zealand Development Scholarships are available for the following qualifications:

• Postgraduate Certificate (6 months)
• Postgraduate Diploma (1 year)
• Master’s Degree (1 – 2 years)
• PhD (3 – 4 years)

How to Apply: If you are interested in applying for a scholarship, we encourage you to go through and complete the required Steps way before application deadline in March 2018.

See the How to Apply page for details.

Visit the Scholarship Webpage for details

Sponsors: The New Zealand Development Scholarships are funded by the New Zealand Aid Programme, the New Zealand Government’s overseas aid and development programme and managed by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).

Making India Healthy

Ashish Kumar Singh

In today’s world, where almost everything is a click away for many, access to healthcare, descents into alcoholism, and misperceptions about illnesses can still take us back to the eighteenth century. In this brief article, the idea is to give an overview of the interplay between the aforementioned determinants while presenting some evidence from the ground.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defined human health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”; and mental health as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”. The main factors influencing health of an individual vary from socio-economic status to individual habits and behaviours. As any society moves from one demographic to another, the challenges to health and well-being of its citizens also change accordingly. While many of these challenges can be tackled by the timely and good healthcare facilities, ignorance and relying on unrealistic treatment methods and mechanisms can lead to harmful effects, which is not so such an unusual case in developing societies.

India, with a population of 1,324,171,354 in 2017, stood second as the most populous country in the world. More than 50% of its population ranks below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35. With 158,789,287 people between the age group of 0-6 years, 69% of the population still living in the rural areas, 74.03% of India’s people are literate. One-fifth of maternal deaths and one-quarter of child deaths in the world occur in India. Life expectancy at birth is 63 years for males and 66 for females, and the under-5 mortality rate of 69 per 1000 births in India falls behind the South-East Asia regional average. While health outcomes have improved over time, they continue to be patterned along dimensions such as gender, caste, wealth, education, and geography. Substantial geographic inequalities in health outcomes in India, with life expectancy ranging between 56 years in Madhya Pradesh to 74 years in Kerala; a difference of 18 years, which is higher than the provincial differences in life expectancy in China, or the inter-state differences in the United States.

Perceptions and utilization of preventive services such as antenatal care and immunizations also vary among different groups of society by gender, socioeconomic status, and geography, household wealth and education, caste, and place of residence (rural vs urban). Inadequate access to appropriate maternal health services remains an important determinant of maternal mortality. General hospitalization rates also vary by gender, wealth, and urban-rural residence.

Perceptions about illness among patients and the people close to them play an important role in the overall health condition of individuals and society. These illness perceptions, directly influence the individual’s emotional response to the illness and their coping behaviour such as adherence to treatment. An important point to remember is that the patient’s view of the symptoms caused by the illness may be quite different from that of the medical staff treating the condition. Although, there may not be any clear and direct correlation between the perception of illness among patients and the clinical diagnosis, these perceptions are associated with increased future disability and a slower recovery, independent of the initial medical severity of the condition. Then again, a very crucial question comes up, especially in developing societies like India, about a small percentage of the population relying on modern health facilities, rather than going to a traditional healer, or conducting self-medication or religious rituals.

Let us look at the challenges related to alcoholism. Although Max Mueller observed that there was no common root in the Aryan languages for wine or liquor, as per a World Health Organization report cited that one in every twenty Indian males have an addiction or alcohol related disorder; with 38.3 per cent of the world’s population consuming alcohol regularly. In comparison, thirty per cent of Indian population consumes alcohol regularly, with approximately 11% of Indians being moderate to heavy drinkers. Alcohol is available in close vicinity for majority of the population, and people in different areas (depending on their socio-economic class, literacy level etc.) drink with different frequencies and in varying amount. Alcoholism as well as treatment to alcoholism is a gradual process. The harmful psychological effects of uncontrolled alcohol consumption leads to serious threats to the society, including affecting the financial conditions of the individuals and families involved in it. Another report added that alcoholism increased by about 55 percent between 1992 and 2012. In 2012 alone about, 3.3 million deaths in India were attributed to alcohol consumption. This amounts to some 5.9 percent of the global deaths that year. Drunkenness and alcohol misuse by the male partner are associated with poor mental health and spousal violence among married women in India. Men’s alcohol problems increase the risk of depression in their female partners; exceeding the risks associated with women’s own alcohol use disorders or spousal violence. Gender inequities play a key role in women’s health, including in the impact of spousal violence. The prevalence of alcohol use among women has consistently been estimated at less than 5 percent. There is also a widespread notion that alcohol use is confined to tribal women, women of lower socio-economic status, commercial sex workers and to a limited upper crust of the rich, and not favored by women from the middle or upper socioeconomic classes. The public discourse on alcohol in India, has traditionally focused on the plight of women at the receiving end of alcohol-related violence and impoverishment. Clearly, alcohol misuse represents a public health crisis in India that is yet to receive adequate attention.

