Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

Copaganda is tired and played. Far too often journalists rely on police, sheriffs, prison officials, and prosecutors as credible sources without scrutiny or even a basic fact-check. These uncritical and unprofessional behaviors lead to an overwhelming amount of traditional news that simply spreads biased police propaganda and stirs up unfounded fears, stifling the public imagination to see beyond the blue.

We need more popular medianews, television, movies, podcasts, music, fiction, and poetry alikethat does the opposite, that not only questions the logic behind our overreliance on police but outright rejects the need for their existence altogether.

Good news, content like that already exists.

Below we've compiled a list of books, music, articles, and media clips that clearly present the harms of the carceral system and are already dreaming of creative alternatives. If some of our recommendations seem surprising to you, try engaging them through an abolitionist lens: How is this artist imagining a future where our collective needs can be met? How might the language or images they're using advocate for increased liberation?

As always we want to hear from you. Tag us on social media with your favorite abolitionist recommendations.

"The Uvalde shooting is just the latest example of why we need abolition" by Mon M in Prism

"Ruth Wilson Gilmore Talks About Abolition Geography and Liberation" by Lexi McMenamin in Teen Vogue

"Say it Again: Abolish the Police" by Jack Mirkinson in Discourse Blog

"You can come up with a million academic arguments about why police are such a worthless part of American life, but none of them would be nearly as compelling as the scandal that has unfolded in Uvalde in the past couple of days. The police response to this week's school massacre has been so pathetic, so callous, so cruel, so selfish and arrogant and stupid, and so undeniably inhumane that it has proven beyond a doubt that this is not an institution worth protecting."

Abolition Week 2022: If you haven't read the stories from Day 1: Law & Disorder or Day 2: Reality TV, check them out now.

Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World by Dorothy Roberts

Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell

"Initially, the notion of 'police abolition' repulsed me. The idea seemed like it was created by white activists who did not know the violence that I knew, that I have felt. At the time, I considered abolition to be, pejoratively, 'utopic.' I'd seen too much sexual violence and had buried too many friends to consider getting rid of the police in St. Louis, let alone across the nation"

"But over time, I came to realize that, in reality, the police were a placebo. Calling them felt like something, as the legal scholar Michelle Alexander explains, and something feels like everything when your other option is nothing. Police couldn't do what we really needed. They could not heal relationships or provide jobs. They did not interrupt violence; they escalated it."

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis

Abolition Geography: Essays Toward Liberation by Ruth Gilmore Wilson

Diaries of a Terrorist by Christopher Soto

A.B.O. Comix, by a collective of creators and activists who work to amplify the voices of LGBTQ prisoners through art.

Formation, music by Beyonc, directed by Melina Matsoukas

Just this week, Beyonc dropped new music with "Break My Soul," a song that has all of us asking: "Does the queen want us to quit our jobs?" When "Formation" was released in 2016, imagery of a cop cruiser sinking in a flooded New Orleans neighborhood and a young Black boy dancing in front of police in riot gear somehow had abolitionists and police alike thinking Beyonc was calling them to formation. She set the record straight in an interview with Elle: "I am against police brutality and injustice." Still, she said she wasn't (yet) anti-cop. Bey did, however, launch "Boycott Beyonc" merch to troll law-enforcement entities that vowed not to do security for her stadium tour after she performed Formation at the SuperBowl.

Industry Baby, music by Lil Nas X, directed by Christian Breslauer

Watch for the burning prison at the end. What world is Lil Nas asking us to imagine?

Press, music by Cardi B, directed by Jora Frantzis and Cardi B

This video debuted around the time Cardi faced felony charges for assault, stemming from a fight at a strip club. It's both about Cardi fighting the press and the pressure of the criminal-legal system as she testifies in court, and ultimately lands in an orange jumpsuit after angry white witnesses end up with bullet wounds, lying in a pool of their own blood when the lights flicker during Cardi's music-video trial.

San Quentin, by Johnny Cash, Live at San Quentin Prison in 1969

Most people don't associate country artists as being anything other than overly patriotic cop lovers, but in this recording, Johnny Cash was making the second of three albums he recorded livein prisons. As someone who felt like he'd been given a lot of second chances for his mistakes, Cash said he felt compassion for people who were incarcerated for their mistakes. From these lyrics, he didn't see the value of prison, either:

San Quentin, I hate every inch of youYou've cut me and have scarred me through and throughAnd I'll walk out a wiser weaker manMister Congressman, you can't understand

San Quentin, what good do you think you do?Do you think I'll be different when you're through?You bent my heart and mind and you warp my soulAnd your stone walls turn my blood a little cold

Dirty Computer: an emotion picture by Janelle Mone

When it comes to Black queer folks, the surveillance and policing of identity happensboth at the hands of the state and of broader society. Here, Janelle Monae usesAfro-futurist motifs throughout the 48-minute film to visualize more liberated futures.

The Equalizer

Quietly abolitionist? Queen Latifah has this line: "I'm who you call when you can't call 911."

Spiderhead, directed by Joseph Kosinski

See if you can spot the use of police as a plot device and a means of projecting prisons into the future.

Time, directed by Garret Bradley

13th, directed by Ava DuVernay

Angela Davis' first television appearance in 1972

Derecka Purnell making the case for abolition on The Daily Show

Alysia Nicole Harris performing her poem "Baby Boy" with musician Tina Coln Williams

Teleway 411, a podcast from A.B.O comix featuring longform interviews with incarcerated queer and trans artists, with special guests. Check out today's review of Season 1:

Teleway 411 offers stories of queer and trans folks navigating love, identity, fear, mental illness, grief, and self-acceptance on the inside.

Abolition X on Spotify

Hosts Vic Mensa, Indigo Mateo, and Richie Reseda discuss how abolition isn't just about dismantling the prison industrial complex, but also about imagining a world based on community, accountability, and healing.

pop justice Live! A 6/16 Scalawag Twitter space with Da'Shaun Harrison, Jewel Wicker, Ko Bragg, and Tre'vell Anderson

Outer Space by Big KRIT

All the stars and the planets, and I'm worried 'bout a cop That might shoot down the drop 'cause I took off in the lotI remember all I ever wanted was a jetpackSo I could go farther in the hood that I would live at'Stead of playing cops and robbers, probably should've astronauted

Anybody by Young Thug, the song being used in the RICO case against him and his rap group, YSL.

I never killed anybodyBut I got something to do with that bodyI got the streets on my backCarry it like I'm moving a bodyI told them to shoot a hundred roundsLike he trying to movie the bodyIt was, like, 11 in the morningSkipping schoolthat's a truancy body.I made me some racks in the morning.

Die Jim Crow record label: The first record label in the U.S. for systems-impacted musicians.

Orignal rap by Lil Mobb:

"can't get on B.S. cause I'm tryna go home, but ain't nobody talking bout that"

Come to our event tonight at 7 p.m. EST to talk more about the insidiousness of cops in media from CoComelon to SVU

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What to read about abolition - scalawagmagazine.org

OKINAWA Governor Denny Tamaki called for Japans government to block construction of a new US military base and for the abolition of nuclear weapons as he marked the 77th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa today.

The US amphibious assault on Okinawa lasted from April 1 to June 23 1945 and was among the second world wars bloodiest battles, killing around 300,000 people including 150,000 civilians, around half the islands population at the time.

Mr Tamaki said Okinawans thoughts turned to the suffering of Ukrainians facing Russian invasion as they remembered the victims of the huge ground battle, saying Japan should work to abolish nuclear weapons worldwide and renounce war so it would never again become a battlefield.

The pointed remarks were aimed at Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who attended the official ceremony, placing chrysanthemums for the war dead.

Mr Tamaki opposes the central governments attempts to revise the Peace Constitution which prohibits the deployment of Japanese troops abroad.

He was elected on a pledge to prevent the relocation of a US military base to Henoko Bay, where environmentalists say it will cause the local extinction of rare marine life including dugongs. Mr Tamaki wants the current Futenma base shut down rather than moved.

A majority of the 50,000 US soldiers stationedin Japan are on Okinawa, where their presence is widely resented.

Mr Tamaki stressed today that the US military caused noise pollution, accidents and crime on the island and ultimately placed it in danger of being embroiled in wider US wars.

Read more:

Okinawa governor calls for US troops to leave and for abolition of nuclear weapons on anniversary of brutal battle for the island - Morning Star...

Casper: So since you've come home, I think you've seen a few different therapists. What has that been like for you?

Sirbrian: Not that good. In the beginning, I was doing exposure therapy. I suppose the therapy is it was not good. They put me in a padded cell. They said keep it all to myself, but no, I wanted to tell A.B.O. Comix anyway. They put me in a padded cell. They didn't know how serious my personality disorder was because each personality disorder is distinctive. So they put me in a padded cell and they was saying things to me to see what triggers me.

I gave them a list of things that trigger me. Okay. So they know that crosses trigger me, churches, Jehovah's witnesses, people talking about a religion, Muslims, things like that trigger me. Irons, because my mom burned me with an iron on my chest. I have a big iron mark on my chest. That right there triggers me, irons, needles. Because my mom used to stick me with needles, pieces of glass, broken pieces of glasses, stuff like that trigger me.

So they were real brutal. I think it was really disrespectful, but it is what it is. And when I got triggered, Devon switched over and then I left and then you have to talk to Devon about that. Cause I don't know what happened with Devon.

Casper: Does the therapist explain to you what the purpose of exposure therapy is and what the intended outcome is supposed to be?

Sirbrian: Yes. They wanted to see what coping strategies, coping skills that they can use, and grounding techniques where they can use in the circumstances that I'm in. If I'm outside, and I'm being triggered, they told me to count the bricks on the building, find your favorite color.

