Camargo Core Fellowship Program in Arts and Humanities (Fully-funded to Cassis, France) 2020/2021

Application Deadline: 1st October 2019

Eligible Countries: All

To Be Taken At (Country): Cassis, France

Field of Study: Three main categories are available, and several subcategories for artists’ applications.

• Scholars: applicants should be connected to the Arts and Humanities working on French and Francophone cultures, including but not limited to cross-cultural studies that engage the cultures and influences of the Mediterranean region. To be eligible for a fellowship in the “Scholars” category, applicants are expected either to hold a PhD and a record of post-doctoral scholarship, or to be PhD candidates completing the final stages of research for, or writing of, their dissertation.
• Thinkers: this category includes accomplished professionals and practitioners in cultural and creative fields (such as curators, journalists, critics, urban planners, independent scholars, etc.) who are professionally engaged in critical thought. We are interested in work attuned to the theoretical “arena”, the arts, and society. Like the scholars, they should be working on French and Francophone cultures, including but not limited to cross-cultural studies that engage the cultures and influences of the Mediterranean region.
• Artists (all disciplines): applicants should be the primary creators of a new work/project and have achieved a track record of publications/performances/exhibitions, credits, awards and/or grants. We are interested in artists who have a fully developed, mature artistic voice. Applicants may include those who have been commissioned for multiple projects. When applying, artists will have to choose among the following subcategories: Visual Artists / Choreographers and Performance Artists / Writers and Playwrights / Film, Video and Digital Artists / Composers and Sound Artists / Multidisciplinary Artists.

About the Award: The Camargo Core Program is the historical and flagship program of the Foundation. Each year an international call is launched through which 18 fellows (9 artists and 9 scholars/thinkers) are selected.
The Camargo Core Program offers time and space in a contemplative environment to think, create, and connect. By encouraging groundbreaking research and experimentation, it supports the visionary work of artists, scholars and thinkers in the Arts and Humanities. By encouraging multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, it intends to foster connections between research and creation. The Fellowship is for:

• Research, experiment & create: applicants may apply either with a specific project or a specific area of inquiry on which they would like to work during the residency. An area of inquiry should be specific and represent exploration and investigation in the Fellow’s field. The Camargo Core Program welcomes both open-ended exploration, or more focused works and long-term research projects.
• Exchange & network: during the residency, discussions are held regularly to foster cross-disciplinary exchange between Fellows. In addition, the Camargo Foundation’s Staff provides formal and informal links with local professionals to develop possible creative collaborations between the Fellow and the region.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: 

• Work developed during the residency may be in any language. In the interests of Camargo’s interdisciplinary, multicultural community, candidates must be able to communicate well in English. A basic knowledge of French is useful, but not required.
• The time in Cassis must be spent on the project or area of inquiry proposed to and accepted by the selection committees, and ratified by the Camargo Board of Trustees.
• Fellows must physically be in residence at the Camargo Foundation. This stipulation does not preclude absences during weekends. Frequent or prolonged absences are not acceptable.
• Research should be at a stage that does not require resources unavailable in the Marseille-Cassis-Aix region or online.
• Applicants planning on conducting research in local archives may need to rent a car during their Fellowship at their own expense.
• An evaluation is conducted at the end of the residency period. The Foundation may ask Fellows two to three years after their fellowship for an update on the progress on the project or area of inquiry pursued while at Camargo Foundation.
• A copy of any publication (digital or paper) resulting from work done during the residency should be sent to the Camargo Foundation.
• Any publication, exhibit, or performance resulting from the grant should give credit to the Camargo Foundation.

Selection Criteria: During the review process, eligible applications are reviewed and evaluated in relationship to four criteria:

• the quality of the proposal
• the quality and significance of the professional accomplishments of the applicant
• the connection between the proposal and the Camargo Foundation / Aix-Marseille-Provence area
• the relevance of a residency at the stage of the career of the applicant

Number of Awards: 18 Fellowships/year: 9 artists and 9 scholars/thinkers

Value of Award: 

• A stipend of 250 USD per week is available, as is funding for basic transportation to and from Cassis for the Fellow for the residency. In the case of air travel, basic coach class booked far in advance is covered.
• Fellows may not accept gainful employment that will prevent them from focusing on their project while staying at Camargo. Research leave or other forms of sabbatical are allowed, as fees for occasional lectures or participation in seminars. Additional grants with requirements that do not contradict the conditions of the Camargo Fellowship are encouraged.
• Spouses/adult partners and dependent minor children may accompany fellows for short stays or for the duration of the residency. Accompanying children must be at least six years old upon arrival and enrolled in and attending school or organized activities outside the Camargo Foundation campus, during the week.
• The Camargo Foundation’s campus includes twelve furnished apartments, a reference library, a music/conference room, an openair theater, an artist’s studio with darkroom, and a composer’s studio. The Camargo Foundation does not have a dance studio.

Duration of Program: The Camargo Core Program consists of fellowship residencies of six to eleven weeks.
The dates for 2020/2021 are:

• Fall 2020: 8 weeks from September 8 to November 3
• Spring 2021: 6 weeks from February 23 to April 6, 8 weeks from February 23 to April 20, or 11 weeks from February 23 to May 11

How to Apply: Applications should be submitted via Submittable and can be accessed here
The application form must be submitted in English, the supporting materials (CV, work samples, etc.) can be submitted either in English or French.

• It is important to go through all application requirements in the Award Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

UK Government Darwin Fellowship Award for Developing Countries 2020

Application Deadline: 5th November 2019

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries

To Be Taken At (Country): UK

About the Award: The Fellowship programme is intended to support Fellows to draw on UK technical and scientific expertise in the fields of biodiversity and sustainable development to broaden their knowledge and experience.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: Applications for Fellowship funding should come from an organisation (the Lead Organisation) and not an individual. There should be a named individual within the Lead Organisation responsible for the application, called the Project Leader. The host organisation where the individual will carry out the training or research must be in the UK.

