Indian courts continue to sanction open-ended imprisonment without trial

Kranti Kumara

Despite last July’s shocking death of the 84-year-old tribal rights activist and Jesuit priest Stan Swamy in what was widely recognized to be a state murder, India’s courts continue to sanction the prolonged detention without trial of his fifteen co-accused in the phony Elgar Parishad terrorism case.

The activists are being framed up by India’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA) under the country’s draconian “anti-terrorist” Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), because they have voiced criticism of Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, its big business policies and suffocating Hindu-supremacist agenda.

The BJP government has targeted them for mobilizing tribals and Dalits to legally defend themselves against state-led and state-sanctioned attacks.

Indian authorities are holding the 70 year-old Gautam Navlakha, one of the left-wing activists targeted in the Elgar Parishad frame-up case, in solitary confinement, placing his health and very life at grave risk. (Photo Credit: wikimedia.org)

Stan Swamy died after the Bombay High Court and vindictive prison authorities cruelly denied him timely medical treatment after he contracted COVID-19 whilst in prison.

Another persecuted activist, the 82-year-old Telugu poet Varvara Rao, who was granted temporary bail in February due to extreme ill health, was recently ordered by the Bombay High Court to “surrender” for reimprisonment this week.

In an unusual judgement, which the NIA is now appealing before India’s Supreme Court, the Bombay High Court on December 1 granted “default bail” to lawyer and tribal rights activist Sudha Bharadwaj on technical grounds. Bharadwaj has been behind bars since August 2018. The court ordered her release because the police did not file a charge sheet within 90 days after her arrest. The Bombay High Court has ordered Bharadwaj to appear on December 8 before a special court designated to try NIA cases. It will decide on the conditions and the date of her release, if the police agency’s Supreme Court appeal fails.

The same “NIA court” has previously denied medical bail to Bharadwaj, who suffers from numerous ailments because of her imprisonment. The judges essentially accepted the NIA’s cynical argument that Bharadwaj was “taking advantage of the pandemic.”

While ordering Bharadwaj released, the Bombay High court simultaneously denied bail to eight of her co-accused in the Elgar Parishad case. Police had also detained them for months without charge, breaching even the arbitrary, flagrantly anti-democratic rules set out in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Yet the court refused to grant them “default bail” on the grounds the police had laid charges against the eight prior to their formally appealing for release on these grounds.

All long-time left-wing activists, the Elgar Parishad accused include prominent writers, academics, lawyers and journalists. They have languished in India’s atrocious prisons for over three years without trial.

The Indian judiciary, at all levels, has repeatedly denied them bail. The courts have thus given their stamp of approval to the NIA’s and Modi government’s violation of basic democratic rights. Thousands of other opponents of the Modi government and its Hindu supremacist agenda have similarly been locked away in prison for years without trial, after being charged under the UAPA. Not only does this legislation lower evidentiary standards in the adjudication of cases. It gives the authorities great leeway to deny bail, enabling them to imprison people for years on trumped up charges without trial.

In another vile development, Elgar Parishad-accused Gautam Navlakha, was suddenly and arbitrarily transferred to what is colloquially known as the “Anda Cell” (Egg cell) of the Yerawada Central Jail. The Anda cell is a tiny egg-shaped prison cell with very little light that is located in a special “high-security” wing of the prison. It was constructed in the 1990s to house the two pro-Khalistan terrorists who killed the Indian army chief who directed the 1984 assault on the Sikh Golden Temple (Operation Blue Star.)

Navlakha was jailed in April 2020, after the Supreme Court rejected his bail application and ordered him to be turned over to the NIA. He is a journalist and human rights activist well known for highlighting the Indian government’s decades-long repression in disputed Kashmir. He is a consulting editor to India’s well-known left-wing political magazine, the Economic and Political Weekly (popularly known as EPW.)

The “Anda cell” is designed to impose the most rigorous and inhumane form of solitary confinement, with those detained denied any access to the outdoors, sunlight and fresh air. It was built with the sadistic goal of breaking prisoners’ spirit.

Solitary confinement is a violation of Article 7 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The United Nations has condemned solitary confinement lasting 15 days or more as a form of torture.

Navlakha’s fate was brought to public attention through an open letter written by Sahba Hussain, Navlakha’s partner for 25 years, and widely shared on social media. When this author spoke to Ms. Hussain, she expressed a great deal of concern for the wellbeing of the 70-year-old Navlakha, whose health has already deteriorated severely due to the deplorable conditions of his imprisonment. These have included massive overcrowding amid the COVID-19 pandemic and disgusting toilet facilities. She also demanded to know why activists must constantly run to the courts just to uphold their most elementary democratic rights.

Navlakha was detained at the Tihar Jail in New Delhi when he surrendered on April 14, 2020. He was subsequently shifted to Taloja prison in Mumbai in late May 2020. However, when he was first brought to Mumbai, he was lodged in a school that had been converted into a “temporary prison” where inmates were forced to live like animals. Despite the raging COVID-19 pandemic, 350 prisoners were packed like sardines in six rooms with just three toilets, seven urinals and one common bathing area. They even lacked access to a mug or a bucket when bathing.

