DiafrikInvest Europe-Africa Entrepreneurship Programme for African Entrepreneurs in Diaspora 2018

Application Deadline: 15th May 2018.

Eligible Countries: Africans of Morocco, Senegal or Tunisia origin living in Europe

About the Award: DiafrikInvest call for projects starts a new phase until 15 May 2018. 50 entrepreneurs of the diaspora will be supported in their business creation project, from Europe toward Morocco, Senegal or Tunisia. Your project might be the one we are looking for. Give it a boost!

Type: Entrepreneurship

Eligibility: 

• At least one of the project partners is Moroccan, Senegalese or Tunisian eand lives in the European Union
• I have a business project toward Morocco, Senegal or Tunisia

Selection Criteria: 

• Team
• Impact
• Innovation
• Funding
• Markets

Number of Awards: 50

Value of Award:

• Coaching
• Networking
• Business Events
• Financing contacts
• Visibility at national & international level

• AND FOR THE TOP 20…

…Take your project to the next level! Pitching tips, video shooting, invitation to 2 Investments Academies

Duration of Programme: 24 months

How to Apply: 

• Download the selection file!
• For more information: diaspora@agenceacim.com

Visit the Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: DiafrikInvest

The Damage Trump Has Done in the Middle East

Patrick Cockburn

When Donald Trump was sworn in as president at the start of last year, many predicted that he would be a less explosive presence in the White House than he had been during the campaign. They hoped that he would be restrained by the permanent political and bureaucratic establishment in Washington and argued that radicals in power turn into compliant conservatives and seek to preserve the status quo.

At about this time, a friend sent me a clipping of a New York Times editorial dated 31 January 1933, with the title “Germany Ventures”. The writer recognised that there were qualms at the appointment as the head of the German government of a man who “has openly scorned it” and threatened to destroy it. But the editorial is reassuringly confident that this would not happen, citing many reasons such as the opposition of his cabinet colleagues who would oppose him “if he sought to translate the wild and whirling words of his campaign speeches into political action”.

Other limitations on the new leader’s power also suggested that nothing much would change: German finances were in strong and conservative hands; attempts to establish a dictatorship would provoke a general strike; German foreign policy would be unchanged; and President Paul von Hindenburg could unmake the new chancellor just as quickly as he had made him.

In a classic piece of political miscalculation, the editorial writer reassured readers: “It may be that we will see the ‘tamed’ Hitler of whom some Germans are hopefully speaking,” he said. “Always we may look for some such transformation when a radical demagogue fights his way into responsible office.” Judgement of the new German leader should be suspended until he had shown if he was more than “a flighty agitator” who would “compel the German people to take a leap into the dark”.

I took the point at the time that the friend who had sent me the clipping was seeking to point out how easy it was to underestimate the degree to which demagogues can be even more power-hungry and destructive in office than they were before. But I did not use the clipping because I felt that it was premature to compare Trump to the elected dictators of the past – of whom Mussolini and Hitler are only the worst examples – who won a majority at the polls and then tried to eliminate all opposition to their authority at home and abroad.

From Napoleon III to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan today, populist nationalist strongmen have much in common: simpleminded slogans and vague promises guaranteed to win votes, attacks on independent media, contempt for the law (though lauding law and order), control and marginalisation of parliament, chauvinism, militarism, allegations of corruption and an incessant pursuit of power.

President Barack Obama predicted that Trump would find the American ship of state difficult to turn, but turn it did. The “grown-ups” in his cabinet, mostly former generals of whom so much as was expected, have come and gone. Those that remain are ignored and humiliated such as Secretary of State, Jim Mattis, who said that the Iran nuclear deal was doing its job.

Trump has been systematically blowing up the fixed points in American foreign policy, so the political temperature in the Middle East is continually rising. As one commentator put it, there are more unpredictable “moving parts” than ever before in the different crises, parts which may break loose at any moment.

This week saw the US pull out of the Iran nuclear accord and Israel make heavy airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria. But the coming week may bring almost equally dangerous developments: on 12 May there is the Iraqi parliamentary election in which no party is likely to win a majority. The US and Iran are backing different sides to try to ensure that the next Iraqi government is favourable to them. Iraqis fear their country will be the arena in which the US and Iran fight for supremacy, with the odds favouring the Iranians if only because they, like the majority of Iraqis, are Shia Muslims.

Practical questions will arise after the election: what, for instance, will be the future for the 10,000 US soldiers and military contractors in Iraq but whose presence is not as necessary as it was before the defeat of Isis? As the US imposes stringent economic sanctions on Iran, will it penalise individuals, banks and companies in Iraq doing business with Iran? Iran has every incentive to route part of its business through Baghdad, where the US will have to step lightly in order to avoid alienating local allies.

Within two days of the Iraqi election, the US Embassy in Israel will move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Israeli and American flags will flutter in every street and there will be 150 giant billboards with the face of Donald Trump on them. This will happen on 14 May, the same day as tens of thousands of Palestinians will march in Gaza to try to break through the fence surrounding the enclave.

The demonstration comes at the end of seven weeks of protests called the “Great March of Return” in which the Palestinians sought to reassert their right to return to the land in Israel from which they were expelled or fled in 1947. At least 43 Palestinians have been killed and 1,700 wounded in the protests so far. The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians has long been moribund, but Trump is brazenly saying to the Palestinians that they count for nothing and can expect nothing from diplomacy.

