BBC Panorama exposes crimes committed against hundreds of sub-postmasters by the Post Office

Barry Mason

An important investigation by BBC current affairs programme Panorama highlighted the terrible plight of hundreds of Post Office sub-postmasters wrongly accused of theft and false accounting.

Over 58 minutes, The Post Office Scandal documents the injustices following the Post Office’s introduction in 1999/2000 of a computerised accounting system, Horizon, to every post office in the country. Panorama described what befell the sub-postmasters as the “most widespread miscarriage of justice in British legal history”. This is no exaggeration. Those caught up in the miscarriages of justice were publicly humiliated, losing their homes and livelihoods. Some even ended up in prison.

The Post Office Scandal (Credit: screenshot/bbc.co.uk)

The state-owned Post Office runs over 100 major Crown Post Offices in big population centres but there are more than 11,000 sub-post offices serving suburbs or country areas. They are often run as family businesses.

In the 1990s, the government invited companies to bid to computerise the Post Office accounting network. Japanese multinational IT company Fujitsu and its Horizon system was chosen. Panorama explained that in seven out of 11 categories, Horizon was the cheapest option.

Richard Roll, a former Fujitsu engineer, told the programme, “it was well understood the system was wrong… [it needed] throwing away and starting from scratch.” His boss told him it’s “not going to happen. Do you know how long that would take and how much money it would cost to do it.”

Horizon was installed and it began to wrongly detect the existence of financial discrepancies at many Post Office branches. Under their contracts, sub-postmasters were obliged to make up any losses from their own resources or by borrowing. When no longer able to cover the money, the Post Office would launch an investigation.

Nick Wallis, a freelance journalist and author of the comprehensive book, The Great Post Office Scandal, explained to Panorama that the Post Office has its own private prosecution departments that enabled it to bypass the police and Crown Prosecution Service. He said, “The Post Office was victim, investigator and prosecutor all rolled into one.” There was no clear separation of interest.

Wallis explained, “the sub-postmasters  who were in a position where they couldn’t prove they hadn’t stolen money, were told by the Post Office to plead guilty to the lesser charge of false accounting and theft charges would be dropped.”

A barrister of one of the scandal’s victims, sub-postmaster Noel Thomas, told him if he did not mention the Horizon accounting system, he could avoid jail. However, in 2006 Thomas was given a nine-month prison sentence and ordered to pay back £9,000.

Susan and her husband Michael Rudkin ran a Post Office in Ibstock, Leicestershire. Faced with losses, according to the Horizon system, Susan put her own money in to cover them. However, at a certain point she realised she could not keep doing that and withdrew her money hoping the system would right itself at some point.

Michael had not been aware of the shortfalls as he had left balancing the books to his wife. He was however a representative of the sub-postmasters  federation. As such he was invited to visit Fujitsu’s HQ in Bracknell, Berkshire, to give input on how the Horizon system could be improved.

On his visit a Fujitsu representative demonstrated how it was possible to go into a sub-post office account and alter the data. Rudkin who had believed, as did all other , that only they could alter branch account data, expressed concern. Clarifying that it was live data that was being manipulated he became angry, aware of the implications of data being manipulated externally. Showing his anger, at that point he was escorted from the building.

The next day a Post Office investigator visited the Rudkin’s branch. Susan was told if she pleaded guilty, she would not be sent to prison. In 2009, she was convicted of theft and given a 12-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay back £44,000.

The number of convictions kept rising; by 2009 it was a staggering 525.

In May 2009 Computer Weekly published an article highlighting problems with Horizon and casting doubts on the growing number of convictions of sub-postmasters.

Justice For Subpostmaster Alliance website (Credit: screenshot/https://jfsa.org.uk)

In 2009, the first meeting of the Justice For Sub-postmasters Alliance (JFSA) took place in Warwickshire, with about 25 in attendance. They realised they had all been told the same story by the Post Office—that they were the only ones raising problems with the new Horizon system.

In 2010, two cases were due in court, that of Seema Misra and Rubbina Shaheen. They took succour from the knowledge that other sub-postmasters  had experienced problems with the Horizon system that had led them to appearing in court. Panorama explains that they thought with growing recognition of Horizon’s problems they would be found not guilty.

However, they were up against the duplicity of the Post Office. Panorama showed an email from a senior Post Office lawyer to a Fujitsu engineer appearing as a witness in Misra’s case saying it was his job to preserve the Horizon system. Misra’s lawyer explained that the prosecution had a duty to reveal anything that could undermine their case.

The year before Misra’s trial a request by Post Office HQ staff for an investigation into Horizon’s reliability was turned down.

The programme quoted a Post Office report issued just before Misra’s trial which stated, “Any perception that the Post Office doubts its own system would mean that all prosecutions be stayed—it would also beg a question for the Court of Appeal over past prosecutions and imprisonments.”

Seema Misra (Credit: Nick Wallis/Twitter)

Misra, who was pregnant, was found guilty of theft, given a 15-month prison sentence and ordered to pay £40,000. Rubbina Shaheen, given a 15-month prison sentence for false accounting, lost her job and her house was repossessed. Together with her husband she ended up living in a van on the streets of Shrewsbury.

The Post Office bitterly fought to protect its interests and profits, no matter the human cost. Panorama revealed a July 2010 email sent between two Post Office lawyers referring to Shaheen’s case which read, “it is vital that we win as failure could bring down the whole Royal Mail system.”

The scandal produced more deadly results. In September 2013, Martin Griffiths took his own life by walking in front of a bus. He had been hounded by Post Office investigators for holes in his accounts due to the Horizon system. Prior to the introduction of the new system, he had successfully run the sub-post office in Great Sutton, Cheshire for years.

Post Office chief executive from 2012 to 2019, Paula Vennells, an ordained Church of England priest, was appointed by then Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron with a remit to eliminate the £3 million-a-week subsidy to the Post Office the government wanted to make.