The NIA accuses the 15 surviving defendants in the Elgar Parishad case of being “urban Naxalites,” i.e., of acting as an urban front for the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) or CPI (Maoist). The NIA has also absurdly charged them with plotting to overthrow the BJP government. According to the NIA, their aim was to “spread rebellious thoughts” by attempting to create a national “anti-fascist front” so as to “wage war against the government.”

The NIA claims that the evidence these activists were either working with or are members of the CPI (Maoist) is based upon numerous documents it purportedly discovered on the computers of some of the accused. A forensic analysis conducted by Arsenal Consulting, a highly regarded US-based computer forensics firm, concluded that these documents, located in a hidden folder, were planted by a well-financed computer hacker. Arsenal stated, “It should be noted that this is one of the most serious cases involving evidence tampering that Arsenal has ever encountered.”

The charges are based on the activists’ alleged instigation “of violence” on January 1, 2018, during an event marking the 200th anniversary of Elgar Parishad (literally, a gathering with a loud declaration). This annual event, held at the village of Bhima Koregoan, in Maharashtra, commemorates the heroism displayed two hundred years ago by several hundred Dalit sepoys (soldiers) in the British colonial army during a battle against a much larger force fielded by the upper caste Peshwa-ruled Maratha Confederacy. The Peshwas were notorious for their abuse and mistreatment of Dalits.

In reality, it is Hindu-right activists who are responsible for whatever violence occurred at the 2018 Elgar Parishad event. A close ally of Modi and another Hindu-extremist working with him whipped up a frenzied, saffron-coloured flag-waving Hindu mob to attack the gathering, causing violent clashes.

While the real organizers of this violence are roaming free due to their intimate connections to the BJP government, the innocent and elderly activists have been left to rot in atrocious prisons indefinitely, and with the sanction and approval of India’s courts.

Most of the activists were not even present at the Elgar Parishad gathering. In spite of this, the 16 activists were arrested by the Pune police, which accused them of being its “main organizers.”

In fact, it was two activist retired judges, B.G. Kolse-Patil, a former Bombay High Court judge, and the late P.B. Sawant, a retired justice of the Indian Supreme Court, who were the “main organisers and sole funders” of the December 31, 2017 Elgaar Parishad event. They emphasized to the Scroll.in online publication, “We have openly been saying this from the beginning.”

Australia’s under-funded healthcare system confronts major nursing shortages

Gary Alvernia

As the criminal policy of allowing COVID-19 to spread in Australia results in more than 1,000 cases daily, and nearly 2,000 patients dead already, the strain on the public health system continues to worsen.

The emergence of the even more infectious Omicron variant will intensify the crisis, which has seen a reported nationwide exodus of nurses from the workforce, including an estimated 20,000 this year.

A nurse holds a phone while a patient affected with COVID-19 speaks with his family from the intensive care unit [Credit: AP/Daniel Cole]

That represents a loss of 5 percent of the approximately 400,000 nurses in the country, in a system that was severely understaffed even before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Particularly concerning has been the loss of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses, leading to a reduction in available ICU beds since 2020, and of nurses in aged care. Both these areas are being heavily impacted by COVID-19.

It is broadly acknowledged that the public hospital system is buckling under the pressures of the pandemic.

In a recent report, published before the Omicron variant was identified, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) anticipated that up to 2,400 hospital beds were likely to be required by COVID-19 patients on an average day in the coming six months. This would lead to even greater ambulance ramping and up to 40 percent reduced capacity for elective surgeries.

The loss of nursing staff has already resulted in 12,000 vacancies nationally, forcing some hospitals to close entire wards. According to Australian College of Nursing chief executive Kylie Ward, the worst shortages were to be found in critical care (ICU and emergency departments), maternity, mental health and aged care wards.

Many of the nurses resigning are experienced staff who are necessary for the training of junior nurses and new graduates, thus affecting the capacity of the healthcare system to grow and train the workforce.

The horrific conditions that hospital and aged care staff have been subjected to since March 2020 are undoubtedly a driving cause of resignations. Like their counterparts internationally, Australian health workers have been subjected to hugely increased workloads, absence of proper PPE, exposure to COVID, and traumatic situations and patient deaths in hospitals overwhelmed by infected patients.

New South Wales (NSW) emergency department (ED) nurse Hannah told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC): “At times we have had 70 people in the [emergency] department, ambulances ramped for hours, COVID patients sitting in the waiting room exposing people… we still don’t have [staff] ratios that are safe. And people die. And that’s why I’m leaving nursing.”

Steph, an ICU nurse in the southern state of Victoria noted: “My workplace is making staff look after patients with equipment they have no training for. When you raise these issues with management you’re met with a look that says ‘stop being difficult and just do it.’”

