Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

Latinas in the U.S. come from a long line of influential, barrier-breaking, rebel Latin American women. Through Remezclas Herstory series, we introduce readers to the women warriors and pioneers whose legacies we carry on.

In Brazil, centuries-old historical figures continue to make headlines today. Last year, controversy erupted when two important Black women from the colonial era Dandara and Luisa Mahin were inscribed in the Book of Heroes, a national list that commemorates historical figures. The debate centered on the veracity of their existence but opened up discussions on Black representation in Brazilian history, the states debt to millions for slavery and genocide and much-needed efforts to rescue stories lost to obscurity.

A quick sweep through Brazils recorded history will reveal a dearth of information on women of color, particularly Indigenous women. Much more scholarship is needed to reconstruct the biographies of Indigenous and Black women and their contributions. The impact these histories have today shows why these stories matter. Afro-Brazilian leaders, such as the politician rica Malunguinho, have learned from the resistance of quilombos, settlements of runaway enslaved Africans, and quilombo warriors such as Dandara to build radical political movements and spaces.

In this installment of the Herstory series, we recount stories of Brazilian women who were warriors, activists, spiritual priestesses, educators, artists and politicians. These are women that, despite the hostile political climate of the current presidency, continue to live on through the people that remember and find inspiration in them today.

Dandara is a controversial figure in Brazil. She is said to have been a fierce capoeira warrior in Quilombo dos Palmares, the largest settlement of runaway enslaved Africans in Brazil that at one point reached 11,000 inhabitants and endured for 100 years until its demise in 1695. According to legend, she was the wife of Zumbi Dos Palmares, the last king of the quilombo. But Dandaras inclusion last year in the Book of Heroes, a list of historical figures commemorated in a large cenotaph in Brasilia, received backlash from some historians who argued Dandara was a fictional character. Others defended her existence, alleging historians had yet to seriously analyze oral stories that spoke of Dandara.

Madalena Caramaru, the daughter of a Portuguese trader and an Indigenous Tupinambs woman, became the first literate woman in Brazil. Caramaru learned to read and write with the instruction of either her father or husband. Letters she later wrote to the regional Catholic missionary, Father Manuel de Nbrega, urged the Church to abandon its maltreatment of Indigenous children and to support educational access for women. These petitions, although well-received by the Father, were ultimately denied by the Portuguese royalty.

Born in 1792, Quitria never attended school, but she learned to ride horses, hunt and operate firearms in the Bahia farm where she grew up. These skills would later prove useful when she joined pro-revolutionary troops in 1822. She cut her hair and dressed herself in mens clothes to hide her real identity. Her higher-ups eventually discovered her secret, but they permitted her to stay in the army due to her strength and skills as a fighter. In 1823, she rose to the rank of cadet and then to lieutenant. The Brazilian government recognized her bravery in 1996 when she was proclaimed an army patron.

Almost 30 years before slavery was banned in 1888, the Afro-Brazilian author Maria Firmina dos Reis wrote the first abolitionist novel, Ursula. A clear-eyed depiction of life under slavery, the novel is written from the perspective of a young African girl who is kidnapped from her hometown and subjected to a lifetime of cruelty. Ursula is also considered the first novel written by a Brazilian woman. Born to a free African man and a white woman, Firmina published critical essays, poems, short stories and abolitionist songs. She also founded the first free and racially mixed school in Brazil before the abolition of slavery.

In the 1830s, Iy Nass, a freed African slave, co-founded the first temple devoted to the Afro-Brazilian spiritual tradition of Candombl. The house of worship known as Casa Branca do Engenho Velho would help spread Candombl throughout Brazil as priestesses initiated there opened their own temples. It is believed that Nass and her fellow co-founders Iy Adet and Iy Acal were priestesses from the towns of Ketu and Oyo, located in present-day Nigeria. Not much is known about her life. Some research indicates Nass eventually returned to Africa to research the cult of Orishas, while others say she fled persecution from the Mal slave revolt, in which her son was implicated. More than 150 years later, the Candombl house still stands in Salvador, Bahia.

The daughter of a Swiss-Brazilian physician and a British nurse, Bertha Lutz became a pioneer of the womens suffrage movement in Brazil. Her feminist manifesto published in Revista da Semana in 1918 is credited with prompting a rise in womens rights organizations, mostly comprised of literate, white women. She founded the Brazilian Federation for the Advancement of Women in 1922, which helped to secure womens right to vote in a decade. Still, womens suffrage was restricted by the same literacy tests men were subjected to.

A housekeeper since the age of seven, Laudelina de Campos Melo knew firsthand the abuses domestic workers faced and founded the first association of domestic workers in Brazil in 1936. During these years, she was also active in the Communist Party and the Black Brazilian Front, the largest federation of Black rights organizations in Brazil. In the 1970s, her activism helped domestic workers win the right to a work permit and social security.

When Black representation on mainstream Brazilian television remained slim, Tas Arajo played the first Black woman protagonist in a telenovela in 1996. The 231-episode series told the story of Xica Silva, an enslaved African who became one of the wealthiest women in the region because of her relationship with a Portuguese knight. She went on to play various leading roles, including one that made her the first Black woman to star in a primetime telenovela.

Decades before Dilma Rousseff became Brazils first woman president, the young militant joined urban Marxist guerrilla groups that rebelled against the military dictatorship that took over after the 1964 coup detat. She was eventually captured, tortured and served three years in prison for her guerrilla activities. When she was released, Rousseff dedicated herself to politics, reorganizing the Brazilian Labor Party. After serving in various presidential cabinets, she held the presidency in 2011 until she was impeached in 2016 on charges of criminal administrative misconduct and disregard for the federal budget.

Maria da Penha, a womens rights activist, helped to pass a law that increased punishments for domestic abuse offenders, created specialized courts for these crimes and opened 24-hour shelters for survivors. Her activism stems from the two homicide attempts she suffered that left her paraplegic. Her ex-husband, the culprit in the attacks, eluded prison for more than 19 years due to systemic faults in the judicial systems that favored the perpetrators in domestic abuse cases. He ultimately served one year in jail. Da Penha took her case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which ruled in her favor. In 2006, the Maria da Penha law passed.

A Black, bisexual woman raised in Rio de Janeiros Mar favela, Marielle Franco campaigned against gender violence, police brutality, militarization and for reproductive rights as an activist and city council member. She was killed by unknown assailants in March 2018 in an attack that prompted mass protests throughout Brazil and the world. Its believed her homicide could be linked to her work denouncing police violence in the favelas and paramilitary groups made up of retired and off-duty police. Two former police officers were arrested last year in connection to her murder and five people including two police officers were accused of obstruction to justice.

rica Malunguinho is the first transgender politician to be elected in state congress. Born in Recife in 1981, Malunguinho moved to So Paulo at the age of 19 and started to transition. She immersed herself in arts, culture and politics, eventually opening up a cultural center she called an urban quilombo in reference to the Black freetowns created during slavery. When Marielle Franco was assassinated, Malunguinho, then a well-regarded Afro-Brazilian and LGBTQ leader, decided to run for state congress as a member of the Socialism and Liberty Party, the political party that Franco represented.

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Culture Herstory: 12 Brazilian Women Who Changed the Course of History - Remezcla

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said Delhi needs a government that will not resort to appeasement but supports the CAA, abolition of Article 370 and issues related to national security.