The aim of the Tory/Liberal Democrat coalition was to sell off the Post Office. Aware that allegations of major problems with its software accounting system would make a sale difficult, Vennells appointed forensic accountants Second Sight to investigate. The Post Office was hopeful any such investigation would clear Horizon.

The Second Sight team examining Martin Griffith’s case concluded he took his own life after the Post Office hounded him and were certain the shortfalls in the account were down to the Horizon system. They prepared a report exonerating him.

Panorama explains that before they had the chance to pass it on to Griffith’s widow Gina, the Post Office countered by offering her a financial settlement on condition she withdrew from the Second Sight investigation and not discuss the settlement. Gina felt the only option was to accept it.

The Post Office was keen to prevent the facts behind Martin Griffith’s suicide becoming public as it would have led to widespread exposure in the media.

In 2014, a group of MPs sympathetic to the sub-postmasters asked Second Sight to look into previous convictions to uncover any possible miscarriages. They looked at the case of Jo Hamilton who had been convicted of false accounting, given a 12-month community sentence and ordered to pay £32,000 in 2007. When a Second Sight investigator read her file, it said the Post Office had been, “unable to find any evidence of theft”. It became clear that it was not just a miscarriage of justice but possible misconduct by prosecutors.

Post Office management sought to stymie Second Sight’s operation. They set up a secret sub-committee called Project Sparrow with a government representative attending. The postal affairs minister in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills department at the time was the Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson, who would in 2019 go on to lead her party.

At a February 2015 hearing of the parliamentary Business Select Committee, Ian Henderson of Second Sight said the Post Office had prevented them accessing prosecution files. He was contradicted by Vennells, who denied any problem with Horizon and declared that any possible evidence of possible miscarriages of justice would have “surfaced”.

But the Post Office had already received legal advice in August 2013 that some of its convictions may have been unsafe. The Post Office had by this time stopped pursuing prosecutions but failed to explain why. By March 2015, the Post Office had sacked Second Sight and told them to destroy their papers.

By this time the number of convictions of sub-postmasters had reached 736—an average of one a week.

The 20-year period of persecution only came to an end as the result of the determination of the families to get justice.

The Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance sued the Post Office and in 2019 its case was heard at the High Court. The court was shown evidence of a document revealing how a Fujitsu engineer had gone into an individual sub-post office account and changed the figures without the sub-postmaster’s knowledge, making the situation worse. The document read, “We will then be inserting a new message on the counter … the branch is  not aware of this and its’s best that branch is not advised. Journalist Wallis tells Panorama, “it was the smoking gun”. Shown the document by Panorama, Susan Rudkin breaks down in tears asking, “That is disgusting. What I’ve gone through and other people have gone through, how is that humanly right?”

At the end of 2019, the Post Office finally agreed to pay damages to 555 claimants in civil cases.

Last April, the Court of Appeal quashed in a single ruling the convictions against 39 postmasters, part of a total of 72 such rulings to date, with many more expected to go to court. Seema Misra was among the 39. The bill of compensation for the victims of the injustice meted out by the Post Office is estimated to be £1 billion.

Yet to date no one has been held to account or accepted responsibility for these heinous crimes carried out in pursuit of profit. The government is currently carrying out a public inquiry into the Post Office scandal, utilising its tried and tested mechanism to delay and deflect blame and responsibility.

Israel assassinates veteran Al Jazeera reporter in West Bank

Jean Shaoul

Israeli snipers shot and killed Shireen Abu Akleh, a 51-year-old Palestinian reporter for Al Jazeera Arabic, who was covering the raids by Israeli security forces in the West Bank city of Jenin.

Shireen Abu Akleh (Credit: Arwa/Ibrahim Twitter)

For the past month, Israeli troops have been carrying out almost daily raids across the West Bank, occupied illegally by Israel since the 1967 Arab Israeli war. These came in the wake of several attacks that have killed 19 Israeli Jews since March 22, killing dozens of Palestinians and injuring hundreds.

Abu Akleh, a widely respected journalist who was also a US citizen, was one of Al Jazeera’s first on the spot reporters, having worked for the network since 1997. She was wearing a press vest and a helmet when she was killed.

Israeli snipers also shot another journalist, Ali Samoudi, in the back. Speaking in his bed in hospital, Samoudi insisted that the Israeli security forces had deliberately targeted the journalists who were in an open area and would have been clearly visible. He said there was no firing at Israeli forces by Palestinians, nor could he see any Palestinian fighters or even civilians in the area. Samoudi explained, “We were going to film the Israeli army operation and suddenly they shot us without asking us to leave or stop filming.”

He added, “The first bullet hit me and the second bullet hit Shireen… there was no Palestinian military resistance at all at the scene. If there were, we wouldn’t have been in that area.”

Another journalist, Shatha Hanaysha, positioned next to Abu Akleh, confirmed his statement, saying there had been no confrontations between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli army and that the journalists had been targeted. “We were four journalists, we were all wearing vests, all wearing helmets,” Hanaysha told Al Jazeera. “The [Israeli] occupation army did not stop firing even after she collapsed. I couldn’t even extend my arm to pull her because of the shots. The army was adamant on shooting to kill.”

Hours later Israeli police stormed Abu Akleh’s home in East Jerusalem as her family and friends gathered to mourn her death. The police chief demanded a Palestinian flag was taken down and they end the gathering and singing.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett issued a statement denying responsibility for Abu Akleh’s death and sought to pin responsibility for her death on the Palestinians, claiming “It appears likely that armed Palestinians who were firing indiscriminately at the time—were responsible for the unfortunate death of the journalist.”

Both the government and the army released video clips purporting to show Palestinians aiming their fire at Israeli soldiers. The clips were so blatantly a fraud that the government was forced to retract its claims.

Al-Jazeera interrupted its broadcast to announce Abu Akleh’s death, saying “In a tragic and deliberate crime that violates all international laws and norms, Israeli occupation forces assassinated in cold blood our correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh.” It called the killing a “heinous crime which intends to only prevent the media from conducting their duty.”

