Daily Archives: April 22, 2022

Max Lubbers/Daily Senior Staffer

Master Gardener Tiffany Christian presses on a soil bed during a clean up of West End Garden on April 3. Youth learned how to weed and plant seeds at the event.

In a corner of Perry Park, Evanston residents gather to pull out weeds and plant new seeds at West End Garden. But beyond the soil, something else is growing: a community grounded in abolition.

Master Gardener Tiffany Christian said abolition involves tearing down prisons and getting rid of policing, but it also extends to making land and food accessible.

We want to make sure that people live happy, healthy and safe lives, she said. Sometimes people think of these issues as very separate, but they address the whole person.

Organizers of the abolitionist collective Evanston Fight for Black Lives and edible garden group Evanston Grows said they formed West End Garden last May. As the garden approaches its one-year anniversary this spring, organizers said theyre continuing to reimagine gardening as an act of liberation. They said they focus on centering Black residents and their experiences with the environment.

During the winter, organizers created a book club to read about agricultural resistance and Black freedom. Christian said she hopes the garden itself can also serve as a place of healing for Black residents.

Land was the site of Black peoples oppression through enslavement, but it also was a site where they could take refuge because gardening is a part of living, she said. The ability to grow your own food, be outside and get to know the place you live is very liberatory.

Since the gardens opening, organizers said theyve harvested 300 pounds of produce a number theyre hoping to beat this year. On April 23, the garden will host a Build Day where community members can help construct new soil beds, adding to the current four.

EFBL Organizer and Co-founder of West End Garden Nia Williams said its incredible to see a community spring up around the space.

The main reason why I do this work is being able to form connections, Williams said. We say grounded in abolition, but you cant always be shouting theory to people. You got to actually do what youre preaching.

Providing food is an act of care thats especially important for food-insecure people, Williams said. Located at 1741 Hovland Court in Evanstons 5th ward, the garden is in a census tract where 2041 people about 44% of the tracts population are low-income and must travel at least a half-mile to access a supermarket, according to 2019 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Of that 44%, nearly two-thirds are Black.

Everything grown in the garden is donated to residents, Williams said. Organizers partner with C&W Foundation, which provides free grocery pick-up for older adults. They also stock EFBL community fridges, providing free fresh produce in four locations across Evanston.

But once weekly harvests begin again, nearby neighbors will get the first pick of food. EFBL came together with Hovland Court residents to establish the garden in the aftermath of neighborhood discussions following a shooting on the street last March. They hoped the park could become a safe zone for neighborhood children.

As organizers resumed in-person gardening early April after their winter hiatus, kids played games in the grass beside them. Neighbors also joined in to help clean up the garden. Fifteen-year-old Nevaeh Ransom said she walked down the street from her Hovland Court home to contribute.

I hope I get to learn more about gardening, she said. I always had the need to just help out and do something.

The garden also attracts youth from Evanston Township High School, which is less than a 10-minute walk away. For ETHS sophomore Gabi Evans, West End Garden is a place for her to practice her dream career: farming. But its also a place where she can care for her community.

Between pulling out weeds, she reflected on what the word abolition means to her.

We need to grasp things at the root, she said, referencing a quote from famous abolitionist Angela Davis. Its our best hope. We need a fresh start.

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Twitter: @maxlubbers

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West End Garden seeks to bring justice-focused community gardening to Evanston

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'Grasping things at the root:' Abolition activism grows at West End Garden - Daily Northwestern

This is the second in a two-part series on the major parties Treasury spokespeople. You can read Michelle Grattans profile of Josh Frydenberg here.

Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers decided it would be premature to stand for the Labor leadership after Bill Shortens 2019 election defeat. However, he is likely to be a serious candidate if Anthony Albanese loses the 2022 election. At the least, Chalmers has positioned himself to be a very capable senior minister in an Albanese government.

So who is Jim Chalmers?

He grew up in southern Brisbane and Logan City, in his current electorate of Rankin. He feels

part of all I have met there: the local parents and pensioners, cleaners and kitchen hands, businesses and battlers, tradies and truckies.

His mother Carol was a nurse and his father Graham a courier. A favourite school teacher remembers Chalmers as always going to go into politics.

Chalmers subsequent education suggests he was indeed aiming for a political career. He gained a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Communication from Griffith University, and a PhD in political science from the Australian National University.

Chalmers PhD on Paul Keating studied the sources and constraints of prime ministerial power. He argued Keatings flaws included failing to build a good relationship with the media, and not engaging sufficiently with the concerns and aspirations of voters.

Chalmers had already begun working for the ALP before he completed his PhD. He went on to hold a variety of state and federal government advisory roles, including being former Labor Treasurer Wayne Swans chief of staff.

Chalmers experiences in the Rudd and Gillard governments led to a book, Glory Daze, which defended Labors economic management of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) against critics, particularly the Murdoch press. After the Rudd governments defeat, Chalmers co-authored a book with Mike Quigley on the economic and social policy implications of technological disruption, Changing Jobs: The Fair Go in the New Machine Age.

He is married to Laura Anderson, and they have three children.

Read more: Politics with Michelle Grattan: Jim Chalmers on the budget Labor can't oppose

Chalmers is therefore a somewhat unusual politician, more reflective and intellectual than most. However, he has also established himself as a very capable media performer with excellent communication skills. He is more personable, engaging and better at cutting through than his former boss, Wayne Swan.

But what does he stand for? Chalmers is a member of Labors right faction. In Glory Daze, he defined Labor as standing for intergenerational mobility, aspiration and the Fair Go, while emphasising the importance of sound economic management.

In many respects, those are still Chalmers values. However, there is one key difference. Acceptance of large deficits as a legitimate tool of economic management has grown since COVID-related stimulus spending. Labor increased government debt to fund stimulus packages during the GFC by significantly less than the Coalition has during COVID.

Nonetheless, Rudd and Swan still emphasised the importance of getting back in the black, blaming massively falling government revenues for their failure to do so.

Chalmers now argues it is the quality not quantity of the government spend that is most important. Labors alternative budget should be assessed not on whether its a little bit bigger or a little bit smaller than our opponents but on value for money. He criticises the Morrison government for a history of incompetent expenditure, claiming it wasted billions on French submarines, consultants, unnecessary job keeper payments and electoral pork-barrelling.

He argues the budget deficit is best addressed by ending the Coalitions wasteful spending and rorts, while using government expenditure to increase productivity and grow the economy. Investing in education and training, innovation and developing local business supply chains are central to this agenda. Meanwhile increased funding for childcare and health would have both social and economic benefits.

Chalmers emphasises the need for a future Labor government to work with business. He shares Anthony Albaneses view that Bill Shortens targeting of the big end of town in the last election was a mistake.

