Over the weekend, protests took place in several Chinese cities, with most centered among students on university campuses. Based on images posted on social media, these demonstrations do not appear to be massive. However, given the authoritarian character of the Xi Jinping regime, the protests are significant political events which certainly undermine the image of social stability and universal contentment that Xi sought to present at the recently concluded congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The actual scale and aims of the protests are obscured by the response of the Western media, which is using them as an occasion for propaganda against China’s Zero-COVID policy. For the last two years, it has demanded that China lift Zero-COVID regardless of how many millions would be killed or disabled by the virus. If its propaganda is to be believed, all of China is now begging to be infected with COVID-19.
Protesters clash with policemen during a protest in Beijing, Sunday, November 27, 2022. [AP Photo/Andy Wong]
There is no question that there is a serious social and political crisis in China, which is intensifying after the CCP issued its “Twenty Articles” on November 11, initiating a relaxation of the Zero-COVID policy. On Monday, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) reported 40,347 new COVID-19 cases, the fifth consecutive day of record infections in what has become the country’s most geographically widespread outbreak to date.
In response to this deepening public health crisis, local officials have implemented partial lockdowns and mass testing in some of the worst-affected districts in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chongqing and other cities, while stopping short of citywide lockdowns which have proven necessary to fully suppress viral transmission.
The weekend’s protests were prompted by a tragic fire that took place last Thursday at a high-rise apartment building in Urumqi, in Xinjiang province, which killed 10 people and injured nine.
The Western media and various commentators on Chinese social media assert that barricades set up due to lockdowns prevented firefighters from reaching the building in time. But these claims are contradicted by the fact that the obstructing bollards—vertical posts that serve as traffic barriers—were erected years before the pandemic. Claims that residents were not allowed to evacuate are also contradicted by videos showing residents fleeing the building. Moreover, the district where the fire took place was not under a strict lockdown at the time.
The tragic fire in Urumqi was clearly the result of inadequate fire safety within the building and poor urban planning which prevented the movement of firefighters, problems which exist in every major city internationally.
The weekend’s protesters were largely motivated by anger over the negligence of municipal authorities and sympathy for those who died in the Urumqi fire. It may well be the case that a section of the protesters—especially those with access to the Western media—actually believe that the Zero-COVID policy played a role in the disaster.
The restoration of capitalism has created an affluent middle-class social constituency, an important base of the CCP bureaucracy. This social layer is more likely to use virtual private networks or other methods to bypass China’s Great Firewall and access Western media and social media. Thus, for the past year they have been bombarded by the relentless propaganda claiming that “Omicron is mild,” that “if you’re vaccinated, catching COVID is now like the flu,” and above all the lie by US President Joe Biden that “the pandemic is over.”
However, it would be incorrect to accept the media’s portrayal of the protests as uniformly favoring the abandonment of anti-COVID measures and politically reactionary. Significantly, there have been multiple reports of students singing the “Internationale,” the socialist anthem of international working class solidarity.
But there is also anger among less affluent sections of the middle class as well as the working class, caused by the economic impacts of the CCP’s implementation of Zero-COVID. The government has provided virtually no financial assistance to workers during lockdowns, and recently began charging the population the cost of testing.
Last Tuesday, thousands of workers at the Foxconn sweatshop in Zhengzhou protested against their horrendous conditions and lack of pay. The facility, where up to 350,000 workers produce roughly half of the world’s Apple iPhones, has been under a closed-loop system since October due to a COVID-19 outbreak. In order to maintain production, workers have been confined in prison-like conditions at the factory instead of being sent home.
Workers clashing with security forces outside the iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, China. [Photo: @AnonymeCitoyen]
Contrary to its portrayal in the Western media, the protest outside Foxconn was not “anti-lockdown” or against Zero-COVID. Rather, in addition to demanding full pay, the workers, all of whom were wearing masks to prevent viral transmission, were also fighting for more regular COVID-19 testing and safer isolation and quarantine protocols.
Underlying the frustration driving the protests in China is the fact that any Zero-COVID policy applied exclusively to one country confronts insurmountable problems. There is no national solution to the pandemic, which is fundamentally a world problem that requires a globally coordinated response. In the absence of such a unified world movement, the public health and social crisis in China will only intensify in the coming weeks and months.
The greatest danger now confronts China’s elderly population, which remains the country’s least vaccinated age group, largely due to misconceptions about the vaccines and traditional Chinese medicine. According to the latest NHC data, fully 21 million Chinese people 60 years and older are entirely unvaccinated, and 21.5 million people above 80 years old have not received a necessary booster shot.
