Cracks in the House of Saud

Patrick Cockburn

Over the past half century, critics have often predicted the fall of the House of Saud or emphasised the fragility of its rule. They were invariably proved wrong because the Saudi monarchy enjoyed limitless oil revenues, had the support of the US, and avoided becoming a front-line combatant in Middle East crises.

Saudi strengths and weaknesses may have been long debated but the Kingdom’s vulnerabilities have seldom been so starkly on display as they were last Tuesday because the coincidence of two very different events. Before a rally in Mississippi, President Trump stated – brutally and without qualification – the dependence of the Saudi monarchy on US support and the price it must pay for such backing.

“We protect Saudi Arabia,” Trump told the cheering audience. “Would you say they’re rich? And I love the King, King Salman. But I said ‘King – we’re protecting you – you might not be there for two weeks without us – you have to pay for your military’.” Outbursts by Trump tend to be more calculated than they sound and he only humiliates allies in this way when he knows he can get away with it.

Trump’s contemptuous reference to the instability of Saudi Arabia was given greater significance by another dramatic event which happened a few hours earlier some 6,000 miles away in Istanbul. The prominent Saudi journalist and critic of his country’s government, Jamal Khashoggi, failed to emerge from the Saudi consulate where he was doing some paperwork relating to his divorce and impending marriage.

Khashoggi has not been seen since. The Turkish authorities, no doubt delighted to be able to present themselves as defenders of journalistic freedom, say he is still inside the consulate. Saudi officials claim that he left the building, though surveillance cameras prove he did not do so on foot, so, if he did leave, it was presumably in a diplomat’s car, possibly in the boot. Khashoggi’s fiance was left waiting disconsolately outside the consulate gates.

The best that can be hoped for is that the blast of international criticism over the incident will lead Khashoggi to reappear, perhaps denying that he was ever detained. This was the bizarre experience of the Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri in November last year when he disappeared during a visit to Riyadh and resigned his post on television before reappearing thanks to French government pressure.

The fate of Khashoggi, whatever the outcome of the present furore, carries an important message about the present state of Saudi Arabia. If he has been forcibly detained, as the Turkish government says, then it is a self-harming act of stupidity. It elevates him from being a minor irritant to a cause célèbre and a continuing mystery about his whereabouts ensures that the story is not going to go away.  

It is early days yet but the Khashoggi disappearance has released a torrent of negative publicity about Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. This was wholly predictable. It is a curious fact about publicity that horrendous events – like the Saudi-led war in Yemen that has brought five million children to the verge of starvation – has failed to make its way to the top of the international news agenda. The slaughter is too great and the place too distant and ill-reported for most people to take on board and react to the horrors underway there. 

Something on a smaller scale, like the disappearance of a critic of the Saudi government while his fiance waits for him in the street, is much easier to understand and respond to. Often, the all-too-common disappearance of journalists has the simple objective of silencing them and intimidating others. “Let them hate us so long as they fear us,” is the point being crudely made.

But the crown prince had hoped for a more positive image in the international media and his expectations have seldom been disappointed. Take a look at the piece by The New York Times columnist Thomas L Friedman in November last year about the four hours he spent with him: “We met at night at his family’s ornate adobe-walled palace in Ouja, north of Riyadh,” he writes. He describes Saudi Arabia as being in the throes of its version of the Arab Spring that ‘”will not only change the character of Saudi Arabia but the tone and tenor of Islam across the globe. Only a fool would predict its success – but only a fool would not root for it.”

Khashoggi was one of those “fools” who balanced between reasoned criticism and outright dissent. Going by Friedman’s account of Saudi public opinion he was a lonely voice because “not a single Saudi I spoke to here over three days expressed anything other than effusive support for this anticorruption drive.” But could it be that this impressive display of unanimity might have something to do with the fact anybody expressing a hint of criticism – like economist Essam al-Zamel – may find themselves clapped in jail on charges of terrorism and treason.

Hagiographic journalistic reports on Saudi Arabia may be more difficult to retail in future in the wake of the Khashoggi scandal. Already, some longtime backers of the country are jumping ship. One of them, Elliott Abrams, is quoted as saying that “the Saudi government is either keeping him [Khashoggi] in the consulate building or has kidnapped him and taken him to Saudi Arabia.” He warns that the reputation of the current Saudi government could “be harmed irreparably.”

The proposed economic reforms in Saudi Arabia have always sounded like wishful thinking. Deep scepticism is the correct approach to government-backed radical change in any country dependent on revenues from oil and other natural resources. Anticorruption campaigns simply redistribute the spoils to a new gang of well-connected predators. Much of the population has got too used to getting well-paid patronage jobs in return for little or no work. Domestic industry and agriculture cannot compete unless heavily subsidised. The system is too convenient to too many to be uprooted: opposition to corruption and patronage gets a thumbs up so long as it involves no personal sacrifice of any kind.   

Saudi economic problems are serious, but not necessarily disastrous. More destabilising for the Kingdom is the extent to which Saudi Arabia is now demonstrably operating beyond its real strength in the region as its its more adventurous foreign policy over the last three years backfires.  

The list of failures is impressive: Saudi-led bombing in Yemen since 2015 has not defeated the Houthis, but it has produced the greatest manmade famine on earth; increased help for the Syrian armed opposition the same year provoked Russian military intervention and has brought President Bashar al-Assad close to victory; the quarrel with Qatar has weakened all the Gulf monarchies; confrontation with Iran is a conflict that can never be won.

As Mikhail Gorbachev discovered after the first heady days of trying to change the Soviet Union, reforms are more likely to capsize an existing systems of government than improve it.