Similarly, in line with his previous arguments, Chalmers prioritises encouraging aspiration. Shortens focus on combating increasing class inequality has been replaced by a focus on addressing the cost of living pressures suffered by working families who have experienced increasing prices and declining real wages.

Here, as elsewhere, Chalmers often draws on pre-Shorten Labor strategies. The term working families was widely used by Kevin Rudd in the 2007 election campaign. It can evoke class but is less alienating to business and conservative voters than emphasising economic inequality.

Clearly Chalmers sees the focus on cost of living pressures and aspiration as connecting with voters concerns in a way that he has long argued Labor needs to do.

Meanwhile, the emphasis on working with business is intended to shore up Labors reputation as good economic managers. It reflects a traditional Labor view, strongly reaffirmed by Anthony Albanese, that business and labour have common interests in a healthy, productive economy that generates employment.

Chalmers has repeatedly stressed that Labor is committed to securing an economy and a society stronger after COVID than before. He is attempting to sell a positive message of hope for the 2022 election campaign, while avoiding controversial policies that could unleash Coalition scare campaigns.

However, there are after-effects of the pandemic that may pose major challenges for Labors agenda, especially when combined with the economic fallout of international security issues.

There are good reasons for Labor to tackle wage stagnation and low-paid, precarious work. Nonetheless, Chalmers skates over a potential contradiction in Labors plans to both work closely with business and increase real wages.

Labor argues that it will pursue a Bob Hawke-style consensus with business. However, it conveniently overlooks that Hawkes consensus was reinforced by an Accord process that substituted better government services and benefits for wage rises, eventually leading to real wage cuts.

Read more: Australian politics explainer: the Prices and Incomes Accord

Hawke later admitted that a rationale for the Accord was that employers didnt have to pay as much. Furthermore, even former Labor prime ministers Chifley and Whitlam attempted to restrain real wage increases in times of inflation.

An Albanese Labor government would fund wage rises in aged care. However, many rises would cost the private sector, including in other sectors of predominantly female employment where Chalmers supports substantial real wage increases.

Some far-sighted business people, in highly profitable industries, might accept that wage stagnation has damaged the economy by reducing consumption levels. Nonetheless, pandemic losses, combined with rising supply costs exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, have contributed to many sections of business being even more hesitant to raise their own workers wages now than would usually be the case.

Multiple business leaders and organisations have recently opposed wage rises, or argued for a substantial delay. These range from Restaurant and Catering Australia to the Master Grocers Australia and Timber Merchants Australia.

Meanwhile, the Masters Building Association is mounting a campaign against Labors proposed abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, arguing that it would unleash rogue building unions and risk the economic recovery.

Read more: The story of 'us': there's a great tale Labor could tell about how it would govern - it just needs to start telling it

Widespread business opposition can indeed give rise to perceptions Labor cant manage the economy, with particular implications for voters employed in the private sector. Furthermore, Chalmers praises the opportunities technology provides, including for working from home.

However, increased working from home during the pandemic has also demonstrated that many tasks can be done remotely, thereby exacerbating existing trends towards electronic offshoring to lower wage countries.

Similarly, Labors and Chalmers much vaunted emphasis on education and training, including free TAFE, may no longer be the simple panacea it once was for improving standards of living. As machines become smarter, they replace not just unskilled jobs but many skilled ones as well.

In short, there can be downsides to the benefits technology can bring that Chalmers has arguably underestimated both in recent statements and in his co-authored book on jobs in the Machine Age.

There are also other potential problems with Labors heavy reliance on education and training. Albaneses recent statement that Labors historic task is to move more people into the middle-class gels with Chalmers long-term focus on intergenerational mobility and aspiration.

While it is excellent to provide greater access to skills, training and equal opportunities, what about the traditional working class?

COVID provides lessons here too. There is some truth in the aphorism that during the pandemic the educated middle class often stayed safely working from home while members of the working class brought them things and kept essential services running.

Yet Labor rhetoric about aspiration all too often suggests a major solution to inequality lies in people leaving the working class. Consequently, what attracts aspirationals, risks leaving some traditional supporters feeling alienated and unappreciated.

Labor will also face a host of other economic and social challenges. Ruling out increasing taxes other than on multinationals will still leave major government revenue losses resulting from Howard and Morrison government tax cuts. Increasing revenues from commodities trade with China has temporarily helped the budget bottom line.

However, security concerns and declining trust have resulted in a decoupling of the Australian and Chinese economies. This is likely to worsen as China searches for other markets, with negative implications for the Australian economy.

Admittedly, Chalmers would find it difficult to acknowledge such complex challenges during a small-target election campaign that focuses on promising a positive future. And he may be willing to address at least some future challenges in interesting ways if Labor wins office.

His book Changing Jobs includes a long list of new policy proposals for dealing with the Machine Age. For example, Chalmers and Quigley argue a robot tax is worthy of careful consideration. An opinion piece co-authored with Andrew Charlton (an architect of Kevin Rudds stimulus policies since parachuted in as Labor candidate for Paramatta) argues for the possibility of linking the tax and transfer system to ensure a minimum basic income for those who need it.

A robot tax would encounter major business opposition and is ruled out in the near term by Chalmers rejection of new taxes. But Chalmers recently reaffirmed that a minimum basic income for those who need it would be among the sorts of issues that a Labor government would look at given medium and longer term agendas.

In short, Chalmers may turn out to be a far more innovative politician than his current cautious election rhetoric suggests. Meanwhile, he continues to affirm that Labor governments have historically been better economic managers than the Coalition.

Nonetheless, whoever wins government will face major economic and social challenges.

See the original post here:

If Labor wins the election, he is set to become the next federal treasurer. So who is Jim Chalmers? - The Conversation

JT is reflecting on one of the darkest times of her life. During her appearance on the Abolition X podcast, the rapper talked to Richie Resheda, Indigo Mateo and Vic Mensa about her time in prison and the ways shes grown since being in the pen.

I feel like I got better. Going to prison and coming out gave me more edge in my music when I rap and in my voice. It did put a lot of fear in me too. It put a lot of anxiety in me. It changed me completely, JT explained. My whole life, I have always been painted as a rebellious person and to the point where I started to believe it. If you always tell me that Im the problem, Im going to believe that Im the problem, so now that Im the problem, Im going to be the problem.

JT spent over a year in a Florida prison on credit card fraud charges before being released in 2019. While in jail, she said she felt disconnected from the outside world but received some encouragement from a fellow inmate. Nowadays, shes back at work at City Girls partner, Yung Miami, putting on for the women in rap.

With experiences in jail and on the Coachella stage, JT believes that Black people arent celebrated or allowed to be proud of their highest points. People are more in-tuned with people who are down and out, than people who are up, she said on the podcast. They dont know how to celebrate Black people when they are up.