In comments posted to an ABC article on declining ICU nurse numbers, one health worker wrote: “The covid crisis simply magnified the contempt with which NSW health treats all of its staff. They endlessly send out ‘are you OK?’ emails when all of our stress is related to understaffing and under-resourcing. We are dehumanised and not listened to as experts when we raise issues … we are forbidden to talk to the media. In the end people just burn out and leave.”

While the burden of COVID-19 cases has thus far been primarily limited to the populous states of NSW and Victoria, staffing shortages and deteriorating work conditions are leading to burnout and resignations in all states and territories. Amy, an ED nurse from Queensland, reported: “We work understaffed every shift in our ED and are at capacity every day. Most nurses will complete double shifts (16 to 18 hours) so we can safely provide patient care. We are extremely burnt out.”

Such experiences were corroborated in a Monash University study, which estimated that as many as 40 percent of healthcare workers in Victoria had developed post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) by the end of last year as a result of the COVID-19 waves in that state.

Despite the brutality and challenges of their work, nurses are the most poorly-paid professional workers, with a median annual salary less than $80,000 in Sydney, one of the most expensive cities in the world.

The resignations are not limited to only nurses. Surveys indicate that one-fifth of frontline and emergency services workers are considering quitting their current jobs. While exhaustion and burnout from COVID-related workloads are an immediate cause, ultimately the situation confronting health workers is due to persistent attacks on health workers and public health over decades, perpetrated by Labor and Liberal-National governments alike.

Health workers raised opposition to unsafe staffing levels for years before the pandemic. Last year, prior to the Delta outbreaks, nurses and other workers in NSW and Victoria launched multiple strikes, each of which was isolated and betrayed by trade unions collaborating with governments and health employers.

In 2014, a government-commissioned Health Workforce Australia (HWA) report warned that the country would confront a shortage of 85,000 nurses by 2025, and 123,000 by 2030. HWA was abolished in the same year by the Liberal-National Coalition government, with no assessment of staffing levels conducted since. With tacit assistance from the Labor and Greens opposition, the Coalition also pushed through $50 billion of cuts in hospital funding that year.

The previous Labor governments under Rudd then Gillard introduced so-called “national efficient prices,” by which public hospitals would be funded only for current levels of activity on the basis of “efficiency.” That gives them no capacity to anticipate population increases or deal with complexity in patients, who are growing older and sicker on average.

No state government has increased public hospital funding and infrastructure in real terms since the start of the pandemic. Instead they have frozen or capped the wages of health workers and allowed hospital capacity decreases, elective surgery waiting list blowouts and ambulance ramping to continue.

In an attempt to deflect mounting public hostility, state governments, feigning poverty, recently issued public calls for additional funds from the federal government, a proposal that Prime Minister Scott Morrison immediately rejected.

The refusal to increase healthcare funding is in line with government opposition to measures designed to stem the pandemic. This is a bipartisan policy, driven by the dictates of finance and corporations for the exploitation of the working class to intensify.

Australian government in “chaos” as pandemic intensifies political disarray

Mike Head

With the highly-transmissible Omicron variant of COVID already spreading, there are growing signs of a deepening political crisis in Australia after more than a decade of unstable and short-lived governments.

The Liberal-National Coalition government is wracked by rifts and desertions, yet there is continuing low popular support for the opposition Labor Party, accompanied by rising distrust in the entire pro-business parliamentary establishment. Polls show Labor’s primary vote still languishing at the near-record lows of around 33 percent that it obtained in the last federal election in 2019.

This raises the prospect of yet another minority or near-minority government after the looming next election, which must be held by May. Since 2007, when Coalition Prime Minister John Howard was so detested that he lost his own seat, no prime minister has lasted a full three-year parliamentary term.

The last two-week session of federal parliament for 2021 ended on Thursday with Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government in obvious disarray and its legislative program in tatters, unable to push through its key bills.

Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison [Credit: AP/Kiyoshi Ota]

In order to cling to office, the government has virtually suspended parliament. It has scheduled only 10 sitting days for the first half of 2022.

An unprecedented nine government MPs voted against the government on various issues during the final fortnight session. Several declared they would not vote for any government bill at all unless the government took action to overturn even the limited pandemic mask mandates set by state and territory governments.

Many government members have deserted the ship, declaring their intentions not to contest the federal election. By the end of Thursday, the number of government ministers or ex-ministers issuing such statements had risen to six, including Health Minister Greg Hunt and former Attorney-General Christian Porter.

Another six backbench MPs had done the same. So the government is losing 12 representatives altogether, with more likely to go before the election. Bitter internal faction fights are underway to pre-select Coalition candidates for an array of seats.

In the dying hours of the session, the main corporate media outlets gave prominence to claims of abuse made against Education Minister Alan Tudge by his female ex-media adviser. That forced Morrison to stand aside Tudge, who has been a close supporter of both Morrison and Defence Minister Peter Dutton, pending an in-house investigation into the allegations.

Sections of the ruling class appear to be losing confidence in the government’s capacity to deliver the agenda that big business is demanding. That is first, a guarantee of no more pandemic lockdowns, no matter how deadly Omicron and other variants become, and second, a stepped-up offensive against working-class conditions in order to further boost profits.