The network called on the international community to “condemn and hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable for deliberately targeting and killing our colleague” and added, “We pledge to prosecute the perpetrators legally, no matter how hard they try to cover up their crime and bring them to justice.”

Qatar, which funds Al Jazeera, condemned the killing “in the strongest terms,” calling it a “heinous crime,” a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law” and a “blatant attack on media freedom.” The foreign ministry called for “urgent action to prevent occupation authorities from committing further violations of the freedom of expression and to take all measures to stop violence against Palestinians and media workers.”

The US ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, merely tweeted that he was “very sad” to learn of Abu Akleh’s death and called for a “thorough investigation.” The US Embassy in Jerusalem issued a statement saying that it was providing Ms Abu Akleh’s family with consular assistance and that the protection of American citizens was a “top priority.”

These pro forma statements are rank hypocrisy. Nothing will be done. A cursory, if any, investigation will exonerate the security forces or administer a slap on the wrist. Washington has for decades allowed Israel, the custodian of US imperialism’s interests in the region, to commit one atrocity after another with impunity, vetoing dozens of UN resolutions condemning its activities.

The Obama, Trump and now the Biden administrations have for more than a decade sought to destroy Julian Assange, who has been languishing in London’s notorious Belmarsh Prison for three years while the US seeks his extradition from the UK for revealing US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Their efforts are likewise aimed at intimidating journalists and suppressing press freedom.

Akleh’s assassination follows a long line of Israeli attacks on Palestinian journalists. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ database, 24 journalists have been killed in Israel and the Palestinian territories since 1992. While 14 were caught in crossfire, others appear to have been deliberately targeted.

Reporters Without Borders say that at least 144 Palestinian journalists have been wounded by Israeli forces using live fire and rubber bullets, as well as stun grenades, teargas and beatings with batons across the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem since 2018. Some of the most egregious incidents include:

* The attacks on journalists covering the Great March of Return’s weekly protests on Fridays during 2018-19, when Israeli security forces shot and killed two Palestinian journalists, Yaser Murtaja and Ahmad Abu Hussein, filming on the Gaza frontier in 2018. Hundreds if not thousands more were injured.

* In November 2018, Israeli fire injured AP reporter Rashed Rashid in the left ankle while he was covering a protest near the Gaza frontier, even though he was clearly identified as a journalist and was standing with a crowd of other journalists some 600 metres from the Israeli border when he was hit. The military never acknowledged the shooting.

* An Israeli air strike killed journalist Yousif Abu Hussein in his apartment in Gaza City during last May’s war on the besieged enclave. Abu Hussein was a popular broadcaster with Voice of Al-Aqsa radio.

Reporters Without Borders issued a statement in relation to the war saying that it “condemns Israel’s disproportionate use of force against journalists, who should under no circumstances be treated as parties to the armed conflict.”

Israel has long been critical of Al Jazeera's coverage of its treatment of the Palestinians, in no small part because Qatar funds the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Hamas, the bourgeois clerical group that rules Gaza and has been gaining influence in the West Bank at the expense of the hated Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority. Last year, police briefly detained Givara Budeiri, another Al Jazeera reporter, during a protest in Jerusalem. She had to be treated for a broken hand after a roughing up by the police. During the 11-day bombardment of Gaza last year, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a multi-story building in Gaza City housing The Associated Press and Al Jazeera’s offices, which Israel claimed Hamas was using as a command centre.

Last month, international and Palestinian journalist groups filed a formal complaint with the International Criminal Court accusing Israel of war crimes against journalists, systematically targeting journalists working in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza and failing to carry out proper investigations of the killings of news reporters.

The ever-greater persecution of the Palestinians is a sharp expression of a broader turn towards authoritarianism, the suppression of democratic norms and militarism by Israel and governments around the world under the impact of class antagonisms at home and international conflicts abroad.

As Israel’s assassination of journalists and reporters shows, there is no constituency for the defence of democratic rights within the political establishment. While today, the Israeli state uses these methods against the Palestinians, it will have no hesitation in using the same methods against its own citizens, Arab and Jewish.

Bolsonaro advances coup plots with Brazilian military’s support

Tomas Castanheira

With five months to go before Brazil’s presidential elections, an open conspiracy against the democratic process is unfolding before the public’s eyes. The incumbent far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, is systematically advancing his campaign for an electoral coup should he be defeated at the polls, with the increasingly direct collaboration of the military’s top brass.

This campaign, based on Bolsonaro’s persistent claims that the upcoming elections will be rigged, is now focused on the demand that the armed forces conduct a parallel vote count.

President Jair Bolsonaro at Army Day Ceremony, April 19, 2022, Brasilia (Credit: Isac Nóbrega/PR)

The military’s participation in the Election Transparency Commission (CTE), convened by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), has turned into a platform for an anti-democratic conspiracy. According to Bolsonaro, one of the suggestions made by Gen. Heber Portella, appointed by the Ministry of Defense to integrate the Commission, is that in the “same duct feeding the computers in the secret room, there should be a branch a little to the right so that we have on the side also a computer from the Armed Forces to count the votes in Brazil.”

This statement was given by the president at a so-called “Civic Act for Freedom of Expression” with allied MPs on April 27. Under the banner of “freedom of expression,” the demonstration saluted the fascistic deputy Daniel Silveira (Brazilian Labor Party—PTB), who a week earlier had been sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison by the Supreme Court (STF) for agitating for a coup among the armed forces and demanding the closure of the legislative and judicial branches. Silveira’s crimes were pardoned by President Bolsonaro, in an unprecedented act by the current political regime.

Bolsonaro’s speech at the “Civic Act” encouraged the calls for pro-coup demonstrations on May 1. With the clear aim of overshadowing the holiday of international working class solidarity with street demonstrations of a fascist character, for the second year in a row, Bolsonaro’s far-right supporters held protests on this date demanding the establishment of a presidential dictatorship. Bolsonaro personally visited a demonstration held in Brasilia and appeared by video at one in São Paulo.