They are only relatable to Black people when they are down, in fucked up situations, she went on. As soon as you get your first sense of confidence, they like, Who the fuck you think you are?

Listen to JTs full interview below.

Continue reading here:

JT reflects on time in prison - REVOLT

Over the past 5 years, unprecedented results have been achieved in Uzbekistan under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, both in domestic and foreign policy.

One of the central areas among the ongoing reforms in Uzbekistanis comprehensive development of labor relations and the labor market, aimed at improving the quality of life of the population and ensuring human interests, which is in line with the UN sustainable development goals.

In this regard, it should be noted that the key indicators of the development of society and the state have become fundamental changes in the public administration of Uzbekistan, which characterize the consistency, coherence, efficiency and timeliness of the implemented measures in the sphere of labor.

The first is the firm establishment of the principle: It is not the people who serve the state bodies, but the state bodies must serve the people. This allowed all representatives of state bodies to work in conditions of priority of the interests of citizens.

The second is the openness of state bodies. We have shown in practice that thanks to openness, both representatives of civil society and the world community were able not only to receive all the necessary information, to implement various projects, but also to establish direct contacts, which is extremely important in the rapidly changing modern world.

The third is the transformation of the model of development of society, in which the principle of society as the initiator of reforms becomes the main driving force of Uzbekistans democratic renewal and development.

These key factors contributed to the fundamental improvement of all areas, including the labor market and labor relations in general, and play an invaluable role in building the foundation of the Third Renaissance in the conditions of what President Mirziyoyev calls the New Uzbekistan. The main goal of the Uzbek governments efforts is to ensure a comfortable life for its people and to make them look to the future with confidence.

In a short time, not a single sphere and industry, city and district, village and mahalla (residential community associations) remained in our country, where the breath of renewal would not come, President Mirziyoyev said.

Thanks to the political will of President Mirziyoyev, concrete results have been achieved in ensuring human rights and their guarantees, as well as the eradication of forced labor, including child labor. The implemented measures in the field of labor relations have already become exemplary for the world community.

In particular, on March 10, the international coalition Cotton Campaign officially announced the abolition of the cotton boycott against Uzbekistan, thanks to the efforts of President Mirziyoyev to initiate and implement reforms in the field of ending forced labor and developing the cotton sector.

Many reputable international non-governmental organizations, including Human Rights Watch, the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the US Fashion Industry Association, and a number of other organizations, responded positively to the elimination of child and forced labor and called on international brands to cooperate with manufacturers of Uzbek textile products.

In turn, the lifting of the boycott of Uzbek cotton will serve to the creation of millions of new jobs -- especially in rural areas -- as well as attract foreign investment in the textile industry and expand the export potential of Uzbekistan.

The Uzbekistan government declared that child labor was completely eliminated in 2016. Based on this, the European Parliament ratified the inclusion of a textile protocol to the partnership and cooperation agreement between the European Union and Uzbekistan.

The document provides for the removal of quantitative restrictions and the reduction of customs duties when importing 3,000 items of Uzbek textile goods into the countries of the EU. As part of its new status, customs rates for textile products from Uzbekistan were reduced and ranged from 4 to 12 percent.

It should be noted that in 2019, the export of Uzbek textile products to EU countries amounted to $56.7 million, and increased to $74.1 million in 2020. In 2021, it amounted to more than $141.8 million, which is 2 1/2 times the amount recorded in 2016.

In a 2019 US Department of Labor report, Uzbekistan was rated as making moderate advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. Later, the status was upgraded to the second tier.

In October 2020, the US Trade Representative decided to complete the work to review Uzbekistans compliance with the criteria for ensuring labor rights in accordance with the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). As a result, Uzbek cotton was removed from the List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.

Along with this, in December 2020 the European Commission conducted an analysis on the basis of which it was concluded that Uzbekistan met the criteria for participation in the EUs Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+). In April 2021, the GSP+ came into force for Uzbekistan.

In 2021, Uzbekistan improved its position in the Trafficking Against Persons (TIP) Report by upgrading from the Tier Two Watch List to Tier Two.

These successes were achieved as the result of large-scale labor reforms, such as strengthening the legislative and organizational and legal framework; implementation of international standards; reforming agriculture; development of institutional framework; conducting systemic monitoring and research; and activation of cooperation with civil society and relevant international organizations.

Improvement of national legislation

At the national level, 32 new laws were adopted between 2019 to 2021. Several conventions and protocols of the International Labor Organization and the International Organization for Migration were also ratified. In 2021 alone, 16 regulatory acts were adopted, including four laws, two ordinances, four presidential decrees, and six government decrees.

One of the most effective measures was toughening criminal liability for the use of child and forced labor. This brought Uzbekistans legislation into line with ILO Convention No. 29 on forced or compulsory labor.

In addition, taking into account international experience and in order to improve national legislation, the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan On Combating Human Trafficking was adopted in a new edition.

In order to create favorable conditions for Uzbek citizens wishing to work in foreign countries, amendments and additions to the law on private employment agencies were also adopted.

The Oliy Majlis, Uzbekistans parliament, developed and approved a new edition of the Labor Code, designed to protect workers by providing them full and timely payment of wages, favorable conditions and working regimes and most importantly, effective protection of their rights in case of violations.

Uzbekistan is participating in a campaign dedicated to the centenary of the International Labor Organization for the ratification of international labor standards. The republic annually ratifies two ILO conventions on average.

To date, the republic has already ratified 19 ILO conventions, including eight fundamental and four directive conventions.

Development of the organizational and institutional base

The Uzbek government is paying special attention to the development of institutional frameworks to combat human trafficking and forced labor.

The National Commission for Combating Human Trafficking and Forced Labor has been functioning since 2019. It coordinates the activities of all ministries and departments on these issues and works with representatives of civil society and international organizations.

The creation of the National and Territorial Commissions to Combat Human Trafficking and Forced Labor -- as well as the establishment of the institution of the National Rapporteur on these issues -- facilitates comprehensive, coordinated and effective work in this direction.

The National Commission meets to improve the activities of relevant ministries and departments, and strengthen interaction with civil society, including with foreign partners. When developing new measures, all recommendations of international partners and representatives of civil society are taken into account.

The Ministry of Employment is taking all necessary measures to improve labor relations in the republic. Law enforcement agencies work to prevent infringement of human rights, particularly in the workplace.

Systematic measures are being taken in the agricultural sector as part of the Agricultural Development Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2020 to 2030. Priority is given to creating a favorable environment for agribusiness, increasing its investment attractiveness, the widespread introduction of market principles, as well as labor mechanization.

In 2021, more than 30 legislative and regulatory acts in this area were adopted.