The words being used by the media to describe the government include “chaos” and “a train wreck,” beset by “division,” “sabotage,” “disloyalty” and “insurrection.”

Among the bills that the government had promised but was forced to shelve, at least until after the election, were: to permit religious bodies to defy anti-discrimination laws; to establish a token corruption commission to protect government politicians from accusations; and to impose blatantly anti-democratic voter ID legislation designed to disenfranchise many working-class and marginalised voters.

With the government falling apart, Labor’s response has been to step up its efforts to win the backing of the financial elite, while joining hands with the government to try to shore up the two-party political system that has ruled the country since World War II.

Yesterday, in his latest pro-business pitch, Labor leader Anthony Albanese released a policy to supposedly reduce carbon emissions by 43 percent by 2030, mainly by handing out massive subsidies to companies. Albanese boasted that the policy was based on what business leaders themselves had proposed! The Business Council of Australia (BCA), representing the largest corporations operating in Australia, immediately hailed the policy as “sensible and workable.”

Labor also struck a cynical and self-serving deal with the government to postpone the voter ID bill, which had provoked widespread outrage, while helping the Coalition ram through another anti-democratic electoral law. This bill retrospectively compels environmental groups and charities to hand over lists of donors for campaigns in support of a growing number of “independent” candidates trying to exploit the public disaffection.

This deal extends Labor’s record of backing laws to try to block any challenge to the two-party duopoly. In August, Labor helped spearhead laws to deregister parties not currently represented in parliament unless they filed lists of 1,500 members—triple the previous requirement—by this week. The Socialist Equality Party is conducting a determined campaign against these laws.

Since September’s unveiling of the AUKUS pact against China, Labor also has repeatedly reiterated its commitment to the US military alliance. It is backing the Biden administration’s escalation of Washington’s confrontation with China, raising the danger of a catastrophic nuclear war.

Crucially, from the standpoint of corporate profit, Labor leaders, including Victorian state Premier Daniel Andrews, have pledged to continue lifting any remaining COVID safety restrictions, and to keep all schools open. That is despite the ongoing Delta wave in Victoria and New South Wales, which has started to leak into other states and territories, and the rapid emergence of Omicron cases.

An Australian Financial Review editorial on December 2 vented the anxiety within the ruling capitalist class over the government’s disarray and accused the political elite of failing to impose a “pro-growth” agenda. It complained that the “low-brow and low-energy election may not even produce a win. If it delivers a hung parliament—where Greens or independents hold sway—then three years of greater paralysis beckon.”

The editorial demanded economic restructuring to overcome the impact of China’s moves to lessen its reliance on huge Australian imports of iron ore, and to claw back from social spending some $1.3 trillion in state and federal government debt, primarily incurred in bailing out business throughout the pandemic.

This is a warning of the big business dictates to be unveiled after the election, regardless of whether the next government is led by the Coalition or Labor.

The ruling class agenda was echoed in today’s Australian by editor-at-large Paul Kelly. He insisted that the “bedraggled” government’s fate depended on its ability to deliver “economic recovery.” Above all, that meant enforcing Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s declaration this week: “Lockdowns are behind us.”

Kelly said the government had to “manage” Omicron “without premiers blowing up the place by reverting to populist repression.” That last phrase, however, reveals the fear in ruling circles of the mounting discontent in the working class, especially among teachers, parents and health workers, over the failure of governments to protect the population from the pandemic. This anger has been intensified by the infections already raging in schools, hundreds of which have had to partially or temporarily close since being reopened in the past six weeks.

Nervously, Kelly also pointed to the years of stagnation in wage levels, citing a warning from the big business BCA itself that “people don’t feel they are getting ahead.” As figures like Kelly are fully aware, the pandemic has seen the social gulf between wealthy and the working class widen to staggering and ever-more glaring levels that have triggered workers’ struggles around the globe.

One factor is holding back a social explosion. Australia’s trade union apparatus, which is tied closely to Labor, is doing everything it can to keep suppressing strikes and unrest, as it has for decades.

This week, the Transport Workers Union struck a deal with FedEx to end the last of a series of stoppages against logistics companies, while Maritime Union of Australia national secretary Paddy Crumlin ruled out dockworkers taking industrial action at Patrick Terminals ahead of Christmas.

Appearing on the Seven Network’s “Sunrise” program after Morrison had threatened legal action against stoppages, host David Koch asked Crumlin: “So, no industrial action before Christmas?” Crumlin replied: “No, of course not.”

Access Bank Udacity Advance Africa Scholarship Program (Cohort 2) 2021

Application Deadline:

29th December 2021

About the Access Bank Udacity Advance Africa Scholarship Program:

Udacity is collaborating with Access Bank, a multinational commercial bank, to empower people in Africa who are interested in learning tech-forward skills to kick-start careers in the banking industry in 2021.