Alcohol dependence is both one of the most severe and most prevalent mental disorders. The World Health Organization estimates that 76.3 million people worldwide suffer from alcohol use disorders. About 4% of all deaths and 5% of all disability-adjusted life-years lost can be attributed to alcohol. The stigma of alcoholism is likely to aggravate these effects- it may hinder the seeking of professional and lay help, because people fear being labelled alcoholics and subsequently experiencing loss of status and discrimination. The stigma may contribute to social exclusion of those in particular need of social support. Further, the stigma may also produce structural discrimination against alcohol-dependent persons with regard to coverage of addiction treatment by private or public health insurance. People suffering from alcohol dependence (and from other addictions) are particularly severely stigmatized. They are less frequently regarded as mentally ill, they are held much more responsible for their condition, they provoke more social rejection and more negative emotions and they are at a particular risk of being structurally discriminated against. Only with regard to being dangerous, they are perceived similarly negative as people suffering from schizophrenia, and support for legal coercion in the United States was also stronger regarding schizophrenia. Most conceptions and perceptions of mental illness stigma in Indian society are negative, misinformed stereotypes.

Alcohol problems are more common among people with more severe mental health problems. This does not necessarily mean that alcohol causes severe mental illness. Evidence shows that people who consume high amounts of alcohol are vulnerable to increased risk of developing mental health problems and alcohol consumption can be a contributing factor to some mental health problems, such as depression.

Various scientific studies have shown that the mental disorders are also thought to be occurring due to less sexual desire, God’s punishment for their past sins and polluted air. People living in joint families than in nuclear families also believed that sadness and unhappiness cause mental disorders. Both in rural and urban areas many people believe that children do not get mental disorders, which means they have conception of adult-oriented mental disorders. Among the misconceptions the worst one is that mental illnesses are untreatable, besides accepting the fact that a family member can suffer from a mental illness.

In one of our ongoing studies, which covers several states in India, also has data from countries like UK, USA, Canada, Nepal and Russia, we found that while the more educated strata of the society is aware about mental health problems, the less educated ones are not. Further, people accept the insufficiency of mental health facilities in their surroundings but on the contrary do not accept the likelihood of a family member having a mental health disease. The results suggest a strong requirement to spread awareness regarding mental health to people, especially the less educated ones. In some regions, we find people are more interested in going to a religious preacher or treating alcohol addiction problem at home, while in others they are open to going to a specialist. The study also highlights and quantifies the difference between actual prevalence rates of mental health problems in India and the perceived likelihood among the population. The data for this study was collected by using door to door, and online survey. Individual involved this study come from various backgrounds- Dr. Sukant Khurana (a neuroscientist at CDRI), Mr. Ishan Goel (data scientist), Mr. Raamesh Gowri Raghavan (expert in behavioral biology and advertising) and Mr. Farooq Ali Khan (one of the coordinators of World Health Congress 2017).

Without doubt, we can say that India being a culturally loaded country with respect to perception towards illness and healthiness faces many challenges, which will be added with newer ones as the demographic changes take place. Existing infrastructure and facilities are not enough, misinformation and illiteracy adds fuel to fire. A joint effort, positive approach, stricter regulations, and health education could be just the new beginning towards making the society healthy-both mentally and physically.

Australian government defies criticism of sweeping “foreign interference” bills

Mike Head

The Turnbull government this week rejected calls by a wide range of groups to narrow the scope of its draconian “foreign interference” bills or provide clearer exemptions for political, media, university and human rights activities.

Attorney-General Christian Porter said he was open to minor amendments to the laws, which would brand and criminalise many forms of political activity as treasonous. But he ruled out what he derided as “sweeping, blanket exemptions for a variety of professions,” including journalists, academics and lawyers.

Numerous submissions and testimonies given to a rushed two-day parliamentary committee hearing this week underscore how far the bills would eviscerate free speech, political dissent and media reporting.

Fuelling the virulent anti-China witch-hunting campaign in the media, Porter and others suggested that the critics are playing into the hands of enemies seeking to damage Australia’s “national interests.”

Porter defended the tenfold increase, to 20 years, in the potential penalties for breaches of official secrecy laws, and the extension of the laws to cover material deemed “harmful to Australia’s interests,” even if not classified as secret. “That is simply about having the proper and modern disincentives in place for people to deal with information in a way that’s contrary to our national interests,” he said.