A study published in May estimated that the full lifting of Zero-COVID in China would kill upwards of 1.6 million people in the span of just six months. Since that time, vaccination rates have stalled and immunity has waned for most of the Chinese population, further elevating the dangers.
Beyond the immense risks facing the elderly, the entire Chinese population faces the threat of Long COVID, which can affect nearly every organ in the body. Throughout the world, tens of millions of people have been disabled by COVID-19, including fully vaccinated people. Studies have shown that one’s risk of developing Long COVID is only slightly reduced by vaccination, and that reinfections with new variants compound one’s risk of death and Long COVID, regardless of vaccination status.
After bombing Kurdish nationalist militias in northern Syria and Iraq last weekend, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said a ground invasion is imminent. In recent days, more than 100 people have been detained in cities such as Istanbul and Diyarbakir for protesting against the cross-border attacks. Ankara claims its air strikes are retaliation for the November 13 terror attack in Istanbul, which killed six civilians.
A smoke rises from an oil depot struck by the Turkish air force near the town of Qamishli, Syria, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022. [AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad]
“While we will continue our air strikes without interruption, we will also get on the terrorists on the ground at the most appropriate time for us,” Erdogan said Wednesday. He announced plans to “close the entire southern borders from Hatay to Hakkari with a security strip,” hinting that he could extend Turkey’s occupation of areas in northern Syria, ongoing since 2016, to Iraq.
About possible invasion targets, Erdoğan said: “We have already created part of this strip with the cross-border operations we have carried out [in Syria]. We will take care of the rest step by step, starting with the sources of trouble like Tel Rifaat, Manbij, Kobani.”
A Turkish army offensive targeting Kurdish forces threatens to unleash large-scale conflict, displacing masses of people. The militias making up the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reportedly control around 100,000 fighters.
Last Sunday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said, “Air Operation Claw-Sword was successfully carried out, [with] all aircraft returned safely to their bases after the operation.”
However, after two civilians, including a child, were killed on Monday in rocket attacks from northern Syria on the Karkamis district of Gaziantep, inside Turkey, the Erdoğan government again bombed and shelled YPG-SDF positions. Ankara blamed Kurdish forces for the rocket attacks. Kurdish forces denied this, however, asserting that like the Istanbul bombing, it was carried out by Turkish-controlled Islamist forces.
The opposing sides made conflicting statements about the air strikes. While Turkish officials claim to have killed “326 terrorists,” the SDF claimed 12 Turkish soldiers and eight Islamist fighters were killed in “legitimate defense” operations. At least 11 civilians, including a journalist, have also reportedly died.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Turkish air strikes have killed 45, including eight more SDF fighters yesterday. It said 18 of the dead were Syrian government soldiers. Syrian troops have reportedly deployed to SDF-held areas in recent months, with Russian backing, amid talks between the SDF and Damascus.
SOHR and Kurdish sources said airstrikes hit the area around Al-Hol in northeastern Syria, where they claim “ISIS families are present.” According to a recent UN report, “50 percent of Al-Hol’s total population (currently about 56,000 individuals) is under the age of 12. They find themselves deprived of their rights, vulnerable and marginalized.”
These conflicts are the product of the 11-year proxy war waged in Syria by the NATO powers, led by Washington. Initially, amid working class uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia in 2011, they armed Al Qaeda-linked militias in Syria to topple President Bashar al-Assad. When the Islamist ISIS militia then emerged in Syria and invaded Iraq, the NATO powers launched a “war on ISIS,” making the SDF in Syria based around the Kurdish-nationalist People’s Protection Units (YPG) their main proxies.
The Turkish bourgeoisie was dismayed by the rising influence of the YPG and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), fearing Kurdish nationalist sentiment in Turkey itself. In recent years, it has launched repeated cross-border attacks on Kurdish nationalist forces in Syria and Iraq.
This conflict is now even more explosive due to the NATO war on Russia in Ukraine in which Turkey has tried to mediate, given its strong ties to both Russia and Ukraine.
Now, maneuvering between Washington and Moscow, Erdoğan aims to get a green light to invade Syria and attack US-backed Kurdish forces—both from Washington, his NATO ally, and from Moscow and Tehran, who back Assad. Ankara has threatened to veto Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership if NATO does not give it a free hand in Syria and Iraq. It is also trying to normalize relations with Assad after working for years to destroy his regime.