The Lead Organisation:

• must have expertise in natural resource management
• can be either a public or private sector organisation
• should provide experts from within the organisation with a proven track record and at the forefront of their discipline(s) to work closely with or supervise the Fellow. This expertise is typically expected to be a minimum of 10 years of relevant experience

Darwin Fellowships will support promising individuals who:

• have a link with a recent or current Darwin Initiative project or
• are currently involved directly in the implementation of the key biodiversity conventions and agreements listed above

Further information is available in the guidance.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: Eligible costs (depending on the nature of the Fellowship) include a monthly subsistence, Lead organisation expenses, travel costs and fees for academic qualifications. Further information on Darwin Fellowship awards can be found in the Darwin Round 25 Guidance.

How to Apply: 

• You will need to apply online for Round 26 Darwin Initiative Fellowship projects through the Flexi grant application portal.
• Before applying, please read the Guidance notes for applicants (round 26)and the The Darwin Initiative: Fellowship award Flexi-Grant user guide.
• Once you have read the guidance, complete the Darwin Fellowship Round 26 application form on the Flexigrant application portal. For drafting purposes, you may find the Darwin Fellowship Round 26 application form (MS Word Document, 292KB) useful.

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: UK Government

Caine Prize for African Writing 2020. Full Travel Scholarship plus £10,000 Prize

Application Deadline: 31st January 2020.

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: African countries

About the Award: The Caine Prize for African Writing is a literature prize awarded to an African writer of a short story published in English. The prize was launched in 2000 to encourage and highlight the richness and diversity of African writing by bringing it to a wider audience internationally. The focus on the short story reflects the contemporary development of the African story-telling tradition.

Offered Since: 2000

Type: Contest

Eligibility: 

• Unpublished work is not eligible for the Caine Prize.
• Submissions should be made by publishers only.
• Only fictional work is eligible.
• Only one story per author will be considered in any one year.
• Submissions should specify which African country the author comes from and the word count.
• We require 6 copies of the work in its originally published version.
• If the work is published in a book or journal, we would like to receive at least one copy of the book / journal and five photocopies; but particularly where several stories are submitted from one anthology we would like if possible to receive six copies of the book / journal itself.
• If the work is published online, we would like to receive six photocopies.

Please note that works which do not conform to the criteria will not be considered for the prize. Please do not waste your own time and postage by sending in material which is unsuitable. Works not eligible for entry include stories for children, factual writing, plays, biography, works shorter than 3000 words and unpublished work. If you are not sure whether your work is eligible, please email us for advice.

Number of Awardees: 5

Value of Contest: Winning and short-listed authors will be invited to participate in writers’ workshops in Africa, London and elsewhere as resources permit. There is a cash prize of £10,000 for the winning author and a travel award for each of the short-listed candidates (up to five in all). The shortlisted candidates will also receive a Prize of £500. The winner is also invited to go to three literature festivals in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria.

How to Apply: There is no application form. To apply please send six original published copies of the work for consideration to the Caine Prize office including a letter from the publisher.

• If the work is published in a book or journal, we would like to receive at least one copy of the book / journal and five photocopies; but particularly where several stories are submitted from one anthology we would like if possible to receive six copies of the book / journal itself.
• If published in a magazine or journal we will accept one original copy plus five photocopies, but would prefer six original copies.
• If the work is published online, we would like to receive six printed copies.
• Address and post the eligible submission to:

The Caine Prize for African Writing
51 Southwark Street
London
SE1 1RU

Visit Contest Webpage for details

Slovak Government National Scholarship Programme 2019/2020 for International Students, Teachers, Researchers and Artists

Application Deadline: 31st October 2019 (16:00 CET)

Eligible Countries: International

To Be Taken At (Country): Slovakia

About the Award: The National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic supports mobility of international students, PhD students, university teachers, researchers and artists for scholarship stays at higher education institutions and research organisations in Slovakia.

Type: Short Courses/Training

Eligibility: Eligible applicants for a scholarship in the framework of the NSP:

A) students who:

• are university students at universities outside Slovakia;
• are students of the second level of higher education (master’s students), or are students who at the time of application deadline have already completed at least 2.5 years of their university studies in the same study programme;
• will be on a study stay in Slovakia during their higher education outside Slovakia and who will be accepted by a public, private or state university in Slovakia for an academic mobility¹ to study in Slovakia.

All 3 conditions must be met. This category does not apply to doctoral (PhD) studies (or their equivalent).

B) PhD students whose higher education or scientific training takes place outside Slovakia and who are accepted by a public, private or state university or a research institution in Slovakia eligible to carry out a doctoral study programme² (e.g. the Slovak Academy of Sciences) for an academic mobility¹ to study/conduct research in Slovakia.

C) international university teachers, researchers and artists who are invited to a teaching/research/artistic stay in Slovakia by an institution with a valid certificate of eligibility to carry out research and development, which is not a business company and it has its headquarters in Slovakia.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: The scholarship is intended to cover international scholarship holders’ living costs, i.e. the costs related to staying in Slovakia (food, accommodation, etc.), during their study, research/artistic or teaching stay at universities and in research organisations in Slovakia. The scholarship holder can ask for assistance concerning accommodation and formalities related to entering and staying in the territory of the Slovak Republic either his/her host institution, or he/she can handle all the necessities him-/herself.
In addition, students and PhD students (eligible applicants under the category A) and B) can be awarded a travel allowance, if they apply for it along with their scholarship application.