Government MP and former SAS captain Andrew Hastie, who heads the parliamentary committee examining the bills—the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security—declared he was not convinced any changes to the proposed bills were needed.

Before any hearings were even held, Hastie told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “I think if you’re seeking to build Australia, and not undermine it as an Australian citizen, then you shouldn’t be concerned.”

Hastie added: “Our agencies have told us that we’re experiencing unprecedented levels of espionage and foreign interference in this country—directed against our political institutions, our commercial interests, our critical infrastructure and our migrant communities.”

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) itself intervened. Deputy director-general Peter Vickery told Hastie’s committee that Australia faces adversaries on a scale that exceeds the Cold War, during which ASIO conducted massive operations against government opponents in the name of combating alleged subversion by the Soviet Union. “We do have examples, current examples of (countries) where the threat level is at extreme,” he declared.

While Vickery declined to name any country, a “government source” confirmed to Channel 9 News that China topped the ASIO list of “extreme” threats to national security.

ASIO’s intervention further points to an orchestrated operation, conducted in collaboration with its US partners to poison public opinion in preparation for military conflict against China.

CIA director Mike Pompeo this week insisted that China posed “as big a threat to the US” as Russia, and the Washington Post has reported that the Trump administration regards Australia as a “catalyst” for proposing similar “foreign interference” measures.

These comments confirm that the Australian bills, while purportedly directed at “improper influence” by any foreign power, are aimed particularly against China, which hysterical media reports have demonised as a menace to Australia.

Bound up with these ideological preparations for war, the package of five bills has profound implications for basic democratic rights, imposing prison terms of up to 20 years for undertaking any political activity in partnership with an overseas organisation.

In addition, all individuals or organisations engaged in any political campaigning involving an international group or individual would have to register under an invasive and complex Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme.

This week’s parliamentary submissions and hearings provided some graphic examples of the anti-democratic consequences.

The US-based Human Rights Watch said the bills would outlaw reporting on abusive governmental policies or “misconduct” by intelligence agencies. Disclosing any information deemed to “prejudice national security” would be criminalised.

Its submission pointed out that the bills define “national security” to include “the country’s political, military or economic relations with another country or other countries.” In effect, “national security” means protecting the profit interests and predatory activities of the Australian capitalist class, which rest on the US for military and strategic support.

Paul Oosting, the national director of the lobby group GetUp!, testified that requiring donors to provide statutory declarations when donating more than $250 a year, in order to enforce a ban on “foreign” donations, would choke his organisation’s revenue stream and impose an unmanageable administrative burden. “It would simply wipe out organisations like GetUp!” he said.

Charities said the legislation would have a “chilling” effect on public debate by requiring all “political campaigners” that spent more than $25,000 a year on political activities to register and lodge financial records if they might receive foreign donations. Community Council for Australia chief executive David Crosbie said: “I can’t think of a single charity I work with that wouldn’t be a political campaigner.”

Universities Australia (UA), representing 39 public universities, said the more than 350,000 international students living in Australia could be classified as “foreign principals” under the bills. “If a university was to make a representation to government on their behalf, this could potentially become registrable conduct,” it said.

UA pointed to the crippling impact on research, which often requires international collaboration. For example, a recently-announced blood test for eight rare cancers, which could save thousands of lives, might be jeopardised because some Australian researchers received funding from a US university.

A coalition of media companies said journalists, editorial staff and lawyers could be jailed for possessing “harmful” information, even before publishing. The bills provide a defence where information is dealt with in “the public interest and in the person’s capacity as a journalist.” However, the bills declare that information likely to “harm or prejudice the health or safety of the public or a section of the public” can never be in the public interest—thus significantly restricting the scope of such a legal defence.

The media alliance also objected to the registration scheme covering “communication activities” with a “foreign principal” for “the purpose of political or governmental influence.” This could extend to TV programs like “The Simpsons” and “Saturday Night Live,” not just Russia Today and Al Jazeera, and newspaper content derived from the Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal.

The Law Council of Australia said lawyers making representations to a government on behalf of a foreign client, “perhaps an asylum seeker in detention,” would not be protected by a narrow exemption extending only to advice or representation in actual court proceedings.

As its submission indicated, the same would apply to assisting a client to seek a government approval or a social security payment, and to advocacy, public or private, by a lawyer or professional association, for a policy change.

None of these submissions, however, referred to the underlying agenda of war preparations. Instead, most emphasised their agreement with the supposed need to ramp-up the protection of “national security.”

One witness urged the Liberal-National government to go further. Former Greens candidate Professor Clive Hamilton submitted a 48-page dossier claiming to document huge “influencing” operations in Australia by the Chinese Communist Party that included “manipulating” 130,000 Chinese students, as well as university institutes and business activities. The dossier complained that many of these activities could escape the bills’ coverage.

