Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

Post Views: 543

On Jan. 13, the nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards were announced. With six nominations, Parasite was the movie that shook the world. The movie received great reviews since its premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, with a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and praise from critics like Stephanie Zacharek of Time magazine, who said, It tells a story you could probably follow without subtitles, or any dialogue at all: the faces of these actors show with piercing clarity how it feels to be outsiders in a world of wealth and privilege.

The film delivers messages that are easily understood by people across different cultures, regardless of language, which is precisely why it smashed barriers and continues to thrive nearly a year after it premiered. Bong Joon-hos masterpiece is one of the best films of 2019.

Parasite is not only a work of art; it is a dark commentary on society and social stratification.

The winning streak of Parasite began when it became the first South Korean film to win Palme dOr at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, but the beginning of 2020 seems to be the time for Parasite to shine as it continues to break into the mainstream. In early January, director Bong Joon-ho and his team earned South Koreas first ever Golden Globe for best foreign language film.

Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films, said Bong Joon-ho through his interpreter Sharon Choi as he accepted the award. Bong Joon-hos Golden Globe acceptance speech reflects how the mainstream Hollywood media remains stuck in only two categories: movies in English and movies not in English. In the one-minute speech, Bong Joon-ho managed to criticize the movie industry for its outdated structure, and he encouraged people to engage more with foreign language films.

The film didnt stop there. Following its Golden Globe win, Parasite continued. It was the first foreign language film to take home the SAG Award in the prestigious best cast in a motion picture category.

During the backstage interview after the award show, Choi Woo-shik, who played Kim Ki-woo, shared how he hopes that there will be more appreciation for foreign movies following the success of Parasite. Destroying boundaries and making history seems to be a mission for the Parasite team.

For the past 92 years of Academy Awards history, there have only been 11 foreign language films nominated for best picture. Evidently, it remains difficult for foreign films to break the English language barrier that leads to awards in Hollywood. Despite numerous accusations of lacking diversity and systematic racism, award shows kept their barricades up high.

In the 2019 Oscars, Alfonso Cuarns Roma had the public hopeful, as it was nominated for a total of 10 categories. Unfortunately for foreign moviegoers, Roma was placed in the foreign language film category while Green Book pocketed the award for best picture.

Yet, Parasite, against all odds, managed to snatch the grand prize and become the first non-English language film to win best picture at the Oscars. The film acquired four awards out of six nominations, including best director, best foreign language film, best original screenplay and best picture. However, its not the numbers that matter. The movies victory matters because it signifies a new era, a post-Parasite era, in which foreign films can easily be recognized and awarded.

At the interview after the show, Bong Joon-ho expressed his opinion on the universality of Parasite, stating, Perhaps the deeper I delve into things that are around me, the broader the story can become, the more appeal it can have to an international audience. Although the details of the story are based off of South Koreas class system, the message resonates with anyone who lives in a world that continually separates the rich from the poor, the haves from the have-nots.

The film is a metaphor for the mainstream movie industry: English-language films are the haves and foreign-language films are the have-nots. The haves seem to have endless achievements, fed with a silver spoon. They are continually awarded for the things they have done. Whereas the have-nots work tirelessly, only to get awarded when they can unambiguously surpass the same standards as the privileged.

The best picture win for Parasite is merely a start to the abolition of the archaic concept that detaches the haves from the have-nots. As the films co-writer, Han Jin-won says, To win best picture means that this film was voted by the members of the Academy and I realized that will signal the beginning of a different kind of change for international cinema, not just for Korea.

When asked to give a message to Hollywood actors of Asian descent, director Bong Joon-ho stated that he doesnt think that we should be emphasizing borders or divisions, whether its the U.S., Europe or Asia, as long as we focus on the beauty of cinema. He emphasized that we are all just making movies, implying that where one creator came from does not matter more than what the creator makes.

The movies Oscars moment is historical because of its impact. The historical win marks the beginning of a post-Parasite era that accepts diversity and appreciates a work of art regardless of its origin. The general public has entered this new era with the help of new technologies and ever-growing streaming services; it is the industry that needs to catch up. The one-inch-tall subtitles should not be the reason for us not to enjoy a piece of work.

More:

'Parasite' Is Winning Awards and Destroying Barriers - Study Breaks

Democratic presidential hopeful Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during a rally at Springs Preserve Amphitheater in Las Vegas on Feb. 21. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

The democratic socialist candidate has emerged as the clear front-runner for the Democratic Partys nomination, sparking renewed debate about his controversial campaign platform and political history.

WASHINGTON As Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has become the strong 2020 Democratic front-runner after his wins in Iowa, New Hampshire and most recently and commandingly in Nevada, renewed questions have arisen about what his Democratic socialism means and what his policies would mean for religious freedom and about how compatible his political philosophy is with the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Even his Democratic primary opponents now are taking direct aim at Sanders socialism.

On the debate stage in Las Vegas, billionaire candidate Michael Bloomberg said, Were not going to throw out capitalism. Other countries tried that. It was called communism, and it just didnt work. Sanders, whose proposal prompted the remark, called it a cheap shot, claiming his Democratic socialism was for working people, not billionaires health care for all, educational opportunities for all.

And following Sanders landslide Nevada victory, Pete Buttigieg warned, Sen. Sanders believes in an inflexible, ideological revolution that leaves out most Democrats, not to mention most Americans.