The danger is that, like so many other populist nationalist strongmen, Trump will overplay his hand. From the eastern borders of Afghanistan to the Mediterranean, the US position is not strong. He looks to local powers like Israel and Saudi Arabia but they can do less for him than he imagines. There is a diplomatic price to be paid for ignoring European and other allies who see that appeasement of Trump gets them nowhere and is despised as a sign of weakness.

The problem is that Trump’s vision of the Middle East is made up of gobbets of neo-conservative propaganda supplemented by the self-serving views of Israeli and Saudi leaders. He may imagine that the Palestinian issue will go away, though it has stubbornly refused to do so for the past century. He may think that Iraq can be detached politically from Iran, but this is not going to happen. He appears to expect economic sanctions to lead to regime change or abject surrender by Iran, but there is no reason to believe this will happen. Trump may not intend war in the Middle East, but he cannot get what he wants without one – and maybe not even then.

The Eclipsing Iran Deal-Truth And Consequences

Arshad M Khan

International treaties and agreements are between countries — not between leaders or governments, for if that were the case they would not be worth the paper they were written on.  The Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union was signed in 1972.  Bush II withdrew unilaterally in 2001 citing a changed world.  On June 1, 2017, Donald Trump announced the U.S. will cease all participation in the Paris Climate Treaty signed two years earlier.  On Tuesday last he quit the Iran deal.

Two days later, the White House released the date and location of Mr. Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong-Un.  One can only wonder what Kim is thinking.  The last person voluntarily giving up nuclear weapons received a bayonet colonoscopy — hardly anyone’s preferred exit from this world — and that at the hands of the allies of a Nobel Peace Laureate US president.  Fortunately, the circumstances in North Korea’s case are quite different:  the other party, South Korea, is stable, seeks closer relations, in fact is the prime mover in the current initiative.

On the Iran deal breakup, the fallout is telling.  The major European countries (UK, France and Germany) have the most to lose economically — a huge Airbus airplane contract is just one example.  Always intended as a bargain, the deal offered Iran re-entry into world commerce in exchange for giving up nuclear ambitions.  The U.S. now threatens reprisals against any companies violating its edict:  obey U.S. sanctions or else … .  The Europeans could choose to present a united front and protect their companies through legislation and similar reprisals.  But who wants such an economic war?  The companies themselves are likely to have commercial interests in the U.S. dwarfing anything in Iran.

The European hope lies now in a Trumpian disaster for the Republicans in the November midterm elections followed by ignominious defeat in the presidential election.  But elections turn on the unexpected, and these countries’ pusillanimous responses only exposes them to the world as true US vassals.

Terminating a peace agreement inevitably raises the prospect of war.  It would be a disaster.  Iran commands the Strait of Hormuz and a blocked Persian Gulf could see a quadrupling or more in the price of oil, bringing the current economic and stock market boom to a crashing end.  Missile attacks from Iran and its ally Hezbollah would cause havoc in Israel’s cities; asymmetric warfare in Syria and Iraq would cost American lives.

Doubtless, Iran would be drawn closer into the Russian-Chinese orbit and might even sign a defense pact with Russia — perhaps earlier still if it felt the approaching winds of war.

For all these reasons, war may appear to be a long shot, yet Trump’s advisors, notably, John Bolton and Mike Pompeo harbor an irrational hatred towards the country and Benjamin Netanyahu imagines it to be the last viable threat to neutralize.  He also has a corruption indictment hanging over him, while Trump has his own legal troubles.

On the other hand, a bellicose Trump is just that … bellicose.  As with North Korea, he could well be seeking a deal on better terms, namely, more restrictions for Iran in the future.  Iran will not surrender its missiles; it might be more accommodating on future enrichment of nuclear fuels.

Let’s hope reason prevails … sometimes it does.  Look at North Korea!

Seven killed in South Africa gold mine collapse

 Eddie Haywood

Seven South African miners were killed on May 3 following the collapse of a mineshaft at a gold mine in Driefontein, near Carletonville, Gauteng. The collapse resulted from a 2.2 magnitude earthquake that caused a massive rock fall, which buried 13 miners. Six of the miners were trapped for several hours under the rubble, but were ultimately rescued.

The Masakhane gold mine is operated by mining giant Sibanye-Stillwater, headquartered in Johannesburg. The company is the largest producer of gold in South Africa and one of the largest gold producers in the world.

The incident follows a series of disastrous accidents at the mining company, including January’s calamity at Beatrix mine near Welkom in which 1,000 miners were trapped for over thirty hours due to a power outage. In February, a section of the Sibanye-Stillwater-owned Kloof gold mine collapsed, killing two miners. The company was forced to shut down operations temporarily pending a whitewash investigation.

Also in February, a mineworker at the Masakhane mine was crushed to death by a box containing gold ore.

The latest incident comes amid an overall rise in fatal mining accidents across the country in recent years. In 2017, 88 miners were killed in various accidents, a sharp increase over the previous year, in which 73 were killed. Since the start of 2018, there have been 33 mine deaths across South Africa.