Machines and labour – increase in poverty

Sheshu Babu

Since introduction of automated machines in factories and offices, labor force is being slowly dispensed with. For instance, before mechanization and computerization, banks used to employ clerical staff for writing ledger accounts. But after introducing computers to note transactions, many posts were removed on the pretext of ‘downsizing’ or ‘ right sizing’ . The banking industry, which was ‘labour intensive’ began to employ less in clerical cadre and instead, the persons with computer knowledge started to be filled so that they could displace more than the actual required personnel. Similar is the case with other firms. In an article on the impact of automation,( Manufacturing Jobs and the Rise of the Machines, January,29, 2013, hbr.org) ,Andrew McAfee states , “I believe that technological unemployment (and underemployment) is a real and growing phenomenon” . Analysing impact of robotics and computers in the industrial sector, he states that manufacturing employment has been on a steady downward trend in US since 1980. (It may have increased after the end of the Great Recession but the boost is leveling out). He also states that the trend has been downward in Japan and Germany since 1990 and China since 1996 . This decline in manufacturing employment is a global phenomenon Citing a Bloomberg story, he agrees with the summary, ” some 22 million manufacturing jobs were lost globally between 1995 and 2002 as industrial output soap” A’d 30 percent. … ” . It indicates that growth of output in industry need not reflect welfare of people.

Job Displacement

Increase in use of computers, automated machines or robots will increase output but displace labor to a large extent. ‘ In part the opposition to spread of technology springs simply from a more or less visceral fear of scientism , which is often taken to imply the dehumanization of humankind. ‘ (Does More technology Create Employment ?, By R. H . Mabry and A. D. Sharplin, March 18, 1986, www.cato.org). In 1983, the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research forecast the existence of 50,000 to 100,000 industrial robots in the United States by 1990, resulting in a net loss of some 100,000 jobs. The present situation of low employment generation has its roots mainly in use of mechanization of basic jobs thereby making the labor look for other alternatives.

Wealth accumulation and poverty

Over the years, top industrialists have been accumulating wealth rapidly. The top 1% of industrialist rich own 99% of wealth. The Forbes list ( March 06, 2018, forbes.com) has pinned down 2,208 billionaires who are worth $ 9.1 trillion up 18% last since last year. According to Oxfam, 62 people are as wealthy as half of world’s population in 2016. ( the guardian , 18 Jan 2016). The wealth of poorest dropped by 41% between 2010 and 2015.

Since the richest own firms, industries and manufacturing plants, they employ more and more machines by reducing manual labor. This results in more displacement of semi- and unskilled- labour who loose their bread earning capacity and are pushed to extreme poverty.

Machines and capitalism

Therefore, increased use of modern science in industries is leading to production of goods by machines and services through the use of computers. Manual calculations or recording of transactions and accounting is being computerised leaving scores of clerical staff jobless. A few computer operators are being hired to complete office work while machines are being employed to complete routine work leaving labourers, who are already reeling under poverty, jobless. This is a dangerous consequence of capitalism as few capitalists are dictating terms. They are using scientific inventions to their advantage and advancement. The rich- poor gap is ever widening and poor are being pushed to extreme poverty. The number of poor is rising. Hence, the problem which is grave must be addressed soon. Otherwise, the gap may still widen in future .

Australian encryption bill becomes a global test case for surveillance

Mike Head

Acting as part of the US-led “Five Eyes” intelligence network, the Australian government is seeking to push through parliament an encryption-cracking bill that would set an international precedent for far-reaching internet surveillance.

Despite widespread opposition, reflected in more than 14,000 submissions by concerned individuals and companies, the government tabled the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 in parliament last month with only minor amendments.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Liberal-National government seems intent on getting the bill into law before the end of the year. It has scheduled only a one-day public hearing by the parliamentary intelligence and security committee. The members of that committee, including those from the Labor Party, have close connections with the US and allied spy agencies.

Telcos, internet companies, device manufacturers and website and social media hosts face fines of up to $10 million for each instance of “non-compliance.” They would be compelled to facilitate the cracking of encryption codes and remove other barriers to government agencies accessing private data. Individuals can be fined up to $50,000.

The intelligence and police forces would be able to issue technical assistance requests (TARs), technical assistance notices (TANs) and technical capability notices (TCNs). These would compel any company or individual to build capabilities or functionalities to provide any information required by the agencies.

These powers would potentially affect any website or Facebook page. According to government ministers, they would apply to encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp, as well as “any entity operating a website.”

Despite repeated government denials that it would force service providers to build back doors to break passwords and undermine encryption, the legislation states otherwise. While section 317ZG of the draft bill says communications providers “must not be required to implement or build a systemic weakness or systemic vulnerability,” section 317E sets out a long list of “acts or things” that providers can be compelled to do.

These include “(a) removing one or more forms of electronic protection ... (c) installing, maintaining, testing or using software or equipment … (h) modifying, or facilitating the modification of, any of the characteristics of a service provided by the designated communications provider.”

The vague language appears to permit the type of demand that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) made in 2016 when it sought a court order to compel Apple to help unlock an iPhone belonging to a suspect in a shooting.

Government agencies would only have to allege that a TAN or TCN is “reasonable and proportionate” and “practicable and feasible.” These are undefined and sweeping terms. There would be no review process before notices are issued and the bill is silent on how a recipient could challenge a notice as unlawful.

Moreover, the bill’s strict non-disclosure provisions mean that “affected persons”—that is, internet users—would never know a notice has been issued. Section 317ZF provides that individuals who disclose information regarding a notice may be subject to five years’ imprisonment.

The legislation would also make it easier for the political surveillance agencies, such as the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), to search computers covertly. Current laws permit them to monitor communications and data during transmissions. The changes would allow them to access and copy stored data, building on the “metadata access” laws pushed through, with the Labor Party’s support, in 2015.

This is part of a wider build-up of police-state powers in the hands of the capitalist state apparatus. Repeated barrages of legislation have been imposed by one government after the next, Liberal-National and Labor alike. Supposedly aimed at combatting terrorism, these powers are designed to monitor and crack down on political dissent.

A number of civil rights organisations, such as Digital Rights Watch, the Human Rights Law Centre, Amnesty International and Access Now, this month joined industry bodies, including those representing transnational internet companies like Google, Facebook and Apple, in an “Alliance for a Safe and Secure Internet” to object to features of the bill.

Most of these groups signed a submission warning that the bill’s definition of “designated communications providers” could affect hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of individuals in Australia and around the world.

As the submission documented, the bill’s Explanatory Document states that “designated communications provider” would extend to anyone who “provides an electronic service that has one or more end-users in Australia.” This could include banks, media companies, insurers and universities, as well as news sites and those of political parties.