The 78-year-old Sanders grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a Jewish family. Although currently he is not actively involved in organized religion, he told The New York Times editorial board in December that he is proud to be Jewish.

Sanders took to socialist politics at a young age; in college, he was an active member of the Young Peoples Socialist League, the youth affiliate of the Socialist Party of America.

He unsuccessfully ran for governor of Vermont as a member of the anti-war Liberty Union party in the 1970s. In 1976, Sanders told The Burlington Free Press that hefavored the public ownership of utilities, banks and major industries.

In the 1980s, as the centrist Democratic group Third Way noted in a Feb. 22 critique of Sanders socialist perspectives, Sanders campaigned for candidates of the Socialist Workers Party, which openly advocated the abolition of capitalism and the destruction of the bourgeois state.

Costly Campaign Platform

Sanders remains strongly committed to government nationalization. In terms of his 2020 campaign policies, his Medicare for All plan would nationalize health care, at a cost he estimated at $33 trillion, and his Green New Deal climate plan would nationalize electricity production and transform our energy system to 100% renewable energy.

Other initiatives include his College for All proposal, which would guarantee tuition and debt-free public colleges, universities, HBCUs, Minority Serving Institutions and trade schools to all, alongside a range of other measures whereby the federal government also would pay for a variety of non-tuition costs and fees and free universal child care and pre-K.

Sanders also proposes an annual extreme wealth tax on households with a net worth of more than $32 million, intended to substantially break up the concentration of wealth and power of this small privileged class.

According to Larry Summers, former chief White House economic adviser under President Barack Obama and former treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, Sanders proposed massive expansion of government would be unprecedented in American history.

On the spending side ... this is far more radical than all previous presidencies, on either the right or the left, Summers told CNN in January. The Sanders spending increase is roughly 2.5 times the size of the New Deal and the estimated fiscal impact of George McGoverns campaign proposals.

Summers added, We are in a kind of new era of radical proposal.

Praise for Communist Regimes

During his time as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders visited and praised the Soviet Union and Nicaragua. In 1985 he said in an interview that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was an impressive guy, noting that health care in Nicaragua is now free, while acknowledging that the quality of the care was bad.

Sanders also called bread lines in Nicaragua a good thing, since in other countries, people dont line up for food; rich people get the food and poor people starve to death.

He also praised Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, saying, that for the Cuban people, he educated their kids, gave their kids health care, totally transformed the society. in 1989, Sanders wrote that they are in fact creating a very different value system than the one we are familiar with.

Sanders was challenged on the 2016 debate stage about his praise of Castro and Ortega. He replied, What that was about was saying that the United States was wrong to try to invade Cuba, that the United States was wrong trying to support people to overthrow the Nicaraguan government.

2016 Democratic presidential nominee and former first lady Hillary Clinton pointed out that Sanders had praised what he called the revolution of values in Cuba.

If the values are that you oppress people, you disappear people, imprison people or even kill people for expressing their opinions, for expressing freedom of speech, that is not the kind of revolution of values that I ever want to see anywhere, she said.

Sanders replied that while Cuba was authoritarian, they have made some good advances in health care. They are sending doctors all over the world. They have made some progress in education.

In the spring of 1988, Sanders honeymooned in the Soviet Union and praised them for the cleanest, most effective mass transit system that Ive ever seen. The Washington Post reported that during the trip Sanders criticized the cost of housing and health care in the United States, while lauding the lower prices but not the quality of that available in the Soviet Union.

During his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, Sanders backed Nicols Maduros predecessor Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. The Wall Street Journal noted that he signed a letter of support for Chavez in January 2003 while property confiscation at gunpoint, politically motivated arrests and state-sponsored gang violence were occurring. He has repeatedly refused to call Maduro a dictator.

And on 60 Minutes last Sunday, Sanders once again praised Castro, after he was confronted with his past praise of the Cuban dictator. He commented, Were very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba, but, you know, its simply unfair to say everything is bad.

When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He continued, He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?

These remarks resulted in bipartisan outrage and condemnation from Floridas congressional delegation who represent many Cuban Americans.

Democratic Socialism

When confronted with the question of what his Democratic socialism is and how it differs from communist regimes, Sanders says he aims to reduce wealth inequality while maintaining democracy and compares it to systems in Scandinavian countries.

Ihave spent my whole life fighting for democracy, fighting against authoritarianism, whether the Soviet Union, Venezuela or anyplace else,Sanders said. What I mean by democratic socialism is creating a government that works for everybody, not controlled either legislatively or politically by a handful of very wealthy people. It means that in America we have certain economic rights that are human rights, human rights. Health care, to my mind, is not a privilege. It is a human right.

But while Sanders often cites Scandinavian countries when discussing Democratic socialism, many have argued that the countries Sanders references, including Sweden and Denmark, are not examples of Sanders-style socialism.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen clarified that Denmark is not a socialist country after Sanders used it as an example in a speech in 2015.

I would like to make one thing clear: Denmark is far from a socialist-planned economy. Denmark is a market economy, he said. Finnish President Sauli Niinist similarly replied, No, God bless, when asked if Finland was socialist.

Swedish author and Cato Institute fellow Johan Norberg explained recently that in the 1970s and 1980s Sweden implemented socialist policies that ended in a terrible crisis in the early 1990s. Sweden now has low corporate taxes, free trade and in many of those areas, we are more fiercely capitalist than the United States. Those dont seem to be the policies that the Sanders supporters are in favor of.