In a cynical display of feigned sympathy for the miners killed, Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman told South African media that the company was working with the Department of Mineral Resources to “conduct a comprehensive investigation into the incident to prevent similar occurrences.”

Illustrating the ruthless drive for profit by Sibanye-Stillwater at the expense of workers, Froneman told the media in February of his approval of “business-friendly” US president Donald Trump. “America has become a very friendly place from a mining point of view, that’s one good thing that Trump has done,” he said.

South Africa’s trade union federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), and its affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), last week picketed the headquarters of Sibanye-Stillwater in Johannesburg, with union officials demanding action on the company’s deteriorating mine safety standards.

NUM president Thamsanqa Piet Matosa said, “If safety measures had been implemented, this incident would not have happened. We believe Sibanye could have done more. We are here to remind the Chamber of Mines to ensure that mining companies observe the law. Miners have the right to be safe.”

Piet Matosa went on to condemn Sibanye-Stillwater’s treatment of mineworkers. “These people [the employers] are into profits,” he said. “They have no respect for workers. Some have never been underground to see the conditions of work. It is neglectful to send people who are not properly trained underground just to make profits.”

The declarations of the NUM are completely cynical and dishonest. The NUM, along with the ruling ANC government, with former NUM leader Cyril Ramaphosa at its head, coordinated the creation of the Farlam Commission to whitewash the NUM and ANC’s responsibility for the killing of 17 miners by South African police. The massacre occurred after mineworkers began a wildcat strike over low pay and intolerable working conditions at two Lonmin mines at Marikana in 2012.

The South African trade union bureaucracy has sought to bind the working masses to the pro-capitalist and corrupt ANC government.

Miners frequently experience catastrophic accidents due to the mining companies’ skirting of safety procedures in their drive to cut costs. But, with only the rarest of exceptions, no mining executives or directors are ever brought to account for their company’s criminal negligence.

The hazardous working conditions mineworkers face are by no means isolated to South Africa, or even the mining sector. Internationally, workers across all economic sectors face extremely hazardous working conditions.

In Poland, seven miners were trapped after an earthquake struck the Zofiowka mine on May 5, resulting in a tunnel collapse that left four miners dead. Two more were rescued and one remains missing. Mineworkers in Poland face extremely hazardous working conditions. In 2017, 15 miners were killed in accidents. So far in 2018, eight have been killed.

On May 4 in Pakistan, 23 coalminers were killed at mines in two separate incidents after methane gas explosions collapsed the mines. Sixteen were killed at Marwar coalfields and an additional five went missing. At Spin Carez a gas explosion-induced collapse left seven dead.

In the United States, the World Socialist Web Site has reported the case of Shannon Allen, an Amazon warehouse worker who was injured while performing her duties at a fulfillment center in Haslet, Texas. The treatment she has received at the hands of Amazon epitomizes the exploitation of the working class under capitalism.

The mine disaster in South Africa comes amid growing popular opposition to the ANC government of Cyril Ramaphosa, an administration that is staggeringly corrupt.

After suffering years of stagnant wages and a skyrocketing cost of living, public workers have threatened to strike, demanding that the government grant a 12 percent increase in wages. Workers are also demanding increased spending for public education and health care.

At one pole, five individuals in South Africa are worth a combined $14 billion, while at the other pole the South African masses experience chronic unemployment, lack of affordable education and health care, and a generalized decline in living standards.

The ANC, after coming to power nearly 25 years ago at the end of apartheid, has presided over an astonishing rise of social inequality. The ANC’s decades-long attack on the living standards of the working class shows the impossibility of securing social and political justice for the South African masses within the post-apartheid capitalist framework.

Spain: Facebook to install its “Ministry of Truth” in Barcelona

Alejandro López

Facebook, the world’s largest social media company, is looking to open an “internet content control center” in the iconic Torre Glòries in the Spanish city of Barcelona. This modern-day iteration of Orwell’s Ministry of Truth will implement Facebook’s latest “community guidelines” to censor content on the social media platform under the catch-all phrase of “combating fake news.”

Two weeks ago, the Competence Call Center (CCC) rented 9,000 square meters in eight floors of the towering emblematic building. The company, used by Facebook to implement its censorship guidelines, had already opened another censorship center in Germany in Essen, a model it will now replicate in Barcelona, according to Spanish economic newspaper Cinco Días.

The same daily announced the new offices will be staffed by around 500 employees. A source at real estate consulting company Engels & Völkers told EFE that the Barcelona branch of the Competence Call Center, Holding GmbH, will have Facebook employees assigned to its premises.

Barcelona was chosen by Facebook after reaching an outsourcing agreement with CCC, the sources told EFE.

Although the direct tenant will not be Facebook, which has not made any statements, CCC sources assured El Periódico that the task of the new staff in Barcelona will be to delete videos, publications and photos that violate the rules of the social network.

The announcement comes weeks after Facebook spelled out its new “community guidelines.” Purely at its own discretion, and with no legal oversight or recourse, Facebook will target any critical political view deemed to be violent, defamatory, “extremist,” “bullying” or “fake news,” and flag such material for removal or undetectable censorship.

In its new guidelines, Facebook users will not even know their content is being blocked from distribution as “fake news” because such censorship is a “sensitive issue,” i.e., it would infuriate users aware that their democratic rights are being violated.

