#on social media regulation and news media within the country that only a university degree (which is not fucking cheap) gave me
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cannot understate how useful and wonderful BWB texts are. having a supply of such cheap, easily digestible and expertly written essays and insights on new zealand history, politics, social problems, indigenous rights and pacific rights and history, tragedies, media and more is such a boon in an era where misinformation is so easily spread and when its so difficult to find thoroughly researched writing on often niche topics like news media in nz or the coverage of the christchurch earthquakes or the history of unionization in the country. i hope one day say ive read and own them all
#theyre 18 nzd full price#and consistently $8 at secondhand stores#and theyre SO FUCKING USEFUL i was having a convo with a bookstore employee yesterday#because of how theyre marked (similar to penguin books or classics) you can easily pick them out and know youre getting information from#experts and well researched figures from pacific circles#and it's hugely important! said employee had read all their media texts and had a lot of the information and nuance#on social media regulation and news media within the country that only a university degree (which is not fucking cheap) gave me#thats good!!! more people should have this information!!! they can make more informed decisions from there!!!#next week im stopping by to get their books in relation to te tiriti and māori health because those have been in the news and at risk#from our government recently and if im (inevitably) going to argue with family about it then i need to make sure im coming#from a place of fact and research
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We’re seeing the beginnings of what unambiguous power looks like. Corporate donors are dropping the GOP, throwing away an intimate, decades-long DD/lg relationship. But perhaps more important is the wave of unprecedented internet censorship that included the digital death penalty for Trump and his allies, and also for any users who continue to make claims of election fraud. This was seemingly coordinated among the entire now-private public square, and private companies are of course allowed to do whatever they want.
Average Joe might feel like he’s living on the edge of a knife. Don’t like it? Why not just create your own social media website that competes with Twitter in moderation policies? This is America, right?
But to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. Here are the interconnecting layers of the internet that you’ll need to recreate yourself.
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Gab was founded in 2016 as a “free-speech” alternative to Twitter: the only content that’s restricted is content that violates the law. Because the only people who really benefit from a neutral content policy are culturally radioactive right-wingers, the user base quickly spiralled into a den of far-right villainy. Consequently, it was booted from the Google Play app store in 2017, and never made it onto the iOS App Store.
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Search is usually the first step of interacting with the internet. Without access to search, a web surfer is as good as blind. Without being searchable, a website may as well not exist, domain name or not.
Google Search controls a 90 percent share of the internet market. There’s good evidence that they’ve dramatically pushed down conservative news websites in their search rankings. This is compounded by the fact that Google publicly admits to using human “raters” to categorize websites on search in terms of “Expertise/Authoritativeness/Trustworthiness.” Do dominant, politicized narratives of Truth and Authority affect the judgement of these human elements? A leaked exchange within Google indicates that this is likely.
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Visa has relationships with all the top banks—Chase, BofA, Wells Fargo, Citi—that underpin the entire credit card network. Together, these banks have a market cap of well over 1 trillion dollars. Still want to build your own Twitter? You have to build one of these. Creating your own community or regional bank won’t cut it. It will end up just as much a client of the system as anything else in the stack.
Payment processing is so politically fragile because it all falls on the back of this banking oligarchy; their underwriters are the people who can pull the trigger and designate anyone as “high risk.” Risk standards correlate closely with the narratives set by the progressive ideological complex, because mega-banks like everyone else don’t want to draw the withering gaze of the Rainbow Eye of Sauron.
But banking is one of the most regulated industries in the country, to the point where banks could be considered public-private partnerships. Not to mention that a bank charter is a government document, the kind that is very hard to get. No free market here!
We’re not quitters, though. So we get a charter, go through the regulatory hurdles, and use our superhuman business skills to bring our bank to a market capitalization of $200 billion or so and dethrone one of the Big Four.
We can finally do it! We can finally implement a social media website with a moderation policy different from Facebook and Google! We acted on the advice of Very Smart online commenters and simply outcompeted every multibillion- and multitrillion-dollar company at every layer of the internet and financial sectors of the global economy. Voila! All it took was creating a vertically integrated monopoly, the likes of which the world has never seen.
Not so fast.
There’s something called Operation Choke Point. It’s one of many ways that the federal government circumvents legal limits on its ability to crack down on its enemies by compelling private companies to do it for them. Between 2012 and 2015, firearms dealers, cryptocurrency firms, political radicals, and many others felt the smothering hand of the Department of Justice indirectly—by way of the banking industry.
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9. Build Your Own Government
Here we are, at the bottom of the stack. Here we find enlightenment: everything is interconnected, no company is truly “private,” and the government is laundering political favoritism through several degrees of separation. There’s no escape from this web of interdependence. It’s just like the acid trip told us.
We hinted at ways that the federal government deputizes private actors to circumvent constitutional limits of its power, but there’s more. Businesses face legal penalties in the form of hostile workplace litigation if they don’t police employee speech, very often in a partisan direction. This results in the ideological homogeneity we see in the corporations that define the public perception of reality, such as Google and Facebook. These rank-and-file employees, not top executives, are the ones who demand more radical policies of political policing and deplatforming. Remember: the unity of everything, man.
With cultural domination in one hand and financial muscle in the other, power is assuming its final, undivided form. American progressivism has gone mask-off and revealed itself to be little more than pink libertarianism. The interests of working people take a backseat to two symbiotic concerns: increasingly radical social crusades, and the apparently sacred property rights of megacorporations that insulate social crusades from opposition.
The progressivism of just five years ago was deeply suspicious of the military-industrial complex and surveillance capitalism. By pure coincidence it entered into a pupal stage during the last period of the outgoing administration, and is now emerging as a glorious and undeniably powerful butterfly. It’s logical for corporate America to play ball. For the part of social media giants, an expensive, complex, and mandatory moderation regime serves as a tall barrier to entry.
#the american conservative#robert mariani#build your own internet#build your own banking system#build your own government#read the whole thing
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April 6, 2019. 2:22am PST.
I felt like ranting. Do know that some of these will be fragmented thoughts as I just need an empty canvas to spill out all the shit I have in my mind.
I don't feel the same. Something chemically changed within me. Serotonin is one of the chemicals responsible/associated with sleep regulation and happiness that your body produces. I definitely feel like I'm fucking lacking in that shit.
Being happy doesn't feel like being happy anymore. Maybe it's because I've been so desensitized to the world around me. I realize there's a lot of horrible shit like suicide, the struggle that people have to attain financial stability whether it's in a first world country or. the terror that are medical bills and student loans. Crime, racism, murder, corruption, all that...not so good stuff.
You know how when you're a kid, you're ignorant to the world around you? Your parents tell you they have bills to pay and that things cost money, yet you don't realize the time and effort that goes into earning that money and paying those bills. It's the money, time and effort that gets you the food, clothing, that Happy Meal from McDonalds, the toys, the video games and so on that they buy you and you barely think about. You just know that, in that moment, you are happy. You're just so present minded and the only future you think about is of you coming home to play the new Super Mario game your mom just bought you or so on.
My family. We're lower middle class. I rely on financial assistance from the government so I can attend university and achieve a higher education
Sometimes I question that education. What relevance does it have to me? Why the fuck am I learning this shit if it doesn't make me happy? Is this all going to be a waste once I complete my degree?
I know I can at the bare minimum, finish my degree. AT THE BARE MINIMUM. I don't have a passion for running a business. I do find business interesting.
Music makes me happy. Dogs make me happy. Being able to learn multiple languages whether it's Khmer, Korean, Japanese, or American Sign Language fascinates me because it's this barrier to being able to communicate and understand people and their culture. Why tf is there not a curriculum for what I want to learn. Sometimes, I think to myself that I should screw the business administration degree that I'm pursuing altogether, and just take classes I genuinely enjoy. Music production classes. All the languages I've always wanted to learn. Personal finance classes and social media marketing. Video and film production. Random shit that might not necessarily make sense together, but they genuinely make me happy.
Like...if I only have one life to live, why tf not live it doing the things I love?
I know there's a lot of beauty to the world. I fucking love dogs.. I love nature. Being outside on a hike to take in an exhilarating view is such a freeing experience; yet I stay inside only a majority of the time to stay in front of a laptop screen, mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, reddit to see other people experiencing that world.
I feel sad for dogs who are essentially held captive to the backyard or 'home' of their owners, only to age and die
Sometimes I just feel like I'm being ungrateful despite being aware of the opportunity around this. There's fucking opportunity everywhere. I have a roof over my head. I have my mom that takes care of me. I have dogs who I love very much. I just feel such a big disconnect from the world around me and those around me. I don't feel human. I don't feel right.
When I broke up with the last girl I dated for 3 months, I felt absolutely nothing. Compared to my first girlfriend or to other girls where I was completely heartbroken and bawling my eyes out, I felt absolutely nothing. She wasn't boring. She wasn't abusive. In fact, she was one of the sweetest girls I know and I genuinely thought I was going to be with her for the long term. When she cried to me on the phone about how unhappy she was, she gave me the ultimatum of whether I wanted to be with her or not.
I couldn't decide.
It should be blatantly obvious or a without a doubt decision that I wanted her in my life...right? I feel like if someone's the right one, you would make that decision to stay an instant, with no question in mind.
it's especially after that moment that I truly didn't feel human. Being happy was never the same for me.
I had a minimum wage job. I had so little but yet I was so happy.
I've had relatives or in-laws who passed away. I'm fucking sitting here watching a man who's life is literally on the line. I at a funeral, I'm here watching my cousins cry. I understand that these people mean so much to them. I know , but I wanted to feel at least something.
Maybe I do have depression or some mental disorder that I'm unaware about.
If this is true, I don't want to use depression as an excuse to why I can't do shit. Yes, it makes shit harder. I have suicidal thoughts more than often, but I know I don't want to actually do so. I just want to feel human again.
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Natural House Remedies.
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The Black Mortality Gap, and a Document Written in 1910
Some clues on why health care fails Black Americans can be found in the Flexner Report
— By Anna Flagg | August 30, 2021
If Black Americans died at the same rates as white Americans, about 294,000 Black Americans would have died in 2019. Each dot represents 10 people
Black Americans die at higher rates than white Americans at nearly every age.
In 2019, the most recent year with available mortality data, there were about 62,000 such earlier deaths — or one out of every five African American deaths.
The age group most affected by the inequality was infants. Black babies were more than twice as likely as white babies to die before their first birthday.
The overall mortality disparity has existed for centuries. Racism drives some of the key social determinants of health, like lower levels of income and generational wealth; less access to healthy food, water and public spaces; environmental damage; overpolicing and disproportionate incarceration; and the stresses of prolonged discrimination.
But the health care system also plays a part in this disparity.
Research shows Black Americans receive less and lower-quality care for conditions like cancer, heart problems, pneumonia, pain management, prenatal and maternal health, and overall preventive health. During the pandemic, this racial longevity gap seemed to grow again after narrowing in recent years.
Some clues to why health care is failing African Americans can be found in a document written over 100 years ago: the Flexner Report.
In the early 1900s, the U.S. medical field was in disarray. Churning students through short academic terms with inadequate clinical facilities, medical schools were flooding the field with unqualified doctors — and pocketing the tuition fees. Dangerous quacks and con artists flourished.
Physicians led by the American Medical Association (A.M.A.) were pushing for reform. Abraham Flexner, an educator, was chosen to perform a nationwide survey of the state of medical schools.
He did not like what he saw.
Published in 1910, the Flexner Report blasted the unregulated state of medical education, urging professional standards to produce a force of “fewer and better doctors.”
Flexner recommended raising students’ pre-medical entry requirements and academic terms. Medical schools should partner with hospitals, invest more in faculty and facilities, and adopt Northern city training models. States should bolster regulation. Specialties should expand. Medicine should be based on science.
The effects were remarkable. As state boards enforced the standards, more than half the medical schools in the U.S. and Canada closed, and the numbers of practices and physicians plummeted.
The new rules brought advances to doctors across the country, giving the field a new level of scientific rigor and protections for patients.
But there was also a lesser-known side of the Flexner Report.
Black Americans already had an inferior experience with the health system. Black patients received segregated care; Black medical students were excluded from training programs; Black physicians lacked resources for their practices. Handing down exacting new standards without the means to put them into effect, the Flexner report was devastating for Black medicine.
Of the seven Black medical schools that existed at the time, only two — Howard and Meharry — remained for Black applicants, who were barred from historically white institutions.
The new requirements for students, in particular the higher tuition fees prompted by the upgraded medical school standards, also meant those with wealth and resources were overwhelmingly more likely to get in than those without.
The report recommended that Black doctors see only Black patients, and that they should focus on areas like hygiene, calling it “dangerous” for them to specialize in other parts of the profession. Flexner said the white medical field should offer Black patients care as a moral imperative, but also because it was necessary to prevent them from transmitting diseases to white people. Integration, seen as medically dangerous, was out of the question.
The effect was to narrow the medical field both in total numbers of doctors, and the racial and class diversity within their ranks.
When the report was published, physicians led by the A.M.A. had already been organizing to make the field more exclusive. The report’s new professional requirements, developed with guidance from the A.M.A.’s education council, strengthened those efforts under the banner of improvement.
Elite white physicians now faced less competition from doctors offering lower prices or free care. They could exclude those they felt lowered the profession’s social status, including working-class or poor people, women, rural Southerners, immigrants and Black people.
And so emerged a vision of an ideal doctor: a wealthy white man from a Northern city. Control of the medical field was in the hands of these doctors, with professional and cultural mechanisms to limit others.
To a large degree, the Flexner standards continue to influence American medicine today.
The medical establishment didn’t follow all of the report’s recommendations, however.
The Flexner Report noted that preventing health problems in the broader community better served the public than the more profitable business of treating an individual patient.
“The overwhelming importance of preventive medicine, sanitation, and public health indicates that in modern life the medical profession” is not a business “to be exploited by individuals,” it said.
But in the century since, the A.M.A. and allied groups have mostly defended their member physicians’ interests, often opposing publicly funded programs that could harm their earnings.
Across the health system, the typically lower priority given to public health disproportionately affects Black Americans.
