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newstfionline · 3 years

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Friday, September 3, 2021

US faith groups unite to help Afghanistan refugees after war (AP) America’s major religions and denominations, often divided on other big issues, have united behind the effort to help receive an influx of refugees from Afghanistan following the end of the United States’ longest war and one of the largest airlifts in history. Among those gearing up to help are Jewish refugee resettlement agencies and Islamic groups; conservative and liberal Protestant churches; and prominent Catholic relief organizations, providing everything from food and clothes to legal assistance and housing. “It’s incredible. It’s an interfaith effort that involved Catholic, Lutheran, Muslim, Jews, Episcopalians ... Hindus ... as well as nonfaith communities who just believe that maybe it’s not a matter of faith, but it’s just a matter of who we are as a nation,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. The U.S. and its coalition partners have evacuated more than 100,000 people from Afghanistan since the airlift began Aug. 14, including more than 5,400 American citizens and many Afghans who helped the U.S. during the 20-year war.

Hurricane Ida’s aftermath, recovery uneven across Louisiana (AP) In New Orleans, an ongoing power outage after Hurricane Ida is making the sweltering summer unbearable. But in some areas outside the city, that misery is compounded by a lack of water, flooded neighborhoods and severely damaged homes. Four days after Hurricane Ida struck, the storm’s aftermath—and progress in recovering from it—are being felt unevenly across affected communities in Louisiana. In New Orleans, power was restored Wednesday to a small number of homes and businesses, city crews had some streets almost completely cleared of fallen trees and debris and a few corner stores reopened. Outside New Orleans, neighborhoods remained flooded and residents were still reeling from damage to their homes and property. More than 1,200 people were walking through some of Ida’s hardest-hit communities to look for those needing help, according to the Louisiana Fire Marshal’s office.

More than 45 dead after Ida’s remnants blindside Northeast (AP) A stunned U.S. East Coast faced a rising death toll, surging rivers and tornado damage Thursday after the remnants of Hurricane Ida walloped the region with record-breaking rain, drowning more than 40 people in their homes and cars. In a region that had been warned about potentially deadly flash flooding but hadn’t braced for such a blow from the no-longer-hurricane, the storm killed at least 46 people from Maryland to Connecticut on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. In New York, nearly 500 vehicles were abandoned on flooded highways, garbage bobbed in streaming streets and water cascaded into the city’s subway tunnels, trapping at least 17 trains and disrupting service all day. Videos online showed riders standing on seats in swamped cars. All were safely evacuated, with police aiding 835 riders and scores of people elsewhere. The National Weather Service said the ferocious storm also spawned at least 10 tornadoes from Maryland to Massachusetts, including a 150-mph (241 kph) twister that splintered homes and toppled silos in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, south of Philadelphia.

President’s murder inquiry slow amid Haiti’s multiple crises (AP) In the nearly two months since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, Haiti has suffered a devastating earthquake and a drenching tropical storm, the twin natural disasters deflecting attention from the man-made one that preceded them. Add the constant worry over deteriorating security at the hands of gangs that by some estimates control territory that’s home to about a fifth of Haiti’s 11 million citizens, and the investigation into Moïse’s killing is fast fading from the public consciousness. Even those still paying attention, demanding accountability and pressuring for a thorough investigation give no chance to the crime’s masterminds being brought to justice in a country where impunity reigns. It doesn’t help that Moïse was despised by a large portion of the population. “The hope for finding justice for Jovenel is zero,” said Pierre Esperance, executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network.

Fancy a beer in Britain? In some pubs, supplies are running low. (Washington Post) Fears are brewing among pint-loving Brits amid reports of a national beer shortage. Some pubs say they are running low on pints of Carling and Coors—the latest victims of the United Kingdom’s supply chain crisis, sparked by Brexit and exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, that has led to headline-grabbing scarcities of items including McDonald’s milkshakes, beloved Nando’s chicken and the polarizing breakfast spread Marmite. “We are experiencing some supply problems,” a spokesman for pub chain Wetherspoons said Tuesday, apologizing for any inconvenience caused to customers. The lack of beer has been attributed to the ongoing shortage of truck drivers to transport goods, a problem sparked by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union following a 2016 referendum that divided the country. The driver shortage has not been helped by the country’s “pingdemic,” in which tens of thousands of workers were forced to self-isolate after being contacted by the National Health Service app for coming into contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus.