The new 500 employees will join Facebook’s 20,000 censors working for the company’s “security” and “moderation” departments.

The Catalan political elite has not waited to celebrate Facebook’s entry in Barcelona.

The local government of Barcelona, controlled by the pseudo-left Barcelona en Comú (Catalan for Barcelona in Common), welcomed Facebook’s announcement. The Councilor for Tourism, Trade and Markets of Barcelona, Agustí Colom, said that the city council will contact the company to help and facilitate its "landing" in the city. He added that “it’s great news that goes in line with the economic growth of the city which has not stopped attracting investment in recent years.”

The spokesperson of the opposition Catalan separatist Democratic European Party of Catalonia (PDeCAT) said that “this is good news for Barcelona and Catalonia,” adding that it showed the viability of Catalan independence.

The other political parties also welcomed the arrival of Facebook, with a Socialist Party representative declaring this would create “quality jobs.”

Alongside nakedly financial considerations, faced with growing social opposition, the contending political forces on both sides of the divide over Catalan independence agree that political discourse should be controlled and censored by Facebook—which works with the military and intelligence apparatus all over the world to suppress critical news outlets.

The day before it was announced that Facebook would be “landing” in Barcelona, an event to discuss “fake news” was organized by Spain’s daily El País and other European media outlets from the Leading European Newspaper Alliance (LENA).

The conference was attended by representatives from Google and Facebook, Members of the European Parliament from major European political parties, and the eight editors-in-chief from the LENA newspapers: EL País, Le Figaro, Le Soir, Die Welt, Gazeta Wyborcza, La Repubblica, Tages-Anzeiger and Tribune de Genève.

The tone was set by Jaume Duch, the spokesperson of the European Parliament and its Director-General of Communication. Duch said that within the European institutions “there is a real concern about a possible negative impact of the ‘fake news’ and the interventions of third parties in the next year,” in a reference to Russia.

Pilar Castillo from Spain’s right-wing governing Popular Party called for a system to “abort the consequences of fake news arrivals that aim to impact the elections to the European Parliament.” In her view, this system should be developed as soon as possible by the European institutions in the form of “preventive shock therapy” because “it would take a long time” to develop legislation on the matter.

The social democratic Member of the European Parliament, Iratxe García, advocated the adoption of legislative measures.

Maite Pagazaurtundúa, a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), referred to fake news as “a transnational problem” and called for the adoption of measures to “avoid something catastrophic in the next elections.”

The message stemming from the conference was clear. Bourgeois politicians and the media of all stripes are preparing the next pretext to clamp down on the Internet and democratic rights: Russian interference in the 2019 European elections.

This was made clear the following day by an editorial in El País:

“Stopping anti-European messages from gaining ground requires the cooperation of tech companies such as Google and Facebook. The first, albeit insufficient, step is for tech companies to change their algorithms so that fake news is given a lower ranking and is harder to find online, and quality content is given greater visibility. It is also important to educate people so that they develop a social and critical awareness that is able to see through deceptive arguments …

“Adopting these measures from a global perspective, in which all European states are involved, is the only way the EU will be able to successfully fight against the challenges posed by disinformation.”

This comes from a newspaper which four months ago was forced by a court to publish a correction for a fraudulent and demagogic article on Catalan public television TV3. The article concocted a list of false “facts” to back its argument that one of the reasons behind the growth of Catalan nationalism is the role played by Catalan public television. El País also sacked its regular collaborator, John Carlin, for having published a piece in The Times critical of the Spanish government and the king’s roles with regard to the situation in Catalonia.

On December 19, a UK Parliamentary Select Committee began an inquiry into Russian interference in foreign elections. Among those invited to give their expert opinion was a Spanish delegation comprising David Alandete, managing director of El País. The daily has published over 50 articles talking about Russian “interference” in the Catalan referendum on independence last October.

Under questioning from Members of Parliament, Alandete and others in the Spanish delegation were forced to admit that they did not actually have any evidence that Russian news sources had influenced the Catalan referendum result. In other words, all the articles were fabrications.

Rather than denounce the hypocrisy of this and the role played by the bourgeois media in promoting “fake news” to defend austerity, war and attacks on democratic rights, the pseudo-left Podemos is colluding in this process.

Miguel Urbán, MEP for Podemos and a leading Pabloite, participated in the fraudulent conference organized by El País. Advising his fellow politicians, he said that it was necessary to improve “digital literacy and transparency” and that he was opposed to “laws [passed] on the spur of the moment.”

Israel marks 70th anniversary amid war crimes and deepening social crisis

Bill Van Auken

Israel today marks the 70th anniversary of the declaration establishing a Jewish state in Palestine, which coincided with the end of the British mandate established following the defeat of the Ottoman empire in World War I.

This year, the anniversary will be marked by Israeli troops shooting Palestinian demonstrators on the Gaza border and stoking up war fever against Iran.

The anniversary will be overshadowed by the formal opening of a new US embassy in Jerusalem, a violation of international law ordered by the Trump administration that has put a final nail into the coffin of the so-called “peace process” between Israel and the Palestinians and the illusion of a “two-state solution.”