Lower reimbursement rates discourage doctors from accepting Medicaid patients. Twelve states, largely in the South, have not expanded Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act.
Specialists like plastic surgeons or orthopedists far out-earn pediatricians and family, public health and preventive doctors — those who deal with heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and other conditions that disproportionately kill Black people.
With Americans able to access varying levels of care based on what resources they have, Black doctors say many patients are still, in effect, segregated.
The trans-Atlantic slave trade began a tormented relationship with Western medicine and a health disadvantage for Black Americans that has never been corrected, first termed the “slave health deficit” by the doctor and medical historian Dr. W. Michael Byrd.
Dr. Byrd, born in 1943 in Galveston, Texas, grew up hearing about the pain of slavery from his great-grandmother, who was emancipated as a young girl. Slavery’s disastrous effects on Black health were clear. But by the time he became a medical student, those days were long past — why was he still seeing so many African Americans dying?
Dr. Linda A. Clayton had the same question.
Her grandfather had also been emancipated from slavery as a child. And growing up, she often saw Black people struggle with the health system — even those in her own family, who were well able to pay for care. Her aunt died in childbirth. Two siblings with polio couldn’t get equitable treatment. Her mother died young of cancer after being misdiagnosed.
By 1988, when Dr. Byrd and Dr. Clayton met as faculty members of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, he had been collecting data, publishing and teaching physicians about Black health disparities for 20 years, calling attention to them in the news media and before Congress.
In their decades-long partnership and marriage that followed, the two built on that work, constructing a story of race and medicine in the U.S. that had never been comprehensively told, publishing their findings in a two-volume work, “An American Health Dilemma” (2000 and 2001, Routledge).
Much has changed since the publication of the Flexner Report.
Racial discrimination is prohibited by law. Medical schools, practices and hospitals are desegregated.
In 2008, a past A.M.A. president, Dr. Ronald M. Davis, formally apologized to Black doctors and patients. The association has established a minority affairs forum and a national Center for Health Equity; collaborated with the National Medical Association, historically Black medical schools and others in Black health; and created outreach and scholarships.
But Dr. Clayton and Dr. Byrd have questioned whether the field is working hard enough to change the persistent inequalities. And they aren’t the only experts wondering.
To Adam Biggs, an instructor in African American studies and history at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster, Flexner’s figure of the elite physician still reigns. That person is most likely to have resources to shoulder the tuition and debt; to get time and coaching for testing and pre-medical preparation; and to ride out years of lower-paid training an M.D. requires.
Evan Hart, an assistant professor of history at Missouri Western State University, has taught courses on race and health. She said medical school tuition is prohibitively expensive for many Black students.
Earlier this year, an A.M.A. article estimated there are 30,000-35,000 fewer Black doctors because of the Flexner Report.
Today, Black people make up 13 percent of Americans, but 5 percent of physicians — up just two percentage points from half a century ago. In the higher-paying specialties, the gap grows. Doctors from less wealthy backgrounds and other disadvantaged groups are underrepresented, too.
This disparity appears to have real-world effects on patients. A study showed Black infant mortality reduced by half when a Black doctor provided treatment. Another showed that Black men, when seen by Black doctors, more often agreed to certain preventive measures. Data showed over 60 percent of Black medical school enrollees planned to practice in underserved communities, compared with less than 30 percent of whites.
The limits of progress are perhaps clearest in the continuing numbers of Black Americans suffering poor health and early death. Millions remain chronically uninsured or underinsured.
According to Dr. Clayton, a key problem is that the health system continues to separate those with private insurance and those with public insurance, those with resources versus those without, the care of individuals versus the whole.
During the Civil Rights movement, Medicare and Medicaid — which were opposed by the A.M.A. — passed in part because of the advocacy of Black doctors, extending care to millions of lower-income and older Americans. But the A.M.A.’s long battle against public programs has contributed to the United States’ position as the only advanced nation without universal coverage. When a social safety net is left frayed, research shows, it may hurt Black Americans more, and it also leaves less privileged members of all races exposed.
“It is basically a segregated system within a legally desegregated system,” Dr. Clayton said.
In February, Dr. Byrd died from heart failure in a hospital in Nashville at 77. Dr. Clayton was holding his hand.
Before his death, the two doctors had given hours of interviews to The New York Times/The Marshall Project over the course of six months.
Dr. Byrd said he wanted to spread awareness to more American doctors — and Americans generally — about the Black health crisis that slavery began, and that continues in a health system that hasn’t fully desegregated.
The doctors’ work showed that never in the country’s history has Black health come close to equality with that of whites.
“We’re still waiting,” Dr. Byrd said.
— This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for its newsletter, or follow The Marshall Project on Facebook or Twitter. Anna Flagg is a senior data reporter for The Marshall Project.
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Exploring The Effectiveness Of Interference Legislation
By Arnelle Jean-Jacques, University at Albany Class of 2023
July 30, 2020
Amidst the massive bedlam that this year has caused, it is surprisingly easy to forget that there is a presidential election this fall. Although months away, it has already proven to be one of the most significant, impactful, and important elections in our nation’s growing history, as the incumbent Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that he won’t accept the results of the November election, former Vice President Joe Biden has repeatedly struggled to maintain firm support of democratic voters, and, in keeping with his 2015 vow, rapper Kanye West has entered the race --now just shy of four months away -- in what could simply be a manic episode. Ineluctably, registered voters have yet another crucial decision to make.
The above use of the term ineluctable could also stem from the fact that the United States is not a stranger to crucial elections. In 2008, it elected its first President of color, and in 2016, almost elected its first female President. However, the country is also not a stranger to electoral controversy. While Democratic nominee Hilary Clinton gained the majority of the popular vote four years ago, Trump’s victory was sealed through the electoral college, granting him 304 votes as opposed to Clinton’s 227 [1]. Furthermore, explicit evidence showed proof of tampering by Russian officials with the intent to deter the candidacy of the latter while enhancing that of the former, leading to a continued rise in social and political hostility. At first thought, the simple idea of occurrences like these seem unimaginable. Yet, the transformative truth is that the United States has, in fact, interfered in foreign elections itself. This is truly an international concern.
To generate perspective, here is a brief run-through. As nations developed, an obvious organization of governmental affairs had taken place. By the twentieth century, manifestations of a secure state of global affairs made way for many countries to begin a process of manipulation in favor of particular candidates. Evidence shows that between 1946 and 2000, the United States had interfered with 81 foreign elections. Russia has done so with more than 30 -- in efforts to promote autocratic rule. These measures are not easy to unpack. They ranged from providing funding for their preferred side’s campaign (a tactic employed by the Soviet Union in the 1958 Venezuelan elections, to public threats to cut off foreign aid in the event of victory by the opposing side [2]. Gradually, new technologies emerged that have allowed manipulated results to take shape. A principal drawback, however, has been the greater lack of cybersecurity. As accounts of election hacking became public in the eighties and nineties, overall trust in the voting system began to decline. After 2016, sales of virtual private networks heavily increased out of a fear of compromise of personal information [3]. These providers charge upwards of $120 each year, depending on individual sites, which indicates that instead of making contributions toward everyday commodities, or even towards the establishment of voting reform, U.S. citizens have found themselves using portions of their well earned funds towards internet protection. Therefore, these findings ultimately introduce questions of the benefits that foreign interventions bring to a country through presidential elections that prove it effective.
This inquiry, which will be probed from multiple perspectives, is not discussed in mainstream media as much as one would assume it to be in the middle of a global pandemic -- a time period in which the future of foreign relations is difficult to truly determine. Still and all, the use of a foreign perspective benefits the research that will seek to provide the answers we seek to discover. For instance, the Ukrainian elections of 2004 were subject to several quarrels following high profile visits from Vladimir Putin, which generated questions of whether the Russian Kremlin had legitimate influence on the end result. Despite generally weak understanding of the particular measures taken, surveys show that on average, Ukrainians considered the intervention to be unethical and improper [4]. This, in turn, led to a series of protests -- later known as the Orange Revolution -- that demonstrated civil resistance , and eventually became part of the nation’s tensions against Russia. Last year, The P.O.T.U.S. demanded that the newly-elected Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, publicly announce investigations into Biden, and into a discredited theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 presidential election [5]. This clear display of oppressive rule has given rise to a desire for legislation, which, in this particular concern, has feeble effect. With the blatant regressions that actions such as electoral tampering can bring to the economy of a nation that is supposedly a representative democratic institution, could government regulation of it make significant progress in today’s state of global affairs?
The publication of Russia’s blatant intrusion began a mass trend among several countries. The Elections Modernization Act states that only Canadian citizens or permanent residents can contribute to parties or candidates, and that third parties (essentially, foreign entities) may not use funds for a partisan purpose during a pre-election period. Australia also legislated new criminal offenses involving foreign interference, including the offense of “intentional foreign interference,” which provides for imprisonment for up to 20 years for deceptive conduct that goes unreported [6]. Stateside, initial steps are also being taken to regulate foreign contacts. A bill that passed the House of Representatives in 2019 establishes a duty to report election interference from foreign entities, applies existing campaign advertising requirements to online advertisements, and limits political spending and election interference by foreign entities. However, due to the relative novelty of the situation, it is unavailing to truly speak of the effect that this will have, especially in the United States, where the first major presidential election since these incidents will only occur this year. Even so, we will briefly unpack what it means for the sake of measuring its overall potential.
For the purposes of solving the particular issues presented in this article, only Subtitles A and B will be surveyed. Subtitle A institutes an individual obligation to notify officials of foreign intervention in all political campaigns within 3 days of contact. It also thoroughly defines the concept of “reportable” foreign contact, and uses legitimate language with the intention to enforce. However, there are few exceptions, including the fact that “reportable foreign contact shall not include any contact or communication with a covered foreign national by an elected official or an employee of an elected official solely in an official capacity as such an official or employee.” This exception lessens the enforceability of the bill, and thus degrades the purpose of passing the bill. In the final analysis, part of what a representative democracy desires to maintain is the trust and support of voters in order to justify the election process. This, in turn, introduces the conversation regarding voter security, which is outlined in Subtitle B. Also referred to as the Honest Ads Act, it aims to “improve disclosure requirements for online political advertisements in order to uphold the Supreme Court’s well-established standard that the electorate bears the right to be fully informed.” The clear breaches of cybersecurity that have been imposed by sharp minds since the internet’s conception have raised valid concerns about the electoral process, which is why the obligation to provide specific contact history and data (as per Section 116, subsection B) among other reports [7], will move to bring about effective change in the United States, which will eventually enhance its title of “Leader of the Free World” by influencing global electoral change to the nth degree.
The future decided by the outcome of this bill will have profound impacts on the political spectrum, the economy, the United States of America, and the world. Ironically, however, the pace of this legislative process, which has probably stemmed from the circumstances that 2020 has produced, will be dependent on the outcome of the Presidential Election, should the bill be not signed into law by then. Based on the voice of the nation’s people it is imperative that this representative democracy takes the necessary steps needed to ensure a better global electoral future. In doing so, it will surely add on to the several positive changes being made this year to become a nation that truly champions equality and justice for all of its citizens.
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[1] 2016 Presidential Results. CNN, 2016, www.cnn.com/election/2016/results/president.
[2] Don H. Levin, When the Great Power Gets a Vote: The Effects of Great Power Electoral Interventions on Election Results, International Studies Quarterly, UCLA 60, 189–202, (2016).
[3] How the 2016 Election Hack Affected Consumers Voting Plans and Cybersecurity Efforts, OpenVPN.
[4] Shulman, Stephen; Bloom, Stephen, The legitimacy of foreign intervention in elections: the Ukrainian response, British International Studies Association, 38, 445–471 (2012).
[5] Wolf, Zachary B, and Sean O'Key. “The Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry Report, Annotated.” CNN, Cable News Network, (2019).
[6] The Law Library of Congress, Regulation of Foreign Involvement in Elections, LL File No. 2019-017776
[7] STOPPING HARMFUL INTERFERENCE IN ELECTIONS FOR A LASTING DEMOCRACY ACT, Rept. 116-246, Part 1 (2019-20).
Photo Credit: Computer Election Systems
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US academics, lawmakers protest 'horrific' new rule for foreign students
Prominent academics and lawmakers have reacted sharply to the new US guideline on foreign students pursuing degrees within the country if their universities switch to online-only classes, calling it as "horrifying" and "cruel."
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday announced that foreign students pursuing degrees in America will need to leave the country or risk deportation if their universities switch to online-only classes during this fall pertaining to the September to December semester.
The decision will adversely impact many thousands of Indian students within the US.
It said that for the autumn 2020 semester students attending schools operating entirely online might not take a full online course load and remain within the US.
The new regulation drew widespread backlash with many taking to social media to vent their anger.
The American Council on Education (ACE), which represents university presidents, said the rules are "horrifying" and can end in confusion as schools search for ways to reopen safely.
"On its face, the guidance released by the ICE is horrifying. While we might welcome more clarity about international students studying within the us , this guidance raises more questions than it answers and unfortunately does more harm than good," ACE President Ted Mitchell said during a statement.
"Regrettably, this guidance provides confusion and complexity instead of certainty and clarity," Mitchell said.
Of particular concern may be a stipulation saying students won't be exempt from the principles albeit an epidemic forces their schools online during the autumn term. It's unclear what would happen if a student ended up therein scenario but faced travel restrictions from their home country, said Terry Hartle, the council's senior vice chairman .
"ICE is clearly creating an incentive for institutions to reopen, no matter whether or not the circumstances of the pandemic warrant it."
The rule applies to holders of F-1 and M-1 non-immigrant visas, which permit non-immigrant students to pursue academic and vocational coursework, respectively.
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In The New Class War: Saving Democracy from the Managerial Elite (2020), building on my argument in The Next American Nation (1995), I offered an answer. I proposed that, while the proletariat is still the proletariat, James Burnham, Bruno Rizzi, John Kenneth Galbraith and other thinkers were correct that by the mid-twentieth century power had passed from individual bourgeois business owners to a new ruling class of technocrats or bureaucrats, whose income, wealth, and status is linked to their positions in large, hierarchical organizations, (i.e. nonprofits, government agencies, industrial and financial firms, and so on).