Addressing an election rally ahead of the February 8 assembly elections, the prime minister touched on various issues, including the 2008 Batla House encounter, surgical strikes and his governments flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme, during a speech that lasted a little over an hour.

In his second rally in the city in two days, Modi also referred to the armed forces while training his guns at the AAP government and the Congress and exhorting voters to back the BJP.

You must punish those who insult the armed forces. You should vent your anger through your vote. Delhi does not need a government which gives opportunity to enemies to attack us, he said at the rally in Dwarka.

He said the national capital also needs a government that will give direction and not resort to blame games.

The anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in Shaheen Bagh and other places in the city did not find any mention in his speech, unlike his address in Karkardooma on Monday when he said they were not a coincidence but a political conspiracy to destroy the countrys harmony.

Delhi needs a government that will not resort to appeasement but support the CAA, abolition of (special provisions of) Article 370 and issues of national security, he said in Dwarka, taking up the theme of the earlier day.

He also accused the opposition of spreading lies and rumours about the CAA, a legislation which seeks to give citizenship to the persecuted minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Muslims have been excluded from it.

Modi attacked those who questioned the surgical strike and air strike on terror camps across the Line of Control but did not take any names.

The surgical strike was launched on terror launch pads by the Indian Army in September 2016 after the Uri attack. The Balakot air strikes were launched by the Air Force in 2019, post the Pulwama terror attack.

Slamming the AAP and the Congress, he said both parties cry for Batla House terrorists, put security forces in dock and instigate people but can not develop the national capital.

Two Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists were killed and two arrested in the encounter at Batla House in Jamia Nagar area on September 19, 2008. A Delhi Police inspector, who was injured in the encounter, also died.

The prime minister accused the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP dispensation of not implementing the Ayushman Bharat scheme, the flagship initiative of the Centre, in the national capital and asked if the AAP governments mohalla clinics will work if Delhiites fall sick outside the city.

The people of Delhi have seen how the AAP government practises the politics of hate, he said.

People of Delhi have seen how the (AAP) government practises politics of hate. Delhi needs a government that will give direction and not resort to blame game, he said.

Many Central government schemes in the last five years were opposed by the Delhi government even before their implementation, he alleged.

The people of Delhi say the country has changed, and now is the time for Delhis transformation, the prime minister told the gathering.

Modi enumerated steps taken by his government for Delhi -- including the Eastern Peripheral Expressway and Western Peripheral Expressway and extending the Metro network.

His government, Modi added, opened more bank accounts for the poor than the population of US, and built more houses than the population of Sri Lanka.

Votes for the Delhi elections will be counted on February 11.

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Delhi needs govt that will not resort to appeasement but supports CAA: PM Modi - BusinessLine

A personal view from Ian Stewart, Deloittes Chief Economist in the UK.

The past, as the novelist LP Harley wrote, is another country, they do things differently there.

And things were different in the year 2000. The global economy was booming. The 3.5% growth rate in the UK and the 3.8% figure in the euro area that year have not been bettered in the 19 years that followed.

Tony Blair was in Downing Street, George Bush was in the White House and Vladimir Putin had just become president of Russia. The events of 9/11, and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq lay ahead. The euro was just a year old and the EU was debating whether to expand into central and eastern Europe. Nokia ruled the roost in mobile telephony and the world was getting by without Facebook, Skype, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter. Twenty-five percent of UK households were able to access the internet through a dial-up connection, most using a desktop computer. Britains first commercial broadband service was launched in March 2000.

Much has changed since then.

Britains population has increased, become older and more international: 8.3m more people live in the UK today, an increase of 14%. Londons population has increased by 25%. There are 37% more over-70s around today but only 6% more children and teenagers. Despite this, the ratio of state pensioners to those of working age has fallen due to the rise in the female state pension age.

The UK economy grew far faster in 2000 than it has in recent years, yet the unemployment rate today, at 3.8%, is well below the 5.5% rate seen in 2000.

The number of people in self-employment has soared since the millennium, rising more than 50%. Numbers in part-time and full-time employment have risen by 17%. Evidence on the casualization of the workforce is mixed. So called zero-hours contracts have risen from less than 1% to over 2.5% of the workforce. But temporary employment has shrunk from 7% to 5% of employment, the lowest recorded, and part-time employment remains pretty flat at about 25% of the workforce.

Those over 65 are also now twice as likely to still be working as in 2000, in part due to the abolition of mandatory retirement at 65 in 2011. Younger people play a smaller role in the labour market because of the new requirement to stay in education or training until the age of 18. The proportion of young people going to university has risen from just over 30% to 50%. Overseas student numbers have quadrupled.

Employment among women has increased far more rapidly than among men and the average age of first-time mothers has increased by more than two years, to 28.8. Rising rates of participation in the labour force by women and older people has increased employment, but immigration has been the biggest factor behind job growth. About two-thirds of the 5.6m increase in the UK workforce since 2000 has been due to immigration.

The shape of the economy has changed radically. Over one million fewer people work in manufacturing, a decline of more than a quarter. Manufacturing output is unchanged, demonstrating how automation and a focus on higher-value products have helped lift productivity. Technology, education and healthcare have increased their headcounts by 40%-50% in the last 20 years. Those in work are less likely to go on strike. The number of days lost due to strike action in 2019 was less than half that in 2000, despite a substantial increase in the size of the workforce.

A largely unnoticed change has been the decline in the number of public companies those whose shares can be freely traded on a stock exchange. At the end of the 20th century, there were 12,400 public companies in the UK. Since then the number has dwindled to 5,700. Private companies are on the rise, with their numbers increasing from 1.3m to almost 4m.

Government is bigger today, with government spending accounting for 38% of GDP, up from 34% in 2000. The financial crisis and the anaemic growth that followed set government on a borrowing spree that lifted government debt from 28% of GDP to over 80%. But with interest rates near historic lows the government currently has to pay only 0.5% to borrow money for ten years, down from 5.7% in 2000.

Government spending is increasingly focused on the NHS and old-age benefits. A number of areas within the public sector have faced deep cuts, among them working-age benefits, police, prisons and local government.

Yet despite the depredations of the global financial crisis and public sector austerity we are getting richer. Real GDP is 37% higher than in 2000 and per capita GDP has risen by 20%.

The price level has risen 51% since 2000, with prices rising far faster for services than goods. The cost of medical services, for instance, have risen 130% in the last 20 years. Education costs have risen by a factor of almost four reflecting the rising cost of university tuition and higher independent school fees.

The scope for productivity gains is greater in goods than services, partly because making things lends itself to automation and the use of new technologies. The scale of price deflation in some goods sectors is remarkable. Clothing and footwear prices have halved since 2000. Second-hand cars are 40% cheaper. The price of audio-visual equipment has fallen by 80%.

Patterns of energy consumption have changed significantly. UK greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 37%, in part because coal now generates less than 1% of our electricity, down from almost one-third in 2000. Energy generated by renewables such as wind and solar has increased ten-fold. In terms of transport the clear losers are buses and coaches, with total miles travelled falling by 24%. Total car passenger miles have risen by just 5% while the number of rail passenger journeys is up by almost 90%.

