Israeli military kills four Palestinians in Gaza protest

Jean Shaoul 

Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian protestors in Gaza on Saturday, killing four young Palestinians, three of them children, and sending more than 300 other people to hospital. Five of the 60 wounded by live fire are in a critical condition, while nine are in a serious condition.

Tens of thousands joined the demonstration to mark one year since the start of weekly protests at the Gaza-Israel border under the slogan of the Great March of Return. Originally scheduled to conclude on May 15 of 2018, the 70th anniversary of Israel’s declaration of independence, which Palestinians mark as Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, the rallies have demanded the right of Palestinians to return to the homes from which their families were driven in the wars of 1948-49 and 1967.

They have also called for the lifting of Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which has turned the tiny enclave into an open-air prison for its two million inhabitants and deprived them of the most basic essentials of everyday life, including clean water, sanitation and electricity.

Those killed included three 17-year-old boys, Tamer Abu el-Khair, Bilal Al-Najar and Adham. It brings the total of children killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the Great March of Return began to 52. The fourth person killed was Mohammed Jihad Saad, a 21-year-old Palestinian who was hit late Friday night by live fire east of Gaza City. He died of his wounds during a protest near the border fence.

This was Israel’s brutal response to what Brigadier General Ronen Manelis, a spokesman for the Israeli army, acknowledged were “remarkably restrained” demonstrations. One can only imagine what the “most moral army in the Middle East” would have done had the protests been less restrained!

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the most powerful military force in the Middle East, is attacking an impoverished and virtually unarmed population, and doing so in the most cowardly fashion. It is slaughtering civilians who have suffered an economic siege, the destruction of their livelihoods and repeated bombardments and military assaults over the last 11 years.

According to figures produced by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Al Jazeera, the IDF has mowed down 266 Palestinians in the course of the Gaza border demonstrations and wounded 30,398, of whom 16,027 required hospital treatment. Some 6,857 were shot with live ammunition and a further 844 with rubber-coated bullets, while 2,441 need treatment for tear gas inhalation. The IDF particularly targeted medics and journalists, killing two journalists and injuring 347 and killing 3 medics and wounding 665.

The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry that investigated Israel’s actions in Gaza during the protests stated that they “may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.” It noted that Gaza is “one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a health worker.”

Saturday’s protests, which took place in the pouring rain, attracted some 40,000 Palestinians, far fewer than the million-strong protest called for by Hamas, the bourgeois clerical group that controls Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a raft of corruption charges and potential defeat at the polls on April 9 at the hands of a trio of former generals in the Blue and White electoral alliance, headed by former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. This opposition has criticised his Gaza policy, as have his own right-wing colleagues, calling for wider military action.

In anticipation of a far larger turnout, Netanyahu authorised a call-up of reservists and sent additional troops and tanks to the area. As well as firing live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas, the IDF also used a new type of gas on protestors.

Nizar Abu Amro, a paramedic with the Medical Relief Association, told the Middle East Eye, “They used nerve gas and another strange kind of tear gas, which is yellow. We do not know anything about its contents, but it causes strange disorders.” It was reportedly used for the first time in the southern city of Jabaliya in southern Gaza two days earlier, and was being tested to determine what it was.

Speaking for the IDF, Manelis said: “The restraint Hamas exercised today was such that we hadn’t seen over the past year. There were hundreds of Hamas personnel who wore orange vests and prevented demonstrators from reaching the [border] fence. This shows that Hamas are the ones to control the events and they are the ones who determine how heated the protests will be.”

He added that Israeli air strikes on Gaza earlier in the week in response to rocket fire from the Strip “led Hamas to understand that we don’t accept such incidents and we don’t just move on after they happen.”

A senior Israeli official said that following the Israel Defence Forces’ extensive preparations, ordered by the prime minister, “the border-fence events passed relatively quietly.”

Hamas and all the Palestinian factions had appealed for calm. Hamas deployed some 8,000 security personnel wearing military uniforms along Gaza’s 65-kilometre frontier with Israel to stop protesters from reaching the boundary fence, telling them to stay back from Israeli guns, follow the commands of organisers on the ground, refrain from any aggressive actions and not burn tyres.

Some 2,000 Arab Israelis also demonstrated in the Israeli-Arab city of Sakhnin on March 30 to mark the annual commemoration of Land Day, when Israeli security forces shot dead six Israeli Arabs who were protesting the expropriation of Arab-owned land in northern Israel to build Jewish communities in 1976.

The protests come just days after Israeli air strikes across Gaza in revenge for a rocket fired from Gaza that damaged a house in Israel, for which both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s other major armed faction, denied responsibility. In other acts of collective punishment, Israel blocked the entry points into Gaza and forcibly turned back Palestinian fishermen attempting to fish off the territory’s coast.

Egypt has been trying to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas, with reports that Israel has agreed to ease restrictions on employment, fishing, electricity and aid from Qatar, in return for an end to rocket fire. Netanyahu is keen to avoid an escalation in hostilities in the run-up to the hosting of the Eurovision song contest in Tel Aviv in May.

However, Netanyahu’s electoral opponents are all attacking him from the right and baying for blood. Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, leaders of the New Right party and ministers in Netanyahu’s Likud-led coalition, vowed to vote against any long-term ceasefire deal, saying that “Israelis are feeling humiliated” and Hamas leaders Sinwar and Haniyeh “are celebrating victory, with no fear that Israel will eliminate them.” He added, “That is not how deterrence is created.” Bennett said that Sinwar should have been eliminated long ago.