I use the term “overclass” to describe this group. A similar though not identical concept is what is known, after Barbara Ehrenreich, as the “professional-managerial class” (PMC). Whatever terminology you prefer to use, generalizations about all Western elites need to be accompanied by more granular analysis at the level of each country. Referring only to the U.S., I think it is helpful to go beyond the basic distinction between the overclass and the working class and identify distinct groups within each.
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But the American elite includes three other groups, in addition to these bureaucratic managers. One consists of hereditary rentiers—heirs and heiresses, born into rich families. Old money types should be distinguished from tycoons like Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos, who tend to be products of upper-middle-class or modestly rich families who happened to become incredibly rich. Only the most primitive Marxists believe that a tiny group of individual capitalists—to the manor born or self-made—controls modern societies from behind the scenes. I will not pay further attention to old money in this essay.
In German a distinction has long been made between the Besitzbürgertum (propertied bourgeoisie) and the Bildungsbürgertum (educated bourgeoisie). The equivalents of these two groups exist in the U.S. today. They are distinct from the big-organization managers and important in American politics out of all proportion to their numbers. Lumping them together as “PMC” confuses matters. Let us call them the professional bourgeoisie and the small business bourgeoisie.
The professional bourgeoisie—made up of lawyers, doctors, professors, K-12 teachers, journalists, nonprofit workers, and many of the clergy—is concentrated in the teaching, helping, and research sectors. Their jobs often pay modestly but provide both status and a degree of personal autonomy that the frequently better-paid managerial functionaries in more hierarchical occupations do not possess.
The small business bourgeoisie consists of the owner-operators of small businesses and franchises, along with genuine contractors (as opposed to proletarian “gig workers”), both those who are self-employed and those who employ others.
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The working class in the U.S. is divided as well. First, there is the heartland working class—those who work in the industries located in the low-density exurban heartland. These industries include manufacturing, agriculture, energy, retail distribution and warehousing.
And then there is the hub-city working class. This class of workers can be found in metropolises like New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Houston. Many of these members work directly for the urban overclass as maids, nannies and other domestic staff, or otherwise indirectly in luxury services that cater to the affluent elite.
(A note: by the “heartland working class” I do not mean the stereotypical “white working class.” Most African-Americans and Hispanics are high-school-educated workers who live and work in suburbs and exurbs. Those areas also contain many foreign-born workers, though first-generation immigrants make up a greater share of the populations of hub cities.)
To the distinct hub and heartland working classes can be added a third non-elite group, often described as the lumpenproletariat—or, perhaps more clearly, the “underclass.” (In the 1990s the speech police of the politically-correct left banned the use of “underclass” from academic and journalistic usage in the U.S., but the term is neither racist nor an insult.) This refers to members of often-broken families caught in multigenerational poverty, particularly those trapped in the grim carceral subculture of public housing, food stamps, petty crime, and the prison-industrial complex. Like the hub and heartland working classes, the multigenerational underclass is racially and ethnically diverse, and found in both urban and rural parts of the U.S.
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Since this is all very abstract, an image might help. Visualize two horseshoes—a lower horseshoe whose two prongs point up, and an upper horseshoe whose two prongs point down. The lower horseshoe has the underclass at the bottom/midpoint and the hub city working class and the heartland working class as the points of its two opposing prongs. The upper horseshoe has the managerial elite proper as its midpoint/apex and the professional bourgeoisie and the small business bourgeoisie as the points of its two opposing prongs. Arranged in this way, the two horseshoes form a rough outline of a circle, with the managerial elite at the very top, the underclass at the very bottom, and the two working classes and the two bourgeoisies distributed in between.
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American politics is little more than the internal politics of the overclass, now that the working-class majority has lost the grassroots, mass-membership institutions that once gave it collective bargaining power—private sector trade unions, influential religious organizations, and local political parties. Members of the working-class majority play no role except as occasional voters. They tend to be ignored, except during election seasons, when they are targeted by manipulative appeals based on race and gender in the case of the Democrats and religion and patriotism in the case of the Republicans.
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At the risk of being overly schematic I would suggest that the “center,” “left” and “right” of America’s top-thirty-percent politics can be mapped imperfectly onto the managerial elite, the professional bourgeoisie and the small business bourgeoisie. In particular, both DSA progressivism and Tea Party conservatism can be understood as different strategies for enlisting the power of government to stave off the proletarianization of the constituents of the two bourgeoisies.
The goal of so-called progressivism in 2020s America is to expand employment opportunities for college-educated, center-left professionals, while adding new wings to the welfare state that are tailored to their personal needs. The slogan “Defund the police” is interpreted by the bourgeois professional left to mean transferring tax revenues from police officers, who are mostly unionized but not college-educated, to social service and nonprofit professionals, who are mostly college-educated but not unionized. The enactment of proposals for free college education and college debt forgiveness would disproportionately benefit the professional bourgeoisie, not the working-class majority whose education ends with high school. Likewise, public funding for universal day-care allows both parties in a two-earner professional couple to maximize their individual incomes and individual career achievements by outsourcing the care of their children to a mostly-female, less well-paid workforce at taxpayer expense.
It is no coincidence that many professionals in the sectors most dependent on their funding on donations from the capricious rich, like philanthropy, colleges and universities, and the media, hate billionaires with the passionate resentment that is reserved for benefactors. In their view, in a just society, the arts program or the NGO would be permanently funded by tax revenues, instead of annual fund-raising appeals to this or that plutocrat’s personal fortune or foundation.
Gore Vidal was known to say that America has socialism for the rich and free enterprise for the poor. Contemporary American progressivism can be succinctly described as social democracy for the professional class.
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To avoid being squeezed out of existence between big business and organized labor, the small business bourgeoisie has fought for generations on two fronts, demanding subsidies and exemptions from government regulations, while insisting on anti-union and anti-labor legislation and a reliable supply of cheap labor (preferably guest workers or illegal immigrants who cannot vote). The lobbies for the small business sector naturally oppose any “decommodifying” social insurance reforms. Examples are longer periods for unemployment insurance or universal health care, each of which can increase the bargaining power even of non-unionized workers by allowing them to hold out longer until employers are forced to make better offers.
The upper horseshoe schema explains American political factions in terms of different combinations of its elements. When the professional bourgeoisie allies itself with the Managerial Elite, you get Clinton-Obama-Biden left-neoliberalism. When the small business bourgeoisie allies itself with the Managerial Elite, you get George W. Bush-Paul Ryan-Nikki Haley right-neoliberalism.
When the professional bourgeoisie and the small business bourgeoisie unite with each other against the oligopolies and monopolies that dominate modern industry and finance and the managers who run them, you get the neo-Brandeisian, small-is-beautiful antitrust school. Their anachronistic small-producerist ideal, in which everything big has been broken up by government antitrust litigation, is an economy of small shops, artisanal craft breweries and independent doctors and lawyers.
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The protests associated with the first reopening were led during the early stages of the lockdown by conservative members of the small business bourgeoisie. Many of their undercapitalized storefront businesses, like hair salons, and restaurants, and car repair shops, were threatened or wiped out by city and state shut-down orders. The protests were dominated by petty-bourgeois business owners, and not their low-paid employees—some of whom might have been endangered by a premature return to their workplaces during the pandemic.
The initial response of the progressive professional bourgeoisie was to ridicule and denounce the right-wingers for endangering their own lives and those of others by ignoring the advice of credentialed public health experts.
Then, during the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, the same progressive professional bourgeoisie concluded that systemic racism was a greater threat to public health than COVID-19, which—mirabile dictu!—cannot be spread at left-wing demonstrations.
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What does all of this mean for the neglected working-class majority on the sidelines of American politics? A century ago, trade unionists like Samuel Gompers and socialists like Eugene Debs criticized antitrust and praised large industrial combinations, on the sensible grounds that large, modern corporations are easier to unionize and/or socialize than lots of small businesses.
A case can be made that both the professional bourgeoisie and the small business bourgeoisie are relics of an earlier techno-economic paradigm. Each is a leftover pocket of technological backwardness and labor exploitation in an advanced industrial economy.
In American higher education, a dwindling minority of tenured academics, using pedagogical methods unchanged from the agrarian era, lords it over a mass of impoverished guild apprentices, the poorly-paid, insecure, non-unionized adjuncts who now teach most university students nationwide. At the same time, the business models of many small, owner-operated firms in the U.S. are made possible by poor-country levels of worker rights and social insurance—and much of the workforce consists of recent, desperate immigrants from actual poor countries. Because the backward professional and small business sectors have much lower productivity than the rationalized, capital-intensive parts of the economy like manufacturing and energy, they pay low wages to much of their workforces while charging high prices to consumers.
Needless to say, any new cross-class settlement would have to follow the recreation of powerful mass-membership working-class organizations in current and newly-rationalized, sectors, which would permit the transformation of the majority of Americans in the bottom horseshoe into subjects, not mere objects, of American politics. But that is a story for another day.
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UAE welcomes entrepreneurs of change
The UAE has pioneered the diversification of its economy in the region, building a strong and resilient ecosystem which is affirmed by the policies it has rolled out in recent past.
The path-breaking announcement of one such policy that will shape the jobs market or shape future trends was made recently by the wise leadership of allowing Emiratisation in the top five strategic sectors including aviation, banking, insurance, real estate and telecoms.
The strategic sectors will see the blend of Emiratisation and at the same time global talents exploring the opportunities offered by the UAE. And what will be the possible outcome of the same? The nation bolstered with talents and a knowledge base.
The Emiratisation plan includes issuing regulations and setting new targets to provide 20,000 job opportunities for Emiratis in strategic sectors over the next three years, with an average of 6,700 jobs annually.
Under the plan, a Dh300 million fund will be established to create specialised training programmes for Emiratis as well as a new system will be adopted to train 8,000 Emirati graduates annually in government, semi-government and private entities for 6-12 months.
Following an extensive plan, Emirati employees shall be integrated in positions that meet their skills and expertise in vital sectors.
"Human capital is the fuel of nations. Uniting efforts of our national cadres and foreign talents will accelerate our journey towards the future," said His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Recently, 2,500 intellectuals, scientists and investors received permanent residence in the UAE.
On his official Twitter account, Sheikh Mohammed said: "We celebrate the first group of scientists, researchers and investors who received the Golden Permanent Residence in the UAE. There are 2,500 of them. We welcome them. UAE is a country of scientists and knowledge, and talented people and entrepreneurs of change."
The Ministry of Economy is predicting a rise in the share of the non-oil sector in the UAE's GDP to 80 per cent by 2021, compared to 70 per cent in 2017 while stating that the UAE has the most diverse economy in the GCC and the region.
The strategic sectors identified by the UAE will see paradigm shift and churn out the best talents making it more competitive.
"The strategic sectors identified by the decision are sectors that have a strong presence of semi-government organisations. I feel that the selection of these sectors is very smart and pragmatic," said Abdulmuttalib Hashim, managing director of TBH Consultancy.
Hashim opines that semi-government organisations within these sectors will be expected to lead Emiratisation efforts, and hopefully encouraging other private sector companies to follow suit.
"This is also a smart approach to gradually transition local youth to the private sector in a familiar environment and to a degree 'safer' in terms of job security which has always been a concern among emiratis when it comes to the private sector," added Hashim.
"A statement from Sheikh Mohammed reiterating to both international professionals and the private sector that the government will continue to support Emiratisation, it will also make sure that the need to attract international talent and to support the private sector financially or through legislation will also continue and not stop."
In the UAE, the insurance industry is a specialised financial sector that has sought early on to increase its emiratisation rates through attracting young and capable Emirati specialists in recent years.
Abdulla Al Nuaimi, executive vice-president for Shared Services at Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company (Adnic), said Adnic holds one of the highest emiratisation rates in its ranks in the insurance industry. "As part of its commitment to increasing these numbers and in line with our Emiratisation strategy, Adnic appointed an Emiratisation head in 2018 to drive its efforts to employ more UAE nationals in the company," he said.
"We also need to raise awareness about the importance of the insurance sector through workshops that educate Emiratis on the insurance sector and encourage them to work in the field through specialised University offerings," Al Nuaimi added.
There is also a need to develop specialised training programmes in insurance to develop their skills and offer career development. Furthermore, partnerships with legislative and regulatory bodies can be strengthened to develop effective Emiratisation strategies with clear timeframes to achieve them.
With technology disrupting the key economic sectors, the strategic sectors have been complemented by a new wave of growth. The real estate sector has been benefited by proptech, Insurance with insurtech and banking with fintech. It may be noted with startups scaling new heights in the UAE everyday, the jobs market have also undergone change the way the talents are hired and retained.
Prabhu Ramachandran, founder and CEO of Facilio, said the UAE is pursuing the goal of becoming one of the world's leading knowledge economies.
"With Expo2020 Dubai around the corner, the influx of a global talent pool will see real estate and technology innovation take a front-seat in driving economic progress. Emiratisation will further help shape the growth, balancing it with local sensibilities and goals," he said.
Real estate leadership eyeing Emiratisation
Real estate is the biggest asset class in the world and the leadership is on track to focus on Emiratisation, boosting the local economy, said Marwan Dalloul, CEO of American Properties.
"I believe the need of the hour is to digitising the real estate sector in Dubai to prepare talent for the jobs of the future," said Dalloul.
The real estate sector will be witnessing major technological disruptions in the upcoming years which will compel the workforce to adapt to a new reality. In fields like brokerage, construction or property managers the required skills will evolve greatly. Real estate professionals need to realise that if they need to up their game or they will be disrupted.
"I think Dubai nowadays is witnessing a unique transformation where well-educated local talent is playing a key role in the growth of the market. I believe Emirati leaders with a better understanding of the region's culture and local procedures can provide benefits for both private and public sector," said Dalloul.
HRTech to shape UAE employment markets
Sridhar Subbaraman, founder and owner of Oasis Insurance Group, was recently scouting for 'right candidate' on social media.
