As Indian variant spreads in Europe, governments reopen across the continent

Will Morrow

While scientists warn of the dangerous implications of the spread of the more contagious Indian variant of the coronavirus, governments across Europe are pushing ahead rapidly to reopen their economies fully and lifting any limited lockdown measures that have remained in place.

The reopening is taking place amid a competition among the European states over which economy can most quickly restart, and particularly over access to tourism revenue for the Summer holiday season.

The B.1.617 variant, first identified in India, may be up to 50 percent more contagious than even the so-called UK variant, according to a UK government advisory committee, though further studies are required.  The B.1.17 variant had first been identified in the UK in September, but has since rapidly become the dominant strain and makes up the majority of cases across Europe. In the UK, the number of identified cases of the Indian variant has rapidly accelerated in the past 10 days to more than 2,300.

By Tuesday, it had reached 2,300 in the UK, a rise of 75 percent from four days earlier. The strain now accounts for at least 20 percent of new infections, and scientists predict that it will become the dominant strain within days. However, yesterday the government admitted that the official count of cases of the new strain was already outdated by a week. The Johnson government’s own scientific advisors have made statements warning against the ending of lockdown measures that it is pushing through.

The reopening in Europe, under conditions where only a small portion of the population has been vaccinated, poses clear dangers of a new catastrophic overwhelming of hospitals and mass deaths. It is being pursued as part of the European Union’s policy of placing corporate profits before lives, with case numbers already too high for any systematic testing, tracing and isolation system to be put in place.

In France, cafes and restaurants opened for outdoor dining yesterday. Theaters, museums, public monuments and cinemas also reopened. The nightly curfew was pushed back from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Indoor and outdoor physical sports, except for contact sports, are again legally permitted. On June 9, restaurants are to reopen completely.

Only slightly over 13 percent of the French population has been vaccinated, compared to scientific estimates that, to prevent the virus’ spread, a population immunity rate of between 80-90 percent would be required. The Indian variant has already been detected in France, though the number of daily cases remains unknown. More than 17,000 cases were reported on Tuesday in the country, while the seven-day average for deaths remains at almost 200.

Schools in France have been completely reopened to in-person classes at full capacity. The Macron government is not making any attempt to justify this decision on a scientific basis. On April 23, for example, Prime Minister Jean Castex had asserted in an interview that “the virus circulates very little in schools” and that “schools are not the principal location for contaminations.”

On May 11, however, in an interview with France 2, Castex stated the opposite: “What does locking down mean? Let’s be concrete. It means closing schools. This is the essential variable—which has the most impact, we know, is closing schools.” This policy has been rejected, however, because it would require allowing parents to remain at home and providing them with compensation to not attend work.

In neighbouring Germany, only 11.9 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated, and 38.2 percent has received a single dose. According to the Robert Koch Institute, five percent of those aged under 59 have been fully vaccinated, and one in three people aged over 80 has not been vaccinated. The Indian variant is responsible already for two percent of all new infections in the country, though even this figure is already likely an underestimate. Officials in the region of Mettmann quarantined residents in a pair of high-rise buildings in the town of Velbert on Tuesday, after several cases of the Indian variant were detected there.

However the various German state regions are outdoing each other in their reopening policies. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the largest state by population, schools are being reopened to full attendance on May 31, assuming that the seven-day incidence rate in the state per 100,000 people is below 100. In Berlin, which is governed by a coalition of the Left Party, SPD and the Greens, schools have been opened to all children since the beginning of this week. In Schleswig-Holstein, indoor and outdoor cafes and restaurants have been open again since Monday. Other federal states will follow in the next few days.

In Spain, the six-month national state of emergency ended on May 9, ending even the limited restrictions on travel between regions and late-night curfews. Last month, David López-Acuña, a former official for the World Health Organization, opposed the ending of the restrictions, warning that “we don’t see that the vaccination drive will have a significant impact by May. There may be less pressure on the health system, but the reality is health authorities are trusting too much that the immunization drive can stop the waves.”

In Italy, restrictions were lifted on April 26, permitting outdoor dining in bars, restaurants and cafes, the reopening of swimming pools and sports, cinemas and theatres, and the return to in-person schooling for all students.

In Belgium, outdoor dining in bars and cafes has been restarted since May 8, along with sporting facilities. In mid-April, schools in the country were reopened, while hairdressers and non-essential stores were reopened on April 26.

In Switzerland, music venues, sports, museums, libraries, outdoor cafes and restaurants, and cinemas have all been opened since April 19. Similarly in the Netherlands, outdoor dining was reopened on April 18, with hours restricted to between midday and 6pm.

The reckless reopening policy of European governments raises very grave dangers to the working population on the continent. It is being driven by their determination to prevent any further restriction in business activities and corporate profit-making, regardless of the impact on the lives of the population. It was summed up openly by French President Emmanuel Macron, who declared that the population must “live with the virus,” and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who demanded last year in a leaked private cabinet meeting “no more fucking lockdowns—let the bodies pile high in their thousands.”

Rumors of Cryptocurrency’s Death Are Still Greatly Exaggerated

Thomas L. Knapp

Elon Musk is a man of many skills. He didn’t just make electric cars sexy, he sent one to space. Perhaps chief among his talents is the ability to roil markets by running his mouth. Lately, he’s aimed that talent at cryptocurrency.

In February, one of Musk’s companies, Tesla, announced that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin; in March, that it would accept Bitcoin for purchases of its cars.

Then, in Mid-May, Musk announced that Tesla was suspending vehicle purchases in Bitcoin over “increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions” (while mentioning that “we are also looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction”).

Naturally, the price of Bitcoin in dollars crashed — back to the terrible old level of February, only twice what it was worth in December.

And, naturally, the cryptocurrency naysayer chorus emerged from its groundhog hole to yell “told ya so.” Just like they’ve been doing every other week since May 22, 2010, when Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 Bitcoins (current value, nearly half a billion dollars) for two pizzas.

Sorry, guys. Bitcoin’s probably not going away, and cryptocurrency in general certainly isn’t.

Yes, Bitcoin mining (the computer activity involved in processing transactions) is energy-intensive.