An unprecedented step was the development of a cluster system, the purpose of which is to form a single chain that combines all the processes of manufacturing finished products from acquiring raw materials to processing them and manufacturing the final product.

Work is underway to mechanize cotton farming. About 12 percent of raw cotton was harvested by machine in 2021, an increase from 8.5 percent in 2020.

Imported cotton harvesters and spare parts for them are exempt from customs duties and recycling fees for the next three years.

Special attention is paid to the wages of cotton pickers. The payment for 1 kilogram of handpicked raw cotton in 2021 has increased almost tenfold since 2015.

These measures are being implemented to strengthen the system for protecting the rights, freedoms and interests of citizens, as well as to eradicate forced labor in accordance with international standards.

Monitoring resultsSince 2015, the ILO has been conducting third-party monitoring to prevent child and forced labor in the cotton sector.

In the first two years, monitoring was carried out exclusively by international experts. Since 2018, it has been gradually transferred to human rights activists, and in 2021, the monitoring was completely carried out by human rights defenders themselves, according to ILO methodology.

In 2021, 17 human rights activists were involved in the monitoring. They conducted a survey of 11,000 people, including farmers, foremen, representatives of civil society and cotton pickers.

The results show that there has been an absence of systemic forced labor in Uzbekistan for the past five years.

ILO representatives emphasized that, according to the monitoring results in 2021, Uzbekistan has managed to end the systematic use of forced and child labor in cotton harvesting. The countrys experience in implementing international standards in this area is a model for the world.

As ILO Director General Guy Ryder noted, this years ILO report showed that Uzbek cotton is free from child and forced labor. Uzbekistan now has an opportunity to move up the value chain and creating millions of decent full-time jobs in the textile and clothing industries.

The state also monitors domestic trade unions annually through the state-run Labor Inspectorate. The chairperson of the Oliy Majlis also established a Parliamentary Control process to root out cases of forced or child labor.

In the cotton harvest season, the Labor Inspectorate sanctioned 62 officials for violations of labor legislation. Of these, five officials had allowed forced labor.

A unique system of international cooperation has been created. The National Commission on Combating Human Trafficking and Forced Labor regularly takes measures to strengthen cooperation with foreign partners such as the ILO, the World Bank, the IFC, IOM, UNODC, the US Department of State and the US Department of Labor, as well as with the Cotton Campaign coalition among others.

Today, comprehensive action plans have been successfully implemented based on the recommendations of the ILO, the US Department of State, the US Department of Labor, as well as the Cotton Campaign coalition on combating human trafficking, forced labor and ensuring workers rights.

In this regard, the ILO plays a key role. Over the past few years, it has been strongly supporting democratic reforms in Uzbekistan and is implementing joint comprehensive measures to develop labor relations. Over the past 10 years, fruitful work has been carried out with the ILO in such areas as the fight against forced labor, monitoring the observance of labor rights, as well as the implementation of international standards in the field of labor relations.

A new employment strategyUzbekistan is a country with a high demographic burden on the labor market. At present, the working-age population is about 20 million; the number of employed is 15 million; and the number of people in need of work is 1.3 million. More than 500,000 young people enter adulthood and need employment every year.

As an effective solution to this issue, Uzbekistan, with the support of the ILO, is developing a National Employment Strategy.

Decent work has occupied and continues to occupy a central place on the agenda of the ILO throughout its century of activity. But only in the last decades of this century has this issue acquired a comprehensive, global character.

This is more due to the growing need of states and societies to provide their citizens with work and social protection throughout the world.

In such conditions, it is the actions of states and international organizations on the principles of decent work at all levels -- state, regional and global -- that will open up new strategic opportunities and effectively solve the remaining problems in the field of the labor market and labor relations.

The ILO estimates that, worldwide, there are 207 million unemployed people, up 21 million from the pre-pandemic period of 2019, and the damage to labor markets may become irreversible. The effects of the pandemic on labor markets are being felt all around the world. The pandemic has especially severely impacted womens employment, the effects of which is likely to be felt over the coming years.

To remedy this situation, the Decent Work Country Program for 2014-2016 was successfully and fully implemented, and extended until 2020. The Decent Work Country Program for 2021-2025 is currently ongoing. Notably, Uzbekistan is one of the first countries that developed the Country Program taking into account the new requirements imposed by UN system reforms.

The new Country Program pays special attention to addressing such strategic issues as improving the legal framework governing labor relations; expanding employment opportunities and decent work; expanding the access of the most vulnerable groups of the population to quality and inclusive education and social protection; and strengthening social dialogue and institutional capacity of social partners.

These key indicators of decent work in the future will contribute to the development of economic opportunities; employment for citizens; and the creation of millions of new jobs. Most importantly, it will contribute to the sustainable development of society and the state.

In addition, these issues are reflected in the Development Strategy of the New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026. This comprehensive document includes almost all human rights and decent work standards.

Uzbekistan is also working with international partners on the implementation of international standards in the field of labor relations, through its Better Work Program and Better Cotton Initiative. At the end of 2021, Uzbekistan applied to the ILO and the World Bank to consider the possibility of assisting in the adoption of the Better Work Program and received positive responses.

Thus, it should be noted that the ongoing concrete measures in the field of ensuring human rights, creating decent working conditions and improving labor relations have laid a solid foundation for building a Third Renaissance in the New Uzbekistan.

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Tanzila Narbaeva is the chairperson of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the chairperson of the National Commission on Combating Human Trafficking and Forced Labor--Ed.

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Labor relations are foundation for building Uzbekistans Third Renaissance - The Korea Herald

The DMK has demanded the resignation of Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi. And thats not fair. What did he do? Well, the DMK says the problem is that he didnt do anything on the bill to abolish NEET. Its not just about the governors inaction over the anti-NEET bill (which I think is not a solution to ensure equal opportunities to students of all economic sections). Its not the problem with the governor; its the problem with the governors post. Governors have always been representatives even instruments of the Union government on whose advice the President installs them in Raj Bhavans across the country. Hence the conflicts between the government and the governors in states ruled by parties that oppose the one in power at the Centre.

Some of those ensconced in the palatial comforts of Raj Bhavans get into vociferous fights with the government as we have seen in Bengal, Kerala, Telangana, Delhi and Puducherry; some, like the one in Tamil Nadu, remain silently belligerent. For the latter, inaction is the weapon. Remember Banwarilal Purohit? The governor, who spent long hours trying to learn Tamil, didnt deem it urgent to forward to the President a resolution the state assembly passed in September 2018 recommending the release of all the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convicts till the Supreme Court disturbed the gubernatorial slumber two years later.

When the apex court set January 2021 as the deadline for the governor to act, he forwarded it to the President, who, since then, has been sitting on it.