They feel emboldened by President Donald Trump’s announcement of official US recognition for Israel’s illegal annexation of Syria’s Golan Heights, which was, in part at least, aimed at propping up his right-wing ally Netanyahu in the forthcoming elections.

This move will not only fuel Israeli military aggression against the Palestinians in Gaza, it will also escalate tensions with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, where 16 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since the beginning of the year, including 10 during the month of March alone.

Trump’s support for Netanyahu and his fascistic partners will accelerate the expansion of Zionist settlements and creation of new ones, escalate the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, and sanction the outright annexation of the Palestinian land known as Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the occupied West Bank.

Trump’s backing for their pursuit of the “Greater Israel” expansionist project is bound up with broader aims of US imperialism to escalate its military intervention in the Middle East, particularly to roll back Iranian influence in the wake of the successive debacles suffered by Washington in Iraq, Libya and Syria. The deafening silence of Trump’s Sunni allies, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, in the face of Israel’s murderous and criminal actions against the Palestinians only serves to confirm this.

Trump threatens to shut US-Mexico border, cuts aid to Central America

Patrick Martin

President Donald Trump has escalated his persecution of immigrants and refugees, ordering the cutoff of all US aid to the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador because the right-wing US-backed regimes in all three countries (which comprise the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America) have been unable to halt the flow of desperate refugees moving north toward the United States.

“I’ve ended payments to Guatemala, to Honduras and El Salvador. No more money is going there anymore,” Trump told reporters at his estate in Mar-a-Lago, Florida on Friday night. Speaking like the political gangster he is, the US president declared, “We were giving them $500 million. We were paying them tremendous amounts of money, and we’re not paying them anymore because they haven’t done a thing for us.”

Trump has also threatened to close the US-Mexico border this week if Mexico does not use force to stop immigrants from Central America passing through the country to reach American soil, where they seek to file claims for asylum status. Such an action would have incalculable consequences, not just for Mexico, but for the United States, Canada and the entire world economy, since US-Mexico cross-border trade now tops $550 billion. Major US industries such as auto would shut down within days if the supply of components produced in Mexican supplier plants was cut off.

Late Friday, the State Department issued a statement declaring: “At the secretary’s instruction, we are carrying out the president’s direction and ending FY 2017 and FY 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle. We will be engaging Congress as part of this process.” Officials at the State Department and the US Agency for International Development were ordered to “redirect” assistance “away from these countries” and “cease and desist” all current spending.

It is estimated that $500 million of the $620 million currently being expended in the three countries would be affected. The money pays for development and humanitarian assistance, as well as anti-gang efforts by the police of the three countries.

Trump made his decision only one day after his secretary of homeland security, Kirstjen Nielsen, signed a border security agreement with the governments of the three countries aimed at boosting the coordination of efforts against narcotics trafficking and undocumented immigration. The timing only underscores that Trump’s action was largely driven by domestic political considerations and the need to continuously incite his ultra-right supporters with new acts of aggression against vulnerable and persecuted people.

Press reports suggested that the trigger for the action was internal reporting by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about the sharp increase in the number of migrants taken into US custody in February, some 76,000, with projections of a further increase to 100,000 in March. Nearly all the immigrants are family groups fleeing Central America who cross the US-Mexico border and apply for refugee status, seeking asylum in the United States from the threat of violence in their home countries.

Trump defended both actions with vitriolic attacks both on the governments of the countries involved and on his Democratic Party opponents in the United States, although the Democrats share his goal of halting mass migration from Central America, only differing on the best means to accomplish this.

A delegation of leading congressional Democrats was actually in El Salvador on Saturday when the State Department began to implement the aid cutoff, including Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. They were pressuring the Salvadoran government to do more to curb the movement of migrants. The delegation called the administration’s move “counterproductive” and said they would “do everything in our power to push back on the president’s misguided approach to Central America.”

The Democrats share responsibility for the desperate conditions of poverty, police repression and gang violence that plague the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America. It was the Obama administration, in an action spearheaded by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which backed the 2009 coup in Honduras that overthrew the elected government of President Manuel Zelaya and installed the current right-wing regime.

The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee criticized the aid cutoff on the grounds that Trump was undercutting the interests of American imperialism in the region. Senator Robert Menendez said, “If carried out, President Trump’s irresponsible decision to cut off our assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras would undermine American interests and put our national security at risk.” He called for “doing our part to help stabilize the situation in the Northern Triangle and stem the flow of children and refugees to our borders.”

Given the vast economic consequences of a border closure, Trump’s threat to shut the US-Mexico border next week has been generally dismissed by the media and congressional leaders as rhetorical bluster. There was no official statement, only a Twitter declaration: “If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States through our southern border, I will be closing the border, or large sections of the border, next week,” Trump said.

Department of Homeland Security officials indicated that none of the vast logistical preparations required for a full-scale border closure—including the redeployment of thousands of Border Patrol officers from entry ports to the unpatrolled areas of the border—was taking place. However, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, appearing on Sunday television interview programs on ABC and Fox, reiterated the threat.

Meanwhile, the DHS is demanding additional funds and legal authority to imprison the thousands of new refugees crossing the border and seeking asylum. DHS Secretary Nielsen sent a letter to Congress March 28 seeking legislation to permit the DHS to deport unaccompanied children to Central America, rather than holding them in detention centers in the US or releasing them into the country. DHS can currently do this for unaccompanied minors from Mexico, but not from countries further south.