The companies have today stopped what is called a 'fit for purpose only' recruitment unless it is a highly-skilled area of work. Today employees are called 'human capital'. The capital should be capable of producing returns beyond the fit for purpose. The fit for purpose is now being taken over by machines. This is more visible in the government itself where the mundane and regular jobs have been automated.
"With the penetration of technology into every sphere of the business, the CV should have a right blend of industry knowledge and the disruptive technology trend which is impacting the industry. Luckily infusion of technology into the curriculum at the school level are preparing the workers and leaders of the future," he said.
HRTech has also evolved and of course, the systems have been developed which automatically identifies fit for purpose and with the permission of the candidates do a background check on their social skills to identify the right candidate. This is more applicable in a country like the UAE, which is potpourri of various languages, culture, sensitivities and nationalities.
"Technology is further advancing to identify candidates at a global level with the required skills, social and leadership skills. It is now about head hunting and not mere recruitment. Going forward the company would look forward to have an intelligent mix of brain and machine. We are not looking for process followers anymore. Although it is referred in robotics as 'humanoids'.
Technologies to help HR make faster decisions
Earlier this year, a Global Talent Competitiveness Index was released, in which the UAE was ranked highest in the region and 19th in the world among 119 countries to compete for entrepreneurial talent. UAE has always welcomed talents from different regions.
The challenges in hiring the right candidate could vary as per the different positions or levels of requirement. Most of the common challenges are:
. The recruitment process can be too complex
. The experience qualification of the candidate alone may not be sufficient
. With current innovations and changes, the candidate should be flexible and have the potential to learn, grow and adapt to the culture of the organisation
. The judgment of the candidate during the recruitment phase can be more challenging without the correct data and analytics
. Hiring from sources that are of low-quality assurance. These sources can have candidates with high qualifications but low capabilities which could ultimately end up with a bad hire
Paul Michael Gledhill, co-founder of XpertLearning, said the HR sector should pay attention to automation in the HR Technology system, predictive analysis, and big data. "This will allow the organisation to make better and more informed decisions."
"What HR really needs to embrace is digital transformation, and look at ways where they can use AI or machine learning to automate talent acquisition. Using HR technology will certainly help to change the image of HR from slow and traditional model to a faster and more innovative one," opined Gledhill.
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Meaning & Types of Education:
Education is a gradual process which brings positive changes in human life and behavior. We can also define education as “a process of acquiring knowledge through study or imparting the knowledge by way of instructions or some other practical procedure”.
What is education?
Education brings a natural and lasting change in an individual’s reasoning and ability to achieve the targeted goal. It facilitates us to investigate our own considerations and thoughts and makes it ready to express it in various shapes.
Education is the main thing that encourages us to distinguish between right and wrong because in the absence of education, we can’t do what we need or we can’t achieve our goal.
Straightforwardly, we can say, “education is the passage to progress”. It is additionally the way to our fate as achievements can only be accomplished when individuals have information, aptitudes, and frame of mind. In this way, education resembles a medium through which we can associate with various individuals and offer our thoughts.
To tackle issues and do inventiveness we first need to gain proficiency with some essential abilities. We require learning and abilities to wind up increasingly imaginative. So education is fundamentally learning of abilities and ideas that can make us increasingly innovative and issue solver. Education is to pick up the capacity to develop and take care of issues in order to achieve their lawful motives.
Education also means helping people to learn how to do things and encouraging them to think about what they learn.
It is also important for educators to teach ways to find and use information. Through education, the knowledge of society, country, and of the world is passed on from generation to generation.
In democracies, through education, children and adults are supposed to learn how to be active and effective citizens.
More specific, education helps and guide individuals to transform from one class to another. Empowered individuals, societies, countries by education are taking an edge over individuals stand on the bottom pyramid of growth.
Types of Education
Education goes beyond what takes places within the four walls of the classroom. A child gets the education from his experiences outside the school as well as from those within on the basis of these factors. There are three main types of education, namely, Formal, Informal and Non-formal. Each of these types is discussed below.
Formal Education
Formal education or formal learning usually takes place in the premises of the school, where a person may learn basic, academic, or trade skills. Small children often attend a nursery or kindergarten but often formal education begins in elementary school and continues with secondary school.
Post-secondary education (or higher education) is usually at a college or university which may grant an academic degree. It is associated with a specific or stage and is provided under a certain set of rules and regulations.
The formal education is given by specially qualified teachers they are supposed to be efficient in the art of instruction. It also observes strict discipline. The student and the teacher both are aware of the facts and engage themselves in the process of education.
Examples of Formal Education
Learning in a classroom
School grading/certification, college, and university degrees
Planned education of different subjects having a proper syllabus acquired by attending the institution.
Characteristics of formal education
Formal education is structured hierarchically.
It is planned and deliberate.
Scheduled fees are paid regularly.
It has a chronological grading system.
It has a syllabus and subject-oriented. The syllabus has to be covered within a specific time period.
The child is taught by the teachers
Advantages of Formal education:
An organized educational model and up to date course contents.
Students acquire knowledge from trained and professional teachers.
Structured and systematic learning process.
Intermediate and final assessments are ensured to advance students to the next learning phase.
Institutions are managerially and physically organized.
Leads to a formally recognized certificate.
Easy access to jobs.
Disadvantages of Formal education:
Sometimes, brilliant students are bored due to the long wait for the expiry of the academic session to promote to the next stage
Chance of bad habits’ adoption may be alarming due to the presence of both good and bad students in the classroom
Wastage of time as some lazy students may fail to learn properly in spite of motivation by the professional trainers.
Some unprofessional and non-standard education system may cause the wastage of time and money of the students which leads to the disappointment from formal education and argue them to go for non-formal education.
Costly and rigid education as compare to other forms of learning
Informal Education
Informal education may be a parent teaching a child how to prepare a meal or ride a bicycle.
People can also get an informal education by reading many books from a library or educational websites.
Informal education is when you are not studying in a school and do not use any particular learning method. In this type of education, conscious efforts are not involved. It is neither pre-planned nor deliberate. It may be learned at some marketplace, hotel or at home.
Unlike formal education, informal education is not imparted by an institution such as school or college. Informal education is not given according to any fixed timetable. There is no set curriculum required. Informal education consists of experiences and actually living in the family or community.
Examples of Informal Education
Teaching the child some basics such as numeric characters.
Someone learning his/her mother tongue
A spontaneous type of learning, “if a person standing in a bank learns about opening and maintaining the account at the bank from someone.”
Characteristics of Informal Education
It is independent of boundary walls.
It has no definite syllabus.
It is not pre-planned and has no timetable.
No fees are required as we get informal education through daily experience and by learning new things.
It is a lifelong process in a natural way.
The certificates/degrees are not involved and one has no stress for learning the new things.
You can get from any source such as media, life experiences, friends, family etc.
Advantages of Informal Education
More naturally learning process as you can learn at anywhere and at any time from your daily experience.
It involves activities like individual and personal research on a topic of interest for themselves by utilizing books, libraries, social media, internet or getting assistance from informal trainers.
Utilizes a variety of techniques.
No specific time span.
Less costly and time-efficient learning process.
No need to hire experts as most of the professionals may be willing to share their precious knowledge with students/public through social media and the internet.
Learners can be picked up the requisite information from books, TV, radio or conversations with their friends/family members.
Disadvantages of Informal Education
Information acquired from the internet, social media, TV, radio or conversations with friends/family members may lead to the disinformation.
Utilized techniques may not be appropriate.
No proper schedule/time span.
Unpredictable results which simply the wastage of time.
Lack of confidence in the learner.
Absence of discipline, attitude and good habits.
Non-formal Education
Non-formal education includes adult basic education, adult literacy education or school equivalency preparation.
In nonformal education, someone (who is not in school) can learn literacy, other basic skills or job skills.
Home education, individualized instruction (such as programmed learning), distance learning and computer-assisted instruction are other possibilities.
Non-formal education is imparted consciously and deliberately and systematically implemented. It should be organized for a homogeneous group. Non-formal, education should be programmed to serve the needs of the identified group. This will necessitate flexibility in the design of the curriculum and the scheme of evaluation.
Examples of Non-formal Education
Boy Scouts and Girls Guides develop some sports program such as swimming comes under nonformal education.
Fitness programs.
Community-based adult education courses.
Free courses for adult education developed by some organization.
Characteristics of Non-formal Education
The nonformal education is planned and takes place apart from the school system.
The timetable and syllabus can be adjustable.
Unlike theoretical formal education, it is practical and vocational education.
Nonformal education has no age limit.
Fees or certificates may or may not be necessary.
It may be full time or part-time learning and one can earn and learn together.
It involves learning of professional skills.
Advantages of Non-formal Education
Practiced and vocational training.
Naturally growing minds that do not wait for the system to amend.
Literacy with skillfulness growth in which self-learning is appreciated.
Flexibility in age, curriculum and time.
Open-ended educational system in which both the public and private sector are involved in the process.
No need to conduct regular exams.
Diploma, certificates, and award are not essential to be awarded.
Disadvantages of Non-formal Education
Attendance of participants is unsteady.
Sometimes, it’s just wastage of time as there is no need to conduct the exam on regular basis and no degree/diploma is awarded at the end of the training session.
Basic reading and writing skills are crucial to learn.
No professional and trained teachers.
Students may not enjoy full confidence as the regular students enjoy.
Some institutes provide fake certification through online courses just for the sake of earning.
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New US rules for international students: The failed promise of visas, mobility and university education
In the decades after the collapse of modern empires and the emergence of several newly-independent States, like India, political leaders and development theorists made popular an idea that came to be called brain drain theory. The idea was simply that the country's 'brightest', when given opportunities to study abroad, would leave the country taking not just their ideas and innovations with them but also the social capital or the networks that they shaped.
Instead of their home countries benefiting from their talents, societies elsewhere, and, in particular, American or Western European universities, institutions and companies, would gain from the incredible perspectives that people from the developing world had to offer. Ironically enough, the theory was made popular by theorists who had left their home countries for more promising shores themselves.
Brain drain came to be severely critiqued in the 1990s, with two significant sets of arguments among others: First, investment in varied forms of quality education and attempts to equalise accessibility to it had led to an acknowledgment that the 'brightest' were not limited to those who had opportunities to study or work abroad. Second, with the militant globalisation of the 1990s and the resulting mobility of labour, capital, markets, research, and communications across national borders, 'the brains' no longer remained confined to one part of the world but could easily travel, endow, and embed themselves in other parts of the world, especially places in 'the global south'.
Today, both these forms of critique and the possibilities they sought to establish, are under attack. Its most immediate manifestation in centres that have benefited from the ideas and labour, and even investments, of diverse people from the rest of the world, are the new regulations by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for international students. The ICE announced this week that all international students on F-1 and M-1 visas attending universities with courses registered entirely online may not remain in the United States. This announcement effectively leaves Undergraduate, Masters, and PhD international students in the US, most of them predominantly on the F-1 visa, with the following legally plausible options: Either they have to pack up and leave the country at the end of August if all their courses are online, or they could transfer to a programme or university that offers at least one in-person class which involves face-to-face interaction with a faculty member.
President Donald Trump followed the ICE announcement, as he is usually prone to do, with a tweet which declared in capital letters:
SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020
The president's response to the new regulations made it clear that foreign students have become pawns in the US federal government's strategic move to force American universities to open its campuses amid a global pandemic that has devastated the US far more than any other country in the world. After all, schools in other affluent parts of the world have opened now that many of these countries — especially those in East Asia and Europe have flattened the dreaded COVID-19 curve while the US struggles to encourage, or even defend, basic social distancing norms.
However, all evidence indicates that opening universities will risk not just the lives of international students, but American students, faculty, and other employees of universities as well. Even as several universities file lawsuits against and seek a stay order on ICE's new regulations, the motivations of this arbitrary power play by the ICE and the POTUS and embedded in, and will have a long-lasting impact on the larger processes that have shaped the sustenance of the United States as a terminus for the untethered exchange of ideas, creativity, and innovation of the world's 'brightest'.
Without a public health system in place, the people of the United States have had to witness its insurance-driven healthcare system struggle to cope with the high caseload of coronavirus patients. The health crisis is only one of the multiple crises that American society, economy, and politics are witnessing: A vast number of people have lost their jobs during the pandemic. Social distancing procedures have neither taken root in several American states nor have they been endorsed by various state administrations. Increasing economic inequality seems to be a growing inevitability in the visible future. The large and widespread protests following the murder of George Floyd have forced the country's White majority to severely rethink the various ways in which America's foundational institutions, including its privatised prisons, inherently reproduce a racist and incarceral everyday life for many of its minorities.
Despite this being an election year, the 'core' liberal ideas of American constitutional democracy — upholding the dignity of each individual, defending the associative nature of politics, and checking the arbitrary power of the state — have lost the discursive and mobilisational power they once commanded. Amidst the humiliating failure of the American system to handle these multiple crises, ICE's move appears to be one that forces American schools to open their campuses as an inflated show of strength and recovery.
There is little doubt today that American politics is rapidly hurtling towards curbing not just what Trump calls illegal immigration but different kinds of legal immigration as well. The transition from substantive calls to build a wall on the US-Mexico border and bans on those from certain Muslim-majority countries travelling to the States in the early years of the Trump presidency, to migrant detentions at the start of 2020, the blocks on flights to Europe and China from the States, the suspension of the entry of immigrants using H-1B and J-1 visas into the country, and the change in immigration rules demanding that all students on an F-1 visa must leave the country has only taken four years.
The once unquestionable American argument that private interest and investment in bringing innovation from around the world into the US as a sustainable foundation for any driving force towards building a larger and technologically advanced global market dominance is now screeching to a halt before the American State-drawn limits of a parochial, national border.
It is not just American democracy that is under stress. The governments of democracies like India, which had once been praised and touted for their embrace of constitutional democracy, free media, and global capital after the 1990s, have little to no response for the multiple existing crises that the pandemic has only managed to weakly underline in a highly policed and fear-filled public discourse. The continuous targeting of academic spaces in India, the arrest of multiple students on arbitrary grounds using extraordinary laws in the middle of a severe health crisis, the endorsement of this by the Indian mainstream media, and all of this following a violent and majoritarian reworking of Indian citizenship by the Central government has a deep significance for those of her citizens studying in the US and currently facing expulsion due to ICE regulations.
