Category Archives: Government Oppression

ETHIOPIAN Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was sworn in for a second five-year term today to run a country in the grip of a nearly year-long war.

Mr Abiys Prosperity Party was declared the winner of parliamentary elections earlier this year in a vote criticised and at times boycotted by opposition parties but described by some outside electoral observers as better run than those in the past.

The prime minister, awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for restoring ties with neighbouring Eritrea and for pursuing sweeping political reforms, faces major challenges as watchdogs warn that repressive government practices are on the return,deadly ethnic violence continues andthe war in the northern Tigray region spreads into other parts of the country.

Last week the UN humanitarian chief said the situation in Ethiopia is a stain on our conscience,with people starving to death in Tigray under what the UN has called a de facto humanitarian blockade by Mr Abiys government forces.

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Ethiopia's PM sworn in for second five-year term as oppression of Tigray region continues - Morning Star Online

In a post to their Facebook page, the Sault Blues Society advised the public that they are cancelling their participation and support for the Wednesday Night Blues series at The Canuck, previously known as The Canadian located on Pim Street. The Society went on to state the the reason for their decision was due to health and safety concerns for both musicians and patrons.

Unfortunately, the Sault Blues Society will no longer be booking or promoting Wednesday Night Blues at the Canuck. The Canuck and all the currently booked acts have been informed about the Society removing its support. The Sault Blues Society regrets having to cancel the Societies participation in any of the upcoming booked Wednesday night shows as the health and safety of the musicians and our blues music lovers is always most important to us. We will update you with any new developments as they emerge and we can again share our love of the Blues in a safe manner, hopefully soon. Sincerely, The Sault Blues Society Executive

Numerous posts have surfaced on social media by patrons who have recently visited the establishment stating that they had witnessed a blatant disregard for public health and safety by management, staff and other patrons.

In a public post on Facebook from September 30, 2021, Michael Young wrote about his experience while attempting to enjoy an evening out in support of some musician friends who were booked to play at the establishment.

Last night, for the first time since last fall, we went out to see some live music in an indoor space. When we arrived, we were bewildered to discover that the large parking lot was completely full. We assumed that the band would be playing in the downstairs room, which is where live music events have usually taken place in the past. As we walked to the side-door entrance, however, we were struck by a couple of things. First, we walked past at least three vehicles with anti-vaccine messages plastered all over them. There was also a large banner hanging from the railing outside the entrance. It read Join the Fight!. And the room itself? Well, it was also full wall to wall people, all unmasked listening to a speaker blathering about personal freedom and government oppression and tyranny and blah blah blah. This was, unmistakably, a large meeting of anti-vaccine acolytes. I dont know the capacity of that room, but it appeared to me that were at least a couple of hundred people crammed in there, probably more. Clearly, every single current COVID-19 restriction was being ignored, not only by the people in attendance, but by the management and staff of the venue. It was so crowded that, even in normal times, I would have wondered if the gathering was in compliance with basic fire-code regulations.

In a second post from yesterday, October 5, Michael again witnessed the parking lot at The Canuck near capacity during what appeared to be another large gathering where people could be seen coming and going from within the establishments lower floor entrance unmasked.

Last night we happened to be driving by the Canuck, and we noticed that the parking lot was, once again, almost full. We pulled in to have a look. The Join the Fight banner was again hanging on the railing outside the entrance to the Canucks downstairs room, and a lot of people, all unmasked, were moving in and out of the room, and milling about near the entrance.

SaultOnline/ONNtv reached out to both the Algoma Public Health and Sault Police Service for comment after learning several reports had been filed regarding these large gatherings. Although we have yet to receive a response from Algoma Public Health, Lincoln Loutit from the Sault Police Services did reach back out to us with the following statement:

Enforcement in this regard is an Algoma Public Health and/or the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario responsibility. Officers will attend businesses, as per pre-COVID conditions. If someone is asked to leave an establishment and they refuse/cause a disturbance, officers then can remove them under the Trespass to Property Act.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has confirmed that it has received a complaint regarding the establishment and is working with local officials and police to gather more information.

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Sault Blues Society cancels Wednesday Night Blues at The Canuck due to health and safety concerns - SaultOnline.com

False prejudices that lead to the exploitation and oppression of so many people in the world. In the same way, Allah has created different human classes in the world. One of these classes is the labour class.

The Creator of the universe created this universe based on wisdom and sagacity. God has separated human beings, sometimes sexually and sometimes linguistically. Sometimes human beings are separated based on race and color and sometimes based on nations and tribes. All these differences are natural, and nature finds these differences beneficial. Because this is the only way for human beings to know each other and cooperate. Despite these natural differences, the Creator of the universe treats everyone equally when it comes to humanity and human rights. Neither color and race nor highs and lows are seen at that time. And the same lesson was taught to mankind through various divine books and prophets. Unfortunately, because of these differences, human beings have created false prejudices of race, colour, language, nationality, superiority and inferiority. And it is these false prejudices that lead to the exploitation and oppression of so many people in the world. In the same way, Allah has created different human classes in the world. One of these classes is the labour class.

I think the labour class is the most oppressed and exploited in the world. When this labourer is at work, he is hardly treated as he should be treated, with kindness and humanity. And on very few occasions does this worker get his wages on time. The injustice is that when an officer earning seventy thousand a month sets a date on the date for a worker earning four to five hundred. Although the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that the wages of a labourer should be paid before his sweat dries. And not paying the wages on time is not such a big deal, but the heartbreaking thing is that sometimes His self-esteem is so damaged that the labourer prefers death to life. Recently, before my eyes, a close relative of mine went to work for a rich man who is a government official. When the time came for this labourer to get his wages, but he did not get this wages at that time, then ten or twelve days later the rich man came to the house of this labourer holding four hundred in his hand and with pride, He said that this is your wage. At that time, the labourer acted with pride and addressed this person and said that today the fixed-wage is 500. At that time, the rich man felt awful. And then the man began to search the whole village to find out whether it was four hundred or five hundred, and then with a stone on his heart, he agrees to give five hundred. My point is that the labourer is always treated with exploitation and oppression. Couldn't this rich man have paid anything more to this labourer for humanity and mercy? One is that not paying wages on time and then treating him badly for paying equal wages even after ten days is cruel to this poor man. It has often been observed that when a man requires a labourer, he treats him well and kindly, and the same man forgets that kindness after getting his work done and paying the wages on time makes it unpleasant. The boss doesn't care that this poor labourer will have to bear the burden of a house, just as I have to bear the expenses of the house. And he doesn't think the labourer has to do the housework, either. This will be understood only by the person who is also working as a labourer or whose conscience is alive. The poor labourer has to bear the expenses of the whole family for only four to five hundred rupees, and this labourer and his family are always waiting for the same money. Very few people are wealthy as well as caring for workers' rights. Similarly, when the time comes for marriage, no one is ready to give marriage to this compelled person first. And then even if someone is ready to marry him, it becomes very difficult for him to perform this modern wedding ceremony. Because today's marriages require millions of rupees which he does not have and thus getting married becomes a bigger problem for this labourer than not getting married. However, the worker faces various problems. The same labourer cannot easily educate his children and the same children are unable to complete their education as a result those children are forced to work. Similarly, whenever this worker has to do some work in government offices, he is also exploited and oppressed here. He has to go through many rounds to get his work done. Or a bribe is taken from the same poor person. The one who earns fifty thousand rupees takes a bribe of 2000 or more than two thousand rupees from the one who earns four hundred rupees And even then the labourer is treated with cruelty and oppression. Such incidents are common in our society and the worst affected are the workers. And if we talk about the wages of the labourers, then it is like salt in flour in this era. Inflation is on the rise, and it is increasing day by night. Sometimes children's education, sometimes medicine, sometimes food and sometimes children's clothes and many other expenses which are costly nowadays. Sometimes children's education, sometimes medicine, sometimes food and sometimes children's clothes and also numerous expenses which are costly nowadays which makes him very difficult to arrange them. In the end, I want to say that we all have a responsibility to realize these compelled people and take care of them, look at them with respect and find a solution to their compulsions. Their rights must be upheld. The government should also protect the rights of the workers and adopt an effective way to rehabilitate them so that they can live better lives.