No, not all Bitcoin is mined using fossil fuels. In fact, many serious mining outfits specifically look for locations with cheap, plentiful hydroelectric power.

And no, not all cryptocurrency mining is nearly as energy-intensive as Bitcoin mining.

So, what’s Musk up to? Is he just having fun upsetting apple carts? Or is there business method behind his madness?

Financier (and former Trump White House Communications Director) Anthony Scaramucci thinks he knows. Scaramucci suggests (with a small hypothetical wager of 1/200th of a Bitcoin) that Musk’s next big cryptocurrency play will be to send Tesla’s energy subsidiary into “super clean” Bitcoin mining.

That would be a smart move from both directions. It would reduce the financial and environmental costs of mining, while giving solar and wind power a boost in their fight to displace fossil fuels generally.

The technology underlying cryptocurrency is sound. It will survive, and it will become dominant. The only question is whether it will completely displace, or be at least partially co-opted by, government monetary schemes. Hopefully the former. Getting government out of the money business would be a gigantic leap for human freedom and prosperity (and, maybe even a step toward getting government out of business entirely).

A Syndicalist Strategy for the Swedish Labour Market

Jenny Stendahl, Erik Bonk & Rasmus Hästbacka

In 2019, a new anti-strike law was introduced in Sweden. The law is negative for all employees but has its tip of the spear aimed at the Dockers Union (Hamnarbetarförbundet, Hamn) and the syndicalist union SAC, Central organization of Workers in Sweden.

Has the law killed SAC? “No. We have produced a comprehensive inquiry in which a new strategy is presented. According to our assessment syndicalists can still fight lawfully for both collective agreements and alternatives to such agreements.” These are the words of SAC representatives Jenny Stendahl, Erik Bonk and Rasmus Hästbacka.

It is often claimed that Sweden has the world’s strongest trade union movement. Perhaps the trade union bureaucracies are strong, but the movement and struggle have long been in decline. In Sweden, there are only two nationwide unions that take member democracy seriously: the syndicalist SAC and the Dockers union (Hamn). For SAC and Hamn, it is self-evident that the member base should have the right to make decisions about union demands, industrial action and agreements with the employer side.

We see within the dominant unions of LO, TCO and Saco that there are scattered islands of grassroots that try to develop union democracy and offer employers resistance. These honorable islands are constantly being fought by the trade union bureaucracy. Too often, the bureaucracy wins. There is no such bureaucracy within SAC or Hamn.

The Swedish trade unions can boast of high membership numbers, but generally lack the primary source of union strength: that many colleagues unite and act together. Without strong unions, employers can run amok. Not entirely surprising, the Swedish labour market is starting to go crazy.

It is estimated that over 770 Swedes die from work-related stress each year. More and more employees work under miserable conditions, not only on the fringes of the labour market and for companies that don’t have collective agreements. SAC’s safety representatives and migrant members testify to miserable conditions under respected companies with collective agreements. Many employers sign agreements only for the sake of building a facade, agreements which they then violate. Swedish syndicalists put a lot of effort into defending collective agreements that have actually been reached by other unions.

The independent labour struggle that SAC and Hamn practice cannot be controlled by the employer side. Nor can it be controlled by the Swedish Parliament or union leaders within LO, TCO and Saco. Consequently, these ruling elites united in 2019 and introduced a new anti-strike law. The so-called industrial peace obligation in the Swedish Co-determination Act (Medbestämmandelagen, MBL) was drastically expanded. Peace obligation means a ban on strikes, blockades and other forms of industrial action. The expanded peace obligation is negative for all employees but has its tip of the spear aimed at SAC and Hamn.

At first glance, it might look like the 2019 anti-strike law would reduce SAC and Hamn to meaningless organizations. Previously, SAC and Hamn were free to stage industrial actions against employers who had entered into collective agreements with other unions. We could refuse to accept lousy agreements and retain the right to industrial action in full. That is no longer the case.

We are affected by the expanded peace obligation as soon as other unions reach collective agreements, even when the agreements are so bad that it’s impossible for us to accept them. We are prohibited from launching industrial action against employers bound by collective agreements – unless the purpose of the action is to reach an additional collective agreement. This is the main rule (in the new section 41 d of MBL).

In the Swedish ports, the employer side traditionally has nationwide collective agreements with the LO union Transportarbetarförbundet, not with the Dockers union. Did the 2019 anti-strike law kill Hamn? No. In the same year, this union entered into its own national agreement with the employer side for the first time. Hamn was strengthened by this conflict and continues to strive and organize. It was the employer side that in all previous years had refused to sign national agreements, not Hamn.

Has SAC given up? No. We have produced a comprehensive inquiry in which a new strategy is presented. According to our assessment syndicalists can still fight lawfully for both collective agreements and alternatives to such agreements. We will train the membership in this strategy in order to build collective strength in the workplaces and push forward. The important thing is to create a better workplace for all employees, regardless of profession or union affiliation.

The key actors in our new strategy are all syndicalists who organize their workplaces. Syndicalists build so-called workplace sections, local unions for all employees except the bosses. Syndicalists also build cross-union forums and groups to unite the work force.

Without revealing too much to the employers reading this article, we will explain what the new strategy is all about.

What happens if a syndicalist section concludes collective agreements that contain better wages and terms of employment than the collective agreements that other unions have already concluded? In Swedish case-law, the key term used here is competing collective agreements, where the section becomes a party to the so-called second agreement. According to the Swedish Labour Court, the employer is only obliged to apply the wage and employment conditions in the first signed collective agreement, the so-called first agreement. Thus, the employer can ignore the section’s second agreement. That’s the main rule.

So, how can ordinary workers navigate this tricky legal arena? There are roughly three lines of action.

(1) The first line of action is that the section fights for a collective agreement which does not regulate the terms of employment, but which contain union rights for the section and its elected representatives. Some examples of such rights are the right to appoint safety representatives, do union work during paid working hours and a strengthened right to information and collective bargaining. The employer is obliged to respect such rights even in a second agreement.