Falling carbon emissions partly reflect a growing tendency to import goods whose production requires high levels of energy inputs, rather than producing them at home. When carbon emissions from the production of the goods we consume is included, the decline in UK greenhouse gas emissions is less impressive.

The year 2000 was the peak of the economic cycle for the rich countries of the world, including the UK. Growth was about as good as it gets. With the collapse of Soviet communism and Chinas rapid industrialisation, capitalism seemed triumphant. The world seemed to have entered an era of strong growth, greater predictability and breakneck globalisation.

Twenty years on things look rather different. Growth has slowed everywhere, including in the UK. Otherwise the big trends here have been towards a more populous, older and international country, one which, despite the de-rating of growth prospects, has done better than most in creating job opportunities, especially for women and older people.

Rapid population growth, driven by immigration, has been one of the unanticipated features of the last two decades. The financial crisis has left us with a larger, more indebted government, one that is spending ever more on health and old-age benefits. It has also left us with borrowing costs that would seemed unimaginably low 20 years ago. From todays vantage point the year 2000 does, indeed, seem like another country.

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The shape of the British economy has changed radically since 2000 - Reaction

Access, access, access be it physical, emotional, or preferably both is the doc filmmakers equivalent of location. And Brazilian director Petra Costa manages to get it in spades. Currently streaming on Netflix, her Oscar-nominated epicThe Edge of Democracy,the third film in a personal, award-winning trilogy that began with the 2009 shortUndertow Eyes, followed by her debut featureElenathree years later, is easily Costas most ambitious to date.

With fly-on-the-wall camerawork, and guided by her eloquent voiceover narration, Costa captures up close and in real time the democratic car wreck of recent corruption scandals in Brazil that led to the impeachment of one president (Dilma Rouseff), the jailing of another (Luiz Incio Lula da Silva), and the election of a military dictatorship-glorifying strongman (Jair Bolsonaro). And, as if shooting in the presidential palace as the nations first female leaders belongings are unceremoniously packed up, or filming as Lula hunkers down in an office awaiting potential arrest werent enough, Costa adds to the drama by deftly weaving in archival images encompassing the countrys fraught history, including her familys own complicated role in it.

My grandparents, who were the protagonists ofUndertow Eyes, were actually in conflict with my parents for a very long time because of political disagreements, which I reveal in this film, Costa explained by phone soon after the Academy Award nominations were announced. While my grandparents supported the military coup, both my parents fought against it and were imprisoned by it, and had many friends tortured and killed.

Were a younger country, and its crazy to look at it, she continued. There are more presidents that fell than finished their mandates in Brazil. Its a country built on coup after coup after coup. One of the first coups was after the king and the prince decided to declare the abolition of slavery. Thats when the republic was proclaimed and they were kicked out, because the oligarchs in Brazil were against the abolition of slavery.As she went on to explain, Its a country built by a few oligarchs, like if slavery in the South in the United States had never been challenged with a civil war. But then the government finally did do affirmative action, and changed the landscape of Brazilian institutions. Today there are more black people in public universities in Brazil than whites. The impeachment and everything else was really a revolt against that as well. I think a question we all have today is, Is this the last scream of agony of white supremacists, or will they actually destroy democracy to be able to maintain power?

But to contextualize the elite oligarchy Costa claimed as original sin she chose to look far beyond her nations borders, not north but south. The first chapter of Patricio GuzmnsThe Battle of ChileisThe Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie.That is precisely what was happening here, the filmmaker said, citing the renowned Chilean documentarian. The bourgeoisie was having an insurrection after 13 years of the Workers Party. The idea was that if Dilma was not impeached then Lula would be elected, and the Workers Party would continue to be in power.

It was clearly an insurrection, she continued. That was so obvious. My desire at one point was to cut between the right wing protests inThe Battle of Chileto our right wing protests, because they were just a copy of each other. But then I saw that what was happening in Brazil was subsiding. And I had a feeling, like, this has all calmed and were back to normal.

Unfortunately, as she was quick to point out, this was not to be. When six months later the streets exploded in protest I felt that now I have a duty to do what he did. I was really inspired by how he did it, and how he was able to be in the streets, in Congress, and in the presidential palace. So thats what we were constantly trying to do. I would watch that film with my DP almost every day before going to shoot.

I thought about how clearly he put his own point of view in that film, in terms of the analysis of each event, Costa emphasized. One thing that everyone here was saying: You have to be neutral, you have to be neutral. Or, there was just this shift in the entire media landscape towards a very conservative perspective of everything. WatchingThe Battle of Chilehelped me to have the courage to trust my intuition about what was happening.

She continued, In the beginning there was so much doubt, and everyone was trying to kind of prove that what was being done was right. But then there was leak after leak after leak that just revealed so clearly what the real intentions behind the impeachment and Lulas imprisonment were. There was a leak that came out 21 days after Dilmas impeachment of the Congressmen saying that she has to be impeached or were all going to go to prison. Because she wasnt stopping Operation Car Wash. And then, there was the leak six months after Lula was imprisoned that shows the prosecutors coordinating with the judge. Lula had to go to prison or else the Workers Party would win the election.

Contemplating that time of nail-biting uncertainty and how she was able to document it, Costa noted, The most cinematic moment was, of course, Lulas imprisonment. Wed already built access over three years with Lula by then, so I knew most of the staff that worked with him, and had several points of connection. For three days he was kidnapped inside his own, like, workers union. And the entire country was watching that while we were inside filming and also looking at that from the televisions. No one knew if he would give himself up, or if the police would invade the building. It was like a thriller.

As for how Costa was able to wade through what ended up being a daunting, often head-spinning, 10,000 hours worth of footage, she explained, I was mostly editing in Brazil, though for about three months, or four, I went to Paris to work with this editor, Tina Baz, who works with (Japanese film director) Naomi Kawase. It was great to be able to kind of zoom out of what was happening in Brazil, and have her foreign perspective, and not be intoxicated by the passions here, which were very high. The discussions here could often go into a football cheering mode, for one side or the other. So for me it was really important to look at this from a different, more distant perspective.

And in England I worked with Joanna Natasegara, who produced two amazing political films,VirungaandThe White Helmets, Costa continued.She helped us a lot in getting the facts right, and having a political perspective that would also be less impassioned and more journalistically precise. And in the US, we had producers Shane Boris and Sara Dosa. The production was mainly in Brazil, the US, and the UK. The international help of these people that were working with us was really essential, as were the editors. Its like how with each article I read about Brazil that is written abroad helps me understand a lot of what is happening here.

And what happens in Brazil, of course, doesnt stay in Brazil. As the filmmaker explained, the parallels to the political discourse in the US leading up to the 2016 election were at times uncanny. Theres the concept of sexism, and how this process was extremely sexist. There were a lot of similarities to what happened to Hillary in many ways. Likethe chants of lock her up, which was for Lula. Every protest they were saying lock her up for Lula. But the sexism that Hillary suffered during the campaign was very similar to what happened to Dilma. It showed how incapable most people still are of respecting female politicians. And then you elect someone who says that women should be raped!