And things to ground me. If I'm outside, if there was a bakery coming by, smell the bakery. But you didn't bake no cakes. So somebody else must've baked those cakes, so that lets you know that you're grounding yourself.

So they would say, okay, what does this smell like? It smells like chocolate. When you walk down a certain street, you hear buses, okay. Now you're not driving those buses. So that lets you know that you're bringing yourself back into reality, that's what they say. Reality. My reality is little bit different to other people's, but they said that's how you've bring back in reality.

So that's how they trying to work. It's hard because I had memory loss real bad because when I switched back and forth, if I don't have my diary, I'm going to forget. So that's what they do to me. They're trying to find ways of: If I'm around a church, what else is around that church?

If you walk past a church, think about all the stuff that's around it, around a church around your neighborhood. And then when I remember those things was around our church, then it brings me back to reality. That's what they taught me.

Casper: Do you feel like those sorts of grounding techniques have helped you?

Sirbrian: Sometimes, it depends on if I have too much on my plate.

If I'm showed transphobic abuse or homophobic abuse at the time, and I'm being triggered at the same time, they know it's not going to work because it's too much on my plate. Once Devon takes over, I don't know what happens after that. So I can't speak for Devon.

Casper: So right now you are looking for a therapist sorta for the long haul. Is there a specific need that you would like to speak about with a therapist or any asks for anybody who might be listening, who might be familiar with personality disorder and could maybe provide a resource or a name of somebody?

Sirbrian: That's real good.

Okay. I graduated from a program but it wasn't long. It was only like what, five months. That's not enough time for me. This is not a game. Like you can't just do that and leave me out there to try, especially when I have a routine.

I used to have a therapist. She'd call me every morning to see where my mind is, and depending on who has the body, they would ground the person. Devon has the body, they would say something to Devon because they know Devon pretty well. I don't know what they say to Devon. I can't really speak for Devon, but whatever they say to Devon, it brings Devon comfortable enough to feel like I'm safe to give me back the body.

So that's what happens. So I'm looking for a therapist who's willing to work with me full time, but it seems like everybody's turning me down because I have Medicaid and they said that everybody that I'm going to, they're trying to say, "You are a full-time project so you can't afford our services." They felt like they were in danger for me to be there. They said, "I'm sorry, we can't have you here because we just got to know you. And this is a mental health and drug treatment." And then we don't have time to like, be focused on hoping that somebody doesn't say the wrong thing. So that's what gets to me, I feel like I'm being painted into a corner. That everybody's saying the same thing to me. And I'm looking for a group where everybody has what I have.

So then it won't be like, have I switched over? No one will be afraid because they understand what personality disorder is. And I can't help what Devon does. People don't understand that I can't speak for Devon, people don't understand it. And I switch back and forth, I altered back and forth at the program. They was like, look, this is too much. And then one therapist got afraid of me and told everybody else, and then that made me feel like I was in the corner. And I feel like right now that actually right now to this day, I just graduated.

And guess what? I have no therapist. I have no therapy because I can't find no therapist who is willing to take me on full time, who does personality disorder. So I'm trying to send my book out here to get people to understand what personality disorder is. It's not my fault. And I feel like giving up because it's like, all I got is my book.

Read more:

The abolition podcast you need to listen to - scalawagmagazine.org

In his triptych, Ellapsium: master & Helm (2016), Jared Owens, a formerly incarcerated artist based in New York, superimposes the 1788 diagram of the Brookes slave ship what art historian Cheryl Finley calls the slave ship icon over the blueprint of Fairton Federal Correctional Institution in New Jersey, where he served time. In this blended image, the slave ships hold merges with prison cells, juxtaposing and visually linking the blueprints of the transatlantic slave trade with the architecture of contemporary prisons.

While the image of the slave ship invokes hundreds of years of history, by bringing it into our present, Owens reminds us that slavery did not end with the Thirteenth Amendment it exists today in prisons where hundreds of thousands of people are forced to work for little or no pay under threat of punishment.

Jared Owens, Ellapsium: master & Helm (2016). Courtesy of the artist.

As an academic and a curator, I have spent decades exploring the visual culture of prisons and mass incarceration through the work of currently and formerly incarcerated artists. To the researcher, archivist, or casual observer, the extent to which slavery permeates prison art is striking. Prison art debunks the myth that slavery was abolished and makes the reality abundantly clear: slavery persists in the U.S. through the forced captivity and labor of incarcerated people.

On Juneteenth, we commemorate the end of slavery in the U.S. Not the actual date the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, on January 1, 1863, but two and a half years later, when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to enforce it on June 19, 1865.

The holiday is therefore a fitting reminder of our countrys contradictions. But those contradictions continue today because the Thirteenth Amendment, which most believe abolished slavery, includes an exception that allows for slavery as punishment for a crime.

Thats the political backdrop for the role that slavery plays today in prison art its the reality of the incarcerated artist. The forced labor extracted from incarcerated bodies should cause alarm, but instead most of American society seems not to care that slavery is embedded into the criminal legal system.

The normalization of forced labor practices in prison, and the various entities that profit from incarceration, are scrutinized in James Yaya Houghs watercolor paintings, How Big House Products Make Boxer Shorts (2018) and I am the Economy (2018). The works were winning entries in an art competition for incarcerated artists hosted by the New York-based non-profit Worth Rises.

James Yaya Hough, How Big House Products Make Boxer Shorts (2018). Courtesy of the artist.

In both paintings, Hough shows the image of an unclothed Black man being fed into a machine by a white correctional officer in uniform. In How Big House Products Make Boxer Shorts, the man-fed machine produces underwear with an affixed label that reads: Big House Products. Made by Inmates. Despite being manufactured by people earning pennies an hour, the garments are then sold back to the incarcerated population at exploitative prices. In I am the Economy, the machine simply produces dollar bills, a more general criticism of the brutally extractive prison industry.

While Owens Ellapsium captures the architectural continuity of slaverythe warehousing of Black bodiesHoughs paintings offer a shocking and minimalist depiction of modern day slavery. Prison art forces us to confront the persistence of enslavement enshrined in the Thirteenth Amendment, not merely as an abstract legal concept, but as a reality today.

This Juneteenth, formerly incarcerated artists are working with organizations like the Philadelphia Mural Arts Project to help end the exception in the Thirteenth Amendment. Theyre using art to organize around the Abolition Amendment, a federal bill that would truly abolish slavery for all. Its time we address the reality conveyed in prison art: slavery is still very real.

Nicole Fleetwood is an author, curator, and professor at New York University.

The rest is here:

While the U.S. Celebrates the End of Slavery on Juneteenth, Incarcerated Artists Depict the Harsh Reality That Forced Labor Persists in Prison -...

On June 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed recruitment of 10 lakh people in mission mode over the next one-and-a-half years across various government departments and ministries. The hiring of 10 lakh people will not only help the government meet its stated targets but also strengthen the march towards a fully Atmanirbhar Bharat. The announcement is a continuation of the Modi government to make India a global powerhouse by tapping its full potential.

Over the last eight years, the government under Modi has worked to create employment opportunities in the formal and the informal sectors. Schemes such as MUDRA Yojana, Svanidhi Yojana, Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan and MGNREGA 2.0 are aimed at harnessing the potential of the working population.

While employment opportunities have been created on the one hand to keep Indias growth momentum on, efforts are on, on the other hand, to ensure the growth is human-centric and so the government decided to address the long pending demand for labour reforms.

The subject of Indias labour market reforms has acquired new vigour and significance as many States have undertaken substantive legislative and administrative reforms in their respective labour and industrial relations arena. The objectives of these reforms, as envisioned by PM Modi, have been to progressively deregulate the labour market as it is widely perceived that Indias labour regulatory framework has been rigid and hindered the growth of output, investment and employment expansion. From workers perspective, the reforms were meant to improve ease of living and to reap the demographic dividend by promoting inclusive growth and social protection coverage.

Some of the legislative reforms undertaken by a few States in the last few years include increase in the threshold of workers from 100 to 300 under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947; from 10 to 20 workers (with power) and 20 to 40 (without power) under the Factories Act, 1948; from 20 to 50 workers under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, and introduction of Fixed Term Employment (as widely prevalent in many developed and emerging economies) in sectors like textile and apparel, etc.

Similarly, to ease the administrative regulations and delays, single-window clearance, self-certification of compliance by enterprises, online filing for Registration and Returns, transparent inspection system, etc., have also been undertaken by some States.

The topic of labour reform measures, especially the legislative ones aimed at promoting flexibility, has often been a subject of discussion. The researchers supporting reforms say the existing labour regulations are complex, cumbersome and restrain enterprises from successfully operating in a competitive business environment. The Economic Survey(2018-19), which studied the impact of labour reforms undertaken by Rajasthan, showed that the post-reform period saw higher growth rate in the number of factories employing more than 100 employees, increase in the average number of workers per factory, increase in the total output and output per factory, and increase in the total wages and wages per factory, increase in the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) compared to the pre-reform years.

Some, however, doubt the rationale of the labour reforms and question the methodology and findings of such studies and reform outcomes.

A study by the VV Giri National Labour Institute recently to understand the effect of labour reforms undertaken by some States on economic and labour market parameters based on secondary household datasets of NSSO-EUS and PLFS and annual enterprise survey of ASI showed that deregulation of labour markets have had a positive impact on the overall growth and employment. Some of the key findings are as follows:

There hasbeen a shift in employment pattern from the traditional agricultural and allied sector to the more lucrative services sector including construction. This has significant implications in improving the wages and income of the workers through formalisation, apart from enhancing enterprise productivity and competitiveness. The shift towards regular salaried work in the non-agricultural sector has been observed with an increase of 31.5 million between 2011-12 and 2018-19 compared with 19.22 million between 2004-05 and 2011-12.