Email":----=--loneirfan239@gmail.com

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Labour the Most Oppressed and Exploited Class - Brighter Kashmir

Knesset member Mossi Raz is not running short on dilemmas these days. Considered by many to be the most left-wing member of the liberal Meretz party, the former secretary general of the anti-occupation group Peace Now who attends demonstrations against Israels military rule on a weekly basis now serves as a parliamentarian in a governing coalition run by a former head of the Yesha Council, the umbrella organization that attends to the needs of West Bank settlements.

As a key leader in the environmental movement and a vegan who uses and encourages public transportation, Raz has found himself promoting the same environmental policies put forth by the preceding governments of Benjamin Netanyahu. And when it comes to economics, Raz, an avowed social democrat, is navigating his way through a coalition dominated by right-wing neoliberals.

In an interview before the escape of the six Palestinians from Gilboa Prison last month, and before a meeting on Sunday by Meretz ministers with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, I tried to understand how Raz copes with these contradictions. We spoke about why Meretz entered the Bennett-Lapid government in the first place, what are his partys plans to end the occupation, and whether they would have the power to stop another war on Gaza.

This interview was edited for clarity and length.

Minority governments are nothing new in Israel. The second Yitzhak Rabin government [1992-1995] was supported from the outside by Hadash and the Arab Democratic Party. And more recently, the Joint List endorsed Blue and Whites Benny Gantz as prime minister against Netanyahu. When the current coalition was formed, you said: We will be part of the government, but we will make trouble. There are things in the Knesset that we do not have to support. It sounds like Meretz wants to feel as if they are supporting the government from the outside, while in practice they are in the coalition and acting accordingly. Have you discussed the possibility of supporting the government from the outside?

The answer is no external support was entirely out of the question. I personally never considered it, and within Meretz there has been no discussion, no thinking, and no proposal to move in that direction. We do not remember ever having such a consensus [about any issue]. We believe that being in the government allows us to have more influence: through the ministries we control, through the cabinet, in the Knessets Ministerial Committee for Legislation. I think that belief is true, but it still needs evidence.

Did you have demands when you joined the government? Or was it clear to everyone that you would go along with anyone who wasnt Netanyahu?

Our three main demands were: a declaration in support of civil marriage, including for couples from the LGBTQ community [marriage in Israel is under the auspices of religious authorities]; passing a climate law that includes a carbon tax; and raising the national health budget.

In retrospect, couldnt you have put forth these demands without joining the government?

There is always such a possibility, but a minister with control over various budgets can have more influence. Being in the government allows us to promote issues that we could not have achieved through a coalition agreement. They include, for example, the decision by the health minister [Meretz Chairman Nitzan Horowitz] to grant health insurance to asylum seekers; the directive to accept blood donations from gay people; the decision to transfer vaccines to the Palestinian Authority, though it is true that its implementation was a little subpar; a meeting between the Israeli and the PA environmental protection ministers; and meetings to be held soon with other ministers in the PA.

Members of Meretz meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, October 4, 2021. (Courtesy of Meretz)

Personal motivations did not play a more significant role in joining the government?

Personal matters always play a role, but the number of people [from Meretz] who received jobs in government ministries is very small. Thanks to our presence in the government, there are new people in the Knesset. This is an important personal matter, but here you can already see an increase in Meretzs influence. It is true that this consideration has not been explicitly discussed, but it is a significant reason to join the government and not simply support it from the outside.

Lets talk about Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. You will likely agree with me that a kind of mental normalization of the settlements took hold during the many years of Netanyahus rule. The occupation has disappeared from the Israeli public agenda. You joined the Bennett government to bring down Netanyahu, but Bennetts plan for the occupation, as he presented it in Washington [in August], is a continuation of what is labeled natural growth in the settlements, along with the status quo vis-a-vis the regime of oppression of the Palestinians. There is not even a semblance of a political process. This is a direct continuation of Netanyahus policy.

Bennetts statement that there will be no political negotiations is displeasing. At the same time, your comparison between Netanyahus policy and Bennetts policy might be clever, but it is not necessarily the right one to make. The alternative to Bennetts government was not a left-wing government, but rather a government with [right-wing extremists] Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. We have not only succeeded in preventing such a government, but have had accomplishments in other important areas, such as procuring pensions for elderly women, agricultural reforms, and regulation.

I want to stay on the subject of occupation. You have presented the occupation as an issue that makes it difficult for large sections of the Israeli public to support Meretzs social-democratic policies. You called it the elephant in the room. Now we see that this elephant not only didnt shrink in the current government, it also stopped hiding.

I agree with you. Weve moved 10 degrees to the right.

Mossi Raz speaks at a protest against the Culture Loyalty Bill proposed by former Culture Minister Miri Regev, outside the Knesset, Jerusalem, November 26, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

You agree that Meretz today has ministerial responsibility for the policies of occupation, which are identical to those of Netanyahu. What remains of Meretzs political program vis-a-vis the occupation?

This government includes, for the first time, cooperation between Jews and Arabs, and we hope it will help Israelis understand that we can work together. This cooperation should continue beyond the Green Line. Meretzs ministers and MKs are trying to work together with Palestinians in the occupied territories, including the PA. We continue to point out the injustices of the occupation. I demonstrate in Sheikh Jarrah every Friday and post about it on social media. I go to actions in the occupied territories almost every week, posting pictures of casualties, visiting families of Arab and Jewish casualties.

Does this change the minds of your partners in government? Bennett, Gantz, Saar, Shaked, Liberman?

My goal is not [to address] Liberman but the Israeli public. The problem is not the government but the Knesset. There is no reason to expect Liberman or Bennett to support an agreement with the Palestinians. We are asking the Israeli public to help elect a Knesset that is more amenable to an agreement.

It turns out that when youre in the Knesset you speak for the Bennett coalition, and when youre in Sheikh Jarrah you speak for the Sheikh Jarrah coalition. Is there any coherent message coming out of Meretz today?

I think the public understands complex messages like ours. The reasons I mentioned for the partnership in the Bennett government are valid, and our arguments for opposing the occupation are as strong as ever.