We are proud to provide hands-on learning opportunities in fields such as Business Analytics, Programming, Data Science, Product Management and Digital Marketing. Scholarship recipients will complete a portfolio of real-world projects that demonstrate mastery of highly sought-after tech skills.

Access Bank’s Corporate Philosophy:

Our vision
To be the world’s most respected African Bank.

Our mission
Setting standards for sustainable business practices that deliver superior value to our customers and provide innovative solutions for the markets and communities we serve.

Our core values

• Leadership
• Excellence
• Empowered employees
• Passion for customers
• Professionalism
• Innovation

Our solution

Udacity and Access Bank are committed to closing the divide between the number of tech jobs available and the number of Africans working in tech by providing opportunities to those who would not otherwise have them. That starts with ensuring a robust pipeline of trained, talented tech professionals. Together, we are offering:

• 1,000 Nanodegree program scholarships for Africans to build practical, in-demand, cutting-edge tech skills.
• Engagement with classmates in a robust, actively managed, student community.
• Subject matter experts and on-demand tutors.

The scholarship will create upskilling opportunities for individuals and give them the skills needed in the digital world. In fact, the tech industry comprises some of the highest growth, most in-demand careers today.

Eligible Field(s):

Take a look at some of our Nanodegree Programs, designed to be the fastest, most flexible way to get employable, practitioner-level skills.

• Business Analytics
• Intro to Programming
• Programming for Data Science with Python
• Product Manager
• Digital Marketing

Type of Award: Training

Eligibility:

Anyone 20 years of age and above is encouraged to apply. Scholarship recipients should be prepared to invest about 5–10 hours per week during the Nanodegree programs.

What are the prerequisites?

Business Analytics:
This is an introductory program and has no prerequisites. In order to succeed, we recommend having experience using a computer and being able to download and install applications.

Introduction to Programming:
In order to succeed, we recommend having experience using the web, being able to perform a search on Google, and (most importantly) the determination to keep pushing forward.

Programming for Data Science with Python:
There are no prerequisites for this program, aside from basic computer skills. You should feel comfortable performing basic operations on your computer (e.g., opening files, folders, and applications, copying and pasting).

Product Manager:
No prior experience with Product Management is required. You will need to be comfortable with basic computer skills, such as managing files, using third-party online programs, and navigating the Internet through an online browser. You will also need access to a video camera on a computer.

Digital Marketing:
Students should have basic computer skills and be comfortable navigating online.

Eligible Countries:

African countries

Number of Awards:

1000

Value of Access Bank Udacity Advance Africa Scholarship Program:

• Nanodegree program scholarships for Africans to build practical, in-demand, cutting-edge tech skills.
• Engagement with classmates in a robust, actively managed, student community.
• Subject matter experts and on-demand tutors.

Timeline of Award:

Cohort 2 applications for the Advance Africa Scholarship Program are open!

• Applications Accepted: December 1, 2021 – December 29, 2021
• Challenge Winners Announced: January 7, 2022
• Challenge Course: January 11, 2022 – February 16, 2022
• Scholarship Winners Announced: February 25, 2022
• Scholarship: March 1, 2022 – April 30, 2022

How to Apply for the Access Bank Udacity Advance Africa Scholarship Program:

• It is important to go through all application requirements in the Award Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit Access Bank Udacity Advance Africa Scholarship Program Webpage for Details

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the “Access Bank Scholarship Program”? Access Bank and Udacity will provide 1,000 Nanodegree program scholarships for people in Africa to build practical, in-demand, cutting-edge tech skills. The scholarship will create upskilling opportunities for scholarship recipients and give them the skills needed by many tech companies today.

• Where does the program take place? The program takes place 100% online. Students can work from wherever they want to, as long as they have a working internet connection.

• How does this scholarship program work?
  • Phase 1: Challenge Course
    
    10,000 Access Bank Scholarship applicants in the form of 4 rolling cohorts, will be selected to participate in a Challenge Course, with the first cohort beginning in September 2021. Each cohort will consist of 2,500 participants. During this first phase of the scholarship, students work through one of the five initial Challenge Courses that comprise of course text, content and quizzes (no projects) for Business Analytics, Intro to Programming, Programming for Data Science with Python, Product Management, or Digital Marketing over the course of 5 weeks. Learners should be prepared to invest about 3–5 hours per week during this period. Challenge course recipients participating in this initial phase of the program will also engage with classmates in a robust, actively managed, student community.
    
    
    Phase 2: Nanodegree program
    
    1,000 students in the form of 4 rolling cohorts will be awarded a scholarship to Business Analytics, Intro to Programming, Programming for Data Science with Python, Product Management or Digital Marketing. Each cohort will consist of 250 full scholarships, and the first cohort of winners will begin in October 2021. Access to these Nanodegree programs includes expert project reviews provided by human project reviewers. Applicants should be prepared to invest about 5–10 hours per week for 2 months.

Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat) 2022

Application Deadline:

Letter of Intent Deadline: 15th December 2021 5:00 PM (UTC)

Application Deadline: 29th March 2022 5:00 PM (UTC)

Tell Me About Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat):

Cancer is becoming a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Africa. The International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates that cancer deaths in Africa will double by 2040. This trend poses major challenges for public health activities in Africa. Among the many needs, there is a need to generate local evidence and knowledge upon which appropriate clinical, public health, and policy guidelines can be built. Historically, the pool of cancer researchers in Africa has been limited, in part because early-career funding mechanisms to help launch junior investigators into research careers are very limited. In order to address the growing cancer health crisis, a pipeline of talented and creative early-career African investigators must be fostered to generate knowledge that can be used to address cancer needs in Africa and beyond. Furthermore, the development of academic and research pursuits in Africa will provide opportunities to advance the continent’s need for biomedical, economic, academic, and social development on a variety of levels. The  Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat) represents a joint effort to address this need by promoting and supporting early-career investigators in Africa to establish a successful career path in cancer research, thereby increasing and sustaining a cadre of talented cancer researchers in Africa.

BIG Cat is a premier initiative by the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) to build capacity for cancer research in Africa. The  goal of BIG Cat program is to aid the next generation of African cancer researchers to base their careers in their home countries and institutions, and to contribute to the overall expansion of capacity for research and training in Africa by generating evidence that will guide practice and policy. BIG Cat was initiated in 2010 by the US National Cancer Institute Center for Global Health (NCI/CGH), and it is now a collaborative effort of AORTIC, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and NCI/CGH, with funding support from Partners including academic, industrial and scientific organizations.

The research proposed for funding may be in any area of cancer research, including basic research, clinical research, population-based research and translational research across the cancer care continuum (prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment , supportive and palliative care, and survivorship). These grants are intended to catalyze subsequent application for funding from other funding sources, not to support longer term research. Each grant will provide US$55,000 over two years for expenses related to the research project, which may include salary and benefits of the grant recipient and any collaborator, postdoctoral or clinical research fellows, graduate students (including tuition costs), and/or research assistants, research/laboratory supplies, equipment, publication charges for manuscripts that pertain directly to the funded project, and other research expenses. Indirect costs is limited to no more than 10% of the total grant amount. Up to US$10,000 may be allocated from the grant to support travel applicable to the research project and relevant scientific meetings, including mandatory attendance at the 2023 AACR Annual Meeting and biennial AORTIC conference. The grants are not intended for principal investigators outside of Africa, although collaborative research projects are encouraged. All funds provided must be spent in Africa with the exception of limited support for travel to international scientific meetings and conferences.

Which Fields are Eligible?

Research projects may be in any area of cancer research, including basic research, clinical research, population-based research and translational research across the cancer care continuum (prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship). Applicants are encouraged to be innovative in their research proposals and demonstrate local relevance of their proposed research.

What Type of Scholarship is this?

Grants

Who can apply for Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat)?

At the start of the grant term on July 1, 2022, the Principal investigator (PI) must:

• Be a beginning investigator, defined as a clinician or scientist who received his or her highest degree of study within the past ten years. An earned academic (or research) doctorate [such as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)], or medical degree [such as a Doctor of Medicine (MD),Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) or Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB, MB BS, BM MCh, etc.)] which is considered the highest degree of study in most African countries. When an investigator has received multiple terminal degrees, the calculation will be based on the date of award of the most recent degree.
• Be a current member with AORTIC. Note: AORTIC membership is also mandatory at LOI stage.
• Reside in and be conducting research in Africa with particular relevance to the African cancer burden on the continent. Proof of residency is required.
• Have legal residency status in Africa.
• Not have received a BIG CAT award in prior years.

AACR is obligated to comply with U.S. laws and regulations regarding research and related transactions in countries subject to US Government enforcement of economic and trade sanctions for particular foreign policy and national security reasons.  If your proposed project involves US Government sanctioned countries subject to restrictions, please contact the AACR’s Scientific Review and Grants Administration (the AACR’s SRGA) at grants@aacr.org.

Which Countries are Eligible?

Applicants must have legal residency status in Africa. A list of eligible countries can be found in the Competitive Letter of Intent Program Guidelines and Application Instructions. Proof of residency is required.

How Many Scholarships will be Given?

Not specified

What is the Benefit of Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat)?

$55,000 USD

How Long will the Program Last?

2 Years

How to Apply for Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat):

• Competitive Letter of Intent Program Guidelines and Application Instructions are available for download here.
• The BIG Cat program requires applicants to complete an online Letter of Intent submission by 5:00 p.m. UTC (1:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, using the ProposalCentral website at https://proposalcentral.com/.

Visit Award Webpage for Details

Facing the Facts About Gun Violence in the U.S.

Laura Finley

A day after yet another tragic school shooting, I just finished teaching a criminology class about gun violence and how to reduce it in the U.S. I found that my students have many misconceptions about the scope and nature of the problem. I believe they are not alone, and that these misconceptions that many others may hold work against the development of thoughtful and effective policy. Although whole volumes can and have been written about this, I share here just a few observations.