On theorganised manufacturing front, the employment increased at a faster pace (1.7 million) in the post-reform period (between 2014-15 and 2017-18) compared to the pre-reform period (between 2010-11 and 2014-15), where it increased by one million.

The averageplant size in the organised manufacturing sector has increased over time. In the case of some States like Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the increase in the share of employment in the plant size comprising 300 or more employees during 2010-11 to 2017-18 has been more than the national average of 5.2 per cent.

The increase in Rajasthan has been a significant 10.3 per cent from 40.9 per cent in 2010-11 to 51.2 per cent in 2017-18, followed by Tamil Nadu (8 percentage point increase) and Andhra Pradesh (7.1 percentage point increase).

As of 2017-18, over 50 per cent of the employment in the manufacturing sector in all the States was in plants with 300 or more employees. This indicates that the firms are moving towards achieving economies of scale, thus making the enterprises and products competitive. Some States like Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have attracted a significant number of new firms after the reforms.

Between2004-05 and 2018-19, the total number of self-employed declined by 8.6 million and casual workers, by 14.8 million. Over the same period, the total number of regular wage salaried workers increased by 50.3 million. Out of the 50.3 million, 32 million increase happened during 2011-12 to 2018-19. This increase in the regular salaried work, which is considered a better form of employment, as it offers a stable income both in absolute and relative terms apart from access to some of the social security benefits, can be seen as a positive development.

The fourbig employers associations Assocham, CII, FICCI and PHDCCI reported that manufacturing and its various sub-sectors like garments, apparel, logistics, electronics, food and beverages, machinery and equipment metal products benefited the most from the reform measures related to increase in thresholds under IDA and FA including the plantation and construction sectors.

They also said that the introduction of Fixed Term Employment has led to the creation of new employment opportunities and formalisation of the workforce, thus negating the popular narrative that its introduction will result in more informality. The industry also feels that FTE has improved productivity, competitiveness and sustainability of enterprises by attracting niche skills for the required time period thus enabling them to complete even the stalled projects, with strict timelines and budget

The industrysays that the self-certification scheme has led to increased trust between the employers and labour administration/government machinery. The introduction of the Shram Suvidha portal of transparent inspection system, reducing the human biases/interference and the online filing of registration, licence and returns, has been hailed by the industry associations.

This proves that reforms in the labour legislative and administrative architecture can have significant positive impact on growth of enterprises and the welfare of workers in the country.

To bring about labour reforms which will benefit both the workers and the employers, the Ministry of Labour and Employment had successfully undertaken the task of simplifying, rationalising and amalgamating the existing 29 labour laws into four Codes the Code on Wages, 2019; the Code on Industrial Relations, 2020; the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions, 2020 and the Code on Social Security, 2020 after extensive consultations with all stakeholders and social partners.

The related rules have also been published and circulated to the States to undertake a similar exercise. Implementation of the labour codes and rules has the potential to accelerate Indias journey to lead the worlds strongest economies. It promises to provide the new and old workers of India a safe, secure and enabling work environment.

The writer is Union Minister for Labour & Employment; and Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Published onJune 23, 2022

More here:

Labour reforms and the rise of jobs - BusinessLine

Along with a number of other changes to the private rented sector including the scrapping of section 21 notices, the Government has announced that a new ground for possession will be available for landlords who wish to evict their tenants if they intend to sell their property. At the moment, there are various ways in which a landlord can obtain possession of their property through the existing Section 8 and Section 21 notice procedures. Where a landlord wants to serve a section 8 notice they must demonstrate that one of the grounds for possession applies. Currently, there is no specific ground for obtaining possession in relation to a sale of a property.

Current Procedure to recover possession

At the moment, landlords who intend to sell their properties can serve a section 21 notice on their tenants. Some landlords may wish to inform their tenants of their intentions to sell a property so that a notice seeking possession does not come as a surprise to the tenant, but when giving a section 21 notice the landlord does not need to give any reason to their tenant.

However, this process can be complicated. There are various requirements that a landlord has to satisfy before serving a valid section 21 notice on the tenant, including the need to ensure that a valid gas safety certificate, Energy Performance Certificates and How to Rent Guides were served on the tenant and if a deposit was acquired, it was protected by the landlord or their agent with a Government-backed deposit protection scheme.

This can often make it difficult for landlords or cause substantial delay in obtaining possession of a property particularly if any of the prescribed requirements have not been complied with prior to the service of a section 21 notice. It is therefore anticipated that the proposed new ground will remove any difficulties associated with the current section 21 possession procedure where the landlord wishes to sell their property.

The Governments Proposals

Some details about how this new ground might work were published last week. The Governments response to a consultation on the abolition of section 21 notices provides a summary of how the new ground would work. The ground would be a mandatory ground meaning if it applies, the court dealing with a landlords possession claim must order the tenants to leave the property. The amount of notice landlords have to give would be two months, and in almost all circumstances, notice could not be given in the first 6 months of a new tenancy. To prevent misuse of the ground, the response says: We will prevent the original landlord marketing and reletting the property for 3 months following the use of this ground.

What evidence is required and is there a possibility that landlords may misuse this process?

It is not clear what evidence will be required to prove a sale of the property. The White Paper makes reference to the landlord intending to sell a property and it could be that a landlord may only have to demonstrate their intentions by showing that the property has been marketed for sale by an estate agent. However, this could potentially lead to a misuse of the new ground some landlords might regard this ground to be the easier option in getting possession and falsely serve a notice citing this ground, but they may then take their properties off the market once a possession order is made.

The White Paper does state that misuse of the system or any attempt to find loopholes will not be tolerated and the Government will look to extend the power for councils to issue Civil Penalties Notices for offences relating to the new tenancy system. Therefore, it is likely that the Government will introduce additional penalties or strengthen existing penalties for landlords who abuse this procedure. Landlords will still be subject to the rules relating to contempt of court where they have commenced a court claim for possession but dishonestly signed a statement of truth.

Conclusion

This details of this proposed new ground for possession will become clear when the draft text of the Renters Reform Bill has been published and it is interesting to see how the drafters of the Bill attempt to prevent abuse of this ground. We also wait to see what restrictions will be imposed on landlords when relying on this ground and the extent of evidence required to bring a successful claim.

More:

Recovering possession to sell properties after section 21 notices are abolished for private landlords - Lexology

The local farmers marketSanta Monica, California

Its late Spring in Santa Monica, and that means its cherry season at the farmers market. Whether you like a dark red Brooks or the bright pop of an Early Glen, theyre all here.

Cherry lover Mitchell Kraus has been coming to the Santa Monica Farmers Market for at least a couple of decades.

I harass all the farmers every year: Where are my cherries, where are my cherries, where are my cherries? all year long, he says.

Kraus and I met while waiting in line for the first great week of the season. Hes what you might call a cherry aficionado, taste-testing varietals and buying mixed cases in pursuit of sampling a little bit of every different cherry he can. He says theres one particular cherry that towers above them all.

The day I found the Black Republicans, I said, OK, this is what a cherry is, perfected. I just love how deep their flavor is; they have a great crunch; my hands are sort of blood-purple afterwards, he says. [As] somebody who eats a couple pounds of cherries a day this time of year, those are by far my favorite.

Of all the unusual names for cherries, few have raised as many questions as the Black Republican. But the story behind it is as rich and complex as the flavor itself, beginning with one family in Iowa and swelling to include the Underground Railroad, the Oregon Trail, and the birth of the Pacific fruit industry.

My own journey with Black Republican cherries began in a moment of serendipity stemming from a case of the munchies. My father-in-law Peter Kagan runs a gourmet shop in Topanga Canyon. One night at his house, my fiance Michael, his brother Benji, and I raided the kitchen fridge. The first thing we saw were several gallon-size bags of fresh cherries.

We poured each variety into individual bowls and indulged in them like we were tasting wine. Each one had a fascinating ratio of tart-to-sweet. The Rainiers tasted like candy; the Bings had that classic sweet composition. But the standout of the bunch was the deeply rich and intensely complex flavor of the Black Republican.

Of course, being a Black woman, that name instantly piqued my interest. I knew there had to be more to the name than its dark flesh. So I jumped down the rabbit hole to chase the cherries.

Black Republican cherries are usually harvested and sold mid-to-late June.Black Republican cherries are usually harvested and sold mid-to-late June, but vary from year to year. With climate change increasing the temperatures in the Santa Clara Valley, the timing of the Black Republican cherry has become more unpredictable.

The story of the Black Republican cherry begins with Henderson Lewelling, the eldest son of a Quaker family who ran a successful nursery in Iowa in the late 1830s. Their stock included 35 varieties of small fruits like apples, pears, peaches, plums, and cherries.

Today, his house in Salem is preserved as the Lewelling Quaker Museum. Its also a federally recognized landmark, though not for its fruit trees the Lewelling house was once a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Following the 1820 Missouri Compromise, which deemed Maine is a free state and Missouri a slave state, the Missouri-Iowa border became a locus of increasing tension, beginning in the 1830s through the Civil War. Located just 20 miles from the Missouri border, Salem was a Quaker settlement where runaway slaves were welcomed. And Henderson Lewelling was a big part of that.

The whole Lewelling family were activists, says David Helman, President of the Lewelling Quaker Museum. The family was quite remarkable in their adventurism, their creativity, their business acumen, their fascination with grafting trees, and their intense abolitionist bit. They were fire-breathers here, when it comes to the issue of abolition, when not everyone was.