Merkel steps down with legacy dominated by tackling crises (AP) Angela Merkel will leave office as one of modern Germany’s longest-serving leaders and a global diplomatic heavyweight, with a legacy defined by her management of a succession of crises that shook a fragile Europe rather than any grand visions for her own country. In 16 years at the helm of Europe’s biggest economy, Merkel did end military conscription, set Germany on course for a future without nuclear and fossil-fueled power, and introduce a national minimum wage and benefits encouraging fathers to look after young children, among other things. But a senior ally recently summed up what many view as her main service: as an anchor of stability in stormy times. He told Merkel: “You protected our country well.”

India locks down Kashmir after top separatist leader’s death (AP) Indian authorities cracked down on public movement and imposed a near-total communications blackout Thursday in disputed Kashmir after the death of Syed Ali Geelani, a top separatist leader who became the emblem of the region’s defiance against New Delhi. Geelani, who died late Wednesday at age 92, was buried in a quiet funeral at a local graveyard organized by authorities under harsh restrictions, his son Naseem Geelani told The Associated Press. “They snatched his body and forcibly buried him. Nobody from the family was present for his burial. We tried to resist but they overpowered us and even scuffled with women,” said Naseem Geelani. As most Kashmiris remained locked inside their homes, armed police and soldiers patrolled the tense region. Government forces placed steel barricades and razor wire across many roads, bridges and intersections and set up additional checkpoints across towns and villages in the Kashmir Valley. Authorities cut most of cellphone networks and mobile internet service in a common tactic employed by India in anticipation of mass protests.

Women and technology in Japan (NYT) Japan is facing a severe shortage of workers in technology and engineering. And in university programs that produce workers in these fields, Japan has some of the lowest percentages of women in the developed world. Up to age 15, Japanese girls and boys perform equally well in math and science on international standardized tests. But at this critical juncture, when students must choose between the science and humanities tracks in high school, girls appear to lose confidence and interest in math and science. In these fields, the higher the educational level, the fewer the women, a phenomenon many blame on cultural expectations. “The sex-based division of labor is deeply rooted,” one young woman said. To help change the trend, two women with science backgrounds co-founded a nonprofit called Waffle, which runs one-day tech camps for middle and high school girls. Asumi Saito and Sayaka Tanaka offer career lectures and hands-on experiences that emphasize problem solving, community, and entrepreneurship to counter the stereotypically geeky image of technology. “Our vision is to close the gender gap by empowering and educating women in technology,” Saito said.

Taiwan Warns China Can ‘Paralyze’ Island’s Defenses in Conflict (Bloomberg) Taiwan warned that China could “paralyze” its defenses in a conflict, a stark new assessment expected to fuel calls in Washington for more support for the democratically ruled island. China is able to neutralize Taiwan’s air-and-sea defenses and counter-attack systems with “soft and hard electronic attacks,” Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said in an annual report to lawmakers seen by Bloomberg News. The document offered a more alarming assessment than last year’s report, which had said China still lacked the capability to launch an assault. While Beijing isn’t believed to possess the transport and logistical capacity necessary for an invasion of Taiwan’s large and mountainous main island, the ministry recommended monitoring Chinese efforts to expand training and preparations for complex landing operations. China already has the ability to seize Taiwan’s surrounding islands, it said.