(2) The second line of action is that the section nevertheless enters into collective agreements that contain better wages and employment conditions than a first agreement. When the first agreement expires, the employer will probably be obliged to apply the section’s agreement instead, which the entire work force benefits from. Then other unions have to accept that the syndicalists suddenly own the first agreement. Syndicalists can abandon this position if the other unions succeed in concluding collective agreements that give staff even better conditions. Syndicalists are also open to cross-union cooperation and multi-party agreements.

If a section stages industrial action for a better collective agreement than the already existing agreement, then the employer will resist strongly. The employer will probably claim that the purpose of the action is to displace the first agreement, which will make the action unlawful. To prevent such objections, the section may write in its proposed agreement that the section’s agreement shall not be applied until the first agreement has expired. Then the Labor Court would probably regard the industrial action as lawful.

Collective agreements are nothing new for SAC. During the 20th century, Swedish syndicalists entered into hundreds of collective agreements, primarily local agreements but also nationwide agreements in forestry. Syndicalists are therefore happy to enter into collective agreements, provided that the employees concerned decide whether to accept or reject the proposed agreements.

(3) If the employer side refuses to enter into a collective agreement with us, we are open to alternative forms of agreement. That is the third line of action. In SAC’s strategic inquiry, we discuss several alternatives to collective agreements, including oral agreements and written individual agreements. Oral agreements can be used to strengthen trade union rights. An audio recording of oral agreements prevents disputes about the content of the agreement. Written individual agreements can be used to improve wages and terms of employment for all employees in a workplace, provided that all agreements are identical and signed by all.

Collective agreements are accompanied by the most comprehensive peace obligation (according to the old section 41 of MBL). During the period of an applicable agreement, almost all industrial actions are prohibited. A major advantage, of the just mentioned alternative to collective agreements, is that these agreements do not activate a peace obligation. Employers who disapprove of this, may politly accept to enter into collective agreements with syndicalist sections.

Members of SAC can read all about the new strategy by logging in to SAC’s website. There we post video lectures, articles and new experiences. We believe that the strategy can also be used against employers who use so-called collective agreement shopping and yellow unions. These problems risk growing due to the expanded peace obligation in MBL.

The new strategy is sharp but not a quick fix. It all depends on the patient organizing efforts of union members.

How Hindutva works?

Bhabani Shankar Nayak

In recent years, the Hindutva politics has caused long term damage to India and Indians. The so called 56-inch macho PM, the propaganda master manufactures and survives all political crisis including the current mismanagement of the Coronavirus pandemic in India. In spite of deaths and destitutions, the social, cultural, economic and religious base of Hindutva is intact. There are only few scratches in the electoral fortune of the BJP in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is time to move away from the analysis based on the personalities of the leaders like Modi and Amit Shah. It is time to blame both the faulty products like Modi and Shah and expose their bigoted manufacturing firm called the RSS. The rule of BJP led by Modi is based on the ideological frameworks of the RSS, developed from 1920s to 2021 provides conclusive proof that the primitive ideology of Hindutva has destroyed the social fabric, economic foundations, religious harmony and multicultural outlooks of India and Indians. During the Modi led BJP regime, India contributed nearly 60% to the rise of global poverty. It speaks volumes about the failure of BJP government in India. Hindutva politics is neither an option nor an alternative for a modern, progressive, democratic, developed and peaceful India. There is no ambiguity about it.

However, BJP’s victory in recently concluded Assam state election, and securing a very large percentage of votes in both Assembly and parliamentary bypolls in different parts of India is a worrying sign for Indians. The Hindutva politics continue to be a dominant force in Indian politics. Therefore, there are two fundamental questions needs serious discussion.  1. How did Hindutva politics and its myopic leadership managed to convince the electorate to vote for them? 2. How Hindutva works? These two questions needs to critically reflect on the core ideological foundations and social base of Hindutva politics.

The riots and assaults on reasons led by Hindutva from Gujarat to New Delhi, ruinous economic and agricultural policies from demonetisation, GST to firm bills, the anti-constitutional citizenship amendment act, the demolition project called ‘Central Vista’ and the utter failure to manage the Coronavirus crisis are some of the milestones in the Hindutva misgovernance. These avoidable and annihilating crises did not disturb the ideological, social and political base of Hindutva forces in India. The pathology of the toxic Hindutva politics and its violent projects based illusory capitalist economic growth and development can be defeated only by defeating its reactionary ideological foundations in society, politics, economy and culture. The political oppositions and its fatigue of electoral defeats are only strengthening the Hindutva politics. It is time to change the direction against Hindutva politics and fight its core ideological roots.

The Brahminical social and cultural order, majoritarian dominance, anti-Muslim and religious minorities, anti-Dalit, anti-women cultural propaganda, anti-working class politics and capitalist corporate command economic system are seven pillars of Hindutva politics in India. The pandemic and all other crises did not disturb these core ideological foundations of Hindutva politics. The struggle for a secular, progressive, egalitarian, liberal and democratic India depends on people’s ability to defeat caste, religious bigotry and market fundamentalism promoted by capitalism. Hindutva politics works by using these three core value systems which are disastrous for India and Indians. The Hindutva politics is not an illusory project. It is a serious project of national, international and regional capitalist classes.

The Hindutva politics has penetrated into every step of social, cultural, religious, economic and political walks of lives in India with its organisational networks the RSS supported by Indian and global corporates. All constitutional institutions are captured by people with the RSS networks. Most of the schools, colleges, universities, cultural and social organisations are directly or indirectly controlled by the RSS today. The majority of media organisations have surrendered their professional ethics and sold their freedom to the Hindutva advertisement revenue. The power of money, media, political marketing and organisational electoral machine makes Hindutva politics as one of the most formidable and dominant force in India. These combined forces make every Hindutva abnormality and inhuman activities as natural and normal. Social depression, political despondency and acute economic crises are the tree net outcomes of Hindutva politics, which create foundation for Hindutva fascism in India. Deaths and destitutions don’t disturb Hindutva ideology. Therefore, morality is alien to Hindutva ideology.