In the case of the Tamil Nadu NEET abolition bill, the governor first erred in listing out the wrong reasons for sending it back to the government (you, me and His Excellency can disagree with the contents of the bill, but thats not a reason for the governor to send it back). Less than a week after the governor returned the bill to the government in the first week of February, the assembly re-adopted the bill and sent it again to the Raj Bhavan. I leave it to legal experts to analyse the constitutional propriety of the governors inaction, but his not forwarding the bill to the President shows again that the governor is but a political puppet.

Heres an old suggestion: Abolish the governors post. If the primary job of a governor is to swear in the chief minister and the cabinet of ministers, and address the assembly at the opening session, these can be done by the chief justice of the high court or the speaker of the assembly. The contribution of governors as chancellors of universities has been abysmal, so nobody will miss them there. As for Centre-state relationship we can have liaison officers who can work out of much smaller offices than the 150-acre Raj Bhavan that employs more than 600 people to work for one family.

So, what do we do with the Raj Bhavans? They should be opened to the public as leisure spots. Some of them could be converted into museums that house exhibits of the origin, evolution and end of a colonial relic called, well, the Raj Bhavan. The Chennai Raj Bhavan is special in that it is part of a national park in the middle of the city something no other Indian city can boast of (Mumbai has a national park on its periphery).

Here, public access could be regulated so as to not disturb the wildlife. Chennai Raj Bhavan should continue to be home for protected species. I mean the likes of black buck.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

END OF ARTICLE

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Governor should not resign. Instead, governors post should be abolished - Times of India

'Old Town Road' gets its Bonnaroo moment at the Grand Ole Opry

Old Crow Medicine Show surprised the Bonnaroo crowd with a cover of Lil Nas X's summer hit "Old Town Road"

The Tennessean

Pigeon Forge a Tennessee getawayknown for sprawling theme parks and outlet shops nestled at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountainsisn't listed as a collaborator on Old Crow Medicine Show's fierynew LP "Paint This Town."

But maybe it should be.

"When you walk around Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, you see the future of Old Crow Medicine Show," said Ketch Secor, the band'sfrontman and co-founder."You're looking at the folks that're gonna spend $32.50 on an Old Crow ticket and slap a bumper sticker on their truck.

"That's who I want to have throw money in the tip jar. Those are some hard-workin' folks. We have a responsibility if you've got so many fiddles and banjos to your band to endear yourself to those kind of people."

Secor and company decamped to drummer Jerry Pentecost's Sevier County cabinfor writing sessions that laid the foundation of "Paint This Town," a rip-roaring album that chronicles stories from rural anarchy torampant addiction,racial erasure on Music Rowand19th century abolition.

"Paint This Town" hits shelves and streaming services Friday via ATO Records; Old Crow celebrates album release day this week with an intimate one-night show at Third Man Records' Blue Room venue.

Cut at Old Crow's clubhouse in East Nashville, "Paint This Town" offers a collection of time-traveling stories untouched by compromise and fueled by a creative freedom earned after nearly 25 years as a band.

Pilgrimage 2022 lineup: Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Jon Batiste top the fest's bill

Nashville Pride Festival: Tanya Tucker, Walk The Moon to headline

"It's like we've finally become the band that we started out to be," said Secor, who worked his was up from busking on downtown Nashville street corners to becoming a Grand Ole Opry member with Old Crow. He continued: "Idon't think we realized we had as much freedom of choice as we did until a couple years ago."

For "Paint This Town," Old Crow exercised its artistic freedom from inside the expansive "Hartland"band cave,where the group tracks, rehearses and produces much of what fans hear (or see, in the case of Old Crow's pandemic-born online variety show "Hartland Hootenanny").

Inside Hartland, lyric sheets line the open rehearsal room floor; the band's awards including the 2015 Grammy for Best Folk Album sit in a case lining one wall of an adjacent sitting room, while ceiling-to-floor show flyers cover another wall. Around the corner from a studio control space, the band staged another room with memorabiliaand old-time fittings for the "Hootenanny" set.

Previously a tool and die factory that Old Crow took over in 2020, Pentecost described the space as "magic" from day one.

"Everybody put a lot of work into this place," Pentecost said. "Everybody's proud to be able to call it home. ... I think that's the energy and vibe we brought to it."

And at the clubhouse, Pentecostfound his place as a percussionist in the longtime string band. A Nashville native who's active in the local music scene, Pentecost joined Old Crow in late 2019 as the band's first dedicated drummer.

With Old Crow at a creative crossroads, Pentecostpulled alinchpin signaling the band's new creative chapter, Secor said.

"Things had changed a lot [since the band's last album, 2018's 'Volunteer']," Secor said. "We broke up with our longtime manager. We lost Critter [Fuqua], who was our longtime banjo player. There was an opportunity to do two things: Placate the crowd and the team and just keep on doin' it. Maybe switch to casinos, that kinda thing. Or reinvent it, reinvigorate it. And that decision coincided with callin' Jerry."

Secor added,"[He] brought a full head of steam to the locomotive and it just kept goin' down the tracks."

For Pentecost, bringing full-time percussion to a group known for high-flying upright bass, banjo and fiddle playing offered a chance for the musician to carve a unique space in Old Crow.

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"That's all I've ever done, isplay drums," Pentecost said, adding: "That's part of the whole revitalizing ... I'm real proud of the work we've done here. I think you can hear the energy and musicianship."

Listeners hear the result of Secor's self-described reinvigoration immediately: Opening title track "Paint This Town" channels an autobiographical taste of roots rock fueled by restless rebellion.

Adopting a punk ethos where the teenage protagonist decorates his backroad townwith anarchy signs "Paint This Town" signals an Americana truth-telling to come on the 12-song album. The band straddles a line of historical fascination ("John Brown's Dream") with social reflection ("New Mississippi Flag"), bygone empathy ("Gloryland")and ongoing environmental decay ("Used To Be A Mountain").

Real, fictitious, or somewhere in-between, Old Crow spins stories about everyday heroes,Secor said.

"I like folks who act as signposts for other folks," Secor said. "I like folks who can be both a symbol and real.... I meet people all the time who I might have the choice to write a song about or not write a song about. There's so many fascinating, interesting characters in this town and all of the towns."

And Pentecost isn't solely behind the kit for "Paint This Town." He takes lead vocals on "DeFord Rides Again," an impassioned song about DeFord Bailey, a trailblazing Black country music entertainer shunned more than half-a-century ago by an industry that continues to struggle with equality.

Co-written by Pentecost with Secor and guitar wizard Molly Tuttle, the song gives nod to Bailey's 1920s fox-chasin' harmonica before turning to the years when Music Row closed its doors to the performer.