Regarding Swedish health care, he said, Lots of Americans think its a Medicare for All thing. But its not even a national system. Its a regional system. We had a problem with productivity and investment in the health-care sector. So now we have more freedom of choice and more competition in the provision of health care.

Religious Intolerance?

Beyond economic concerns, Sanders policies also have implications for religious freedom. His Medicare for All Act would abolish the Hyde Amendment and require taxpayer funding of abortion without any religious-freedom exemptions.

Recently, Sanders raised eyebrows when he reversed his stance on whether or not pro-life Democrats belong in the party. In 2017, he campaigned with Omaha, Nebraska, mayoral candidate Heath Mello, who backed pro-life policies.

The truth is that in some conservative states there will be candidates that are popular candidates who may not agree with me on every issue, Sanders said at the time. You just cant exclude people who disagree with us on one issue.

However, during a recent MSNBC town hall on abortion, Sanders said that being pro-choice is an absolutely essential part of being a Democrat, when asked if there was such a thing as a pro-life Democrat.

Sanders also generated controversy at a recent Senate confirmation hearing by saying that the Christian belief of Russell Vought, President Trumps nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, that Muslims do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his Son, and they stand condemned, was hateful and Islamophobic.

Sanders defended his comments on CNN, saying Voughts remarks were unacceptable as a government official.

Catholic Support and Church Teachings

Sanders has a wide lead in polling of Democratic voters ages 18-29, including with some young Catholics who see his policies as aligned with aspects of Catholic doctrine despite his position on abortion.

ANovember 2019 surveyby the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and YouGov found 70% of millennials, ages 23-38, were likely to vote for a socialist. It also found that 36% of millennials viewed communism favorably. And in the new EWTN News/RealClear Opinion Researchpoll, young Catholics aged 18-34 who classified themselves as devout favored Sanders over President Trump by a 53%-42% margin.

Matthew Sitman, a writer for Commonweal, told the Catholic Herald, arguably no candidates economic agenda so closely aligns with Catholic social teaching. He is the most pro-union candidate running and believes everyone has a right to health care, a job and housing. He shares Pope Francis urgency about climate change, backing the ambitious Green New Deal.

He believes in the humane and welcoming treatment of immigrants and refugees, he added. Hes the peace candidate no candidate is more willing to challenge the prevailing foreign-policy consensus thats caused so much death and destruction.

New York Times opinion writer Elizabeth Bruenig, a young Catholic who has voiced support for Sanders, wrote that she would support a kind of socialism that would be democratic and aimed primarily at decommodifying labor, reducing the vast inequality brought about by capitalism, and breaking capitals stranglehold over politics and culture.

Sanders briefly met with Pope Francis in April 2016, during a visit to the Vatican during that years primary campaign, and praised the Pope comments demanding that morality be part of our economy. And in a February 2016 interview, Sanders called Pope Francis a socialist.

What it means to be a socialist, in the sense of what the Pope is talking about, what Im talking about, is to say that we have got to do our best and live our lives in a way that alleviates human suffering, that does not accelerate the disparities of income and wealth, he said.

However, while Pope Francis has criticized unfettered capitalism and the idolatry of money, he has also said, The Marxist ideology is wrong.

The Church has historically condemned socialism and communism. In July 1949, Pope Pius XII issued his Papal Decree Against Communism, stating that Christians who profess, defend or promote materialistic Communist doctrine incur the penalty of excommunication as apostates from the Christian faith.

Pope St. John XXIII wrote in 1961 that no Catholic could subscribe even to moderate Socialism, because socialism takes no account of any objective other than that of material well-being and places too severe a restraint on human liberty.

Perspectives From Cuba and Venezuela

Is Sanders democratic socialism sufficiently different from the socialism the Church has condemned in the past? The Register spoke with two survivors of communist regimes who say it isnt.

Carlos Eire, Ph.D., is a professor of history and religious studies at Yale, who, as a child, was airlifted out of Cuba in 1962 as part of the covert U.S. Operation Peter Pan. He told the Register that Sanders is a Soviet Castro-style socialist and not a Scandinavian socialist, as he wants people to believe. He said he has dj vu with Sanders policy proposals, as they are like a carbon copy of Castros. Hes preaching the same gospel as those who have preceded him in communist countries, he said.

Bernie Sanders has gone to all these awful places and praised what he saw, and he hasnt taken it back, he added. He praises the Castro regime, and he thinks they have wonderful health care and wonderful education and its a model.

To him, as is the case with many of these progressives, its not much different from a religious belief, and they have a kind of zeal for it that religious converts tend to have, said Eire, who is Catholic. Whatever proof you throw at them, they find some way of finding some good things about whatever awful things you bring up.

Its anthropological, its psychological, but its also theological, and its also Augustinian, and it rests on the concept of original sin and the fact that human nature is not perfectible, he said of the continued failure of socialism. You cannot achieve a utopia. You cannot achieve the kind of perfection that socialists seek.

Daniel Di Martino, a Catholic Venezuelan who lived under the Maduro regime until he came to the U.S. in 2016 as a student, told the Register that he saw a lot of similarities between the proposals of Bernie Sanders and the proposals of Hugo Chavez, the man who destroyed my country.