Bolsonaro’s allegation about the military’s demands at the Transparency Commission was preceded by an episode with grave repercussions in the political and military establishment involving Supreme Court (STF) minister Luís Roberto Barroso, who until February presided over the Superior Electoral Court.

In a speech during the webinar “Brazil Summit Europe,” hosted by the German Hertie School on April 24, Barroso warned about the military’s growing incursion into Brazilian politics and said that the armed forces “are being oriented to attack the [electoral] process and try to discredit it.” He recalled recent episodes, such as the unprecedented dismissal of the defense minister and the uniformed military command, and the tank parade staged during the congressional vote on Bolsonaro’s “printed ballots” amendment.

Armored column rolling through Brasilia (Credit: Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil}

In response, Defense Minister Gen. Paulo Sergio Nogueira de Oliveira issued an intimidating official note characterizing Barroso’s speech as a “serious offense” against the military institutions. The note stated that the armed forces “presented collaborative, plausible and feasible proposals” to the CTE “to improve the security and transparency of the electoral system.”

The daily Estado de São Paulo reported that the armed forces sent 88 inquiries to the TSE in the last eight months about “alleged risks and weaknesses ... in the electoral process.” According to the newspaper, the “majority of the questions reproduce the electoral discourse of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has cast doubt on the safety of electronic ballot boxes and kept the Court’s own actions under suspicion.”

Exacerbating this critical situation, Oliveira sent, on May 5, an official letter to the TSE demanding public disclosure of the suggestions made by the military to the Commission, “given the broad public interest in the topic in question.” The current president of the TSE, Edson Fachin, submissively accepted the Defense minister’s demand.

Bolsonaro, in turn, responded by doubling down on his coup threats. In a live broadcast, also on May 5, he claimed that the “Armed Forces will not play the role of merely sanctioning the electoral process, participating as spectators,” and that his Liberal Party (PL) will conduct a private audit of the elections.

The political crisis facing Brazil today is undeniably the gravest since 1964, the year of the CIA-backed military coup that ousted the elected president, João Goulart. The Brazilian bourgeoisie and its representatives, although aware of it, are absolutely incapable of stopping the rapid decomposition of democracy in the country.

Estado de São Paulo published an editorial last Saturday beseeching the bourgeois establishment: “It is necessary to react to Bolsonaro’s crimes.” The newspaper declared that “what Jair Bolsonaro has done [in evident and continued fashion] is to incite the Navy, Army and Air Force to feel authorized to act outside their constitutional powers,” and that this is not “an abstract or distant danger,” as demonstrated by the Defense Minister’s demands to the TSE.

Estado praised the commitment of the Judiciary and the Congress to stop the coup plots, citing as an example the “prudent rejection” of Bolsonaro’s “printed ballot” amendment. But the remarkable fact was, in reality, that the proposal was backed by a majority of Congress, and failed to be approved only because a constitutional amendment requires 60 percent of parliamentary votes.

In response to the same movement in preparation for an electoral coup, the TSE, presided over by Barroso, convened the extraordinary Election Transparency Commission with the participation of the military, and even invited Bolsonaro’s former defense minister, Gen. Fernando Azevedo e Silva, to assume the post of general director of the court. The occupation of the electoral system by the military was not characterized in the corporate media as an unacceptable capitulation to the anti-democratic pressures, but rather as a brilliant maneuver by Barroso to neutralize Bolsonaro’s political mobilization of the armed forces. An article by Eliane Catanhêde in Estado, for example, claimed that “Appointing a general to the TSE reduces attacks on elections and threats of a Trump-style coup,” calling the decision a “masterstroke.”

Only a year ago, during the crisis opened up by the dismissal of the military command, the press boasted that the appointment of General Oliveira to the command of the Army represented a defeat for Bolsonaro’s campaign to politicize the armed forces. In a typical commentary, Getulio Vargas Foundation professor Rafael Alcadipani told Reuters that Oliveira was supposedly “even stricter than Pujol [his predecessor] with respect to the separation between the Armed Forces and politics and shows that the president will not have a puppet at his disposal in the Army.” He is referring to the same man who today, promoted to defense minister, leads the attacks on the democratic regime hand-in-hand with Bolsonaro.

Every measure taken by the ruling class to, in theory, contain Bolsonaro’s coup maneuvers has had the effect of deepening the contradictions of the rotten bourgeois political regime and opening new avenues for the advance toward dictatorship.

With the support of the Workers Party (PT) and its pseudo-left satellites, the liberal bourgeoisie has mouthed the mantra that the “constitutional commitment” of the armed forces is the greatest counterweight to the “authoritarian fantasies” of the fascistic president. Those illusions have been completely shattered.

Rather than a product of Bolsonaro’s reactionary ravings, the decomposition of democracy in Brazil grows directly out of the objective crisis of the world capitalist system. The dictatorial threats in Brazil and around the world are driven by the same conditions that gave rise to the social murder policy of the ruling class in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the explosion of global social inequality, and the imperialist powers’ turn to nuclear world war.

“The excessively high tension of the international struggle and the class struggle results in the short circuit of the dictatorship, blowing out the fuses of democracy one after the other,” wrote Leon Trotsky in 1929. He continued: “The process began on the periphery of Europe, in the most backward countries, the weakest links in the capitalist chain. But it is advancing steadily. What is called the crisis of parliamentarism is the political expression of the crisis in the entire system of bourgeois society. Democracy stands or falls with capitalism. By defending a democracy which has outlived itself, Social Democracy drives social development into the blind alley of fascism.”

An analogous process is taking place today. This time, the United States, the heart of world imperialism, is a focus of the global short-circuiting of democratic rule. The coup orchestrated by Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, is being followed by a devastating wave of attacks on democratic rights under Biden’s Democratic administration, which prepares a dictatorship domestically and ruthless war abroad.