Those left in Afghanistan complain of broken US promises (AP) Even in the final days of Washington’s chaotic airlift in Afghanistan, Javed Habibi was getting phone calls from the U.S. government promising that the green card holder from Richmond, Virginia, his wife and their four daughters would not be left behind. He was told to stay home and not worry, that they would be evacuated. Late Monday, however, his heart sank as he heard that the final U.S. flights had left Kabul’s airport, followed by the blistering staccato sound of Taliban gunfire, celebrating what they saw as their victory over America. “They lied to us,” Habibi said of the U.S. government. He is among hundreds of American citizens and green card holders stranded in the Afghan capital. Victoria Nuland, undersecretary of state for political affairs, would not address individual cases but said all U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who could not get evacuation flights or were otherwise stranded had been contacted individually in the past 24 hours and told to expect further information about routes out once those have been arranged.

#headlines #news

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chainsawwrites · 4 years

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TUTORIAL - BAKERY JOBS

Disclaimer: I work in one (1) bakery. Different bakeries are going to work differently, and things work differently in different countries. Also, tw for discussion of food, because that’s what bakeries make.

Going back to my ongoing series of things I know for some reason, today I’m gonna explain how things work in a commercial bakery. I happen to work in a bakery-- a real big supermarket bakery, not a little shop or anything fancy, but the basic process of “get bread made before customers show up” is probably about the same.

If you want a fairly good idea of what a character might do if they work in a bakery, the whole thing is below the cut.

JOB REQUIREMENTS:

So I know anti-discrimination laws exist and technically my boss wouldn’t be able to not hire someone because of a disability, but broadly speaking it’s not a job for people with significant physical limitations. People who work in a bakery regularly carry around heavy things (think 50 pound sacks of flour), are on their feet for for their entire shift, spend a good deal of time working in the freezer/cooler and near ovens and proofing boxes, and operate heavy machinery.

However, because actual baking usually takes place out of sight and involving minimal interactions with customers (compared to, for example, a cashier), things like tattoos and fluency in the local language can slide.

Prior experience is appreciated, but no real certificates or education is really needed. Some places might require a food handler’s license, but not everywhere.

CONDITIONS AND PAY:

This is a job where you can be part of a union in many places, so you’d have someone who looks out for you and makes sure the latch to get out of the freezer from the inside isn’t broken and your boss is following labor laws. Unions might include regional grocery employee unions, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union (US & Canada), and so on. Generally it’s a good idea to be part of the union.

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, USA) guidelines or the local equivalent are gonna apply, because it’s a setting with a lot of machinery as well as some pretty giant ovens.

You shouldn’t work if you’re sick because you’re gonna be handling food, but y’all know the whole thing about hourly employees and paid time off. There are six illnesses that you cannot work if you have though: Norovirus, Nontyphoidal Salmonella, Salmonella Typhi, E. coli, Shigella, and Hepatitis A.

Pay tends to be pretty average for retail-- more than other positions in the store that don’t require as much training, but not very high. Minimum wage is going to vary by location. Labor laws concerning breaks are gonna apply, but vary by location.

LAYOUT:

Before we get too much further, I should really explain what's probably in the back and what it’s used for. A bakery is definitely going to have a good amount of space that’s inaccessible to customers where the bread is made-- think like the size of a high school classroom for the working area, plus other spaces in different areas. I’m gonna describe how the one I work at specifically is set up, starting up front with the customers and working back from there.

Displays: Where the bread is on the sales floor. This would be the entire shop for a small bakery, but for a supermarket it’s a corner of the sales floor that’s visible from the bakery counter + a few other scattered places. This is maintained by the bakery employees, not the grocery employees. You’ve all seen this.

Bakery counter: This is the around chest height wall (usually with a display in the front) that keeps the bakery area separated from the rest of the shop. Customers don’t come back here for any reason. Store management might, but they don’t often. There’s a maybe prep counter on the employee side of it, where bread and donuts and all that are packaged.This is a food safe surface, so you gotta wear gloves if you’re touching it and you gotta hide your energy drink on the shelves under it.

Cake decoration counter: This is where all the cake stuff is done. It’s got a small (by bakery standards, more like the big brother to your kitchenaid at home) mixer, all the various icing implements, and a counter.

