Facebook’s partnership with the Atlantic Council

Kevin Reed

On May 17, Facebook announced a partnership with the Atlantic Council, the bipartisan think tank that has participated in every political and military crime of US imperialism over the past half-century. In a brief blog post by Katie Harbath, Facebook’s Global Politics and Government Outreach Director explained that the relationship was necessary “to prevent our service from being abused during elections.”

Harbath went on, “We’re more actively working with outside experts, governments and other companies because we know that we can’t solve these challenges on our own. … Today, we’re excited to launch a new partnership with the Atlantic Council, which has a stellar reputation looking at innovative solutions to hard problems.” The other governments and outside experts that Facebook is working with were not mentioned by name.

That Harbath—a former digital strategist for the Republican Party Senatorial Committee—can speak of the Atlantic Council as having a “stellar reputation” dealing with “hard problems” shows that Facebook is being staffed with functionaries of the US political establishment. In reality, the Atlantic Council has a reputation as a clearing house for political and ideological propaganda—including perpetrating and defending election abuse throughout the world—in the service of the strategic interests of American capitalism.

Harbath also wrote that Facebook’s expanding team of security and artificial intelligence experts will be working closely with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRL) “to get Facebook real-time insights and updates on emerging threats and disinformation campaigns from around the world. This will help increase the number of ‘eyes and ears’ we have working to spot potential abuse on our service—enabling us to more effectively identify gaps in our systems, preempt obstacles, and ensure that Facebook plays a positive role during elections all around the world.”

The Atlantic Council’s DFRL is staffed by a team of “disinformation” specialists and former US intelligence establishment technology staffers. Its stated mission, as published on the website digitalsherlocks.com, is: “To identify, expose, and explain disinformation where and when it occurs using open source research; to promote objective truth as a foundation of government for and by people; to protect democratic institutions and norms from those who would seek to undermine them in the digital engagement space.”

Anyone familiar with the history and role of the Atlantic Council knows what this language from the DFRL really means. It has nothing to do with establishing objective truth or protecting the democratic rights of the people. These are the established euphemisms of US imperialism that have been used for decades to cover up CIA-sponsored skullduggery, assassination and political manipulation in every corner of the globe.

While the Facebook announcement last May was either ignored or reported in the capitalist media as a matter of course, this new collaboration of Facebook with the Atlantic Council is a warning: the campaign against “fake news,” “election meddling” and “disinformation” is emerging as the integration of the social media monopolies into the operations of the US state and military-intelligence apparatus.

This integration of the social media platforms into the state has three key objectives:

• to manipulate and influence political outcomes in countries around the world to serve American global interests, including manipulation of elections;

• to gather data on the growth of social opposition and influence of political parties and individuals and to funnel this information into the intelligence establishment

• and to censor political content opposed to the interests of American capitalism, especially socialist, left-wing and anti-war views.

The use of social media by the US government to manipulate elections in other countries was analyzed thoroughly on the World Socialist Web Site last April in the two-part series “US election meddling in the age of the Internet: How Google, Facebook and Twitter are manipulating the Mexican presidential elections.”

Meanwhile, the recent censorship moves by Facebook along with Twitter and Google—the shuttering of accounts, pages, blogs and YouTube channels based on unsubstantiated claims of Iranian and Russian government influence campaigns—is also proof that the transformation of the social media and Internet tech companies into an arm of the state is well underway.

The record of the Atlantic Council

A review of the Atlantic Council, an organization that has largely escaped public scrutiny, and its 57-year record shows that it is a pioneer in developing and peddling the criminal operations of the US State Department and the Pentagon as furthering “democracy” and “human rights” around the world. It is also a training ground and revolving door for people in the foreign policy and intelligence establishment in Washington, D.C. as well as a conduit for former Pentagon brass into civilian business and government roles.

The current, honorary and lifetime Atlantic Council directors list reads like a bipartisan rogues gallery of American war-criminals, including Henry Kissinger, George P. Shultz, Frank Carlucci, James A. Baker, R. James Woosley, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Robert Gates and Leon Panetta. Among the former Atlantic Council chairman have been Obama administration officials James L. Jones, (national security advisor) and Chuck Hagel (secretary of state). The chairman of the council is Brent Scowcroft, the retired US Air Force officer who held national security and intelligence positions in the Nixon, Bush I and Bush II administrations.

The Atlantic Council is funded by substantial government and corporate interests from the financial, defense and petroleum industries. Its 2017 annual report documents substantial contributions from HSBC, Chevron, The Blackstone Group, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Ford Motor Company, among many others. Also listed is Google Inc. in the $100,000 to $250,000 donor category. Among the largest council contributors are the US State Department, The Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the UK, and the United Arab Emirates. Other contributors include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Boeing, BP, Exxon and the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

The Atlantic Council of the United States was founded in 1961 as a think tank and anticommunist public relations organization to prop up support within the US for NATO in the post-World War II era. It was established by Cold War former State Department leaders such as Dean Acheson and Christian Herter, along with other prominent political and business figures, as a coalition of non-government organizations who were concerned that the NATO alliance was fragmenting.

In its early activities, the council published books and journals and developed propaganda, including TV commercials starring the actor and comedian Bob Hope, to promote public support for American and European political and military cooperation against the USSR. With its founding focus on Europe and the postwar conflict with the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries, the Atlantic Council became involved in the intrigue and maneuvering of US foreign policy during the social unrest and political crisis around the world in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The council played a direct role in the response of the US government to the resignation of Charles de Gaulle in France and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Throughout the Johnson and Nixon administrations, the council supported the US war in Vietnam.