Likewise, “electronic services” are broadly defined. They “may include websites and chat fora, secure messaging applications, hosting services including cloud and web hosting, peer-to-peer sharing platforms and email distribution lists, and others.” These powers would apply globally, since the notices could be served outside Australia.

Aware of popular hostility to internet censorship, the “Safe and Secure Internet” alliance is posturing as a defender of civil liberties. A spokesman, Communications Alliance chief executive John Stanton, said: “The scope of this legislation sets a disturbing first-world benchmark and poses real threats to the cybersecurity and privacy rights of all Australians.”

The alliance’s perspective, however, is to seek certain modifications of the bill. It wants to enhance the already extensive collaboration between governments, the political spy agencies and the social media conglomerates to control or manipulate the internet in order to restrict access to left-wing and progressive web sites, and especially the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS).

“Instead of trying to ram this legislation through the committee process and the parliament, the government needs to sit down with stakeholders, engage on the details and collectively come up with workable, reasonable proposals that meet the objective of helping enforcement agencies be more effective in the digital age,” Stanton said.

Government officials told the Australian Financial Review the industry had generally been co-operative with requests for information, but sought a legal framework because of concerns that customers would hold them legally liable for disclosing information to agencies.

A meeting of cabinet members from the so-called Five Eyes global spying network, held in Australia on August 28–29, demanded access to encrypted emails, text messages and voice communications through legislation. Representing the US, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, they issued a statement on combatting “ubiquitous encryption,” declaring the necessity to crack open “end-to-end encryption” tools.

Given the importance of encryption for online retail, banking and other corporate and financial purposes, the statement denied any “intention to weaken encryption mechanisms.” Nonetheless, the five governments “agreed to the urgent need for law enforcement to gain targeted access to data,” subject to further “discussion with industry.”

As the WSWS has proven, these governments and their European counterparts are increasingly working in partnership with social media companies to implement anti-democratic restrictions on internet access. This went to a new level in April 2017, when Google announced new algorithms, aimed at limiting or blocking access to socialist, anti-war and other critical websites. Facebook and Twitter have since adopted similar measures.

UN report warns of catastrophic consequences of climate change within 20 years

Bryan Dyne

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a special report Monday calling for “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” in order to limit human-induced global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

“If the current warming rate continues,” the report states, “the world would reach human–induced global warming of 1.5°C around 2040.” Avoiding the disastrous consequences of climate change, the report stated, requires transforming the world economy in a way that has “no documented historic precedent.”

The report, prepared by 91 scientists from 44 countries, is the latest UN paper reviewing the scientific evidence of climate change and its current and projected impact on every ecosystem on Earth. It contrasts the changes to the environment that would occur in a scenario where warming is limited to 1.5 degrees versus of 2 degrees Celsius.

Human activity has already caused approximately 1 degree Celsius of warming. The last three years—2015, 2016 and 2017—were the three warmest years on records going back to 1880, and 17 of the 18 warmest years have occurred since 2000.

Global warming has contributed to a series of ecological disasters, including larger forest fires, longer heat waves, stronger hurricanes and more torrential typhoons. The most recent of these is Hurricane Michael, which is currently bearing down on the Florida coastline and is expected to be one of the most powerful storms to strike the region.

Even a limited further warming will have far reaching consequences. The report states that if warming reaches 1.5 degrees, food shortages will multiply poverty in every country. The Arctic Ocean will be totally free of sea ice at least once a decade, potentially causing the extinction of the myriad of animals that rely on that ice to flee from predators and raise young.

Coral reefs will decline by 70–90 percent, wiping out the habitat that about a quarter of the ocean’s creatures rely on to survive. Weather across the globe will become more damaging and deadly. The report estimates that if warming reaches the projected levels, it will cause damages of between $54 and $69 trillion dollars worldwide.

To achieve the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees would require the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions to 45 percent of their 2010 levels by 2030 and their elimination completely by 2050, or in just over three decades. This would require a complete transformation in global energy production and transportation infrastructure.

“Limiting warming to 1.5°C is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics but doing so would require unprecedented changes,” said Jim Skea, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III in the report’s press release.

The increasingly dire warnings from the scientists stand in stark contrast with the response of world governments. In the US, the Trump administration has been openly skeptical of the reality of human-caused climate change. He responded to questions about the UN report on Tuesday by dismissing its significance. “I want to look at who drew it. You know, which group drew it. I can give you reports that are fabulous and I can give you reports that aren’t so good.”

Representatives of the other major capitalist governments responded complacently. In Germany, the only official who spoke on the report was Deputy Environment Minister Jochen Flasbarth, who deflected questions about Germany’s rising carbon emissions with answers promoting the German green technologies industry.

Media outlets including the New York Times and the Guardian have taken this latest report as an opportunity to attack Trump and other political figures who deny climate change or have openly opposed “carbon taxes,” such as Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro. The Times wrote of the “despair since last year when Mr. Trump declared he would pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord.”

The Paris Agreement, which was ratified by 195 countries in 2015, is a non-binding treaty that calls for world governments to voluntarily reduce their carbon emissions to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius by 2100. While it is presented as a “landmark” treaty, in reality it acts as a way for countries and companies such as ExxonMobil to participate in carbon trading and carbon tax schemes to maximize their profits while only implementing token reductions in carbon emissions.

Moreover, the latest UN report makes clear, the limit set by the Paris Agreement would still result in massive damage across the world. An increase of 2 degrees would cause the complete destruction of coral reefs and possibly the loss of plankton, the foundation of the world’s food chain. Even at its best, the world envisioned by the Paris Agreement would be catastrophic for humanity and life on Earth.

The urgent measures needed to address climate change come into conflict with the two basic contradictions of the world capitalist system: the contradiction between a global economy and the division of the world into rival nation-states, and the contradiction between socialized production and the subordination of economic life to the accumulation of private profit.

That is, the global coordination and scientific planning required to organize the necessary transformations in energy and infrastructure is prevented by the fact that each capitalist state represents competing ruling elites, and the economy as a whole is controlled by the corporate and financial elite.