Duration of Program: 

• Duration of a scholarship stay (students): 1 – 2 semesters (i.e. 4 – 5 or 9 – 10 months) or 1 – 3 trimesters, in case the academic year is divided into trimesters (i.e. 3 – 4 or 6 – 7 or 9 – 10 months).
• Duration of a scholarship stay (PhD students): 1 – 10 months.
• Duration of a scholarship stay (university teachers, researchers or artists): 1 – 10 months.

How to Apply: Scholarship applications are submitted online at www.scholarships.sk. Online application system is opened at least 6 weeks prior to the application deadline. Applications can be filled in only in case that the online application system has already been opened.
Applicants must fill in their online applications and upload all the required attachments in required format to their online application. It is necessary to go through the Application Procedure in the Program Webpage (Link below) before applying.

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.


Important Notes: Applicants are recommended not to submit their applications at the last moment. Number of operations executed within the last minutes prior to the application deadline may have an influence on the reaction time of the application system. Please, keep that in mind, in order not to miss the application deadline

Preventing TB is a critical cog in the wheel to #endTB and #endAIDS

Bobby Ramakant

Every case of active tuberculosis (TB) disease comes from an individual with latent TB infection. And every new case of latent TB infection is a sign of failing infection control, as someone with active TB disease transmitted the bacteria to an uninfected person. Quarter of world’s population has latent TB. TB continues to be the most common opportunistic infection among people living with HIV, and also, the lead cause of death. With TB being preventable, treatable and curable, we need to do a lot more to make this slogan a reality.

In addition to boosting infection control, scientific evidence is piling up that TB preventive therapy should be a standard of care to protect people (with latent TB) from active TB disease.

Hundreds of participants who attended the TB HIV Symposium organized by Stop TB Partnership with partners, before the 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019) opened in Mexico, echoed a strong Call To Action to reach out to 6 million people living with HIV with TB preventive treatment.

People living with HIV but dying of TB

According to the last WHO Global TB Report, 300,000 people living with HIV died of TB in 2017. “TB is the biggest killer among people living with HIV. We cannot reduce the mortality among people living with HIV without addressing TB. It is very important for people who are working with HIV national programmes and partners to increasingly focus their attention on TB. In the past TB-HIV interface area has been dominated by significant work from the TB programme, and I must say, not so much from the HIV programme. But now things are changing” said Dr Suvanand Sahu, Deputy Executive Director, Stop TB Partnership.

Benefits of TB preventive TB therapy have been known since 60 years. Till recently, there has been very limited scale up, even in the target group such as people living with HIV. In September 2018 at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, a special UN High Level Meeting (UNHLM) on TB was attended by heads and representatives of several countries globally. Promises made at this UNHLM gives hope for stronger response towards ending TB.

“We have a UNHLM target of putting 30 million people on TB preventive treatment, which includes specific goal of putting 6 million people living with HIV (PLHIV) on TB preventive therapy. PLHIV come in regular contact with HIV programmes to receive their anti-retroviral therapy so it is very important for HIV programmes to prioritise provision of TB preventive therapy. TB preventive therapy significantly reduces the risk of getting active TB disease. It is a standard of care as every person who is offered HIV care should also be offered TB preventive therapy (after ruling out active TB disease and any other contraindications). We have lagged behind in this aspect of TB-HIV collaborative activities that are needed and now there are great opportunities with the UNHLM target to make progress in this area” said Dr Sahu in an interview with CNS (Citizen News Service, www.citizen-news.org).

“TB preventive therapy is not the only activity that involves TB and HIV programmes to collaborate and work synergistically, as there are many other areas too. It is very important that right at the start of the HIV conference we get reminded that TB is the biggest killer among people living with HIV and there are tools, interventions, that are available that needs to be scaled up to prevent people living with HIV from dying from TB” emphasized Dr Sahu.

Call to action on preventing TB launched at IAS 2019

Noted human rights activist and South Africa based HIV advocate from Global Network of People Living wih HIV, Wim Vandevelde, shared a Call To Action, for a coordinated HIV and TB response to reach 6 million people living with HIV with tuberculosis preventive treatment.

This robust Call To Action, is reproduced here: “TB is not only treatable and curable but also preventable. Successful interventions over the past 50 years provide compelling evidence that ending the epidemic is feasible and achievable. The 2018 UNHLM on TB provide a historic and opportune moment for the global community to put the TB response back on track. It reminded us that ending the epidemic requires tackling broader health risk factors and determinants of the disease, in addition to traditional biomedical responses.

Today, with the advent of newer and more effective options, the scale-up of TB preventive treatment has become a cornerstone in the effort to avert TB morbidity and mortality. This was recognized by the UNHLM Declaration, which announced its ambitious goal to prevent TB in “at least 30 million people, including 4 million children under five years of age, and 6 million people living with HIV by 2022.” We, the participants, gathered at the ‘TB/HIV 2019 Symposium’ held on 20 July 2019 in Mexico City, recognize that a new era in TB prevention is upon us. As representatives of the TB and HIV communities, we commit to push for a renewed TB/HIV public health paradigm and to advocate for the protection of people living with HIV so that no one dies of TB.

We call upon all UN Member States, organizations of the UN system, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, the corporate sector, foundations, donors, national governments and the international community to promote enabling environments that reduce the burden of TB among people living with HIV by scaling up TB treatment and prevention.