Trump’s electoral coup serves as an open model for Bolsonaro in Brazil. But there are also immense similarities in the attitude of Brazilian bourgeois parties, especially the PT, to the spineless response of the Democratic Party, which was more concerned with the risk of a social explosion than with the threat of fascism. Biden entrusted the military with the task of preventing the coup openly announced by Trump and called for collaboration with his “Republican colleagues” to govern.

Brazil’s former president Lula, of the PT, while dealing with the coup threats by means of backroom dialogue with the military, is running against Bolsonaro under the banner of “bringing the divergent together” to save democracy. This means a compromise to make the most right-wing government in the PT’s history. As Trotsky said, this path can only lead to the dead end of fascism.

The military has already announced that it is preparing for a US-style “Capitol scenario” in the coming Brazilian elections. Their attitude toward a coup—whether they will support Bolsonaro as dictator, stand against him, or take power themselves in the name of preserving political stability—remains an open question.

Covid-19 still spreading in Spain as PSOE-Podemos government ends mask mandate

Alice Summers

COVID-19 cases are rising once again in Spain only weeks after the Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government ended the country’s mask mandate in indoor spaces. Spain has recorded over 12 million coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic—more than a quarter of its population—and well over 100,000 deaths.

People walk along a boulevard in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

While data is skewed by irregular reporting, cases have clearly been trending upwards since mid-April. By last Friday, a seven-day average of just over 16,500 new infections a day was reported, compared to a daily figure of 4,961 on April 15. Hospital admissions are also rising, up from 3,881 hospitalisations in the week ending April 16 to 5,371 in the week to April 27, the last week for which figures are available.

Over the last fortnight, around 1,000 people have died of COVID-19. More than 550 people died of the virus in the week ending May 1, averaging about 80 deaths a day. The following week, just under 490 people lost their lives. Many media outlets are now speaking of an impending “seventh wave” of the pandemic in Spain.

Incidence rates are also rising, although data reporting has been scaled down to such an extent that it is now close to meaningless. As of March 29, 7- and 14-day incidence rates have only been reported for the 60+ age group, as part of the Public Health Commission’s (CSP) misnamed “COVID-19 Surveillance and Control Strategy.” For this age group, the 14-day incidence rate almost doubled from 435.42 per 100,000 people on April 12 to 813.22 on May 10.

According to the CSP, its new framework is one that “observes and directs actions at people and environments of greater vulnerability and monitors serious cases of COVID-19 and cases in vulnerable environments and people.” In reality, this strategy means downplaying the severity of the pandemic, covering up infection figures and refusing to take measures to combat the spread of the virus—whether in vulnerable settings or otherwise.

Throughout the pandemic, the PSOE-Podemos government has refused to follow a scientifically guided policy to eliminate the virus, instead prioritising the profits of the banks and big business. The government’s criminal policy has had devastating consequences for the lives and health of the Spanish population. Now, even the most basic anti-COVID public health measures are being ended.

As of April 20, the PSOE-Podemos government lifted the mask mandate that had been in place for nearly two years. Face coverings will no longer be required in any outdoor or indoor space, with the limited exceptions of public transport and health and social care settings. The impact of this reactionary policy is already being felt in the significant rise in infections.

Compulsory masking was one of the last health policies to remain after the PSOE-Podemos government dropped virtually all other pandemic-related restrictions at the end of March. The requirement to isolate if infected with COVID-19 was ended, other than in vulnerable settings like care homes for the elderly. At the same time, access to accurate PCR tests was severely limited, now only available on medical prescription.

The ending of COVID-19 measures finds no broad support within the Spanish population. According to a 40dB poll conducted for newspaper El País, almost half (48.5 percent) of people feel “only a little or not at all safe” when they consider going about their day-to-day life without a face covering. The same survey also showed that 54 percent of the population deem the ending of the mask mandate to have come too soon, compared to only 28.2 percent who believe now to be the right moment and 10.2 percent who feel it is coming too late.

The majority of respondents to the survey also said that they would continue using a mask even in places where it’s no longer compulsory. Seventy percent of those polled said it was “very” or “quite” likely that they would continue wearing a mask in shops, with 69 percent giving the same answers for cinemas, theatres and concerts. Sixty-two percent said they would still use a face covering in sports centres, and 61 percent at their workplace.

The ending of restrictions comes as new variants continue to spread throughout Spain and internationally. The XE strain, a “recombinant” of the BA.1 and BA.2 sub-variants of Omicron, which was first discovered in the United Kingdom in January, is now starting to be transmitted in Spain, with around 2 percent of sequenced cases corresponding to this strain.

In mid-April, the World Health Organization stated that XE may be as much as 10 percent more transmissible than the already highly infectious Omicron variant.

Spain has also detected cases of the BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron, which is thought to be immune resistant. “The first in vitro studies indicate that prior infection with BA.1 would offer a lesser degree of protection against BA.4 and BA.5 than that which has been observed against BA.2,” Spain’s Ministry of Health reported.

The spread of new and more contagious variants will not and is not just leading to an increase in hospitalisations and deaths, but also to the long-term incapacitation of large swathes of the population who survive infection with the virus.

At the end of April, the Independent Trade Union and Civil Servants’ Confederation (CSIF) reported that approximately 22,000 health care workers have suffered from symptoms of Long COVID, which can include headaches, fatigue, dizziness, muscular pain, problems with concentration and shortness of breath.

Between 10 and 15 percent of all people infected with the coronavirus continue to suffer symptoms weeks or months after being infected with the virus. And according to the March 10 government figures, 217,987 confirmed cases of COVID have been recorded among health care workers, leading to the CSIF’s estimate of 22,000.

Of the 1,000 health professionals consulted by the CSIF, over half (56.7 percent) also said that they received no support or assistance after returning to work post-recovery. Forty-nine percent of those surveyed also stated that their infection with COVID-19 had not been classed as an accident at work nor as an occupational illness.