Washington, which already abandoned its Kurdish allies to a Turkish invasion in 2019, has criticized Erdoğan’s offensive. Today, there are around 900 US troops and several US bases in northeastern Syria in YPG-held areas, which Ankara sees as a major threat.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon expressed its “concerns” over “escalating actions in northern Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. This escalation threatens the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS’s years-long progress to degrade and defeat ISIS. … Recent air strikes in Syria directly threatened the safety of US personnel who are working in Syria with local partners to defeat ISIS and maintain custody of more than 10,000 ISIS detainees. Moreover, uncoordinated military actions threaten Iraq’s sovereignty.”
Turkish attacks also threaten Russian troops in Syria. According to the Syrian Kurdish-nationalist ANHA news agency, Turkish strikes hit a location in Syria’s Tal Tamr district, killing two SDF fighters and narrowly missing Russian troops who had left shortly before.
On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, “We understand Turkey’s concerns about threats to its national security, but at the same time we believe that a ground operation on Syrian territory will only escalate tensions in the region and lead to an increase in terrorist activity.”
According to AP reports, Erdoğan also wrote to Assad, calling “for the return of the Syrian army to areas now controlled by the Kurds, for action to prevent Kurdish fighters from using Syrian gas and oil, and for Syrian refugees in Turkey to be returned to Syria.” Erdoğan reportedly declared he was ready to send envoys to Damascus. Assad, however, rejected this, proposing to meet in a third country.
Kurdish-nationalist forces continue to emphatically reject Ankara’s claim that they carried out the Istanbul attack, which it uses to justify its offensive. SDF leader Mazlum Abdi told Al Monitor, “I believe [the terror attack] was an act of provocation that was conceived by the Turkish government in order to lay the ground for the war against us.”
Abdi blamed the attack on “Syrian opposition groups operating under Turkey’s control.” He said three brothers of Ahlam Albashir, who was arrested for planting the bomb in Istanbul, died fighting for ISIS, and that, “Another brother is a commander in the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition in Afrin.” Albashir, whose testimony was leaked to Turkish pro-government media, allegedly identified her brother Mohamed as a “senior commander in the Free Syrian Army,” a Turkish-backed Islamist militia. However, she also reportedly claimed to be affiliated to the YPG.
Abdi also linked Erdoğan’s launching of the attacks to the Turkish 2023 elections, stating: “But most immediately there is the question of elections in Turkey. … Erdoğan and his government are laying the ground, setting the public mood for the forthcoming elections.”
Abdi underlined the Kurdish nationalists’ willingness to deal with Ankara, claiming Erdoğan had “two paths” ahead of him: “He can either reach an agreement with the Kurdish movement, and that would give him an edge in the elections, or ignite a war. They’ve chosen war.”
The Kurdish nationalists have, however, no perspective for stopping the bloodshed. Ahmet Karamus, co-president of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), has said, “We call on NATO, the US, Russia and the European Union to fulfill their promises and agreements to the Kurdish people and not to remain silent.” Such impotent appeals to the US-led NATO powers, which over 30 years have killed millions in the Middle East in wars of plunder, expose the bankruptcy of Kurdish nationalism.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) reported three consecutive record numbers of COVID-19 infections, 32,943, 31,656, and 35,183, respectively. The outbreak is the most geographically widespread to date, with five provinces—Guangdong, Chongqing, Beijing, Sichuan and Hebei—reporting over 1,000 daily new cases on Friday and Saturday, and eight other provinces reporting over 500 new cases.
Guangdong province in the Southeast is at the epicenter of the current outbreak, with 8,476 COVID cases reported Friday, followed by Chongqing with 6,500, Hebei with 3,375, Beijing with 1,860, and Sichuan with 1,310.
Rather than implementing full-scale lockdowns and mass testing of the population to bring the rapid, multi-city rise in cases under control, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is waffling and demonstrably unsure of how to proceed as they employ halfhearted mitigation measures by way of reaction rather than a more deeply considered public health approach.
For instance, the five-day lockdown in Guangzhou’s most populous district of Baiyun will do little to stem the tide of infections. It will promote locals’ distrust and suspicion of public health authorities and exacerbate future efforts to implement infection controls. Implementing the Zero-COVID measures necessary to save lives and well-being requires a whole-of-society approach based on clear communication and the deployment of resources to protect the population.