In the aftermath of Vietnam, the Atlantic Council continued to play a role in the foreign policy of both the Carter and Reagan administrations. Its program and influence were rooted in the US drive for hegemonic control of the world’s petroleum and energy resources and markets. The council’s emphasis was shifted toward Asia, the Middle East and Latin America and the cover-up of black-ops and other illegal covert US military operations such as the Iran-Contra money-for-arms deal in the 1980s.

With the dissolution of the USSR and the restoration of capitalism in the former Eastern Bloc countries, the strategic orientation of the Atlantic Council shifted further as the machine of US imperialism began its now more than 25 years of unending wars in the Middle East and North Africa. During this timeframe the council opened special centers devoted to US policy in the Middle East, Latin America, Eurasia, Europe, South Asia and Africa.

It is difficult to find information about the Atlantic Council and its activities online, except for what the organization itself publishes. In 2014, the New York Times reported that Fed Ex, after it made a donation to the Atlantic Council, had worked with the organization to push a treaty through the European American Chamber of Commerce to reduce transatlantic tariffs and allow more duty-free shipments.

A review of the papers and documents from these centers on the Atlantic Council website, as well as the individuals responsible and the countries under “study,” reveals a comprehensive list of foreign meddling, manipulation and mayhem by the United States over the recent decades. One can find on the council’s website links to initiatives such as “Emerging Leaders of Pakistan,” “Ukraine in Europe,” “Eurasian Energy Futures,” “Afghanistan Rising” and “Rebuilding Syria.”

A search of the site for the phrase “human rights” yields dozens of papers, speeches and reports dating back to 2015 on Iran, Russia, Syria, Turkey and other countries in Africa and the Middle East. Additionally, one can find articles devoted to human rights and identity politics from the standpoint of feminism and LGBT rights, especially during the final years of the Obama administration.

The Atlantic Council has a long record of posturing as a defender of “democracy” and “human rights” when it corresponds to the needs of US imperialism. The coordination of Facebook’s safety and security operations with the Atlantic Council’s Digital and Forensic Research Lab represents a new stage in the development of Internet censorship and political manipulation against left-wing and socialist views that has been underway for more than a year, as documented by the World Socialist Web Site .

There can be no illusions that this partnership is anything other than the expansion of the “eyes and ears” of the state into the ideas and activities of individuals and organizations both inside and outside the US, especially those that oppose the strategic interests of American imperialism. This, of course, includes the activities of workers and youth who organize and communicate on Facebook to express their views and take action to fight the conditions inside their workplaces and neighborhoods. New forms of social media cooperation and communication, which are secure, encrypted and free from the state, must be developed and adopted in order for workers to fight the capitalist system and for socialism in a coordinated international struggle.

Mass social unrest leaves Iraq’s oil capital in flames

Bill Van Auken

Iraq’s southern city of Basra, the country’s oil capital and center of its Shia majority, has seen mass protests that have left many of the buildings housing offices of the government, the main political parties, Shia militias and even the Iranian consulate in flames.

Iraqi security officials announced a curfew Friday across this city of 2 million, warning that anyone found in the streets would be arrested. An earlier attempt to impose such a curfew was rescinded after crowds defied the government and set up blockades across the Basra-Baghdad highway and the main port of Umm Qasr on the Persian Gulf, through which flow both Iraqi oil exports and food supplies as well as other goods imported into the country.

At least a dozen protesters have been killed in the course of the demonstrations, many of them victims of live fire by security forces. One demonstrator died Thursday night after being shot in the head with a teargas cannister.

Hundreds have been arrested, with reports that detainees have been routinely tortured. Two lawyers who came forward to represent the arrested demonstrators were assassinated.

Among the buildings torched by demonstrators were the offices of the state-run Iraqiya TV, the headquarters of the ruling Dawa Party, the Supreme Islamic Council and the Badr Organization, all of whose leaders are in Baghdad conducting corrupt, but so-far unsuccessful, attempts to cobble together a new ruling coalition government.

Protesters set fire to the offices of the Shia armed militia, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, as well as those of the Hikma Movement. They also stormed the house of the acting head of the provincial council.

The attack on the Iranian consulate stemmed at least in part from the fact that Iran cut off electricity supplies to the region after the Iraqi government failed to pay for them. The Iranian government has also been identified with the leading Shia parties that have dominated the regime in Baghdad, and the Iranian media had denounced earlier protests as the work of “infiltrators,” much as it had reacted to similar protests in Iran itself.

Angry and bloody protests have gripped the region since July. Thousands have poured into the streets to protest conditions of mass unemployment, desperate poverty and the breakdown of essential infrastructure. The water system has failed to provide potable water to the population, sending as many as 30,000 people to the hospital with bacterial infections. The electrical system has been subject to 10-hour blackouts under conditions of an unprecedented heat wave, with temperatures climbing to 50 degrees centigrade. Health officials have warned that the city faces an imminent threat of a cholera epidemic.

Anger has only intensified amid reports of resurgent oil production, which is centered in the province of Basra. August recorded the extraction of 4 million barrels a day, yielding hefty profits for the foreign companies that operate the fields—including US-based Exxon and the Russian energy firm Lukoil—as well as $7.7 billion that month alone for the government’s coffers. While enriching a thin layer of Iraqi businessmen and politicians, none of this money has been invested in improving the conditions of life for the working class in Basra or any other part of the country.