The Labor Party underlined its bipartisan backing for the bills, while warning that some “justifiable concerns” could make them unusable. Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus stated: “Labor will always support practical measures that strengthen protections in line with our national security interests, but it is highly likely that the government’s bill will need amendment in order for it to be workable.”

The Greens were even more vehement in urging the government to sharpen the bills’ focus. Greens justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said: “The legislation is shoddily drafted and too broad in scope, and needs amending to ensure that it properly targets foreign interference in our political system.”

This is a revealing political line-up. As the WSWS has explained, the far-reaching anti-democratic measures in the bills are bound up with preparations for draconian political repression, amid fears in the ruling elite of rising popular discontent over the dangers of war and deteriorating social conditions.

Amazon reports record profit in final quarter of 2017

Will Morrow

Amazon’s global profit reached $1.9 billion for the final quarter of 2017, an increase of more than 150 percent from just a year earlier, according to the company’s financial earnings report released Thursday. Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos’ personal wealth has increased more than $17 billion in the past month. This compares to the average monthly wage of an Amazon warehouse worker as the weight of an elephant compares to an ant.

This transnational corporation is a world behemoth with market capitalization of almost $700 billion. Total revenue was $60.5 billion for the quarter and $177.9 billion for the year, up from $137 billion in 2016. The report was celebrated with a rally on Wall Street, sending the share price up by 6.2 percent in after-hours trading Thursday. Despite the largest one-day Wall Street sell-off since 2008 on Friday, Amazon’s shares closed up by 2.9 percent from the previous day, at $1,431.

Amazon reported that more than a third of its record profit, or $789 million, was the outcome of the Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion corporate tax cut for the financial oligarchy, passed in December with insincere and muted opposition from the Democratic Party, which supported slashing the corporate tax rate, differing with Republicans only over size of the cut.

Bezos, who owns a roughly 16 percent stake of company shares, saw his personal wealth rise by $6.5 billion overnight Thursday as a result of the stock market rally, cementing his place as the world’s richest individual. According to Forbes, Bezos is now worth $118.8 billion, more than $20 billion ahead of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Amazon’s enormous profits and the grotesque enrichment of Bezos himself are based upon the brutal exploitation of the company’s global workforce, which by the end 2017 numbered more than 550,000 workers, spanning the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

A typical Amazon “picker” in the United States earns approximately $12 an hour, barely above the official poverty line for a family of three. A packing worker for Amazon in India typically earns just over $233 a month.

To make what Bezos earned as he slept on Thursday night, the average American Amazon warehouse employee would have to work without pause for approximately 60,000 years. A packing worker in India would have to work for just under 12 years to make what Bezos made each minute of 2017.

The word “Amazon” has itself become synonymous with a perfected and onerous system of exploitation involving the continuous monitoring of employees’ performance and work-rate. The average warehouse worker walks more than 10 miles per shift across giant warehouses, some of them the size of more than 25 football fields. Workers’ locations are tracked throughout their shift via electronic trackers to tell whether they stop to take a break, and the company receives regular updates informing them of whether workers are falling behind their quota.

The company’s bumper fourth quarter was on the back of unprecedented holiday season sales. Amazon captured almost half of total e-commerce holiday sales, and revenue from the Amazon Prime membership subscription service, which offers benefits including faster delivery times, increased by 49 percent in the quarter, to $3.2 billion. Four million people signed up to Prime in the course of one week.

This increase in holiday demand translated to even more onerous conditions for workers, who were under enormous pressure to meet the higher quotas. On December 14, a full-time Amazon worker in Sacramento, California who vomited blood during his shift had to be hospitalized, and died the following day.

Amazon’s record profit highlights the social irrationality of the global capitalist system. Society’s wealth, the product of the collective labour of billions of working people around the world, is monopolised in the hands of a tiny oligarchy.

When Bezos’ wealth first surpassed $100 billion in November 2017, the WSWS wrote:

“The UN estimates that it would cost $30 billion to solve world hunger by providing 862 million people with food for a year. The World Health Organization claims just $11 billion is needed to halve the number of people without access to clean water. Another UN study found that $26 billion would provide education to every child that does not receive one.

“The Guttmacher Institute estimates that with $13 billion, free maternal and prenatal care could be provided for every mother in the developing world. It would cost $11 billion to house each of the 150,000 people who are homeless on a given night in the US. The cost of preventing 4 million malaria deaths would be $6 billion each year.

“The total cost for these essential changes would be roughly $97 billion.”