In the past 20 years or so, the mobility of students between India and the United States, hasn’t been limited to an elite, or an upper middle class from big Indian metropolitans alone. The expansion in public education, enabled by the policies of the pre-Narendra Modi regime, that paid some attention to welfare state models of minimum basic social rights and accepted education as a universal right, created a large pool of first- or second-generation students who had high-quality undergraduate and Masters degrees.
While reservations were not properly implemented across educational institutions, its minimum execution in some institutions enabled Dalit students, and those belonging to other minorities and backward castes, to access national law schools, IITs and various other Central and state universities. It is the access to these quality institutions within India, and the rigorous training and relationships built in these, that enabled a large number of mobile Indian students one encounters elsewhere in the world today.
Contemporary American universities have large components of Indian students in different departments, and many of them come not from Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru alone, but also Guwahati, Darbhanga, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Trichi, Panaji, Nagpur, Jodhpur, Rohtak, Mandi and Srinagar. Multiple highly skilled Indian-origin immigrants across the United States, and other affluent countries, were first trained in the public educational institutions that the Central or state governments built before moving to the United States for advanced degrees that gave them access to jobs anywhere in the world without necessarily 'draining' India of their interest, research or investment in her society, economy or politics.
The most obvious evidence of this has been the sheer financial, ideological and technological support that has been built and maintained across the Indian diaspora in the United States to sustain the BJP as a ruling party, and Modi as India's prime minister. But other flows of ideas, capital, labour, and research, that lie on a range of exchanges seemingly less insidious than the tightly-knit Hindutva networks also thrived because of the initial encouragement, networks, and circulatory power of educational institutions both in India and the United States. Many of these have returned to India to lead institutions, write/speak consistently in/to the media, invest in local businesses, and carry out innovative research within India.
Much of the research ranging from medical experiments to developmental studies to the humanities in India is carried out by scholars who divide their time between India and the United States, including many candidates on the F-1, J-1 or H-1B visas. Moving out of the national boundaries of a nation has not implied an escape or abandonment of the concerns of the nation in the last three decades.
The ICE regulations are not merely a blatant rejection of the overestimated privileges that international students paying for their education in America are often said to have. If implemented, they will imply the loss of thousands of scholarships, multiple collaborative projects, and little to no access to research funding, especially when all of these different and essential aspects to education and research are facing an extreme paucity within India today. Even if various stay orders are passed, the impact this will have on safe environments for education, research, and knowledge will endure.
With the repeated attacks on higher education and the exclusionary and incarceral policing of fixed national borders, both in India and the US, the varied promises and possibilities of having a visa to study in American universities which have access to almost every educational resource conceived of (including those who are marginalised or not considered as knowledge by all), of having the capacity to live elsewhere and learn from different political communities and the societies they have built or failed to, and of using higher education as a plank to secure one’s place in the world and expand one’s understanding of it is failing. Rebuilding it will not merely take a concerted effort from students, but will require polities as a whole to rethink the relevance of expansive knowledge and build an irreverence to confining borders.
The author is a political theorist and intellectual historian. She is a teaching fellow and doctoral candidate at Columbia University, New York. Views expressed are personal
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Bubbles: A short history
Last week we heard a lot about bubbles, especially school bubbles and travel bubbles. This metaphor has been bubbling up for a while during the pandemic and I became curious about how and where it emerged.
Then I saw a tweet from Gareth Enticott which contained an article about New Zealand researchers who had come up with the concept of ‘bubble’. It was then taken up enthusiastically by Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister, and subsequently became a model for other countries. In this blog post I want to tell the story of how the bubbles spread. But, of course, this is only scratching the very surface…
A life-affirming idea
The article indicated by Gareth appeared in the Otago Bulletin Board – a news website maintained by the University of Otago. It says that “Dr Tristram Ingham, a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine at the University of Otago, Wellington, developed the concept [of bubble] while advising the Ministry of Health on the COVID-19 response for the disability sector”.
What he and his co-workers wanted to do was to capture “the imagination of both the Prime Minister and the nation, and help[ed] frame life under Alert Levels 4 and 3 more positively”. This was the time when social/physical distancing became a new mode of life around the world, but as Ingham said: “We didn’t want at risk communities to be passive recipients of their fate. The methods had to be around empowering individuals and whānau [an extended family or community of related families who live together in the same area] to have control over their own life and situations for self-preservation.”
This empowering and life-affirmative aspect of ‘bubbles’ is something I hadn’t really appreciated until reading this article.
The familiarity of bubbles
But why bubbles? As Ingham pointed out: “Bubbles are a universally known concept, which could be made appealing to children or to people that didn’t have a public health background. They could think of a bubble as a fragile yet beautiful structure that has to be nurtured and preserved. And it introduced the concept of making sure you don’t burst your bubble.”
As we say in metaphor circles, bubbles are a rich and familiar ‘source’ domain that can be easily mapped onto an abstract ‘target’ domain, such as pandemic risk management, and lead to new ways of thinking, talking and acting.
As Peter Adams pointed out in an article for the University of Auckland: “We are very familiar with the behaviour of bubbles: they froth on the ocean, they slide down the dishes, and they glide by on those summer afternoons when children form them with detergent and plastic hoops. The use of bubbles here conjures up an image of me and my loved ones floating around inside a transparent membrane that separates my group out from others and protects us from unwanted intrusion.”
Viral bubbles
The concept went viral and spread around the world. I wanted to follow this spread a bit and therefore looked at the news database Nexis to see how it went. This was not easy, as ‘bubble’, even with ‘AND covid’ ‘OR coronavirus’ brought tens of thousands of hits. So I narrowed the search to ‘bubble AND social group AND covid OR coronavirus’ and that, finally, gave me 82 hits that I could look at in diachronic order. I also looked for ‘Jacinda Ardern AND bubble’ just to see when New Zealand first talked about this. And supplemented it all with some incidental finds on the internet….not the neatest search I have ever done!
Creativity and flexibility
Bubbles as metaphors have been around for a long time and have been used in various contexts, from rumours bubbling up, to the south sea bubble, to social media bubbles which, we are all told, are not good for us. However, in the context of the pandemic, bubbles became more ‘real’ in a sense. Bubbles came to stand for what some call ‘micro-communities’ (Indian Express June 5, 2020).
Here is one visual representation I found, probably originating in China, but I can’t find the artist and here are many more.
The word bubbles attracted lots of other words and so we got : social bubbles, quarantine bubbles, home-bubbles, iso-bubbles (Sydney Morning Herald, 2 June), travel bubbles, bubbles mates, support bubbles, school bubbles, year-group bubbles, class bubbles – even quaranteam as a synonym for bubble, invented in March by a British couple quarantining in South Korea (Mirror, 7 March). In the United States, a synonym of bubbles was ‘pods’, it seems, although it seems that the concept, although spreading informally, was never part of a formal policy, as it was in other countries more keen on social distancing and isolation.
It should also be stressed that bubbles do not only encourage linguistic creativity, they are also flexible and adaptive enough to allow for changing uses over time. As an article in Slate pointed out on 6 May: “What makes the bubble idea an effective communication tool is not just its simplicity but also its ability to morph along with changing regulations. As New Zealand now moves into a lighter stage of restrictions, the concept of the bubble is adjusting with it. Under the more relaxed alert Level 3, New Zealand authorities are allowing bubbles to slowly open.”
Let’s start at the beginning.
March
The end of March, when New Zealand went into strict lockdown, seems to have been the time when bubbles first became a thing in New Zealand. As Peter Adams described in his article from which I already quoted above: “On March 23, when declaring the lockdown, Ardern said, ‘We have a window of opportunity to break the chain of community transmission.’ Her reference to ‘windows’ and ‘chains’ make use of common metaphors, perhaps too common to register specifically in our minds. However, in her next daily briefing she floated another more specific metaphor. We heard her encourage us to, ‘stick to your bubble,’ and ‘you can’t spend time with other people outside of your bubble’. […] By whatever process Ardern and her team came up with the bubble metaphor, during the course of the next two months it has proved a very effective way of communicating some key understandings.”
We now know by what process they came up with the concept! Let’s now look more closely at how it spread through time and space.
It seems that ‘bubbles’ first appeared in the news in an article on 24 March in The New Zealand Herald quoting Jacinda Ardern. At the same time, in a complementary article, one of New Zealand’s foremost pandemic communicators, Dr Siouxsie Wiles, answered questions (she also produced the imaged featured above, which is part of a famous gif).
The article said: “She reiterated Jacinda Ardern’s words of seeing our household ‘as our bubble’ and stay within that bubble. Wiles says there are exceptions to the ‘one household, one bubble’ guideline, such as parents with shared custody of children. Those two households can be considered one bubble.… You can help people out but ‘do not enter their bubble’. The exception is for people who live alone, who can have a ‘buddy system’ set up with someone else who lives alone. They can enter each other’s ‘bubbles’.”
Like ‘lockdown’, ‘bubbles’ are rooted in the conceptual metaphor of a ‘container’. A container metaphor is an ontological metaphor in which some concept is represented as having an inside and an outside, and as capable of holding something else. But bubbles and lockdown are quite different, of course. Lockdown conjured up images of prison, entrapment and house arrest, of crime and punishment, while bubbles conjure up images of (fragile) protection, responsibility and mutual support. Both play an important role in the ‘containment’ of a pandemic disease.
April
On 5 April, when Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital with Covid-19, bubbles were talked about in The Guardian here in the UK: “Before the lockdown, Ms Ardern asked Kiwis to ‘apply common sense’ and shrink down their social group to ‘a small group of individuals who are part of your bubble… the bubble you must maintain’ for the month.” That article was reproduced in many newspapers which also reported on a New Zealand ‘bonk ban’….
On 15 April, the MailOnline used the concept when listing 275 ways of slowing the spread of the virus devised by a team at the University of Cambridge: “’Focus on constraining ‘long connections between people in different social groups who seldom or rarely interact (e.g. people with a shared hobby or interest rather than short connections between people in similar social groups who regularly interact with one another (e.g. close family, colleagues, close friends),’ the report authors write. They go on to suggest governments might ‘Ask people to identify their bubble – being everyone they live with or must have contact with during ‘lockdown’- and ask people to stay as much as possible within their bubble, ‘a piece of advice they apparently borrowed from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden. ‘Making this happen will be up to the people responsible for every element of society,’ said Professor Sutherland.”
From end of April bubbles appeared in newspaper headlines, and puns emerged around ‘burst bubbles’ etc. The concept was becoming mainstream in the UK, Canada, the US, Belgium etc. but with varying degrees of formal or policy endorsement. The small sample of articles I looked at did not contain any press coverage from the United States.
May
In early May, when bubbles became more and more popular, various disadvantages of bubbles were discussed, for example, interestingly, on Fox News (3 May): “MCDOWELL: …The Belgian government is toying with an idea that can help limit the pandemic. It would allow people to form social bubbles of 10 people maximum, no overlapping with other groups. … GUTFELD: This is a bad idea because it’ll cause social signaling. Like oh, hey, guys, I can’t see you tonight. I’m in Bret Baier’s bubble. […] You know, everybody’s going to be humble bragging about what bubble they’re in. And then how do families divvy up a bubble if you got like three kids. It’s going to be a new kind of disaster, domestic strife.”
There were some social dilemmas around bubbles, as discussed in the New York Times, but I don’t think it was as bad as that.
June
On 5 June The Telegraph (again, one should add, interestingly!) even wrote about how to decline a bubble invitation: “Those who dreamt up the idea of social bubbles clearly had no consideration for the chaos that would ensue. ‘If you decline to be in someone’s social bubble, you run the risk of not being included in anyone’s social group,’ says Harrold. ‘If an offer comes along, and it’s people you feel comfortable with, you’ve got to accept it.’ He advises that it can be helpful to think of the social bubble as an official contract; sign up, try it out, and leave if it’s not working for you.”
June was the month when bubbles became mainstream. And empirical studies of bubbles were undertaken at the University of Oxford, the London School of Economics and at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
On Wednesday 10 June, Boris Johnson made an announcement that adults who lived alone would be allowed to form a “support bubble” with another household. However, it seems this was not a straightforward ‘we follow the science’ decision. As reported in The Guardian, scientists were ambivalent, it seems: “Other Sage documents point to the extreme concern scientists had about the introduction of social bubbles whereby households could meet up to form small social groups. In mid-May, the experts urged ‘strong caution’ over bringing in bubbles when other distancing measures had only just been lifted.”
There is thus a difference between New Zealand and the UK. In the former, bubbles were part of the lockdown policy right from the start, in the latter they were part of a gradual easing of lockdown policy. This was the case in most countries, such as Belgium and also Canada where people began to talk about ‘double bubbles’ in June. Even in Germany there was talk of ‘Blasen’ or ‘die Bubble’.
July
On 4 July, some people ‘celebrated’ ‘Independence Day’, when social distancing rules were substantially relaxed in England. People could go to pubs and restaurants, and bubbles became a literal reality, as in this picture of dining pods (and here is a different one featured by CNN; and and older version of a bubble tent in care homes in Germany)!
At the moment the following rules apply when going out for a drink, as reported by The Sun on 4 July: “Punters who meet indoors can only meet in groups of up to two households or support bubbles. Outdoor meet ups should only take place in groups of up to 2 households (or support bubbles), or a group of 6 people from any number of households.”
Bubbles, bubbles…
Since Jacinda Ardern first told New Zealanders to form their own bubbles, the bubble has gone the way of all good viral concepts. As Dr Ingham, it’s inventor, said: “We lost control of the narrative. What I think is quite interesting and ironic is that it seems to be being picked up internationally and a whole bunch of other academics are starting writing about what it means, and the symbology of it. In some cases, they are reading more into it than I even thought at the time.” So we now got meta-bubbles and this post is one of them, I am afraid to say.
Image: Wikimedia Commons, part of a gif by Siouxsie Wiles and Toby Morris
The post Bubbles: A short history appeared first on Making Science Public.