According to estimates from the Multidisciplinary Work Group (GTM), which has worked with Spain’s Ministry of Science and Innovation on the coronavirus pandemic, more than a million people across the whole country may have or may still be suffering from Long COVID.

The longer-term impact of COVID over years, or even decades, is not yet known, but a recent study from the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London showed that severe cases of COVID could cause cognitive impairment equivalent to ageing 20 years.

Ukrainian secret service detains popular blogger in Spain

Jason Melanovski

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), the country’s equivalent of the FBI, detained the popular blogger Anatoly Shariy in Spain last Wednesday on suspicion of “committing treason.” The SBU was forced to release Shariy just one day later because a Spanish judge ordered his release.

Despite his brief detainment and release, Shariy was still forced to surrender his passport and has to present himself to a court twice a month. He is also barred from leaving the country pending an extradition hearing requested by the Ukrainian government.

In addition to “treason,” the SBU accuses Shariy of carrying “out illegal activities to the detriment of Ukraine’s national security in the information sphere.” According to the SBU, “there is reason to believe that Shariy acted on behalf of foreign entities.”

Reports indicated that Shariy’s arrest was coordinated between Ukrainian authorities and the Spanish police. The involvement of the government of a NATO member suggests that Shariy’s pending extradition hearing may well be a mere formality that will result in his forced return to Ukraine and immediate imprisonment. 

The arrest, which did not even take place on Ukrainian territory, marks a significant escalation in the Ukrainian government’s targeting of political opponents.

Since the beginning of the war, Shariy has been subject to protests and harassment by right-wing thugs outside his home in Spain. Despite living abroad since 2012, Shariy’s address and personal details have been published on Ukraine’s Myrotvorets (Peacemaker) online database of supposed “enemies of the state,” indicating that the campaign against him was being led by the SBU. 

The SBU has well-known ties to the country’s far-right and proudly places itself in the tradition of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which collaborated with the Nazis in World War II and was involved in the massacres of tens of thousands of Jews and Poles.

Just prior to his arrest, Shariy reported to Mint Press News that he believed the SBU was looking to assassinate him after receiving an obviously staged email from a friend who was looking to pin down Shariy’s daily whereabouts. 

Fascist elements in Ukraine immediately celebrated news of Shariy’s arrest on social media. Serhii Sternenko, a leader of the fascist Right Sector and prominent social media figure, quickly uploaded a YouTube video gloating over Shariy’s detention abroad. He stated, “Shariy has been detained, and now all the other participants in the information war will be detained as well.” As in all of Sternenko’s video blogs, a portrait of the Ukrainian nationalist hero and World War II Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera was strategically placed in the background.

Shariy initially fled Ukraine for Lithuania in 2012 because his investigations of government corruption during the presidency of the pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych had led to his prosecution in Ukraine. After the February 2014 US-backed coup that ousted the Yanukovych government, he became a target of Ukraine’s far-right. Opposing the civil war in eastern Ukraine, which was initiated by the right-wing Petro Poroshenko government, Shariy quickly gained popularity among Ukrainians who were skeptical of the war and the supposedly “democratic” pro-NATO government.

While Shariy himself has displayed a serious degree of political disorientation over the years — including homophobic and chauvinistic remarks — he has never the less made a number of important reports on corruption, and the promotion of antisemitism, and far-right violent Ukrainian nationalism by the Ukrainian government. 

Most notably, Shariy exposed the fact that the killers in the horrific acid attack and murder of anti-corruption activist Kateryna Handziuk in 2018 were members of the Right Sector battalion and that one of the attackers proudly sported neo-Nazi tattoos. 

All of the attackers received light sentences of just 3-6 years for the political assassination. Following the beginning of full-scale war with Russia in February, Kiev despicably released the leader of Handziuk’s murder, Sergey Torbin, and allowed him to pick other far-right inmates with military experience like himself to join in the NATO-provoked war against Russia. 

Such revelations made Shariy both highly popular on social media and a target of the Poroshenko government which saw its own political support plummet to around 20 percent due to widespread disillusionment with corruption, poverty, and the never-ending civil war in Donbass that had claimed the lives of over 13,000 Ukrainians at the time. 

In June 2019, Shariy announced the creation of his own “center-right libertarian” political party, which favored a negotiated settlement to end the ongoing civil war between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine.

The Party of Shariy initially supported the candidacy of the former comedian Volodymyr Zelensky who presented himself as a candidate of peace in opposition to the incumbent war monger Poroshenko. Shariy recently told MintPress News, “I thought he [Zelensky] was determined to follow up on his election promises. I helped him to become the president. It’s true me and my team did anything for him to get the post.”

However, Zelensky quickly exposed himself as a fraud. Basing himself just like Poroshenko on sections of the Ukrainian oligarchy and an alliance with imperialism, he doubled-down on the war in Eastern Ukraine by refusing to implement the Minsk peace accords and announcing a highly provocative “Crimea Platform” strategy to retake the Black Sea peninsula from Russia by any means. 

The pro-war, NATO-friendly policies of Zelensky, like those of Poroshenko, required the support of Ukraine’s far-right militias. As a result, members of Shariy’s party suffered a number of targeted political attacks following Zelensky’s election. 

In February of 2021, with Zelensky himself now facing the same rapidly declining popularity ratings as his predecessor Poroshenko, Shariy was first charged with “treason” and “spreading Russian propaganda.”

At the time, Zelensky had also shut down three popular television stations associated with the pro-Russian Opposition Platform — For Life party and likewise began prosecution of party leader Viktor Medvedchuk for “treason.” 

While Zelensky is now hailed in the Western capitalist press as a modern-day Ukrainian George Washington, in January 2022 his popularity ratings stood at just 23 percent and there was widespread skepticism whether he would finish out his full presidency before forced early elections or another far-right orchestrated coup. 