The Lewellings descended from Welsh immigrants who gradually made their way west. In the mid 1600s, about 5,000 Welsh families came to the United States, most into southeastern Pennsylvania, where William Penn Quaker owned land. With them came the process of growing and grafting fruit trees. Tell of rich soil in North Carolina drew them to settle in the state, where they grew their trees before expanding further west towards more rich soil in Indianas Cumberland Gap.

Young Henderson was only about 15 when he came. He married at age 21, a young, 15-year-old girl, Elizabeth, Helman says. And they farmed, they had four children. And then they heard about more rich soil. And that was Iowa. And Henderson and one brother came here, settled the town of Salem, and prospered with the grafting of the trees.

Lewelling and his brother were hardly the only abolitionists in Iowa. But Lewelling took his convictions one step further than most: he built them into the literal fabric of his house.

The Lewelling house in Salem, Iowa was atypically built from stone to include hiding places for freedom seekers escaping bondage. Photo courtesy of the Lewelling Quaker Museum.

If you look at the early maps of the farms in Iowa, every one of them had an orchard. So this was their business. But how does Lewelling build his home, fairly substantial for the time? Most homes were log with dirt floors, Helman says. He built one made of stone, cut from a quarry. And he built in that home at least two hiding places that were used in the process of assisting those freedom seekers escaping bondage in Missouri as they made their way north.

The trip was rough.

When one or two or three of the slaves were found in the woods and brought to Salem, it could be a husband, a wife, or a mother and a child or a man and a child. Older people never made this trip. It was just too harsh. They stayed on the plantation, Helman says. But the women inside them would prepare clothing, they would try to package food so they could be put in backpacks and make the way work north. They knew sometimes there were sick children and they would care for the children. And so it was a little cottage industry of caring for people who were coming to them in pretty bad shape. They had a strong will, but they would have been tired, exhausted, and afraid..

These views were common of the Quaker faith.

They were pacifists, they weren't going to take up arms, he says. But they were able to help. The Underground Railroad afforded an opportunity for them to do something important.

In the late 1840s, the Lewellings left Salem and followed the Oregon Trail out west after a string of particularly harsh Iowa winters had taken a toll on the orchards. In the winter of 1847, Lewelling and his neighbors about 20 people and family built a large wagon pulled by six oxen. They packed it with 700 seedlings, about six to 18 inches tall, and made their way westward. By then, Henderson and Elizabeth had eight children, and Elizabeth was pregnant with a ninth.

The story told by some of the children is quite remarkable, Helman says. There are accounts written by one daughter in a journal that says the Native American chiefs came into camp, had a meal with Elizabeth preparing the meal. They were fascinated by the wagonload of trees going across the prairie. They'd never seen such a thing. And to them a tree in a forest is a sacred object in a sacred place. So this man was doing the right thing. He was caring for trees, he must be a good man. To many in the Native American culture, the Great Spirit lives in the forest. So this guy must be a friend of the Great Spirit. So they made it safely.

The USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection is one of the most unique collections in the Rare and Special Collections of the National Agricultural Library. Here is the Republican Cherry.

Elizabeth Lewelling walked to Oregon, expecting a child.

She would later say that when you're pregnant, it's easier to walk to Oregon to ride a horse, Helman recounts. She would give birth to the ninth child. His name was Oregon Columbia Lewelling. He went by OC his whole life. My wife says the Underground Railroad and western migration would not have worked if it weren't for the women. The men were adventurers, but the women did the work.

The Lewelling wagon train traveled close to 2,000 miles with 700 fruit trees, eventually settling in Milwaukie, Oregon, south of Portland. About half of the trees survived, living to produce many of the fruit varieties we enjoy today on the West Coast. Today, Henderson Lewelling is often called the Father of the Pacific Fruit Industry. In 1852, he could sell a box of apples for as much as $75. Four bushels shipped to the California gold mines brought $500.

In 1853, Lewelling left the nursery in the care of his younger brother Seth and headed south to a new community they called Fruitvale, better known today as Oakland.

Things got really interesting for Lewelling in the Golden State. In 1859, he experienced a spiritual awakening and sold his Fruitvale property. He abandoned his wife and shipped off to Honduras to establish a Utopian community he called the Harmonial Brotherhood, who spoke about free love a hundred years before the rest of California. But by the time they arrived in Central America, most of them were starving. As they ventured further into the tropics of Honduras, many fell prey to tropical diseases like malaria and yellow fever.

Eventually, Lewellings followers abandoned him. After realizingthe fantasy of the Harmonial Brotherhood would never come to fruition, he sailed back to Northern California and his fruit trees.

Henderson Lewelling died in 1878, doing what he loved best: He suffered a heart attack while planting a new orchard.

Bing cherries take their name from Ah Bing, a Chinese employee of Seth Lewelling. Photo by Seth Van Matre.

Back in Milwaukie, Oregon, Hendersons younger brother Seth, considered a master grafter, propagated three famous cherry cultivars: the Royal Anne, our heroine the Black Republican, and the combination child of the two cherries the Bing. Today, the Bing is the most produced variety of sweet cherry in the United States.

He named that cherry after his Chinese worker, a man who had worked with him in his orchards for several years named Ah Bing. So that's how you got your Bing cherry, Helman says. Ah Bing would later return to China, to his family with goals of coming back here. But by then the nation had the Chinese Exclusion Act so Ah Bing there never returned to California.

Like his older brothers, Seth was a staunch abolitionist and an admirer of Abraham Lincoln. He stood against the enslavement of African peoples and the pro-slavery majority in the Democratic Party.

The Republican Party, of course, was the party of Abraham Lincoln and became the the abolitionist or anti slavery party, as most folks know. And it was actually the Southern Democrats who were the pro-slavery, political bent. And they resented the Republicans, that they would care for these Black people when they're merely property, Helman explains. And they actually used the term in an aggressive, intimidating way, a degrading term Well, you're just another Black Republican, calling the Republicans Black just like the Negroes are black. We think that Seth may have taken that as a badge of honor. He may have said, Okay, I'm a Black Republican. I'm gonna name a cherry after the Black Republicans.

That's only a theory.

We can't find anything where he wrote that down, Helman says. We don't know for sure. But it certainly seems like something he would do as a subtle act of rebellion against the Southerners who were, of course, by that time, and after that time, reacting by opposing abolition."

Andy Mariani is the farmer behind Andys Orchard in the Santa Clara Valley.

[Lewelling] wanted to make his fellow farmers or neighbors just drool over this new cherry that was so good. And they had to name it and call it Black Republicans. And the story I had heard was that they even tried to change the name to Lewelling, so that it was named after the originator of the variety. But it didnt stick. And I think they even tried another alternative, which was Black Oregon. The name that did stick was Black Republican, Mariani says.

Andys Orchard are sole distributors of Black Republican cherries in Southern California.

A lot of farmers, agricultural people, orchardists are conservative, he says. And its just because theyre kind of old-fashioned. When they grow something, they want to keep everything the same. Its a credit to the Lewellings. They had a great perspective. The Lewellings were at the forefront of liberalizing things.

Seth Lewellings name is painted in the Senate chamber of the Oregon State Capitol.

His legacy lives on in the Milwaukie neighborhood of Lewelling and at Seth Lewelling Elementary School.

In the late 1860s, the Lewellings brother John, who suffered from severe asthma, moved to Napa Valley with his two sons for the better air. Their first crop of grapes and almonds didnt work out, but they had much better luck with olives, apples, citrus fruits, and, of course, cherries.

In the 1970s, Johns descendents replanted his grape vines and founded Lewelling Vineyards, a winery specializing in Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

Black Republicans acquire an even more intense flavor: a raisiny, dark-chocolatey flavor. Theyre also used for ice cream. Because theyre so dark, they make a fantastic ice cream, says David Karp of Andys Orchards.

Back at the Santa Monica Farmers Market, farmhands unload crate after crate of fresh-picked cherries. Pouring over them is pomologist, writer, and self-proclaimed fruit detective David Karp, also of Andys Orchard. He says the Black Republicans longevity and demand all comes down to a concept known as high flavor.

What do you need for high flavor? High sugar, high acidity, and richness or complexity of flavor. The Black Republican has that in spades, Karp says. People demand them when theyre almost at the raisin state, because at that point Black Republicans acquire an even more intense flavor: a raisiny, dark-chocolatey flavor. Theyre also used for ice cream. Because theyre so dark, they make a fantastic ice cream, and I know some of our buyers at the Santa Monica market do that.

The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity recognizes the Black Republican in its Ark of Taste, a global seed bank of endangered foods that share an extraordinary heritage.

To lose the Black Republican cherry would be a tragedy, the Foundation states. Both from a historical perspective and a gastronomical one. It is a connoisseurs cherry that has a rich, concentrated flavor, despite its small size.

Andy Mariani has watched the Black Republicans reputation change in real time.

The problem that [used to] condemn the Black Republican for widespread commercial success is the fact that its relatively small in size, he says. Sometimes we couldnt sell it, because we didnt have the market we have now. Now its a variety thats been put on the Ark of Taste. And now we sell every one that we can grow."

In Milwaukie, Seth Lewelling propagated three famous cherry cultivars: the Royal Anne, the Black Republican (pictured), and the combination child of the two cherries the Bing. Photoby David Karp.

Mariani believes that the modern retail system is fundamentally out of step with the demand for a fruit like the Black Republican.

Commercial growers are going in a completely opposite direction to the point where, when you go to the grocery store, say youre looking at plums. They dont have names for the plums; they just have yellow plum, red plum, black plum. And they dont care about the stories behind how they were developed. They dont really care much about the flavor. They care about shelf life and appearance and maybe size, Mariani explains. So theyre using different criteria to judge commercial cultivars, as opposed to some of these old heirlooms and some of the things that are so interesting. Yet theres a commercial motive there that lacks that kind of perspective.