Though Costa was swift to add that, as in the US, the profit-hungry tech giants were likewise damningly culpable. I think the reason that this has been unleashed has a lot to do with social media, she lamented. People wouldnt even say that they were right wing before 2013 in Brazil. You would be center or youd be left. But in 2013 these protests started to happen, and a very strange movement started to happen in social media where these pages supporting far right thought went viral.One of these main pages actually had funding by the Koch brothers, she then revealed. Its called MBL (Free Brazil Movement). One of the leaders got a grant to found Students for Liberty, so thats also funded by the Koch brothers. So theres a lot yet to be unveiled about how some companies are possibly paying for these movements in social media that are actually perverting our democracy worldwide.

As the conversation wound to a close, Costa added what, in retrospect, could only be described as a chilling global warning. I feel that what is happening is, more than anything, a decision by certain corporations that theyre tired of democracy.

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Watching The Battle of Chile Helped Me to Have the Courage to Trust my Intuition: Petra Costa on Her Oscar-nominated Doc The Edge of Democracy -...

Parents in Finland will receive the same amount of parental leave, regardless of gender or if they are the biological parents of a child, the government announced.

The changes, which were announced on Wednesday and could take effect as of 2021, are an attempt to promote gender equality and inclusion for same-sex couples and encourage fathers to take both free time and mothers.

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The measure is one of the latest reforms under the new government of Finland, led by Sanna Marin, a progressive prime minister who took office late last year. Ms. Marin made headlines when she took office late last year becoming the youngest prime minister in the world and leading a coalition government made up of all female leaders.

Under the new reforms, each parent will be allowed 164 days of paid parental leave, which increased the total allowance for a couple from 11.5 months to more than 14 months, the government said in a statement. Single parents will be entitled to use parental leave fees from both parents.

The Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Aino-Kaisa Pekonen, said the new policy shows "government investment in the future of children,quot; and in the welfare of families.

"The reform will be an important change in attitudes, as it will improve equality between parents and facilitate the lives of diverse families," he added.

But some labor and industry leaders seemed to distrust the changes. Ilkka Oksala, director of labor and social affairs of the Confederation of Finnish Industries, the country's largest employers' association, criticized the new policy.

"The reform does not improve equality, does not improve employment and does not improve the position of women in the labor market," said Oksala Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper.

Lotta Savinko, director of labor affairs for Akava, a confederation of professional and administrative staff unions in Finland, told the same newspaper that "the fact that the child care subsidy is not touched at home is a real problem."

Experts said that, although the parental leave revisions had taken a long time, Marin may have been key to finally driving the policy.

"Sanna Marin represents the change and her values in politics and politics are in line with the new parental leave model," Elina Penttinen, a professor of gender studies at the University of Helsinki, said Thursday.

Ms. Marin is the mother of a young daughter and previously She described herself as part of a "rainbow family." Her parents separated when she was a child, and she was raised by her mother and her mother's female partner. He has long advocated progressive policies aimed at supporting families of all kinds.

Ms. Pekonen said the reform will bring "a major change in attitudes,quot; and "will facilitate the lives of diverse families."

"The reform will support all types of families and guarantee equitable permits for children, regardless of the form of the family," he said.

The new government policy will apply to all parents, regardless of gender or if they are a child's biological or adoptive parents, and parents can transfer up to 69 days of their own permission to their partner.

But Finland is an atypical case, as it maintains that the changes are aimed at addressing gender inequality through the abolition of gender-specific benefits and the use of neutral language in legislation.

Many Finnish social media users applauded the government's efforts on social media after the measures were announced on Wednesday.

"I never felt that family vacations are also for us rainbow families," Minna Minkkinen wrote in a tweet, noting the fact that the new reforms provide better inclusion of same-sex couples. "I was touched."

Hanna Markkanen said it was a step towards a "Finland family friend."

"I am particularly pleased that multiple types of families are considered in the reform," he said.

Ms. Penttinen, a professor of gender studies, said that it had previously been "a financial challenge for parents to stay home as they still received higher salaries than women," but she hoped that this reform would lead to better job opportunities. for the women.

"In the long run, this could also change the perception of hiring women, as they have the same opportunity to advance in their careers and return to work," he said.

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Finland plans to give all new parents the same license - Up News Info

The Rev. Raphael Warnock coupled the launch of his campaign for a U.S. Senate seat with another piece of news: He plans to stay in the pulpit of Atlantas Ebenezer Baptist Church, a move that will invite more scrutiny of the famed congregation from the IRS and his rivals.

The Democrat said he wasnt concerned about serving double duty as both a candidate and a clergyman as he races to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler. He framed his decision as a throwback to a time when congressional lawmakers held everyday jobs.

Weve grown accustomed in our country to politicians who are professional politicians they think about politics and thats all they think about, Warnock said in an interview. But theres another great tradition, and that is of the citizen representative. Theyre enmeshed in their community, and they take their concerns to Washington.

Theres no question he has a powerful platform in his role as the senior pastor where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached. His sermon at this years King Day ceremony served as a preview of his campaign message, and it drew thousands of viewers and international coverage.

But it also puts Warnock and his church on tricky terrain. Preachers often discuss hot-button issues such as voting rights and abortion while in their pulpits, but they risk losing their tax-exempt status if they openly back candidates or pay for campaign activities.

READ: Georgia Senate: Warnocks Democratic rivals are staying in the race

That means its perfectly legal for Warnock to preach and run as a Democrat against Loeffler, a financial executive appointed last month to fill U.S. Sen. Johnny Isaksons seat after he retired for health reasons.

But Warnock would have to steer clear of overtly politicking in the pulpit and using church resources for his campaign. The church could not endorse Warnock or collect cash for him. Any political activity such as forums or get-out-the-vote efforts must be done in a nonpartisan way.

Violating those rules would risk penalties from the Internal Revenue Service, which classifies churches as tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations that dont pay federal income tax but also cant actively engage in political campaigns.

His candidacy would also invite scrutiny from Republican trackers who will analyze his Sunday sermons in search of a legal slip-up. Tax analysts say even using a church email account for campaign business could trigger sanctions.

A minister does not give up his or her rights as a citizen, but running while a minister is challenging, said Ellen Aprill, who specializes in nonprofit tax law at the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. The minister has to be sure not to use church assets, such as mailing lists, and cannot ask for support from the pulpit.

Michael Kang, a professor at Northwestern Universitys Pritzker School of Law and a nationally recognized expert on campaign finance laws, said Warnock and the church will need to be clear about how he is separating his candidate activity from those in the pulpit.

Kang suggests clear disclaimers and careful consideration about what Warnock says when he is before the church. Warnock has often touched on political and social issues while in the pulpit, but now he will need to take extra precautions.

Warnock has had time to consider these ideas. When he was exploring a potential Senate bid in 2015, the minister invoked examples of pastors who have preached on Sundays and campaigned on Mondays as proof he could pull it off.

He pointed to former New York U.S. Reps. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Floyd Flake, and ex-Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Bill Gray all black preachers who maintained a presence in the pulpit after they were elected.

Theres no question that Raphael Warnock can do both, said Isaac Newton Farris Jr., the nephew of King and a lifelong member of Ebenezer. He has the intelligence, the sensitivity and administrative skills to do both. Theres no question about it.

Still, Farris acknowledged the distinct possibility that developments on the campaign trail could put his congregation in an uncomfortable light.

The question, politically, is how does that work? said Farris, whose grandfather and two uncles held leadership positions with the congregation. There will be times as a senator where, in the course of doing his job, it might bring unneeded scrutiny on the church. How does this impact the church?