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Here are the winners of The Europas Awards 2020 – Even a pandemic can’t stop these startups
Last year The Europas Awards for European Tech Startups was held at a sunny garden party next to a historic museum in London. Last night, because of the global Coronavirus pandemic, it was held over Zoom. But the enthusiasm and success of Europe’s tech startup industry still shone through the list of finalists and winners.
After 11 years of identifying the most innovative tech startups in Europe (past winners have included Spotify, Transferwise, Soundcloud, and Babylon Health) The Europas has shown itself capable of finding Europe’s hottest startups and remains the only independent and editorially-curated event to recognize the European tech startup scene. The winners have been featured in Reuters, Bloomberg, VentureBeat, Forbes, CNET, many other media outlets — and of course, TechCrunch which was the exclusive media sponsor of the awards, alongside the to-be-launched “impact innovation” title The Pathfounder.
The awards cover 20 categories, including new additions such as AgTech / FoodTech, SpaceTech and GovTech. After a record number of awards entries, an intense round of public voting and judges’ deliberations, then 13 deep-dive online workshops (which ticket holders are still able to watch here) the awards reached their conclusion. The all-star panel of judges (see below) were drawn from a diverse range of European tech founders, investors and journalists and their picks for the winners were combined with the results of the online public voting, as they have done for the last 11 years.
The live stream of the awards – which also featured two panels on addressing racial diversity in the tech industry and the future for environmental innovation – on Zoom is available here (Password: 2v*34=^f), although due to a technical hitch recording started a few minutes into the first panel, before the start of the awards themselves. You can sign up to get news of next year’s awards and similar events here.
Loads of people are online for @TheEuropas panels and awards tonight! #startups #tech #investors #IP #growth #diversity #theeuropas pic.twitter.com/bJFPxAPqpy
— Cordelia Meacher (@CordeliaMeacher) June 25, 2020
This year the physical event was replaced by 13 live workshops built around the awards categories, where shortlisted companies were able to pitch live on the platform. In addition, the “Pathfounder Sessions” offered exclusive workshops with specially invited guests, aimed at European startups raising money at this time. Attendees networked on the dedicated Slack community.
Sponsors of The Europas Awards:
1. FieldHouse Associates
2. The Royal Academy of Engineering
3. Burlington CC
4. The Telecom Infra Project
5. Potter Clarkson
6. PlayFair Capital
7. TechCrunch
8. Bizzabo
9. iHorizon
The winners are listed both here and below:
There were two, panel, discussions. The first was on “Black Founders: The State of Black Tech Entrepreneurship and Increasing Access to Funding”. Featuring: Tom Adeyoola, co-founder at Extend Ventures and former founder and CEO of Metail; Andy Davis, Venture Partner, Backstage Capital, and Angel Programme Atomico 2020; and Yvonne Bajela, of Impact X Capital (pictured below).
The second panel was on Sustainability. “Here comes the next crisis: can green startups save the planet?”. This featured Greg Jackson, CEO and Founder, Octopus Energy; Lubomila Jordanova, CEO and Founder, PlanA.Earth; and Ana Avaliani, Associate Director, Enterprise, Royal Academy of Engineering.
At the end of the awards, attendees were entertained by DJ MAX, broadcasting live from Munich.
So, the winners of The Europas Awards 2020 are:
Hottest Ag/FoodTech Startup
ConstellR, Germany, monitoring our planet’s temperature down to the fraction of a degree through a constellation of satellites
Earth Rover, UK, AI Powered crop agronomy service for high-value crops.
iFarm, Finland, Building indoor farming tech including automated vertical farms
Planted, Switzerland, Turning all-natural ingredients into plant-based meat, including chicken.
Winner: iFarm
With sales across 21 countries, iFarm is seeing steadily growing revenues from its indoor farming tech that can be installed in stores, restaurants, warehouses, and homes for a more sustainable way of growing some 120 crops.
Hottest Climate/GreenTech Startup
Finalists:
Cervest, UK, Building climate security tools to empower optimal, informed decisions about climate.
GreyParrot, UK, Waste recognition software to monitor, audit & sort waste at scale
Hawa Dawa, Germany, transforming data on air pollution into real insights for greener cities & future-oriented companies
Solytic, Germany, Maximizing the all-round performance of PV plants.
Winner: GreyParrot – The startup has gained early, significant traction amongst waste recycling plants not just in the UK, but in Italy and South Korea. They also recently won a global tender to help an airline monitor the waste going to landfill to support the airline’s sustainability goals. Serving a massive market, that, since the pandemic, is getting worse.
Hottest Cyber Startup
Aloha Browser, Cyprus, Private browser with free unlimited VPN for not so tech savvy users
Buguroo, Spain, anti-fraud solution founded in behavioural biometrics.
Picus Security, a cybersecutiry breach and attack platform
SwIDch, United Kingdom, generate OTAC (One Time Authentication Code) on your own device for each transaction without a network connection.
Winner: SwIDch has built dynamic virtual PAN (primary account number) technology for businesses offering a numberless cards solution. It’s recently scored two massive contracts within Indondesia that will secure revenues across a guaranteed 100m transactions.
Hottest EdTech Startup
Blackbullion, UK, financial education platform for university students
CoachHub, Germany, digital coaching platform for companies available globally.
Life Based Value, Italy, Transforming life experiences into sustainable training grounds for soft skills development.
Lingoda, Germany, building the one-stop language learning ecosystem centered around the live classroom.
SoSafe Cyber Security Awareness, Germany, building an awareness platform that offers employees effective and engaging training on IT security topics with a lasting impact
Winner: Blackbullion, with a growing number of university partners, Blackbullion is educating students on financial skills by teaching them how to manage financing and budgeting for their university education.
Hottest Fintech Startup
FintechOS, is the technology as a service platform that makes fast, plug and play digital transformation for financial services possible.
Funding Options, the UK’s marketplace for business finance
Holvi, the business account for sole traders and the self-employed.
TaxScouts, your Self Assessment sorted online by a certified accountant, fast,
WeVat, helping travellers get their tax refunds on their UK shopping
YuLife, life insurance that rewards your team for living well.
Winner: Fintech OS, Helping banks and insurers build digital products in weeks rather than months. In 24 months, onboarded 30 clients across the world, with $25bn under management, and opened offices in London, Amsterdam, Vienna and Bucharest.
Hottest HealthTech Startup
Axial3D, enabling surgeons to create surgical plans in the form of high-quality, patient-specific 3D anatomical models.
Foodmarble, Using breath analysis to measure the foods individuals can digest most successfully
Fundamental Surgery, the flight simulator for surgeons.
Joint Academy, connects patients with physical therapists to deliver an online treatment for chronic joint pain
Patchwork Health, digital platform helping hospitals fill vacant shifts more cost-effectively whilst stemming the tide of clinicians leaving the health service due to poor work-life balance.
Medshr, the secure and easy way to discuss cases by specialty with verified medical colleagues.
Siilo,a secure medical messenger platform designed for healthcare professionals
Winner: Joint Academy – combining the best of both worlds, access to physical therapists along with digital tracking and reminders to change outcomes for the better for chronic joint pain.
Hottest Mobility Startup
Cake, Sweden, Light, clean and silent. CAKE develops high performance electric off-road motorbikes.
Dott, Netherlands. offering our dockless, shared electrical scooters and bikes as alternatives for short-distance travel.
Einride, Sweden. Building both autonomous and driver operated electric trucks
Tier Mobile, Germany, sustainable micro-mobility sharing-solutions, including electric scooters.
Winner: Einride, Helping drive road freight to a more sustainable future with all-electric trucks. Growing number of partnerships with known corporates like Lidl and Oatly.
Hottest Proptech Startup
GoodMonday, a digital Workspace Management Platform for office managers and employees
Home.ht
MQube – UK
Tiko – Spain,
Winner: GoodMonday, In Covid-challenged times, those companies that must maintain offices need more than ever an easy, efficient way to manage them. GoodMonday does this through their platform
Hottest PubTech, GovTech, RegTech, CivTech Startup
Apiax, Germany, a platform making it radically simple for companies to comply with global regulations.
Apolitical, UK, the global learning platform for government
Cyan Forensics, UK, software to help law enforcement, social media and cloud companies find and block harmful content
Parlia, UK, building an encyclopaedia of all the world’s opinions
Seed Legals, UK, platform leveraging big data and automation to give startups the exact legals they need in minutes.
Winner: Seed Legals, Helping launch UK startups by giving them a quick, fast, digital way to sort the legals.
Anthony Rose, CEO and Founder, CONFIRMED
Hottest RetailTech / eCommerce Startup
Trouva, UK. Taking the world’s best independent retail online
Typology, France, vegan, ethically sourced and manufactured, skin care range
Ave + Edam, Germany, a new generation of skincare: personalized by advanced technology and powered by the cleanest, high-performance ingredients.
Winner: Typology, The under £15 skin care range packaged in flat, rectangular bottles that post through the letterbox has tapped into the lockdown, self care zeitgeist
Hottest Sustainability Tech Startup
SPONSORED BY THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING
Infinited Fiber Company, transforming pre- and post-consumer textile waste, cellulose rich agricultural waste and cardboard into high quality, cotton-like fibers
Little Black Door, social wardrobe sharing application that lets users play, share, borrow and sell to rethink and retrain our relationship with fashion.
Otrium: an online fashion marketplace that helps independent clothing brands sell end-of-season collections
Peelpioneers: turning citrus peel waste into valuable resources
Winner: Infinited Fiber Company – For a more sustainable fashion industry -Infinited Fiber Company has created tech that allows textile waste to be used again and again, preserving 100% quality – this isn’t just recycling, but creating a new fiber.
Hottest Social Innovation Startup
Aidonic, a social fundraising and last mile aid distribution technology for humanitarian and development programs, powered by blockchain technology.
Amicable, building a kinder, better and affordable way to divorce, separate and co-parent.
DataSwift, enables everyone to benefit from the ethical data economy, by providing the essential tools to give, take and use data responsibly.
Farewill, Services that make death easier
Winner: Farewill – The easiest way to sort your will – and more importantly, for destigmatizing death and making it simple for people to take care of a bureaucratic process typically fraught with emotion.
Hottest SpaceTech Startup
Angoka, managing cybersecurity risks inherent in machine-to-machine communication (M2M) networks.
FocalPoint, transforming the capability of all GNSS systems worldwide.
SatelliteVu, High frequency thermal imagery for better decisions in the trading, environmental and insurance markets.
Winner: FocalPoint, just in time for contact tracing, Focalpoint increases the accuracy of the positioning ability of mobiles, wearables and vehicles in urban environments.
Hottest SaaS/B2B Startup
Akur8, AI-based insurance pricing solution that automates risk modeling for insurance companies while keeping full transparency and control on the models created, as required by regulators worldwide.
AnyDesk, fastest and most seamless remote desktop offering for today’s workforce
Chattermill, helping companies understand and improve customer experience, by taking unstructured customer feedback and generating clear and actionable customer experience insights.
Dixa, a customer service platform that unifies channels and data to create exceptional experiences for agents and customers alike
Funnel, helping businesses become fully data-driven and answer all their marketing and business questions easily with the help of the data they have.
Huub, an integrated logistics platform which is fully dedicated to fashion brands
Keylight, platform for managing and selling subscriptions
Polystream, the world’s most scalable 3D interactive cloud streaming platform
Winner: Funnel – Funnel collects and normalizes data from all digital marketing channels that then allows it to be analysed. With digital marketing still leading the spend, Funnel continues to grow with it.
Hottest AI Startup
Builder.ai, Platform builds, runs and scales just about anything you can think of.
Monolith AI, the first AI Platform for Engineers to enable companies to build better products, dramatically faster
Mostly AI, A Synthetic Data platform, leveraging generative AI, that allows organizations to balance their need for AI & Big Data Innovation with privacy protection.
Papercup, A tool which translates voices, allowing all audio and video content to be watched in other languages.
Sonantic, The world’s most expressive and realistic artificial voices
Speechly, Developer tool for next-generation voice user interfaces
Veriff, building an AI driven tool to verify a person’s identity online.
Winner: Builder.ai, At a time when every business needs to be digital, Builder.AI giving them an easy way to go live fast.
Hottest Blockchain Startup
Fireblocks, a Secure Asset Transfer Network that enables financial institutions to move, store and issue digital assets on-chain, without compromising speed or security.
Trustology, A custodial wallet for individuals and businesses
Ubirch, Enabling New Data Driven Business Models, by Making Data Trustworthy and Verifiable Through Blockchain Technology.
Nexus Mutual, uses the power of blockchain technology and Ethereum to allow people from all over the world to share insurance risk together without the need for an insurance company.
Winner: Fireblocks, As digital assets are increasingly held by mainstream banks, a secure and fast way for them to hold and move them.
Hottest Quantum Startup
IQM, builds useful quantum computers to generate value for the society using faster quantum processors designed hand-in-hand with their applications.
Oxford Quantum Circuits, building quantum computers, to help solve some of humanity’s most pressing challenges, from the discovery of new drugs to the development of secure communications.
Phasecraft, developing fundamental quantum theory and software for quantum computers. aims to design quantum algorithms to solve problems beyond the capacity of classical computation
Rahko, building the capability to model the behaviour of drugs and chemical reactions, and design advanced materials with vastly greater speed and accuracy than what is currently possible, at greatly reduced cost.
Winner: Rahko – building “quantum discovery” capabilities for chemical simulation, which could enable groundbreaking advances in batteries, chemicals, advanced materials and drugs.
Hottest European Accelerator
ATI Boeing
Entrepreneur First
Founders Factory
Seraphim Space Camp
SetSquared Bristol
Startup Wise Guys
Winner: SetSquared Bristol, This regional player has helped propel some of the UK’s leading startups to success, including Immersive Labs and Ultraleap (ultrahaptics).
Hottest European Seed Investor
Cavalry Ventures, an early stage venture fund based in Berlin with true value-add for founders.
Entrepreneur First, an international Talent Investor, which supports individuals to build technology companies. It has offices in seven locations; Toronto, London, Berlin, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bangalore.