In this difficult terrain, India and Indians need radical politics addressing everyday social, cultural, economic and spiritual needs of people. The need based political struggle intertwined with desires and unwavering commitment to re-establish values enshrined in Indian constitution can revive Indian path to peace and progress by defeating Hindutva core ideology, which is based on caste and capitalism. The struggle against Hindutva is a struggle against caste and capitalism. It is impossible to defeat Hindutva without defeating caste and capitalism. The caste system and capitalism are twin source of oxygen for Hindutva forces. India needs a radical mass movement to end caste and gender based on economic exploitation, and social, cultural and spiritual oppression.

There is no capitalism, caste and Hindutva with a human face. These forces and their ideology can never be reformed and recycled. The vulgar reality show of Hindutva fascism and its caste-based capitalism is neither conducive for human lives nor for the planet. India and Indians need global support and solidarity movements to re-establish liberal, secular and constitutional democracy in India. The mass movement for social and political transformation is an urgent need of the hour for the survival of India and Indians. The Coronavirus pandemic is an occasion to end the pandemic of Hindutva and all its ideological and institutional infrastructure in India to safeguard its present and future.

Virgin Australia unions plan merger to impose Bain Capital’s cost-cutting demands

Terry Cook

The Virgin Independent Pilots Association (VIPA) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) confirmed this month that they will amalgamate the two unions by July, subject to a vote of pilots.

Both unions have been talking up the supposed benefits for pilots and other Virgin Australia workers of the merger, but it has nothing to do with defending the jobs and conditions of airline workers.

Its real purpose is to strengthen the capacity of the union bureaucracy to prevent any opposition to the ongoing restructuring drive by Virgin to drastically slash costs at workers’ expense. This has been the agenda implemented from day one by the airline’s new owners, US private equity firm Bain Capital.

Virgin Australia Airbus A320 at Christmas Island International Airport [Source: Wikimedia Commons]

Speaking to the media, VIPA president John Lyons declared the merger “will help boost the voice of pilots and give us added strength across the industry.” TWU national secretary Michael Kaine claimed it “will give our members a stronger voice not just in Virgin but across the aviation landscape.” Kaine insisted that “both unions are focused on lifting standards in aviation and using our collective strength to achieve that.”

The record of the unions shows the fraud of this pretence.

Virgin went into administration in March 2020, owing banks and other creditors more than $6.8 billion. Immediately after Bain’s $3.5 billion buyout of Virgin was finalised last November, the airline slashed 3,000 jobs and ditched its carrier’s low-cost airline TigerAir at the cost of hundreds of jobs. All 220 pilot positions at TigerAir had already been shed.

Kaine welcomed this ruthless restructure, saying Bain’s plan “to restart Virgin Australia” as a “leaner” operation offered a “glimmer of hope” for the future. Other unions covering Virgin’s workforce made similar statements.

Their purpose was to telegraph the unions’ willingness to collaborate with Bain in further cost-cutting, starting with the closed-door negotiations for four new enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) that began late last year.

Virgin’s CEO Jayne Hrdlicka, installed by Bain, praised the unions for delivering on the company’s demands. “We’ve asked a lot of them [the unions] as a result of the operating environment we find ourselves in, and we are grateful for their understanding and support throughout,” she said.

The TWU, along with the FAAA (Flight Attendants Association of Australia), ASU (Australian Services Union) and ALAEA (Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association) then got to work to ensure their members endorsed the “in-principle” wage-cutting deals they had already signed. The EBAs cover cabin crew, baggage handlers, ramp workers, cleaners, caterers, refuelers and security workers

The three-year agreements centre on 18-month to two-year pay freezes, and stays on the payment of a range of other allowances. They involve deep cuts to real pay and conditions, including for flight attendants, ground staff and other low-paid workers.

Under the ASU deal, for example, the highest pay rate for the most experienced and most qualified guest service workers remained at the base rate of just $27.27 an hour, while “trainees” were stuck at $22.22 and new recruits unable to rise above $24.64. Only 18 percent of the workforce must be full-time, leaving the vast majority on part-time work, and only guaranteed a minimum of 20 hours a week.

The unions claimed the EBAs provided guarantees that no more of Virgin’s roughly 6,000-strong workforce, covered by the four unions, would be outsourced “in the meantime.”

In reality, the unions, anticipating rank-and-file opposition, cynically utilised the company’s threat that Virgin workers would face deeper job cuts via outsourcing unless they accepted the wage freeze deals. On that basis, they pushed through endorsement of the EBAs in membership ballots last month.

Moreover, the outsourcing “guarantee” is worthless. It could quickly be jettisoned by Virgin under conditions where competitors such as Qantas continue to exploit the crisis in the aviation sector produced by COVID-19 to further restructure their operations to boost profits and gain a competitive edge.

Since the outset of the pandemic, Qantas has laid off around 8,500 employees or close to a third of its workforce. The company is now outsourcing over 2,000 positions, including baggage handlers, ramp workers and cabin cleaners.

The TWU blocked any fight by workers against the Qantas outsourcing, instead pushing the issue into the Federal Court and burying it in a Senate inquiry. These moves were initiated after the TWU failed to convince Qantas to employ the union itself as the cheap labour contractor for the outsourcing operation.

Cut-throat competition will only intensify if the airlines in Australia and internationally are successful in their bids to pressure governments to abandon restrictions and prematurely fully reopen global air travel. That will see the further continuous setting of ever-more exploitative benchmarks across the worldwide aviation industry.

To soften up Virgin workers for more job cuts overseen by the unions, Kaine warned: “Virgin’s future is far from certain with the pandemic continuing to play havoc with air travel and the disastrous vaccine rollout casting doubt on the resumption of normal travel into and around Australia.”

In a groveling display of unity with Bain, Kaine presented the unions’ sell-out deals and the management’s attacks on jobs and working conditions as the outcome of the “tireless work” of Virgin staff to “get the airline back on its feet.” This is in line with the program pursued by all the trade unions: subordinating workers’ interests to those of the wealthy corporate elite.

Kaine said workers would hold Virgin’s new owners “to account over promises made to keep a full-service airline” and to get “Virgin back to its position as Australia’s strong second airline.”

Similar threats of job losses will be used by the unions to impose a regressive deal on Virgin’s pilots, and on workers at other airlines. Eager to further prove the unions’ worth to Bain as a reliable industrial police force, Kaine urged Virgin “to finalise this process [EBA negotiations],” claiming this would “give pilots the certainty they require about their futures.”