In Chongqing, resources are already being overwhelmed, with the region’s 41,000 quarantine beds already filled with patients. The Deputy Director of the Chongqing Health Commission told reporters that the municipality is hurrying to construct new facilities that can hold close to 50,000 more people, with over 5,000 construction workers now laboring around the clock to complete the centers in five days.
In China’s capital city of Beijing, health authorities have shifted to haphazardly introducing modified lockdown measures, causing disarray and panic across the sprawling urban center of more than 22 million people. Health authorities are asking residents to voluntarily stay in their apartment compounds for a few days, while the number of businesses being forced to close their activities is growing.
Panic buying has once again left many supermarket shelves empty as families try to stock their pantries, unsure if the measures being implemented will take on a protracted character. Improvised quarantine centers and field hospitals are now under construction, while many schools have shifted to online classes.
The current surge in cases across China proves that attempting to compromise with the Zero-COVID public health stance can only lead to disastrous results.
The bankrupt “Twenty Articles,” which attempt to balance economic prerogatives with the relaxation of public health measures at the core of Zero-COVID, was a doomed strategy at its conception. This is quickly being demonstrated on a day-to-day basis as COVID-19 infections continue to spread along with protests and opposition to the relaxations of pandemic measures.
As one resident in Shijiazhuang wrote on social media after authorities canceled regular PCR testing, “It is absurd and irresponsible to suddenly relax all measures when the number of infections is rising rapidly. This is by no means scientific.”
There is growing mistrust of health authorities attempting to downplay the risks of infections and shifting the burden of responsibility onto individuals, while at the same time claiming they are not relaxing Zero-COVID.
To place the current public health crises in perspective, vaccination rates must be assessed.
According to Our World in Data, an astounding 1.27 billion people (89 percent of China’s population) have completed the initial two-dose vaccine protocol. Around 3.44 billion COVID-19 vaccines have been administered since the vaccination campaign. However, China had delivered 3.3 billion vaccines by April 12, 2022, meaning that nearly the entire population received their last dose more than seven months ago.
As of November 24, 2022, cumulative COVID-19 cases in China have reached a mere 1.38 million, the lowest per capita infection rate of any country with over 1 million population. Given that China is home to 1.412 billion people, only 0.1 percent of the population has been previously infected and 99.9 remain immunologically naive from prior infection.
A recent study found that the current iteration of Omicron subvariants demonstrate near complete immune evasion against antibodies generated by people who received at least three doses of the Sinovac COVID vaccine, the most common vaccine in China, meaning that virtually the entire Chinese population is at risk of infection with COVID-19. Sinovac has also been shown to provide less protection against hospitalization and death than mRNA vaccines.
The situation is most precarious for the elderly. According to data from Statista, by mid-March 2022 only 51 percent of Chinese people 80 years and older had completed their initial vaccine series and only 20 percent had received a third dose. For the 70-79 age bracket, 82 percent had completed their two-dose series and less than half were boosted, while those in the 60-69 age bracket were only slightly better off. In an article Friday, TheWashington Post noted, “ Just 40 percent of Chinese older than 80 have received a booster shot,” adding, “Among people older than 60, two-thirds have gotten a booster.”
The increasingly precarious situation in China is viewed as a positive good by the imperialist powers and their corporate media, which have continuously demanded the lifting of Zero-COVID in order to fully restore capitalist production and the exploitation of the Chinese working class.
The same Post article begins by stating, “A coronavirus outbreak on the verge of being China’s biggest of the pandemic has exposed a critical flaw in Beijing’s ‘zero COVID’ strategy: a vast population without natural immunity. After months with only occasional hot spots in the country, most of its 1.4 billion people have never been exposed to the virus.”
They chide the Chinese authorities for prioritizing containment and elimination over diverting resources to building their health care system and developing their intensive care capacity, while having the audacity to promote the reactionary, unscientific claim that China would have done well to allow a “degree of community transmission” to raise population immunity. This is, in essence, the “Focused Protection” nonsense of the Great Barrington Declaration.
Viral evolution towards more immune-evading and contagious strains has proven again and again the bankruptcy of the “herd immunity” policy which the Post and the financial markets now demand be adopted in China. This criminal policy has led to the deaths of over 20 million people across the globe, including over 1.1 million just in the United States. It is a public health policy which is best described as “social murder” and the “normalization of death.”
The experience in Hong Kong in February is a stark reminder of the impact that a tsunami of COVID-19 infections will have on the population if China’s public health initiatives completely collapse. A modeling study published in the journal Nature in May looked at various mitigation scenarios if Zero-COVID was lifted, and found that hospitals and ICUs would be overwhelmed for several weeks. In a worst-case scenario, approximately 1.55 million people could perish, afflicting primarily the oldest and least vaccinated.