Pentecost sings: "... up at Greenwood youll find a plot four foot nine/ For our citys biggest shame they whitewashed his name/ And for that kind of sin there aint no excuse/Blow, blow DeFord, blow/ Play that 'Pan American.'"

Last week, Old Crow teamed with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Bailey's grandson Carlos DeFord Bailey for an interactive harmonica lesson.

"It's about perspective," Pentecost said. "We're talking about the first African-American star of the Opry. I feel like if you ask nine out of 10 country fans, they'd be like "Who?"

"For an individual like myself I don't know if I'll ever be a star of the Opry but who's trying to live a similar life and be an African-American in the country music world, it's important to acknowledge that legacy and those hardships."

Like much of the album, Pentecost said he hopes the "why" of tellingBailey's story stands firmly at the forefront of what fans from those cruising the streets of Pigeon Forge and beyond hear on "Paint This Town."

"All you can do is hope that it translates," Pentecost said.

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Old Crow Medicine Show paints America with a punk spirit and old-time twang on new album - Tennessean

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On Thursday, April 21, 2022, despite heavy security measures, thousands of teachers and educators in Tehran and in at least 51 other cities in 24 provinces rallied in protest against the difficult living conditions, meager salaries, the lack of response to their demands, and non-implementation of equalization of pensions. Carrying photos of imprisoned teachers, they condemned the continuous and systematic repression and detention of protesting teachers and union activists.

In Tehran, teachers protested outside the Education Ministry, and in other cities outside the provincial education departments, including in Tabriz, Bukan, Isfahan, Shahreza, Ardabil, Karaj, Bushehr, Shahrekord, Mashhad, Neyshabur, Ahvaz, Andimeshk, Zanjan, Shiraz, Qazvin, Qom, Sanandaj, Kamyaran, Saqez, Ziviyeh, Dehgolan, Bijar, Marivan, Kermanshah, Eslamabad-e-Gharb, Yasuj, Dehdasht, Rasht, Khorramabad, Pol Dokhtar, Aligudarz, Kuhdasht, Delfan, Sari, Arak, Hamedan, Yazd, Mehriz, Harsin, Shooshtar, Baghmalek, Sonqor, Baneh, Zarrin Dasht, Ilam, Sardasht, Abdanan, Mahshahr, Shush, and Borujerd.

Since this morning, the State Security Force (SSF), turned out in force, trying to prevent the formation of rallies and block people from joining them. The repressive forces arrested a large number of teachers in Tehran and other cities. The demonstrators chanted: Raisi, Qalibaf (Speaker of the regimes parliament), this is the final warning, the teachers movement is ready for the uprising, Imprisoned teachers must be freed, Teachers are vigilant and outraged against discrimination, Teachers rise up to eliminate discrimination, Shame on the incompetent Education Minister.

In todays rallies, teachers called the regimes Education Ministry a place for plotting and codifying laws against teachers and education and called for a halt to the policy of privatization and monetization of education, which results in an increase in child labor, and spreads social harms. The protesters also called for the unconditional release of all imprisoned teachers, the abolition of harsh prison sentences against union activists, and an end to all cases of summoning the protesting teachers. They reiterated, We will not leave the streets until our demands are met. Repression and incarceration and fabricating charges against protesting teachers will not work in stymying the teachers movement, even for one step.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), saluted the protesting teachers and educators and said: The honorable and deprived teachers of our country reflect the anger and outage of 80 million Iranians who are suffering from the oppression and plunder of the inhuman clerical regime. She added: Most of the teachers and other working sectors live below the poverty line, while the embezzlements by the mullahs, IRGC leaders, and their children are skyrocketing. The answer is to overthrow this plundering regime and establish democracy and peoples sovereignty in Iran.

Pictures of rallies in several cities are below.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

April 21, 2022

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Iran Teachers Stage Nationwide Rally in 24 Provinces, Demand Their Rights - National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

Q&A

Outspoken and controversial author, scholar, Temple prof, activist, and Germantown bookshop owner Marc Lamont Hill returns with Seen and Unseen next month but has plenty else to talk about.

Marc Lamont Hill / Photograph by Linette & Kyle Kielinski

Marc Lamont Hill has no shortage of opinions, and hes not afraid to speak out whether its through his latest book on race and justice, by voicing his objections to media coverage of Ukraine, or via an interview in the back of a MAGA-clad Uber. Here, the Germantown scholar, professor and author shares all of it and what he watches when hes trying not to think so damn much.

Hi, Marc.[Lots of background noise.]

Marc? Its so loud Marc? Where are you?Sorry, yes, Im in D.C., where I just shot the show I do for Al Jazeera, UpFront. So Im on the street and about to get in an Uber and hopefully make my train back to Philly.

Is Philly home now?Philly will always be home. Im back full-time now, living in Germantown. At one point in my life, I was between Atlanta, Philly, L.A. and New York. Every week.

Is Germantown where you grew up?Nope. I started in Hunting Park, and then we lived in West Philly.

So back in Philly. And back teaching at Temple?Yeah, man. Thats the main gig. Teaching will always be the main job. Anything else is an outgrowth of that or informs that. Teaching is my first love. After I graduated from Temple in 2000 and went to grad school at Penn, I came back to Temple as faculty in 2005. I moved on to Columbia and then Morehouse, but I was recruited back to Temple in 2017. Best decision I ever made.

How has the student body changed over the years?The problem is that the students stay the same age, but I just get older and older. The cruel reality of being a professor. When teaching about popular culture, I used to be able to go to my CDs for material. Now, I have to do some serious research to know whats poppin on the street.

We photographed you at Uncle Bobbies, the bookshop/cafe you opened in Germantown in 2017 as a labor of love. Is it still just that?Ive been fortunate to be able to transform it into a real business. If we broke even, or if I took a small loss each month, I would still keep it open. But the community really supports us. They buy the books, love the coffee, and appreciate the sense of community. Our motto is Cool people, dope books, great coffee. Most places dont have all three. Its a vibe.

On the subject of books, your seventh book comes out on May 3rd. Is book-writing getting any easier?I dont love hmm. I like writing, but I love having written. The completion process is incredibly rewarding, but the writing is an intense, painstaking process. The world is so messy, and my job as critic, scholar and analyst is to help people make sense of the world. And since the world aint gettin no simpler, the work I have to do will only get harder.

In this new book, Seen and Unseen, you delve into how visual media have shifted the narrative on race and reignited the push towards justice, as your publisher summarizes it. When I think of visual media in this context, I think of the George Floyd video. Are we talking solely about caught-on-video instances of police brutality?Great question. Thats part of it. But lets look back in history. In the 19th century, journalist Ida B. Wells used photography to keep track of Americas lynching regime. Media and tech have always been part of the fight, but that role is changing as tech develops. And this book is trying to tell a story of not just the contemporary moments, but also the long arc of resistance.