Nielsen said that the DHS had filled its facilities for detaining families and unaccompanied children to capacity and needed to expand its network of prisons and camps. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit of DHS had nearly 50,000 adults in custody last week.

Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Scholarships to Attend One Young World Conference 2019 for Young Leaders in Developing Countries

Application Deadline: 14th April 2019.

Eligible Countries: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan and Tunisia.

To be taken at (country): UK

About the Award: The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs prioritises improving young people’s prospects in a number of developing countries and fragile states by encouraging local entrepreneurs and creating jobs. The Dutch MFA will collaborate with OYW and will provide support to 50 delegates to participate in the global Summit around creating youth employment opportunities for prosperous and peaceful societies.

Type: Conference, Entrepreneurship

Eligibility:

• Aged 18 – 34 by date of One Young World Summit 2019.
• Resident in a country from one of the following countries are eligible for the scholarship: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan and Tunisia
• 50% of the candidates will be female.
• All candidates need a working understanding in English.
• Candidates by date of OYW 2019 have not participated in more than 2 other (big) international conferences;
• Dutch MFA encourages young leaders with a form of disability to apply.
• Dutch MFA encourages young leaders from rural to urban areas to apply.

Number of Awards: 50

Value of Award: Scholars selected to participate in the initiative will receive:

• Profiling in national media outlets.
• Access to the additional program of the Dutch MFA on 21 October in The Hague, The Netherlands
• Access to the One Young World Summit on 22-25 October 2019 in London, United Kingdom
• Hotel accommodation on a shared basis in The Hague and in London
• Catering which includes breakfast, lunch and dinner during OYW
• Transport between the Summit accommodation and the Summit venue
• Air travel to The Hague, coach to London and air travel from London back to country of destination.
• Visa costs for the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are covered.

Duration of Programme: One Young World Summit in London from 22 to 25 October, and an additional pre-Summit programme in the Netherlands on 21 October

How to Apply: Application form is on Programme Webpage.

• It is important to go through all application requirements on the Programme Webpage (see link below) before applying

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Jack Ma’s Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative 2019 for African Entrepreneurs

Application Deadline: 30th June 2019

Eligible Countries: African countries

About the Award: Each year for the next ten years, the Prize will host a pitch competition in Africa where ten finalists from across the continent will compete for US$1 million in total prize money.  The Prize, which is supported by its continental partner Nailab, is focused on empowering a new generation of entrepreneurs, with a focus on small businesses, grassroots communities and women-founded enterprises.
“The Netpreneur Prize Initiative has brought together a strong ecosystem of players to support both technology-driven and traditional businesses. We look forward to unveiling the full slate of regional partners and to receiving applications from promising African entrepreneurs in the coming weeks,” said Sam Gichuru, Founder and CEO, Nailab.

Type: Entrepreneurship

Eligibility: Core values of the Prize will be reflected in the application criteria including:

1. Open to entrepreneurs who are nationals from any of the 54 African countries
2. Open to all industry sectors
3. Strongly encourage young people and female entrepreneurs to apply

Number of Awards: 10

Value of Award: All ten finalists will receive grant funding from the Jack Ma Foundation, as well as access to the Netpreneur community of African business leaders to leverage the community’s shared expertise, best practices, and resources.

Duration of Programme: 

1. Announcement of the top 50 regional finalists: August 2019
2. Announcement of the final 10 finalists: October 2019
3. Grand Finale pitch event: November 2019

How to Apply: Apply in the Programme Webpage

• It is important to go through all application requirements on the Programme Webpage (see link below) before applying

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

TWAS Research Grants Programme in Basic Sciences 2019 for Researchers in Developing Countries

Application Deadline: 22nd April 2019

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries

About the Award: TWAS Research Grants are awarded to high-level promising research projects in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics carried out by individual scientists in the S&T-lagging countries  (S&TLC) identified by TWAS.

The TWAS Research Grants Programme in Basic Sciences aims to:

• Reinforce and promote scientific research in basic sciences in developing countries;
• Strengthen developing countries’ endogenous capacity in science;
• Reduce the exodus of scientific talents from the South;
• Build and sustain units of scientific excellence in S&TLC over a longer period to help them achieve a critical mass of highly qualified and innovative scientists capable of addressing real-life problems facing their countries.

The TWAS Research Grants Programme supports research in the basic sciences only; proposals focusing on more applied research should therefore be submitted to IFS. TWAS cannot accept projects relating to applications in agriculture or medicine or that use existing techniques to screen, for example, medicinal plants for bioactive substances or to monitor an environment for pollutants; TWAS will have to reject such proposals.

Fields of Study: Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics

Type: Research, Grants

Eligibility: 

• Individual applicants must be nationals of developing countries. They must hold a PhD, be at the beginning of their careers, but already have some research experience. They must hold a position at a university or research institution in one of the S&TLCs and be under 45 years of age.
• Applications from women scientists and those working in Least Developed Countries are especially encouraged.
• Individual scientists who submit a satisfactory final report on a previous grant may apply for a renewal.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: 

• Research Grants to individual scientists amount to a maximum of USD 15,000.
• The grants, which are normally provided for a period of 24 months, may be used to purchase scientific equipment, consumables and specialized literature (textbooks and proceedings only). They do not cover salaries of researchers and/or students, field expenses, or travel expenses. In addition, the purchase of laptops and laboratory animals is not supported.