Floor space where all the racks go: Granted that’s pretty much everywhere there is free space, but there are a lot of probably 6′ tall, 3′ wide racks that all the trays of baked stuff go on. They’ve got wheels, they can go into the coolers, proofing box, and ovens, and they always seem kinda like they’re gonna tip which would be a disaster if they did. These usually end up between the oven and the bakery counter.

Oven: We’ve got one (1), but it’s like the size of a small walk in closet. One of the big boi racks described above goes in, the giant door gets shut, and the temperature, steam duration (this is for bread), and time gets set. You pretty much have to stand inside this to get things out of it, which kind of sucks during the summer but it’s only for a minute.

Proofing box: So you know how bread has to rise? That’s also called proofing. You might have seen proofing drawers on the Great British Bake Off, and this is just about the same concept except it fits five of the big racks in it. It’s a really humid, warm box and it sucks to go near in the summer. It has to be cleaned every so often (which can only be done by standing inside it) and I feel bad for the person who does that, but that person isn’t me.

Dough roller: This is a machine that’s probably about 5′ tall, 5′ wide, and 3′ long. You put sectioned dough in it and it turns it into a cylinder of the right size and all to be a loaf. That’s how come I can make pretty bread at work and not at home. Ours is bigger than this but here’s the concept.

Tables: You do prep stuff. Big tables. They’ve got storage underneath them.

Microwave: Yes, we have one. Mostly used for making glaze liquid so that we can dunk donuts in it. There is stuff that comes into the bakery as frozen raw dough and gets baked in the bakery, not gonna lie, but nothing gets cooked in the microwave. It’s bigger than yours at home, but it’s not massive. More like the uncanny valley of sizes where you don’t initially realise it’s big.

Small freezer: This is probably the size of a large walk in closet. It’s mostly cake decorating stuff in here, but it’s in the same actual room as all the bakery stuff.

Cooler: Probably could fit about ten racks? Fresh ingredients (olive, cheese, jalapeños, strawberries, etc) get stored in here, and big racks of bread stuff goes in here to rise overnight before being cooked the next morning.

Bread sectioner: You put a big hunk of dough in here (like 30 pounds big) and it turns it into sections that can go in the aforementioned bread roller. Has lots of big knifes basically.

Roll maker: This boy. Takes a big sheet of bread dough and makes it into rolls.

Mixers: We’ve got two really big mixers, one that you could probably blend a small child in and one that you could probably blend three or four small children in. The smaller one is used to make batches of icing and the big one is used to make batches of bread-- easily makes 90 pound batches of bread at once.

Freezer: This is our main freezer, it’s in a different room and is probably the size of the average doctors office waiting room. Mostly it has boxes of things that come in raw frozen and get baked in store-- bagels, some pastries, donuts, etc.

JOBS:

Obviously this varies a lot by location, but because of specific training people do different things. There’s probably 7-10 people who work in the bakery I work at, so there’s not tonnes of staff but there are usually multiple people around.

Manager: In charge, but still has to answer to the store director or whoever. Generally knows how everything works and could do any job, deals with ordering inventory, and generally makes sure everyone’s doing what they should.

Baker: This is the person who is actually making all the bread. They have to get in hella early (think like 3 am for a 6 am store opening time), so their work day usually only overlaps with everyone else’s by a couple hours. They’d be working unsupervised for the most part.

Cake decorator: They make all the cakes pretty. They do not actually bake the cakes, but they do make all the frosting and so on. There’s essentially a book of company standard designs depending on holidays, graduation season, etc., but they do all the customers’ custom orders too.

Clerk: These are the minions who stock all the displays, make sure everything looks neat, package the bread, and do everything the manager tells them to.

Generally a given day will have one manager, one baker (may actually be the manager, morning only), one cake decorator, and two ish clerks working.

TASKS:

This is a run through of what happens in the store on a daily basis, though of course everywhere’s going to be different.

3 AM-- Baker arrives and does an inventory of what needs to be made. Starts moving bagels, bread, and so on from the cooler to the proof box and then the oven.