Nomura economist Lu Ting warned, “When the infection number quickly soars, it will be a big blow to the health care system, and the whole society. Large-scale infections will have a negative impact across consumption, production, and logistics.”
Goldman Sachs economists have estimated China will completely reopen by second quarter of next year if not sooner, writing, “The Chinese economy is likely a distinct ‘two halves’ next year, as the initial stage of China’s reopening may be negative to growth, with COVID cases surging and population mobility temporarily declining—similar to the reopening experiences of several other East Asian economies.”
However, Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset management, offered an alternative hypothesis. He said, “If [the exit from zero-COVID] is relatively slow, or the policy goes back and forth, there is a huge question mark over whether an economic recovery will be achieved in the second half.”
This week, Jörg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, wrote a letter to Beijing’s acting mayor Yin Yong demanding to know why the city has implemented a limited partial lockdown. He wrote, “A lack of adequate preparation has resulted in district governments and/or communities managing the recent outbreak in the same way as they did previously, by locking down businesses—with several having been mandatorily closed despite not being in a high-risk area—residences and other public venues.”
He then threatened, “This is very concerning, given that Shanghai’s experience from earlier this year has shown that after long-term lockdowns, many foreign nationals are likely to leave China. This would be detrimental to Beijing’s goal of developing into an international city.”
While the financial elite demand that China lift Zero-COVID in one fell swoop, the CCP seeks to do so more gradually. Under either scenario, the impacts of the abandonment of Zero-COVID on the health of the Chinese working class would be catastrophic and must be opposed.
Germany’s new “Citizen’s Income”—according to Federal Labour Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD), the “biggest social reform in 20 years”—will only increase the abject poverty of the current 5.3 million recipients of Hartz IV social security payments. The new system is due to come into force on January 1, 2023.
In November last year the agreement to form the current coalition government, headed by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and including the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democratic Party, had already presented plans for an expansion of the country’s low-wage sector and the expansion of methods aimed at forcing workers into precarious employment.
Food bank in Munich [Photo: WSWS]
Now, within the space of just three days, the coalition in Berlin has reached an agreement with the conservative CDU/CSU opposition to tighten up its own draft for a citizen’s income. At the start of this week the mediation committee of the two houses of parliament, Bundesrat and Bundestag, approved the new draft. The final vote took place on Friday in the Bundesrat.
The new agreement includes all the demands raised by the CDU and CSU (known collectively as the Union).
The most important change is the complete abolition of the so-called six-month “trust period.” The latter had been sharply attacked by the Union parties and the far-right Alternative for Germany, AfD. The “trust period” paves the way for an “unconditional basic income,” ranted CDU leader Friedrich Merz in chorus with his like-minded colleagues from the CSU and AfD.
In reality, the “trust period” would only have protected citizen’s income recipients from overly aggressive sanctions during the first six months of payment. In recent weeks, the members of the ruling coalition had repeatedly emphasised that sanctions could also be imposed during the “period of trust.”
In addition, the originally planned “waiting period” of two years and the amount of savings recipients could retain have been cut considerably: benefit recipients must now move into a smaller flat after one year, and the amount of their personal savings (which may not be offset against benefits by the Job Centre) will be reduced to €40,000 (originally €60,000) and €15,000 for each additional person belonging to the household (originally €30,000).
“We have approached each other in order to advance the matter without giving up the core of the citizen’s income,” it was a “workable compromise,” claimed Katja Mast, secretary of the SPD parliamentary group. Britta Hasselmann, parliamentary party leader of the Greens, also declared that the core of the reform was not to impel people into “any job,” but rather into permanent employment based on qualifications.
In this week’s general debate in the Bundestag, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) praised the new citizen’s income draft as a “consensual solution,” “a good one by the way,” which offered “ways out of long-term unemployment, out of unskilled jobs and into the labour market.”
The speed with which the ruling coalition has complied with the Union’s demands underlines that it was never their intention to relax the existing Hartz IV sanctions regime—introduced back in 2005 by the SPD-Green coalition headed by Gerhard Schröder—with the new citizen’s income.
With their Agenda 2010 program the former SPD-Green coalition organised the greatest redistribution in favour of the rich in Germany’s post war history. The current chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his coalition partners are continuing this redistribution with the support of the Left Party and the trade unions.