First, many have no idea how many people are injured or killed by gun violence in the U.S. annually. According to the CDC, more than 45,000 people were killed by gun violence in the U.S. in 2020, an increase in recent decades. This is an average of more than 120 gun-related deaths per day. It includes a 30 percent increase in homicides from the previous year. Between 2015 and 2019 there were 2,606 gun deaths by law enforcement alone. These numbers should be shocking, with U.S. gun-related homicide rates 25 times greater than other wealthy nations.

Second, most are unaware that the biggest percentage of gun-related fatalities come from suicide. Nearly two-thirds of deaths by gun are suicides, an average of approximately 64 per day. Likewise, accidental injuries and deaths are far more frequent in the U.S. than in other wealthy countries. A study by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University found that between 2009 and 2017, there was an annual average of 85,700 ER visits for non-fatal gun injuries. ABC Newsdeveloped a Gun Violence Tracker and found that for the week of November 19 to 25, 2021, there 345 deaths and 623 injuries due to firearms in the U.S.

Third, the cost of gun violence is astronomical. The U.S. spends nearly one billion dollars annually on immediate healthcare costs alone, according to the U.S. General Accountability Office. The costs are far greater when you factor in long-term physical and mental health care, as well as criminal justice and other costs.

Fourth, while mass shootings typically dominate the conversation about gun control, they represent less than three percent of annual gun-related deaths. Further, the primary reason for mass shootings in the U.S. is domestic violence. Similarly, much attention has been paid to active shooter situations, with some potentially problematic policy implications, yet these represent just one percent of gun deaths.

Fifth, while many emphasize gun deaths in big cities like Chicago, approximately half of homicides by gun occur in suburban and rural areas. In addition, gun injuries are widespread and not exclusive to big cities. While Black males are disproportionately victims of intentional shootings, White males in rural communities are overrepresented in suicide by gun.

This is not an exhaustive list of misconceptions, nor does it offer solutions. My hope in teaching and writing about this is that, if we all discuss real data, perhaps then we can identify more appropriate policies and practices, which might include gun control, educational programs, mental health assistance and more.

Censorship, the Myth of Free Data and the False Solutions on the Table

Kenn Orphan

There is a line I keep seeing repeated on social media. It goes something like this: “They are allowed to decide what is acceptable to post and what is not. It’s free, after all.” Things like that may make snappy and snarky comebacks to people complaining about internet censorship. Only it isn’t true. Not by a long shot.

Facebook, Twitter, and virtually every other social media company make billions of dollars off our personal information. Some of that information is freely given by us, most is not. Carefully crafted algorithms capture and bundle our mundane or most intimate details and sell them to advertising agencies and political public relations firms, who then attempt to manipulate our fears, desires, pleasures and prejudices to sell us a product or influence our way of thinking about an issue.

These social media giants hold a monopoly on what has become the commons for humanity. A place traditionally available to everyone in the community. They have privatized these commons and operate them without any oversight, no requirement for hearing and responding to complaints, and no democratic process.

This may sound like I am plugging for the supposed Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. I am not. I believe that Haugen is advocating for the exact opposite of what is needed. In addition to this, her access to power should be suspect. She has been given exclusive interviews by Big Media and her testimony has been welcomed before government bodies in the US, UK, and EU. She enjoys bipartisan support at a time when we are told such collaboration does not exist. Compare this with how Julian Assange, Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning have been treated.

Haugen is celebrated by the powerful because she is no threat to them. On the contrary, she made her career from the very algorithms that filter out dissent on search platforms like Google. She also worked in counterespionage in her time at Facebook, advocating for greater “protections” in the name of American “national security.”

If one reads between the lines it becomes obvious that Haugen’s “solution” to the problem of social media tyranny is to put even more control into the hands of despotic intelligence agencies and the ruling class. If she is successful, the new social media landscape will not only see the censorship of racist, white supremacy and violent nationalism, it will effectively silence the left in its analysis, criticism and resistance to the predations of late capitalism, war and ecological destruction and all of its mechanisms of oppression.

The hard truth is that none of this will be solved under the existing structures and arrangements of power. We live in an era of expansive, technological mass surveillance, by both corporations and the corporate state. The ruling class has always used this in order to quash dissent and control thought and resistance. That much has never changed. But its scope is greater than at any other time in human history. And it will use meaningless slogans like “protecting children” or “preserving democracy” to distract the public from its increasing authoritarian overreach. Therefore, putting more tools of censorship into the hands of the few and the powerful will only ensure less democracy, not more.

But we can use our own agency to resist both corporate censorship as well as data mining. We should oppose draconian legislative actions that curtail freedom of expression and speech, or put more control into the hands of corporations or intelligence agencies and the politicians who are in their service. And we can stop repeating the lie I stated at the beginning of this essay. Social media has never been a free service for any of us. But it has certainly given a lot of advertisers, wealthy investors, intelligence agents and politicians a free ride.