We were promised free everything, from electricity, water, food, clothing, health care and education, and the price of those free things was an economy that was destroyed over time, he said. What followed was a gradual decline until his family struggled to obtain necessities. I had to save water, collect it from the rain, because there was no water service sometimes for weeks. Electricity was very unreliable, so wed have a blackout randomly, he said.

What people need to know is that its not just because of some abstract word socialism and because socialism is bad. Its about the policies, Di Martino said. Its about nationalization. Bernie Sanders has endorsed nationalizing public utilities like electricity and water several times.

Di Martino pointed out that Sanders speechwriter, David Sirota, wrote an article talking about the economic miracle of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in 2013, when I already had to do long lines to buy groceries, to buy basic staples, and the economy was a mess with very high inflation. For him, that was an economic miracle.

Young people in the U.S. lack a perspective of how lucky we are, of how vulnerable our free-market system is, and how quickly we can follow the path of Venezuela if we implement the wrong policies, Di Martino said, adding that part of the problem is the failure of the education system to teach about the history of socialism.

Lauretta Brown is the Registers Washington-based staff writer.

More:

The Old and New Socialism of Bernie Sanders: Should Catholics Support It? - National Catholic Register

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 27): Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had refused to remain as Prime Minister of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government and to commit to fulfilling and delivering the PH General Election Manifesto at a Feb 25 meeting in the Prime Ministers Office, according to DAP Secretary-General and Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng.

In a statement today, Lim, who was Finance Minister during the PH administration, said the PH governing coalition comprising PKR, Amanah, DAP and Bersatu that won the mandate may have different ideologies and aspirations, but made common ground and was bound by the General Election Manifesto agreed to by all.

He said over the last 21 months, the PH government had worked hard to fulfil and deliver the manifesto promise progressively.

Amongst them [are] the reduction in toll rates for the North South Highway by 18% for private vehicles with no toll hikes for the remainder of the concession period, the MySalam project offering monetary assistance ranging from RM4,000 to RM8,000 for those suffering from 45 critical illnesses, the abolition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) with Sales and Service Tax and repaying GST refunds amounting to RM19.4 billion.

The retention of our international credit ratings despite having to pay tens of billions for 1Malaysia Development Bhd, Tabung Haji and other related scandals, revival of major infrastructure projects following savings of over RM50 billion from renegotiation and rationalization of previous government projects, speeding up digitalisation through promoting e-wallets, creating 350,000 jobs for those unemployed who cannot get jobs through the RM6.5 billion Malaysian @ Work programme and many other initiatives, he said.

Read more:

Dr M refused to be PM of Pakatan Harapan govt Guan Eng - The Edge Markets MY

John Beatty submit or be crushed

by James A. Bacon

Loudoun public school officials thought it would be a good idea to provide cultural competency and sensitivity training to teachers, administrators and school board members. As described by LoudounNow, the county rolled out a workshop series designed to push participants outside their comfort zone and question their belief systems. In particular, participants were forced to grapple with the benefits afforded them from generations of white privilege, stretching back to Americas earlier days.

Last week, board member John Beatty made the mistake of actually participating in the conversation. He made the observation that in the Jim Crow era following Reconstruction former slaves were worse off than they had been during slavery because they lacked the patronage of a master. The comment was meant to be an indictment of Jim Crow, not an endorsement of slavery, but it ignited a firestorm.

Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee Chairwoman Katrece Nolen and Executive Board member Wande Oshode found his observation so heinous that they called for him to be removed from two school board committees and asked the full board to condemn his comments.

Most people in the civilized world recognize this statement as being rooted in the very racist, inhumane and oppressive institution of slavery. To justify any aspect of slavery only 66 years after Brown versus Board of Ed eliminated inequities in the public school systems, and only a year after LCPS made national news about racially-insensitive lessons and conduct by administrators, is absolutely inexcusable, Oshode said. No parent of minority children should feel comfortable with Mr. Beatty remaining on the school board.

Ill get to the substance of Beattys remarks in just a moment. But theres a more immediate issue at stake. Since when is it justifiable to spend public funds to provide ideological indoctrination of teachers, administrators and elected officials? Make no mistake, these workshops are not about having an open dialogue about race. Theyre about propagating a leftist view of race and American history and brow-beating people into submission. In the supposed land of the free, these workshops are nothing less than political re-education sessions.

In an email response to Nolen and Oshode, Nolen responded that his comments were misconstrued. He does not support slavery, he said. I abhor slavery and all the injustices that have occurred since then. He continued:

In reading the quote out of context, I agree that it is offensive. However, the point I was making was not, as I was speaking to the issue of being deliberate and thoughtful before taking any actions. As elected officials, we have an obligation to consider all sides of any question and to carefully consider the ramifications of any actions we take. History teaches us that if we fail to do so, our actions can have far-reaching negative consequences. I referenced the Jim Crow laws as a particularly egregious example of this, as the laws made it impossible for the recently freed slaves to support their families. To avoid making similar mistakes, we must always consider all sides of any question and think carefully about the impact of our actions. And as I have just learned, we must also guard our words to make sure that when quoted out of context, they cannot cause offense.

Beattys argument in a nutshell: You took my quote out of context.

Thats the safe argument. If I were in his shoes, I would make a very different argument. I would argue that Oshodes comment was offensive indeed that the entire workshop series was offensive. I would criticize the expenditure of public funds to engage in political indoctrination.