If you could choose the two most important issues in the struggle against the occupation, which would you choose?

Freezing settlement building and [procuring] entry permits for Palestinian laborers.

Do you have any particular personal frustration a struggle that you were invested in that failed?

The struggle to stop settlement outposts.

Settler youth in the outpost of Eviatar watch as smoke rises from burning tires near the Palestinian town of Beita, West Bank, June 28, 2021. (Oren Ziv)

Back in 2019, Raz and fellow Meretz MK Issawi Frej [who now serves as Israels Regional Cooperation Minister] led an attempt at changing the party into a fully-fledged Jewish-Arab one, with an Arab party chairperson alongside a Jewish one. Raz claimed at the time that there was a large segment of the public that was yearning for this kind of partnership. After the attempt failed, he said: Meretz was the first to come up with this idea, and it will also be the first to implement it in the future.

Whats happening [with this idea] today?

Its almost happening. We have nine representatives, and three of them are Arab.

You have already gotten into a public spat with Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi, an Arab MK with Meretz, about her threats to bring down the government should Israel initiate a military operation [in Gaza].

I said that we dont make the decisions the cabinet does.

Thats not the point. Is there a rupture in Meretz between Jews and Arabs over your decision to join the government?

Not every disagreement is related to the rift between Jews and Arabs. Issawi Frej and [Meretz MK] Ali Salala did not exactly concur with Rinawie Zoabi either.

And yet, does belonging to such a government not harm your ability to appeal to the Arab public?

No. We do not have decision-making power on military issues. We can bring down a government, but we will not be able to stop a military operation if it starts.

So why dont you threaten to leave the government in such a case, the way Rinawie Zoabi did?

One should not make threats they cannot make good on.

Members of Mossi Raz (left) and Aida Touma-Suleiman (right) attend an event titled Between Occupation and Apartheid in the Knesset, June 22, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In your recent conversation with [Hadash MK] Aida Touma-Suleiman, she said [regarding your positions on Palestinian political prisoner Khalida Jarrar, and the failed vote in favor of the Citizenship Law that bans Palestinian family unification]: Meretzs conduct in the coalition shows that the gap between Meretz and Hadash is not at all on tactical questions Mossi respects military courts, and I oppose them because they are the occupations tool of oppression. You have also admitted that being in the government distances you from the strategic goal of Jewish-Arab partnership. Does the fact that you brought on an Arab minister and two Arab MKs compensate for this rift?

There are several developments here in opposite directions. There is the Jewish-Arab government, but some of its elements are indeed conservative, and that is not what we wanted.

We have a Jewish-Arab government in which the right wing plays the central role.

Correct. And at the same time, Meretz is closer than any other party over the last 40 years to being a Jewish-Arab party.

Not in terms of its activists.

Im not sure about that. I think Issawi Frej has many Meretz supporters. The public sees the representatives in Knesset, not party meetings.

I was asking about the grassroots activists.

[Raz ignores the question] Another issue is the split between Meretz and the Joint List. Aida Touma-Suleiman has always opposed unification between the factions. For her, Jewish-Arab cooperation can only be realized within the framework of Maki [the Israeli Communist Party] and Hadash [of which Maki is a part]. It is a fact that most of the Arabs in the Knesset voted in favor of the Citizenship Law [seven in favor versus six against, with two abstainers].

Are you proud of [Raam Chairman] Mansour Abbas vote in favor of the Citizenship Law? This is a politician who preferred Netanyahu to the current government.

In Netanyahus eyes, Mansour Abbas was a last resort, almost the worst possible option.

Raam Chairman Mansour Abbas seen during a Knesset plenum session, August 2, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

So you are saying that the only option to build a Jewish-Arab partnership is under the banner of the right? The so-called great achievement of Arab-Jewish partnership today is your vote in favor of the Citizenship Law?

No, but Touma-Suleimans claim that Meretzs vote expresses a rift between Jews and Arabs is factually incorrect.

Why not? Maybe she understands the concept of partnership in terms of true equality.

I repeat what I said earlier: even before this vote, I did not hear from her that she was interested in cooperating with Meretz.

So now youre expecting an increase in support by the Arab citizens of Israel for Meretz?

I hope so, but I do not plan my strategy according to electoral potential.

Lets talk about Meretzs strategy. Will the hawkish faction of the party, which today is represented by MK Yair Golan [a former major general in the Israeli army], agree to turn the party into one based on real Jewish-Arab partnership?

If you had asked this faction a year ago if they would agree to a list made up of one-third Arab representatives, they would say no.

The same way Liberman agrees to it in the government today?

My answer relates to Meretz: today this partnership is accepted by everyone.

After your representatives voted in favor of the Citizenship Law.

I expect Jewish-Arab partnership that advocates for human rights and equality.

You mean a partnership that opposes the Citizenship Law?

Yes. It is important for me to say that after our part of Meretz initiated [the move toward Jewish-Arab partnership in the party], it was Nitzan Horowitz who translated it into the language of reality. He is the one who convinced MK Ilan Gilon to rescind his candidacy [in the primaries] to allow an Arab representative to be elected.

A version of this article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here.

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What keeps this Israeli leftist in a pro-occupation government? - +972 Magazine

Photo courtesy of BBC

Once again, the country is in a state of emergency. This time, the President has proclaimed emergency ostensibly to ensure the public security and well-being and maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community in view of the prevailing emergency situation in Sri Lanka in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic now steadily on the rise throughout Sri Lanka. The real objective, however, may be to bolster the power of the executive branch of the government, given that emergencies empower the President to promulgate regulations dealing with any subject at any given time.

What is the problem here? His decision does not violate the law of the country, as he has simply implemented an instrument available under the current Constitution. Democracies across the world, from the most vibrant to the least so, usually declare a state of exception at times of crisis when the state is under threat of external and/or internal forces or in the event of natural disasters, financial or economic crisis, or civil unrest, among other things. Under the current COVID-19 pandemic conditions, almost all states have implemented harsh quarantine regulations that undermine civil liberties for the sake of the security and well-being of their citizens. Additionally, Sri Lanka is teetering on the edge of a dangerous financial cliff, exacerbated by the disruptions induced by the pandemic. If the situation is so serious, why this hue and cry about the President declaring a state of emergency for the maintenance of supplies and services essential for the life of the community?

Underpinnings of a democratic society

Acts of the ruler need to be assessed within the frame of the particular rule. For countries that call themselves democracies, therefore, this assessment needs to be made in terms of democratic values and commitments, after weighting the potential impact of the decision and its bearing on the democratic polity.

Since 1931, 17 years before the country became a constitutional democracy, Sri Lankans have been exercising their franchise. Despite uninterrupted democratic governance spanning seven decades since then, Sri Lankans still find themselves at the beginning of the journey of actually embracing a democratic ethos in their imagination and everyday life. Therefore, many understand elections not as the minimum criterion but the sole criterion of a democratic state.