Would this book exist if not for the murder of George Floyd in 2020?Ive been thinking and talking about these issues for a long time. Lets look back at the beating of Rodney King and the role of tech in that. Put George Floyd aside, and that same week, Amy Cooper called the police on a Black man who was birdwatching in Central Park and falsely accused him of threatening her, all because he asked her to put a leash on her dog. That was on video. And we saw how the internet responded, outing Amy, exposing her, calling her job and telling them what she did. But the George Floyd murder obviously had a profound impact. We watched for more than nine minutes as a man was murdered. A modern-day lynching.

Imagine if there wasnt someone there to catch it on video.There have been a lot of horrific abuses through five centuries, and in modern times, enough of them have been recorded. Here, all of America was stuck at home during a pandemic and forced to witness this spectacle of George Floyds death. What if it had just been a photograph? Or what if we only had audio? This particular tech arrangement allowed us to witness that in a very particular way. We had to stare at his body for so long. But this also harkens back to when we had to stare at 14-year-old Emmett Tills face, swollen many times over, when his mother insisted on a public, open-casket funeral for him after he was beaten and dragged into the Tallahatchie River on August 28, 1955, because of white-supremacist mob violence. The George Floyd video opened up a new kind of conversation but this is a very wide and very deep story that doesnt hinge on any single act of violence.

You mentioned Rodney King. You were 12 then, in 1991. Some 12-year-olds were very aware of what was going on in the world at the time. Others were playing Nintendo. Which were you?Particularly in the Black community, even people who have no interest in politics or the daily news cycle had to come to terms with the Rodney King beating. For me, it was the first time I felt like America was forced to come to terms with the types of stories my friends and family told me since I was born. It reminded me of my fathers story of the Rizzo police beating him on Kerbaugh Street in Hunting Park in the 1970s. So for me, Rodney King wasnt new information. But it was the first time America was forced to come to terms with anything like this. Black witness was always insufficient. Black people saying something happened was never enough. But now, its caught on tape. Who could deny he was beaten by police?

And yet look how it turned out.Right. That was also the first time I felt confident in a victory. And by victory, I meant that the cops would be fired and prosecuted and sent to jail. So when the verdict came back, it certainly wasnt what we were expecting. It was soul-crushing for me and many of my friends. We had a belief that this would work out. It got to! When it didnt, it shifted the way I understood the criminal legal system and changed the way I understood the worth of Black lives in this country.

Has the movement that George Floyds murder set ablaze lost momentum? Its been two years.No. Movements change form. They arent just about people in the streets for 24 hours a day. Movements survive news cycles. Movements survive the liberal whites falling off the bandwagon. What I see now is increasing skepticism and wariness of police. People dont just say, Well, if a cop said it, it must be true. And I also see an increased push for the defunding and abolition of the police. We could never return to innocence after George Floyd.

Your mentioning terms like defunding and abolition is sure to elicit some reader reactions. Some will say, In a city where murder is out of control, how can we defund or abolish the police? What do you say to those readers?I say that for the last few centuries, we invested more and more in policing, and it hasnt made us any safer or less drug-addicted or less vulnerable. We need a new way. Every year in government, we take money and move it to different places. We reallocate money to use it more effectively and efficiently. In the case of police, they are now being asked to be social workers, crisis-response teams, therapists and tax collectors. So even if you believe in police, you have to admit theyre being asked to do jobs they arent trained for and dont have the capacity to do. So take money from the budget and hire therapists and social workers. Thats defunding. Its not Everybodys gettin shot, so lets fire the police and hope everything works out.

But abolition?When I think about abolition, I begin with a very fundamental question: What would the world look like if all our needs were met? And for me, abolition is an attempt to answer that question in real life.

Hill speaks onstage at the Stand With Meek Mill rally on June 18, 2018. / Photograph by Gilbert Carrasquillo / WireImage/Getty Images

This month, your 2021 book, Except for Palestine, comes out in paperback. I havent read it, but Its awesome. I can promise you. [laughs]

The gist is that many progressives arent so progressive when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Right?Yes. Oftentimes, many of the same principles, ideas and values that we apply to other areas of our lives dont make it to this particular issue.

And your remarks over the years about Israel and Palestine have had consequences. CNN fired you as a commentator. Temple publicly rebuked you. Some have called you an anti-Semite. What exactly is your position on Israel and Palestine?I believe that hold on one second. [pauses] Im not avoiding your question; Im getting out of an Uber. I have to run for a train. [car door closes; street noise] Okay, listen. I have to tell you this. I just gave most of this interview in the back of an Uber that was Blue Lives Matter-and-MAGA-adorned.

Oh, God.It was amazing. I couldnt wait to tell you, and I cant imagine what the driver was thinking, hearing what I was saying. Okay, but now were into the easy stuff. Israel-Palestine. [laughs] People ignore that I am a scholar of the Middle East. I have a graduate degree in Middle Eastern studies. And I do a lot of research in the field. I dont just weigh in as a citizen with random commentary. [long pause] Okay, hold on. I just ran for the train, and let me figure out who Im sitting next to. Could it be worse than the Uber driver?

You could be sitting next to one of my Trump-loving relatives.Wow. That must make Thanksgiving awkward.

Oh, you have no idea.Listen, my position is that I stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their fight for freedom and justice. But what happens there should all be decided by Israel and Palestine. Not outsiders. I am against any occupation of Palestinian territory, but I also believe the entire region must have freedom, safety, dignity and self-determination for everybody. I believe in the possibility of a shared land. I dont think anyone has to leave. And I also know that anti-Semitism is something we must take seriously. We cannot deny that anti-Semitism is a persistent and even expanding problem both here and around the globe. We must fight anti-Semitism and stand in solidarity with Jewish people around the world.

You were on Fox News and CNN for years. Now, youre on Al Jazeera and, until it abruptly shut down in March, the Black News Channel. Have you been blacklisted by mainstream media because of your outspokenness on Israel-Palestine?Not at all. I think to believe that would be to believe theres some media conspiracy. I was excited about doing the Black News Channel, and Im proud to be with Al Jazeera. I am allowed to have an authentic voice and cover the stories I care about, and that means everything to me. I like where I am right now.

Your Fox News stint was in the mid-to-late-2000s. Was it as polarizing then as it is today?Fox News has always been to news what the WWE has been to sports. Is the WWE a sport? Its sport adjacent. I think over time, though, Fox has given up on even the pretense of objectivity. They arent even pretending to be fair and balanced these days. Theyve become not just the communications arm of the Republican Party theyve always been that but now, they are the communications arm of the extreme right. Theres a huge difference between Bill OReilly, whose show I was on many, many times, and Tucker Carlson.