By way of preface, let me state the obvious so the enforcers of PC rectitude dont accuse me of what they accused Beatty of. Im not defending slavery. Slavery was a moral abomination. As practiced in the United States, the institution expropriated the value of the slaves labor, sexually exploited slave women, broke up the families, subjected them to mistreatment and brutality, and inflicted a multitude of other harms. Slavery was a hideous stain on American history. There is no moral defense of slavery. None.

But it appears from their comments that Beattys critics have no interest achieving a dispassionate understanding of the peculiar institution. Their apparent intent is to portray slavery not only as a moral evil but as an unadulterated evil in every aspect. Their political goal is to maximize white guilt. Thus, they find offensive any observation that could be construed (in their minds) as diminishing African-American victimhood and white guilt, thus reducing their moral leverage in contemporary debate.

It is not defending slavery, however, to contend that American slavery was not in the same league as the Holocaust in its severity, as some have suggested it was. (The slaving wars in Africa and the middle passage in which slaves were packed into slaving vessels and transported to the Western hemisphere were a different matter; millions of people died.) It is not defending slavery to note that, following the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the slave population in the United States flourished demographically. To Beattys point, it is not defending slavery to observe that, as abusive as many were, white slave owners had a material incentive to protect the value of their property by keeping their slaves in good health while Jim Crow-era landowners had no comparable incentive to look out for their sharecroppers. It is not defending slavery to consider the possibility that, from a purely material perspective (food, shelter, other basic material needs), African-American slaves might have been better off than, say, penniless Irish immigrants stepping off the ship in New York harbor.

But the leftist cultural competency and sensitivity crowd isnt interested in the complexity and nuance of history. Their starting position is maximizing white guilt, and they work backwards through history from there. They have no interest in dialogue they lecture, others must listen. They have no tolerance for dissent. Rather than engage in rational discussion, pointing out the errors in his thinking and inviting him to adopt another view, Beattys critics seek to cast him into outer darkness.

Oshode and Nolen are entitled, of course, to their own opinions. They are entitled to criticize any elected official they want. And they are free to organize any kind of event they want on their own dime. But Loudoun County has no business using public funds to organize political indoctrination sessions, compel public employees to attend them, and encourage participants to question their belief systems. Virginians should condemn such a use of taxpayer dollars.

Related

Go here to see the original:

From Diversity Training Sessions to Political Re-Education Camp - Bacon's Rebellion

A unique conference is being held in Wisbech to explore Cambridgeshire's ongoing fight against slavery.

The town, which is where the first English anti-slavery researcher and campaigner Thomas Clarkson was brought up has been central to the battle to abolish slavery and people-trafficking for more than 200 years.

Next month Wisbech is hosting a conference with key national and international activists to look at how far abolition still has to go, and how slavery in its many modern forms can be tackled today in the light of what's been achieved so far.

It is inspired by Thomas Clarkson's campaign chest which has pride of place in the Wisbech and Fenland Museum. Clarkson's research and lifelong campaign led finally to the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.

Local people with an interest are invited to attend Cambridgeshire's Abolitionists, a one- day event, at St Peter's Church Hall in Wisbech on Saturday, March 14 as long as they book a place before March 2.

Local speaker and manager of the Rosmini Centre Anita Grodkiewicz will talk about the centre's 18-month Government-funded project partnered with Fenland District Council to research modern-day slavery in the area.

She said: Exploitation of vulnerable people modern slavery is happening in Fenland. It's a hidden crime and as such the statistics vary depending on who's reporting them you can't get reliable figures.

For the project we trained more than 150 local people who might come across victims in the course of their work to look for the signs and to report what they find.

What I'm sure of is that more agencies need this training. We've got to raise awareness further and fight modern-day slavery, because it's not going to go away on its own.

Victims can be in your workplace, the place where you get your car washed or your nails done. They may be building a wall in your garden or tarmacking your drive.

Other speakers at the conference include Jakub Sobik of Anti-Slavery International which was founded by Thomas Clarkson in 1839, Ruth Dearnley, CEO of Stop the Traffik, and historian Rebecca Nelson of the Wilberforce Institute's Usable Past Project,

who will present her recent research.

Find more details and book a free ticket to the conference including free refreshments and lunch through Wisbech and Fenland Museum website via this link: https://www.wisbechmuseum.org.uk/whats-on/2020-03-14

Cambridgeshire's Abolitionists is part of Articles for Change, a project funded by the Museum Association's Esme Fairbairn Collections Fund and is supported by Cambridgeshire

See the original post here:

Wisbech is venue for conference on anti-slavery - Fenland Citizen

What are we dealing with?

Indias numerous public pronouncements that Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJ&K) and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) belonged to it must not be ignored. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has reiterated this stance.

Talking to soldiers in Kashmir on the occasion of Holi in the aftermath of the abolition of Article 370, he stated that Pakistan illegally occupied parts of Kashmir, which, according to him, still stings. The BJP president and other senior BJP leaders, including Federal Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, have repeated the same stance on different occasions.

Moreover, we should be aware of the fact that as far back as in 1994, the Indian parliament had passed a unanimous resolution stating that the aforementioned places lawfully belonged to India. A recent statement by the Indian army chief stating that if instructed by the parliament, the armed forces will take appropriate action, should be a cause of concern for Pakistan.