On Tuesday, even CDU leader Friedrich Merz expressed surprise at the quick success of negotiations behind closed doors: “The coalition was very quick and—to my surprise—largely willing to make compromises.” Alexander Dobrindt, CSU state group leader, was also pleased: “We have been able to eliminate serious systemic errors in the Hartz IV update.”
Even after Merz and CSU leader Markus Söder commenced a vile campaign against the unemployed and migrants who allegedly would have it cushy at home in the planned “social hammock,” German Labour Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) promised to accommodate the Union’s demands.
The result is Hartz IV with a new name! With the new Citizen’s Income, the government, in cooperation with the opposition parties and the trade unions, is opening up another frontal attack on the living standards of the working class.
Poverty researcher Christoph Butterwegge has called the draft bill a “ruinous reform,” while those affected refer to it as “Citizenhartz.” According to Butterwegge, “more than two thirds of current Hartz IV recipients … will not feel any benefit from the minor relief, which only apply to “new customers of the job centres.”
The planned increase in the standard rate of €50 on average for an adult beneficiary cannot even begin to cover actual needs in view of exploding food prices.
The possibility of sanctions from the first day of entitlement to the citizen’s income means that the unemployed will be quickly forced into precarious, poorly paid jobs—as has been the case up to now. The planned de-restriction of the “social labour market” is also intended to accelerate the placement of the unemployed in low-paid jobs. Claims by the Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Social Affairs Alexander Schweitzer (SPD) that “further training has priority over placement” and that sanctions for the citizen’s income, in contrast to Hartz IV, are “no longer essential,” are merely window dressing.
“If this compromise becomes reality, Hartz IV will remain Hartz IV,” stated Ulrich Schneider, head of the charity organisation Paritätischer Gesamtverband. “Sanctions against families who already have hardly any money for food and clothing are unacceptable,” declared Eric Grosshaus from the children’s rights organisation Save the Children Germany.
The Left Party is playing a particularly despicable role in the Citizens’ Income debate. The Left Party approved the original reform draft in the Bundestag and also campaigned for the bill in the Bundesrat last Friday.
The head of chancellery for the state of Thuringia, Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff (Left Party), said of the marginal increase in the standard rate: “We as the Left could have imagined much more than what the Citizen’s Income offers.” But “with the Citizen’s Income, we are developing Hartz IV in a positive direction.”
The Berlin social senator Katja Kipping (Left Party) has called the revised draft a “deterioration on all points,” but her “indignation” cannot hide the fact that, in those states where the Left Party is part of the administration, it is complicit in massive attacks on the living standards of the working class.
The 2023 budget bill, which will be passed in the Bundestag on Friday together with the Citizen’s Income Bill in the Bundesrat, will continue to protect the fortunes and incomes of the super-rich. The profiteers from the pandemic, the energy crisis and the Ukraine war will continue to enjoy favoured status and will not be taxed more heavily. Instead, social and health spending will be reduced or remain far behind the rate of inflation. At the same time, the military budget is to be massively increased.
The new Citizen’s Income will ensure that the costs of the billions in bailouts to the economic and financial elite, the economic consequences of the NATO war against Russia and the extra €100 billion for the rearmament of the Bundeswehr are all passed on to the working class.
Eligible Countries: Students from African and developing countries
To be taken in: Belgium
About the Belgium ARESScholarship: Each year, the Academy of Research and Higher Education (ARES) grants an average of 150 fellowships in the framework of the Masters and 70 fellowships in the framework of the internships to the nationals of the countries of the South.
Eligible Countries: Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia (only for courses in English ), Haiti, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Peru, Philippines, DR Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Vietnam.
Accepted Subject Areas (Masters):
Master of Specialization in Development, Environment and Societies
Specialization Master in Human Rights
Master of Specialization in Aquatic Resource Management and Aquaculture
Master of Specialization in Risk and Disaster Management
Specialized Master in Integrated Management of Health Risks in the Global South (IManHR)
Specialized Master in International Development
Master of Specialization in Transfusion Medicine
Specialized Master in Microfinance
Master of specialization in integrated production and preservation of natural resources in urban and peri-urban areas
Specialized Master in Public Health Methodology
Master of Science in Public Health – Methods of Research Applied to Global Health
Master of Science and Environmental Management in Developing Countries
Specialized Master in Transport and Logistics
Accepted Subject Areas (Training):
Internship in control and quality assurance of medicines and health products
Research Initiation to Strengthen Health Systems
Internship in Geographic Information System
Internship in secondary resource development for sustainable construction
Methodological internship in support of innovation in family farming
Type: Masters, Training
About the Belgium ARES Scholarship: Within the framework of the Belgian policy for development cooperation, the Minister for Development Cooperation and the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation entrust the Belgian Higher Education Institutions with the preparation of Postgraduate Programmes (Advanced Masters) and Training Programmes that are specifically oriented towards young professionals from developing countries.