Virgin and Qantas have continued to slash jobs and conditions despite receiving repeated multi-billion-dollar support packages and wage subsidies from the Liberal-National government, backed by the Labor Party opposition.

Around the globe, airlines have axed tens of thousands of jobs over the past year, despite similar massive bailouts by governments, while the unions have suppressed workers’ opposition.

Airline workers must take stock of the situation that they face. The record demonstrates that the fight to defend and improve jobs and working conditions requires a decisive break with the unions, which act as direct agencies of the airline companies.

Israel cracks down on Palestinian general strike, continues bombing Gaza

Jean Shaoul

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded with brutal repression to a Palestinian general strike across the occupied West Bank and Arab towns in Israel.

The strike, a “day of rage”, was called by the Arab Follow-up Committee to protest the bombing of Gaza and worsening repression in East Jerusalem. The committee urged solidarity “from the sea to the river.”

Supported by both Hamas and Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, it was the first by Palestinians in both the occupied territories and Israel. The historic action saw the shuttering of all Palestinian workplaces, businesses, shops and schools.

A Palestinian walks by a building hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Since the fighting began last week, the Israeli military has launched hundreds of airstrikes it says are targeting Hamas' militant infrastructure, while Palestinian militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Security forces responded with lethal force, killing three Palestinians and wounding at least 63 more in the West Bank.

Troops fired tear gas and live ammunition at hundreds of Palestinians burning tyres and hurling stones at the Beit El military checkpoint at Al-Birah near Ramallah, killing one Palestinian and wounding 70 more. Heavy clashes were reported in other towns and cities, including Hebron, Bethlehem, Nablus and Budrus. On Monday, Israeli soldiers had shot and killed a Palestinian teenager at the al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, preventing ambulances reaching the 18-year-old Obaida Akram Jawabra, while on Tuesday soldiers killed Fayyad Zahda in Hebron, claiming he was carrying weapons.

In East Jerusalem, police used water cannon to disperse protesters in Sheikh Jarrah. They cracked down violently on protesters inside the Old City and around the Damascus Gate. Middle East Eye reported that Israeli police beat, pepper sprayed and removed the hijab of one of its correspondents, Latifeh Abdellatif, while she was filming the detention of a young boy. When Palestinians stepped in to protect Abdellatif, leading to scuffles with the police, several of them were arrested. Later, Israel’s police commissioner Yaakov Shabtai said his forces had restored calm after “riots in the Arab sector.”

Israel renewed its criminal bombardment of Gaza’s defenceless Palestinians early Tuesday morning, firing 100 bombs and missiles against 65 targets described as a network of tunnels. Several buildings in Gaza city, including a six-storey block housing the Islamic University, were hit. It brings the total number of airstrikes since May 11 to 1,500.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged international pressure for a cease-fire, but “all in all, we are receiving very serious backing, first of all from the US.” US President Joe Biden has refused to call for an immediate halt to the war, reluctantly stating Monday evening he now “supports” a ceasefire but with no timetable. Asked whether a ceasefire was being discussed, a senior Israeli official said, “There is no such thing right now. There is no negotiation. There is no proposal. There is nothing on the table.”

Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman, for the IDF, said there was no plan to suspend operations. “We will hit anyone who belongs to Hamas, from the first to the last.”

The IDF had struck the homes of 12 senior Hamas commanders in the previous 24 hours and killed at least 160 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, branded as “terrorists,” since the start of Operation Guardian of the Walls.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, eight days of Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 212, including 61 children and 34 women, and wounded over 1,500. Two Thai workers, living in unprotected mobile homes, were killed and seven others injured in a rocket attack that hit a packaging plant in southern Israel, bringing the total number killed in Israel to 12 and 300 wounded in rocket attacks from Gaza.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the air strikes have destroyed or badly damaged nearly 450 buildings, displacing more than 58,000, of whom 47,000 have been forced to seek shelter in 58 UN-run schools in Gaza. At least 24 schools have been either damaged or ordered to close, forcing 600,000 students to miss out on schooling.

The Ministry of Information estimated that $18 million damage has been done to streets and infrastructure. Some 132 buildings have been destroyed and 316 severely damaged, including six hospitals and 13 healthcare clinics, as well as a desalination plant, affecting access to drinking water for 250,000 people. Water pipes serving at least 800,000 people have been damaged. Trash is piling up in the streets.

Gaza’s limited healthcare system has been crippled. Two leading doctors have been killed. There is less than a month’s supply of 46 percent of essential drugs and 33 percent of essential medical supplies. On Monday, an Israeli air strike nearby put the only laboratory that processes COVID-19 test results out of action. With thousands of Palestinians, most of whom are unvaccinated, crowding into schools for shelter, there are fears that these schools could become mass spreaders of the disease.

The same day, another air strike hit the Qatari Red Crescent Society office, which carries out relief work in Gaza, killing two Palestinians and wounding 10 others. It followed attacks on ambulance crews, including a Médecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) crew, and health facilities, leaving a sterilization room unusable and a waiting area damaged. Hellen Ottens-Patterson, the head of MSF's mission in Palestine, said the pattern of Israeli bombings was far greater than previous campaigns. “Emergency health workers are taking incredible but necessary risks to move around… our teams were confronted with serious injuries caused by the Israeli police to men, women and children.”

Health officials have called for the protection of medical staff and facilities, saying Israeli air strikes are hindering their ability to help victims and warning that a prolonged war would have devastating humanitarian consequences. People have taken to social media to lambast the Israeli military for their targeting of key roads and accessways that have prevented ambulances from reaching healthcare centres and hospitals, including the main al-Shifa hospital.

Despite the dire humanitarian situation, international aid organisations are finding it difficult to send in aid as the three entry points have been closed since May 11. Israel closed the Karam Abu Salem crossing into Gaza shortly after opening it, under pressure from the UN, to allow in donated humanitarian goods, after an Israeli soldier was slightly wounded in a mortar attack near the crossing. Karl Schembri, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s media adviser for the Middle East, told Al Jazeera that Gaza would be “suffocated” if the Keram Abu Salem and Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossings remained shut.