Therefore, we advance the following five actions that stakeholders can undertake in order to eliminate TB in people living with HIV:

1. Sustain the necessary funding for both TB and HIV: Increasing the momentum of the TB and HIV response by urging leadership from political, religious and civil society leaders at all levels to approach expenditure in health as an investment that will generate value to their societies and economies.
2. Galvanize stakeholders at all levels to ensure access to TB and HIV services and models of care that have affected individuals and communities at their core: Prioritising multi-stakeholder and coordinated HIV and TB responses as the driver for a reformed public health paradigm. Implementing evidence-based interventions, rolling out prevention services and consolidating health services towards universal health coverage. Together with HIV treatment, preventive therapy can reduce the risk of TB disease in people living with HIV by up to 90%.
3. Accelerate research and development of technology innovations, including diagnosis, treatment and vaccines: Dedicating resources, with all high-burden and G20 countries investing a proportion of their Gross Domestic Expenditure will expedite efforts in the research and development of new technologies. This will also rapidly increase the uptake of new tools to prevent and treat TB and HIV.
4. Decrease the burden of combined HIV and TB stigma: Ensuring that national programmes strike a balance between standardized public health responses and innovative solutions to better support the realities of the communities and individuals affected by TB and HIV. Honouring the rights of people living with HIV and affected by TB, and decreasing gender-related barriers, stigma and discrimination will go a long way to decreasing vulnerability to TB and HIV in all societies.
5. Commit to outstanding programmatic performance: Striving for quality and implementing initiatives that are routinely geared, monitored and evaluated towards reaching TB and HIV targets at the country, regional and global levels, including through accountability frameworks.”

Persons with latent TB infection do not feel sick and do not have any symptoms. They are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but do not have TB disease. Persons with latent TB infection are not infectious and cannot spread TB infection to others. Overall, without treatment, about 5 to 10% of latent TB infected persons will develop active TB disease at some time in their lives. That is why it is a human right and a standard of care that every person with latent TB should get preventive therapy which will drastically reduce the risk of developing active TB disease. Without addressing latent TB and ’emptying latent TB pool’, it is not possible to end TB or AIDS.

Climate change: UAE and Russia eye geopolitical and commercial mileage

James M. Dorsey

Climate change, much like war, could prove to be a geopolitical and commercial gold mine. At least, that is the take of DP World, Dubai’s global port operator, and Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.

DP World is partnering with the fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to create an all-year round maritime sea route from Europe to Asia through the Arctic.

“Time is money in business and the route could cut travel time substantially more than traditional trade arteries for cargo owners in the Far East wanting to connect with Europe, coupled with benefits to the Russian economy,” DP World chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem told the Arab News.

In partnering with DP World, RFID brings to the table Rosatom, Russia’s atomic energy agency, which operates nuclear-powered ships that could ply the route, and Norilsk Nickel, a mining and commodities company.

Dubai and Russia are betting that climate change, which has dramatically shrunk the Arctic ice sheet in the past two decades, has made possible what eluded Europeans for centuries: ensuring that the Northeast Passage linking the Northern Atlantic with the Pacific is accessible all year round even if rail remains faster than carrying cargo by ship.

The commercial and geopolitical implications of all year-round passage are significant.

Beyond challenging the status of the Suez Canal as the foremost link between the Atlantic and the Pacific, the Artic route would grant Russia the one thing it has so far failed to achieve in its partnership with China: a key role in the transportation linkages between Europe and Asia that the People’s Republic is seeking to create with massive investment in its Belt and Road initiative.

That role would be bolstered by the fact that the Arctic route would cut the maritime journey from Northeast Asia from somewhere between 34 and 45 days through the Suez Canal to 23 days via the Northeast Passage.

“Because of global warming, there are some things happening that open some opportunities. Russia has this frozen coast all of the seasons. Now it’s opening up and it’s possible to navigate for nine months. When you have special ships, you can actually have 12 months navigation,” RFID CEO Kirill Dmitriev told the Saudi paper.

The partnership with Dubai gives a new laese on life to Russian aspirations to become a key node in Belt and Road linkages after Russia failed to persuade China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group (CREEC) to invest in converting the Trans-Siberian Railway into a high-speed link that would connect St. Petersburg with the Far East.

CREEC last year definitively dashed Russian hopes, declaring that the “the high-speed rail through Russia will never pay off.”

In a further setback, China simultaneously opted for an east-west road link through Kazakhstan after efforts to complete a Moscow-St. Petersburg highway as well as a ring road around the Russian capital and a Volga-Kazakhstan road stalled.

Frustrated with the lack of Chinese interest, state-run Russian Railways is itself investing heavily and reaching out to Japan to significantly increase freight traffic on the almost 9,300-kilometre-long trans-Siberian route.

The rail company aims to increase by a factor of 100 the number of containers transported from Japan to Europe from 3.000 last year to 300,000 and tonnage by 50 percent from less than 90 million to 180 million, according to Russian Railways first vice president Alexander Misharin.

Mr. Misharin told Nikkei that the investment, including US$745 million last year, involves laying double tracks, linking the railroad to seaports and automating the system.

Mr. Misharin was hoping to cooperate with Japan Railways Group to create a door-to-door cargo transportation system between Japan and Europe that would reduce transportation time to at most 19 days. He said the Russian rail company was looking at building logistics centres with Japanese trading firm Sojitz.

Upgrading the Trans-Siberian Railway would significantly bolster Russia’s geography as a key bridge in the emergence of Eurasia, the gradual integration of Europe and Asia that ultimately would erase the seemingly artificial division of one landmass into two continents.

It would also significantly facilitate linking the railway to the Belt and Road by making it financially feasible.

That is less far-fetched with China Railway International Group lending Russia US$6.2 billion for the construction of a 790-kilometre long Moscow-Kazan high speed rail line, envisioned as the first phase of a link between the Russian capital and Beijing that would cut travel between the two cities to two days.

To secure the loan, Russia agreed to use Chinese technology and construction equipment.

Russia has also expressed interest in linking its Trans-Siberian Railway to the Chinese-controlled Pakistani port of Gwadar, a Belt and Road crown jewel.