For Islamabad, in order to ward off any such move from India in the near to medium term, it must urgently focus on the following areas:

Make sure that people, especially those dealing with India, have the right understanding of everything that is going on in Modi-led India. For example, despite all the news reports and opinions published on the subject in Pakistans print media, it appears that a very few among us have got a clear understanding of the idea and meaning of Hindutva.

How many of us have actually read Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar? We need to encourage ourselves to read the relevant texts so as to be in a better position to deal with it. Similarly, there is a lot of talk in Pakistan about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, but very few among us appear to have a clear idea of what exactly this amendment is all about, because many of us have not read the Citizenship Act of 1955 itself, which has been amended.

The same seems to be true about our lack of understanding of the UN resolutions concerning India and Pakistan, and so on. Therefore, one area in which more homework needs to be done, so as to make sound policies towards India, is to read more and more about the country, and read original documents.

Indias position on the aforementioned regions is not new. The question which needs to be addressed is: why does it feel confident to raise it now? It appears that one factor that has led to more aggressive posture on the part of New Delhi is the fact that several of the important roads which are part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor pass through Gilgit-Baltistan. The US and India make no secret of their opposition to the China-led Belt and Road Initiative.

We know that the containment of China is a stated policy of the US under the Trump administration. It is an open secret that India is as much interested in containing China, if not more, as the US is. Therefore, Pakistans diplomatic troubles needs to be understood in the context of a complex interplay between international developments, and must be handled accordingly.

Policymakers in Pakistan need to do some soul searching and find out why the US, and even some Muslim Arab countries do not appear to be forthcoming in Pakistans support. Therefore, Pakistan needs to take the requisite measures to urgently repair its relationships with these countries and seek their diplomatic support in dealing with New Delhi.

The third element, closely connected with the second, is that of the state of the economy. One of the main reasons as to why the world is more inclined to work with India is its vibrant economy, with an impressive growth over the past three decades. For any country to be taken seriously, it needs to have a dynamic economy, one in which other countries have economic stakes. Therefore, Pakistan needs to make itself economically attractive. This is a medium to long-term objective. But work on it can begin immediately so as the world knows that it is serious in correcting course.

And, finally, putting ones own house in order is what needs to be focused on. Internal political and social instability weakens the polity and gives leeway to external powers to promote their agendas. Credible political and electoral processes, coupled with rule of law, strengthen state, society, and economy overall and enable it to safeguard its interests with confidence.

Therefore, in order to strengthen its hands externally, Pakistan needs to pay attention to its internal political and social stability. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had once famously said thus: Peace at home, peace in the world. That perfectly applies to every country.

And last, though not the least, enhancing hardcore defence capabilities is what deters adversaries from committing misadventures. Although it is hard to see Pakistan matching Indias defence capabilities in the conventional domain in the foreseeable future, Pakistans nuclear capabilities need to be in order and projected with caution and sobriety. Referring to the same too frequently on different forums, reduces, rather than enhances, the deterrence value of such weapons.

The writer is research analyst at theInstitute of Regional Studies,Islamabad. Views are personal.

Email: [emailprotected]

Follow this link:

What are we dealing with? - The News International

A wave of green change is sweeping across the corporate landscape and they have profound consequences for the way in which all of us will be employed and how we will consume, writes Joe Gill.

No one should underestimate the power of large institutional investment firms as they react to the mega theme of environmental change.

Over the past two years, in the investment business in which I work, we have noted a sharp step-up in the focus being given to all things linked to sustainability and climate change.

This has come from the top as board directors and senior executives have chosen to shift gears in how they deploy capital.

Increasingly, if as a company you want to attract debt or equity finance, you will have to prove at a minimum that you have started a journey towards sustainability.

The power of money will have a greater effect on behaviour and investment decisions than any amount of protesting.

Companies worldwide are recognising the need to change tack, encouraged no doubt by consumers and employees advocating the need for change.

The corporate response is multifaceted.

Individual companies can start by converting their own internal business operations.

A switch to 100% electric cars, the abolition of single-use plastics, full recycling of all waste and a reliance on renewable energy are ways in which industry can move the dial.

At another level, companies can change their product suite to incorporate environmental priorities.

Packing products in fully reusable boxes instead of plastic is one option.

Another is to change whatever is being produced in to a 100% recyclable product.

Other companies are being created to fully exploit the sustainability agenda.

Power companies that rely completely on renewable energy are a good example of that.

Food companies that manufacture food in ways that do not damage the environment are another.

The trends are only going to grow and expand in the months and years ahead.

The investment community does not expect companies to convert overnight.

Instead, they look for boards and management teams that commit to a journey of change.

Once a detailed plan is put in place, and authority is given at a senior level to an accountable post holder who reports to the board, investment firms are supportive.

This explains, for example, why large asset managers are staying supportive of a fossil fuel company like BP because it has laid out concrete plans to move to a zero-emission footprint within a determined number of years.

Every private company and public sector employer will have to respond in kind.

Politicians and regulators will add pressure too but it is those who supply finance that has the greatest influence on how businesses and civil servants react.

If a bank or an investor provides money at a discount to those who pursue true climate change strategies it has a major impact.

Equally, if those providers decide to charge a premium for access to finance if companies do not change their behaviour it has the same result.