Duration of Program: 24 months

How to Apply: 

• TWAS Research Grant applications can ONLY be submitted online now by clicking on the “Apply Now” tab at the bottom of this page.
• Please note that a researcher may only submit one application at a time and for only one kind of grant (either as an individual applicant, as a research unit, COMSTECH or the OWSD Early Career Women Scientists (ECWS) Fellowship). Applicants cannot apply for other TWAS programmes i.e. Postdoctoral, Visiting Scholar and Visiting Researcher programme within the same year in order to be present in their home country throughout the duration of the grant.
• For any queries please contact Ms. P. Patel, e-mail: researchgrants@twas.org.

Apply Here

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Johnson&Johnson One Young World Scholarship Program to attend One Young World Summit 2019

Application Deadline: 6th May 2019

To Be Taken At (Country): The Hague, The Netherlands

About the Award: If you are a young leader (aged 18-30) working within health and/or care-giving, then this scholarship is for you. You may be a social entrepreneur or working for a social enterprise, medical facility and/or an NGO, or you may be a birth attendant, nurse, doctor or an individual dedicated to health and care giving to undeserved communities.
As well as attending the upcoming One Young World Summit, scholarship recipients will receive individual coaching from senior Johnson & Johnson leaders to further develop their aspiration, strategy and/or initiatives.

Type: Conferences

Eligibility: 

• Candidates must be aged between 18 and 30 at the time of the 2019 OYW Summit
• You must be working on the front lines of delivering care (i.e. you may be a social entrepreneur or working for a social enterprise, medical facility and/or an NGO, or you may be a birth attendant, nurse, doctor or an individual dedicated to health and care giving to underserved communities)
• If selected, Health Care Professionals classified as Government Officials within their home country will need approval from their employer, and will undergo an additional health care compliance approval process by Johnson & Johnson before their scholarship can be confirmed

Selection Criteria: 

• Passion for global and local health/care issues
• Leadership and innovation on the front lines of care
• Willingness to share and learn from others
• Commitment to invest 10% of their time to the Program

Number of Awards: 12

Value of Award: The Johnson & Johnson One Young World Scholarship Program runs from September 2019 – February 2020. All scholar recipients will be expected to invest 10% of their time in this program and to attend regular Johnson & Johnson webinars and calls. ​

• Participation in the 2019 Johnson & Johnson One Young World Program
  • Individual coaching with senior Johnson & Johnson leaders
  • Working with 2019 Johnson & Johnson delegates in buddy teams, over the course of the six-month program to support the Scholar through the sharing of their skills and knowledge
  • Attendance at the J&J OYW Program pre-workshop and dinner on 21 October 2019
  • Attendance at the J&J OYW Program debrief session & lunch on 26 October
  • Participation in interactive webinars and conference calls throughout the duration of the Program

• Access to the One Young World Summit 2019 in London, United Kingdom
  • The cost of travel to and from London (economy flights only)
  • Hotel accommodation in a single room from 21-25 October inclusive
  • Catering which includes breakfast, lunch and dinner, during these days
  • Transport between the Summit accommodation and the Summit venue
  • Summit hand-outs and support materials

How to Apply: Apply here

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

European Commission Lorenzo Natali Media Prize 2019 for International Journalists

Application Deadline: 14th April 23:59 CET 

Eligible Countries: International

To be taken at (country): Brussels, Belgium

About the Award: The Lorenzo Natali Media Prize was launched in 1992 to recognise excellence in reporting on development issues, inequality, human rights, and poverty eradication. It was created by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO), and named after Lorenzo Natali, an early champion of European development policy.
Today, the Lorenzo Natali Media Prize’s community of past winners, jury members and partners have created a platform supporting reporting on development. The Prize also gives a voice to those whose vital message is often overlooked or ignored.
The Prize is organised by the European Commission in close collaboration with strategic regional partners and ambassadors. 

THEMES
The overarching theme of the 2019 Lorenzo Natali Media Prize is journalism for development. Entries to this year’s competition should relate to to development cooperation issues such as, but not limited to, youth, gender equality, health, climate change, etc.
The European Union and its member states jointly provide over half of all official global development aid, making it the world’s leading donor. The New European Consensus on Development aligns the EU with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Field: The 2019 Lorenzo Natali Media Prize will be awarded in the following three categories:

• Grand Prize: open to journalists whose media headquarter is located in one of the more than 160 partner countries* with which the European Union engages on development and cooperation.
• Europe Prize: open to journalists whose media headquarter is located in one of the countries of the European Union.
• Best Emerging Journalist Prize: open to journalists under 30 whose media is headquartered  in any country where DG DEVCO and DG NEAR provide development assistance*, as well as in the EU Member States.

Type: Contest

Eligibility:

Publication period

• Entries must have been published (print or online) or broadcasted (radio or television) between 10 March 2018 and 9 March 2019.
• 2018 winners cannot compete again for the 2019 Prize, but are eligible for subsequent editions.

Author(s)

• Submitted journalistic works can have one or several authors. The participants must be the authors and holders of the copyright and the moral rights of their work. 

Language requirements

• Entries are accepted in all languages. However, a translation in English, French or Spanish is required for the entries that were not originally published in one of these languages. The entries will be evaluated on the basis of translated texts provided in one these three languages.  

Length

• For text-based applications, the length limit is 2 000 words. Video and audio entries can be up to 10 minutes long.
• The Prize Secretariat reserves the right to disqualify any entry that contains hurtful, misleading, libellous or vulgar content, or that contains any material that could constitute or encourage conduct which would be considered a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any national or international law.