On Monday, Israeli ground troops opened up a second front, firing shells into southern Lebanon after rocket fire was launched, apparently by a small Palestinian group in Lebanon, not by Hezbollah. This was the second harmless rocket attack since May 11 from Lebanon, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Both the Lebanese army and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) intensified their patrols along the border “to prevent any further incidents that endanger the safety of the local population and the security of southern Lebanon.”

The IDF said its forces had downed a drone approaching Israel’s border with Jordan, without saying where it had come from, amid speculation it might have come from Syria.

Protests in support of the Palestinians have continued in Lebanon, while tens of thousands turned out in a rally in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital.

Indian variant surges in Britain as Tory government continues reopening drive

Robert Stevens

Within days of the Conservative government authorising Monday’s reopening of most of the economy, a catastrophe is threatened in Britain by the spread of the Indian mutation of the Covid virus.

After authorising the reopening last Friday, a major step to the complete reopening of the economy on June 21—including the end of all social distancing—the government faces a crisis, with talk that it may have to bring in more restrictions.

On Monday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Parliament that at least five cases of the Indian variant (B. 1.617.2) have already been identified in 86 local authorities. The mutation has taken seven lives so far in England.

Manchester College Nicholls campus building in Ardwick. On Tuesday, an outbreak of 17 Covid cases in one class was revealed. Next to the college on Hyde Road is the depot (dark brown building) of bus company Stagecoach. 18/05/2021 (credit: WSWS media)

By Tuesday, it was revealed that there were more than 2,300 cases of B. 1.617.2 in England alone, a quadrupling in just 10 days and a rise of 75 percent since last Thursday. The virus accounts for at least one in five coronavirus infections. Scientists are predicting that it will become the UK’s dominant strain within days.

The reopening went ahead even after Public Health England upgraded, on May 6, B. 1.617.2 from a variant under investigation to a “variant of concern”. According to scientific advice given to the government, it is up to 50 percent more transmissible than even the Kent strain which rapidly became dominant in Britain, much of Europe and the United States. B. 1.617.2 is now present in at least 30 countries.

Two areas of the north of England have reported the most cases. In Sefton on Merseyside (population 275,000) the variant makes up 90 percent of new cases, and in Bolton Greater Manchester (128,000), 86 percent. As of Tuesday, there were 24 Covid patients in Bolton Hospital, up from 13 two weeks ago.

In Bedford, a commuter town of nearly 107,000 in south England, 80 cases have been recorded. Vicky Head, the town’s director of public health, warned Monday of a “massive rise in cases”. “About three or four weeks ago we were having three or four cases a day. We are now up to 10 times that.” One of the “really striking things about the variant is just how transmissible it is. If someone goes to school and tests positive, we are then seeing their whole family test positive.” At the Bedford Academy school, 50 Indian variant cases were reported over half term, resulting in 300 people self-isolating.

With the spread of B. 1.617.2, scientific advisers to the government felt it necessary to oppose significant parts of Monday’s easing of restrictions. Much was made of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s statement last Friday that it was now safe for people to hug one another, but on Monday Professor Peter Openshaw of Imperial College London and a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) said, 'This is a high-risk procedure, I would say in medical terms and I would certainly not be embracing people closely.”

Jeremy Farrar, of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) said he opposed the government’s policy of allowing people to gather indoors. He told the BBC’s Today programme, “I think it is reasonable to just be sensible about knowing where transmission is occurring—mostly indoors… with lots of different people, different families, different communities, and I would just restrict that at the moment, personally.”

These warnings have been ignored, with the BBC reporting Tuesday that over the weekend minister were involved in discussions with SAGE at which, “The nuclear option of delaying indoor mixing, due to re-start on 17 May, was discussed.” This was rejected outright by ministers.

To save the profits of the corporations, the government is authorising a homicidal opening of the economy, including allowing international travel, while at the same time having to advise against it!

Ministers have been churning out incessant propaganda about the success of its vaccine programme, including encouraging people to plan for holidays abroad this summer. Yet tens of millions of adults are still not fully vaccinated with the required two doses in the UK and the situation is worse still throughout Europe. Reality has intruded with Health Secretary Matt Hancock forced to advise this week that people should not travel for holidays to a list of “amber” countries where there remains a heavy circulation of coronavirus. This includes some of the main holiday destinations for Britons—Greece, Spain and France.

Yet according to the government’s roadmap, no-one is prohibited from visiting any amber country—leading to scenes of packed airports throughout Britain as 150 flights left Monday carrying tens of thousands to amber destinations. At Heathrow Airport, people leaving the UK for amber country holidays were standing in line for up to three hours, with social distancing impossible, alongside arrivals from India. India has been put on a “red” list with UK citizens not allowed to travel there, but people from India can travel to the UK provided they isolate in a government-approved hotel.

Johnson himself has made a number of statements over the last 24 hours explaining that the situation is still dangerous for the public but everything is being re-opened anyway. He said on Sunday, “We have reached another milestone in our road map out of lockdown, but we must take this next step with a heavy dose of caution… I urge everyone to be cautious and take responsibility when enjoying new freedoms today in order to keep the virus at bay.”

Easing restrictions this week went ahead even as the British Medical Association warned Saturday, “It is a real worry that when further measures lift on 17 May, the majority of younger people, who are often highly socially mobile and could therefore be most at risk of a more infectious strain, are not yet vaccinated.”

A growing number of schools have reported outbreaks of Covid with the Indian variant responsible, including in Northampton where B. 1.617.2 and another Indian variant, B.1.617.1, were found. On Tuesday, an outbreak of 17 Covid cases in one class was revealed in Manchester College’s Nicholls campus in the heavily populated Ardwick district. Despite the outbreak the college remains open. Nearly 1,500 students and staff are present. It is not yet confirmed whether the Indian variant is the cause of the outbreak. The college is located on the city’s Hyde Road and a busy bus route. Next door is a large depot of the Stagecoach bus company.

Johnson’s government is reviled the world over as one of the main proponents of the herd immunity policy adopted by the ruling elite that has led to more than 150,000 deaths in Britain and over 3.4 million internationally. But given how dangerous the Indian variant is, particularly for the unvaccinated, his government is not just repeating past crimes but preparing even greater levels of social murder.