The development of mankind’s productive forces is not only impacting the environment, it has also made it possible to address this impact in a rational way. However, the development of these resources to tackle climate change—along with war, poverty and inequality—requires a complete socialist reorganization of economic life. The economy must be placed in the democratic control of the working class, the only social force capable of establishing a society based on human need, including a healthy global environment.

The far-right threat in Brazil and the role of the Workers Party

Bill Van Auken

Last Sunday’s general election in Brazil was a political earthquake that reduced to rubble parties that had long dominated the political landscape. At the same time it exposed the complete rot of the bourgeois democratic order established in the wake of the 20-year military dictatorship imposed by the US-backed coup of 1964.

That Jair Bolsonaro, a fascistic and buffoonish former army captain and nine-term deputy in the Brazilian Congress, could win a stunning 46 percent of the vote, coming within a hair’s breadth of an outright victory, exposes the immense danger of a return of Latin America’s largest country, with a population of over 200 million people, to fascist-military rule.

His nearest challenger, Fernando Haddad, the candidate of the Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores—PT) trailed Bolsonaro by nearly 17 points. The two will face off in a second-round election on October 28.

The regions where Bolsonaro beat Haddad by even wider margins than the national total included all of the cities of the so-called ABC industrial belt surrounding Sao Paulo, the center of the Brazilian auto and metalworking industries, birthplace of the Workers Party and scene of the mass strikes of 1978-1980 that forced an end to the military dictatorship. These cities, where the now-jailed former PT President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva got his start as a metalworkers’ union leader, gave Bolsonaro 50 percent of the vote, as compared to barely 20 percent for the PT’s Haddad.

Similarly, Bolsonaro won 45 percent of the vote, against 20 percent for Haddad, in Rio Grande do Sul, a PT stronghold in the period before Lula’s 2002 election and the place chosen for the founding of the World Social Forum in 2001.

In the state of Rio de Janeiro, Bolsonaro won every single city, including the capital, with its long history of left-wing activism, and Volta Redonda, a steelmaking center and site of bitter union struggles.

Even in the Northeast, the country’s poorest region, which benefited the most from the minimal social assistance programs instituted under Lula—a region considered a political bastion of the PT—Bolsonaro won 23 out of 26 state capitals.

Equally staggering are the votes for the Brazilian Congress, with Bolsonaro’s Social Liberal Party (PSL) going from one seat to 52, just four shy of the 56 seats (out of 68) retained by the Workers Party. The center-right parties that had previously held the presidency and major power in the legislature, the PSDB and the MDB, both saw their congressional delegations cut nearly in half.

Just as significant was the record rate of abstention and blank ballots, which accounted for a third of the electorate, roughly equal to the number who voted for Bolsonaro. Moreover, every poll indicated that there was more opposition to each of the candidates than support.

Who is responsible for the unprecedented vote for a candidate of the far right in Brazil? First and foremost, it is the Workers Party, which ruled Brazil for 13 years, from Lula’s first election to the impeachment of his successor, Dilma Rousseff, in 2016.

The vote on Sunday amounted to a popular referendum on the devastating social and economic crisis confronting the majority of the Brazilian population as a result of the financial crisis that hit the country in 2013, and the policies introduced by the PT government to place the full burden of this crisis on the backs of the working class. This condemned 14 million workers to unemployment, while leading to reduced real wages for those still on the job, along with a sharp growth in social inequality.

The election also expressed popular outrage over the systemic corruption exposed in the Lava Jato investigation into bribes and kickbacks at the state-owned energy conglomerate Petrobras. An estimated $4 billion was siphoned from public coffers into the pockets of politicians and their corporate backers, while millions confronted unemployment and deepening poverty. Lula, convicted on extremely flimsy evidence involving a beachfront apartment, was nonetheless at the center of this scheme.

Haddad and the Workers Party were unwilling and unable to appeal to the working class or present any program that could attract popular support against the fascistic demagogy of Bolsonaro, whose political rise was nurtured by the PT, which allied with him in the Brazilian congress.

Whether the hostility of the majority of the population to Bolsonaro—as well as to Haddad and the rest of the political establishment—will result in the neo-fascist’s defeat on October 28 remains to be seen. What is unquestionable, however, is that the second-round election will produce the most right-wing government in Brazil since the fall of the military dictatorship.

The Workers Party’s pseudo-left satellites are now speaking in terms of a “national united front against fascism.” This front is to include, if possible, the traditional right-wing parties as well as various reactionary media outlets, such as O Globo and Veja magazine, which have been critical of Bolsonaro.

The PT is appealing to the Brazilian ruling class and international capital on the grounds that it will be better able to suppress the resistance of the working class through its ties to the bureaucratized union confederation, CUT, and that Bolsonaro will be more likely to provoke a social explosion.

Anyone believing that Bolsonaro is merely a noxious aberration and that his defeat at the hands of the PT will produce a flowering of democracy in Brazil is living in a dream world.

The turn by the entire Brazilian establishment to the right found stark expression in a speech delivered barely one week before the election by the president of the Brazilian Supreme Court, Dias Toffoli, in which he declared that he no longer wanted to speak in terms of military coup or dictatorship when referring to the CIA-backed seizure of power by the Brazilian armed forces and overthrow of the elected government of Joao Goulart in 1964. Rather, he would speak of it as the “movement of 1964,” suggesting that the military coup was legitimate and caused by the “errors” of the political parties.

Toffoli’s speech came just weeks after his selection of a reserve army general, whose appointment was suggested by the head of the military high command, Gen. Eduardo Villas Boas, as the chief advisor to the high court. The general appointed was reportedly one of a number of top military officers who helped formulate Bolsonaro’s campaign program.

Judge Toffoli, it should be noted, rose to his judicial position as a loyalist of the Workers Party, serving as the legal representative for the presidential campaigns of Lula in 1998, 2002 and 2006.

This increasing elevation of the military into every aspect of political life in Brazil has been fostered by the PT, which oversaw the deployment of the army into Rio’s favelas (shanty towns) after having “blooded” its troops in the UN-sponsored occupation of Haiti. Bolsonaro has attempted to exploit the growth of the military’s power, indicating that his defeat at the polls would be illegitimate and would justify the army intervening on his behalf.