Plagiarism

• Plagiarism, which includes the unauthorised use of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own, will result in disqualification. Retrospective discovery of plagiarism will result in revocation of title of winners.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: The winner in each category will receive €10,000. The winner of the Best Emerging Journalist Prize category will also be offered a work experience with a media partner.

Duration of Programme: Winning journalists will receive their award at the Lorenzo Natali Award Ceremony at the 2019 European Development Days, which take place in Brussels on June 18-19, 2019.

How to Apply: Submit your entry for the 2019 Lorenzo Natali Media Prize via our online platform here

• It is important to go through all terms and conditions on the Programme Webpage (see link below) before applying

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

World Bank Robert S. McNamara (RSM) Fellowship 2019/2020 for Developing Countries

Application Deadline: 2nd May 2019

Eligible Countries: World Bank Member Countries

To be taken at (country): Host Institution in any country other than candidates home country

Eligible Subject Areas: Economics, health, education, agriculture, environment, natural resource management, or other development related subject.

About Scholarship: The Robert S. McNamara Fellowships Program (RSMFP) provides support to developing country citizens (.xlsx) who are current PhD candidates studying in developing countries, funding up to $25,000 to conduct PhD research on a development topic in a World Bank member country other than the Fellow’s home country or country of residence.This is a wonderful opportunity for the most promising developing nation researchers to advance their doctoral work with the best international advisors and host institutions in their fields of study.

Type: PhD

Who is qualified to apply?Applicants Must:

• Be a national of a World Bank member developing country;
• Not hold dual citizenship of a developed country;
• Be 35 years of age or younger on the Application Deadline date;
• Be enrolled in a PhD program in a member developing country of the World Bank at the time of application
• Reside in a member developing country of the World Bank since enrolled in the PhD program;
• Have completed all coursework and exam requirements for attaining a PhD at the time of application;
• Have a PhD thesis centered on a field of development.
• Not be a staff member (which includes consultant) or a relative of a staff member of the World Bank Group

Selection Criteria: The RSMFP uses the following process to review completed applications, with the aim to identify eligible candidates with the most innovative and relevant research proposals in the area of development.
Two qualified reviewers independently review each eligible application to assess the following:

• Quality of the proposed fellowship (70%)
• Prospects for a productive career in research post-PhD (30%)

Selection Process: All criteria are strictly adhered to. No exceptions are made. Eligibility criteria WILL NOT change during an open call for applications. However, this information is subject to change between the close of one application process and the opening of the next.

Value of Award: RSMFP provides up to $25,000 (U.S.) for developing country nationals to travel abroad to conduct development-related PhD research under the supervision of a host advisor at a university, research or development institution in a World Bank member country. Details on eligible expenditures are provided in the Application Guidelines.

Number of Awards: Several

Duration of Award: onetime grant for a 6 to 10 month period

How to Apply:

• Guidance for this call for RSMFP fellowship applications, including this call’s: (i) instructions and requirements to submit an application, the eligibility criteria applicants must meet; and the selection process are provided  in the Application Guidelines and FAQs. Please read these documents before starting your application.
• Once you are familiar with the application requirements and processes, click HERE to apply, and refer to the Accessing the online application and Navigating the online application to learn how to access and navigate the online application.

Visit the Fellowship Webpage for Details

Slovak Government Scholarships 2019/2020 for International Students

Application Deadline: 30th May, 2019.

Eligible Countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kenya, Republic of the Sudan, Kosovo, Moldova, Mongolia, Palestinian Territories, Ukraine, and Vietnam.

To be taken at (country): Government of the Slovak Republic

About the Award: Slovak government scholarships, under OECD-defined conditions for conducting official development assistance, include awarding the Slovak government scholarship to persons with Slovaks Living Abroad status.

Type:  Undergraduate, Masters, PhD

Eligibility: A government scholarship may be awarded to a national of a partnering country who
a) has

1. temporary residence for the purpose of studies,10)
2. temporary residence as a third party national granted Slovak Living Abroad status,11) or
3. the right to stay on the territory of the Slovak Republic for a period in excess of three months,12)

b) is

1. a full-time student at a public university located in the Slovak Republic in one of the academic programs contained in the notice defined in Subsection 2 who demonstrates command of Slovak at the level required by the given public university, or
2. a participant in language education for the purposes of university studies (“language education”)

and c) as of 1 September of the year in which the application for a government scholarship is submitted,

1. is at least 18 years of age and not more than 26 years of age with respect to language education for studies of a first-level or second-level academic program or an academic program combining first and second-levels or studies in such an academic program or
2. is at least 23 years of age and not more than 35 years of age with respect to language education for studies of a third-level academic program or studies in such an academic program.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Scholarship: This scholarship offers students monthly scholarship and stipends

Duration of Scholarship: A government scholarship is awarded a) over the standard duration of studies in the given academic program, b) for ten months in the case of language education, c) during the months between the completion of language education and registration for studies in the given academic program or between the end of studies in one academic program and registration for studies in another academic program, if 1. the participant in language education completes language education or a student completes studies

How to Apply: The submission of online application form is available on the website: www.vladnestipendia.sk

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details


Award Provider: Government of the Slovak Republic

Pulitzer Centre Persephone Miel Fellowship 2019 for Journalists in Developing Countries

Application Deadline: 15th April 2019

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries

About the Award: The fellowship, overseen by the Pulitzer Center in collaboration with Internews, is designed to help journalists from the developing world do the kind of reporting they’ve always wanted to do and enable them to bring their work to a broader international audience. The fellowship will benefit those with limited access to other fellowships and those whose work is not routinely disseminated internationally. Miel fellowships involve reporting from within the applicant’s native country—or following migrant communities from there to other locations.