4 AM-- Baker starts on donuts. Donuts have to be put on baking trays, put in the proof box for a certain amount of time, baked in the oven for a certain amount of time, and then fried in the donut frier.

5 AM-- Baker starts on types of bread that are not made in house (sourdough, rye, basically everything but French bread). This dough comes in frozen and is let to thaw and rise in the proof box, then is baked.

6 AM-- Store opens. Clerks arrive and start by checking all the displays for food that’s at its sell by date. This food (usually about two shopping carts worth) is taken out to the compost (I know, it hurts my soul too, it’s corporate policy but I’m trying to look at how it can be donated). Clerks then move onto packaging and putting out donuts.

7 AM-- Baker is probably making pastries (all the types of danish, turnovers, etc). Clerks are probably packaging bagels and bread, then move onto everything else. 6 AM to 9 AM is probably the busiest time for the clerks, but it’s when things are starting to wind down for the baker.

8 AM-- Cake decorator arrives, checks for special orders, and does their inventory of what they need to make. They follow this inventory for the rest of the day. Baker is doing bagels-- dough comes in frozen and is thawed, given toppings, and then left to rise overnight. Clerks are packaging whatever’s on the trays at this point, pretty much by order of whatever they grab.

9 AM-- Baker makes the dough for tomorrow’s French bread, puts it through the various bread machines, and then puts it in the cooler to rise overnight.

10 AM-- Baker goes home.

11 AM - 12 PM-- During this time, clerks and cake decorators will take lunch breaks.

2 PM-- Clerks go home.

4 - 5 PM-- Cake decorator goes home.

10 PM-- Store closes.

#rpt #roleplay guide #character help #bakery #rph #tutorial

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live-long-and-time-warp · 4 years

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An article published on May 15, 1986 in The New York Times on the race to try and save the first victims of Chernobyl.

“U.S. Doctors in Soviet Are Racing Nuclear Death”

For the last two weeks, Moscow Hospital No. 6, a nine-story brown-brick building on the outskirts of the city, has been the center of a desperate effort to treat the most seriously afflicted victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Soviet and American doctors and an Israeli specialist, using equipment and drugs airlifted from around the world, have raced against the killing effects of radiation exposure in an attempt to save the lives of 33 men and 2 women who spent the first hours after the April 26 accident within yards of the damaged reactor.

One of the American physicians, Dr. Robert Peter Gale of the U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles, said that as of Wednesday evening 7 of the 35 had died of radiation and 28 remained alive.

Higher Figure Reported

Tonight, Mikhail S. Gorbachev said in a nationally televised address that the death toll had risen to 9 - 2 killed in the original explosion and 7 who have died since of radiation. He said that ''as of today'' 299 people had been hospitalized with radiation disease of varying degrees. That figure was 95 more than reported by Soviet officials last week.

Dr. Gale said that based on his first-hand information and data provided by the Soviet health authorities, the death toll from the accident, including one person killed by steam burns and another hit by falling debris the night of the accident, was now nine and would probably increase.

The scope of the disaster, the worst in the history of nuclear power, presented the doctors with unique problems, the American physicians and the Israeli specialist said in interviews. Among the problems were these:

* The number of seriously contaminated patients urgently needing bone marrow transplants was greater than the total number of such transplants conducted in Soviet history and 10 times greater than major transplant centers in the West ever faced at one time. The destruction of bone marrow, the ultimate source of the body's blood and immune defense cells, is one of the most life-threatening consequences of exposure to intense radiation.

* Tissue-typing, essential to determining the level of radiation exposure and finding suitable marrow donors, was impossible in many cases because the radiation had already destroyed blood components, particularly the white cells essential to accurate typing. They said this forced the use in six cases of a marrow substitute extracted from the livers of aborted fetuses, a procedure known as a fetal liver transplant.

* Some patients, confronted with advanced medical practices for the first time, balked at receiving a transplant. Dr. Gale reported that the sister of one victim refused to provide marrow although she was the only ideal donor. Potential donors in London and New Orleans were alerted to stand by for emergency transplants but were ultimately not needed.