Warnock said he met with members of Ebenezers board of trustees and the deacon board as well as the church membership before announcing his decision to run.

He said there will be a complete separation between the work of the church and the work of the campaign.

Warnock has long used the pulpit to preach about progressive policies, such as social justice initiatives and voting rights legislation. Hes also used his platform to routinely call for the expansion of Medicaid and abolition of capital punishment.

Ive advocated for these issues for years as a pastor, and I plan to lean into that and continue to advocate in the ways that I have, he said. Im seeking in this instance to have the ability as a legislator to turn my activism into public policy.

The Rev. William J. Barber II, one of the leaders of the Poor Peoples Campaign, said Warnock is uniquely able to balance roles that are sometimes complementary, sometimes competing.

From time to time, particularly in moments like this, there is a need for someone who is the pastor of a church to bring moral clarity and commitment to the political arena, Barber said.

Warnock feels he is up to the task.

To be clear, he said, I will be there preaching on Sundays and the church will not miss a beat.

We are well staffed, Warnock said. We have a team of ministers, and thats been the case for years. We have a team of lay leaders to help carry out the work.

Simply put, he said, the work of the church has never been a one-man show its been a collective effort.

Recently, Ebenezer brought on the Rev. John H. Vaughn as executive pastor, filling an existing spot that has been vacant for a while.

Warnock said that by remaining in the pulpit, he will hear from his parishioners every week, and that would help keep him grounded in their concerns.

I want to go to Washington, he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but I dont want to be drowned by the waters of Washington.

Washington correspondent Tia Mitchell contributed to this article.

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Warnock will have to take care to separate roles as candidate, pastor - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Nirmala Sitharamans budget speech, which broke records for its length, is likely to have left some disappointed. She faced the challenge, common among Indians during the wedding season, of having presented the bride with an expensive gift in advance of the wedding and then finding herself somewhat empty-handed on the big day. Readers will recall that there were already big bang announcements with regard to corporate tax cuts, credit facilities for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and the merger of banks, which are in progress. After these announcements, her budget speech was always likely to fall short of expectations.

Despite this challenge, the finance minister has stayed consistent with her partys philosophy that it is the institutional economic framework of the country that needs to change. Consequently, a lot of air time was spent communicating budgetary philosophy (often through the medium of Tamil poets and, remarkably, even Harappan inscriptions) rather than stating actual allocation numbers. I indicated in a newspaper article on Jan20 that budgets were communication tools and hence communication (even if through poetry) was actually quite desirable. I had called for greater articulation on the simplification of taxes, explicit recognition of the contribution of honest businessmen and clarity on macro-economic data. I was gratified to see these issues addressed in the speech.

Given the absence of big bang reforms, what exactly is the government planning to do to improve the economic plumbing? In the backdrop of the challenges the economy faces, the budget seeks to rekindle the economy through a range of activities around agriculture, health and education. There are large sums allocated to improvements in food warehousing, financing of agricultural warehouse receipts, enhanced limits for agri-credit as well as several interesting initiatives in health and education. Building roads have always been pet projects of Bharatiya Janata Party governments and there were clear five-year targets set for them, while also promising 100 new airports. On a more personal note, my home town Bengalurus now legendary traffic gridlock may be alleviated by a Rs 18,000 crore (about $2.5 million) suburban rail project. Most of these actions should drive job creation.

In tune with the belief that small initiatives can have larger beneficial consequences, small NBFCs will now get the legal benefits under Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act. This will enable precisely the kinds of organisations that lend more to small enterprises and help in job creation to lend more with the comfort of greater recoveries. On a similar note, encouragement of TrEDS ( the platform that enables invoice discounting) is another excellent but under-marketed scheme that still hasnt achieved traction. Public sector vendors will now use TrEDS, making them easier to finance.

In this manner, the government seems to be looking at recovery by a thousand cuts. This can indeed work if the government can execute well on even a few of these initiatives.

One is also happy that the government is clearly in a mood to bust its fiscal deficit. It would be surprising if the fiscal deficit for 2020 was only 3.8 percent and the actual number for 2021 is likely to be higher than the promised 3.5 percent However, finance ministers who are confident of achieving deficit numbers do not say, as Sitharaman did, that they would need a margin of 0.5 percent. Clearly, the government is prepared to cross into 4 percent territory. But, it doesnt want to admit this openly. This is fair game and is the only way to climb back to growth. In connection with deficits, there was a somewhat dramatic announcement about the potential divestment of a part of Life Insurance Corp (LIC). This is likely to meet with resistance. There are many other organisations the government could choose to sell before it divests LIC. I expect this particular proposal will not materialise and, to that extent, the fiscal slippage will widen.

A few other initiatives stand out. First, there is a reduction in direct taxes for the middle class, which will certainly drive a little more consumption. There is also the reduction of the vexatious dividend distribution tax, which should make it simpler for overseas investors to invest in India.

If one had been limited to only one wish for the budget, it would have been a mechanism to bring in large amounts of long-term capital into the Indian bond markets, to enable the funding of the tens of lakhs of crores we need to boost infrastructure and to achieve the green transition. In this area, there is an interesting waiver of tax on sovereign wealth funds that should catalyse investment in the approved sectors.

For the second budget in a row, the government is giving more attention to its climate change commitments. The allocations for smart metering and the funding to allow farmers to generate retail solar power are all in the right direction. The finance minister also indicated that there could be regulation requiring highly emissive thermal plants to close. If followed through, this is a remarkable step for the government of a growing economy. Those who are critical of the current government often fail to give it adequate credit for being among the most enlightened in terms of its responses to climate change.

Following Sitharamans speech, we now know that the government is not looking for dramatic changes in policy such as steep reductions in customs duties or the abolition of capital gains tax. Instead the message we must absorb is that the economy, in the main, needs to strengthen itself in the normal course and the government will try to help by active social sector spending and easing bottlenecks along the way. This approach also reflects the reality that the government has four more years to go and, therefore, does not believe it needs to use stronger ammunition.

Fortunately, big bang budgets have not always resulted in sustained economic growth (with the exception of 1991) and one hopes that the governments generally sound track record in execution will help it achieve its policy of recovery by a thousand cuts.

Govind Sankaranarayanan is a former chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Tata Capital and is currently vice-chairman at ESG Fund ECube Investment Advisors. HINDUSTAN TIMES

January 24, 2020

December 10, 2019

January 6, 2020

May 13, 2019

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The Indian government's policy of recovery by a thousand cuts can work - Khmer Times

The number of people sleeping on Wales' streets has gone up by 17% in a year.

Every year, councils are asked to carry out a count of people sleeping rough to feed into a national rough sleeper count.

This year's count was carried out over two weeks in October and nearly all areas saw a rise when compared to the year before.

The figures, published on Tuesday, February show a significant rise from 347 people sleeping rough over a two-week period in Wales last year to 405 people who slept on the streets this year - an increase of 58.

Lindsay Cordery-Bruce, chief executive of The Wallich, said: Everyone is disappointed and no-one is surprised, from decision makers to people on the ground, and this is unacceptable. We should be surprised; we should be shocked, and we should be outraged at the continual year on year increase in the number of people sleeping rough across Wales.