The areas of the mass protests were largely unaffected by the brutal military campaign waged against ISIS, with US airstrikes reducing much of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, to rubble and leaving tens of thousands dead and wounded. Many of the militia members who went to fight ISIS, however, came from Basra, with many losing their lives. This has not stopped crowds from burning down Shia militia headquarters, in a clear indication that the class issues are overriding the sectarian divisions nurtured by the former US occupation to advance its aim of divide and conquer, continued by the Iraqi ruling establishment to cement its domination.

The deep concerns within Iraq’s ruling layers over the events in Basra found expression Friday in a statement by the country’s senior Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who delivered an “even-handed” sermon calling for a change in the methods of the government and an end to violence by protesters.

“The failings of Iraqi political leaders in recent years have caused the anger of people in Basra,” Sistani said. “This reality cannot change if the next government is formed according to the same criteria adopted when forming previous governments. Pressure must be exerted for the new government to be different from its predecessors.”

There is no indication that any such change will take place within the confines of exiting Iraqi politics. The Iraqi parliament suspended its session September 4 amid an apparent stalemate over determining which of two rival coalitions the majority needed to form a new government. In the face of the eruptions in Basra, the parliament was called back into session Saturday.

Had the events in Basra taken place in Iran, one can be assured that they would have been afforded front-page coverage in every major newspaper in the United States and would have led the evening news.

Instead, however, the US media is maintaining close to a universal silence over the upheavals, as Washington is intervening directly in Iraqi politics in an attempt to secure a second term for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

The US special envoy to the so-called anti-ISIS coalition, Brett McGurk, has been flown into both the Iraqi Kurdish capital of Erbil and Baghdad in what is universally recognized as an attempt by Washington to cobble together a majority needed to keep Abadi in power.

Abadi—whose “Victory” electoral coalition came in third in the May election—depends for his dominance over the parliament on an alliance with the populist Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose list of candidates placed first. Al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army once fought against US occupation troops, but he has long since made his peace with the American Embassy.

Washington views the Abadi-Sadr alliance as the lesser of two evils compared to the electoral group that placed second in the May election, led by Hadi al-Amiri, the former leader of the Badr Brigades, one of the prominent Shia militias with close ties to Iran. Al-Amiri is allied with former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his State of Law coalition. In 2006, al-Maliki was installed under the US occupation as prime minister, having been vetted by the CIA as the preferred candidate.

McGurk’s mission to Iraq was apparently aimed at swinging the support of minority Kurdish and Sunni factions behind the Abadi-Sadr coalition.

Whichever bloc prevails, the Iraqi ruling establishment will find itself in the maelstrom of Washington’s drive toward war with Iran. Baghdad shares close political relations with Iran, and Iraq’s economy is heavily reliant upon trade links that are in direct conflict with the Trump administration’s sweeping sanctions.

Neither of these two contenders for power will do anything to alter the corrupt political system of sectarian politics and massive bribery and kickbacks that has been in place since the US invaded Iraq and decimated its society.

“The whole system is rotten and has to be toppled,” Haitham, an Iraqi soldier from Basra who has joined the demonstrations, told the British daily Guardian. “We are peaceful, but each of us sits on a warehouse of weapons. In 15 years [since the US invasion] 1 million Iraqis have been martyred. Had we held demonstrations early on and lost a thousand people we would be in a better place now.”

The emergence of a mass working class upheaval among the Shia population of Basra against the bourgeois Shia parties and militias that have dominated the political life of the country since the end of the US occupation threatens to unleash a revolutionary explosion that can spread beyond Iraq’s borders.

A record $31.5 trillion hoarded by corporate oligarchs

Eric London

According to the Wealth-X World Ultra Wealth Report 2018, 255,810 “ultra high net worth” (UHNW) individuals with a minimum $30 million in wealth now collectively own $31.5 trillion, an increase of 16.3 percent between 2016 and 2017.

In other words, a group of oligarchs equal in number to the population of Plano, Texas or Nottingham, England own more than the poorest 80 percent of the world—some 5.6 billion people.

The figures of wealth concentration are hard to fathom:

* In North America, the total number of UHNW individuals rose 9.5 percent to 90,440 and their wealth rose 13.1 percent to $11 trillion.

* In Europe, the UHNW population rose 12.8 percent to 72,570, with a total wealth of $8.8 trillion, up 13.5 percent.

* In Asia, there were 68,970 UHNW individuals in 2017, an 18.5 percent increase from 2016. Their wealth shot up 26.7 percent during this period to $8.4 trillion.

* By 2022, the UHNW population is expected to increase to 360,390 people, whose combined wealth “is projected to rise to $44.3 trillion, implying an additional $12.8 trillion of newly created wealth over the next five years.”

* Those 22.3 million people with a net worth over $1 million own a combined $91.7 trillion, almost triple the combined wealth of the poorest 90 percent of the world’s population.

The Wealth X report makes clear that the rise in wealth concentration is the product of deliberate policies enacted by governments all over the world. It credits loose monetary policy—market liberalization in China, tax reform and corporate deregulation in India, and massive tax cuts for the wealthy in the US—that the report notes were “aimed squarely at providing generous exemptions to corporations and the ultra wealthy.”

In Volume 1 of Capital, Karl Marx, the founder of scientific socialism, wrote: “Accumulation of wealth at one pole is, therefore, at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the opposite pole.”