International Courses and Training Programmes are part of the global study programmes of the Higher Education Institutions. They are open to all students who satisfy the conditions of qualification but aim at proposing training units that distinguish themselves by their openness towards specific development issues.
Eligibility: The following will apply for the selection of holders of scholarships:
Originally from a developing country. To be eligible, applicants must reside and work in their own country at the time of filing;
Only nationals of the following countries are eligible to apply for scholarships ARES: Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia ( only for courses in English ), Haiti, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Peru, Philippines, DR Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Vietnam ;
Either under the age of 40 for courses and under 45 for training periods at the start of training;
Either holds a diploma comparable to a diploma of the second cycle of Belgian university education. However, for certain types of training, different requirements may be set out, which will be specified below;
Demonstrates a professional occupation in a developing country of at least two years after completing his / her second cycle or three years after the end of his / her studies when the candidate holds a post-graduate diploma from a university in an industrialized country;
Good knowledge of written and spoken French. For courses organized in another language, it is necessary to have a good knowledge of the language of the course, written and spoken. The candidate will also be asked to commit to learning French to participate in everyday life in Belgium;
Apply for a single training
Selection Criteria:
The academic curriculum
For courses, priority will be given to candidates who are already holders of a diploma third cycle, save in exceptional circumstances duly justified in the application.
Priority will be given to candidates who have not already received a grant in Belgium.
Professional experience
Belonging to a partner institution: The commitment of the candidate in development activities
Nationality requirements
Gender equality
The future reintegration prospects
Number of Scholarships: Belgium ARES grants 150 scholarships for participation into the masters and 70 scholarships for participation into the training programmes.
Value of Belgium ARESScholarship: Travel (internal and external), Monthly living allowance, Indirect mission costs, Installation costs, Tuition fees, Registration fee, Insurance costs, Housing allowance, Allowances for dependents, Return fees, In 1st session completion bonus (June).
Duration of Scholarship: For the duration of the program
How to Apply: Would you like to submit an application form and receive a grant? Are you unsure about your eligibility?
Important: Applying for a Belgium ARES Masters and Training scholarship is free of charge. ARES does not charge any fee at any stage of the application or selection process. You may raise any question or concern about persons or companies claiming to be acting on behalf of ARES and requesting the payment of a fee by emailing ARES at maryvonne.aubry[at]ares-ac.be. Any application containing cash will be automatically rejected.
Eligible Countries: Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Egypt, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Republic, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands the, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Ukraine, UK, USA, Vietnam.
To Be Taken At (Country): Austria
About the Award: The science communication fellow will gain experience in communicating complex systems science for a general audience, through a variety of platforms including blogs, website content, and articles forour magazine, Options. The science communication fellow will work as part of the IIASA Communications Department, assisting with a variety of tasks including editorial work, website maintenance, media relations, event coverage, social media, and other communication activities.
The Science Communication Fellow will also work closely with participants in the IIASA Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP), producing several pieces of work covering research from the program.
Type: Fellowship
Eligibility:
A Bachelor’s or equivalent degree in science or journalism, and/or current student or graduate of a science journalism program
Applicants from all countries are welcome, but IIASA gives priority to citizens or residents of countries in which IIASA has a Member Organization. We encourage applications from developing countries.
QUALIFICATIONS:
First experience in writing about science for the general public via blogs, newspapers, university web sites, or other outlets.
Written and oral fluency in English and proven ability to understand complex scientific research.
Experience with or interest in social media, video, photography, or other multimedia.
Number of Awards: Not specified
Value of Award: A monthly salary based on an annual gross salary of EUR 18,800.00, which is exempt from income tax in Austria.
The advertised salary is:
Non-negotiable
Subject to deductions for health insurance and/or social security.
Duration of Program: The fellowship starts on 22 May and ends on 1 September.
How to Apply: To apply for this opportunity, you will need to provide the following documents in English:
Cover Letter outlining your motivation for applying
CV/Resume
One writing sample of no more than 800 words about a scientific topic and aimed at a general audience (e.g., article for a newspaper or magazine, blog post, or op-ed)
A letter of recommendation. Incomplete applications and/or applications containing written samples longer than 800 words will not be considered.