"This figure should be a rallying cry to all of us that we need to do better.We cannot allow year-on-year increases in homelessness to become normalised this is when we fail."

The numbers of rough sleepers over a two week period:

How that looks as a map:

A count on a single night is also carried out in every council area. In that, councils reported 176 people sleeping rough across Wales between 10pm on the November 7 and 5am on November 8, 2019 - also a rise on the previous year, this time of 11%.

As part of the report, councils are asked to count how many emergency bed spaces there are.

They reported 210 available and despite that number being up, the proportion of emergency bed spaces which were unoccupied and available on the night of the count was lower in 2019 (8%) than in 2018 and 2017 (both 18%)

The Welsh Government report says there continues to be "considerable variation" across Wales' 22 council areas.

In Caerphilly, the number of people sleeping rough rose from 28 to 42, and in Newport from 23 to 42.

There were reductions in five council areas: Anglesey, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Gwynedd and Wrexham.

There were no rough sleepers counted in Blaenau Gwent.

The highest estimate for rough sleepers over these two weeks continued to be seen in Cardiff (despite a decrease of eight) and Caerphilly and Newport being joint second highest.

Reasons provided for the increases reflected both on the ground changes as well as improved engagement resulting in better quality data whereas the decreases were credited to multi-agency work reducing levels of rough sleeping and difficulties in obtaining up to date or accurate information from agencies working on the ground.

Lindsay Cordery-Bruce, chief executive of The Wallich, said: The figure of 57 people seen sleeping rough in Cardiff on the one-night count is similar to our own figures but it is important to mention later that month we saw numbers as high as 76 people in a single morning in the city centre alone.

"One-night counts have their merits as a snapshot, but they can often hide the true extent of the issue. For example, we often see much higher numbers during the summer months when extra cold weather provision is not available. We are working with Welsh Government on a national database (the Street Homeless Information Network SHIN) which would give us accurate figures throughout the year.

"The government figures also show a huge increase in areas where there is less investment in outreach provision, such as Caerphilly and Conwy where the number of people sleeping rough has almost doubled between 2018 and 2019.The people sleeping rough in these areas are as valuable and worthy of help as those in our larger cities.

" Welsh Government has tasked the Homelessness Action Group to think afresh and do things differently, utilising the expertise available to achieve the change required. We are part of this group and whilst we have seen some tangible outcomes from our discussions, we need urgent action and for Welsh Government to rapidly implement the groups recommendations, including a serious financial commitment.

" There has been a real terms funding cut of 37m from the Supporting People budget between 2012-2018. Without additional investment in the Housing Support Grant in the next Welsh Government budget, there is a risk that homelessness could get much worse.

" We also need a commitment to systemic change to remove the barriers that are leaving people unable to get out of the cycle of homelessness such as the abolition of priority need, intentionality, local connection and the use of the Vagrancy Act.We need to re-introduce kindness as a force that binds us together in our fight against homelessness. There is no more time for bigotry and victim blaming in this emergency.

" A minimum of 405 people across Wales need our help, our compassion, and to be our priority right now. As individuals, decision makers, service providers, businesses and as a nation, we must not fail them."

Clarissa Corbisiero, Director of Policy and Deputy Chief Executive of Community Housing Cymru said: " Figures released by Welsh Government today have revealed that the number of people rough sleeping number in Wales has risen 17% in the last year. We know that more people than ever need support for increasingly complex, co-occurring problems and experiences of trauma, and the Housing Support Grant is essential in funding these services which help people to manage their tenancies and prevent homelessness.

"We share the Welsh Governments ambition to eradicate homelessness in Wales, and todays figures show there is still more to be done. Thats why we are calling on Welsh Government to increase funding for the Housing Support Grant so that we can deliver vital services at the scale needed to end homelessness and keep people in their homes."

Welsh Government minister Julie James said: "I acknowledge the numbers sleeping rough on our streets continues to be unacceptably high. However, the key experts we have engaged to work with us, to advise and help accelerate the work we have already commenced, demonstrates our continuing commitment to addressing this issue.

"I believe the strategic approach we are taking to preventing and ending homelessness is the right framework to take forward this work. The reports of the Homelessness Action Group will help inform the action plan to sit underneath it.

"I would like to place on record my gratitude to all the local authority and third sector outreach officers who work tirelessly to support people sleeping rough into accommodation, work which is both challenging and rewarding.

"We have the building blocks in place to make a real impact and change in this area and despite setbacks we must continue to trust our strategy to prevent and end homelessness in Wales."

Original post:

The 'shocking' rise in the number of homeless people sleeping rough in Wales - Wales Online

Although Budget 2020 has not be able to meet market expectations, but it is positive for some sectors of the market, especially sectors that are related to consumption, agriculture, cement, roads, highways and IT.

Market participants were hoping for some stimulus support from the government to boost growth in Asias third-largest economy, which is likely to grow at 5 percent in FY20, its slowest pace in 11 years.

The Union Budget has fallen short of expectations in terms of a fiscal stimulus to boost domestic consumer demand, no revision has been done for long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax and lastly, the government seems to have increased the tax burden on the rich (including non-resident Indians operating out of tax havens), suggest experts.

Abolition of DDT or Dividend Distribution Tax is a positive move for large companies but it would still get taxed in the hands of recipients. Abolishing of dividend distribution tax (DDT) and taxing it in the hands of the recipient will result in higher tax outgo for many retail investors, Gaurav Dua, Sr VP, Head Capital Market & Investments, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas told Moneycontrol.

Currently, the effective DDT rate stands at 20.35% (including surcharge and cess) this will substantially increase the tax outgo for retail investors in higher tax slab of 20% (and more) and accordingly taken negatively by the equity markets, he said.

Dua further added that even the holding companies could be adversely impacted on the tax outgo for the dividends received from their subsidiaries or investee companies.

Sectors that are likely to benefit the most from the Budget 2020 are electric manufacturing companies, footwear companies, companies operating in natural gas, water pumps, transport infrastructure, IT companies, Agri-related companies, companies under data science, analytics, and related fields.

We have collated a list of stocks from various experts that are likely to benefit the most from the Budget 2020:

Expert: Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, CapitalVia Global Research

Relaxo, Bata India, Bajaj Electricals, Whirlpool of India, Symphony, Blue Star:

Due to the hike in customs duties on small appliances, footwear, food processing, fan and other items, domestic companies which will get a competitive edge.

Apollo Hospital, Biocon, Ajanta Pharma, Dr Lal PathLab:

The government provided Rs. 69,000 crore for the healthcare sector for FY2021 (including the Rs. 6,400 crores for Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana).

The Budget also proposed to set up a Viability Gap funding window for setting up hospitals in the PPP mode. In the first phase, those Aspirational Districts will be covered, where presently there are no Ayushman Bharat empanelled hospitals.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, GMR Infrastructure Ltd, Larsen & Toubro:

National Infrastructure Pipeline receives Rs. 22,000 crore equity support for infrastructure financing. The outlay for MoRTH (Ministry of Road Transport & Highways) up by 10.6% at Rs. 91,823 crore; Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana outlay for FY2021 stands at Rs. 19,500 crore, up by 38.6% as against FY20RE.

Accelerated development of highways including 2,500 km of access control highways, 9,000 km of economic corridors, 2,000 km of coastal and land port roads and 2,000 km of strategic highways.