Half of the now more than $20 billion that would be left over could also be used to fully repair Puerto Rico’s crumbling electricity grid.

Amazon’s revenue for the quarter also received a boost from the operations of fresh food supermarket Whole Foods, which Amazon purchased in August, 2017 for $13 billion. Earlier this month, Amazon announced a restricted opening of the first “Amazon Go” food retail store in Seattle, which will employ no cashiers at all, using apps on customers’ smartphones to process all purchases.

Significantly, the largest driver of Amazon’s profit came from Amazon Web Service (AWS), the company’s cloud platform, which accounted for more than 60 percent of total profits. AWS accounted for 8.5 percent of Amazon revenues in 2017, up from 5 percent in 2014.

The growing weight of AWS operations within Amazon reflects the complete integration of the company into the American capitalist state and its intelligence apparatus. Last November, AWS announced that it was constructing a new “Secret Region” to host government data, the outcome of Amazon’s 2013 deal worth $600 million to build a private computing cloud for all 17 US intelligence agencies. Amazon’s growth reflects the integration of the intelligence agencies with the technology and social media corporations, including Facebook and Alphabet, the owner of Google. These corporations are actively collaborating to censor the Internet to prevent workers and young people from reading the World Socialist Web Site and other anti-war and left-wing organizations and publications.

The growth of Amazon’s wealth and power is the product of the exploitation of Amazon workers worldwide. The only solution is the socialist solution: to expropriate the wealth of their corporate management and place the companies under the democratic control of the workers themselves to be organized not for profit but to meet human need.

Fear of working class upsurge triggers plunge in financial markets

Barry Grey

Increasing volatility on US and world stock markets erupted Friday in a steep decline in stock prices, led by a 665-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The 2.54 percent fall in the Dow, the biggest single-day decline since June 2016, was accompanied by similar drops in the other US stock indexes and a broad sell-off on European markets, topped by a 1.68 percent decline in the German DAX index.

With Friday’s plunge, the major US indexes posted their worst weekly performance in two years. The financial press tied the stock sell-off to rising interest rates on US government bonds and the jobs report for January, released on Friday, which showed a 0.9 percent year-on-year increase in average wages, the biggest rise since 2009.

It remains to be seen whether Friday’s sell-off is the beginning of the implosion of asset bubbles about which a growing chorus of economists has warned. But whatever the immediate fate of the markets, there are many indications that the increased volatility marks an inflection point in the world economic and political crisis of capitalism.

It takes place amidst a confluence of factors, at the center of which are clear signs of a resurgence of working class struggle on an international scale. The American ruling class reacted with alarm to the modest increase in wages in January because it is seen connected to a growth of working class militancy and a determination to win back what has been taken away in wages, jobs and living standards over the past four decades.

The US jobs report came in the midst of a resurgence of working class resistance across Europe. Hundreds of thousands of German industrial workers are striking to reverse decades of austerity and mounting social inequality in the biggest labor action in that country in 15 years.

The militant mood of the workers is making it more difficult for the trade union leaders to impose a sellout. Moreover, the strike is threatening to undercut negotiations between the union-backed Social Democrats and the conservative parties aimed at installing the most right-wing, militaristic government since the fall of Hitler’s Third Reich.

The German strikes follow mass protests in Greece against the Syriza government, strikes by autoworkers in Eastern Europe, rail strikes in Britain and mass working class protests in Iran and Tunisia.

The uptick in US wages is a major factor driving a sudden and rapid increase in interest rates, which threatens to undercut the entire basis of the stock market boom and obscene enrichment of the corporate-financial elite, particularly since the Wall Street crash of 2008. The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 2.85 percent, the highest point in four years. Government bond rates are also rising in Europe.

The New York Times wrote, “The immediate catalyst [of the fall] was the jobs report, which showed the strong United States economy might finally be translating into rising wages for American workers—a sign that higher inflation could be around the corner.”

Financial Times columnist John Authers commented: “The shark is growing more visible. For years now, the possibility of a sharp upward shift in bond yields, and a return to inflation psychology, has been by far the most menacing risk for markets. As in Stephen Spielberg’s classic Jaws, the menace is always there, under the surface, but largely only hinted at and unseen. When the behemoth finally comes into view, it is terrifying…”

Other factors driving the crisis in the markets include:

* Mounting geo-political and economic tensions, with a looming threat of war and trade war, driven by the Trump administration’s “America First” agenda of economic nationalism and militarism.

* Political instability within the US, Germany, the UK, France and other major powers. The American ruling elite is locked in internal political warfare, which threatens to bring down the Trump administration; Germany has yet to form a new government nearly five months after its national election; Britain’s ruling elite and its major parties are hopelessly divided over Brexit, and the country is headed by a government seen to be a lame duck.