Under capitalism, the wealth of the super-rich comes from the exploitation of the international working class.

* Half the world lacks access to healthcare and 100 million people are forced into extreme poverty each year due to healthcare expenses (World Health Organization, 2017).

* 1.2 billion people lack access to electricity (Rockefeller Foundation, 2017).

* 2 billion people use a drinking water source that is contaminated with feces (World Health Organization, 2018).

* 8.6 million people die each year from lack of healthcare or poor quality healthcare ( The Lancet, 2018).

* 750 million adults do not know how to read or write (UNESCO, 2017).

* By 2020, 1.6 billion people will lack access to secure, adequate housing (World Resources Institute, 2017).

* 50.5 million children under the age of 5 are “wasting” due to malnutrition (World Bank, 2018).

* 850 million people suffer from “chronic undernourishment” (UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 2016).

* 4 billion people do not have internet access (UNESCO, 2017).

Even in the most advanced countries of Europe and North America, the working class faces increasingly precarious conditions dominated by declining life expectancy, greater incidences of suicide and drug/alcohol abuse, growing student debt, declining wages and cuts to social programs. In the United States, home to roughly one third of the world’s ultra-wealthy individuals, some 69 percent of people have less than $1,000 in total savings.

The international working class has no representation in any government or any capitalist political party, and the political establishment is dominated by the super-rich. The billionaire and multimillionaire “ultra-high net worth” individuals deliberate and reach decisions regarding state policy and the distribution of resources entirely behind the backs of the population.

All the official and semi-official institutions of government, including academia, the corporate media, and the trade unions, are subordinated to the interests of the modern aristocracy and serve to constrain and block the development of a unified movement of the working class for social equality. As inequality grows, the ruling elite are preparing for the threat of social revolution by rescinding basic democratic rights, censoring the internet, establishing permanent states of emergency, and elevating extreme-right-wing and neo-fascistic parties to poison the airwaves with racism, xenophobia and nationalism.

However, the working class is not only an oppressed class, it is also a powerful revolutionary social force.

Advances in technology, communications and transportation have led to a significant expansion of the numeric size of the international working class. Over the last 50 years, countries like India, China, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Turkey, Iran and many more have been transformed from countries with relatively small working-class populations to massive centers of industrial output involving tens of millions or billions of workers.

At the same time, globalization has linked workers in all corners of the world together in the process of production. The internet has made it possible for workers to communicate and strategize with one another across workplaces and national borders. The democratic and revolutionary potential of the internet has made it a target of censorship by the ruling class around the world, led by the efforts by US-based corporations Google, Facebook and Twitter to downgrade and hide left-wing websites like the World Socialist Web Site .

The Wealth X report points to the immense revolutionary potential in the present situation. As Friedrich Engels wrote in Anti-Duhring :

“The growing perception that existing social institutions are unreasonable and unjust, that reason has become unreason, and right wrong, is only proof that in the modes of production and exchange changes have silently taken place with which the social order, adapted to earlier economic conditions, is no longer in keeping. From this it also follows that the means of getting rid of the incongruities that have been brought to light must also be present, in a more or less developed condition, within the changed modes of production themselves.”

The Wealth X report confirms that the resources for the transformation of the planet on an egalitarian basis already exist.

The Socialist Equality Party calls for the trillions hoarded by the super-rich to be confiscated by the masses of people and allocated to meet the basic needs of the world population. The massive corporations whose exploitative operations touch every country must be seized and transformed into public utilities run democratically by the workers themselves.

No aristocracy has ever given up power simply because their existence is a brake on the development of the productive forces. To free up the tens of trillions of dollars needed to meet the needs of the world population requires a socialist revolution.

Quebec Government Research Internship for International Students 2019 – Canada

Application Deadline: 1st March, 2019 11:59 PM
The internship must start no later than March 31, 2019.

Eligible Countries: All

To be taken at (country): Quebec, Canada

About the Award: The FRQNT’s (Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies) international internship aims to foster international mobility of students whose research activities are part of the scientific program of a strategic cluster funded by the FRQNT.
The internship is a supplementary tool available to a strategic cluster to strengthen its position at the international level through research projects and partnerships that have already been established or which are under development.
The proposed research outlined in the application as part of the internship must be part of the scientific program of the strategic cluster.

Type: Research, Internship

Eligibility: 

• All of the strategic clusters supported by the FRQNT may submit an application to this program.
• The applicant proposed by the strategic cluster must meet all of the eligibility requirements listed here after.
• The applicant must have the valid study permits or visa for the entire duration of the internship;\
• The applicant can’t be enrolled in a co-degree from more than one institution including a Québec university. For the students enrolled in a co-degree see the rules of the Frontenac program.
• Students who are jointly supervised by a researcher in a foreign university (co-degree) are not eligible to apply for an international internship scholarship to visit one of their home universities.

Selection Criteria: 

• The academic excellence and research aptitude of the candidate: 50 points
• The correspondence of the internship with the scientific program of the cluster’s: 25 points
• The insertion of the internship in international action of the strategic cluster: 25 points

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Internship: The scholarship for internship is of a maximum value of $15,000. However, the FRQNT will allow no more than the equivalent of $2,500/month in living expenses and will permit internship expenses (ex.: airfare, room rental agreement, etc.) to be covered by the strategic cluster.

Duration of Internship: The internship must be of a minimum duration of 2 months and a maximum of 6 months.