Sri Lankan public sector workers hold nationwide protests to demand higher wages

W.A. Sunil

Tens of thousands of public sector employees demonstrated across Sri Lanka this week for wage rises and to protest against government attacks on their democratic rights. The island-wide actions, held on consecutive days beginning Monday, are another indication of the mounting working-class opposition to the Rajapakse government’s austerity measures and escalating authoritarianism.

Colombo National Hospital health workers protesting on December 1 (WSWS media)

• On November 29, state employees, including development, agriculture research and village officers, and office ancillary staff, as well as postal and inland revenue department workers, protested outside their respective workplaces. Demonstrations occurred at the Colombo postal exchange office, the education ministry in Kandy and the inland revenue office in Galle Town.
  
  The workers are calling for a 10,000-rupee ($US50) monthly pay rise and for Colombo to withdraw budget plans to lift the retirement age from 55 to 65 years. They are also demanding an end to bans on public sector employees criticising government policies.
  
  The protest was organised by the Sri Lanka Public Officers Trade Union Federation (SLPOTUF), an alliance of 35 unions that includes the All Ceylon Development Officers Union, the Agriculture Research and Production Assistants Union and the Sri Lanka Village Officers Union. Some inland revenue and postal department unions also participated.
• The next day, about 1,000 health employees held a motorcade procession in Colombo to the health ministry office, calling for a wage increase and other demands. Health workers held a two-day strike last month on the same issues. On Wednesday, about 50 ancillary health workers protested in front of the health ministry in Colombo.
• Yesterday, hundreds of non-academic staff protested outside their respective universities, including in Colombo, Moratuwa, Jaffna, Peradeniya and Matara. Sri Lanka has 15 state-funded universities.

Non academic university staff from Matara university protesting on December 2 (WSWS media)

Earlier last month—on November 8 and 9—over 100,000 health employees, teachers, development officers and other sections of the working class, including railway workshop employees and private sector workers, held strikes and mass demonstrations.

Rising inflation and the government’s removal of almost all price controls has opened the way for sharp increases in the price of essentials and has fueled the rising wave of strikes and protests.

In November, Sri Lanka’s annualised inflation rate rose to 9.9 percent, measured on a year-on-year basis, the highest recorded in 12 years. Food inflation increased that month to 17. 5 percent—up from 12.8 percent in October—while non-food inflation climbed to 6.4 percent, up from 5.4 percent, in the same period.

In the lead-up to last month’s budget, the trade unions, in an attempt to dissipate workers’ anger, falsely claimed that mass protests and limited walkouts would force the government to grant wage increases.

These myths were shattered by Rajapakse’s brutal austerity budget that aims to make the working class bear the burden of Sri Lanka’s long-running economic crisis which has been dramatically worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Finance Minister Basil Rajapakse declared on November 12, after presenting his budget: “There is absolutely no way [for at least one more year] we can spend public money on government sector employees.”

Non academic workers demonstrate at Jaffna University (WSWS Media)

The SLPOTUF leadership responded with a letter to President Rajapakse, appealing for an 18,000-rupee monthly wage increase for its members.

The union federation, however, later reduced its wage demand to 10,000 rupees “considering the crisis of the government,” and slavishly told Rajapakse, “We are eagerly looking for your concerns and commitment.”

While SLPOTUF national organiser Pradeep Basnayake later admitted to the WSWS that the federation did not even receive a reply to its letter, it has issued a pathetic appeal to the finance minister to withdraw his statement that “the public sector is an unbearable burden” on the Sri Lankan economy.

Finance Minister Rajapakse’s “unbearable burden” comment is a clear indication that the government will unleash a brutal job-destruction and privatisation assault on public sector workers. This attack will not be combated by pathetic union appeals but the preparation of a political and industrial mobilisation of Sri Lankan workers against the Rajapakse government, something the SLPOTUF virulently opposes. Like their union counterparts across the island, the federation aims to divert workers into fruitless protests and then negotiate a rotten deal with the government, which it will then impose.

The government has also imposed an anti-democratic ban and harsh punishments on any public sector worker who dares to oppose its policies. Late last month, the public administration ministry sent a circular to all district secretaries threatening “disciplinary action” against public officers who “criticise the government and its policies.”

On Wednesday, Health Professional Collective co-secretary Ravi Kumudesh told a press conference that his alliance was ready to “join unconditionally any force that stands for public employees’ rights and dignity.”

Peradeniya university non academic staff on December 2 (WSWS media)

Kumudesh did not name who those forces might be but going on the union collective’s past record, it will treacherously push health workers into a dead-end alliance with parliamentary bourgeois opposition parties, such as Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.

Yesterday, the University Non-academic Trade Union Collective did everything it could to limit its actions, holding what it described as a “silent protest” and failing to mobilise its members.

Addressing a lunch-hour demonstration at Peradeniya University, one of the union collective’s co-presidents said that the action was just to indicate that there had been an injustice. “It is surprising that many are participating in the demonstration. We did not inform the majority of members,” he said, adding, “We have no need for political ideologies.”

The unions, which function as an industrial police force for Sri Lankan capitalism, are becoming increasingly nervous about workers’ rising militancy and are desperately seeking to suppress it.