It will also be the occasion for another round of bloodshed at the heavily militarized Gaza security fence, where for over six weeks thousands of Palestinians have demonstrated in what has been declared the “Great March of Return.” Over this period, some 50 demonstrators had been killed, and many thousands wounded, as the Israel Defense Forces have been given shoot-to-kill orders against unarmed protesters. On Monday, Israeli forces killed a further 37 demonstrators, and injured more than 500.

The protests are bound up with the origins of the state of Israel and their historical consequences. The demonstrators are demanding their right of return to the homes and villages from which they were expelled 70 years ago in what Palestinians refer to as the Naqba, or catastrophe. Some quarter of a million Palestinians were driven from their land through a systematic campaign of terrorism and intimidation, a gigantic act of “ethnic cleansing” designed to carve out a Jewish state based on race and religion.

The actions of Washington, both the transfer of its embassy to Jerusalem and the ripping up of the nuclear agreement between the major world powers and Iran, have been celebrated by the right-wing Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They have given this regime what amounts to a green light to both redouble the violent suppression of the Palestinian people and to launch military attacks in Syria that are aimed at provoking a confrontation with Iran that could spiral into a catastrophic region-wide conflagration.

Israel’s rulers are deliberately whipping up war fever as a means of directing outward the immense social tensions building up within Israeli society and diverting attention from the series of corruption scandals that have implicated the entire political establishment, from Netanyahu on down.

Given the events unfolding today, the criminal celebration by US and Israeli officials of the embassy move, and the new round of carnage on the Gaza-Israel border, there will be little attention paid to the great world historical questions bound up with Israel’s origins and development, which are inextricably tied to the fate of the working class in the 20th century and the historic crisis of revolutionary leadership.

It was to these essential historical questions that the World Socialist Web Site pointed in 1998 on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel.

“Within Israel’s birth and evolution are concentrated the great unresolved contradictions of the 20th century. Its essential origins lie in one of history’s greatest crimes against humanity, the Nazi Holocaust. The extermination of six million European Jews was, in turn, the terrible price paid for the crisis of the working class movement brought on by the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union and the Communist International. Stalinism’s crimes and its domination over the workers movement prevented the working class from putting an end to the crisis-ridden capitalist system, which found in fascism its last line of defense.

“The defeats of the working class, the crimes of Stalinism and the horrors of the Holocaust created the historical conditions for Israel’s creation and the Zionist movement’s largely successful attempt, aided both by US imperialism and Stalinism, to equate Zionism with world Jewry. It was a movement and a state founded ultimately on discouragement and despair. Stalinism’s betrayals produced disillusionment in the socialist alternative that had exercised such a powerful appeal to Jewish working people all over the world. The crimes of German fascism were presented as the ultimate proof that it was impossible to vanquish anti-Semitism in Europe or anywhere else. Zionism’s answer was to get a state and an army and beat the historical oppressors of the Jewish people at their own game.

“The tragic irony of this supposed solution is Israel’s association of the Jewish people—traditionally and historically connected with the struggle for tolerance and freedom—with the brutal suppression of another oppressed population.”

In the 20 years since the publication of the 1998 statement by the WSWS, the malignant contradictions within Israeli society have only deepened. The number of inhabitants in the illegal Zionist settlements in the territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 war—the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Syria’s Golan Heights—has risen from 160,000 to over 600,000.

While Israel withdrew its troops and settlements from the Gaza Strip, it remains an occupied territory, effectively an open-air prison over which Tel Aviv exercises direct control in terms of borders, air and maritime space, while dictating the conditions of mass unemployment and poverty in a territory whose average income is roughly equivalent to that of Congo. The IDF has launched repeated wars against the territory that have claimed the lives of thousands of civilians, while devastating essential infrastructure. This near-genocidal campaign continues to this day with the slaughter of demonstrators on the Gaza border.

Real wages have been falling steadily since 2000 in the West Bank under the nominal rule of the Palestinian Authority, which has functioned as an auxiliary police force for the Israeli occupation, while enriching a thin layer of corrupt PLO officials and businessmen.

Within Israel itself, which ranks second only to the United States as the most socially unequal member nation of the OECD, and where the poverty rate stands at 22 percent—55 percent for Israeli Palestinians and one third for the country’s children—class tensions are growing.

Israeli dock workers ended a three-day strike Sunday under a court back-to-work order after shutting down the ports of Eilat, Haifa and Ashdod. Last December saw a nationwide strike against the decision of the generic pharmaceutical giant Teva to lay off a quarter of its workforce, and municipal workers in Jerusalem staged a walkout in January, blocking access to the Knesset with garbage trucks, over threatened mass layoffs and failure to receive their wages.

Seventy years after the founding of the state of Israel, it is now clearer than ever that there is no national solution to problems confronting any section of the working class across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Only the unification of Jewish and Arab workers across the region on the basis of a socialist and internationalist program can provide a way out of today’s bloody and increasingly dangerous impasse.

Samsung Junior Engineering Academy for Young Students (Fully-funded to Seoul, South Korea) 2018

Application Deadline: 22nd May 2018

Eligible Countries: International

To Be Taken At (Country): Samsung Global Engineering Center, Seoul, Korea

About the Award: Winners of the Junior Engineering Academy will be given the opportunities to participate in the 2018 Junior Engineering Academy which program includes specialist lecture, laboratory demonstrations and experiments, hands-on project, presentation competition and a variety of other activities in order to advance their awareness on the role and commitment to energy efficiency, energy conservation, and mitigating energy-related impacts on the environment. Junior Engineering Academy will be held at Samsung GEC, headquarter of Samsung Engineering in Seoul, South Korea.