* A massive overhang of government and corporate debt. An end to low rates threatens to plunge corporations and entire countries that have relied on the availability of limitless and cheap credit into bankruptcy.

Since 2009, the US government and the Federal Reserve have effectively guaranteed an unlimited supply of virtually free money to the banks, hedge funds and big investors. They have done so by keeping interest rates at super-low levels and pumping cash into the financial markets by means of the money-printing operation dubbed “quantitative easing.” With the major imperialist governments and central banks in Europe and Asia following the US lead, trillions of dollars of worthless assets have been shifted from the balance sheets of the banks to the state ledgers.

This vast operation to rescue the global financial oligarchy from the consequences of its own criminal actions and ensure its further enrichment has been carried out on the backs of the working class. Austerity, wage-cutting and speedup have been used to drive down the living standards and social conditions of the masses. In the US, this has been the policy of Democratic no less than Republican administrations.

The past ten years have seen an intensification of a social counterrevolution underway for decades. The intensity and effectiveness of this ruling class offensive has been reflected in the steady rise in stock prices since the Reagan administration.

Correlation between strike levels and wealth concentration: 1948-2014

This process depended on the suppression of the class struggle. The ruling class relied on the trade unions to undermine working class opposition, block strikes, and isolate and betray them when they broke out. The fever chart of rising stock prices, accordingly, is in inverse proportion to the decline and virtual disappearance of strikes in the United States over this period.

But the ability of the ruling class to count on the unions to police the workers is breaking down. In the United States, the United Auto Workers union is completely exposed and discredited by a corruption scandal involving company bribes to union officials in return for the imposition of concessions contracts on the workers.

As the World Socialist Web Site stressed at the beginning of the year, 2018 will be marked above all by a rise in social tensions and a revival of working class struggle on an international scale.

The long historical cycle dominated by the artificial suppression of the class struggle is coming to an end. A new period, which will see a counteroffensive by the working class to win back all that it has lost and more, has opened up.

Nigeria Energy Forum Africa Energy Ideas Competition for Early-stage Entrepreneurs 2018

Application Timeline: 

1. Deadline for proposal submission: 20th February, 2018
2. Announcement of submissions selected for the final round: 4th March, 2018
3. Deadline for final submissions: 23rd March, 2018
4. Announcement of winners: 17th April, 2018.

Eligible Countries: African countries

To Be Taken At (Country): Lagos, Nigeria

About the Award: The 2018 Africa Energy Innovation Competiton is set to accelerate the development of early-stage energy firms across Africa. Across Africa, the main energy challenge is to rapidly deliver modern energy services to millions of households and businesses using sustainable and affordable energy technologies. This competition challenges early-stage energy entrepreneurs from Africa to collaborate with local research institutions or industries to develop a prototype model of a key device/equipment for a social energy enterprise or energy management system using local resources.

Type: Contest, Entrepreneurship

Eligibility: Young professionals between the ages of 18 and 35 years from Africa are invited to participate in the competition and nominate a relevant local research institution or organization. Applications may be submitted by a team of up to three people. At least 1 member of the team must be from the local research institution or industry. Teams may be formed across different schools, institutions, companies, countries etc. Individuals or teams may submit multiple applications.

Selection Criteria: The first round of submissions will be evaluated using the following attributes:

• Local Content: utilize local resources, demonstrate the use of local expertise, alternative energy services or efficient solutions for powering agriculture, education, healthcare, industries etc.; and be significant enough to impact large numbers of people, households and/or businesses.
• Originality and creativity: present solutions that are original, creative in areas that are either underdeveloped or severely underdeveloped in research and literature.
• Commercial Viability: proposed prototype model should be realistic, practical rather than just theory, cost-efficient and outline commercial arrangements that address obvious roadblocks, using a specific prototype model.
• Clarity: ideas should be presented in a clear and concise manner with realistic completion timeline.

Value of Award: The finalists and winners will be selected by a panel of academics and experienced development professionals from public and private sector institutions. Winners of the competition get the opportunity to:

• ⇒  Pitch their proposed prototype model at the 2018 Nigeria Energy Forum, in Lagos, Nigeria, using a poster and short video.
• ⇒   Benefit from unique networking opportunities with other young leaders as well as some of the most senior decision-makers in government, international development, academia and the private sector.
• ⇒ Attend a range of business development workshops, receive support from a dedicated start-up incubator and a cash prize of up to $3,000 to demonstrate the proposed solution.