Forward Partners, a venture fund meets startup studio, investing capital, craft and capability from day one…UK
Kima Ventures, Paris based – Kima Ventures is one of the world’s most active early-stage investors, investing in 2 to 3 startups per week all over the world; providing founders with funding, network, and support for them to reach the next steps of their journey.
Playfair Capital, an early-stage fund that commits to companies early and with conviction. Based in London, Playfair combines the best aspects of angel investing with a focused fund, to invest in truly ambitious founders, wherever they are in the world
Winner: Playfair Capital, Based in London, Playfair combines the best aspects of angel investing with a focused fund, to invest in truly ambitious founders, wherever they are in the world. Playfair takes a sector-agnostic approach and investments span deep tech, SaaS, marketplaces and B2B companies. We’ve backed the founders of more than 50 companies including CryptoFacilities, Mapillary, Ravelin, Stripe, Thought Machine and Trouva. Recent exit, Mapilliary sold to FB.
Hottest European VC
Accel
Balderton
EQT Ventures
Draper Esprit
IDInvest
Joyance
Northzone
Target Global
Winner: EQT Ventures, founded and run by the founders who built and scaled King, Spotify, Booking.com, Hotels.com, Huddle, and Lithium to name but a few. Building a global success story takes more than just money. It takes a whole ecosystem of expertise and support from people who’ve done it before, made plenty of mistakes along the way and learnt from them.
Hottest European Unicorn
Bolt, the European transportation platform providing ride-hailing and scooter sharing services.
DoctoLib, the online booking platform and management software provider for doctors in Europe
Klarna, the e-commerce payment solutions platform for merchants and shoppers.
Meero, the world’s leading on-demand photography platform
Winner: Bolt raised €100 million from Naya Capital Management, pushing its valuation to €1.7 billion. The Estonian business will use the funds to increase its market share by investing in its ridehailing, food delivery and e-scooter segments. The investment comes as many ridehailing companies are struggling amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Europe’s third fastest growing company in FT 1000 for the second year in a row.
The “Pathfounder” Of The Year award
Dom Hallas, Coadec, UK
Kinga Staniilawska, Poland
Richard Godfrey, UK, CEO of Rocketmakers
Taavet Hinrikus, Estonia, UK
Winner: Taavet Hinrikus
This year’s judges were:
Anne Boden
CEO
Starling Bank
Bernhard Niesner
CEO and c-founder
busuu
Chris Morton
CEO and founder
Lyst
Claire Novorol
Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer
Ada Health
Clare Jones
Chief Commercial Officer
what3words
Emily Orton
Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer
Darktrace
Holly Jacobus
Investment Partner
Joyance Partners, New York
Husayn Kassai
CEO and co-founder
Onfido
Julia Bosch
Founder and CEO
Outfittery
Julia Hawkins
Partner
LocalGlobe
Kieran O’Neill
CEO and co-founder
Thread
Leanne Kemp
Founder & CEO
Everledger
Lina Wenner
Principal
Firstminute Capital
Luca Bocchio
Principal
Accel
Nate Lanxon (Speaker)
Editor and Tech Correspondent
Bloomberg
Tania Boler
CEO and founder
Elvie
Raph Crouan
Venture Partner
C4 Ventures
Mike Butcher (Chair)
Editor-at-large
TechCrunch
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Global Health Solution - Sleep
"Sleep’s the only medicine that gives ease." -- Sophocles
When we think of what we need for survival and good health, our first responses would be air, water and food. However, sleep, like food, water and air is essential for survival and good health. We have known about the importance of sleep for a long time and have also become aware of health ramifications when we don’t receive optimal sleep. Poor quality or lack of sleep has been linked to many conditions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep problems and poor sleep health resulting in sleep deprivation, which has a high correlation to depression, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, neurocognitive disease, and even cancer. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has pointed to a “global epidemic of sleeplessness” with roughly two-thirds of adults sleeping less than 8 hours a night.
The National Sleep Foundation recently conducted a survey looking at the number of hours slept per work night in six counties. The results per country were:
Canada 7.1 hours
Mexico 7.1 hours
Germany 7.0 hours
UK 6.8 hours
US 6.5 hours
Japan 6.4 hours
It is interesting to note that the survey used work nights for its evaluation. One of the most common myths about sleep is that we can catch up on lost sleep during the week by sleeping in (or longer) on the weekends. Our sleep requirements are based on a circadian rhythm and most people need a good eight hours of sleep per night. Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, states in his book, Why We Sleep, that the recycle rate of human beings seems to be 16 hours of wakefulness before tests show a drastic reduction in physical and mental capabilities.
According to the World Health Organization you are likely part of the “sleep loss epidemic”. There has been a global rise in sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnea, but also, those who have the capacity to sleep well just aren't sleeping enough. In Japan, where the epidemic is at its worse, the average time spent asleep is just 6 hours and 22 minutes, which has led to phrases for both falling asleep in public (inemuri) and dying from overwork (karōshi). The UK isn't far behind, averaging just 6 hours and 49 mins a night, meaning that since a study in 1942 found under 8% of the population was trying to survive on six or less hours, it's now rocketed to almost one in two.
Professor Walker’s book, Why We Sleep which is, in his own words, is a "manifesto of sleep science". The book collates and dispels a number of sleep myths while linking the "pernicious erosion of our sleep in developed nations" to nearly every major modern illness, from cancer to diabetes to heart disease to Alzheimer's. Walker is disarmingly resolute about the message of the book: "I think sleep is still a missing piece in the puzzle of people's health. It's not something people are necessarily recognizing as a critical issue when comes to fighting disease and sickness”.
There are several factors that contribute to a poor night’s sleep. For many people it is a matter of priorities. Sleep is often considered an unproductive part of our day and we often forgo it for other activities. For many, it is a matter of prioritization – some choose to scroll through social media long past their desired bedtime or spend long nights at work; but for others, sleep troubles can stem from issues related to falling asleep, waking up frequently, staying asleep or other chronic problems.
Regardless, sleep is a biological necessity and should take priority every night to achieve and maintain good health.
We have previously blogged about sleep and its importance to our health. Sleep is the single activity that we spend the most time doing in our lifetimes. We spend one-third of our lives asleep and for good reason. William C. Dement, M.D., Ph.D., Stanford University, is one of the world's leading authorities on sleep. He is sometimes referred to as the father of sleep medicine. To quote Dr. Dement, “Healthy sleep has been empirically proven to be the most single important determinant on predicting longevity, more important than diet, exercise and heredity.” Dr. Matthew Walker, agrees, "I used to suggest that sleep is the third pillar of good health, along with diet and exercise, but I don't agree with that anymore. Sleep is the single most effective thing you can do to reset your brain and body for health."
We need sleep to be heathy, happy and productive. Without it we suffer consequences both physically and mentally. Sleep is the most important determinant to being healthy by choice, so, choose to get enough quality sleep. Sleep Matters.
Sleep is not only about how many hours we sleep, but more importantly about quality of sleep that we are receiving. A significant component of sleep quality is dependent on our sleep environment. For that reason, the foundation of the Nikken Wellness Home and our personal choice, is the Nikken Naturest® Kenko Sleep System. It uses natural materials and simple principles to create Adaptive Sleep Technology. This includes, self-regulating temperature control, advanced magnetic technology and passive massage to provide a natural, relaxing sleep environment for a deep restful, rejuvenating sleep.
The system includes three main components, the Nikken Naturest® Mattress Topper with a KenkoDream™ Comforter and the Kenko Naturest® Custom Pillow. Each component contains advanced technology and materials to improve sleep quality.
The Nikken Naturest® Mattress Topper features a design that has no springs. Its construction forms itself to body contours. This prevents the formation of pressure points (feeling to heavy in one spot that often precipitates tossing and turning) that can interrupt sleep and prevents us from attaining optimal rest. The natural latex foundation is firm yet comfortable, and resists sagging. This support system combines advanced scientific technology and natural materials in a design that promotes healthy and refreshing sleep. An impressive merger of two very different design principles, Naturest features advanced sleep innovations, including a revolutionary new design in magnetic technology, seen nowhere else — and traditional materials that are not only environmentally responsible but help you sleep soundly and wake feeling refreshed and energized. After trying the Kenko Naturest® Mattress Topper, you’ll never want to sleep without it.
A perfect balance of comfort for all climates, the Kenko Dream® Comforter combines revolutionary technology and the finest materials allow better rest. Ceramic-reflecting fibers help regulate temperatures to keep you warm or cool and is designed for all-season use. Chitocotton, another innovation, contains chitosan to help fibers retain a clean, fresh scent. A magnetic layer completes the cocoon effect with ceramic-reflective fibers that help to release heat and maintain a comfortable temperature. The breathable cover provides ventilation and releases excess heat for comfort and is finished in an elegant, satiny weave that dresses up your bed.
Inside the Kenko Naturest® Custom Pillow is a special filler of rolled natural latex. It’s designed so that you remove or replace filler to achieve the desired degree of firmness —your personal perfect fit. The latex is especially resilient, so it resists being compressed flat, unlike a down or foam pillow. A head and neck insert helps provide correct spinal alignment. The pillow cover is a natural, breathable cotton blend. Deep within the Custom Pillow is patented DynaFlux® Magnetic Technology, a series of magnets arranged to surround you in a cocoon of magnetism. Nikken Kenko Sleep products are made in the USA.
A few years ago, I conducted a sleep trail using the Nikken Sleep System. The trial included over 200 individuals who responded to a questionnaire regarding their sleep quality. Individuals were asked a series of questions before and after using the sleep system. Results showed an average of nearly 50% improvement in sleep quality after just four to seven nights sleeping on the system. For more information see our Sleep Matters video.
Quality sleep on a Kenko Sleep System can contribute to improved learning ability and decision-making abilities, improved memory, alertness and increased mental acuity. Quality sleep supports physical health including improved immune system function, better ability to resist premature aging, increased ability to resist stress, and better-regulated hormone production that can help prevent weight gain or obesity.
Sleep Matters and is a vital component of every Wellness Home. As Nikken consultants and part of our International Wellness Community we have a solution for this global problem and we highly recommend the Nikken Naturest® Kenko Sleep System.
Get at least eight hours of quality sleep per night and BE HEALTHY BY CHOICE, NOT BY CHANCE.
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World’s#1 CryptoNews Site- Chartered Accountants
Chartered accountants were the first accountants to form a professional accounting body, initially established in Scotland in 1854. The Edinburgh Society of Accountants (1854), the Glasgow Institute of Accountants and Actuaries (1854) and the Aberdeen Society of Accountants (1867) were each granted a royal charter almost from their inception. The title is an internationally recognised professional designation; the certified public accountant designation is generally equivalent to it.
Chartered accountants work in all fields of business and finance, including auditing, taxation, financial and general management. Some are engaged in public practice work, others work in the private sector and some are employed by government bodies.
Chartered accountants’ institutes require members to undertake a minimum level of continuing professional development to stay professionally competitive. They facilitate special interest groups (for instance, entertainment and media, or insolvency and restructuring) which lead in their fields. They provide support to members by offering advisory services, technical helplines and technical libraries. They also offer opportunities for professional networking, career and business development.
Countries:
Australia
Chartered accountants of Australia belong to the Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CAANZ, formerly the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia) and use the designatory letters CA. Some senior members (at least 15 years’ membership) of the institute may be elected fellows and use the letters FCA. Of equal legal status and recognition in Australia as qualified professional accountants are Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) and CPA Australia. On 28 June 2016, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and CA ANZ announced a strategic alliance to provide an opportunity for dual membership of both bodies, which will add value for the members locally and globally. ACCA members resident in Australia and New Zealand will be invited to apply for CA membership and CA ANZ members will be invited to apply for ACCA membership, subject to meeting the eligibility criteria of the other body.
Bangladesh
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) is the national professional accounting body of Bangladesh. Established in 1973, it is the sole organization with the right to award the Chartered Accountant designation in Bangladesh. Senior members (at least five years’ membership) of the institute are called “fellow members” and use the letters FCA.
Bangladesh has more than 1,900 registered Chartered Accountants and more than 28,000 articled students.
Bermuda
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bermuda works with the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and is the sole organisation in Bermuda with the right to award the Chartered Accountant designation.
Canada
In Canada, chartered accountants belong to the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) by way of membership in at least one provincial or territorial institute (or “order” in Quebec). In order to become a member, a candidate requires an undergraduate degree plus experience and, depending on the province, additional education. Candidates in all provinces are required to pass the three-day Uniform Evaluation (UFE) now Common Final Examination (CFE).
Since 2012, the CICA has been in a process of unification with the other two accounting bodies in Canada. Canadian CA’s, along with Certified General Accountants (CGAs) and Certified Management Accountants (CMAs), have now adopted the designation Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), making the term “chartered accountant” obsolete.
Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, Chartered Accountants are generally members of Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Czech Republic and use the designatory letters CAE (Chartered Accountant expert).[citation needed] Chartered Accountants may also be members of the Chamber of Auditors of the Czech Republic (KACR),with whom the ICAEW launched its ACA qualification in 2015.
European Union
Under the Mutual Recognition Directive, European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss nationals holding a professional qualification can become members of the equivalent bodies in another member state. They must, however, pass an aptitude test in understanding local conditions (which for accountants will include local tax and company law variations).
The local title is, however, not available for use if the professional does not choose to join the local professional body. For example, a holder of the French expert-comptable (in French) qualification could practise as an accountant in England without taking a local test but could only describe him or herself as “expert-comptable (France)” not “Chartered Accountant”. Within the EEA, only the UK and Ireland have bodies that issue the Chartered Accountant title.
India
In India, Chartered Accountants are regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) which was established by the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949. Associate members of the ICAI are entitled to add the prefix CA to their names. Members who are in full-time practice, and have completed five years of practice, can use FCA. As of April 2017, the ICAI had nearly 270,000 registered members.
Entry to the profession can be made by taking the CA Foundation Course after completion of schooling (12th grade). Alternatively, graduates may train as an articled assistant for three years in a chartered firm before taking the Intermediate and then final exam. A comprehensive 100 hours of information technology training and an orientation programme for soft skills development have to be completed before being articled.