Now, the war is providing the basis for the Ukrainian government to completely eradicate political opposition and engage in an unprecedented promotion of the far-right. Making a mockery of the Western propaganda about the alleged defense of “democracy” in Ukraine, since the beginning of the war, the Zelensky government has arrested both Medvedchuk and Shariy, has outlawed 11 political opposition parties including Shariy’s, and has provided de facto state-support for a widespread campaign of political arrests, lynchings and murders. 

An Instagram post by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on celebrating the end of World War II on May 9. The image shows a soldier proudly wearing the Nazi Totenkopf insignia. Zelensky has since deleted the post.

On Monday, May 9, the day of the anniversary of the end of World War II, President Zelensky shared a photo on Instagram and Telegram of a Ukrainian soldier sporting the Nazi “Totenkopf” (skull) insignia. This insignia was used during World War II by the 3rd SS Panzer Division, a unit of elite Nazi soldiers infamous for committing numerous war crimes. It is now a favorite symbol of neo-Nazis worldwide. The Ukrainian President has since deleted the image from his post.

US overdose deaths rose to record levels in 2021, fueled by fentanyl, exacerbated by pandemic

Kate Randall

Deaths from drug overdoses in 2021, the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, rose to record-setting levels. Overdose deaths neared 108,000, fueled by an ever-worsening fentanyl crisis, according to preliminary data published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Hydrocodone pills, also known as Vicodin, are arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. [AP Photo/Toby Talbot]

Overdose deaths in the US have now surpassed a staggering 1 million since the CDC began collecting data about two decades ago. The surge over the past two years is a result not only of the proliferation of fentanyl, but has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has served to isolate growing numbers of people and restricted access to treatment programs.

The number of deadly overdoses in 2021 was similar to those caused by diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease and approximately a quarter of the official number of deaths from COVID-19 that year, according to the CDC.

Prior to the pandemic, the US was already coping with a groundswell of “deaths of despair” from suicides, overdoses and alcohol poisoning, as well as deaths from gun violence.

The 15 percent rise in overdose deaths in 2021 followed a rise of almost 30 percent in 2020. A growing share of these deaths were driven by fentanyl, a class of potent synthetic opioids that is as much as 100 times more powerful than morphine. Fentanyl and methamphetamines, synthetic stimulants, are often mixed with other drugs. Users are most often not aware of fentanyl’s presence in the drugs they are using.

According to state health officials, many overdose deaths appear to be the result of mixing fentanyl and methamphetamines. Deaths involving synthetic opioids rose to 71,000 in 2021, up from 58,000 the year before, while deaths from stimulants like methamphetamines increased to 33,000 from 25,000.

Alaska saw the largest percentage increase of any state in 2021. Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief health official, told the New York Times that of the 140 fentanyl overdose deaths recorded in 2021, over 60 percent also involved methamphetamines and nearly 30 percent involved heroin.

Fentanyl, introduced in the 1960s as an intravenous anesthetic, is a white powder that is now often combined with other drugs such as heroin and cocaine to be sold on the illegal market. It can be produced in a lab and can be cheaper and easier to distribute than heroin, making it more lucrative for drug dealers and traffickers. It is often unwittingly used by those who have moved on to heroin after becoming addicted to opioids that have been pushed by Purdue and other pharmaceutical companies.

A substantial share of illicit pills believed by users to be the opioid OxyContin, the benzodiazepine Xanax or the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Adderall now contains fentanyl, oftentimes in deadly doses. Individuals seeking prescription opioids, relief from anxiety, or a stimulant to stay awake for exams or work, become the unwitting victims of deadly doses of fentanyl.

Black Americas now have the highest fatality rates from drug overdoses, followed by American Indian and Alaska Native males, with significant increases seen among these groups in recent years.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), at the National Institutes of Health, overdose deaths among teens have doubled in the past three years, even though drug use is decreasing overall among teens. Teens are more likely to take pills they think are Adderall, Xanax or Percocet, seeking help to study, calm anxiety or treat pain, according to Dr. Nora Volkow, director of NIDA.

“They’ve been doing this for decades,” the Guardian quotes Volkow saying. “What is now different is these prescription drugs that are illicitly manufactured containing fentanyl have increased 50-fold,” she said.

The proliferation of fentanyl is undoubtedly a significant contributing factor to the surge in overdose deaths. However, this epidemic of deaths cannot be separated from either the pandemic or the social crisis that it has exacerbated. The criminal government policy pursued by both the Trump and Biden administrations in relation to COVID-19 has led to an official death toll of 1 million Americans in just two years.

The government’s refusal to adopt a Zero-COVID public health strategy has created conditions in which the country is now in the third year of the pandemic with no end in sight.

The White House announced earlier this month that it expects the US to record 100 million new cases of COVID-19 during the coming fall and winter months, along with a “significant wave of deaths.” Using the accepted infection fatality rate from the virus of 0.5 percent, this translates into 500,000 additional deaths.

Last month, President Biden sent his administration’s inaugural National Drug Control Strategy to Congress which, according to the White House web site, “focuses on two critical drivers of the epidemic: untreated addiction and drug trafficking.” The Office of National Drug Control Policy has requested just over $450 million for fiscal year 2023 to fund this effort.

This sum—much of which will end up going to federal and local police—compares to the record $39.8 billion in military aid to Ukraine just authorized by the US House to fund the US-NATO proxy war. This goes beyond the $33 billion requested by the Biden administration and is being pushed through by a bipartisan effort, including from the “left” wing of the Democratic Party.

The geyser of money for war comes as $10 billion for COVID-19 relief was dropped by the Democrats, despite the Biden administration’s predictions of an approaching fall and winter of surging deaths from the coronavirus. Can it seriously be believed that this same Democratic Party will lead a war against overdose deaths that are almost certain to rise in 2022–2023?