Despite the surge of the Indian variant and the real possibility of another devastating wave of death, the government intends to do nothing but continue its reopening agenda, with a plan to carry out a final review on June 11 before all restrictions are lifted 10 days later.

The government is insisting that more data is required to make decisions on whether to restore restrictions or even consider local lockdowns in the most affected areas. Johnson said on Tuesday, “I don’t see anything conclusive at the moment to say that we need to deviate from the roadmap. We’ve got to be cautious and we are keeping everything under very close observation. We’ll know a lot more in a few days’ time.”

Spain deploys army against refugees fleeing across border with Morocco

Alejandro López

Spain’s Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government, backed by the European Union (EU), has reacted to desperate migrants crossing from Morocco into Spain by deploying the army, special forces and antiriot police to round up and expel thousands. It is threatening to use mass violence to prevent new cross-border entries and whipping up tensions with Morocco.

These horrific scenes testify to the barbaric character of the capitalist system. On one side of the Mediterranean, Israel is bombing Gaza’s defenceless population with the support of Washington and the EU, and on the other side, the EU is deploying the brutality of its antimigrant policy. While the full force of the EU’s military is arrayed against the migrants, thousands of them are left to drown in the Mediterranean each year.

Starting in the early morning hours on Monday, hundreds of migrants, mostly young men, adolescents and children and even whole families with babies, began crossing into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, just north of Morocco in Africa. Most swam around the six-metre fence that juts out into the sea or walked across at low tide. Many used inflatable rings and rubber dinghies. By yesterday evening, the number reached 8,000, including 1,500 minors.

The border of Morocco and Spain at the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, May 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Several had to be treated for hypothermia, and at least one person drowned.

Reports indicate that most are from Morocco, where the repercussions of the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a dramatic rise in poverty and unemployment. A third of families have lost their main source of income in the past year.

The PSOE-Podemos government, promoted in the media as having a more “humane” policy towards migrants when it came to power in mid-2018, reacted violently, denouncing these defenceless people as a national security threat.

Referring to Spanish residents of Ceuta, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said his government would respond with “the utmost firmness to ensure their safety and defend their integrity as part of the country in the face of any threat.” Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo called it an “aggression” against the Spanish borders, accusing Morocco of allowing this to happen.

Yesterday, hundreds of soldiers in armoured vehicles were deployed on the beaches. Over 200 antiriot police were mobilised to back the 1,100 police already stationed in Ceuta. Soldiers and police used batons to clear migrants from the beach and threw smoke bombs to discourage others from crossing. The anti-working class unit, the Guardia Civil’s GRS, specialised in suppressing strikes and protests, was also deployed.

Adult migrants found on the street were taken to the Benoliel Stadium and then deported, in violation of international law, with over 4,000 deported to Morocco in 24 hours.

According to El País, the deportations were carried out without any legal formality. The Ceuta Bar Association confirmed that its lawyers had not even been asked to legally assist returnees, as required by law and as often occurs when there are sudden influxes of migrants.

The EU quickly endorsed Spain’s ruthless response. European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas tweeted that the enclave’s frontier was a European border, expressing “full solidarity with Spain” and calling for “strong protection of our borders.”

The Spanish Communist Party, part of the Podemos coalition in government, also supported it, cynically saying: “Spain must defend its sovereignty and compliance with international law against blackmail by Morocco, which does not hesitate to put the lives of thousands of people at risk.”

This was apparently a reference to heightened tensions between Madrid and Rabat over the Western Sahara war between Morocco and the Polisario, the Sahrawi independence movement demanding independence of Western Sahara from Morocco. Earlier this month, Madrid decided to secretly host Brahim Ghali, the leader of the bourgeois nationalist Polisario Front, which is also supported by Algeria. Ghali was hospitalised in northern Spain, after he was infected with COVID-19.

After this news leaked, Moroccan Foreign Minister Naser Burita asked whether Madrid plans to “sacrifice relations with Morocco” by failing to inform Rabat of Ghali’s presence in Spain. “Why doesn’t Spain consider [that] it should have to inform Morocco of the presence of Ghali? Would they rather consort with the enemies of Morocco? This is a test of our relationship,” Burita said. Spanish media are implying that Rabat’s decision to allow migrants to cross over into Spain was its response to these diplomatic tensions.

Whatever the truth of such allegations that the Moroccan monarchy deliberately opened its borders, the true criminals here are the EU and the PSOE-Podemos government. Masses of victims of imperialist wars, fleeing poverty and hunger in countries brutally exploited by transnational corporations, are being hunted by EU security forces and Frontex, the border security agency, and being allowed to die in their thousands at sea. Thousands more are imprisoned in concentration camps in Greece and on Spain’s Canary Islands.

Sánchez’s declaration that he must defend Spain’s territorial integrity against migrants arriving in Ceuta is a barely disguised threat to use deadly force against them. In this, Sánchez is aided by a corrupt media, which is denouncing migrant “caravans” and branding arriving migrants as an “invasion.”

To understand the nature of such threats, one must recall the 2014 infamous Tarajal Massacre, when heavily armed police fired tear gas and rubber bullets on migrants attempting to swim across Ceuta. They left 15 dead, most of them drowning after suffocating on tear gas in the water. Police were subsequently cleared of all charges.

The violence against these migrants is a warning to the working class in Spain, across Europe and internationally. World capitalism faces its deepest social and economic crisis since the 1930s due to the pandemic and mounting working class anger after governments’ calls to “live with the virus” have led to millions of deaths. A government that can so rapidly turn the armed forces against defenceless migrants is preparing to do so at home, as well.

Europe’s far right was quick to seize on the PSOE-Podemos government’s brutal anti-migrant policy to demand similar measures in their own countries. Matteo Salvini, leader of the Italian far-right Lega party, tweeted: “Spain, with a left-wing government, deploys the Army on its border to block illegal entrances. We await news from the Viminale [Interior Ministry].” Salvini suggested that Italy should also deploy the army against migrants.