Purpose of the Junior Engineering Academy:

• To raise awareness among youth within the community towards conservation of the environment and energy efficiency
• To grow future eco-leaders by enhancing global leadership resulting from participating a variety of activities throughout the Academy
• To fulfill the social responsibility through educating the future generation

Type: Training

Eligibility: 

A. Participants: Eco-generation members around the world aged between 14 and 16

B. Facilitator: Eco-generation member aged 18 or older

• Effective date of age determination is as of 22nd May, 2018.
• To create an account and to become an Eco-generation member, please click here.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: Free flight tickets and accommodations will be provided to the selected global participants and facilitators

Duration of Programme: August 6^th~ 10^th, 2018

How to Apply: 

A. Please make a Video clip of you talking about ‘Why I should attend this Junior Engineering Academy’ within 2 minutes.

– Please tell us about your dream in the future and why it’s important to relate engineering with your dream.

B. Please upload it to Youtube (www.youtube.com) with UNLISTED option. You may use other streaming or cloud service to upload your video.

C. Please write a brief of your clip in the content box.

•        – Go to the Application Form page (Click here).
•        – Please write a brief of your video clip in the content column.
•       – Copy your Youtube link or downloadable video link and paste it in the URL box under Content box.
•        – Attach your CV in the attachment column. (MS word and pdf type only)
•        – Complete the application by clicking the Submit button.
•        – To check your application, please visit Home>E-gen Event>Monthly Event>My Page
•          * Application Guide: Please visit this LINK

Visit the Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Samsung Engineering.Co., Ltd.

Global Good Fellowship for Entrepreneurs 2019

Application Deadline: 30th June 2018

Eligible Countries: All

To be taken at (country): Washington, D. C., US

About the Award: The Global Good Fund Fellowship is a 12-month program supporting the leadership development of young social entrepreneurs across the globe. The Global Good Fund develops these innovators by pairing them with executives who serve as Mentors, and by providing leadership assessment resources, a network of peers, sector expertise, and targeted financial capital.
The result is empowered leaders who scale their social enterprises and ultimately deliver sustainable social impact. We believe growing leaders is the most effective strategy for solving complex social problems and achieving global good.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: In order to be considered for the fellowship, candidates must meet the following minimum requirements:

• Enterprise that the candidate leads is at least one-year old;
• Enterprise must have at least one full-time employee in addition to the candidate;
• Candidate is committed full‐time to running his/her enterprise;
• Candidate is under 40 years of age (if 40 or older, explain rationale for joining fellowship);
• Candidate should not be currently receiving formal coaching/mentoring support;
• Candidate has to be in a position where s/he has decision making power.

Candidates who meet the requirements will be invited to participate in Phase II of the application process.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Program: Following a rigorous five-stage process, selected Global Good Fund Fellows embark on a structured 12-month journey of experiential learning, executive mentoring and that leverages proprietary leadership development tools and methods honed since 2012. At our core is The Global Good Fund 360 MIRROR – the first evidence-based leadership assessment created specifically for social entrepreneurs. Our proven leadership development tools and services are also available to individuals, social enterprise organizations, NPOs and impact-driven corporations.
Each Fellow receives a leadership development grant of up to $10,000. These funds are used explicitly for LDP implementation and leadership development with a special focus on experiential learning.

Duration of Program: 12 months (Jan 1-Dec 31 2019)

How to Apply: Apply here

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details

Award Provider: The Global Good Fund

Paradigm Initiative Digital Rights and Inclusion Media Fellowship 2018

Application Deadline: 30th May 2018

Eligible Countries: African countries

To Be Taken At (Country): Nigeria

About the Award: The Paradigm Initiative Digital Rights and Inclusion Media Fellowship 2018 seeks to embed media professionals within the daily work of Paradigm Initiative in the fields of digital rights and digital inclusion in Africa. Starting from August 2018, Media Fellows will work out of our offices in Yaba, Ajegunle Lagos; Aba, Abuja and Kano in Nigeria. Applications is open to Journalists working in Africa. This fellowship seeks to expose media professionals to an under-reported field of work in national development and hopes to increase reporting on digital rights and inclusion in Nigeria and beyond.

Type: Fellowship (Professional)

Eligibility: To be eligible for the Paradigm Initiative Digital Rights and Inclusion Media Fellowship:

• The Fellowship is open to journalists affiliated with mainstream print and online newspapers in Africa
• Interested candidates must demonstrate previous coverage of human rights and/or tech issues and interest in advocacy journalism
• Interested candidates must not have spent more than ten years in journalism. We are most interested in outstanding, early career journalists

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: 

• 2-day Orientation and Digital Rights/Inclusion training
• 2-week residency at Paradigm Initiative’s offices in Nigeria. The Fellow will spend time at the Yaba HQ, Aba LIFE Centre, Abuja office, Ajegunle LIFE Centre and Kano LIFE Centre
• 4-month virtual collaboration with Paradigm Initiative
• Fellowship may also include fully-funded local and international travels to participate in and cover relevant events
  Interaction with leading stakeholders in digital rights advocacy

EXPECTATIONS

• Fellows will be expected to participate in all scheduled activities
• Fellows will be expected to publish, in their affiliated newspapers or magazines, at least twelve reports on digital rights and inclusion issues during the fellowship period. Fellows will retain full editorial direction on the stories
• Fellows will be expected to continue to provide coverage to digital rights and inclusion issues after their fellowship
• Paradigm Initiative will provide fellows with a monthly stipend, and a one-time research grant, during the fellowship period.