* Some patients were radioactive from having inhaled or swallowed contaminated particles, requiring special procedures to avoid harm to doctors, nurses and laboratory workers handling the victims, their tissue samples and body secretions and excretions. Two patients died from liver and lung failure produced by radioactive particles deposited in those organs, according to Dr. Gale.

* A number of victims were suffering from severe radiation burns and related skin problems, as well as stomach and intestinal decay produced by radiation exposure, complicating treatment, Dr. Gale said. He reported that spontaneous bleeding was also a problem because of the destruction of platelets, the blood's clotting agents.

* Without any preparation, Soviet doctors and medical practices were thrown together with Western physicians and traditions, producing not only an unlikely alliance but also one complicated by problems of communication, incompatibility of measuring standards and unfamiliarity with medications and clinical procedures.

Soviet Doctors Unavailable

Soviet doctors were not available for interviews, and Western reporters were barred from talking with patients or visiting the hospital. Dr. Gale is scheduled to hold a news conference in Moscow on Thursday.

Dr. Gale, a specialist on bone marrow transplants, said that as of Wednesday 13 bone marrow transplants and 6 fetal liver transplants had been performed. He said that not all these patients remained alive, but he declined to say how many had died.

''This is the first event of this kind,'' he said. ''It's unprecedented to have this many transplants going on simultaneously. There's no place in the world that could handle something like this alone.''

Dr. Gale said plans for dealing with the medical consequences of a similar disaster in the United States were minimal. ''I am unaware of any planning by the Government or the medical community in the United States to handle victims of radiation exposure on this scale,'' he said. Lists of Potential Donors

Dr. Gale, who is 40 years old, is chairman of the advisory committee of the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry, a consortium of 128 transplant teams from 60 nations. The registry maintains computerized lists of more than 50,000 potential donors.

An intense, thin man with graying hair, the physician arrived in Moscow on May 2 at the invitation of the Soviet Government. His services had been offered by Armand Hammer, the American industrialist whose ties with Moscow date to 1921, when he was introduced to Lenin after helping combat a typhus epidemic in the Soviet Union.

Dr. Gale was joined several days later by Dr. Richard Champlin, a colleague at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center, and Dr. Paul I. Terasaki, a professor of surgery at the U.C.L.A. Medical School who is a specialist on tissue typing.

Also joining the group was Yair Reisner, a biophysicist from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, who developed techniques for preventing graft-versus-host disease, a tissue-rejection problem that often develops when marrow is transplanted from an imperfectly matched donor.

In his speech tonight, Mr. Gorbachev noted the assistance of Dr. Gale and Dr. Terasaki - he did not mention Dr. Champlin and Mr. Reisner - and thanked the foreign ''business circles'' that provided equipment and medicines.

Lack of Israel Ties Disregarded

The Soviet authorities, disregarding the absence of diplomatic relations between their country and Israel and waiving normally stringent customs and immigration procedures, gave Mr. Resiner a visa when he landed at the Moscow airport.

''I didn't know what to expect,'' Mr. Reisner said. ''I thought they might send me back.''

Dr. Gale said the physicians were confronted with ''battlefield'' conditions at Hospital No. 6, the Soviet Union's leading center for the treatment of leukemia, aplastic anemia and other deadly blood disorders and immunologic breakdowns.

He said 204 victims of the Chernobyl disasater had been evacuated to the Moscow hospital, all suffering from radiation-related problems. ''They all received significant doses of radiation,'' he said.

The 35 most seriously afflicted, according to Dr. Gale, included reactor technicians and security guards on duty when explosions ripped through the power station at 1:32 A.M. on April 26, igniting fires, crippling the No. 4 reactor and spewing radioactive material into the atmosphere. Others included firemen and a physician who rushed to the scene, he said.

Dr. Champlin and Dr. Gale said the severest cases, which grew in number from 18 to 35 within days of Dr. Gale's arrival, had absorbed the full blast of radiation and radioactive particles released by the damaged reactor.