But the work of people like Karp and Mariani carries on the Lewellings legacy by growing, studying, and preserving specialty fruit.

We like the fruit, and we like the story behind it. And I think David and I have dedicated our efforts towards emphasizing that, Mariani says. We even developed some of our own varieties, and weve got names behind it and little stories behind it. Because they have personalities. And certainly the Black Republican has a personality. And it also has the quality to back it up.

Normally, this month would mark primetime for sampling Black Republicans at the farmers market. Unfortunately, for farmers like Mariani and others, theyre no longer available this season due to climate change. But while youre waiting for the next crop, or savoring one of its sweet Bing descendants, think about the Lewellings their abolitionism, their horticulture, their cherries and their shared belief that an open mind can bear sweet fruit.

Excerpt from:

Tart and sweet: The abolitionist history of the Black Republican Cherry - KCRW

When he was not trying to sweep slavery and colonialism under the rug lest a whisper of reparations arises the former UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden wanted you to believe that it was in the gift of the British to bestow liberty on the world. The official mythology has morally superior Englishmen abolishing slavery before anyone else and at their own whim; and, when they eventually grant independence to their former colonies, leaving behind orderly societies with railways and parliaments. Voluminous research over the past 100 years has debunked this self-flattering distortion, showing that the transformation of this system of exploitation was driven not by the enlightened benevolence of colonial elites, but sustained revolt by the enslaved and the colonised themselves. Meanwhile, thousands of personal stories, literary accounts and scholarly works have exposed the ways empire and colonialism were devastating not only to the colonies, but to life, law and politics in Britain.

Three recent books are worthy additions to this body of literature. Vincent Browns Tackys Revolt and Thomas Hardings White Debt recount two slave rebellions in former British territories on either side of the more prominent Haitian revolution against French colonial rule (1791-1804). Tackys Revolt, named after one of the leaders of the insurrection, is a virtuosic account of an uprising (or what Brown terms a slave war) in Jamaica in 1760, while White Debt weaves together the story of a slave revolt in Demerara (todays Guyana) in 1823 with reflections on the contemporary legacy of slavery in Britain. Kojo Korams Uncommon Wealth similarly explores the ricocheting effects of colonialism in Britain, tracing the role of empire and its disintegration in the rise of contemporary austerity, inequality, poverty, brutality, corruption, and the cartoon sovereignty of Brexit.

The insistence, against colonial powers self-mythologising, that the abolition of slavery was the result of enslaved Africans self-emancipatory revolts has venerable progenitors, with the Trinidadian author and militant CLR Jamess ground-breaking The Black Jacobins (first published in 1938) and the American historian Julius S Scotts The Common Wind (published in 2018 but circulating as a photocopied PhD dissertation since 1986) among the most influential.

From the beginning of the transportation of enslaved Africans in the 16th century to work the plantations and mines of the New World, the captives had refused their bondage. The Haitian revolution was the final instalment in a triptych of revolutions the American colonies war of independence against Britain, and the overthrow of the French ancien rgime that roiled the Atlantic world in the closing decades of the 18th century.

The revolution of Saint-Domingue Haitis name before independence began in August 1791 when, amid a fierce tropical storm, thousands of enslaved men and women rose in revolt. Over the next 13 years, successive waves of insurrection eroded the power of the French colonists and led not only to the independence of Haiti in 1804, but to the abolition of slavery in 1833. The revolution was led, CLR James writes, by a line of great leaders whom the slaves were to throw up in such profusion and rapidity, from Boukman the vodou high priest and Romaine-la-Prophtesse who led the 1791 uprisings, to Toussaint Louverture, Henri Christophe and Jean-Jacques Dessaline who commanded formal armies of free people of colour and self-liberated former slaves to resist Napoleons onslaught. They were supported by Polish soldiers who had been sent by Napoleon to suppress the insurrection, but who joined the revolutionaries in solidarity against slavery.

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[See also: The history of the British Empire is not being taught]

At various stages of the Haitian revolution, the British worked to weaken the hand of the French but also to defend slavery, lest the revolt circulate to their plantations in the Caribbean. But circulate it did. The Common Wind tells the story of the news of the revolution travelling throughout the Black Atlantic, carried by sailors, deserting soldiers, fugitive slaves, free men and women of colour, and enslaved Africans who were traded onwards or travelled with their proprietors between Caribbean islands and the mainland. In a feat of archival pyrotechnics, Scott showed how these mobile people and the news and rumours they carried with them perturbed officials who correctly calculated that this mobility threatened the ruling plantocracy.

Tackys Revolt, which has won numerous awards, is a revelation, and a true heir to The Black Jacobins and The Common Wind. If James and Scott insisted on the politicalnous of the Haitian revolutionaries, Browns textured and lively account of the Jamaican rebels who preceded them highlights the enslaved Africans military and strategic skills and experience, gained in warfare in their African homelands. The 1760-61 uprisings in Jamaica were in part extensions of wars in West Africa; their leaders had been experienced combatants and commanders captured and sold on to slavers for transportation to the Caribbean. The plantation owners in Jamaica mobilised a force of soldiers, sailors, militia and maroons who pursued the rebels into the forests and mountains. When insurrectionists were captured, they were executed on the spot or driven to towns for torture, trial and punishment. Some planters wanted to see all rebels executed; others wanted their property restored. In the end, the British government compensated the planters up to 40 (about 1,500 today) for every rebel that was put to death.

Brown shows the expansion of plantation capitalism working hand in hand with the political economy of warfare in Africa and of exploitation and brutality in the New World. Through prodigious and imaginative work with the archives, or, rather, with their absences namely, of the voices of the enslaved Brown shows that, although slavers tried to unmoor the enslaved from their homes and communities, language and culture and sense of self, the connections between various African communities and the diaspora endured despite the violence of the plantation regime.

Although the revolts were brutally defeated and many of their leaders executed or sold on to other islands, the Jamaican uprising discernibly influenced the course of history. On the one hand, in response, the British tightened Londons control over the colonies and the planters, leading to a backlash among the colonists in continental America who rebelled a mere 15 years later. But the insurrection also led to the diffusion of revolutionary fervour, rumours and strategies among the African diaspora in the Americas. One of the punishments used against the African-Jamaican revolutionaries was to transport them away from Jamaica, bringing with them news of the 1760-61 slave wars. Many Jamaican captives and exiles ended up in Haiti, perhaps including Boukman, the oracle who led the first wave of revolts in the Haitian revolution.

The Haitian revolution was a crucial victory in a chain of slave revolts in the Americas that led to the abrogation of slavery, and was a hinge event between the Jamaican uprising and the 1823 rebellion in Demerara chronicled by Harding in White Debt. The Demerara insurrectionists had probably heard the rumours about Haiti; the planters and colonial officials in London certainly fretted about the possibility an 1804 editorial in the Times worried that the revolution in Haiti may afford an example too encouraging to the Negroes in our plantations.

[See also: How the slave trade funded Britain]

The Demerara revolt occurred in the period between Britains banning of the slave trade in 1807 and the abolition of slavery 26 years later. While the British may have patted themselves on the back for hobbling the trade in slaves to their imperial rivals plantations, during this interlude a whole generation of enslaved Africans still worked in iniquitous captivity throughout the Caribbean. Just as in Jamaica, the punishment meted out to the revolt leaders was swift and brutal. The bodies of executed leaders were put on display to terrorise other enslaved Africans into submission. The revolt lasted for only a few days but had monumental effects in forcing abolition in Britain.

Harding, who began researching the book after discovering that his family had owned businesses that sold tobacco cultivated by enslaved Africans in the Caribbean, intersperses the story of the Demerara uprising with earnest discussions with scholars and activists in Guyana and Britain about what reparation for slavery might look like. This ranges from familial repayment of white debt by sponsoring scholarships, to disbursing funds to descendants of the enslaved, as with the University of Glasgow agreeing in 2019 to transfer 20m to the University of West Indies in atonement for its historic ties to the slave trade. Pulling down statues of slaveholders, many of which were erected in the period of anticolonial revolt from the late-19th century onwards, has proven much more contentious. A debt jubilee writing off the high levels of public debt held by Caribbean states seems even less likely.

There is no reckoning to be had with the legacy of slavery in a country that denies its own role in it. Britains refusal to settle its debts of slavery and colonialism not only wrongs the formerly enslaved and colonised; it also has corrosive effects on the British themselves. Koram begins Uncommon Wealth with a discussion of British denial about the after-effects of empire and colonialism a tendency the scholar Paul Gilroy has diagnosed as postcolonial melancholia, a pathological inability to face colonialisms malign legacy in British lives. To examine this repressed legacy, Koram invokes the great Martiniquais poet and statesman Aim Csaire. In his Discourse on Colonialism, written in 1950, , Csaire portrayed Hitler as a kind of boomerang effect of the dehumanising tendencies of colonialism: colonial activity, colonial enterprise, colonial conquest, which is based on contempt for the native and justified by that contempt, inevitably tends to change him who undertakes it; the coloniser, who in order to ease his conscience gets into the habit of seeing the other man as an animal, accustoms himself to treating him like an animal, and tends objectively to transform himself into an animal.

Koram tacks back and forth between various moments of decolonisation in Ghana, Singapore and elsewhere, and the wreckage that the rebounding of colonialism has wrought in Britain itself. Each thoughtful chapter tells a story of how the travesties over there inevitably end up over here. The symptoms of Britains colonial hangover, in Korams telling, include the entrenchment of corporate privilege, the intensification of inequality and poverty, the erosion of state welfare provision, the outsourcing of state functions to cronies, and even Britains departure from the EU.