Duration of Programme: 5-month programme (August to December 2018)

How to Apply: Fill the application form below:

Visit the Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Paradigm Initiative

Science and Language Mobility Scheme Africa for African Researchers 2018

Application Deadline: 25th May 2018.

Eligible Countries: African countries

About the Award: The Science and Language Mobility Scheme Africa is a five-year programme that funds researchers from Anglo and Francophone Africa to undertake scientific research in language regions other than their own.  The programme seeks to build language skills and cultural capabilities of researchers as they undertake their projects, a strategy towards addressing one of the barriers to intra- Africa scientific collaboration.
It is a collaboration between the African Academy of Sciences, Wellcome and Institut Pasteur providing travel grants for short term visits of up to six months to African researchers. At the AAS, the scheme will be implemented through the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA).

Scope: Science and Language Mobility Scheme Africa is a closed call.  Applicants will be grantees funded through the AAS and the NEPAD Agency’s AESA platform, such as the Human Hereditary and Health in Africa (H3 Africa), the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science (DELTAS) Africa, and Institut Pasteur networks.
The scientific scope of applications should focus on biomedical science and public health of relevance to national, regional or global health.

Type: Grants

Eligibility: You should:

• Be a citizen of an African country
• Be based in Africa
• Be affiliated with a recognised academic, medical or research institution that is part of either the DELTAS Africa, H3Africa, or Institut Pasteur networks.  For-profit organisations are not eligible
• The call is also open to non-African investigators who must be resident in Africa (evidence may be requested), have an appointment/affiliation with an African institution, and their residence and tenure of service with the appointing African institution should cover the duration of the award.
• Possess a PhD or postdoctoral fellowship or equivalent research qualification/professional experience.
• Hold a permanent or fixed-term contract in an eligible institution which must span the duration of the exchange.

While applications that involve existing collaborations will be considered, applications from new collaborations, young/early-career researchers (postdoctoral researcher not in an established academic post), and a diverse range of applicants, particularly female are strongly encouraged.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: The Award provides travel grants for short term visits of up to six months to African researchers.

How to Apply: Apply here

Visit the Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: African Academy of Sciences, Wellcome and Institut Pasteur

TWAS Young Affiliates Programme for Researchers from Developing Countries 2018

Application Deadline: 31st May 2018.

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries

About the Award: The honour is given to researchers from developing nations who have at least 10 international publications. The nominees should show potential for a high-impact career. During their five-year tenure, Young Affiliates build networks with other affiliates and with elected TWAS Fellows. They also attend international conferences such as the TWAS General Meeting where they make contributions and are exposed to mentoring as well as collaboration opportunities. The five selected TWAS Young Affiliates will also be part of and work closely with the TWAS Young Affiliates Network (TYAN) which was established in 2016 during the 27^th TWAS General Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda.

Type: Award, Research
Eligibility: To be eligible for the TWAS Young Affiliates:

• Nominations are invited from TWAS and AAS fellows, Members of National Academies and fellows, Members of National Young Academies of Science, Research Institutions, Research Councils, Universities, Government entities and other such bodies that have or know this talent in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Nominations of female and young scientists from Science and Technological Lagging Countries is highly encouraged.
• Nominees must be aged 40 or less and living and working in a developing country.

Number of Awards: 5

Value of Award: 

• Young Affiliates build networks with other affiliates and with elected TWAS Fellows.
• They also attend international conferences such as the TWAS General Meeting where they make contributions and are exposed to mentoring as well as collaboration opportunities.

Duration of Programme: 5 years

How to Apply: All nominations for the TWAS Young Affiliates must be forwarded to twasrossa@assaf.org.za by 31 May 2018. Please note that late submissions will not be considered.

Visit the Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: TWAS-ROSSA

FINCAD Women in Finance Scholarship for Postgraduate Studies 2018

Application Deadline: 30th June 2018

Offered Annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: All

To be taken at (University): Any university accredited by the national or international body approved for that purpose in the country where the university is situated.

About the Award: FINCAD established the annual FINCAD Women in Finance Scholarship to encourage and support outstanding women in the field of finance, particularly relating to the use of derivatives in capital markets and/or financial risk management, and give them an opportunity to cultivate their skills and knowledge.

Type: Master/PhD degree

Eligibility: 

• The scholarship is open to women of any age and citizenship who are studying Finance in an accredited graduate-level program.
• The scholarship will be awarded to a deserving applicant who is enrolled in a post-graduate program with an emphasis on finance, particularly relating to the use of derivatives in capital markets and/or financial risk management. If your field of study does not meet that description, DO NOT APPLY.
• Applications and all supporting documents, except university transcripts must be in English.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Programme: The Scholarship is an award of US$10,000 to support graduate-level studies.