Dr. Champlin said the hospital, accustomed to performing one bone marrow transplant every few weeks -there had been a total of 20 such operations in the Soviet Union before the Chernobyl accident - was suddenly faced with the necessity of doing as many as 35 in one or two weeks.

The major problem faced by the doctors was the rapid deterioration of blood in the patients resulting from the destruction of their bone marrow.

'First Job Was a Triage'

Without white cells to use in tissue-typing, selection of suitable donors would be almost impossible, Dr. Gale said. The condition of the patients also made it difficult to determine the level and kind of radiation exposure they had absorbed, and therefore what their chances of survival were with or without a marrow transplant.

''The first job was a triage,'' Dr. Gale said.

The process of determining which patients should receive transplants was complicated by the fact that a marrow transplant can itself often lead to death because of rejection, infections and other problems.

''We didn't want to give a transplant to someone who might recover on their own without one,'' Dr. Champlin said.

Radiation has a devastating effect on bone marrow, according to the American doctors, since it tends to hit hardest those tissues that divide and replicate most rapidly. Bone marrow cells produces billions of blood cells each day.

A marrow transplant itself is a relatively simple procedure, according to specialists. Marrow is aspirated from the donor by syringe, usually from the crests of the pelvis bones. After the marrow cells have been separated from the blood and other unneeded substances, the transplant is done by infusion into the recipient's veins.

Success, however, depends on an almost perfect match of tissue type between donor and recipient. Identical twins or siblings are the best donors. In addition, for at least several weeks after the operation and until the new marrow takes hold and starts producing healthy blood cells, there is a great danger of life-threatening infection from even the most minor germs.

Matched With Sibling Donors

Some of the Chernobyl victims were quickly matched with sibling donors, and transplants were done by teams of American and Soviet doctors, according to Dr. Gale.

In six cases where tissue matching was impossible, the doctors turned to fetal liver transplants. Soviet doctors had fetal liver tissue for two patients, Dr. Gale said.

He reported that by chance he had attended a bone marrow transplant conference in Keystone, Colo., the week before the Chernobyl accident and knew from conversations there that tissue for four fetal liver transplants was in frozen storage in a foreign country.

He said the authorities in the country, which he declined to identify, had shipped the tissue to Moscow.

Western Lists Checks

In several cases where tissue type was determined but suitable donors were not available in the Soviet Union, the computerized donor lists in the West were checked and potential donors identified in London and New Orleans.

In one case, Dr. Gale said, the Soviet patient died before additional steps were taken. In another, the intended recipient turned out to have suitable family members but refused to subject any to the surgical procedures required to extract marrow.

''We couldn't ask a foreign donor to do something the man's family wouldn't do,'' Dr. Gale said.

One of the most emotional moments, he said, came when the sister of a victim declined to be a donor. ''She said she didn't want to go under general anesthesia and that her brother was going to die anyway,'' Dr. Gale said.

Final Decisions by Russians

He said final decisions about treatment were made by the Soviet doctors, who also did ''most of the hands-on work.'' He reported the Soviet team was headed by Dr. Angelina K. Guskova, the director of the hospital, and Dr. Aleksandr Baranov, the head of hematology.

Dr. Gale said he planned to return to Los Angeles this week but would fly back to Moscow next week. Dr. Terasaki left earlier this week, and Dr. Champlin said he would leave within the next few days. Mr. Reisner also expects to depart soon, according to Dr. Gale.

''I'm running out of steam,'' Dr. Gale said Tuesday.