The British states unbending support of colonial corporations led to the toppling of regimes that dared to nationalise them. Koram compares two such instances that happened more or less contemporaneously: the engineering of a coup in 1953 against Irans Mohammad Mosaddegh in support of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP); and the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, whose British owners supported the 1966 coup against Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. Koram shows how such unconditional backing of colonial firms enabled them to exploit people and the natural environment with impunity, to employ chicanery to avoid taxes, and to work to erode the states regulatory capacity.

In another fascinating chapter, Koram excavates Enoch Powells tirade against fixed exchange rates alongside his Rivers of Blood speech and shows in fine-grained detail how Powells defence of the free market, influenced by the father of neoliberalism Friedrich Hayek, and his anti-immigrant nationalist politics were both reactions to the end of the empire. Restoration of the status quo ante for Powell required hardening borders against the immigrants that decolonisation had created, and shrinking the welfare state that had helped to expand equality among the lower orders in Britain itself.

Most relevant to todays headlines, Koram recounts the history of the creation of a network of offshore tax havens Britains second empire, as the journalist Nicholas Shaxson has termed it in response to decolonisation. During the era of the disintegration of the British empire,British capitalists decamped from the newly independent states and took the material assets and wealth of the former colonies with them, carefully salted away in secretive accounts in islands that remain part of the empire. While the offshore shelters in the Bahamas or Cayman Islands seem far away, the City of London is itself a kind of offshore island, a financial sun around which a solar system of offshore tax havens orbits. Britains desire to reinstitute direct rule in the Virgin Islands is part of protecting this constellation of overseas financial and corporate infrastructures.

Uncommon Wealth shows how so many of the institutions and practices that have degraded life in Britain from public austerity and inhumane border regimes to tax evasion and cronyism emerged from the ruins of a vicious empire. In this sense, not only colonialism itself but the laws and institutions Britain has forged to mitigate the effects of its formal demise on the beneficiaries of empire have rebounded on its ordinary people. In the end it was not liberty that Britain granted the world, but austerity, financialisation, corporate sovereignty and a rule of law that protects the wealthy and the powerful. The infliction of pain on the colonies enriched the colonial officials and capitalists whose degraded, brutal world we all now live in.

Laleh Khaliliis a professor of international politics at Queen Mary University of London and author of Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula (2021)

Tackys Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave WarVincent BrownBelknap Press, 336pp, 28.95

White Debt: The Demerara Uprising and Britains Legacy of SlaveryThomas HardingWeidenfeld & Nicolson, 320pp, 20

Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of EmpireKojo KoramJohn Murray, 304pp, 20

[See also: What does it mean to be British?]

Link:

How the empire degraded Britain: Tacky's Revolt, White Debt, and Uncommon Wealth - The New Statesman

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today concluded its consideration of the combined fifth and sixth periodic report of Morocco, with Committee Experts praising the State for introducing legislation that prohibited discrimination, and raising questions about high maternal mortality and female illiteracy rates in rural areas.

Franceline Toe Bouda, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Morocco, congratulated Morocco on enshrining the equality of men and women within the Family Code. She also congratulated the State for banning discrimination based on sex, colour, language and disability.

A Committee Expert noted that the maternal mortality rate in rural areas (over 100 deaths per 100,000 births) was far higher than in urban areas (around 11 per 100,000). What measures were in place to improve health care in rural areas?

Another Committee Expert added that illiteracy remained a major problem in Morocco that adversely affected women in rural areas. What measures were in place to improve literacy rates of women in rural areas?

Introducing the report, Aawatif Hayar, Minister of Social Solidarity, Integration and Family of Morocco and head of the delegation, said that during the reporting period, the State had introduced the law against violence against women, the law on combatting trafficking in human beings, the domestic workers protection law, the law on combatting of all forms of discrimination, and other laws.

On the maternal mortality rate, the delegation said although the maternal mortality rate had fallen by 35 per cent, there were disparities in health care in urban and rural areas, and there was a need to bridge this gap. There was a national plan for bolstering medical services in rural areas through measures such as mobile clinics. These clinics provided services to over 70,000 pregnant women.

On illiteracy, the delegation said that there were two State programmes tackling the issue. The State party had conducted an assessment and identified boys and girls in need of support. These children were provided with dedicated educational support. The Government was committed to eradicating illiteracy.

In closing remarks, Ms. Hayar said that Morocco was proud of having ratified the Convention, and it had lifted its reservations to it in 2018. The State continued to uphold the rule of law and work with its partners to promote the rights of women. The Experts comments were of great use to Morocco and the State party would build upon them to further improve womens rights.

In her concluding remarks, Aruna Devi Narainz, Committee Vice Chairperson, commended Morocco on the progress it had made in enhancing womens rights, and called on the State party to implement all of the recommendations of the Committee to further improve the situation of women and girls in the country.

The delegation of Morocco consisted of representatives of the Ministry of Social Solidarity, Integration and Family; Inter-Ministerial Delegation for Human Rights; Ministry of the Interior; Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs; Ministry of Education and Sports; Ministry of Health and Social Protection; Ministry of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills; Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication; Ministry of Economy and Finances; Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform; High Authority for Audio-Visual Communication; Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests; Ministry of Tourism, Handicrafts, Social Economy and Solidarity; Directorate General of National Security; Royal Gendarmerie of Prisons and Reintegration; and the Permanent Mission of Morocco to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Womens eighty-second session is being held from 13 June to 1 July. All the documents relating to the Committees work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the sessions webpage. Meeting summary releases can be found here. The webcast of the Committees public meetings can be accessed via the UN Web TV webpage.

The Committee will next meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 23 June to start its consideration of the tenth periodic report of Mongolia (CEDAW/C/MNG/10).

Report

The Committee has before it the fifth and sixth combined periodic report of Morocco (CEDAW/C/MAR/5-6).

Presentation of Report

AAWATIF HAYAR, Minister of Social Solidarity, Integration and Family of Morocco and head of the delegation, saluted women in Morocco and all over the world for their determination in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Hayar noted that the Committee had encouraged women to manage public affairs during the pandemic. Morocco had tackled the COVID-19 pandemic by both limiting its spread and addressing its social and economic repercussions. It had provided medical protection to all citizens free of charge and financial support for vulnerable groups, including women in difficult situations. Morocco planned to adapt its unified social registry to facilitate access to financial compensation and social services for vulnerable groups.

Morocco aimed to implement Security Council resolution 1325 through its national action plan on women, peace and security, launched in March 2022. The State was also a founding member of the Group of Friends for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls, which was launched in response to the alarming increase in domestic violence throughout the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, Morocco had acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention related to individual complaints in April 2022. Morocco had also lifted its reservations to some of the provisions of the Convention.

Thirty-two government sectors and national institutions, the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, and more than 76 non-governmental organizations had been consulted with in preparing the national report. The report covered the efforts of Morocco over a period of about 14 years. During this period, the State had made amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, and introduced the law against violence against women, the law on combatting trafficking in human beings, the domestic workers protection law, the budget regulatory law, the law on the creation of the parity commission, the law on combatting of all forms of discrimination, and other laws.

Equality programmes encouraged a gender approach in policies and programmes, the adoption of gender budgeting, and steps taken in the political and economic empowerment of women. Moreover, Moroccos independent statistical body had undertaken data and gender based analytical research to support public policies on violence against women, economic activity, gender relations and the effect of the COVID pandemic. The State had also adopted in 2021 a set of laws to increase womens representation in Parliament, in the territorial councils and in professional chambers. The revision of election laws had led to the representation of women increasing in regional and prefectural councils. The number of women in Parliament had risen from 81 in 2016, i.e. 20.5 per cent, to 96 in 2021, i.e. 24.3 per cent.

Legislation reform had led to a noticeable improvement in the representation of women in public service, which moved during the period between 2012 and 2021 from 38.6 per cent to 42 per cent, and from 10.38 per cent to 18.52 per cent at the level of senior positions. In 2022, a minimum wage was established in the agricultural, industrial, trade and service sectors, and 15 days paternity leave was granted to public sector employees. Law 19.20 established a mandatory quota for women on the boards of directors of listed companies, and the Government aimed to raise this proportion of women to 30 per cent by 2024 and 40 per cent by 2027.

The Government aimed to achieve more than a 30 per cent activity rate for women by the year 2026, and promoted equitable access to decent work for women. The Governmental Council had approved in June 2022 a decree establishing the National Commission for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

Morocco had launched major strategies for ensuring decent livelihoods for all citizens. The National Initiative for Human Development, which was launched in 2005 and was still ongoing, had contributed to fighting poverty and reducing categorical and spatial inequalities. The Green Morocco Plan 2008-2020 had contributed to achieving economic and social independence for women through farming initiatives. The Rural Development Fund was established to raise the income of farmers and improve the livelihoods of the rural population. It focused on the construction of roads, educational institutions, health centres and clinics; the provision of water and electricity; and programmes to support farming in mountains, oases, and drier areas. The national strategy called the Green Generation (2020-2030) supported women and youth in rural areas. The justice system had also been reformed to simplify judicial procedures and facilitate womens access to the courts; it encouraged a gender approach and gender equality in the justice system.

Law 103.13 on combatting violence against women entered into force in September 2018. This law emphasised the need for public authorities to take all necessary measures to prevent violence against women.

Morocco signed the Marrakesh Declaration to Eliminate Violence against Women and Girls in March 2020. Following this declaration, unified standards had been established to support women victims of violence, as well as a land protocol. The Declaration also called for measures to eliminate child marriage and combat school dropouts. These provided support for about 20,000 girls who had dropped out of school in 2021.

The strategic vision for education reform 2015-2030 promoted quality, equity, equal opportunities and excellence. It also emphasised the universal schooling of children, in particular girls. As a result of measures implemented, female participation had increased at all education levels in both urban and rural areas.