How to Apply: Your proposed prototype model submission must not exceed 1-side of an A4 page and should include the following:

• Project Title
• Your solution (250 words)
• Partner Institution or Industry
• Expected impact (50 words)
• Short abstract (50 words)
• Design tools and method (50 words)
• Problem Statement (50 words)

Estimated costs and timeline (50 words)

• Submissions must be in Microsoft Word or PDF format by email to info@thenef.org.
• The subject line of the email should follow the format: [Country] Title of the Project.
• Submissions that exceed the word count may be disqualified. Shortlisted submissions would be invited to participate in the final round by submitting a 1-page poster to summarize their design, with a detailed budget, 2-page Design Brief, and a Short 2-minute video to describe a prototype model of the proposed solution.

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Nigeria Energy Forum

Important Notes: Disclaimer: By participating, applicants accept and understand the contest guidelines and agree to the decisions made by the judges; and to release, discharge or hold the Nigeria Energy Forum Committee from all claims arising from their participation in the contest. Participants also release the rights to their entries upon submission. The NEF team reserve the right to make changes to the contest

Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)/The World Academy of Sciences Regional Office for sub-Saharan Africa (TWAS-ROSSA)/American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Regional Training Workshop for African Researchers 2018

Application Deadline: 9th February 2018

Eligible Countries: Countries in sub-Saharan Africa

To Be Taken At (Country): South Africa

About the Award: Two trends are becoming clear in the early part of this century: the majority of challenges facing society have an international or global dimension; and science, technology and their applications underpin the cause of or the solution to these challenges. As a result, science and technology are becoming ever more embedded into the foreign policies and development agendas of nations. Moreover, cooperation in science and technology is increasingly benefiting
from both the technical and political interactions between states.

Given the growing role of science and technology in international relations, this 5-day workshop will expose participants to key contemporary international and regional science policy issues including large scientific collaborative infrastructure, transnational approaches to biodiversity conservation, food and energy security, water management and health, among others, while providing an overview of how science, technology and innovation contribute to policy development, global governance and conflict resolution.

Another focus of the meeting will be to gain a better understanding of, and appreciation for, the roles that governments, academia, international organisations and the private sector play in addressing complex science-based issues such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the different governance structures required for the involvement of these different stakeholders.

Finally, the workshop will take stock of science diplomacy case studies and experiences in the various forms that they take in Africa and build strong networks to foster the next generation of science diplomats in the region.

This workshop will encourage active interaction among participants, speakers and facilitators as they develop ideas and strategies to enhance science diplomacy in the region.

Type: Workshop, Training

Eligibility: 

• Applications are invited from young scientists (up to the age of 40), as well as scientists and/or government officials, etc., with more experience in the policymaking arena (‘science diplomacy ambassadors’).
• This training workshop is designed for young scientists (below the age of 40) living and working in sub-Saharan Africa and whose research and wider engagement has brought them into the international policy-making arena, as well as policymakers and diplomats interested in some of the central science-based themes that might influence their work, and representatives from NGOs and other sectors working at the science-diplomacy interface. Alumni will join a global
  network of young leaders and innovators reaching across borders to address societal challenges and become agents of change in their countries and sectors.
• Women from Science & Technology Lagging Countries (STLCs) are especially encouraged to apply. These countries include: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: Economy class flights, local transport and accommodation in South Africa will be covered for selected participants. A limited number of spaces for self-funded and partially-funded candidates will also be available. We encourage applicants to seek support from their institutions and to include a plan for how they will apply the newly gained knowledge and skills back in their organisation.

Duration of Program: 21 to 25 May 2018.

How to Apply: The completed application should be submitted via the online system which is accessible on: http://bit.ly/sciencedipcourse

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)/The World Academy of Sciences Regional Office for sub-Saharan Africa (TWAS-ROSSA)/American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

UNESCO/ISEDC Co-Sponsored Fellowships Program for Developing Countries 2018 – Russia

Application Deadline: 3rd April 2018

Offered Annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: See list below

To be Taken at (Country): Russia

About the Award: The aim of this fellowships programme is to enhance the capacity-building and human resources development in the area of sustainable and renewable energy sources in developing countries and countries in transition. The training activities in the framework of these fellowships are tenable in specialized institutions in the Russian Federation. The medium of instruction will be English. UNESCO will solicit applications from the developing countries and countries in transition.

Fields of Study: The candidates may choose to study in the following fields of study, which are aligned with UNESCO’s objectives and programme priorities, as per approved 35 C/5 and in accordance with the decisions made by the Executive Board (161 EX/Decision 3.6.3 and 165 EX/Decision 8.6) :

(a) Energy and sustainable development;
(b) Ecological management of energy resources;
(c) Renewable energy;
(d) Sustainable and renewable energy power generation.