Ireland
In Ireland, Chartered Accountants are generally members of Chartered Accountants Ireland and use the designatory letters ACA or FCA. Chartered accountants may also be members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales or the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
Nepal
In Nepal, the profession of Chartered Accountancy is regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal (ICAN) which was established by parliament under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1997.
After completion of three levels of examination (CAP I, CAP II, and CAP III) with three years of articleship training under a qualified CA, one can get the membership of ICAN and with the Certificate of Practice (COP), one can practise as a professional accountant.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, Chartered Accountants belong to the Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CA ANZ, formerly New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants) and use the designatory letters CA. Some senior members may be elected fellows and use the letters FCA.
There is also a mid-tier qualification called Associate Chartered Accountant with the designatory letters ACA. Associate chartered accountants are not eligible to hold a certificate of public practice and therefore cannot offer services to the public.
Pakistan
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) is the professional body of Chartered Accountants in Pakistan, established on 1 July 1961 under the Chartered Accountants Ordinance, 1961. ICAP is the sole body and authority in Pakistan which has a mandate to regulate the accounting and auditing profession in the country. It adopts and develops the national auditing standards and develops accounting standards for the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). It represents accountants employed in public practice, business and industry, and the public sector. The Institute is a member of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), which is the global organization for the accountancy profession.
ICAP has more than 7,000 active members and more than 25,000 students.
Singapore
The Chartered Accountant of Singapore (CA (Singapore)) title is protected under the Singapore Accountancy Commission (SAC) Act. The pathway to obtain the designation is owned by the SAC, a statutory body of the government. The Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) is a designated entity in the SAC Act and confers the CA (Singapore) designation on behalf of SAC. The Singapore Chartered Accountant Qualification programme has three components: academic base, professional programme and 3 years of practical experience. ISCA and the SAC have worked to raise the profile and promote the Singapore CA Qualification for international recognition.
Applicants who are eligible for the Singapore Chartered Accountant Qualification foundation programme should have either accredited degrees, other degrees, undergraduates and local polytechnic diplomas. Those with who are eligible for direct entry into the professional programme should have local accountancy degrees from Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore, Singapore Management University, Singapore University of Social Sciences, and Singapore Institute of Technology.
In 2013, holders of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and CPA Australia have until 31 December 2016 and existing students have until 31 December 2018 to complete the ICPAS PAC and qualify for the “Chartered Accountant of Singapore” professional designation through the previous transitional arrangements.
South Africa
In South Africa, SAICA (South African Institute of Chartered Accountants) regulates the Chartered Accountant (South Africa) designation, CA (SA).
To qualify as a CA (SA), one requires a specialised bachelor’s degree in accounting, followed by a Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (CTA); depending on the university, this is offered as a postgraduate honours degree or as a postgraduate diploma. This formal education is followed by two external competency exams set by SAICA.
A separate registration is needed for Chartered Accountants wishing to act as auditors in public practice as a registered auditor (RA). The RA designation is conferred by IRBA (Independent Regulatory Board For Auditors, previously known as Public Accountants and Auditors Board [PAAB]) under the Auditing Profession Act (AP Act).
Candidates must complete three years of practical experience, working for a registered training office – the Training In Public Practice (TIPP) programme. Articled clerks who switch employers during this period are required to extend their training by six months. The Training Outside Public Practice (TOPP) programme has a financial management focus; TOPP trainees can thus become Chartered Accountants with a more limited knowledge and experience of auditing than those who undergo the TIPP programme, but with a more extensive financial management and business experience.
Chartered accountants who are not registered auditors may not act as or hold out to be auditors in public practice. However, the AP Act does not prohibit non-RAs from using the description ‘internal auditor’ or ‘accountant’, or from auditing a not-for-profit club, institution or association if they receive no fee for such audit.
In South Africa the Companies Act was replaced, with effect in July 2010, to allow companies without a public interest to choose between an audit or an independent review. A review is not an attest function and will be performed by accountants who are members of bodies that are registered in terms of the Close Corporations Act of 1984, which include SAIBA, CIMA, SAICA, SAIPA and ACCA.
Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, the title of Chartered Accountant (CA Sri Lanka) can be used by only members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. These could be Associate Members (ACA) and Fellows (FCA). Chartered accountants holding practising certificates may also become Registered Auditors, who are able to perform statutory financial audits in accordance with the Companies Act, No. 07 of 2007. Chartered Accountants can also register as company secretaries.
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The intensifying geopolitical competition between China and the United States has sounded the death knell for liberal hopes of a transparent and unified internet. These aspirations have warped and disintegrated beneath the shadow of the “Splinternet”—a fragmentation of the global internet into autonomous American, Chinese, Russian, and other spheres. Though the West has grown resigned to the prospect of a hegemonic and heavily censored Chinese internet within China’s own national territory, the internet’s global “marketplace of ideas” remains the object of maudlin lamentation as a casualty of the spiraling U.S.-China cold war.
The erection of this Iron Curtain in cyberspace, we are told, has diminished opportunities for transnational collaboration in a variety of productive spheres, ranging from cultural exchange to scientific research, excluding both the American and Chinese sides from the win-win dynamics of a free and open internet. Left unquestioned in this is the premise that the uncensored Western internet has served as a neutral platform for the unmitigated intercourse of ideas and networks.
Influential American geopolitical strategists such as Joseph Nye have frequently observed that the U.S. dominance of the internet constitutes a key pillar of American cultural hegemony abroad. This appears validated by Western Europe, which, above all, has fallen ever more under the sway of American political discourse. Even in countries culturally positioned outside the West such as India, prolonged exposure to the Western internet is increasingly eroding traditional cultural norms. Although this has not yet extended to influencing Indian politics, international familiarity with the distinctly American brand of liberal politics underscores the Internet’s instrumental role in exporting its publicity—putting in question the internet’s intrinsic neutrality.
The active role of the American-dominated internet in radiating this particular form of liberal politics across the world bears profound implications for the global future of governance. It raises fundamental questions as to whether a country should find it desirable to remain open to the Western internet today.
The trade-off involved is best illustrated in a comparative examination of Singapore and China. Both countries are highly technocratic states with formidable capacities for mobilization and, from the perspective of many Westerners, enviably functional governance structures. Singapore’s cyberspace is practically constituted and engulfed by the American internet, while China has retained and consolidated “cybersovereignty” over a distinctive internet culture.
…
This combination of openness to the West and retention of illiberal technocratic management is widely seen as a major advantage of Singapore’s governing model. The former allows Singapore to access the West’s scientific and cultural know-how, while the latter ensures policy can be implemented efficiently without partisan obstruction and in a long-term manner. Indeed, in light of America’s catastrophic governmental response to the coronavirus, Singapore is increasingly cited approvingly as an example of a competent state that still tolerates Western institutional norms—thus proof the West need not emulate China in designing a credible alternative governance model.
However, this presupposes a monolithic and static Singapore model, meticulously selecting the best aspects of the West to emulate. It ignores a recent transformational shift which has only accelerated due to deep exposure to the Western internet: the ascent of “identity politics” in Singapore. If sufficiently proliferated, it would pose a new, yet undiscussed challenge to the sustainability of Singapore’s governance model.
…
However, this state-imposed vision of racial and religious harmony is largely freedom from racial and religious discrimination, rather than freedom to actively forge a collective identity that transcends race and religion while still accommodating cultural differences. This is manifest in the Singaporean state’s reliance on top-down mechanisms to enforce this policy—notably, in the primary use of legal sanctions against racially sensitive activity, and in the deliberate allocation of public housing to ensure multiethnic compositions in housing estates.
One consequence of this “freedom from” top-down approach is the persistence of racial stereotypes across Singapore’s racial groups. For example, Singapore’s Malay community may be stereotyped by the Chinese as “lazy,” while the Malays may reciprocate with labels of “intimidating” and “bossy.” These sentiments are only compounded by Singapore’s high level of income inequality and status anxiety.
This setup has fomented a growing constituency of primarily younger Singaporeans who believe the discourse of American liberal politics finds a direct parallel in Singapore’s domestic situation. Unashamed borrowing of the terminology is evident. For example, the term “Chinese privilege,” derived from the Anglo-American concept of “white privilege” and used to describe the advantages enjoyed by the politically and economically dominant Chinese community, has proven ubiquitous enough to become the central theme of articles in the student newspaper of the Raffles Institution, one of Singapore’s leading schools.
…
This straightforward importation of Western liberal politics into Singapore should be taken seriously as a political trend with disruptive potential for its governance. Whatever one thinks of the positions involved here, the rising challenge is not compatible with Singapore’s governance model.
Some have seen in the Singaporean governance model a simultaneously inclusive and technocratic state apparatus. The technocratic elite derives expertise on “appropriate” policy by leveraging powerful state organs to consult social stakeholders and gauge public sentiment. This forms the “inclusivity” aspect. In tandem with consultation, the technocratic class evaluates public sentiment in relation to their worldview and analysis of the conjuncture. These factors jointly influence eventual policy decisions that are imposed top-down. This forms the “technocratic” aspect. This purportedly ensures astute decisiveness in policy-making while still leaving room for public opinion. More importantly, the ability of the state to set the parameters of discourse in civil society develops a consciousness among individuals and consulted stakeholders of where their interests and roles stand in the broader national interest. This expedites trust and co-operation with the state in policy implementation.
However, the importation of Western liberal politics has introduced two novelties to Singaporean discourse that undermine this approach that renders American cultural influence problematic for the sustainability of Singaporean governance.
…
A 2019 article by Zhang Xu and Liu Yangyue—a political scientist at China’s National University of Defense Technology who has specialized in comparing the dynamics of internet control across different countries—instructively outlines the central problems that the policy of cybersovereignty is intended to resolve. Among these they enumerate the intrinsic disorder of the internet and its facilitation of political irresponsibility—items that may appear as so many generic authoritarian complaints in response to a space of free and unfettered discourse. Yet they highlight two other characteristics that are harder to dismiss: first, the unequal distribution of power built into the global infrastructure and governance of the internet; second, the tendency of cyberspace towards cultural homogeneity.
In respect of the broader goals of China’s internet policy, this last observation may be the most relevant point. “Cyberspace,” Zhang and Liu argue, citing Adorno and Horkheimer’s theory of the culture industry, is a favorable “environment for the expansion of cultural imperialism.” The dominant characteristic of online social media, they note, is the use of American social media platforms by non-American users. The ostensible neutrality and freedom of cyberspace has become merely the vector of an all-encompassing American cultural hegemony. To some degree, the Singaporean case might justify this view.
In effect, China’s response to this problem has been the guided and intensive cultivation of a domestic online culture industry unbeholden to Western concerns. Though competitive domestic alternatives to the Western social media giants have emerged in many countries—Naver in South Korea and VK in Russia—from its fortified position behind the Great Firewall, China has attained a degree of influence and variety in its homegrown social media that is unique outside the West. The comprehensive and carefully regulated ecosystem of networks such as Weibo and Weixin, together with forums such as Zhihu, represents a total discursive space that has proven relatively impervious to the currents emanating from the internal convulsions of American culture—unlike the Singaporean internet. Moreover, as the growth of TikTok in Western markets attests, Chinese platforms may now cast shadows that extend far beyond China itself.
As with the selective imposition of tariffs on physical goods, this aspect of cybersovereignty as an industrial policy of the public sphere, a project that combines the cultivation of flagship social media platforms with intentional cultural engineering, would not be possible at such scale without the selective exclusion of dominant foreign alternatives. This exclusion is by no means hermetic. Mainland Chinese users of Western social media, though Westerners typically dislike their opinions, are not simply “bots” sponsored by the CCP: the use of VPNs to access Western websites like Twitter is endemic and shows little sign of disappearance despite its formal illegality and periodic, often localized crackdowns by the Chinese government. It is not difficult to find mainland Chinese users on Western social media. What is far less frequent, however, is for the cultural worldview of such users to be shaped fundamentally by their access to these foreign platforms. In that respect, the policy of hindering access without complete exclusion has done its work.
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The contradictions of China’s own development, above all between reform-and-opening and the self-insistent continuation of the Leninist state, have themselves produced discursive divergences that cannot simply resolve themselves through reasoned argument. Some of the broad and ultimately irreconcilable viewpoints generated by these different moments of development were summarized by the Beijing theorist Jiang Shigong in 2018: the desire for China’s transformation into a liberal democratic state on Western lines, the appeal to Confucian antiquity as a basis for the reconstruction of the CCP, and so on.
In the context of an intensifying competition between fundamentally divergent worldviews, Jiang’s argument suggests, the political development of the public sphere must be subject to an ultimate Schmittian decision that clarifies the goals and limits of acceptable discourse. As the West’s own experience has shown, in cyberspace such points of tension have the potential for limitless amplification. Yet the intrinsic network openness of the internet will not simply disappear. The only option—so it appears to China—is a recognition that this process of discursive collapse will happen, and that it must be kept in check by a continual process of public intervention aiming to maintain its contradictions within the limits, and perhaps for the benefit, of a certain common good.
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These are merely concrete benefits that China derives from cybersovereignty and not moral justifications for China’s policy. Given heightening American strategic competition with China, however, there must be some coherent Western response to the challenge of China’s model of cultural regulation. An important starting step would be the recognition that the status quo of an internet regulated solely by private interests can be a liability for effective governance. In the context of an internet riven in the West by private social media amplifying a spiral of internal conflict, the old nostrums about the intrinsic potentiality of cyberspace to construct a free and rational world are increasingly hollow.
The decisive questions in this struggle for the future of cyberspace are: can an open internet function not simply as a vector for the power plays of American political interests, but as a space of genuine cultural productivity—that is, as something that it is possible to order towards the good? More fundamentally: is there anything now to be gained from openness to the West?
A Western answer to these questions can begin only by admitting the reality of cyberspace as a strategic terrain requiring public oversight—and laying the groundwork for an industrial policy that can effectively govern its own public sphere.
#vincent garton#brandon cheong#palladium magazine#singapore#end the american empire#cybersovereignty#read the whole thing
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