How to Apply: It is important to go through the application procedure and visit the Program Webpage (link below) before applying for this scholarship.

Visit Programme Webpage for details

Award Provider: FINCAD

Important Notes: The winner will be notified in Autumn 2018.

United Nations Office in Africa Young Professionals Programme (Paid) 2018 – Malawi

Application Deadline: 13th May 2018

To Be Taken At (Country): Malawi

Type: Internship

About the Award: The UNDP Young Professional Programme (YPP) is designed for highly qualified and motivated young Malawian professionals recently graduated from Masters programmes or in some cases, from Bachelor’s Degree programmes. The programme provides an opportunity to start a development career through “on the job’ professional development that can be based on learning from UNDP’s programmes, policies and operations. Training and learning will be part of the day to day activities under the UN Young Professional Programme.

Eligibility: Candidates for the UNDP YPP will be selected on a highly competitive basis. The key qualifications required for consideration will include one to be under 30 years of age and having an academic qualification, as outlined in respective Terms of Reference (Master’s degree while in some cases, bachelor’s degrees, completed not more than 2 years ago. The candidates will be offered a Service Contract for a maximum 2 years, renewable each year.

Number of Awards: It is estimated that a total of 10 professionals will be recruited in 2018.

Value of Award: Successful candidates will receive an “all-inclusive package ” to cover living and travel costs.

Duration of Programme: 1 year renewable to a maximum of 2 years (Estimated start date would be 1st June – 1st July 2018.).

How to Apply: Apply for any of the positions you asre interested in, on the Programme Webpage (see Link below)

Visit the Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: The United Nations

Important Notes: The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

ACME/International Land Coalition (ILC) Journalism Workshop for African Journalists (Fully-funded to Uganda) 2018

Application Deadline: 18th May 2018

Eligible Countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

To Be Taken At (Country): Kampala, Uganda.

About the Award:  The goal of the training is to accelerate reporting on land rights/governance in Africa by bringing together investigative journalists and ILC members to lead data-driven and knowledge-based investigations and informed advocacy on land.
The journalists will work with experts from ILC and other entities on knowledge aspects, and with ACME trainers on skills elements such as investigation and compelling storytelling. Much of the training will be informed by Transparency International’s manual on Investigating Land and Corruption in Africa, and will be organised around land investigations planning, land rights and corruption, and land story research and presentation. ILC partners will share case studies. Each journalist will be expected to write at least one story after the training. A small grant for story research and production will be made available.

Type: Training, Workshop

Eligibility: The training targets five journalists primarily from sub-Saharan African countries with active ILC membership. Also participating in the training will be five ILC members. ILC operates in the following countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Number of Awards: 5

Value of Award: The organizers will cover participants’ travel, accommodation, meals and incidentals.

Duration of Programme: June 20 to 22 2018

How to Apply: Send in three sets of documents.

1. The first document is a letter indicating who you are (bio-data – including your contact info), your job title and media house, how long you have worked as a journalist for, whether you have reported on land issues before, and why you would like to participate in this training.
2. The second document is two samples of your best journalistic work.
3. And the third is a letter from your editor endorsing your application. The editor’s letter should include his or her email address and phone number.

Send the application materials to training@acme-ug.org with a copy to btabaire@acme-ug.org and israel@landcoalition.info before close of business on Friday, 18 May 2018.

Visit the Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: International Land Coalition (ILC), African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME).

RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs Competition (Fully-funded to Nairobi, Kenya) 2018

Eligible Countries: African countries
Application Deadline: 31st August 2018

To Be Taken At (Country): Nairobi, Kenya

About the Award: The 2018 RUFORUM Young African Entrepreneurs Competition (RUYAEC) whose overall purpose is to catalyse entrepreneurship through promotion of business innovation and provision of seed funding to young entrepreneurs with creative and innovative business ideas among African youth. RUYAEC invites young (<35 years) African entrepreneurs and incubates to compete for 10 awards to show case their innovations, enterprises and business concepts and propositions.
The focus is for the young entrepreneurs to share their stories at an international stage with close to 1200 participants drawn from academia, business and industry, development organisations, practitioners and philanthropists. It is hoped that through this competition, young entrepreneurs’ business concepts, impact, innovation and business opportunities can be expanded.
While the focus of this competition is on innovation in agribusiness, other innovations, incubations, business enterprises and business concepts along ICTs, health, engineering, natural resources, meteorology, urbanization, green economy, and transport and communication, among other areas, will be considered.

Type: Entrepreneurship

Eligibility: Applications are invited from enterprises and individuals that meet the following eligibility criteria.

• Persons with an established business enterprise and/or those with innovations that can potentially be commercialized and/or those with business concepts
• The business enterprise/potential enterprise should have a defined business model that show case the innovativeness of the proposed enterprise/business/innovation.
• Persons in the age category 16-34 years
• Submissions should be in English or French using the template provided.

Value of Award: The ten (10) competitively selected business enterprises will receive all expenses paid trip (air
ticket, conference registration, and hotel costs) for participation at the RUFORUM Biennial Conference (22-26 October, 2018) in Nairobi, Kenya. The selected young entrepreneurs will receive a cash price award.

How to Apply: All applications should be submitted through the www.ruforum.org/younginnovators/

Visit the Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: RUFORUM