Russia is betting that the combination of the Northeast Passage and upgraded Trans-Siberian rail links would make its positioning as a transit hub significantly more attractive.

That is true even though the Northeast Passage is too shallow for giant box ships that traverse the Suez Canal and lacks the kind of ports capable of accommodating those vessels. The Passage is likely to see primarily smaller container ships.

One way or the other, DP World, expecting to operate ports that Russia plans to build along an Arctic route, would emerge a winner by expanding its global footprint. “We were always missing Russia. Russia is a link,” DP World’s Mr. Sulayem said.

Said Russian shipping giant Sovcomflot CEO Sergey Frank: “Trade is growing and there is space for everybody. If the cargo originates in the south part of China, it will go through the Suez. If it originates in Northern China, the NSR (Northern Sea Route) will be seriously considered. Cargo will always find the fastest way to move.”

China’s risky bets

James M. Dorsey

China’s infrastructure and energy driven US$1 trillion Belt and Road initiative involves risky bets across a swath of land populated by often illiberal or autocratic governments exercising power without independent checks and balances.

Seeking to reduce risk, China is bumping up against the limits of its own long-standing foreign and defence policy principles, foremost among which its insistence on non-interference in the domestic affairs of others, the equivalent of the United States’ preference for stability rather than political change.

If popular revolts in Algeria and Sudan as well as smaller, issues-oriented protests elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa are anything to go by, China appears to be betting against the odds.

Anti-corruption sentiment fuelled the 2011 popular Arab revolts that toppled the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen and are at the root of current anti-government protests across the globe in countries as far flung as Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Russia, Zambia, the Czech Republic,Albania and Romania

China’s risks were evident in the wake of the fall in 2011 of Col. Moammar Gaddafi when the post-revolt Libyan authorities advised China that it would be low on the totem pole as a result of its support of the ancien regime.

The risks are also evident with Baloch militants targeting Chinese assets and personnel in Pakistan.

To minimize the risk and expand its aggressive domestic anti-graft campaign, China’s top anti-corruption body, the Communist party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), is embedding inspectors in Belt and Road projects, who will be based in recipient countries.

The move helps China counter allegations that it exploits corruption in recipient Belt and Road countries to further its objectives.

Anti-corruption is a signature policy of president Xi Jinping and has allowed him to purge senior Chinese leaders as well as tens of thousands of low-level bureaucrats.

The CCDI is building on the success of a pilot project in Laos where it embedded in late 2017 inspectors in a US$6 billion railway project being built by state-owned China Railway Group. The anti-graft officials, working with the Chinese company, established a joint inspection team with their Laotian counterpart.

The question is whether the anti-corruption effort in countries like Laos or Central Asian nations that consistently rank in the bottom half of Transparency International’s corruption index will bump up against China’s non-interference principle.

Or in other words, can China successfully guard against corruption in Belt and Road projects without pressuring recipient countries to adopt broader transparency and anti-corruption measures?

“How can you strike hard on corruption here at home and give a free hand to Chinese people and business groups [that are] reckless abroad?” CCDI’s director-general for international co-operation La Yifan asked in a Financial Times interview.

Mr. La said China had organized seminars with more than 30 countries to link up anti-corruption regulators. “That is my dream, that we create a network of law enforcement of all these Belt and Road countries,” he said.

Imposing transparency and anti-corruption in Belt and Road partners would be the equivalent of all kinds of environmental, safety and human rights criteria that the United States haphazardly and opportunistically maintains in dealings with foreign countries that have been severely criticized by China.

China has long prided itself on what it terms win-win economic situations in which it imposes commercial terms that often primarily benefit the People’s Republic.

The terms, coupled with the clampdown on Turkic Muslims in China’s province of Xinjiang, has fuelled anti-Chinese sentiment in Turkey and Central Asia with their close ethnic and cultural ties to the troubled Chinese region.

Turkish officials highlighted these sensitivities by denying Chinese media reports that president Recep Tayyip Erdogan had praised the success of Beijing’s brutal approach in Xinjiang during a recent visit to China.

Muslim nations have largely remained silent about the clampdown that amounts to the most frontal assault on a faith in recent history or in some instances even tacitly endorsed it.

In the absence of democracy, “governments can manage their pro-Beijing stance without informing their public, but a pro-Beijing policy over the Uyghur issue can barely be sustained in Turkey. Turkey is still a functioning democracy and total control of the public is not possible. Besides, there is a very strong Uyghur lobby and public sentiment towards the Uyghurs in Turkey,” said Turkish Centre for Asia-Pacific Studies director Selcuk Colakoglu.

Taking its anti-corruption campaign global, raises the broader question of whether it would threaten a pillar of autocracy that China’s non-interference principle has de facto sought to perpetuate.

Political scientists Alexander Cooley and John Heathershaw argue that what they call the instruments of global authoritarianism — an army of largely Western bankers, lawyers, brokers and intermediaries that park illicitly gained monies in off-shore accounts and manage the investment of those funds – help keep autocrats in power.

The success of the globalization of China’s anti-corruption effort as well as its campaign to significantly reduce graft at home, would establish autocrats’ ability to satisfactorily deliver public goods and services alongside brute power as the cornerstone of their sustainability.

In doing so, it would give greater meaning to China’s assertion that it does not want to fundamentally alter the established multi-lateral world order but rather make it more equitable and more a reflection of a world that is multi- not unipolar.

It would also cement China’s model of economic reform and state capitalism without political liberalization as the example autocratic and authoritarian regimes want to emulate even if the jury is out on whether autocrats can remain relatively clean without a system of independent checks and balances.