The crisis of overdose deaths in the US is above all a social crisis that must be confronted by workers and youth in a struggle against a wealthy elite that is prepared to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives annually to overdoses and other deaths of despair at the same time as it forces the population into unsafe workplaces and schools and drives millions into poverty as prices soar and real wages plunge.

Sri Lankan president mobilises military with orders to shoot on sight

K. Ratnayake

Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapakse addressed the nation yesterday evening after mobilising the military throughout the country with orders to “strictly enforce the law against rioters” and to shoot on sight.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa [Credit: AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena]

Referring to the thug attack on anti-government protesters in Colombo on Monday, Rajapakse hypocritically condemned the “unfortunate situation” and said police has been instructed to initiate a full investigation.

The attack was orchestrated by the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna as the pretext for the imposition of police-state measures. After being addressed by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, hundreds of SLPP goons, armed with clubs and sticks, were unleashed against anti-government demonstrators outside his official residence and then on protesters who had occupied Galle Face Green in central Colombo for about a month.

The extensive nationwide protests demanding President Rajapakse and his government resign have been fueled by a social disaster created by huge price increases, acute shortages of essential food, medicines, fuel and lengthy daily power cuts.

In his national address, Rajapakse focused on the violent clashes that erupted outside the houses of SLPP ministers and parliamentarians across the country after that attack on Galle Face Green protesters. Houses were set on fire and several people died in the clashes.

As the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) warned in a statement on May 10, these clashes have played directly into the hands of Rajapakse and the state apparatus. The president declared that soldiers from the three branches of the armed forces and the police “have been ordered to strictly enforce the law against the rioters.”

Rajapakse had already declared a state of emergency last Friday after a massive one-day general strike and business closures shut down the country’s economy and sent a shudder of fear through the ruling class. The state of emergency gives the president extensive powers to deploy armed forces with powers, arrest people without warrant, ban strikes, protests and meetings, impose curfews and media censorship, and proscribe political parties.

The island-wide deployment of the military yesterday is reminiscent of the reactionary 26-year communal war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In Colombo, armoured vehicles and soldiers on motorcycles are patrolling the streets. Heavily-armed soldiers are manning checkpoints complete with barricades to stop and search vehicles and people.

Heavily-armed soldiers and military vehicle in Colombo enforcing curfew. [Image: Facebook]

In every part of the country, military personnel have set up checkpoints at the entrances to all major towns and at strategic points along highways.

The presidential media division has announced that the round-the-clock curfew imposed on Monday will be lifted at 7 am today, but only for seven hours and will remain in place until Friday morning.

Following the thug attack on anti-government protesters on Monday, thousands of people poured into Galle Face Green defying the curfew and security forces to show their solidarity. Yesterday evening, however, the police declared that the regrouped protesters were in breach of curfew regulations, indicating preparations for their forcible removal.

Hundreds of health workers in Kandy march in protest against thug attack on Galle Face Green demonstrators.

A crackdown on social media is also on the cards. Yesterday the police said they had identified 59 social media platforms with investigations commenced against them under repressive Computer Crimes Act and other criminal laws.

The extensive military deployment and resort to police-state measures is a sharp warning that Rajapakse is systematically preparing for a showdown with the working class that has already demonstrated its determination to defend its social and democratic rights.

Millions of workers participated in the April 28 and May 6 general strikes, shocking the entire political establishment, including the trade unions which they thought would be limited protests.

All of the capitalist political parties—government and opposition alike—are committed to reaching a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an emergency bailout and to implementing the draconian emergency measures that will accompany it. All of them support the IMF’s demand for “stability”—in other words, the suppression of working-class opposition.

Twelve business lobby groups, including the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka, and the Joint Apparel Association Forum, wrote to the president this week calling on him to appoint a prime minister and cabinet acceptable to all leading parliamentary political parties.

The big-business groups declared that these steps “must be done with immediate effect in order to take urgent action to restore law and order and economic activity in the country and not to ‘jeopardise’ talks with the IMF.”

Despite the deployment of the military, President Rajapakse remains in a weakened position. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse resigned on Monday, along with this cabinet, after it became clear that working people were outraged at the attack by pro-government thugs and sections of the working class stopped work. The president, using his far-reaching executive powers, currently holds all cabinet posts.

In his national address, Rajapakse said he would appoint a new prime minister and cabinet within a week that “commands a majority in the parliament and secures the confidence of the people.” Steps would then be taken to revert to the 19th constitutional amendment to “empower the parliament.” Currently the president can sack ministers or the whole government at his own discretion.

Currently, however, no party commands a parliamentary majority and all of them are deeply discredited. The opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), which has 65 members in the 225-seat parliament, offered to form a government yesterday but declared that the president must step down.

Similarly, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) proposed that it be allowed to appoint an interim government, but also demands that Rajapakse resigns. It has only three MPs but has urged other parties to support it. It has also declared that it would back an interim regime from outside.

While President Rajapakse has repeatedly insisted that he will not resign, there are clearly frantic behind the scenes discussions taking place to put some form of interim government in place and to buy time for the implementation of the IMF’s agenda.

A politically criminal role is being played by the trade unions. In response to the attack on anti-government protesters on Monday and the outrage of broader sections of workers, the trade unions called an indefinite general strike on Monday evening.

Given that a 24-hour curfew was in place, however, many workers were de facto “on strike”—that is, they were not permitted to go to work. Key sections of workers—in the plantations and free trade zones—did go to work, with the permission of the police and the unions.

Now that Rajapakse has eased the curfew, the Trade Union Coordinating Committee (TUCC) yesterday called off their “general strike,” telling the media it was necessary to “normalise public services” to prevent the country falling into “anarchy.” They declared that they would “contribute to the people’s struggle in a new form.”

All along the trade unions have acted not to fight for the democratic and social rights of the working class, but to confine, divert and suppress the groundswell of opposition in the working class to the government and to prop up bourgeois rule. Their demands are virtually identical to the opposition parties—the resignation of the government and the formation of a new capitalist interim government.