Put simply, democracy is the rule of the people. This means people within the political unit are equal, their destiny is in their hands and not in the hands of a supreme (or even superior) authority, and power flows from the people to the ruler. Under modern democracy, people give powers to a ruler by way of an election for a limited period of time. This happens on the condition that the people continue to wield the capacity to curtail the powers of the ruler/s if not to unseat them. In a democracy, these arrangements are stipulated in a Constitution, and rulers and the ruled alike are expected to abide by it; the powers of the rulers are subject to checks-balances, and they have to function within a given institutional structure that aims to deter elected members from abusing their authority. Democratic societies emphasise the Rule of Law as it enables citizens to enjoy various freedoms while being safeguarded from oppressive tendencies of the rulers. Therefore, unlike subjects in old feudal societies, democracy has produced free citizens who decide what is good for themselves. Many struggles some quite bloody have been waged through the course of history to ensure the securing of this one right; the right of self-rule. So, any attempt of concentrating powers in the hands of one person or a few individuals, whatever the justification, means democracy is in danger. Therefore, the declaration of an emergency is always and invariably undermines democracy in any society.

Exception as the norm

The Sri Lankan Republic has lived most of its life in states of exception. Therefore, exception has become the norm not only for rulers but also the people. Check points, barricades, arbitrary arrests and the military getting involved in civilian affairs are not exceptional circumstances for Sri Lankans. In fact, on the eve of the 2019 Presidential election, Gotabaya Rajapaksa publicly acknowledged that people (referring to his Sinhala-Buddhist support base) like the tough guy persona that he exhibited as the Secretary of Defence during his brothers Presidency.

In every democracy, it is common to find a tension between order and justice. Order constrains public life, while justice emphasizes the rights and freedoms of citizens. Having lived under an orchestrated state of permanent emergency, especially the majoritarian majority community of Sri Lanka, comprehends its everyday issues and potential solutions for them within the realm of order and discipline. Therefore, Sri Lankan democracy, having existed in almost a continuous state of emergency for decades, has produced a solid support base for oppressors: in this world view, demanding rights is akin to terrorism, and cherishing freedom is heresy. In such a political culture, people live as slaves rather than citizens, regardless of whether there are elections or not. This voluntary servitude taking root in the majority psyche garners much needed public legitimacy for anti-democratic advances on the part of rulers.

The introduction of emergency regulations, irrespective of its justification, will also augment the current leaderships aspiration of militarizing the state transferring the civilian state institution to the control of the military. There has been much talk about the Presidents fetish for military control despite the absence of a markedly better delivery of duties and responsibilities by the military as compared to the bureaucracy that is often labelled as corrupt and lethargic.

Space for democratic contestation

In a democracy, people not only elect their leaders at elections, but they also continue to be active to in between elections to win their rights to live a dignified life. A democratic polity is of paramount importance to realize a democratic society where people are free and equal. A democratic polity provides space within which people engage in perpetual struggles against all forms of oppression be it ethnic, religious, gender and sexuality-based discrimination or oppression of the capitalist economic order and hold rulers accountable for their actions and inactions. Therefore, the space for struggle and tolerance towards contestation and dissent is fundamental for a meaningful democracy. The irony of the political classes, though admittedly not unique to Sri Lanka, is that those who champion such a democratic space while in the opposition become ruthless oppressors when in power. Therefore this is not an accusation that can be hurled only at the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime.

However, in his two years in power, the President has proven time and again, that he does not expect active citizenship where people question the government and protest against injustice. Over a year has passed since Hejaaz Hizbullah and Ahnaf Jazeem were arrested and they remain imprisoned to date; teachers who protested demanding the settlement of their salary dispute were suppressed using quarantine rule; and police was deployed to disrupt the protests against the re-opening of wine stores during lockdown. The irony of the matter is that the government only saw a fault in the protestors who adhered to all the health protocols and not with the wine stores that breach quarantine laws in every possible way, not to mention their own political rallies, public funerals, birthday parties, and so on. Finally, despite a supposed countrywide lockdown, the government not only abstained from making an attempt to maintain the lockdown, but in fact tacitly encouraged people to break the law. Therefore, it is clear that for the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime the Rule of Law is not what is in the books, but what he says.

In addition, past two years have witnessed government exploiting the pandemic situation to forward its political and economic agendas. Passing the Port City Bill in Parliament and signing an agreement with a US company to handover a 40% share of the Kerawalapitiya Power Plant are but two examples. In parallel, severe breach of health regulations and labour regulations in the free trade zones where poor village women are exploited continued to be ignored, not to mention many other cases where extreme exploitation worked to the benefit of expanding state coffers. In Gotabaya Rajapaksas vision, as revealed in the garlic scam, it seems that the whistle blower is guiltier than the culprit. What can we expect in conditions of emergency is that oppressors would be let loose with no checks and balances, further constraining our space not only to resist but may be even to talk.

Conclusion

Therefore, the current state of emergency for the maintenance of supplies and essential services may seem justified to the uncritical mind, I believe the government is getting ready for a much more serious eventuality. As I have already argued, a state of emergency is nothing but the antithesis of democracy. Not only does it shrink space to engage in the struggle to realise a just and fair society but it may lead to people getting used to being subjects due to prolonged living in a seemingly perpetual state of emergency.

The President does not seem to make his decision on the basis of rational calculations. Therefore, he is fixated on militarising the state like a gambler who bets more and more as he loses. Under a state of emergency, freeing thus from checks and balances the Executive embodied by a person with no history of democratic politics nor formal orientation to such, is very dangerous. As a political community, we seem to be gambling democracy away for stability, with prospects for neither. The danger here is that if the President loses this bet, the country will collapse into utter chaos; but if not, it may well be the end of democracy in Sri Lanka. It is a lose-lose either way.

Rulers rule their populations either through consensus or through coercion. Rulers who enjoy political legitimacy hardly resort to coercion or violence as their authority is unchallenged. This phenomenon can be seen in the global order as well. The US and its allies rushing their war ships to South China and the Pacific is not at all a sign of their strength, but rather otherwise. In the same way, Gotabaya Rajapaksa seeking more powers to regulate the groups that maintain the supplies and essential services, who happen to be his own cronies, clearly signs that he has begun to see the waning of his powers much faster than he expected. However, not only do I believe that emergency undermines the countrys democratic fabric but I also do not think that it could rescue the President if that is what he expects from this Gazette.

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Democracy Under the Rule of No Law - Groundviews

Claims by China that 70 years of Beijings rule have improved Tibetans lives and that Tibet has always belonged to China distort present-day realities and ignore historical facts, Tibets India-based exile government said this week in a new report.

In a report released on Thursday, a day before Chinas Oct. 1 National Day, the Dharamsala, India-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) refuted claims made by China in a White Paper, Tibet Since 1951: Liberation, Development and Prosperity, released in May.

It is not 70 years of liberation, but in fact 70 years of suppression and oppression," Tibet's exile leader Sikyong Pema Tsering said at an event held to launch the CTA report. "In the last 70 years, the Chinese government has constantly subjugated the Tibetans inside Tibet in the name of infrastructure development and evolution."

China has maintained its rule in Tibet only by establishing an oppressive regime that uses force and the instillment of fear among the people, the CTA said in its report, titled Tibet: 70 Years of Occupation and Oppression.