Type: Fellowship (Professional)

Eligibility: The Persephone Miel fellowships are open to all journalists, writers, photographers, radio producers or filmmakers, staff journalists as well as freelancers and media professionals outside the U.S. who are seeking to report from their home country. Female journalists and journalists from developing countries are strongly encouraged to apply. Applicants must be proficient in English.

Selection: The fellowship recipient will be selected by the Pulitzer Center in consultation with Internews. Selection will be based on the strength of the proposed topic and the strength of the applicant’s work as demonstrated in their work samples. We are looking for projects that explore systemic issues in the applicant’s native country and that provide an overarching thesis, rather than individual spot-reports from the field.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: 

• The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting will provide a travel grant of $5000 for a reporting project on topics and regions of global importance, with an emphasis on issues that have gone unreported or under-reported in the mainstream media. Specific grant terms are negotiated during the application process based on the scope of proposed work and intended outcomes. Payment of the first half of the grant is disbursed prior to travel, upon receipt of required materials, and the second half on submission of the principal work for publication/broadcast.
• The Pulitzer Center will also offer $2500 to cover travel expenses associated with travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with Pulitzer Center staff and journalists and take part in a 2-day workshop. Depending on the specific needs of the fellow, this may occur prior or after the reporting takes place.
• The Center works with fellowship recipients to distribute their work across multiple platforms in the U.S. to reach the widest possible audience. Projects with multimedia components that combine print, photography and video are strongly encouraged.

How to Apply: Click here to go to the Pulitzer Center Grant Application webform.

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

African Trans-Regional Cooperation through Academic Mobility (ACADEMY) Scholarships 2019/2020 for African Staff/Students

Application Deadline: 30th April 2019 (23:59 CET)

Eligible Countries: African countries

To be taken at (country): The partners in ACADEMY consortium are:

1. Université de Tlemcen (Coordinator), Algeria
2. University of Cape Coast (Partner), Ghana
3. Kenyatta University (Partner), Kenya
4. University of Ibadan (Partner), Nigeria
5. University of KwaZulu-Natal (Partner), South Africa.
6. Universidade do Porto (TechnicalPartner), Portugal
7. Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique (Associate Partner), Algeria
8. Pan African University for Water and Energy Sciences (Associate Partner), Algeria.

About the Award: The African Trans-Regional Cooperation through Academic Mobility (ACADEMY) project is designed to provide resources and opportunities for student and staff mobility from four regions of Africa, offering support for Masters, Doctoral and short research, teaching and administrative visits between the consortium partners.

Field of Study: The eligible fields of study for the ACADEMY project are:
 Business, administration and law,  Natural sciences,  Information and Communication Technologies,  Engineering, manufacturing and construction,  Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary.

Type: Masters, PhD, Short course

Eligibility: Applicants for all types of scholarships must:

• Be nationals and residents in any of the eligible African countries.
• Have sufficient knowledge of the language of instruction of courses in the host country.
• Fulfill the criteria of one of the target groups below:

Target Group 1 (TG1)

• For Master and PhD credit-seeking mobility applicants: Students must be registered in one of the five partner universities: Université de Tlemcen (Algeria), University of Cape Coast (Ghana), Kenyatta University (Kenya), University of Ibadan (Nigeria), and University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa).
• For staff: Staff must be working in one of the five partner
• universities.

Target Group 2 (TG2)

• For credit-seeking mobility applicants: Students must be registered in any African Higher Education Institution.

Selection Criteria: The home and host universities of the consortium will work together to evaluate the applications based upon the following criteria:

• Academic merit.
• Motivation for the mobility period.
• Language skills.
• Research Project (for PhD).
• Research/Teaching/Working Plan (for academic and administrative staff).
• Scientific Production/Previous experience (for academic and administrative staff).

In addition to these academic criteria, the following administrative criteria will be taken into account:

• Relevance of the mobility for both the host university and the home university.
• Equal geographic representation of the partner universities in the mobility scheme.
• Equity considerations for designated groups (Female, candidates with disabilities or in social/political vulnerable situation, …).

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: The Scholarship covers:

• Monthly subsistence allowance for the entire mobility period
• Extra allowance per academic year to female students (for mobility equal to or longer than two academic years)
• Settling in allowance (for students only)
• Roundtrip flight ticket and visa costs – for mobility equal to or longer than two academic years, two roundtrip tickets will be provided (arranged by the coordinating institution on behalf of students)
• Comprehensive insurance (Health, Accident and Travel) (arranged by the coordinating institution on behalf of students)
• Participation costs such as tuition fees, registration fees and service fees where applicable (paid directly to the hosting institutions)
• Research costs for students on mobility for 10 months or more (based on actual research needs and dependent on a request submitted by the students).

Duration of Award:

• Credit-seeking scholarships (for Masters and PHD students): Students who are registered for full-degree studies at their home institution will be able to apply to spend a study period (6 or 10 months) at one of the partner institutions in the consortium and return to their home institution after the exchange period to complete their degree at the home institution.
• Degree-seeking scholarships (for Masters and PhD students) Students will be able to apply for full degree scholarship (20 months for Master and 36 months for PhD)for completion of a Masters or PhD degree at one of the partner African Higher Education Institutions in the Consortium.
• Academic and administrative staff scholarships Staff employed at a partner African Higher Education Institution of the Consortium will be able to apply for short term mobility opportunities (1, 2 or 3 months) which could include benchmarking exercises, sabbatical research periods, guest lecturing, curriculum development, knowledge and resource sharing trips etc.