How to Apply: 

• Candidates interested within this program must file their application within their strategic cluster (see list on FRQNT’s Web Site) Validate the list of documents required for this application with the specific strategic cluster.
• The strategic clusters which recommend a candidate must fill the specific form available on FRQNT’s Web site as well as transmit it electronically. The form includes the complete addresses of the student, the academic supervisor, and the internship supervisor. A brief description of the nature of the internship is also required.
• The strategic clusters must also submit the selection committee report that states the results for each of the three criteria in effect, the assessment process and the names of the committee members.
• The strategic clusters must also send in the electronic form, a letter signed by the supervisor of the student specifying the start and end dates of the internship.
• Any internship application must be filed by the strategic cluster and approved by the FRQNT before the leaving of the trainee.

Visit Internship Webpage for details

Award Provider: FRQNT’s (Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies)

Important Notes: All projects involving human subjects or biological materials (body parts, products, tissues, cells or genetic material from a human body, of a person living or dead) or administrative, scientific or descriptive data from human subjects, require the approval of the research ethics board of the principal applicant’s institution (Common General Rules , article 5.3). Furthermore, if applicable, researchers must report any environmental impacts of their research and employ reasonable efforts to minimize them. To this end, they must obtain the required authorization and permit before the start of the project.

World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2019

Application Deadline: 14th November 2018

Eligible Countries: All

About the Award: WTTC’s Tourism for Tomorrow (T4T) Awards are the world’s top accolade in sustainable tourism; they recognise the highest ethical standards in the sector and are respected by industry leaders, governments and international media alike. The Awards are aimed at recognising best practice in sustainable tourism within the industry globally, based upon the principles of environmentally friendly operations; support for the protection of cultural and natural heritage; and direct benefits to the social and economic well-being of local people in travel destinations around the world.
Candidates can apply in one of the five categories: Social Impact, Destination Stewardship, Climate Action, Changemakers or Investing in People. Judging process is based on three-steps: Finalist Selection, On-Site Visit by an expert and Winner Selection. An international team of 18-20 judges, representing a wide range of professional backgrounds and expertise in Travel & Tourism, first choose three finalists in each category to later decide on the winners

Type: Contest

Eligibility: 

• There is no charge to enter the WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow Awards
• All applications must be in ENGLISH
• All companies/organisations must have been in operation for at least THREE full years and the sustainable tourism project/initiative submitted for consideration must be in operation for at least ONE full year. There is no minimum length of time for applicants to have been in operation who are applying to the Innovation category.
• Only complete entries will be considered
• Companies/organisations may only submit ONE entry in any given year
• Entries must be for ONE category only
• Applications must provide full contact details for two independent references not directly associated with the business or project. References for all applicants may be contacted.
• During the 2nd judging phase, finalists will be visited by on-site evaluators. WTTC will cover the evaluator’s expenses; however, any assistance in facilitating the on-site visit and hosting would be appreciated
• Applicants should contact WTTC in regards to any questions they may have about the judging process
• The Award applicants may not contact any individual members of the judging panel prior to the Awards ceremony without the approval of the Lead Judge.
• Finalists will be asked to provide supporting materials including photos, videos, newspaper articles, brochures for marketing purposes. Do not include such supporting materials with your application
• Previous winners and finalists may reapply in any category but must clearly demonstrate sustainable tourism initiatives that are new, and expand above and beyond what they have been previously recognised for by the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards
• Finalists and winners of the Awards may not disclose any of the judging material developed by a member of the judging panel throughout the judging process to the general public, including media, industry partners and associates, without prior consent from WTTC.
• By applying for the WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, the applicant agrees that in the case of being selected a finalist of the 2018 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, a company representative of appropriate level will attend the Awards ceremony.

Value of Award: Entering the Awards could earn your business the real credit it deserves. Becoming a finalist means:

• corporate endorsement by a panel of internationally acclaimed experts in sustainable tourism
• an invitation to the grand awards ceremony at the 19th WTTC Global Summit in Seville, Spain 3-4 April 2019
• complimentary flights and accommodation to the ceremony in Seville
• outstanding international Media exposure
• the opportunity to network with the leaders of the Travel & Tourism sector

Duration of Program:  In 2019, this will be held on 3-4 April

How to Apply: Apply here
Before applying, It is important to go through the Rules and guidelines, Tips for applying as awell as the FAQ

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

Nuffic Fellowships at the Hague Academy for Local Governance 2019

Application Deadline: 18th October 2018.

Offered annually? Yes

To be taken at (country): The Netherlands

About the Award: The Netherlands organisation for international cooperation in higher education (EP-NUFFIC) offers fellowships to participate in training courses in The Netherlands. The aim is to promote capacity building within organisations in eligible countries via training and education for professionals. This is initiated and (almost) fully funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the budget for development cooperation.

• The Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) offers scholarships to participants living and working in one of the following 30 eligible countries (See list n Program Webpage link below).
• The MENA Scholarship Programme (MSP) aims to contribute to the democratic transition in one of the 10 participating countries (See list n Program Webpage link below) in the Middle East and North Africa region. It seeks to build capacity within organisations by enabling employees to take part in short courses offered in various fields of study.

As a result of the changes, The Hague Academy is now accepting Nuffic applicants to the following four open-subscription courses in 2019. The deadline for Nuffic applications is 18 October 2018.