Today, the subjugation of Tibetans is pursued by means of increased securitization, intensified surveillance and a narrative on development, all of which are used as a political tool to integrate Tibet with China, the exile government said.

Chinese rule in Tibet bears all the fundamental characteristics of colonialism, the CTA said.

It relies, as other colonial regimes have, on the narratives of superiority and virtue of Chinese culture and ideology and the backwardness of the Tibetan Other.

Claims by Beijing that Tibet has always been a part of China come only from relationships between the Dalai LamasTibets national and spiritual leadersand the rulers of Mongol and Manchu empires that had themselves conquered China centuries before, according to the report.

Contrary to Chinas claim, Tibet was not historically a part of China, but was seized by force as the Peoples Liberation Army invaded Tibet from 1949 to 1951. The claim that Tibet was liberated is part of a narrative aimed at legitimizing what was and continues to be an illegal occupation of Tibet, the CTA said.

Tibetans are constantly required to show gratitude to the Chinese government as a minority population happy for Beijings help, the exile government said.

[And] any perceived failure by the Tibetans to show subordination is seen not only as a sign of ingratitude but also as a political crime which needs to be corrected with coercion and re-education.

Finally, claims by Beijing that it protects and promotes use of the Tibetan language are contradicted by education policies mandating classroom instruction in Chinese, with school graduates who lack Chinese language skills increasingly marginalized in professional occupations.

The education policy implemented by the Chinese government not only downgrades the use of the Tibetan language, but also aims at eradicating the Tibetan identity, Sikyong Penpa Tsering said in remarks at Thursdays launch of the report.

Tibetan graduates are facing increasing difficulty finding jobs, Tsering said.

Chinas repeated assertions that it has peacefully liberated Tibet from feudal and backward rule over the last 70 years are contradicted by the violence of its conquest and occupation, according to the CTA report.

In short, the euphemism peaceful liberation is similar to the image propagandized and popularized by China today, where the phrase Peaceful Rise of China is sold in the market.

In reality, the rise of China is not peaceful at all. Rather it has been violent, with increasing repression in Tibet, East Turkestan, Southern Mongolia and now Hong Kong, the CTA said.

Reported by Lobsang Gelek for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Here is the original post:

Chinas Claims of Progress in Tibet Mask 70 Years of Repression: Report - Radio Free Asia

My mother taught me: If you can help, help.Investors like myself can help end the cruel, racist and wasteful practice that is capital punishment.

We all have a duty to speak out against injustice especially those of us with loud voices and the death penalty fails to deliver justice by every conceivable measure.On Oct. 7 theBusiness Leaders Against the Death Penalty Campaignannounced the latest list of supporters, and I am proud to join the dozens who have signed on.

I call on other business leaders especially investors to do the same.

Today, perhaps more than ever, Americans stand divided in their interpretations of justice. However, there can be no disagreement at least not by anyone with a shred of moral integrity that we shouldnt kill innocent people. Yet our system of capital punishment flies in the face of that belief. The latest data tell us that for every eight people executed,one innocent personends up exonerated. This should be unacceptable to even the most ardent eye-for-an-eye supporter of retributive justice.

The death penalty also wastes an insane amount of taxpayer dollars not to mention the cost to human life. It costs an extra$2 millionper case, on average, to execute someone and there is no corresponding benefit to public safety.State and regional murder statistics show no correlation between use ofcapital punishmentand reduced crime deathpenaltystates havehigher homicide rates.Now more than ever, we need cost-effective justice solutions that work. Any jurisdictional authority that continues to support such a transparently flawed system demonstrates a fundamental lack of fiscal responsibility.

For example, Arizonas government secretly spent nearly$2 millionon execution drugs and consulting pharmacists, at a time when1 million Arizonanswere struggling with hunger. Governments should prioritize saving lives, not ending them. We have an obligation to voice our disapproval at such reckless mismanagement of taxes and if change is not forthcoming should choose to invest elsewhere.

Bryan Stevensons memoir, Just Mercy, convincingly argues how state-sanctioned killings became de jure lynchings a symbol and a tool of racial oppression.Killers of white victims are executed at a rate17 times greater than those whose victims are black.Thestatesthat hadthe highest lynching rates are the states with the highest execution rates. Fighting this discrimination isnt just an absolute moral imperative.Federal Reserve regional banks across the country, fromDallastoAtlantatoMinneapolis, have called out systemic racism as a structural risk to the U.S. economyone that will inhibit growth as we look to recover from the COVID-19 crisis. As key stakeholders and engines of that inclusive recovery, we have a responsibility to help dismantle the racist and predatory institutions that continue to undermine it.

Investors can have a tremendous impact on our justice system. In April,Barclayssuccumbed under pressurefrom investors and other activists to withdraw from a toxic deal financing private prison construction in Alabama. That expansion project is now close to collapsing.

This influence extends beyond the private sector, and direct investor activism on the death penalty is far from unprecedented. In 2019, the $36 billion French state pension fund (among other investors)blacklistedU.S. Treasurys markets because capital punishment is allowed in some states.Its no secret that when we speak up, lawmakers pay attention. We can use that voice to help end capital punishment.

Investor engagement on social issues is becoming existential. The long-downplayed S in ESG (environmental, social and governance) has been rapidly growing in prominence, and prodding from activists has led funds to consider a more active stance. It is becoming more and more apparent that our broken justice system is the most important social issue facing an American generation. The death penalty embodies that brokenness. Support is at a 50-year low, andGallup revealed in 2019that, for the first time ever, most Americans prefer alternative punishments for murder. To stand against it is to stand on the right side of history.

Support for ending capital punishment is gaining momentum on both sides of the aisle. Virginia abolished it in March, becoming the first Southern state to end it. In Ohio a bipartisan abolition bill is making unprecedented progress through the legislature, and Gov. Mike DeWine has indicated that hell sign it which would make him the first Republican governor to do so. At the federal level, President Bidens moratorium is a step in the right direction, but he must go further by commuting the sentences of all those awaiting execution.

Public support from economic change-makers investors could help push hard-fought abolition efforts over the line. We hold a responsibility to speak out against injustice not to mention ineffective policies. We should embrace that responsibility by calling for an end to capital punishment.

Mike Novogratz is CEO and founder of Galaxy Digital, a broker-dealer based in New York.

Read more:

One of the most egregious injustices the death penalty can be abolished if investors take a stand - MarketWatch

On Sunday, October 3, citizens from different walks of life took to the streets in 17 cities across Iran, according to the Iranian oppositions National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). Teachers and retirees staged organized rallies in various cities with similar slogans and demands, which show profound solidarity among these protesters.

Hundreds of teachers held rallies in front of the provincial and local education departments in Isfahan, Shiraz, Ahvaz, Kerman, Bandar Abbas, Zanjan, and Darab. In the capital Tehran, they gathered in front of the Parliament (Majlis) and continued their protest despite the heavy presence of security forces and their threats.

Notably, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) had already warned teachers in an attempt to prevent any gatherings. However, defiant protesters gathered and shouted their desires, showing their determination for achieving their inherent rights.

Teachers demand your rights, We do not want empty promises, Livelihood is our inalienable right, and Free education is the right of our children, teachers chanted, calling on officials to pay appropriate attention to their dire living conditions.