Japan’s ruling party wins upper house election

Ben McGrath

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) took the majority of seats up for election in Sunday’s upper house race. The final results leave the LDP and its ruling coalition short of the necessary two-thirds it needs to approve a constitutional change, but workers and youth should place no faith in the so-called opposition to fight a genuine campaign against remilitarization.

Voter turnout in Sunday’s contest reached only 48.8 percent, the second lowest on record. Voter turnout among youth, aged 18 and 19, was particularly low, standing at only 31.33 percent. Japan’s upper house, or House of Councilors, holds elections every three years for half the 245 seats in the body. Members are elected to six-year terms. The lower house in the National Diet is the more powerful of the two.

The LDP won 57 seats out of 124 in the race while its coalition partner Komeito took 14. Including the independents and the opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai, which won 10 seats, parties favoring revising Article 9 of Japan’s constitution hold 160 seats, or four short of a two-thirds majority. Article 9 is known as the pacifist clause for its ban on a standing military and Japan’s ability to wage war. Constitutional amendments require passage by two-thirds majority in both houses of the Diet and then by a national referendum.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to insert a clause into Article 9 to directly recognize the Self-Defense Forces (SDF), the formal name of Japan’s military. Combined with military legislation passed in 2015, this would accelerate Tokyo’s ability to send the SDF overseas in wars of aggression. He held a hand out to the opposition parties on Monday, stating, “Although we have provided a basis for debate (on Article 9), which we believe is the best, we want to have flexible discussions without sticking to our proposal.”

Among the election bloc of parties claiming to defend Article 9, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) won 17 seats, increasing its total strength to 32 while the Democratic Party for the People (DPP) won only six seats, a loss of two from pre-election numbers, bringing its total to 21. The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) won seven seats, a net loss of one, reducing its overall total to 13 seats. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) retained its seat up for reelection. It holds two in the upper house.

While typhoon rains in western Japan may have played some role in the low turnout, the reality is the official opposition is discredited in the eyes of the working class and youth. It is this lack of a political alternative in Japan that allows Abe’s LDP to maintain power despite broad opposition to remilitarization and its economic agenda.

This opposition was confirmed in a Kyodo news survey after the election in which 56 percent of respondents stated they opposed revising Article 9. If the CDP, DPP, Japan’s Stalinists, and the social democrats cannot win support based on this, it is because they support, either directly or tacitly, Japan’s remilitarization.

None of these parties sought to build on the antiwar movement that developed in 2015 against the LDP’s military legislation. Rather, they deeply fear that such a movement would grow outside of their control and represent a threat to capitalism as a whole. This is especially true for the JCP, which is one reason it provides an extremely thin left-wing cover for the Democrats, hoping to convince workers and youth that an election bloc is the only way to stop Abe’s agenda.

In pre-election debates, Yukio Edano and Yuichiro Tamaki, the leaders of the CDP and DPP respectively, rejected attempts to galvanize support based on an antiwar perspective. They accepted the passage of a revised Article 9 as an accomplished fact, instead arguing with Abe over reforms to the national referendum law. Both know, as do the JCP and SDP, that there is widespread support, particularly in the more conservative DPP, for constitutional revision, a fact that was covered up during the election.

Taking advantage of the bankruptcy of these parties, a new political grouping called Reiwa Shinsengumi has gained wider support, though it only won two seats. It is led by Taro Yamamoto, a former actor who gained political prominence for his criticisms of nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster in 2011. He won an upper house seat in 2013, but lost in this election despite receiving 970,000 votes, a record for the most votes received by an unsuccessful candidate.

Yamamoto poses as a political outsider. However, none of his criticisms of Abe or the LDP go beyond the confines of accepted bourgeois politics. He has called for the abolition of the consumption tax and raising the minimum wage to 1,500 yen ($13.86).

Reiwa Shinsengumi also ran candidates that included members of the LGBT community, single parents, and part-time workers. In a country where the disabled are routinely stigmatized, it became newsworthy that the party’s two successful candidates, Yasuhiko Funago and Eiko Kimura, are both disabled.

This does not alter the bourgeois character of Reiwa Shinsengumi. Yamamoto declared his party will create “a society that doesn't cut anyone off,” but such empty phrases are meant to prevent workers and youth from breaking with the current capitalist system by convincing them it can be reformed.

Furthermore, Yamamoto’s characterization as an “outsider” is entirely for show. He is politically connected to Ichirō Ozawa, currently a member of the DPP and the lower house. Ozawa bolstered Yamamoto’s political credentials when the two formed the People's Life Party and Tarō Yamamoto and Friends in 2014. This became the Liberal Party which was absorbed into the DPP this past April.

Ozawa is the definition of a political insider, winning his late father’s seat in the lower house in 1969. He spent the first part of his political career in the LDP before moving into the opposition circles in the 1990s that comprise the Democrats today. He wields a great deal of influence behind the scenes while also supporting remilitarization and revision of Article 9.

Genuine opposition to remilitarization can only be fought through a clear political program of opposition to war and capitalism. This means above all a complete break with all of these bourgeois parties and a fight for international socialism.

Defective transmissions on Ford vehicles tied to numerous injuries and accidents

Shannon Jones

Ford officials are continuing to stonewall in the wake of revelations of serious transmission problems with the company’s Focus and Fiesta models that can lead to sudden, unexpected acceleration or loss of power.

Numerous injury accidents related to the defect have been reported and more than 4,300 complaints related to the defect have been reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the US government oversight body.

The defect involves the DPS6 transmission, which Ford introduced in the wake of the Great Recession in an attempt to meet new federal gas economy standards. The transmission works for the driver like an automatic but operates internally more like a manual.

Ford marketed the car as an affordable vehicle that would get good gas mileage using high tech dual clutch technology that improved overall drive-train efficiency.