• Inclusive Service Delivery & the SDGs (18 – 29 March 2019)
  Local public services such as waste management, water access, and social services have a huge impact on our daily lives and well-being. This course discusses how different levels of government can cooperate effectively and involve citizens and the private sector to promote pro-poor local service delivery.
• Citizen Participation and Inclusive Governance (8 – 19 April 2019)In this training course, participants will discuss ways to involve citizens – especially minorities and marginalised groups – to create a culture of inclusive governance.
• Integrity and Anti-Corruption (17 – 28 June 2019)This course will help you to understand the drivers of corruption. You will strengthen your analytical skills and learn about the instruments necessary to develop integrity and anti-corruption policies and programmes in line with recent international initiatives, legislation and agreements.

Type: Fellowship, Short courses

Eligibility: In order to qualify for a NFP Scholarship, you need to meet the following selection criteria. You must:

• be a national of, and working and living in one of the countries on the following
  NFP country list (in link below);
• not be employed by an organisation that has its own means of staff-development, for example:
  • multinational corporations (e.g. Shell, Unilever, Microsoft),
  • large national and/or a large commercial organisations,
  • bilateral donor organisations (e.g. USAID, DFID, Danida, Sida, Dutch ministry of Foreign affairs, FinAid, AusAid, ADC, SwissAid),
  • multilateral donor organisations, (e.g. a UN organization, the World Bank, the IMF, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, IADB),
  • international NGO’s (e.g. Oxfam, Plan, Care);
• must have an official passport that will still be valid for at least three months after completion of the training;
• must not receive more than one fellowship for courses that take place at the same time;
• English Language skills: The short courses are taught in English. Therefore, it is important that your English language skills (writing and speaking) are good.
• Work experience: Minimum of 2 years of experience required, working with or for local or regional authorities. It is to your advantage if the work/experience is related to the content of the training.

To be eligible for a MSP Scholarship you must meet some of the selection criteria mentioned above. Furthermore you must:

• be a national of, and working and living in one of the countries on the following MSP country list  valid at the time of application;
• have an official passport that will still be valid at least three months after completion of the training;
• not be over 45 years of age at the time of the grant submission

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Scholarship: The Nuffic Fellowship programmes covers cost of tuition fee, travel costs, accommodation and living expenses in The Netherlands.

How to Apply: To apply for a fellowship, You will have to answer the following 3 questions to support your application:

• Question 1: What is the issue or problem you want to address in your country?
• Question 2. How will this training course enable you to address this issue?
• Question 3. How will you address this issue with your position within your organisation?

It is very important to go therough the Application Guidelines before applying.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: The Hague, The Netherlands

Important Notes: You can only apply for one Fellowship per deadline.

Adobe Research Fellowship for Graduate Students in STEM Fields 2019

Application Deadline: 28th September 2018 at 5pm Pacific Time

About the Award: This year, Adobe will be awarding fellowships to graduate students working in the areas of computer graphics, computer vision, human-computer interaction, machine learning, visualization, audio, natural language processing, and programming languages.

Type: Fellowship, Research

Eligibility: In order to be considered for the 2019 Adobe Research Fellowship, students must meet the following criteria:

• Be registered as a full-time graduate student at a university.
• Remain an active, full-time student in a PhD program for the full duration of 20189 or forfeit the award.
• Cannot have a close relative working for Adobe Research.

Selection Criteria: Recipients are selected based on their research (creative, impactful, important, and realistic in scope), how their work would contribute to Adobe, their technical skills (ability to build complex computer programs), and their personal skills (problem-solving ability, communication, leadership, organizational skills, ability to work in teams).

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: The Adobe Research Fellowship consists of:

• A $10,000 award paid once.
• A Creative Cloud subscription membership for one year.
• An Adobe Research mentor.
• An internship at Adobe for the 2019 summer.

Duration of Program:

How to Apply: Applications must include:

• A research overview comprising two pages of text and figures not including citations. At least half a page should highlight how the student’s research could contribute to Adobe.
• Three letters of recommendation from those familiar with the students work. One letter should come from the student’s advisor.
• A CV.
• A transcript of current and previous academic records both undergraduate and graduate.

 Click here to begin.

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Adobe

AU-EU Youth Cooperation Hub Fellowship Programme for Young Africans

Application Deadline: 17th September 2018 (1:00 pm CEST)

Eligible Countries: African countries

About the Award: The AU-EU Youth Cooperation Hub will enable 42 selected young Africans, Europeans and Diaspora to work with the African Union, the European Union and other relevant stakeholders in developing new approaches, defining the scope of pilot projects and monitoring their implementation in six areas:

• Business, Job Creation & Entrepreneurship
• Culture, Sports & Arts
• Education and Skills
• Environmental Preservation and Climate Change
• Governance, Political Inclusion & Activism

For the first time the youth are not only being heard but also asked to contribute to the guidelines for projects focusing on some of the most important issues concerning both the European Union and the African Union.
As a Youth Fellow, you will advise international experts and institutions on the preparation of the Youth Innovation Fund, a call for proposal for funds totalling 10 Million Euros.
By joining the AU-EU Youth Cooperation Hub, you will contribute to making youth solutions a reality, piloting projects in six sectors!

Type: Training, Fellowship

Eligibility: Any person between the ages of 18-35, African, European or Diaspora, interested in Africa-EU cooperation as well as knowledgeable in one of the six areas.
As a Youth applicant, you must meet the following criteria:

• Be a citizen of an African Union or European Union Member State
• Aged 18-35 upon applying
• Proven knowledge, practical experience and demonstrated impact in one of the six thematic areas
• Additional knowledge/experience of minimum one of three cross-cutting thematic areas is desirable: Gender, Migration, and/or Digitalisation
• Interest in and knowledge of Africa-EU relations
• Experience in working in international and multicultural teams is desirable
• Ability to work effectively in either English or French, and possessing an adequate understanding of the other language
• Writing skills and public speaking skills are desirable.