In their protests, teachers demanded officials implement the ranking plan, which had already been passed by the Majlis to decrease teachers anger. According to the plan, officials should adjust teachers salaries based on their experience and working conditions.

The government and parliament are obliged to approve this initiative. If this initiative is approved and implemented, the legal basis for teachers wage will be at least 80 percent of that of faculty members, because teachers and members of faculty boards should be receiving equal salaries, the Iranian Teachers Coordination Council said in a statement at the beginning of the new school year.

However, officials have yet to implement the plan, prompting teachers to protest. Implement your own laws, one of the protesters said in front of the Majlis.

The government has placed teachers in an awkward position by maintaining their salaries at a low level. The poverty line in Iran is 120 million rials [about $437 per month]. Yet many teachers receive a fraction of this sum, the oppositions Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) reported.

Retirees and pension recipients affiliated with the Social Security Organization held rallies in front of the organizations provincial and local offices in Tehran, Mashhad, Tabriz, Khorramabad, Ahvaz, Isfahan, Qazvin, Arak, Borujerd, Kermanshah, Karaj, and Rasht.

Addressing the officials, retirees chanted slogans, venting their anger over the governments failure to address their dilemmas and adjust their pensions with the skyrocketing rate of inflation.

Be afraid, we are all united, Retirees will die, but they will not accept humiliation, Our plates are empty, enough of empty promises, Inflation and high prices are like a plague on peoples lives, Retirees are aware and hate discrimination, and Retirees demand is to be paid pensions commensurate with inflation, retirees chanted.

Furthermore, retirees affiliated with the steel industry once again rallied in front of the Retirees Fund in Ahvaz and Khuzestan. They blamed officials for failing to keep their promises and adjust retirees pensions with the inflation rate.

NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi hailed freedom-loving teachers and retirees, who have raised their voices for inherent rights in various cities across Iran.

Resistance, uprising, and the overthrow of religious fascism is the only way to realize the rights of retirees, teachers, and workers. The mullahs have squandered the assets and properties of the vast majority of the Iranians on suppression, warmongering, terrorism, and missile and nuclear programs, and brought them only oppression, discrimination, poverty, unemployment, and inflation, Mrs. Rajavi said.

Related

Originally posted here:

Iran: Teachers and Retirees Take to Streets in 17 Cities - Iran News Update

October 1st was Nigerias 61st Independence Day. Did you know it was Independence Day? Did you feel the Independence Day spirit? Were you feeling particularly grateful to our founding fathers? Im usually an optimistic, glass-half-full kind of person. I also like to live by the Okpameri saying: Kaamionehiema (Transliterates to Even this is okay). However, on this occasion of Nigerias 61st Independence Day, for the first time in a long time, I just couldnt find the energy to celebrate. Id had plans to wear green with a dash of white on the day, but I couldnt answer the question: What are we celebrating? Dont get me wrong, it isnt because of Nigerias problems but the bleakness and general lack of confidence that there are competent hands to tackle these problems. Whats Independence anyway? Even if we take the literal meaning of the word, can we really say Nigeria is independent?

Well, as usual, President Muhammadu Buhari gave a national address on October 1stto mark the day. I didnt get to listen to the address live-we need to give special awards to anyone who did. I havent listened live to a presidential address in a very long time, even before the advent of the present administration. I wouldnt have minded if it could be made interactive. Imagine waking up at 7 am to listen to some drab speech.

Anyway, Ive gone through the speech and reproduced excerpts along with my measured reactions (if I do say so myself):

Our original priorities for 2020 were to continue stabilising our economy following the deep recession while restoring peace in areas confronted with security challenges. But the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impact on all nations meant we needed to shift gears and re-strategize. Nigerians came together as one to fight against COVID-19. It is this attitude and by the special grace of God, we continue to survive the pandemic as a nation and indeed, provide leadership and example at regional and international levels.

-Should we thank God for COVID-19 then? I suddenly remembered when the president called it COVID one-nine! Nigerians, especially young people, came together to free the COVID-19 relief materials that had been hoarded by politicians. I do believe we have been surviving the pandemic due to the special grace of God who saw that we are suffering enough already.

The doomsday scenario predicted for our country never came. Even as the Delta variant continues to spread, we have built the capacity we need to respond now and into the future.

-Hopefully an Edo variant wont surface. But more seriously, Im not confident about this capacity weve supposedly built.

The investments we made in response to COVID-19 will also serve our country to tackle any future disease outbreaks or pandemics. I will take this opportunity to remind the global community that the current state of access to COVID-19 vaccines is unacceptable. We cannot afford a situation where a handful of countries keep the global vaccine supply to themselves at the expense of other nations.

-What investments? Surely, some of these investments couldve been listed? And whats warning the global community? Is this an Independence Day speech or what?

As we push to source vaccines for our immediate needs, we shall invest more to support our pharmaceutical and research agencies to come up with ideas for locally developed vaccines. Should another pandemic arise in the future, our question is simple; will Nigeria be ready?

-As Omawumi sang: If you ask me, na who I go ask?

Accordingly, I have directed the Ministries of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Health, Education and Science and Technology to work with Nigerian and International pharmaceutical companies and research organisations to enhance Nigerias domestic pharmaceutical capacity.

-To the uninitiated, the words, I have directed sound so presidential and dynamic. You get the impression of someone fast on the draw, who takes the bull by the horns. But who is the minister of finance? Each time, I have to google her name. The minister of science and technology is Christopher Ogbonnaya Onu. As minister of science and technology, one of his now-infamous ideas was the production of pencils. He reportedly justified this by saying: We have all the things to produce a pencil, which is used by a large number of people from our young pupils to engineers. How then can these two work with Nigerian and International pharmaceutical companies and research organisations to enhance Nigerias domestic pharmaceutical capacity?

Similarly, on our approach to food security, I am proud to announce Nigeria has commenced its journey to pharmaceutical independence.

-Did I copy the wrong speech? Food security and pharmaceutical independence?Wetin concern agbero with overload?

In the last four months, the gallant men and women of the Military and Security Agencies have made tremendous progress in addressing these new security challenges. We are taking the fight to our enemies from all angles, and we are winning.

-Who will tell the president the truth? No week passes without news of one military base being overrun or soldiers getting killed. Or whats the definition of winning?

In the North-East region alone, over eight thousand Boko Haram terrorists have surrendered.

Biko, is the North-East not the home of Boko Haram? As for terrorists surrendering, we are possibly implementing a home-grown, never-tried-before system where you can turn evil terrorists into well-behaved citizens just by them surrendering. Is it any wonder insecurity is not abating?

Therefore, as a government, we are ready to arrest and prosecute all persons inciting violence through words or action. Our resolve for a peaceful, united and one Nigeria remains resolute and unwavering.

-The government says its ready to arrest and prosecute all persons inciting violence through words or action, yet the same government is providing a soft landing for Boko Haram terrorists? Theyre definitely not arresting and prosecuting ALL persons as some people are obviously sacred cows (no pun intended).

That said, our hope is not to fight for peace. We can always settle our grievances peacefully without spilling any blood.