If Fox News offered you big bucks today to rejoin the network, would you take the job?No. Absolutely not. I could not work at Fox News today, on principle.

Black News Channel did that have much of a white audience?[Laughs] I had a lot of white viewers. In the two months before the station shut down, my show quadrupled its viewership, and a lot of the feedback and data showed that many white people watched it. They enjoyed the conversation. I covered international news. I covered debates on race. I covered entertainment. These are things white people care about, and so they watched it and engaged with it. Black people have been watching white news for a long time, and we managed to be just fine in our own community while watching what white people were doing. The world would benefit from watching a variety of vantage points and perspectives.

So what happened with the Black News Channel?It wasnt because of the number of viewers. We had a record number of viewers right before they announced the shutdown. But the bosses said it just wasnt making financial sense. I cant say much more about it, because it wasnt my decision.

On one recent Black News Channel broadcast, right before the shutdown, you criticized the media on the Ukraine invasion, saying, and Im paraphrasing, that things like this are happening all over the world to non-white communities, but now that a bunch of white European people are being bombed, thats on 24/7.Yes. When famine is in Africa or theres violence in Chicago, we say, oh, thats what happens there. But when the same things happen in places that are whiter, we respond with sympathy and outrage, particularly because our model is still whiteness. No one wants to see human beings harmed, but if you dont fully appreciate and experience Black people as humans, its much easier to ignore their misery or suffering.

Marc Lamont Hill at Uncle Bobbies, his bookshop in Germantown / Photograph by Linette & Kyle Kielinski

I have to ask you about one very Philadelphia saga that youve inserted yourself in for many years Mumia. The two of you are friends, and youve called him one of the greatest truth-tellers that weve ever seen. Do you believe he didnt do it? Or do you just think he shouldnt be in prison today?I believe he is both factually innocent and legally not guilty. I believe he didnt do it. And I believe that they didnt make their case against him. To be even clearer, I would not support Mumia if I thought he was guilty.

Well, Im sure I wont get any emails about this interview.[Laughs]

Some of the interviews Ive done in this space recently havent been quite so, well, serious. I welcome the seriousness, but to go down one less serious path what do you do when youre not writing books, teaching students, speaking your mind, and pissing people off?Until I ruptured my Achilles in September, I played basketball. A lot. Now, I have been grounded by my age. But I still spend my time at Sixers games. I am a courtside season ticket holder, and I can be seen yelling at opposing players and complaining to refs. Other than that, I watch lots of TV.

CNN? Fox News?[Laughs] No news! No news of any kind! Reality shows. Silly stuff. Seventies sitcoms. I want laughs. I want the absurdity. Its my best escape from this crazy world we find ourselves in.

Published as On the Record: Marc Lamont Hill in the May 2022 issue ofPhiladelphiamagazine.

See the rest here:

Marc Lamont Hill on the State of Media, Defunding the Police, and His New Book - Philadelphia magazine

In the late 18th century Britains Caribbean island colony of Grenada was a place of boom and bust. A hurricane, a plague of ants, and Britains wars against France and American revolutionaries made for volatile trade in its main commodities sugar, coffee, and slaves.

Amid the turmoil, property changed hands regularly among Britains financial elite, but in the early 1770s the ownership of two plantations and 599 people passed to an unusual new owner: the Bank of England.

The Bank has already apologised for its role in the slave trade, but revelations of the institutions direct ownership of the people have been uncovered in new research commissioned in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

The research has been presented in a new exhibition that opened this week at the Banks museum in its headquarters on Londons Threadneedle Street. The names of the 599 slaves, acquired by the Bank in the 1770s, take a central position in the free exhibition.

During the protests the Bank apologised for the 25 governors and directors who had owned slaves. It removed eight paintings and two busts of the slave owners from public display, although the exhibition includes some reproductions.

It has been part of a reassessment of historical links to slavery and imperialism by institutions ranging from many of the UKs big high street banks Barclays, HSBC, NatWest Group and Lloyds Banking Group to the insurance market Lloyds of London and the brewer Greene King, as well as the National Trust and English Heritage, the custodians of British country houses that were in many cases built using colonial or slave wealth.

Despite the key role that slavery played in the British imperial economy, that reassessment has become a sensitive subject. The National Trust in particular has faced a barrage of criticism from parts of the Conservative party and campaigners who complained that acknowledging links to slavery and colonialism would give country house visits a political and racial dimension.

The Bank of England was itself criticised this month for supposedly woke policies after it changed the flag depicted on its logo from the English flag of St George to the Union flag, to better reflect the central banks role serving the whole of the United Kingdom.

A Bank of England spokesperson said: In 2021, the Bank of England commissioned a researcher to explore its historic links to transatlantic slavery, working with the Bank of England museum and archive.

This research found that in the 1770s the Bank made loans to a merchant company called Alexander & Sons. When the business defaulted on those loans, the Bank came into possession of two plantations in Grenada which had been pledged as security for the loans. Our research has found that 599 enslaved African people lived and worked on those plantations. The Bank subsequently sold on the plantations.

The research was led by Michael Bennett, a specialist in the history of early modern Britain and Caribbean slavery, and followed work by a small group of volunteers from across the Bank, including members of its ethnic minorities network.

Michael Taylor, a historian whose 2020 book The Interest showed how the British establishment resisted abolition, said it would be difficult to find any UK financial institution of a comparable age that was not involved in some way with the slave trade.

For the century before the abolition of the slave trade in 1807-8, Britain was the worlds leading slave power, he said. Moreover, slave-grown sugar, coffee, and cotton were among the most valuable commodities in global markets. Together, these factors meant that the slave economy was absolutely vital to Britains wider prosperity.

Owning and running slave plantations was a capital-intensive enterprise: planters needed to buy slaves, import machinery and build boiling houses, all of which took massive up-front investment and extensions of credit. Plantations were then mortgaged and remortgaged, and in these ways British banking was connected intimately to slavery.

Accounts for the plantations show spending on hospitalisations of slaves, the recapture of runaways and cage fees, as well as payments to the Bank of England.

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The plantations, called Bacolet and Chemin, were eventually sold in 1790 to an MP, James Baillie, for the equivalent of 15m in todays money. The plantations were held under nine of Andrew Baileys predecessors as the Banks current governor.

A 1788 inventory of Bacolet, reproduced in the exhibition, shows property under several headings: land, slaves, buildings and stock. Most of the men, women and children listed have European names such as Pierre, Alexandre, Catherine and Marie, with no information on which country they were taken from.

Beside each name is a sterling price for how much the person was worth to her or his owners, ranging from 330 for Pierre, a field man labelled as a driver, to 30 for Michell, who is described in a bracketed note as sickley.

Continue reading here:

Bank of England owned 599 slaves in 1770s, new exhibition reveals - The Guardian