Soon after the new transmission hit the streets dealers began receiving complaints from customers. The Fiesta was the first model equipped with the DPS6 and it was rolled out in March 2010, followed by the focus in March 2012.

An investigation by the Detroit Free Press uncovered internal company memos showing that engineers were well aware of the problems before the launch of the transmission, but company officials decided to cover up the defect and install the equipment anyway.

Shortly after the story ran, Ford quietly sent a note to dealers instructing them to fix problems with the transmission for free for the next week. There was reportedly a spike in customer visits to Ford dealers following the Free Press report.

In response to the reports, Ford wrote, “After the new transmission was on the road, other problems developed. We acted quickly and determinedly to investigate the problems. ... While we eventually resolved the quality issues, the solutions were more complex and took longer than we expected. We regret the inconvenience and frustration that caused some consumers.”

Despite Ford’s repeated insistence that the transmission defect was not a safety issue, there have been documented serious injury collisions related to the sudden acceleration or loss of engine power caused by the faulty transmission.

The driver of a 2012 Ford Focus told federal safety regulators “I was stopped at a parking lot exit waiting to enter a thoroughfare, engine idling, with my foot lightly on the brake. Suddenly, the car accelerated forward, into the traffic lane, as though someone had pressed the accelerator pedal to the floor. I took a 45 mph T-bone on my driver’s side door. [My] wife suffered severe injuries and was only saved by her air bag.”

The Free Press reported other similar horror stories, including vehicles stalling at high speeds and being rear-ended.

Long before the initial launch Ford engineers knew of issues with the DPS6, but management applied pressure to go ahead anyway.

Following the release of the 2012 Focus, which was 300 pounds heavier than the Fiesta, problems got worse. There was a reported 10-fold increase in complaints to dealers. But Ford remained adamant that there was no need for a fix. One engineer noted in an internal memo the “high cost of substituting a different transmission in low-cost vehicles with a thin profit margin.”

Engineers at all levels knew of the problems but were pressured to keep quiet. “The weight of the company is on your shoulders and it’s incredibly stressful and intense,” said one engineer.

In 2013, a Florida dealer wrote in an email, “I’m tired of looking like the bad guy for repairing all these DPS6 transmissions, when truthfully Ford’s the bad guy here. Let’s be honest. Ford produces a horrible product and we trans guys get the wrath of it.”

As complaints and reports of accidents piled up, the NHTSA finally became involved. However, as in the case of the notorious General Motors ignition switch defect, NHTSA moved to cover up the seriousness of the problem and defend Ford management, not protect the public. After a conference with Ford officials in 2014, NHTSA decided not to order a recall or even launch a formal investigation.

Instead of a fix, Ford proposed installing a warning system that would alert drivers when the car was about to slip into neutral.

Currently there are several class action lawsuits against Ford, including one based in federal court in Los Angeles covering 1.9 million owners and former owners. Ford lost its only trial case to date on the defect, being forced to pay out $700,000.

Currently no deaths are attributed to the faulty transmission, but that is hard to track since police crash investigators would likely not look for the possibility of a transmission failure. However, many serious injury accidents related to the defect have been documented involving thousands of dollars in hospital bills.

An official with the watchdog group Center for Auto Safety told the Free Presshe was concerned by the refusal of NHTSA to investigate. “The law is specific where you don’t need to wait for a body count. It may be we don’t know of further tragedies, not that there haven’t been some.”

Like the GM ignition switch cover-up and the Takata exploding airbag scandal, the latest revelations of faulty transmissions with the Fiesta and Focus underscore the incompatibility of a system based on production for profit with the health and safety of the public.

No credibility should be given to the calls by Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ed Markey of Massachusetts for a safety investigation. Both Democratic and Republican administrations have collaborated in the transformation of NHTSA into a toothless front for the auto companies. Grossly underfunded, the agency regularly turns a blind eye to even the most egregious safety violations in order to shield corporate malefactors from liability.

That was the case in the GM ignition switch scandal, where only the determined action of accident victims and their families finally led to the forced recall of the dangerous vehicles. In the end, no high-ranking GM officials were held criminally responsible. The company merely faced slap-on-the-wrist fines that amounted to exoneration.

The incessant profit demands of Wall Street are forcing relentless cost cutting by the auto companies at all levels. Over the past year, Ford, GM, VW and other companies have slashed tens of thousands of jobs globally, including engineers and technicians.

The Ford transmission scandal follows the revelations that VW, Fiat Chrysler, Renault, Volvo, Hyundai, Ford, Subaru and other carmakers deliberately manipulated software to cover up violations of emissions and fuel efficiency standards. It also follows the criminal actions by Boeing related to the 737 Max, which led to the deaths of hundreds of people.

Industry analysts have made much of the new technologies, including electrical and self-driving vehicles, that will profoundly change the global auto industry. Under capitalism, however, these technological breakthroughs will not be harnessed for the benefit of society as a whole. The cost of developing these technologies has already led to a wave of global mergers and acquisitions, including the Ford and VW tie-up, mass layoffs and demands that autoworkers in the US and around the world accept more wage and benefit concessions.

As the Ford transmission scandal shows, the relentless drive for profit leads to a reckless disregard of the health and safety of the traveling public, making systematic cover-up a business necessity. This situation can only be resolved through the transformation of the global auto industry into a publicly owned utility under the democratic control of the working class.

Boris Johnson premiership deepens Brexit crisis and heralds bitter class conflict

Robert Stevens

Boris Johnson won the leadership of the ruling Conservative Party Tuesday after decisively defeating Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt by a two to one margin. Johnson will take over as prime minister today from Theresa May, after she resigns following her last Prime Minister’s Questions session in parliament.