The PT has paved the way to the present dangers confronting the Brazilian working class. Sharing responsibility are the various pseudo-left organizations that played a pivotal role in founding and promoting the Workers Party.

Among them is the Morenoite-Pabloite alliance, the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), which saw its share of the vote Sunday reduced to just 0.6 percent—compared to 7 percent when it first ran candidates in 2006. It has declared its support for the PT and Haddad in the second round.

From the outset, the leading role in the formation of the PT was played by organizations that broke with the Trotskyist movement, the International Committee of the Fourth International, in the 1960s, some of them promoting the theory that Castroism and guerrilla war had supplanted the necessity of building Marxist parties within the working class. This political orientation contributed to catastrophic defeats for the working class and the rise of military dictatorships throughout Latin America.

Under conditions of massive strikes and militant struggles by students against Brazil’s military regime, these same elements joined with sections of the union leadership, the Catholic Church and left academics to found the Workers Party. It as well was to serve as a substitute for the building of a revolutionary party and the fight for socialist consciousness in the working class. The PT was to provide a unique Brazilian parliamentary road to socialism. The dead end of that road—personified in the rise of the fascist demagogue Bolsonaro—has clearly been reached.

The Brazilian working class cannot defend itself as part of a “united front” with the PT and its appeal for support to the Brazilian ruling class. The only road forward lies in uniting the struggles of Brazilian workers with those of the entire Latin American working class, as well as the workers of North America, against the common enemy—finance capital and the transnational corporations.

Such a struggle requires a decisive political break with the Workers Party and all of its pseudo-left satellites. The most urgent question is the building of a new revolutionary leadership in the working class, based upon the assimilation of the long history of struggle for Trotskyism embodied in the International Committee of the Fourth International.

Yale Greenberg World Fellows Programme for Emerging Mid-Career Leaders 2019 – USA

Application Deadline: 5th December, 2018 at 11:59 PM EST

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: International (Any country other than the United States)

To be taken at (country): Yale University, USA

About the Award: Applications to the Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program are accepted from across sectors and around the world.  Each class of Fellows is a unique group: geographically balanced, and representative of a wide range of professions, talents, and perspectives.  The program runs annually from mid-August to mid-December.  Fellows are expected to be in residence at Yale for the duration of the program.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: 

• Be in the Mid-career stage: Fellows are at least five, and typically not more than 20, years into their careers, with demonstrated work accomplishments, and a clear indication of future contributions and excellence.  The average age of a Greenberg World Fellow is 39, though there is no minimum or maximum age limit.
• Be fluent in English: An excellent command of the English language is essential.
• Be a citizen of a country other than the United States: While dual citizens are eligible, preference is given to candidates whose work is focused outside the US.

Selection Criteria: 

• An established record of extraordinary achievement and integrity;
• Commitment to engagement in crucial issues and to making a difference at the national or international level;
• Promise of a future career of leadership and notable impact;
• Special capacity for critical, creative, entrepreneurial, and strategic thinking;
• Likelihood to benefit from participation in the Program and to contribute to global understanding at Yale;
• Commitment to a rigorous program of activities, to full-time residence at Yale for the entire duration of the program, and to mentoring students and speaking frequently on campus

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Fellowship: 

• A taxable stipend to cover the costs of living in New Haven
• A modest, furnished one- or two-bedroom apartment for the duration of the program
• Medical insurance
• Round-trip travel from home country

Duration of Fellowship: mid-August to mid-December.

How to Apply: 

• Please note that application for admission to the Yale Greenberg World Fellows Programme is completely an online process. There are no paper forms to complete or mail.
• Prior to the deadline, you may work on your application at any time and submit it when you are ready. After creating an account and accessing the online application, you can upload materials and request your letters of recommendation.
• Most questions about the program and the application process can be answered by reviewing this website and the common questions.  If your question is unanswered, you may contact staff at applicant.worldfellows@yale.edu. Please do not send multiple emails regarding one issue, and please do not email staff individually. We thank you for your patience in allowing staff adequate time to thoughtfully process your inquiries.

Apply now for the 2019 program

Visit Fellowship Webpage for details

Commonwealth Secretary-General’s Innovation for Sustainable Development Awards 2019

Application Deadline: 31st December 2018

Eligible Countries: Commonwealth countries

About the Award: There will be three award winners for innovations in each of the five categories:

1. Improve the well-being (i.e. health, education, human rights etc.) of Commonwealth PEOPLE
2. Improve PROSPERITY (i.e. economic development, trade, etc.) in the Commonwealth
3. Promote PEACE and justice in the Commonwealth
4. Protect the PLANET and the natural environment in the Commonwealth
5. and promote PARTNERSHIPS for sustainable development in the Commonwealth

• The winners will be chosen for the impact or potential of their innovations to advance one or more of the 17 SDGs in Commonwealth countries

Type: Contest, Award

Eligibility: Entrants must be:

• Commonwealth citizens (female and young Commonwealth innovators are especially encouraged to apply)
• Government ministries / departments / public sector agencies in Commonwealth countries
• Social or voluntary sector enterprises in Commonwealth countries
• Private sector enterprises based in any Commonwealth country
• The nominated innovations focusing on the SDGs must be supported with evidence that they are taking place in a Commonwealth country.
• Nominees must have been engaged in developing their innovations for more than 12 months, either in a professional or voluntary capacity.
• Award winners must agree to take part in Commonwealth-supported activities and initiatives.

Selection Criteria: Awards will be decided on the basis of:

• Level of impact or demonstrable potential of innovation;
• Fresh approaches to problem-solving;
• Quality of achievement so far;
• Quality of the evidence provided;
• Impact or potential impact of innovation on achievement of SDGs in Commonwealth countries

Number of Awards: 15

Value of Award: The 15 winners will each receive a trophy, a certificate and prize money of £2000.

How to Apply: The nomination process will be via an online platform only. Self-nomination is permitted. Each nominee can enter submissions for up to two of the five categories. Please click on the link below for details.