Despite these achievements, more work was required to achieve the full participation of women and ensuring their independence.

FATIMA AARACH, representative of the National Council for Human Rights, said that the Council had launched a year-long national campaign combatting impunity and encouraging victims of violence to report offences. The Council was working to strengthen the capacity of various stakeholders in the field of women's rights, particularly civil society organizations, and to monitor discrimination against women and girls. The Council also addressed complaints and visited places of deprivation of liberty

The Council welcomed the progress made in the implementation of the Convention, in particular the completion of the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention, the adoption of a law against violence against women, as well as developments in election laws.

While Moroccan legislature had given importance to issues of equality and combatting discrimination and provided for new institutional mechanisms to respect and promote women's rights, there were many challenges facing women and girls, particularly with regard to the abolition of underage marriage, protection against various forms of violence against women, promotion of womens political participation and facilitating their access to justice, as well as cultural challenges that sometimes prevented the promotion of women's rights.While the representation of women in the House of Representatives had improved, there was still no equal representation.

The Council recommended that Morocco repeal or amend all legal requirements that may discriminate against women; pass a law punishing discrimination that was legally binding, proportionate and provided deterrent penalties; amend the Family Code, in particular eliminating the exception in article 20 that allowed for the marriage of children; and introduce legislation on abortion that respected the health of pregnant women, among others.

Questions by Committee Experts

FRANCELINE TOE BOUDA, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Morocco , commended Morocco for raising the minimum age for marriage and enshrining the equality of men and women within the Family Code. She also congratulated the State for giving primacy to international conventions and banning discrimination based on sex, colour, language and disability.

However, there were still many violations of women's human rights in Morocco, such as polygamy and illiteracy of disadvantaged women and girls, and these would be addressed in the dialogue.

Another Committee Expert congratulated the State for its legislation combatting discrimination. Had awareness campaigns been rolled out regarding this legislation? Did the State plan to amend national legislation to uphold international conventions? The Expert welcomed that international conventions had been given primacy over national legislation, and commended measures implemented to protect women and girls from domestic and sexual violence. What were the barriers to women and girls accessing justice?

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said that Morocco respected international conventions. It had submitted reservations to article two and paragraph four of article 15 of the Convention upon ratification. A committee and focal point had been established regarding accession to the Optional Protocol. The State had coordinated with the Human Rights Commission on establishing a national day promoting the Convention.

Morocco was working to ensure womens access to justice. It had facilitated access to courts for women with disabilities. It had also established offices providing information on access to justice. Courts were well-equipped to handle cases of domestic violence. There were civil servants tasked with helping women in rural areas. Training programmes had been developed for magistrates on criteria for handling cases of domestic violence, human trafficking and early marriage. Since 2019, the State had been providing training on the Convention as well as other human rights mechanisms. Awareness campaigns had also been developed on domestic violence, human trafficking and early marriage. A national authority on gender parity and womens empowerment had been established. This national authority would fight against discrimination against women.

In response to a request on more information about the national authority, including what budget was assigned to it and how did the Government oversee its work, the delegation said that the national authority on gender parity was an independent Constitutional body. It was tasked with implementing roadmaps on womens empowerment. Following these, a gender-specific budget had been established and efficient measures had been implemented.

Questions by a Committee Expert

A Committee Expert called for funds supporting female entrepreneurship and women in rural areas. What support would be provided for women to access engineering jobs? The Expert called for policy measures encouraging women to access management roles in the private sector.

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said that a programme was in place that provided support to 10,000 people in accessing employment. A strategy for increasing the number of women in leadership was also in place, and under this, support had been provided to 36,000 women. An empowerment academy had also been launched online, and centres supporting over 500,000 people in obtaining employment each year were established across the State. Childcare support was also provided for women. Legislation had been implemented that called for gender parity on the management boards of public institutions.

Questions by Committee Experts

A Committee Expert said that the law preventing violence against women needed to be brought in line with international standards, as it did not specifically ban marital rape. Certain regions of Morocco could not access the gender violence hotline, and did not have shelters for victims. Did State legislation prohibit marital rape? What was the State doing to prevent feminicide? What were State agencies doing to respect the privacy of victims of violence and whistle-blowers?

Another Committee Expert said that protections of victims of trafficking were not up to international standards. There were no shelters established specifically for victims of trafficking. How many female victims were children? Did the State party not register Sub-Saharan migrants who were victims of trafficking?

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said that all cases of violence against women were criminalised. Article 486 of the Criminal Code condemned all non-consensual sexual relations, including relations between spouses. Social workers were assigned to victims of violence to provide support and accompany them through legal proceedings.

A committee to prevent trafficking in human beings had been set up in 2019. There had been 131 victims of trafficking in 2021, including both young girls and adult women, as well as foreign women. The committee had conducted awareness-raising programmes on trafficking and had established a hotline for reporting cases. It had also provided training for law enforcement officers on identifying victims and prosecuting perpetrators. It provided psychosocial support and legal assistance for victims, regardless of nationality.

Morocco had expanded its legislative definition of violence to cover violence carried out online. It published pamphlets that informed potential victims about the risks of violence at home and legal remedies. The prosecutors office strived to provide protection for female victims of violence. Shelters had been established to provide services and care for victims of violence and trafficking. Awareness campaigns were carried out to inform victims about the support services available to them. The Government was evaluating the services it provided. A hotline had been established for reporting cases of violence, and cases could also be reported online.

In response to a question by a Committee Expert who said that there was a discrepancy between the Governments report of 131 victims of trafficking in 2021 and other reports, which provided much higher figures, the delegation said that human trafficking was a complex crime and was not recognised in official statistics if certain conditions were not met.

Questions by Committee Experts

A Committee Expert commended that nearly twice as many women were elected in the 2015 local government elections compared to 2009. However, in 2020, Morocco ranked 123 out of 153 countries on political participation of women. What measures was the State party planning to take to reinforce the political representation of women in the next legislative and communal elections? What support was provided for pregnant women in the public service? Only 24 per cent of judges and 25 per cent of ambassadors were women. What measures were in place to increase these figures? Would the State party introduce mechanisms to support lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and women with disabilities to participate in political and public life?

Another Committee Expert asked whether amendments to the Nationality Code gave women the ability to defer their nationality to their children on an equal basis with men. Did Moroccan women have the same right as men to retain their nationality on marriage? Did the State party plan to ratify international conventions on statelessness? What steps was the State party taking to ensure that all births were registered?

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said that training sessions were held for illiterate women to help them to take on responsibilities in public life. Morocco had implemented measures to ensure womens representation at all levels of parliament. These measures had allowed women to access electoral lists. The quota for women on such lists was 46 per cent. The Government had provided financial assistance to support womens political campaigns. There had been a significant increase in elected women in 2021. The Government had provided training for women eligible to take up positions in the civil service. It had also launched a programme to support women with disabilities in accessing the labour market.

Nothing prevented children from obtaining the nationality of their Moroccan father or mother. A Moroccan husband could confer his nationality to his foreign spouse. An amendment to the nationality law was being prepared that would allow a Moroccan wife to confer her nationality to her foreign spouse. There was no legislative discrimination against women with a disability.

The delegation said that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community did not face discrimination in Morocco, as Moroccan law protected this community, as with the rest of society, from discrimination. Perpetrators of attacks against this community were punished.

Questions by a Committee Expert

A Committee Expert welcomed that there had been a rise in spending on education in Morocco. However, illiteracy remained a major problem that adversely affected women in rural areas. What measures were in place to improve the literacy rates of women in rural areas? How was the Government promoting the return of girls to school in rural areas? Was the Government encouraging women and girls to study subjects traditionally popular with males? Were there any established sexual education programmes?

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said that strengthening education in rural areas was an element of the State policy supporting rural areas. There was a high budget allocated to education and teaching. There were over 11,000 schools in rural areas, and almost 50 per cent of teachers taught in rural areas. More measures were required to combat school dropouts. The Government was committed to building more schools, particularly in rural areas. Financial assistance was granted to poorer families to support their childrens education, and to rural schools to improve facilities and support students education. An assistance programme targeted female students under 19.

There were two State programmes tackling illiteracy. Morocco had conducted an assessment and identified boys and girls in need of support. These children were provided with dedicated educational support. The Government was committed to eradicating illiteracy and was conducting awareness campaigns to combat beliefs in some communities that girls should not leave the home. Regional councils provided transport in rural areas to help children to reach their schools.

Sexual and reproductive health education was included in school curricula. The Government had also raised awareness about sexual and reproductive health amongst families, as well as young girls and boys, as part of a national campaign. This campaign was part of a broader strategy for strengthening health care across the country. A website providing health information to young people also had been created.

Questions by a Committee Expert

A Committee Expert commended that girls access to primary schooling had increased by 36 per cent. What was the reason for womens employment rate being much lower than that of men? How many women were covered by the social security system? Were domestic workers provided with health insurance? What measures had been taken to include women in COVID-19 recovery measures?

What had been done to improve womens access to childcare facilities? Did the breastfeeding break imply that women took their children to work? What measures were in place to protect women from sexual harassment in the workplace?

The Expert welcomed the progress made in enhancing health care services to reduce maternal and infant mortality. However, the maternal mortality rate in rural areas (over 100 deaths per 100,000 births) was far higher than in urban areas (around 11 per 100,000). What measures were in place to improve health care in rural areas? Did the State party plan to introduce legislation to legalise abortion? What measures had been taken to ensure that women and girls with disabilities were not placed in mental health institutions?