How to Apply: Apply via Programme Webpage.

• It is important to go through all application requirements including Guidelines on the Programme Webpage (see link below) before applying

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Rising Politics of Intolerance and the Need for Unity

Graham Peebles

Over the last 20 years extreme right-wing groups have been on the rise throughout the world. They share a belief in white supremacism and conspiracy theories that allege there is a global plot to replace white Christian populations with Muslims and people of color.

As socio-economic inequality has grown and immigration increased the reactionary ideology of tribal nationalism has become more popular and bled into mainstream politics. Far right groups have garnered support and won political power in a number of countries, including Austria, Poland, Hungary, Italy, the US and India.

Rising far-right terror

Within the spectrum of the far right there are varying degrees of bigotry and Neo-Fascist ideals; at the darkest extreme there are the Neo-Nazi’s, a small percentage that holds the most violent views; next are the pro-white, anti-Semitic social conservatives, they form the majority and want a separation of the races; then there is the more moderate wing or Alt Lite, staunchly anti-feminist, anti-political correctness, pro-western chauvinism. All are abhorrent, all are dangerous; a hint of prejudice no matter where it comes from adds to the collective atmosphere of intolerance, fans the flames of division and can incite violence.

While overall terrorism throughout the world is declining, The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) states that, “there has been a real and significant increase in far-right terrorist activity.”

Since 2014, the number of attacks from right-wing extremists has been greater than attacks from Jihadists, and, the Anti-Defamation League report that during 2018 “right-wing extremists were linked to at least 50 murders in the United States [up 35% on 2017].” Globally, between 2013 and 2017 there were 113 attacks “by far-right groups and individuals…. of those 47 attacks took place in 2017.

On 15th March, 50 Muslims were murdered in Christchurch, New Zealand: the indiscriminate attack on two mosques during Friday prayers was carried out by Brenton Tarrent, a 28-year-old Australian white supremacist. Prior to the attack Tarrent published a 78-page document entailed The Great Replacement, online. In it he states that the aim of the Christchurch murders was “to take revenge on the [Muslim] invaders for the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by foreign invaders in European lands throughout history…and the thousands of European lives lost to terror attacks throughout European lands.” The manifesto title and many of the ideas promoted in it come from Le Grand Remplacement by 71-year-old Jean Camus and published in 2012.

Camus claims that the white Christian European population is being ousted by immigrants from the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. His views have become highly influential on right-wing groups, nationalist and identitarian movements across Europe, the US and elsewhere. Although Camus is particularly concerned with France and preserving French culture, he believes that all Western countries are faced with what he calls, “ethnic and civilizational substitution”, in which over the course of a single generation a civilization is transformed by immigration.

As a result of wars in the Middle East and economic insecurity in Sub-Sharan Africa large numbers of migrants have indeed fled to Europe and elsewhere seeking safety and a new life. The influx of migrants/refugee into western countries presents societal challenges and change, but is not a threat or an act of ‘replacement’. The vast majority of migrants do not want to leave their homeland and travel to a country they do not know; people migrate to escape conflict, persecution and economic hardship, much of it caused by the foreign policies of western powers over decades, the exploitation of poor countries over centuries and the concentration of global economic wealth.

Cries of hate; modes of tolerance

Far-right terrorism is a transnational issue; extremists from different countries are more connected than ever and work together. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies relates the example of how in early 2018 members of the Rise Above Movement (RAM, a white supremacist group based in California) “traveled to Germany, Ukraine, and Italy to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday and to meet with members of European white supremacist groups.” They posted photographs on Instagram with the RAM logo and words like “RAPEFUGEES ARE NOT WELCOME HERE”.

In Ukraine RAM members are reported to have met with Azov Battalion, a paramilitary unit of the Ukrainian National Guard believed to be training and radicalizing white supremacist organizations based in the United States.

The internet plays a crucial role in the work of such groups: social media platforms are employed by both Islamist and right-wing extremists to spread propaganda, organize training, make travel arrangements for events/protests, raise funds and recruit members. Extreme right-wing Internet channels spread lies, exaggerate and mislead; when challenged the sacred cow of freedom of speech is invoked to justify the use of inflammatory language. Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right, but when it leads to murderous violence it violates the most basic human right, the right to life; freedom of speech needs to be conditioned by a sense of social responsibility, respect and understanding of others.

Acts of hate and intolerance of all kinds have been increasing exponentially across the western world in recent years. The 2016 election of Donald Trump in the US, the highly divisive EU referendum in Britain the same year and the influx of refugees fleeing wars and economic hardship triggered a wave of crimes against immigrants, particularly Muslims, as well as other minority groups. Liberal politicians, especially women, have also been targeted, many receiving hate mail and violent threats from right-wing extremists.

The current hatred of Muslims was aroused by the 9/11 attacks and inflamed by the ‘War on Terror’ announced by President George W. Bush in 2007; prejudice normalized, the far right flourished. A 2010 poll conducted by Gallup found that almost half of Muslim Americans experienced racial or religious discrimination, which is on par with “Hispanic Americans (48%) and African Americans (45%),” and, according to research by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency a third of Muslims in Europe say they face discrimination effecting employment, access to public services and housing.