APPLY HERE

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Irish Aid Casement Fellowship 2019/2020 in Human Rights for Nigerian Students

Application Deadline: 30th November 2018

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Nigeria

To be taken at (country): Ireland

About the Award: The Roger Casement fellowship has been established to honour the memory of the Irish human rights activist Roger Casement who spent some of his early working life in Calabar, Nigeria. He was an early advocate for human rights while in Nigeria, and, famously, during his later work in the Congo, the Amazon and in Ireland. With his humanitarian legacy in mind, it has been decided to support one Nigerian student to study a master’s degree in human rights in Ireland.

Eligible Courses: Masters programmes at Irish higher education institutes in the areas of Law, Human Rights and Governance. A directory listing all eligible courses is available to applicants.

Type: Masters, Fellowship

Eligibility: Candidates will need to have achieved the necessary educational standard to be accepted onto a Masters course in a Higher Education Institute in Ireland. In addition, there are a number of essential requirements to be eligible to apply for this scholarship.
Candidates must:

• be a citizen of Nigeria and be residing in Nigeria
• have achieved the necessary academic standard to be accepted onto a master’s level course of study in Human Rights
• have a minimum of three years relevant work experience.
• be able to demonstrate a strong commitment to the development of Nigeria.
• be able to take up the fellowship in the academic year for which it is offered.
• meet any relevant procedural requirements of Government of Nigeria.
• be able to demonstrate skills in academic English by achieving an appropriate score on a recognised test (IELTS 6.5).

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Scholarship: Under the Casement fellowship, full financial support is provided for return airfares, full tuition, stipends to cover accommodation and subsistence costs, health insurance and other allowances, in addition to the necessary entry arrangements such as medical examination and visa.

How to Apply: It is important to go through the application requirements before applying.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: Irish Aid

Kamal Adham Masters Fellowship for Television and Digital Journalism 2019/2020 for Mass Communication Graduates – Egypt

Application Deadlines:

• 1st November 2018
• 15th April 2019

Offered Annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: All

To Be Taken At (Country): Egypt

Type: Masters

Eligibility: 

• Open to all nationalities
• Graduates with a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university
• Preference is given to graduates of Egyptian public universities and professionals in the broadcasting industry
• Minimum grade point average of 3.0 or a rating of gayed giddan. Applicants with slightly lower GPA must have sufficient relevant work experience
• ​Meet AUC graduate admissions requirements, including submission of AUC graduate application and needed documents
• Submit an International TOEFL iBT exam score or academic IELTS exam score as per the cut-off scores for AUC graduate admissions
• Proven interest and achievement in television and digital journalism
• An interview with the program director is required to assess candidates’ commitment, potential and communication skills
• To retain the fellowship, the recipient must carry a full course load (nine graduate credits) and maintain a GPA of 3.0 or above
• Financial need

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: The fellowship covers:

• Full or partial tuition coverage for the MA program
• May cover prerequisite courses and one semester of intensive English language courses as needed
• Book allowance per semester
• Student services and activities fees (bus fees)
• In support of their professional training, fellows are assigned up to 20 hours per week of related academic or technical work

Duration of Program: The fellowship is awarded for two academic years and may cover the intervening summer session when registered for courses.

How to Apply: 
Step 1: Check how to apply and submit the online application
Step 2: Complete and submit  the Online Fellowship Application 

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Sciences Po Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme 2019/2020 for Undergraduate and Graduate Africans to Study in France

Application Deadlines:

• Bachelor: January 31, 2019
• Master: January 15, 2019
• Summer School: February 18, 2019

Offered Annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Africans

To Be Taken At (Country): France

About the Award: Scholarships for the 2019/2020 academic year are awarded in collaboration with a network of partner institutions authorised to nominate candidates.

Sciences Po is the first university in continental Europe to join the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program. Within this international network, 27 prestigious institutions in Africa, America and Europe are committed to ensuring that all young people, whatever their background, have the same opportunities to get a quality education and fulfil their potential.

Over six years (2017 – 2022), the Scholars Program will fund:

• 20 scholarships to complete the Sciences Po Bachelor of Arts programme, Africa specialisation
• 40 scholarships to complete a Master’s programme at one of our seven graduate schools
• 60 scholarships reserved for Mastercard Foundation Scholars studying at other partner universities and who would like to attend Sciences Po Summer School.

Type: Bachelors, Masters

Eligibility: The scholarships are awarded to students from sub-Saharan African countries with an outstanding academic record and strong leadership potential, but who face financial and other barriers to higher education.

Number of Awards: 120 for a period of 5 years.

• Undergraduate: 5
• Graduate: 5
• Summer School: 12

Value of Award: Thee scholarships cover the full cost of tuition fees at Sciences Po and living costs in France during the study .
As well as funding their studies, Sciences Po will offer scholars a specific suite of resources to ensure they have appropriate academic support and to facilitate their transition from education to employment:

• An orientation programme and individualised academic advising throughout their studies at Sciences Po
• A mentor programme offered in collaboration with the Africa Division of Sciences Po Alumni
• Career guidance and support: an online job platform dedicated to professional opportunities in Africa (internships and first jobs), access to our business incubator and the network of employers and alumni working in Africa, and specific career workshops.

Duration of Program: The scholarships are awarded for a period of three years for the Bachelor’s degree, two years for the Master’s degree and one month for the Summer School.

How to Apply

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program

Startupper of the Year by Total Challenge 2018/2019 for African Entrepreneurs – Up to $30,000

Application Deadline: 13th November 2018

Eligible Projects: All projects are eligible regardless of the type of business or activity, as long as they share the characteristics common to creative start-ups: innovation, competitiveness, growth boosting and job creation.

About The Award: Tell us how your project will help more and more people over time, at home or even abroad. Tell us how it empowers people, improves living conditions, and contributes to overall economic well-being.
3 winners from each country will receive financial support, extensive publicity and coaching. From among these 3 winners per country, we will select grand winners by region, who will be offered additional support.
This year, a Top Female Entrepreneur category has been introduced. During the first Challenge, women accounted for almost 25% of the winners, even though they only made up 13% of the applicants. With this special award this year, we hope to give the women entrepreneurs an extra push to take part. It is also aligned with other Total initiatives for women.
Anyone can change the world — teenagers or graduates, men or women. As long as you believe in your project and want to make things better, take this opportunity to participate. You could be the next Startupper of the Year or the Top Female Entrepreneur!