In recent weeks, amid a string of negative news stories, there was a fantastic development in the South Atlantic.

Researchers found there 55 thriving blue whales.

For decades the number of whales in that area had collapsed to single figures as whale hunting had driven the species close to extinction.

Moreover, the numbers suggest the oceans continue to have the health needed to sustain these creatures.

It was politicians and money providers that put a stop to whale hunting and look now at what impact that has.

Ignore those who tell you responding to environmental damage is worthless.

A huge amount of change is now kicking off and if everyone supports it climate change can be addressed and tackled appropriately.

--Joe Gill is director for origination and corporate broking with Goodbody Stockbrokers, His views are personal.

Read more from the original source:

Joe Gill: Wall of money ready to drive climate change projects - Irish Examiner

Advertised as a series of 15 sessions, designed to help couples 'invest on their relationship and build a strong marriage the course is open to those who are married and those who are yet to tie the knot. The target age group is 18 to 65 years.

The course, among other issues, teaches the following: 'What is Marriage', 'Understanding Mantra', 'Why Marriage', 'Anger Management', 'Rules and Responsibilities', 'Mistakes by Husbands', 'Basic Needs of Wife', 'Dos and Donts by Husbands', 'How Can You be an Ideal Husband', 'Happiness Mantra, 'Foolish Expectations', 'How Can You be an Ideal Wife', How to Win Your Husband', and 'Home Management and Decisions Impact'.

Lessons will be delivered through video conferencing or as audio lessons, lasting 60 minutes each. These lessons are offered in Hindi and English. The Institute lists its aims as: 'Helping all to achieve healthy, fulfilling, loving long-term intimate relationships', 'Reducing the divorce rate India', 'Improving the emotional health of the families that children grow up in', and 'Unleash a wave of health in intimate relationships for future generations'.

It also has a focused list of those it would ideally like to help. These include singles who are having difficulty developing intimate relationships, couples currently in an intimate relationship which is characterised by ongoing conflict, distance and/or lack of satisfaction in relationship, and parents experiencing problems, difficulties and concerns raising children of any age.

Ilyas Shamsi, founder of the Institute told THE WEEK, "Our courses are based on the belief that prevention is better than cure. So we equip people with the skills to deal with marriage and family better. We do not believe in counselling or taking medication to control problems in and because of relationships"

Shamsi holds a bachelors degree in science, but believes that his two decades as a social activist have given him the requisite expertise to teach people how to navigate relationships better. He claims to have been closely associated with the demand for the abolition of Triple Talaq as well.

"These modules have been developed by me based on experience. We do not have the staff to conduct classroom based training, so it is over phones or video chats", he said.

The courses, he said, are open to people of all faiths and are based on a 'donation model'. "Even if you donate just one rupee to the course, you are eligible to take it", he said, and added that he is yet to come across a dissatisfied client.

However, Lucknow-based clinical psychologist Dr Krishna Dutt dismissed the advertised course as a money making gimmick.

The advertisement uses superfluous words. For instance, how do you win your husband as marriage is not about winning or losing. What are the mantras which are being offered? It seems to be completely unscientific. There is use of some psychological jargon for a project management based approach to marriage and family life.

Dutt likened the course to the numerous personality development courses which are currently the rage. Many of these courses are about teaching how to decorate homes or speak English, neither of which has any bearing on the development of an individuals personality. This course too seems to be the work of amateurs, he said.

Go here to see the original:

An institute in Hyderabad is offering Dulha Dulhan course to ensure a happy married life - THE WEEK

and I will be heard.

Last week, I wrote on Reverend William Wylie Harper and his efforts to abolitionize Mason County, efforts that had the support of Editor Tippett and were finally successful when West Virginia abolished slavery in 1864. He, however, was not the first abolitionist, nor the last.

The abolitionist movement in the United States began even before the American Revolution, primarily among the Mennonites and Quakers. In 1775, the Pennsylvania Abolition Society was founded as the first organization dedicated to the abolition of slavery, and in 1790, that group was the first to take a public stand and petition Congress to ban slavery.

In 1777, Vermont became the first state to abolish slavery while still the independent Vermont Republic. In 1780, Pennsylvania enacted the Gradual Abolition Act, which gradually ended slavery by freeing any children born to slaves after that date. By 1804, gradual abolition was enacted throughout the Northeast, and slavery was banned in the Northwest Territory (the area that became Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin).

That effectively ended slavery north of the Ohio River and Mason-Dixon Line, though the process of gradual abolition took decades to fully abolish slavery. But, by spreading the end of slavery out over several decades and thereby minimizing the impact on the economy, these efforts gained the support of anti-slavery men such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, and later, Abraham Lincoln.

If those leaders had their way, gradual abolition would have spread into the South until slavery eventually died on its own. Of course, we know now that this did not happen. Virginia came close several times, but the economy of the Deep South was too reliant on slavery for it to end. This gave rise to the abolitionists, those who called for slavery to be unconditionally and immediately abolished.

As a movement, abolitionism was born in the 1820s, amid the Second Great Awakening. Alongside the growth of the Methodist and Baptist Churches, and particularly after its inclusion as one of the Methodist works of piety, opposition to slavery became much more than just an economic debate. It was a war for the soul of the nation.

Methodist and Baptist ministers fought this war from the pulpit, but it was clear that more was necessary, and other ministers took their preaching to the newspapers and meeting halls. The foremost of these ministers of abolitionism was William Lloyd Garrison.