Mainstream politicians stir up discrimination and incite hate; President Trump openly expresses hostility to foreign nationals and consistently makes and retweets Islamophobic comments, he has banned people from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the US, talks of the US being invaded and is building a ‘wall’ on the Mexican/US border. He is not alone in pandering to prejudice, many right and far right leaning politicians in western democracies have been guilty of fanning the fires. A striking example was the recent action by UK Home Secretary, Sajid David when he stripped Shamima Begum of her British citizenship. The 19 year old, who was in the final days of pregnancy when the announcement was made, had made the mistake of going to Syria in 2016 to support ISIS and marry an ISIS fighter. Her baby was born inside a refugee camp in Syria and, due to lack of proper medical care, died three weeks later.

Not only is the action to make her stateless illegal, it panders to the rhetoric of right wing populism and, instead of fostering forgiveness and compassion, adds to the creation of an environment in which judgment, intolerance and retribution flourish.

Unity not division

Protectionist ideals flourish in an atmosphere of fear, of economic instability and an unstable political environment; such insecure conditions strengthen inward-looking insular attitudes allowing the divisive ‘us versus them’ ideology to become the norm. Divisions of all kinds feed the idea of separation, create distrust, suspicion and fear; and fear leads to conflict and hate.

A cornerstone of the economic system and many aspects of contemporary life is competition; competition encourages division. Competition and aggression go together: the sense that we must compete or fight to survive, that others – especially others that are dissimilar – are regarded as opponents, rivals, competitors wanting what we have, which we must defend at all costs. Trust is nowhere in such an unjust world, society fractures along flag waving lines, violence erupts.

One of the consequences of this combative socio-economic system is inequality – of wealth, income, opportunity, influence, access to culture etc., etc. This social poison fuels a range of ills including mistrust, particularly of ‘the other’, someone who looks, talks and prays differently. Societies with the highest levels of inequality have the lowest levels of trust.

Competition, socio-economic inequality and poverty are not the cause of right-wing extremism, neither is the spread of misinformation or the use of inflammatory language, but collectively they form a powerful force in the creation of circumstances in which negative human tendencies like fear and aggression, are inflamed.

Division in any form, including nationalism, and competition go against human nature; if we are to free the world of all forms of extremism and hate they need to be driven out of society and from the systems under which we live. Unity is the keynote of the times, unity with the greatest level of diversity; modes of living that encourage tolerance and unite people must be actively inculcated. This means rejecting competition and embracing cooperation; it means sharing resources, information and wealth equitably; it means building trust and right relationships. Only then will there be peace within our communities and the wider world.

The Health Care Crisis in Rural America

Barb Kalbach

We’ve got a rural health care emergency on the horizon.

Rural hospitals are closing or teetering on the brink of closure at an alarming rate. More than a hundred have closed since 2005 and hundreds more are on life support. Long-term care facilities are vanishing across rural America or being bought up by large corporations who care about profit, not the care of our loved ones.

Most rural hospitals have even stopped delivering babies — you’ll need to go to the city for that, so plan ahead.

I know firsthand. I’m a registered nurse and lifelong Iowan from the country. I’ve kept a close eye on where we’ve been with health care, and where it appears we’re headed. It’s not looking too good for my community and others if we stay on our current failed path.

Medicaid expansion was supposed to help here in Iowa. It sure didn’t — because we handed the program over to private, for-profit “managed care organizations.” What we got in return was less care — and more services denied, facilities shuttered, and lives lost to corporate greed.

Hospitals that were already struggling now have to submit and re-submit claims to these private companies and wait months, if not years, to get paid. Even without privatized Medicaid, we’d still be facing an impending rural healthcare emergency. Privatization merely hastened what was already happening.

Americans spend about twice as much on health care than any other developed country, but we live shorter lives — even as we create “health care billionaires” that get profiles in magazines like Forbes.

The for-profit healthcare system is an extractive industry, helping to suck the wealth and life out of communities, especially in rural areas. We’re being left behind because the for-profit insurance industry doesn’t see us as worth their time.

Rural hospitals, local nursing homes, and care facilities are the lifeblood of our small towns across the heartland. We’re watching our farms and small towns wither away as the countryside empties out and our health declines.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. A system that puts the wellbeing of our community ahead of the bottom line of a select few can and will deliver the care we need, where and when we need it, and keep our rural communities alive and vibrant.

Which brings us to the Medicare for All Act of 2019 introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state. Instead of allowing private corporations to decide who pays for health care and how much, we would put our financing back into public hands — and our health care decisions back into the hands of patients and their care provider.

Under Medicare for All, virtually all aspects of our health care will be covered. This includes, but isn’t limited to, medical, dental, vision, hearing, prescription drugs, mental health, addiction treatment, and much more.

Medicare for All also covers long-term and in-home care as well. What a gift to our families, especially those that often go unseen by an industry dominated by profit: the elderly and people with disabilities. Long-term and in-home care allows people to stay near their families or in their homes, rooted in the communities we call home.

Perhaps most importantly for Iowa and other rural communities, Jayapal’s bill includes a special projects budget for capital expenditures and staffing needs of providers in rural or medically underserved areas.

Will this cost money? Of course it will. But we’ll actually spend less overall than we’re currently spending in our broken health care system, and we’ll get better and more comprehensive coverage.

For all these reasons, Medicare for All is the prescription America and our rural communities need.