Type: Contest

Eligibility

• Are you under 35 years old?
• Do you want to create a business or develop one that is less than two years old?
• Are you a citizen of one of the 55 African countries?

Selection Criteria: 

• The project should offer a practical way of addressing a public health, safety, education, accessibility or other issue affecting local communities.
• Innovation isn’t necessarily revolutionary, involving something brand new or a total transformation. It can be incremental as well, improving an existing technology, product or service, or even just the way things are done.
• Projects that demonstrate feasibility and have the potential to benefit a broader public.

Number of Winners: up to 3 winners per country

Value of Award: 

• 3 winners from each country will receive financial support, extensive publicity and coaching. From among these 3 winners per country, we will select grand winners by region, who will be offered additional support.
• This year, a Top Female Entrepreneur category has been introduced. During the first Challenge, women accounted for almost 25% of the winners, even though they only made up 13% of the applicants. With this special award this year, we hope to give the women entrepreneurs an extra push to take part. It is also aligned with other Total initiatives for women.

How to Apply: Click on the continent for the list of participating countries. By clicking the name of the country, you will be directed to your local website to participate. Don’t forget you must be a country national to participate!

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Sony/Warner Techstars Music Accelerator Program 2019 for Music Startups (USD$120,000 Funding)

Application Deadline: 14th October 2018

Eligible Countries: All

To Be Taken At (Country): Los Angeles, USA

About the Award: Techstars makes entrepreneurship more accessible by providing access to capital, guidance, marketing, business development, customer acquisition, employee recruitment, and M&A opportunities.

Type: Entrepreneurship

Eligibility: 

• technology oriented companies, typically web-based or other software companies. Other companies that don’t quite fit that mold are welcome.
• Companies that can have national or worldwide reach.
• Biotechnology companies, restaurants, consultancies, or other local service oriented companies are NOT funded

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: A $100,000 convertible note is automatically offered to all Techstars companies upon acceptance, in addition to $20,000 in exchange for 6% common stock, plus:

• Access to Techstars resources for life
• Acceleration in the Techstars Music program with intense, hands-on mentorship from artists, executives from Techstars Music Member –
• Companies and the broad music business
• Connections to the Techstars Network of over 5,000 founders, alumni and mentors globally
• 400 perks worth over $1,000,000
• Office space in Los Angeles for the duration of the program
• Demo Day and other investor connections
• Equity Back Guarantee, the only one of its kind in the industry

Duration of Program: 3 months

How to Apply: Apply Now

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Techstars

International Finance Corporation (IFC) Next 100 African Startups Initiative 2018 for African Startups

Application Deadline: 21st October 2018

Eligible Countries: African countries

To be taken at (country): Egypt

About the Award: The initiative builds on MIIC strong efforts to stimulate the Egyptian entrepreneurship ecosystem and help its young people explore new and innovative ways to create better futures for themselves and their communities. This support is provided through networks, innovative financial instruments, as well as regulations and policies that eliminate barriers and integrate Egyptian entrepreneurs into regional and global markets.
This is in addition to the launching of nation-wide initiatives, such as “fekretak sherketak” that aims to identify promising entrepreneurs, and enable them to transform their business ideas into successful realities through the provision of training, mentoring, as well as funding.
Moreover, Falak Startups was also established to enable and empower the next generation of Egyptian entrepreneurs through a 4-month acceleration program that provides them with comprehensive all-round support. This ensures they are equipped with the tools and resources needed to enhance their business models and hone their entrepreneurial skills, in order to thrive and compete in the global economy.
The initiative is also part of IFC’s wider effort that aims to promote and nurture a culture of entrepreneurship across Africa and the Middle East and help leading accelerators and venture capital funds expand their outreach. Over the past several years, IFC provided close to $165 million in funding to technology companies and start-ups in Africa and MENA. In MENA, IFC investments included supporting Cairo-based Algebra Ventures, one of Egypt’s largest venture capital funds, Flat6Labs, an Egyptian accelerator. IFC also invested in Wamda Capital and were an early investor in Souq.com and Fawry for online payment services. In Africa, IFC deployed about $100mm in early stage tech investments in Africa with IFC portfolio including Africa’s Talking (Enterprise Software), Andela (Ed-tech), Branch (fintech), Bridge Academy (Ed-tech), Interswitch (fintech), Mobisol (Clean tech), TwigaFoods(m-commerce), Zoona (fintech), Adlevo (tech fund), BioVentures (tech fund), Partech Ventures Africa (venture capital fund).

Type: Entrepreneurship

Eligibility:

• The initiative’s aim is to unlock the region’s entrepreneurial potential by showcasing Africa’s best and brightest entrepreneurs and start-ups, and creating markets for early stage businesses.
• The program targets Africa-based startups that have already demonstrated some level of success, either by generating revenue or by developing a working prototype.

Selection Criteria: Companies will be selected based on the following criteria:

• Stage of operation: The company must either be generating revenue with demonstrated early success, or have a working prototype or a product on the market.
• Positive Impact: The company must have the potential to make a substantial long-term impact on African business and society as well as a commitment to improving the region.
• Leadership: The company must have the potential to make a substantial long-term impact on African business and society as well as a commitment to improving the region.
• Previous Funding: Typically, the company would have already received one or two rounds of funding and is now seeking Series A or Series B funding in the coming year
• Viability: The company should have well-formulated goals and plans for development.
• Independent Company: The company must not be a subsidiary or a joint venture.

Number of Awards: 100

Value of Award: Travel and accommodation expenses for startups will be covered by IFC if needed.
The selected startups and entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to network with, and be connected to, top business and political leaders.