Number of Award: 42

Value of Award: 

• Selected Youth Fellows will be divided into clusters, 7 Youth Fellows per cluster.
• Youth Fellows, with the guidance of the experts, will work together using a virtual platform and be expected to produce regular deliverables linked to their cluster topic.
• The 42 Youth Fellows will meet and spend 10 days in Addis Ababa (27 October to 4 November) for a first consultative meeting, in partnership with GIZ.
• Possible field visits will take place twice a year (2019 & 2020).
• Flights, accommodation, meals and local travel expenses are covered

Duration of programme: From October 2018 until the 6^th AU-EU Summit in 2020.

How to Apply: Apply here

Visit programme webpage for details

The Hypocrisy of British Attitudes to Immigration

Faisal Khan

The above doesn’t, of course, apply to all British people just some (perhaps many) and it certainly appears to be a prevalent attitude. My father came to Britain in 1963 and I at age four: I’m not sure if that makes me an immigrant as I was naturalised, but it definitely makes me of immigrant heritage. As long as I can remember (I’m 42 now), I’ve witnessed ‘immigrant bashing’ in this country whether proverbially or even at times literally. It seems to be a favourite pet topic of populist politicians and a source of constant complaint. Immigrants are often otherised, vilified, demonised and horribly mistreated.

Immigrants are blamed for much that is wrong with British society; they are accused of taking ‘our jobs’ but also ‘our benefits’ (so which one is it?), for crime, for anti-social behaviour and even accused of being rapists. Some complain less about white immigrants from places like New Zealand, South Africa and Australia (of which there are significant numbers) and more of immigration from places like Africa and South Asia (so what is the real issue?). Such attitudes are deeply unfair, lacking balance, ahistorical and replete with double standards.

It may not occur to some but Empire of the kind we the British had (spanning a quarter of the World at its peak) was a form of immigration. British emigration to places like New Zealand and Australia changed the faces of these countries forever. In India, for instance, our rule lasted circa 200 years; a time in which we carried out a proverbial ‘rape’ of India. India’s share of the World economy when we arrived was 23% by the time we left it was 3%.  During our time there we literally looted India (loot being a Hindi word). Local industries were destroyed, onerous taxes were deducted (and sent back to Britain), massacres were committed, and many millions died in preventable famines. Moreover, so that we could ‘divide and rule’ we solidified and exacerbated religious and caste differences resulting ultimately in the partition of the subcontinent at our departure. There was a similar story in other parts of the World.

Christopher Columbus’s voyage (or migration) to the America’s led to local people being exposed to European diseases like the ‘flu’ and chicken pox wiping out large swathes of natives. There was a similar story with British and European migration to what is the now the United States, with native tribes being wiped out; with many now confined to reservations and facing deplorable discrimination. The British imprint is all over Hong Kong: even today many British people are living and working in Hong Kong with English being widely spoken.

On the back of Empire and the English language, a similar pattern of British emigration (if less brutal) is still visible today. There are British people literally living and working in almost every country on the planet, but of course, we prefer to refer to ourselves as ‘expats’.  Approximately 5.5 million Brits (nearly 1 in 10) live abroad permanently with at one point circa 2000 leaving every week. Preferred destinations are places like Australia (with approx 1.3 million British migrants) the US (750,000), Canada (700,000) and New Zealand (315,000).

There are some 750,000 Brits in Spain where we have effectively colonised some of the ‘Costas’; British style greasy spoons, pubs and clubs are ubiquitous with barely a local to be seen and not a word of Spanish heard. There are also significant numbers of long-term British immigrants in places like Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Caribbean and more. This doesn’t include holidaymakers or those migrating temporarily. It’s a safe assumption that in many cases little effort is made to learn the local language or even to integrate.

When net migration is considered (that is the people emigrating versus those immigrating) while there are indeed more who come to Britain than leave, the numbers don’t suggest we are being ‘swamped’ by migrants. Further much of the migration is short-term (for work and study) whereas British emigration is often long-term. The idea that immigrants come to Britain to claim benefits also doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. According to a study by the UCL, in the ten years between 2006-2016 immigrants made a net contribution of 20 billion pounds to the UK and in fact, many are barred from several types of benefits until they attain permanent residency.

The link between immigration and crime isn’t supported by the evidence either. A 2013 report by the LSE concluded that there was ‘no causal impact of immigration on crime…contrary to the ‘immigration causes crime’ populist view expressed in some media and political debate’. A 2008 report by the Association of Chief Police Officers found that national crime rates had continued to fall despite rising net migration over a number of years.

Many immigrants also contribute positively to British society. For long immigrants, particularly those who arrived in large numbers in the 1960’s came here to do the jobs that White British people didn’t want to do: but needed doing. In fact, this country has become heavily dependent on immigrant Labour a fact even acknowledged by the former Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson when he opined ‘London would fall like Sparta’ without migrants.