Search and rescue operations are ongoing following a 5.6 magnitude earthquake on the Indonesian island of Java on Monday at 1:21 p.m. It is the deadliest earthquake since 2018 in the disaster-prone country. The death toll is more than 270 with 40 still missing and over 2,000 people injured.
Local youth navigate their way through the remains of village hit by Monday's earthquake, in Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022 [AP Photo/Rangga Firmansyah]
The epicenter was in Cianjur District 75km south-east of the highly populated capital, Jakarta. While the latter felt tremors prompting evacuation from high rise buildings, it suffered little damage. Despite being relatively moderate, the earthquake struck close to the earth’s surface (at a depth of 10km as opposed to typically hundreds) and directly under rural areas prone to landslides where buildings are poorly constructed.
Almost the entire village of Cijedil was swallowed up by one such landslide with dozens of people engulfed. Residents took to clearing the earth with picks and shovels, but the houses were buried too deeply and excavators were in short supply.
Road blockages and driving rain are complicating rescue operations with many villages yet to receive logistical support. The National Search and Rescue Agency have deployed several helicopters to provide supplies to remote areas and 6,000 rescuers have been dispatched.
Millions of people have been affected by the tremors with 56,000 houses damaged. At least 61,000 people have been displaced, many sleeping in makeshift tents. Officials said that 171 public facilities were destroyed including 31 schools.
Power has been lost in many areas, cell phone services are down, and hospitals overwhelmed. Herman Suherman, a government official from Cianjur town, said typically injuries were bone fractures sustained by those trapped by building debris. Due to the danger of aftershocks, many patients were being treated outside under tents. At night staff have relied on torchlights.
Due to the tremor striking at midday, many children were trapped and crushed inside school buildings. In a media release, the charity Save the Children reports that about 100 children have been confirmed dead, with 80 schools damaged.
A teacher, Ayu, told the organization: “I was standing at the front of the class and then I heard a lot of people screaming. Everyone said run, leave the room. I thought all of the children had left the classroom but it turned out there was still one child who was left behind, he was sick, so I picked him and ran.
“Only a few seconds later, our school walls collapsed in front of us. We were so shocked everyone screamed and cried. As teachers we tried to calm the children down but they were really shocked. They need psychological support as soon as possible, they were really scared. The worst is some of them may also have to face the loss of their parents.”
Widjojo Prakoso, a professor of engineering at the University of Indonesia, pointed to the failure of many schools to survive the impact. “School buildings should get special attention because they are not only supposed to withstand earthquakes, but they should also act as a temporary shelter during disasters,” he said.
There have been over 170 aftershocks recorded since Monday, one of them triggering a landslide according to police. There are also fears that typical waterways have been blocked creating the danger for flash flooding in the region as Indonesia enters its monsoonal season.
The impact of the earthquake has been most severe on the poor. The subordination of all aspects of society to the demands of corporate profit hamstrings rational and scientific approaches to mitigating and dealing with natural disasters. According to an Oxfam report earlier this year, just four men in Indonesia hold wealth than the most impoverished 100 million.
Population growth coupled with the high costs of living has forced to people living outside the most developed urban areas and into more precarious areas, where companies, agencies and property developers often overlook building codes and standards. Yet Indonesia is situated near the ‘Ring of Fire’, the most seismically active region in the world.
President Joko Widodo visited affected areas in Cianjur on Tuesday and subsequently authorized 12,000 soldiers and 2,000 police to help in the ongoing searches for dead and missing.
Widodo also issued toothless calls for earthquake-proof housing to be included in reconstruction efforts, a systematic problem that has persisted for decades in the country. He has promised to rebuild infrastructure and provide a pittance of up to 50 million rupiah ($US3,180) to each resident whose house was damaged.
Widodo’s policies may well have contributed to the disaster by undermining of previous environment and safety regulations. Certainly his government has funneled money into tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy as well as into the military while essential services including emergency services are starved of funds.
The devastating 7.5 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in 2018 in central Sulawesi is estimated to have killed more than 4,000 people and injured many more. In the city of Palu, thousands of poorly constructed houses were destroyed in the disaster.
The earthquake raised all the issues that needed to be addressed: earthquake resistant building standards, properly funded emergency services and assistance to those affected. Yet little or nothing was done in the wake of that tragedy.