Work on the ChennaiBengaluru Expressway would also be started soon. Monetisation of twelve lots of highway bundles of over 6,000 km before 2024.

Brokerage Firm: Sharekhan

Ratnamani Metals & Tubes:

The Budget allocated Rs 22,000 crore for National Infrastructure Pipeline and provided 100% tax exemption on sovereign wealth funds' infrastructure investments.

Dixon Technologies and Amber Enterprise:

To provide incentive scheme to boost domestic electronic manufacturing and increased import duty on printed circuit boards (PCB) of mobile phones to 20 percent from 10 percent.

ABB India, Siemens:

Replacement of existing conventional electricity meters with prepaid smart ones in the next three years.

Kaveri seeds, Insecticides (India), PI Industries, Aarti Industries

The Budget allocated Rs. 2,83,000 crore for farm, irrigation and rural development and agri-credit target for FY21 set at Rs. 15 lakh crore. Also, to expand integrated farming systems in rain-fed areas are some of the provisions which could help the chemical and Fertiliser sector.

TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Persistent Systems:

IT sectors is known for giving rich dividends to its shareholders. TCS, Infosys Wipro, and Tech Mahindra usually return the hefty amount to the shareholders through a buyback and/or dividend.

For instance, TCS has paid around Rs. 4200 crore as dividend distribution tax YTD in FY20E. With the abolition of DDT, this amount could also be paid to investors. This would be a benefit to cash-rich Midcap companies like Persistent Systems, Mphasis, etc. might choose to pay a higher dividend.

It is also positive for large companies like Colgate Palmolive India, ITC, HUL, GSK Consumers and Nestle India.

UltraTech, The Ramco Cements, JK Lakshmi Cement:

Higher allocation to MoRTH (up by 10.6%), Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (up 8.6%), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (up 38.6%) vis--vis FY20RE. Incentives for affordable housing continue with an extension of one year on the additional tax exemption of Rs. 1.5 lakh for individuals and tax holidays for developers.

Affle India & Info Edge:

Allocation for digital India: Rs. 6,000 crore to be allocated for the BharatNet programme in FY2021 to further enhance broadband connectivity in rural areas. The government announced to bring out a policy to enable the private sector to build data centre parks throughout the country.

This step would increase the penetration of smartphones/ internet in smaller towns and rural areas. As one lakh gram panchayats will be connected to the optical fibre programme, it would help the internet and new media companies like Affle India and Info Edge to penetrate into rural and semi-urban markets.

TCI Express, Mahindra Logistics, Container Corporation, Gateway Distriparks:

National Logistics Policy to be released soon, clarifying the roles of the Central Government, State Government and key regulators. Single window e-logistics market to be set up.

Brokerage Firm: Reliance Securities:

BoB, Canara Bank, PNB, Indian Bank:

The Budget encouraged PSBs to raise funds via capital markets and build a system to check the health of scheduled commercial banks. I-T losses post-merger will be available for off-set for PSBs.

ONGC & Oil India:

A 6 percent rise in budgetary support for fuel subsidy in FY21 vs. FY20. No subsidy case for ONGC and OIL in FY20 - Budgetary support for cooking fuel (LPG/Kerosene) in the form of subsidy has increased by Rs23.4bn for FY21, while total subsidy for FY20 is upward revised to Rs385.7bn.

Based on our calculations, FY21 cooking fuel subsidy is budgeted at crude price > US$68/bbl. It is unlikely that the crude prices will average at US$68/bbl in FY21, said the Reliance Securities report.

It indicates that the government continues with reform agenda with no subsidy burden for ONGC, OIL and OMCs, it said.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Read more from the original source:

Not happy with Budget 2020? About 40 stocks are likely to benefit the most - CNBCTV18

In a few days, a pair of two-year-old cheetahs, Saba and Nairo, will depart from the UK on a remarkable journey. The brothers will be taken from Howletts Wild Animal Park, in Kent, and flown to South Africa to begin a new life in the wild.

It will be the first time that cheetahs born in captivity have left the UK for rewilding in Africa, says Damian Aspinall, who runs Howletts. There are only about 7,000 cheetahs left on the planet and they are listed as vulnerable, he says. This reintroduction to a reserve in Mount Camdeboo, in south of the country is important because it will help to support the small population of cheetahs we have left in the wild.

And the process of releasing animals from his wildlife parks is likely to continue unabated, adds Aspinall. He now campaigns vigorously for a sharp acceleration in the return of all captive animals to the wild and, ultimately, the closure of all zoos and wildlife parks in the UK including his own.

We have no moral right as a species to let animals suffer just because we are curious about them, he says.

The day of the zoo is over, he claims and his views are reflected by other critics who view wildlife parks and animal collections as anachronisms that should be phased out of existence over the coming 25 years.

Yet zoos are a major part of British culture. About 30 million visits are made to animal collections every year, according to the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Some of these outfits are small and isolated and occasionally fall foul of local authorities for their mistreatment of animals. On the other hand, some larger institutions, such as London or Chester zoos are well-run and, according to supporters, justify their existence for three clear reasons: education, research and conservation.

According to this argument, revealing the wonders of our planets wildlife to the public, and investigating the biology of these animals in order to help them return to nature provide zoos with valid reason to exist. In a world beset by climate change, habitat loss and soaring human numbers, zoos provide protection for the worlds endangered species.

So who is right? Is there any justification, today, for keeping wild animals in captivity? Are zoos good for the planets threatened creatures or are they relics of past cruel attitudes to wildlife?

One argument is that zoos educate visitors, particularly younger ones, about the wonders of the planets wildlife. But Chris Draper of Born Free, the international charity that campaigns against keeping wild animals in captivity, disagrees. Today, people get more from a TV nature documentary than they will ever get from seeing animals in zoos. In captivity, an elephant or a giraffe is out of its natural environment and probably in an unnatural social grouping. Television or the internet are much better resources for understanding animals than a zoo.

Aspinall agrees. David Attenboroughs programmes are far more educational than a day trip to a zoo, he says. And you can see their point. Attenboroughs last series, Seven Worlds, One Planet, was made up of typically stunning material dramatic close-ups of gentoo penguins fleeing leopard seals, pumas in pursuit of guanacos, and Barbary macaques in high-level chases after infant kidnappers. It was exhilarating, informative and surely ideal for getting people hooked on animals.

But Attenborough flatly disagrees and is emphatic that his documentaries cannot compare to seeing the real thing. Only the sight of a creature in the flesh can give us a true understanding of its nature, he says.

There is no way you can appreciate the quiddity of an elephant except by seeing one at close quarters, he told the Observer. People ought to be able to see what an animal looks like. And smells like. And sounds like. I think that is quite important. Actually, very important.

Education certainly justifies a well-run zoos existence, he insists. On the other hand, Attenborough acknowledges that some animals fare better than others in zoos. Modern aquariums are particularly successful, with their vast ceiling-high tanks in which you can see whole communities of different species of fish living together. They are absolutely fabulous.

By contrast, polar bears, big raptors and large hunting mammals like lions are not suitable for being kept in zoos, says Attenborough. I certainly agree with Mr Aspinall in saying you should not have lions in zoos unless they were becoming endangered in the wild, which, of course is now becoming a real risk.