-Someone no doubt thought this was poetic. If you dont fight for peace, what will you fight for?

Our media houses and commentators must move away from just reporting irresponsible remarks to investigating the truth behind all statements and presenting the facts to readers.

-Facts can be deemed irresponsible, depending on which side you are on. Especially a government that operates an Us vs Them system concerning its own citizens.

We must all come out and speak against the lies being peddled. At this point, I would want to sincerely appreciate the large number of our Traditional, Religious and Community leaders as well as other well-meaning Nigerians who, in their various fora are openly spreading the message of peaceful co-existence and conflict settlement through dialogue in their respective communities.

-Like the traditional and religious and community leaders who attended the Northern governors forum the other day to insist that the president must come from the North come 2023?

Nigeria is for all of us. Its unity is not negotiable. And its ultimate success can only be achieved if we all come together with a common goal of having peace and prosperity for our nation.

-I doubt there are many people outside the ruling cabal who truly believe that Nigeria is for all of us. At every juncture, it is made clear that some people own Nigeria more than others. People from certain tribes or religions will never be allowed to hold certain positions. For instance, since 1993, theres been only one Christian FCT (Federal Capital Territory) minister in the person of Jeremiah Useni. Since then, theres been Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Muhammadu Adamu Aliero, Aliyu Modibbo Umar, Bala Mohammed, Mohammed Musa Bello. Oh, by the way, no Southerner has ever been FCT minister. The FCT is supposed to be a federal no mans land, no? And all this talk about Nigerias unity not being negotiable, as someone has pointed out, Nigerias existence itself was negotiated.

The recent arrests of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo, and the ongoing investigations being conducted have revealed certain high-profile financiers behind these individuals. We are vigorously pursuing these financiers including one identified as a serving member of the national assembly.

-Meanwhile, the same government says it cannot name the six Northerners the UAE has already named as sponsors of terrorism? One Nigeria, indeed! By the way, was it the Nigerian government that arrested Sunday Igboho? And do you arrest before investigating?

This is a clear example of how people abandon their national leadership positions for their selfish gains. Instead of preaching unity, they are funding and misleading our youth to conduct criminal acts that sometimes lead to unfortunate and unnecessary loss of lives and property. As the so-called leaders run abroad to hide, our innocent youths are misled and left in the streets to fight for their senseless and destructive causes.

-How is this truculent address an Independence Day speech again?

Fellow Nigerians, our unrelenting effort at resolving an almost two-decade stalling on the management of our Petroleum resources and ensuring equitable consideration to our host communities has resulted in the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021.

-This is the same Petroleum Industry Act in which host communities got only 3% while a fund for the exploration of oil in frontier basins, mainly in the Northern states, got 30 per cent. Meanwhile this 3% has been rejected by the Southern Governors Forum and leaders of the South-south region, like Edwin Clark whos asking for 10 per cent, or in the minimum, five per cent as had earlier been passed by the House of Representatives. Can you imagine the barefaced injustice and oppression?

At this juncture, it is very appropriate that I salute the leadership and members of the Ninth Assembly for their patriotism, dedication to duty, candour, and most importantly the dispatch with which they have enacted legacy legislations for this nation. I do not take such level of cooperation for granted and hope it continues for the overall efficiency of the Federal machinery.

-The 9thAssembly, a.k.a. the Rubber Stamp Assembly, has candour? This is the same (9th) Assembly that has been granting approvals for loans unlimited and hasnt been candid enough to ask for evidence of what previous loans were used for.

Unfortunately, as our food production capacity has increased, food prices have been going up due to artificial shortages created by middlemen who have been buying and hoarding these essential commodities for profiteering.

-Food production has increased? What kind of falsehood is this? Farmers cannot access their farms afraid of being murdered by terrorists nicknamed bandits. Hundreds of farmers were slaughtered in Zabamari, Borno State (North-East Nigeria) in November 2020. Their only crime was daring to go harvest in their farms. So, if the government is unwilling to name (or lacks knowledge about) the real cause of high food prices, how can they provide any solutions? Lets stop deceiving ourselves. Meanwhile, President is hereby directing the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to rehabilitate the National Food Reserve Agency and also work with security agencies, the Nigerian Commodity Exchange, and the National Assembly to find a lasting solution to these disruptive and unpatriotic hoarding activities. Really, thats all it will take?

We currently have over 13,000 kilometres of roads and bridges under construction all over the country of which a fair percentage have been completed.

-Well done! But can the federal government look into the Abuja-Okene-Benin Expressway, especially the Lampese-Ibillo section that has been impassable since July? This is the main link between Abuja and southern Nigeria and its too important to be ignored.

The seaports however still remain problematic. The effect of our various interventions to reduce the gridlocks and inefficiencies have been slower than expected.

-Perhaps, its time to develop other seaports, especially in the South-East and South-South?

We hope our present efforts to ensure all Nigerians use a National Identification Number, as well as our planned roll-out of the fifth generation (5G) network technology, will ensure we stay in line with the global innovation curve as a Nation.

-The NIN implementation is adversely affecting the ease of conducting business in Nigeria. NIN verification takes months! Lets not get into the whole (minister of communications and digital economy) Isa Patanmiissue.

Social media is a very useful platform that has enabled millions of Nigerians to connect with loved ones, promote their businesses, socialise, and access news and other information.

-You dont say!

Rather some users have misused the platform to organise, coordinate, and execute criminal activities, propagate fake news, and promote ethnic and religious sentiments. To address these negative trends, the Federal Government of Nigeria suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria on June 5, 2021, to allow the Government put measures in place to address these challenges.

-Well, special assistant on digital/new media to President Buhari, Tolu Ogunlesi had a hard time explaining this Twitter ban the other day onCNN.

Following the suspension of Twitter operations, Twitter Inc. reached out to the Federal Government of Nigeria to resolve the impasse. Subsequently, I constituted a Presidential Committee to engage Twitter to explore the possibility of resolving the issue.

-We are to believe that Twitter reached out to the federal government? You mean Twitter didnt grovel and roll on the floor? But just by Twitter purportedly reaching out, the government set up a presidential committee? Hmm. Did the government set up a presidential committee before suspending Twitter?

It is for this reason that we are refocusing the Nigerian Civil Service to provide World-class service to run our country.

-Lol. The same Nigerian c (e)vil) service? Ok o. Kontinu.

The youths of this great country remain propellants for our today and provide guarantees that we would have a secure tomorrow.

-Not the youths who were killed for protesting against EndSARS? Or the ones being denied freedom of expression with the clampdown on Twitter?

The commitment of this Administration to the well-being of people living with disabilities remains unwavering.

#Lori iro (On top of lies). Suffice it to say that Nigerians not living with disabilities have yet to feel governments commitment to their well-being.

As we begin to celebrate our sixty-one years as a Nation, we need to be conscious that Nigeria does not start and end with the Federal Government. This country is a great collective where Government at all arms and levels as well as the private sector, and more importantly individuals, have a role to play. In particular, security is a bottom to top undertaking. Joining hands and hearts together would enable us to secure ourselves and our country.