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said that great progress had been made in improving maternal health. The maternal mortality rate had fallen by 35 per cent. There were disparities in health care in urban and rural areas, and there was a need to bridge this gap. There was a national plan for bolstering medical services in rural areas through measures such as mobile clinics. These clinics provided services to over 70,000 pregnant women. The national programme on pregnancy and births had been revitalised, and comprehensive medical services were provided for women for 48 hours after giving birth. Medication was provided to women who suffered from fertility issues, and free screening was provided for breast, uterine and cervical cancer. Cases of transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child had fallen by over 130 per cent.

The Government ensured access to mental health services and had established dedicated programmes for providing support for women with mental health issues. A campaign fighting stigmatisation of such persons had also been launched, and specialised units for treating mental health issues had been established. Morocco did not impose upon women to go to mental health institutions without their consent. The 1959 law on mental health protected patients by enabling them to file appeals, and this law had recently been amended to protect patients against discrimination, torture and other cruel treatment.

During the pandemic, unprecedented financial support was provided to people whose jobs were cut, both in the formal and informal sectors. This support was provided on an equal gender basis. Employees who lost their jobs were also included in the social protection system, which made it easier for them to access State services. Two hundred dollars per month was provided to persons in support. A $ 200 billion support fund had been established, and a number of programmes had been launched to assist job seekers. Women made up 49 per cent of participants in these programmes.

Forty per cent of labour inspectors were women. A national programme aimed at unifying the minimum wage in the agricultural sector had also been launched. Sexual harassment at the workplace was prohibited under law 103.13, and offenders were punished.

A number of kindergartens had been established within the public sector to provide child care at the workplace. The Government was working on training child care staff.

Abortions were allowed in cases of incest and rape, and no prior authorisation was required. A prevention programme had been launched to stop clandestine abortions. Contraceptives were provided to young adults, and young people were being educated about the dangers of clandestine abortions.

In response to follow-up questions, the delegation said that a programme was in place to increase the percentage of working women from 22 per cent to 30 per cent. There was also a programme in place to create 10,000 new jobs, including 5,000 jobs for women.

Questions by a Committee Expert

A Committee Expert said that Morocco had made progress in improving the water supply in rural areas and improving rural roads. As a result, attendance in education facilities increased. However, high illiteracy rates in rural areas remained an issue. Several national plans were in place to support rural areas, but the maternal mortality rate remained high and access to health care and health insurance was limited. Did women still require permission from their husbands to seek health services?

What steps were being taken to support the high percentage of women who did not have an income? The illiteracy rate for women with a disability was high, and their attendance in schooling and the employment rate was low compared to men. What measures were in place to support women with disabilities?

What services and support programmes were provided to female refugees and women in detention facilities?

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation said that the national fund for supporting rural areas had been renewed in 2016, and $ 50 billion had been allocated to this fund. Support programmes aimed at enhancing rural infrastructure had had a positive effect on women in rural areas, lowering their poverty rate. Jobs had been created, roads had been built, and households had been supplied with water and electricity under this programme. Sixty per cent of rural households now were supplied with electricity. Several programmes had been implemented to improve womens access to employment, including vocational training programmes. Womens trade unions had been encouraged to provide advice to women in rural areas. Eighty per cent of members of agricultural cooperatives were women and 720 financial loans had been provided by the Government to female entrepreneurs in rural areas.

There was a State programme in place that aimed to put an end to illiteracy by 2030. Budgetary resources had been allocated to this programme, and a special focus had been placed on women in rural areas and women deprived of liberty. In 2012, there were over 200,000 persons who benefited from this programme, and this had increased to 600,000 in 2022. Ninety per cent of participants were women.

The judiciary did not discriminate in the provision of its services. Women with disabilities were provided with sign language and braille interpretation.

Morocco had been trying to improve living conditions for women. Specialised centres provided support for vulnerable women. More than 2,800 projects had been implemented and 30 per cent of women had benefited from these projects.

Men and women inmates had equal access to health services. Efforts had been made to optimise conditions for women deprived of liberty, particularly pregnant women, who were housed in special facilities. Vocational training was provided for female inmates to aide their social reintegration.

Women with disabilities had the right to education. The social solidarity fund provided support for over 30,000 girls with disabilities to receive an education.

Questions by a Committee Expert

FRANCELINE TOE BOUDA, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Morocco, said that the consent of women was necessary for entering into a marriage contract and cancelling that contract. What was the State doing to respect that principle? What measures did the State plan to implement to fight stigmatisation of prostitutes and women with disabilities, and help them to obtain legal aid?

In 2008, the Committee had recommended that the Family Code be amended to prohibit polygamy, but this had yet to be enacted. Would polygamy be prohibited? The Committee had also voiced concerns regarding forced marriages of children. What measures was the State party taking to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18?

Fathers remained the legal guardians after a divorce, which meant that women could lose custody of their children if they remarried. Did the State party intend to implement legislation that allowed for joint custody?

What was the State doing to ensure that children born out of wedlock had the same rights as those born in wedlock? What measures would it take to provide victims of violence against women with appropriate support?

Responses by the Delegation

Women could only be deprived of guardianship if it was in the best interests of the child. Legal aid was provided by the State to all female victims of violence.

Only 0.026 per cent of marriages were polygamous. Spouses could request upon entering a marriage contract that polygamy be ruled out. The State was considering amending the Family Code to prevent early marriages. Early marriages were only permitted when the consent of the minor was provided.

Fifty per cent of women who benefited from State legal aid were victims of violence. Women had the right to share inheritance and property after divorce. A husband could not divorce his wife unilaterally. The State was working to address imbalances regarding inheritances, and to put an end to early marriages.

Concluding Remarks

AAWATIF HAYAR, Minister of Social Solidarity, Integration and Family of Morocco and head of the delegation, thanked the Committee for the dialogue. Morocco was proud of having ratified the Convention and it had lifted its reservations to it in 2018. Morocco continued to uphold the rule of law and work with its partners to promote the rights of women. The Experts comments were of great use to Morocco, and the State party would build upon them to further bolster womens rights. Ms. Hayar assured the Committee that Morocco would continue to support it.

ARUNA DEVI NARAINZ, Committee Vice Chairperson, thanked the delegation for participating in the dialogue. Ms. Devi Narainz commended Morocco on the progress it had made in enhancing womens rights, and called on the State party to implement all of the recommendations of the Committee to further improve the situation of women and girls in the State.

Link: https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/meeting-summary/2022/06/examen-du-rapport-du-maroc-devant-le-cedaw-le-pays-est-felicite

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Experts of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Praise Morocco for Legislation Prohibiting Discrimination, Ask about High...

Last year, President Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday, but the United States has yet to acknowledge the direct line from chattel slavery in the fields to forced labor in U.S. prisons today. To finally end this injustice, states must ratify the Abolition Amendment and prohibit forced labor in all circumstances.

The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery except for as punishment for crime. This exception created a financial incentive to criminalize people and steal their labor, and it was exploited almost immediately. Not a year had passed after its ratification when Southern states and localities began to institute Black Codes that criminalized things like vagrancy and walking without purpose. Under Mississippis Black Codes, Black people who did not present proof of employment became criminals who could be imprisoned and leased to private companies for harsh forced labor.

In the 20th century, the War on Drugs ushered in an era of harsh sentences for non-violent drug crimes that filled prisons with people who could be forced to work for little or no pay. Mass incarceration, and the criminalization of poverty, has created a modern-day abominationnearly two million incarcerated people in the United States have no protection from legal slavery. A disproportionate percentage of them are Black and people of color.

Every day, incarcerated people workunder threat of additional punishmentfor little to no pay. Estimates suggest that a minimum of $2 billion and as much as $14 billion a year in wages is stolen from incarcerated people, to the enrichment of private companies, state-owned entities, and correctional agencies. In five statesAlabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texasincarcerated people can be forced to work for nothing. Even in more liberal states, incarcerated people work for pennies a day. The people who bottled and labeled NYS Clean hand sanitizer in New Yorks prisons during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, earned wages that started at $0.16 per hour. In California, incarcerated people who battled fires in 24-hour shifts earned as little as $2.90 per day. Even when work is supposed to be voluntary, incarcerated people who have refused to work report being beaten, denied visits and family phone calls, and placed in solitary confinement.

Ava DuVernays 2016 documentary 13th drew much-needed mainstream attention to the fact that slavery is still legal in the United States. Since 2018, Colorado, Nebraska, and Utah have abolished slavery within their borders, joining Rhode Island, which is the only state that fully abolished slavery before the passage of the 13th Amendment. More than 20 states are actively organizing for abolition.

Today, a strong financial motive presses lawmakers to keep things as they are. In discussions of Californias proposed slavery abolition bill, it was noted that it could cost the state billions of dollars if correctional facilities were required to pay minimum wage for the labor of incarcerated people. Using such financial predictions to justify slavery is as morally bankrupt as it was when farmers argued that paying enslaved people would bankrupt the South.

Thats why Vera joins numerous justice-focused organizations and individuals in supporting the Abolition Amendment, a federal bill that would finally outlaw slavery, for everyone, with no exceptions. The Abolition Amendment was introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Congresswoman Nikema Williams of Georgia and would prohibit the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime.

People who have been convicted of crimesespecially in the unjust U.S. criminal legal systemremain worthy of dignity and human rights. Attempts to dehumanize incarcerated people and justify their mistreatment and enslavement are an ugly latter day reflection of efforts to dehumanize Black people and justify chattel slavery in the early days of this nation.

To learn more about how you can join efforts to abolish modern day slavery and support the Abolition Amendment, visit endtheexception.com. To truly be able to celebrate Juneteenth, we must end slavery in the United States, for everyone, once and for all.

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Slavery Is Still Legal for Two Million People in the U.S. - Vera Institute of Justice