And the same goes for conservation, he adds. Breeding programmes for animals that are on the verge of extinction are of incredible importance. If it was not for zoos, there would be no Arabian oryx left in the world, for example.

The Arabian oryx was hunted to extinction in the wild by 1972 but was later reintroduced originally with animals from San Diego safari park to Oman. Further reintroductions have since taken place in Saudi Arabia and Israel and iIt is estimated that there are now more than 1,000 Arabian oryx in the wild.

Other species reintroduced to the wild using zoo-bred animals include the European bison and Przewalskis horse. But that is about it, argues Aspinall. Only a very small number of animals held by European zoos have been the subject of release projects, and third of those species were not rated as threatened, he says. Instead, zoos are cluttered with unthreatened species put there purely to entertain the public: otters and meerkats are common examples.

However, zoo officials reject the idea that their rewilding successes are limited and point to other examples of successfully returning zoo-bred animals to the wild for example, the Mauritius kestrel. In 1974 only four of these beautiful raptors were known to exist in the wild. It had become the worlds rarest bird thanks to habitat loss, introduction of non-native predators, and widespread use of DDT and other pesticides on the island.

A rescue plan was launched by a number of organisations, including the Durrell wildlife park and London Zoo, in a bid to save the Mauritius kestrel from extinction in the wild. The invasive crab-eating macaque was a particular problem, says Gary Ward, curator of birds at London Zoo. It had arrived in Mauritius from Asia and was stealing eggs from kestrel nests. So we designed nesting boxes that were longer than a macaques arm, so they couldnt reach in to snatch eggs. The birds then had a safe place to bring up their young.

Nesting boxes, in combination with other conservation measures, allowed numbers of Mauritius kestrels to rise to about 800 although these have dipped slightly in recent years.

Other zoo-led rewilding successes have ranged from the spectacular, such as the Californian condor which was restored to the skies above the western US last century, thanks to the release of young birds bred in San Diego to the minuscule, such as the return of the tiny partula snail, native to Huahine and Moorea in the Society Islands, French Polynesia, from populations bred in London, Edinburgh, Chester and Amsterdam zoos.

However, zoo opponents argue that these reintroductions remain infrequent and do not justify the keeping of other, unthreatened wild animals, a point taken up by Sam Threadgill of Freedom for Animals, which has campaigned for the abolition of zoos for several decades.

Together with Born Free, Freedom for Animals has studied zoos in England and Wales and concluded that only a small percentage of their animals are endangered species, and only about 15% are threatened.

It is a simple fact that the vast majority of animals kept in zoos are not endangered or threatened and are there simply to provide public entertainment, he says.

Aspinall goes further. He maintains that many large mammals kept in zoos lions, elephants, and rhinos, for example are inbred or diseased or have the wrong genetic profiles to reintroduce to the wild, where they could further weaken wild populations already struggling to survive. So why are they being arked in the first place? he asks.

The infrequency of releases of zoo-bred animals into the wild is acknowledged by Dominic Jermey, director general of the Zoological Society of London, but interpreted in a different way: The truth is that many wild areas are no longer viable habitats for animals and reintroduction is much more complicated than people might realise. Many of the worlds most threatened species are living in habitats degraded by agriculture, threatened by disease or hemmed into tiny areas with no way of reaching potential mates without coming into conflict with humans.

For his part, Aspinall points to conservation successes that he believes can be achieved with key endangered species without any input from zoos. First, he plans to gradually empty his two zoos at Howletts and at Port Lympne, near Folkestone and use these to help set up large groups of animals gorillas, rhinos, lions and others in protected reserves in Africa. A particular animal would be given homes at several reserves so that if one got into trouble for some reason civil war, for example there would be other sources that could resupply the reserve once those troubles had been sorted.

The majority of animals in zoos are not endangered or threatened and are there simply to provide public entertainment.

Aspinall points to the example of the mountain gorilla. Their numbers had fallen to under 250 by the early 1980s. Today the population stands at 1,000. This is in the country of Gabon, surrounded by aggressive habitat destruction, civil war and poaching and all done without any captive breeding.

The crucial point of this plan is that animals would not be kept behind bars but left to roam in their homeland. And instead of money being spent on zoos, funds would go directly to conservation.

But the idea of closing zoos to boost funds for conservation is challenged by Mark Pilgrim, chief executive of Chester Zoo. His organisation has a total annual budget of 47m.

That money is raised virtually entirely from people paying at our doors to get in, he says. After you deduct our running costs and cash for new development, we have around 1.5m and that goes on conservation in the field work that includes studies of chimpanzees in Nigeria and sun bears in Asia and a programme to reintroduce eastern black rhinos to Uganda. If we simply closed our doors, as some people have suggested, our funding of these conservation projects would come to an immediate halt.

He quotes as an example Nigerias Gashaka Gumti national park, which houses the last reserve of the highly endangered Nigerian-Cameroon chimpanzee. Chimpanzees here live in forests that are less dense and drier than where other members of the species live in other parts of Africa, says Andrew Moss, a lead conservation scientist at Chester. Their diets are rich in insects, and we have found they are amazingly adept at making tools that are just right for getting a different type of insect.

The crucial point is that if we had closed our gates at Chester, the research camp we support at Gashaka Gumti would have been badly hit and this crucial field work threatened.

Nor is it merely money for conservation work that makes zoos important, say supporters. Expertise built up in zoos is also crucial. Over the past few years, wild vulture populations in India and Nepal have crashed from about 40 million to a few thousand because of the use of diclofenac, a livestock anti-inflammatory drug that is highly poisonous to vultures who eat their carcasses.

We have been closely involved in conservation work, and our expertise in building aviaries on site to protect the last few vultures and in treating sick animals has been tremendously useful, says Nic Masters, assistant director of wildlife health at London Zoo.

In the end, these efforts and other attempts at conservation may prove futile in a world challenged by climate change, habitat loss and swelling numbers of humans, as Draper argues. Keeping alive a handful of the last of a sub-species starts to look like fools errand because this tiny population is destined either to a life in captivity in perpetuity or to extinction. Neither of those two options is particularly attractive in anyones book, I would say. The damage has been done.

This view is contested by scientists who still believe there is time to save species and who argue, strenuously, that zoos have a role to play as arks for threatened wildlife. This idea is backed by primatologist Jane Goodall, whose pioneering studies of chimpanzees in the wild have revealed the complex lives led by humanitys closest biological relatives.

Groups who believe all zoos should be closed have not spent the time I have out in the wild, she once said. They havent seen the threats destroying chimpanzee habitat; they dont understand what its like to watch a chimp struggle, wounded and lame from a wire snare. But I do.

Until the early 19th century, collections of exotic animals were usually owned by kings and queens and were symbols of royal power. This changed with the establishment of the Zoological Society of London in Regents Park in 1828. This was the worlds first scientific zoo and was intended to be a collection of unusual beasts for scientific study.

The collection was eventually opened to the public in 1847. A couple of decades later, the music hall song Walking in the Zoo was made popular by Alfred Vance and is notable for first popularising, in Britain, the word zoo as a short form of zoological gardens in addition to the Americanism O.K. in the songs chorus: Walking in the Zoo, walking in the Zoo/The O.K. thing on Sunday is walking in the Zoo.

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Is it time to shut down the zoos? - The Guardian