In France, the leader of the far-right National Rally, Marine Le Pen, blamed the EU for the massive influx of immigrants to Ceuta, saying, “Contrary to the reassuring words of our leaders, the EU is a sieve where everyone enters. This has to stop.” This comes just weeks after she supported fascistic letters signed by 23 retired generals and thousands of active-duty military denouncing Muslims and France’s working class suburbs and pledging to intervene and kill thousands in France.

In Spain, far-right Vox leader Santiago Abascal attacked Sánchez on esRadio for not being violent enough, saying, “There can only be a response of force at this time. You have to send the army but not to watch: to do what is necessary.” Abascal said the migrants “are not refugees, they are soldiers who obey their government,” referring to Morocco.

Such remarks only underscore the reactionary character of the European ruling establishment as a whole. Indeed, the petty-bourgeois pseudo-left Podemos party, after having postured as a “radical democratic” party earlier on after its foundation in 2014, is working with the PSOE to implement an antimigrant policy set by the far right.

Precisely 85 years ago, in 1936, Spanish army units schooled in the use of bloody violence in Morocco launched a coup and a civil war that installed a four-decade fascist dictatorship in Spain under General Francisco Franco. As Spanish officers close to Vox threaten a coup today and denounce strikes demanding a shelter-at-home policy against the coronavirus, urgent warnings are necessary. It is critical to oppose this brutal attack on migrants because history shows this violence is inevitably turned against the workers at home.

Biden, Harris both millionaires, in top one percent of incomes

Patrick Martin

Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are millionaires, whose income places them in the top one percent of the US population, according to tax returns and personal financial statements that were made public on Monday. May 17 was the deadline this year for US taxpayers to file their tax returns.

Both Joe and Jill Biden and Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff had incomes well above the approximately $539,000-a-year that puts a family into the top one percent. The Bidens made $607,336, while Harris and Emhoff reported $1,695,225.

Both the Bidens and Harris and Emhoff filed joint returns and paid tax rates at the standard percentage for their high tax brackets, according to the returns—26 percent for the Bidens, 36.7 percent for Harris and Emhoff.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the East Room of the White House, May 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Biden and his wife Jill Biden reported the adjusted gross income of $607,336 in 2020, when he was running for president and she was a community college professor in Virginia. The bulk of their income came from two S corporations the couple established to hold royalties and fees from various books and speaking engagements.

An S corporation is a legal tax dodge regularly employed by the wealthy to shelter income from taxation. According to one analysis, the two S corporations established by the Bidens—CelticCapri Corp. for him, Giacoppa Corp. for her—reported more than $13 million in profits in 2017 and 2018, and less than $329,000 in profits in 2019 and 2020, when Biden halted most paid speechmaking to focus on his presidential campaign.

The two corporate entities, which had no function except to avoid taxes, particularly the Medicare surtax of 3.8 percent for higher incomes—a provision of the Affordable Care Act—saved the Bidens an estimated $500,000 or more in payments they would otherwise have made to the US Treasury.

The corporations also paid out $1.3 million in “salaries” to the Bidens, their nominal corporate “executives.” This was the bulk of their family income during the period when Biden was out of office, between leaving the vice-presidency in January 2017 and entering the White House in January 2021.

According to the financial disclosure form, CelticCapri Corp. will remain dormant during the Biden administration, continuing to receive any book royalties but no longer paying him a salary as its president. Giacoppa Corp. may continue to pay a salary to the “first lady.”

Biden has proposed closing this “S corporation loophole,” one with which he is certainly familiar, as part of his proposed tax increases on the wealthy.

In their personal financial statement, which is required by law, the Bidens reported total assets of between $1.2 million and nearly $2.9 million. The bulk of this is between $950,000 and $2 million in cash held in a number of bank accounts. They also own a mortgaged home in Wilmington, Delaware, and a $2.7 million beach house on the Atlantic shore, which they bought in 2017, but these are not covered by the disclosure form.

Harris and Emhoff reported an adjusted gross income of $1,695,225 in 2020, most of it from Emhoff’s legal practice. He was a partner at the law firms of DLA Piper and Venable, both in southern California, where he focused on the entertainment industry. Harris reported her Senate salary of about $170,000 and about $360,000 in advances from a publisher for a book she authored as part of her brief presidential campaign.

The couple reported combined assets of between $3 million and $7 million, minus a debt of $2.7 million, largely on mortgages on two homes.

Neither the Bidens nor Harris and Emhoff would place in the top one percent by net worth, where the cutoff is roughly $11 million, although both couples are in the top two percent, where the cutoff is $2.4 million.

Media coverage of the release of this financial information has focused entirely on the contrast between the Bidens and Donald Trump, who refused to release his tax returns throughout his four years in office, the first president in half a century to keep his tax returns secret. The legal battle over subpoenas issued by a House committee continues in the courts, even though Trump’s tax returns were ultimately leaked to the media last year.

There has been little or no commentary about the overriding social and political significance of the figures released by the Bidens and Harris-Emhoff, which confirm the oligarchic character of American politics. No one rises to the highest positions in the capitalist state unless they are part of the financial aristocracy. If they were not originally—Biden never tires of citing his modest origins in the lower-middle-class, and he was long considered the poorest member of the US Senate—they ultimately become so in the course of their careers.

Having one or two million dollars in the bank is, needless to say, a life-changing experience. Neither the Bidens nor Harris and Emhoff ever have to concern themselves with the cost of any item they might want in everyday life, even if, after the debacle of George H. W. Bush not knowing the price of a gallon of milk, they might inform themselves of such facts for political reasons.

The social layer into which they have been incorporated, the top one percent of income “earners,” is not a numerically small one. Given the size of the American population, even one percent of families comes to 1.4 million households. Effectively, all political life, at least as far as the Democratic and Republican parties are concerned, is waged within the confines of no more than the top 10 percent, about 14 million households. These include both the narrow circle of actual decision-makers and the broader layer they seek to influence.

The vast majority of the American population, the working people who face an increasingly difficult struggle to make ends meet, and even to survive at all, are as distant from the Bidens and the social layer to which they belong as they are from the moon. Their only role in capitalist politics is to turn out every two or four years to cast their votes for one or the other of the two corporate-controlled parties who represent the interests of the super-rich.

That is the real nature of American “democracy.”