The pro-Brexit Johnson defeated Jeremy Hunt, a supporter of the Remain campaign in 2016, by 92,153 votes to 46,656. Johnson won 66 percent of the vote of 139,000 Tory members on an 87 percent turnout. Like May, Johnson has not become prime minister based on any popular vote, but via the tiny proportion of the population represented by the aging right-wing Tory membership.

Despite Johnson’s boast in his victory speech that he will “deliver Brexit, unite the country and defeat [Labour leader] Jeremy Corbyn,” his position is precarious.

The Tories are as deeply divided as ever over Brexit. May was forced to resign last month after failing on three occasions to get her deal with the European Union (EU) maintaining tariff-free access to the Single European Market through parliament, in the face of the combined opposition of the pro-Remain opposition parties and her own hard-Brexit faction and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). In April, the EU has set a new deadline for a deal to be agreed by October 31—just 100 days from now.

Ahead of the leadership announcement, the Financial Times declared, “If elected Tory leader…Johnson will call for his party to deliver Brexit and to unite behind him, but few peacetime prime ministers have entered Downing Street facing such a daunting set of political challenges.”

Even before Johnson won the election, May’s chancellor, Philip Hammond, a Remain supporter, pledged that he would resign along with May, as he could not support Britain exiting the EU without a deal, which Johnson has threatened to do. Justice Secretary David Gauke stood down, declaring that he could not work with Johnson. Education Minister Anne Milton did the same, expressing “grave concerns about leaving the EU without a deal.” According to the Financial Times , Hammond “will lead a group of about 30 Tory MPs determined to halt a no-deal exit: a sign of the divided party the new premier will inherit.”

Johnson has less room to manoeuvre than even May. He takes over a party with a wafer-thin parliamentary majority, reliant on the votes of the 10 DUP MPs. The Tories’ working majority now stands at just three seats and could be reduced if they lose a by-election set for August 1. Johnson could therefore be forced to call a snap election in a matter of weeks.

His threats to exit the EU without a deal are opposed by the dominant sections of big business, who were more clearly represented by Hunt. They will not forget Johnson’s response when the issue of continued access to the EU’s markets was raised at a diplomatic gathering in 2018, “Fuck business.”

Moreover, despite efforts to portray Johnson has a popular figure, he and his political agenda are widely despised outside of the rarefied ranks of the Tory party—especially by the working class.

Media commentators have noted that at least half the population is opposed to Brexit and even among supporters there is concern at the potentially devastating social and economic consequences of a no-deal exit.

Johnson has cemented close ties with US President Trump and his inner circle, including his former adviser, the fascistic Steve Bannon, on the basis that Brexit will weaken the EU as a trade and military rival to the US. Trump tweeted his approval immediately after Johnson’s victory, declaring, “He will be great!”

But this alliance will only stiffen the resolve of the EU in rejecting any further concessions to the UK. In response to the bravado of Johnson and his supporters in the European Research Group led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the EU refused to budge on its insistence that the deal agreed with Theresa May is the only one on the table.

In addition, even the Scottish Tories have expressed concern that Johnson’s hard-Brexit stance will strengthen the Scottish National Party and demands for independence, given the overwhelming support for remaining in the EU north of the border.

Most importantly, Johnson’s political agenda is for Brexit to provide the basis for a further massive austerity assault on wages, essential services and labour protections to transform the UK into “Singapore by the Sea.” Among the measures he has suggested is the creation of six free ports where businesses will pay little or no tax and raising the 40 percent income tax threshold from £50,000 to £80,000 to benefit the top 12 percent of earners. But far more serious attacks must come.

The media faithfully accepts Johnson’s carefully cultivated persona of a bumbling gaffe-prone figure, which serves to conceal his vicious anti-working-class agenda. This is a man who was taped agreeing to supply a friend threatening to beat up a journalist with the intended victim’s address, who described black people as “piccaninnies,” and approved a Spectator editorial accusing “drunken” and “mindless” Liverpool fans of responsibility for the deaths of 96 people at Hillsborough Football Stadium in 1989.

As mayor of London, he was asked by firefighters, “Will you accept responsibility in a criminal court when people die as a result of your cuts?” He replied, “Get stuffed!” The following year, 10 fire stations were closed in the capital and nearly 600 firefighters’ jobs lost. These cuts contributed to the 72 lives lost in the Grenfell Tower inferno—blood on Johnson’s hands.

Political responsibility for such an individual being able to assume leadership of a despised Tory government—as the third UK prime minister since 2016—must be laid at Jeremy Corbyn’s door.

Corbyn has spent almost four years as Labour leader suppressing the demands of his own supporters for the right-wing to be driven out of the party and for him to take the fight to the Tories. There has been one retreat by Corbyn after another—accepting Trident, NATO membership, allowing a free vote on war in Syria, opposing mandatory reselection of MPs and now accepting the right-wing’s slander that the “left” is anti-Semitic and promising to speed up expulsions.

His desire to maintain party unity and convince big business that he could be trusted as prime minister saw his sitting down to Brexit talks with May and abandoning demands for a general election. Even now, after Johnson’s election, Corbyn responded to a question from the BBC asking whether Labour will table a vote of no confidence in the new prime minister with the evasive response, “We’ll decide when that will be—it’ll be an interesting surprise for all you.”

The net result of Corbyn’s political leadership has been to exclude the working class from intervening in its own interests in the worst crisis the bourgeoisie has faced since the Second World War. But this must and will change. The lurch to the right that characterises both pro- and anti-Brexit factions within the ruling class can only be fought through the building of a new and genuinely socialist and internationalist leadership, the Socialist Equality Party. Against all attempts to divide the working class over Brexit, a unified struggle for socialism must be waged in alliance with workers throughout Europe and internationally.