-They dont remember the country is a collective when theyre travelling around the world enjoying the benefits of office. Its only when it comes to accepting responsibility for the job, they signed up for that they remember that its a collective. Which one is security is bottom to top undertaking? Are you telling me that I, an ordinary person with no special security qualifications, have more undertaking than President Buhari, a retired Army general? Mind you, during the campaigns, no one mentioned this bottom-top undertaking as they promised to wipe out insecurity.

But critics misdiagnose incremental progress as stagnation. Since coming to power, this Administration has tackled our problems head-on in spite of the meagre resources. No government since 1999 has done what we have done in six years to put Nigeria back on track.

-If back on track is by Nigeria overtaking India and China as the country with the worlds poorest, then it must be the poverty track. Nigeria has a dubious population of 200 million while India is over 1 billion and China also has over 1 billion people. How does a country of 200 million overtake countries with over 2 billion people? This happened in the last six years. I suppose we have to agree that indeed no government since 1999 has done what the Buhari administration has done.

We shall continue to serve the country: listen to all and protect our democracy and country.

-Serve? Listen? Protect? Dear Nigerians, can you confirm that this government is doing any of this?

Read the original:

'No government has done what we've done in 6 years' and other Independence Day lies - TheCable

The wanton bloodletting and growing descent into anarchy in the south-east indicate nothing but failure of leadership, plain and simple. When I say the failure of leadership, though, I mean it on multifaceted levels. However, all said and done, those who claim to be leaders, political, traditional, and otherwise have failed Nigeria and failing in Igboland.

Being the chief of them all, Nigerias federal government took another misstep to accentuate the strategic errors of poor governance and disconnect between government and the governed earlier this week. That reaction is unfortunate, and I will explain.

On Monday, the military announced the commencement of three special operations aimed at curbing the wave of insecurity in the three zones of southern Nigeria and the North-Central and the Federal Capital Territory. Laudable as it may seem, the initiative does not show a government that learns from the past, which is a tragedy. For a country of Nigerias size, population and stature, the lack of ability for institutional recall, and the failure or refusal to take lessons from past misadventures is the greatest foolishness of all. Why do I say so?

Since 2015 or so, Nigeria has had several military operations. Readers would recall that the flexing of military might in the south-east started with Operation Python Dance around 2016. The initiative grew into a series and went on until 2019 when it became Operation Peace Dance. According to the army, those operations were to combat spates of kidnappings, armed robbery, cult and communal clashes, among other sundry crimes in the region.

Five years later, the situation is worse than ever, although the army has continued rolling out its men and machinery to confront the increasingly confounding challenge.

The south-east is not alone in the flurry of military operations that have hit the country in the past six years. In June 2020, the Daily Trust newspaper published a report indicating that the Nigerian Armed Forces had launched 40 different operations and exercises to contain various security challenges since 2015. That the army has embarked on these operations every year amply points to the ineffectiveness of this style and a reason to reconsider the strategy.

Earlier this year, a series of events resulting in deaths, arson and even a prison break led to the deployment of soldiers out of the annual dances. Of course, the military intervened, and there was the momentary restoration of order and the extermination of perceived troublemakers. However, here we are again, just months later, with the same wave of violence, government property targeted for destruction and lives, including that of the esteemed Dr Chike Akunyili, terminated in the most callous of ways. In line with our automated, knee-jerk mindset, we have sent soldiers onto the streets again. You then cannot but wonder how a country does something repeatedly and expects a different result. Does the federal government expect that this deployment will permanently bring the crisis to an end when more than 40 in the past have not?

Yet, only a portion of the blame can go to the federal government. The Igbo in Nigeria have not hidden displeasure with the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari for what they perceive to be a deep-seated commitment to maligning them. However, there can be no doubt that political, traditional, and religious leaders in the zone have also failed to live up to expectations.

The first point to note here is political leadership. Those elected to offices point to flyovers and such capital projects as prime achievements when millions of their enterprising and able-bodied youths are walking the streets unemployed. As it is everywhere in the country, many youths in the south-east are hungry, angry, and frustrated. Amid these deprivations, political leaders not only display ostentation (to the chagrin of the people), but they are also currently too possessed by the pursuit of their political ambitions for 2023 to pay attention to the people and assuage their anger! They have not made any success of their current tenure but are fighting tooth and nail for one of them to be the president in two years, and in achieving that, they do not mind mortgaging the rights of the people!

There is also the part of traditional and religious leaders and the moral authority they wield. So, why have these leaders looked away for this mindless level of violence to take over south-eastern Nigeria? Is this a loss of control resulting from an unholy romance with political actors, an assumption that this violence would ultimately emancipate the zone or a paralysis stemming from fears of being targeted? Whatever it is, leaders of the south-east must now begin to see that the current situation puts everyone in jeopardy. The inimitable Wole Soyinka wrote that the man dies in him who keeps quiet in the face of tyranny. There could be nothing more emblematic of this situation than the double tyranny imposed by state actors in the first instance, and then now, non-state actors commonly addressed as unknown gunmen. And in case anyone is led to imagine that they are safe, such presumptions would be ill-advised. Like rainfall that does not distinguish between good and evil, no one knows who may be visited with this evil next. Therefore, it is in the interest of everyone, the zone and Nigeria to find all ways to stop this consuming menace. As it is, these men and women have their roof on fire; they cannot go to sleep just yet. It is time for leaders to come together, draw one anothers ears, speak truth to one another and find lasting solutions to the trouble that threatens to eat up the south-east.

And while the federal government is adopting its default strategy of troop deployment, it should get a bit more creative and consider the fundamental democratic requirement for civil engagement. Given the meagre and unsustainable successes that the military has made over the years, it is time to seek meaningful consultations with interest groups in the south-east and every other part of Nigeria where there are similar skirmishes.

The silence and lack of engagement by all layers of powers to the bourgeoning national tensions betray the democratic culture.

Then, in the long run, the government must be intentional about improving Nigerians living conditions.

As this column has said repeatedly, insecurity would remain a factor until Nigerians education, employment, and general welfare, especially the teeming youth population, are given priority attention. One of the most dangerous dimensions to our national response to emerging violence driven by sectional groups is the non-realisation that we are building an army of frustrated young people who have and see no stake in the destiny of the country by virtue of their abandonment, oppression and the political elites seeming lack of interest in and concerns for their future.

In the same breath, Nigerians must have a sense of justice regardless of who they are or their origin. The countrys porous borders and the attendant evil of small weapons and light arms; unrestricted access to and use of psychotropic drugs are some of the many other problems to deal with for Nigeria to become a cohesive, peaceful, and progressive country capable of competing. Nigeria does not seem to be ready to move with the world.

Yet, government people carry on like they know it all. They give the impression that leadership is nothing but a show of force, but authentic leadership gains the love and support of the people without coercion. Like the famous John Maxwell said: He who thinks he leads but has no followers, is only taking a walk, Buhari is fast losing grip of Nigeria and the understanding of her people. He needs more than the show of might as the commander-in-chief to win the peoples confidence and hand over a Nigeria that we can all be proud of in 2023.

Adedokun can be reached on Twitter @niranadedokun

More here:

South-east and failure of leadership - TheCable