Type: fellowship

Eligibility: Candidates must meet the following criteria:

(a) Holder of at least a BSc degree or BA in Economics;
(b) Proficient in English language;
(c) Not more than 35 years of age;

Number of Awards: Twenty (20)

Duration of Award: One month duration: from 1 to 26 October 2018.

AFRICA (46 Member States): Angola*, Benin*, Botswana, Burkina Faso*, Burundi*, Cameroon, Cape Verde*, Central African Republic*, Chad*, Comoros*, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo*, Djibouti*, Equatorial Guinea*, Eritrea*, Ethiopia*, Gabon, Gambia*, Ghana, Guinea*, Guinea-Bissau*, Kenya, Lesotho*, Liberia*, Madagascar*, Malawi*, Mali*, Mauritius, Mozambique*, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda*, Sao Tome and Principe*, Senegal*, Seychelles, Sierra Leone*, Somalia*, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo*, Uganda*, United Republic of Tanzania*, Zambia*, and Zimbabwe

ARAB STATES (15 Member States): Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania*, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan*, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Yemen*

ASIA and THE PACIFIC (39 Member States): Afghanistan*, Bangladesh*, Bhutan*, Cambodia*, China, Cook Islands, Federal States of Micronesia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Kazakhstan, Kiribati*, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic*, Malaysia, Maldives*, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Myanmar*, Nauru, Nepal*, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa*, Solomon Islands*, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor – Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu*, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu*, Viet Nam

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (32 Member States): Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia (plurinacional State of), Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti*, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela

EUROPE (22 Member States): Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Montenegro, Republic of Moldova, Republic of Serbia, Romania, Slovak Republic, The former Yugolsav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, and Ukraine

ASSOCIATE MEMBER STATE (1): Tokelau

How to Apply:

(a) All applications should be endorsed by the National Commission for UNESCO and must be duly completed in English or French with the following attachments in DUPLICATE:

• The prescribed UNESCO fellowship application form;
• Six photographs;
• Certified photocopies of Diplomas
• Certificate of English Language Proficiency.
• Subsequently, for those who have been selected, the UNESCO medical examination form duly completed by a recognized physician (not more than four months before the actual date of studies)

The prescribed form of which will be sent along with the letter of award.

(b) Files which are incomplete or received after the deadline for the submission of applications and candidatures, and do not fulfil the requirements mentioned above, will not be considered.
(c) Each invited Member State is requested to nominate not more than two (2) candidates.

Visit the Scholarship Webpage for Details

Sponsors: UNESCO, International Center for Sustainable Energy Development (ISEDC)

Important Notes: Selected fellows from countries where there are Russian Federation Embassies or Consulates must obtain their entry visa in their country prior to their departure. Fellows from countries where no such embassy/consulate exists must secure their visa through the nearest country where the Embassy or Consulate of the Russian Federation can be found.

UNESCO and ISEDC provide no allowance to defray passport and visa expenses.

World Citizen Talent Scholarship for International Students 2018/2019 – The Netherlands

Application Deadline: 31st March, 2018

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Students from outside the European Union (and not from Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland or Suriname)

To be taken at (country): The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands

Type: Bachelors/Masters

Eligibility: To be eligible for a World Citizen Talent Scholarship, candidate must:

• Come from outside the European Union (and not from Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland or Surinam).
• Be enrolling for the first time at The Hague University of Applied Sciences.
• have to pay the full institutional tuition fee rate.
• Have never applied for this scholarship before.
• Have not applied for the Holland Scholarship.
• Have been provisionally accepted as a student (also-called offer of student position) on or before 1 May 2018.

Selection Criteria: Appointed judges will select the 54 students whose essays will have impressed them most to receive the scholarship. The decision of the jury is binding and you will be informed about it via email before 15 May 2018.

Number of Awardees: 54

Value of Scholarship: €5,000.

Duration of Scholarship: One-time

How to Apply: To apply for the scholarship, you must first apply to the Bachelor or Master programme of your choice and write an essay following the essay guidelines.

1. Apply for the Master programme of your choice by using the online Osiris application tool.
2. Write an essay (in English, 950 to 1100 words ) explaining why and how you can contribute to the multinational, multicultural beehive that is The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Please read the essay guidelines and information on the assessment procedure below before you start writing.
3. Submit your essay by completing the scholarship application form between 1 November – 31 March.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands

Important Notes: Please note that you will only be awarded the scholarship after you have been conditionally accepted and have met all terms and conditions of enrolment. You will receive the scholarship amount of € 5.000, after your arrival in The Hague and have set up a Dutch bank account.