A third of all doctors practising in the UK are of immigrant heritage; of which the vast majority are from India (Brits of India origin make up circa 1% of the population).  At one point the richest man in Britain (Lakshmi Mittal) was an immigrant from India. Immigrants or those of immigrant heritage contribute in every area of British society: the economy, culture, the arts, sport. People like Anthony Joshua, Amir Khan, Idris Elba, Sadiq Khan, Mo Farah being only a small number amongst many who have excelled in their respective fields.

An elderly gentleman who grew up in the 1950’s reminded me recently that the average British High Street was a pretty bland place back then especially as far as food was concerned. It was only with mass migration in the 1960’s that food from different parts of the world became available in this country. Curry-a perfect accompaniment to beer-has unofficially become the national dish in this country. It might be wise to remember some of this when we next sit down for a Chinese takeaway and complain about those ‘bloody immigrants’.

Agriculture Sector and Farmers ruined by Modi Government in India

Rahul Kumar

India`s agriculture sector is under deep threat. Farmers are observed protesting almost in every state of the country struggling for their genuine demands of Minimum Support Price (MSP).  The farmers are being compelled to sell almost all their produce at prices much below MSP and the Modi Government is a mute spectator. The poor farmers are committing suicide. On the other hand, the rich, affluent, big farmers are getting richer day by day since they enjoy good rapport with the corrupt politicians of the country who support them to get Bank loans which later on siphoned off by them.

Under the NITI AAYOG, the policies so far formulated by the bootlicker economists are anti-farmers. The people who are in the Advisory Board of the NITI AAYOG are simply carrier-oriented and mostly work for their own socio-economic upliftment. Modi, of course, is playing in their hands and is unable to understand who is doing what and why. Writing a letter to Ex-RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan who was insulted and humiliated by Bhartiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy by alleging that ‘he is mentally not fully Indian’ and has “willfully” wrecked the economy’.  It is the same Subramanian Swamy who shot a letter to Prime Minister Modi to sack Rajan.  Shame on the BJP government when the same Ex RBI Governor was invited to advise on the economic policies of the country.

Agri-Food Production Data – Production in Stages in Million Tones/L. Bales

Name of Crop	HD Deve Gowda 1996-97	AB Vajpayee 2003-04	Dr. Manmohan Singh 2013-14	Narendra Modi 2015-16
Food-Grains	199.34	213.19	265.04	252.22
Rice	81.73	88.53	106.65	104.32
Wheat	69.35	72.16	95.85	93.50
C. Cereals	34.11	37.60	43.29	37.94
Pulses	14.15	14.91	19.25	16.47
Nine Oilseeds	24.38	25.19	32.75	25.30
Cotton	14.23	13.73	35.90	30.15
Sugarcane	277.56	233.86	352.14	352.16
Milk	69.1	88.1	137.7	155.5
Egg	27.5b	40.4b	74.8b	82.9b
Fish	5.348	6.399	9.572	10.796
Net Irrigation	55.11 mhac	57.06 mhac	68.10 mhac	NA
Gross Irrigation	76.03 mhac	78.04 mhac	95.77 mhac	NA
FERTILIZER	14.308	16.799	28.122*	26.752
ELECTRICITY	84.019 BU	87.089 BU	152.744 BU	168.913
TRACTORS	NA	248,000**	697,000	571,000
TILLERS	NA	17,000	56,000	49,000

*in FY2011 **2004-05 Figure

Source: Agriculture Statistics at a Glance 2016, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, available at https://eands.dacnet.nic.in/PDF/Glance-2016.pdf.

The report released by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India reflects a true picture of agriculture sectors of the country. In today` time, Modi government seems rudderless, directionless, and meaningless. Modi government cannot befool the farmers of India for a long time. Modi government after seeing this data released by his own government cannot say that opposition is misguiding the people. This venal narrative on the part of the Modi government will not work in 2019 elections. The people of India are fed with the empty rhetorics.

India under Modi stands nowhere in the global economy. China under seventh president Xi Jinping has already currency reserves surging toward an unprecedented $ 4 trillion. Many financial forecasts now project that China will surpass the U.S. as the world`s number one economy by 2030. Responding to media, Xi Jinping asserts that China has lifted 60 million of its own people out of poverty in just a few years and is committed to its complete eradication by 2020.  So far neither Modi government could uplift the people belonging to the marginalized sections of the society from poverty nor he seems to be ambitious to do so. It is unfortunate to observe that common men and women are financially overburdened with ever rising oil prices, essential commodities etc.

On the international front, the Modi Government could not generate India`s goodwill to enable Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to flow to India as expected.  As a matter of fact, Modi has weaved a web of personal ties with autocratic leaders like Donald Trump, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia whose vision that “put first my country. Every world leader is worried about his own country since the economic situation is volatile in the superpowers such as the USA, China, Britain, Canada. FDI data suggest that despite several round trips by Modi to many superpowers of the world, the amount of foreign investment as desired by his government could not be attracted since the leaders of the superpowers are embroiled in their own social, political and economic problems. For example, Donald Trump is facing impeachment. Germany and Britain are facing the flood of illegal migrants. China is struggling with the IMF loans.

The politically tensed atmosphere in the country also prevented the leaders of the world economies not to choose India as a viable investment. A professor of Finance rightly said that ‘ a politician who understands economics can be the best Prime Minister of India. Modi does not fit into this class. Modi is simply a politician without knowledge of economics. Modi is unable to understand the cascading effects of his policies. In comparison, Dr. Manmohan Singh, an economist knew better than Modi. We must not allow Modi to spoil the Indian economy further. The sooner Modi is removed the better would be for the economic health of the country.