Duration of Programme: 8th-9th December 2018

How to Apply: Apply

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Turbulence in Kashmir and Reconceptualizing a New Regional Order

Nyla Ali Khan

The turbulence and turmoil that has haunted Kashmir for the past twenty-three years holds all of us, as a people, accountable for the degeneration of our politics and society. While it is important for us to condemn, question, and seek redress for the human rights violations in Kashmir, it is also important for us to construct a politics that will enable the rebuilding of our pluralistic polity and society. The more we allow the depoliticization of Kashmiri society, the more subservient we become to forces that do not have Kashmir’s best interests at heart. Today, mainstream as well as separatist politicians in the state have been discredited. The alternative is not the dismantling of the state’s political structures and institutions of governance but the creation of a viable political structure, one is which, as my colleague, historian David Ludden points out, “a popular politics of mass mobilization is merged with institutional politics of governance promoting demilitarization and democracy.” Kashmir cannot afford to lose yet another generation!

A point that I have made in several forums, and most recently in my interview with Natana Delong-Bas for Oxford Islamic Studies Online is that the foundation of Kashmiri nationalism was laid in 1931, and this nationalism recognized the heterogeneity of the nation. It was not constructed around a common language, religion, culture, and an ethnically pure majority. This process of Kashmiri nationalist self-imagining is conveniently ignored in the statist versions of the histories of India and Pakistan. Here, I also point out that there are some purportedly “subaltern” versions of the history of Kashmir which, in their ardent attempts to be deconstructionist, insidiously obliterate the process of nation-building in Kashmir in the early to mid-decades of the twentieth century, inadvertently feeding off statist and oftentimes right-wing versions of history. In romanticizing militant resistance in Kashmir, such versions fail to take into account the tremendously difficult task of restoring the selfhood of a degraded people, and also the harsh fact that a political movement which does not highlight the issues of governance, social welfare, and the resuscitation of democratic institutions ends up becoming obscurantist. In trying to espouse anti-establishment positions, some of us tend to ignore the dangers of obscurantism and the growth of a conflict economy, in which some state and well as non-state actors are heavily invested.

It would be relevant to mention that the partition of India in 1947 into the dominions of India and Pakistan along religious lines enabled divisive forces of violence and brutality to rip the common anti-colonial, cultural legacy to pieces. At the time, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah harbored the mirage of an independent Jammu and Kashmir. But he believed, in the interests of expediency, that provisional accession to India was a better option than unconditional accession to Pakistan. He felt that the political voice and socioeconomic interests of Kashmiris would be greatly threatened and diminished by the plutocracy of Pakistan, which was predominantly feudal. The successful implementation of the land to the tiller program by the Sheikh Abdullah-led state government in Jammu and Kashmir would have been a pipe dream in a country like Pakistan, which was ruled by the feudal aristocracy.

The “defining moment in Jammu and Kashmir’s post-Indian independence history” came in 1950 when disenfranchised peasants “were freed from the shackles of landlords through a law that gave them ownership rights on the land they tilled. . . . The sweeping land reforms under the Big Landed Estates Abolition Act passed on July 13, 1950, changed the complexion of Kashmiri society. The historical image of the emaciated local farmer in tatters, with sunken faces and listless eyes, toiling to fill the granaries of landlords changed overnight into one of a landowner who expected to benefit from the labor he had put in for generations” (Ahmed, F.). This program emphasized the necessity of abolishing exploitative landlordism without compensation and enfranchising tillers by granting them the lands they worked on. Many policy makers in the Indian subcontinent, political scientists, and economists have acknowledged the effectiveness and rigor of land reforms in Jammu and Kashmir.

Before I proceed any further, it would be pertinent to briefly digress on the pluralistic polity of Jammu and Kashmir. The various ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups in Jammu & Kashmir, Kashmiri Muslims, Kashmiri Pandits, Dogra Hindus, Ladakhi Buddhists and Shi’ite Muslims, comprise the pluralistic population of the state. According to the Census of India, 2001, Muslims constitute the predominant religious group of the state at 67.0%, Hindus at 29.6%, Sikhs at 2.23%, Buddhists at 1.16%, Christians at 0.14 %, and others form the remaining part. The reality of Kashmir was vacillating even in 1947, because Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah tried to create unity where none existed.  The disparate groups have been unable to nurture a shared cultural and historical legacy that would enable them to fashion a cultural alterity to that of the Indian or Pakistani nationalist ones. But due to the regional sentiments that are becoming increasingly religionized, the ideology and rhetoric of a shared cultural and historical past have been unable to garner public support and mobilization for reconstruction and nation-building. The signifiers of nationhood in Jammu and Kashmir, flag, anthem, and constitution, have thus far not been able to move beyond a nebulous nationalist self-imagining. Now more than ever, the three regions of the state are at daggers drawn about the future political configuration of the state. This doleful truth was forcefully brought home to me at several conferences held in India and the United States.

A group of Kashmiri Pandits, for example, advocates the creation of a separate homeland for its community within the Kashmir Valley. The predominantly Hindu province of Jammu sees its unbreachable assimilation into the Indian Union as the only way to safeguard its future. However, of the original six districts of Jammu, the three predominantly Muslim ones, Poonch, Rajouri, and Doda, would, in all likelihood, align themselves with the predominantly Muslim Kashmir Valley. In the Ladakh region of the state, predominantly Buddhist Leh, which has always been critical of the perceived discrimination against it, has zealously been demanding its political severance from the rest of the state and pushing its demand for Union Territory status within the Indian Union. Where-as the predominantly Shi’ite Kargil district in the Ladakh region does not perceive a jeopardized cultural and linguistic identity and advocates retention of its political alignment with the rest of the state.

In 1989 several armed separatist groups that owed allegiance to Pakistan surfaced in the Kashmir Valley as well, and for them Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s political ideology was anathema, which they sought to raze to the ground. There remains, however, a contingent in Kashmir that continues to believe in the efficacy of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s policies and apotheosizes him as the symbol of Kashmiri nationalism. It is pertinent to mention that as a consequence of India’s greatly fortified counter insurgency operation in Jammu and Kashmir, the state is a highly militarized zone.

I firmly believe that in order to address wider political, socioeconomic, and democratic issues in the Kashmir at this critical juncture requires rethinking decision-making between India and Pakistan, state and non-state actors as well as between between state and society.

Perhaps it is time to seriously consider a new regional order which would be capable of producing cross-economic, political, and cultural interests among the people of the region. Women in civic associations and in government can lead the way toward a peaceful pluralistic democracy and support international negotiations for a sustainable peace in the region.