Though he began his career as a supporter of gradual abolition, he soon realized that would not work. With years of experience in publishing, he joined Benjamin Lundy as co-editor of an abolitionist newspapers in 1829. After a brief stint in jail, he began his own newspaper in 1831.

It was in the first issue of that paper, The Liberator, that Garrison wrote, I am in earnestI will not equivocateI will not excuseI will not retreat a single inchand I will be heard. From that moment, Garrison was the unquestioned spokesman for the abolitionists.

By 1832, Garrison had enough support to organize the New England Anti-Slavery Society, which only a year later joined ten other organizations to form the American Anti-Slavery Society. Through those organizations, Garrison recruited talented orators to advance the abolitionist cause.

Some of these speakers included Angelina and Sarah Grimke, daughters of a South Carolina slave owner, and escaped slave Frederick Douglass. Together with Garrison, whom Douglass himself said spoke as if his words were full of holy fire, they could abolitionize just about any crowd.

Other Garrisonians, as they came to be called, included noted lawyer Wendell Philips and suffragettes Susan B. Anthony, Abby Kelley Foster, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Those four supporters, along with the Grimke sisters, were instrumental in convincing Garrison that African-American suffrage and womens suffrage were one and the same, and from 1837, The Liberator dedicated itself to both causes.

By 1838, the American Anti-Slavery Society had over 250,000 members and real political influence. That influence was a threat, and Garrison himself was threatened with lynching and a bounty in Georgia. Churches and schools supporting abolitionists were burned to the ground, abolitionists were imprisoned, and some, such as Reverend Elijah Lovejoy, were murdered in cold blood.

Nonetheless, they continued their fight, though they had little luck getting any abolitionist bills through Congress as long as the Southern states had a say in the matter. It wasnt until the midst of the Civil War, after the South had given up its seats in Congress, that their goals were realized.

On January 1st, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in areas under control of the Union Army. A step in the right direction, the Proclamation gained national support and paved the way for the 13th Amendment. With its ratification in December of 1865, slavery was abolished in its entirety. The fight for suffrage, however, continued.

Information from more sources than are possible to list here, but prominent among them is Henry Mayers All on Fire, a biography of William Lloyd Garrison.

The next meeting of the Mason County Historical and Preservation Society will be Saturday, March 14 at 5 p.m. at the Mason County Library.

Chris Rizer is president of the Mason County Historical and Preservation Society, reach him at masonchps@gmail.com.

More:

Efforts to 'abolitionize' the United States - Point Pleasant Register

Have our local industrial units grown strong enough to face competition from other players in the field and function under the doctrine of level playing field despite having enjoyed some sort of state protectionism for quite some? What are the reasons for our industrial sector not picking up satisfactorily despite availability of liberal credit from Banking and other Financial Institutions ? Has the need arisen to introduce advanced technology and better professional management of the units ? These are a few questions haunting the local industrial sector and needing attention and resolution . Added to the scenario is such a factor which is laced with and resulting in showering benefits on many but causing lot of anxiety to various industrial units in our UT of Jammu and Kashmir. That is abolition of Toll Tax at Lakhanpur, Railway Stations and at Airports in Jammu and Kashmir.This abolition will result in the influx of goods and services from across the country at competitive prices much to the detriment of the local entrepreneurs interests many of whom fear that some units would definitely be grossly disadvantaged and many might not reach even breakeven point or in other words, the sale proceeds would not cover even its expenses. It is not that the Government, which by the decision of foregoing taxes, would be incurring an annual loss of revenue to the extent of over Rs. 1500 crore, is not conscious of the impending impact on the local industrial units . To look into the entire gamut of things post abolition of Toll tax , it constituted a high powered committee to assess the extent of impact. However, as is wont with most of such constituted committees , especially decorated as High Powered , timelines are never met , so turned out to be the Committee under reference which failed to submit its report to the Government within one month.With such casual approach, not only are the affected entrepreneurs jittery but it makes the oft repeated claims of the Government look prosaic that it was committed to the development of vibrant, modern and competitive industrial and manufacturing sector in Jammu and Kashmir. By convening just a meeting since constituting of this Committee evidences that seriousness accorded to the subject was in utter deficit. General Administration Department should arrange putting in place a system of monitoring of such committees performance from time to time by way of establishing a separate cell mandated to pursue the level of developments in all such cases . Some sort of arrangement , at least , for those units which were vulnerable to suffer on account of abolition of Toll Tax should be arrived at towards which, the Government must pay due attention.We reiterate that since a large work force -both technical and non technical was engaged in the local industrial sector thus being employer of hundreds of such people , every care should be taken that those workers did not lose their livelihood in case the stiff competition from other traders and manufacturers from outside Jammu and Kashmir as a consequence of abolishing of the Toll Tax resulted in affecting the working of the industrial units. Local Industrial Associations as well as Federation of Industries, Jammu are opposing the decision to do away with Toll Tax which would not wholly benefit the consumer but would definitely hamper the working of the units. Therefore, it is in the fitness of things, at the outset, the Committee submitted its report and recommendations to the Government at an early date so that it took some concrete decisions in the matter.

The Leading Daily of Jammu and Kashmir , India

Read this article:

Abolition of Toll Tax and impact on Industries - Daily Excelsior