-------

Article source: nytimes.com/1986/05/15/world/us-doctors-in-soviet-face-a-battlefield.html

#chernobyl #chernobyl exclusion zone #chernobylhbo #radiation #radiation poisoning #Dr. Robert Peter Gale #Valery Legasov #boris shcherbina #Jared Harris #stellanskarsgård #ulanakhomyuk #Emily Watson

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hussein-allam · 4 years

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Plato’s Recipe for Disaster

In the “Republic”, Plato argues that a good life can only be achieved by living justly. Justice however is not a straight forward concept and it could mean different things to different people. This conundrum becomes apparent as Plato’s discussion with his companions reveals multiple and often starkly contrasting interpretations. Plato realizes the importance of clearing up the confusion and attempts to pin down exactly what justice entails in order to light the way towards a good life. He proceeds to do that by likening the soul to a city where the best soul will mirror the best city. The devil however is in the details. As Plato constructs his model hypothetical city bit by bit with the goal of structuring a just and virtuous society within it, he arguably puts forward a vision that, if implemented, would produce one of the worst and most powerful tyrannies ever conceived.

Plato’s city contains three distinct classes of citizens: the rulers (guardians), the auxiliaries (a professional military), and the working class (laborers, traders, agriculturalists, etc.). The rulers, who are highly educated and knowledgeable, correspond to the rational decision making component of the soul; the auxiliaries symbolize the spirited part which is responsible for anger and impulsiveness; while the working class represents the appetites and bodily needs that tug at the soul. The interplay between these three components and the delineation of responsibilities amongst them, if done in a balanced and harmonious way, results in a temperate city or soul.

Temperance in the soul Plato defines as a sort of order in which rationality gains friendly mastery over the base pleasures and appetites. In this, rationality is aided by the soul’s spirited component which steadfastly upholds and empowers it despite the urges of the appetites as they go through pains and pleasures (131). When this happens and rationality is able to maintain a clear perspective about threats and fears a person is said to be courageous. In the context of the city, this translates as the ruling class securing consensual control over the auxiliaries and the workers. The rulers, exercising their fortitude and wisdom, are able to hold the appetite of the masses in check and rule the city to its collective advantage. In this they are aided by the auxiliaries who’s impulsiveness and propensity to lash out is transformed (by their training and education) into courage that is directed against legitimate threats or terrors (115), who’s presence is a force against chaos and rebellion, and who serve to defend the city against outside aggression. The working classes recognize the competence and wisdom of the ruling strata and willingly submit to their authority.

With the three classes thus interacting harmoniously together, not meddling nor encroaching on the others’ roles and responsibilities, justice is achieved (119). This just and harmonious situation guarantees that factions are non-existent within the city allowing its inhabitants to advance together and effectively act in concert (31). Within the context of the just soul, rationality is in control keeping the appetites at bay (neither starving them nor allowing them to run wild) and harnessing the power of the spirited component towards good and temperate actions. The just person is free from internal contradictions, strife, or guilt and is able to function well as an effective and useful member of society. He is able to keep his body healthy by physical exercise and his soul engaged by music and art safeguarding it from mental illness and depression (133). Other benefits accrue as well for the just person: friendship with the gods (which would presumably result in reward on earth and the afterlife); happiness; fulfilling the virtue of the soul by effectively carrying out its duties to rule, deliberate, and take care of things (34); and generally avoiding poor conduct such as theft, betrayal, adultery, and disrespect for elders (132). As a result he will be esteemed by his community and will enjoy a good reputation (293) as his friends and neighbors look up to him as a role model. Furthermore, the just person will, by virtue of the personal balance and harmony he has achieved, will be able to enjoy “the best pleasures and — to the degree possible — the truest” (289). The ‘good life’ is now at hand.

This contrasts sharply with the unjust person who is ruled by his passions and is unable to restrain his spending which causes him to fall into debt and bankruptcy; is abusive to his parents and puts his lovers before them; is driven to steal and expropriate the property of others; and who eventually betrays his country by seeking the aid of its enemies to enslave it (275). Such a person would be the furthest away from happiness and will lead a paranoid and wretched life. This is mirrored in the unjust city which falls into illiberality with all but a few of its citizens becoming enslaved and impoverished (277). Furthermore the unjust city lives in fear (whether imagined or real) of uprisings or raids from neighbors and wars from just cities.

If Plato’s creation of this mythical city had no other purpose than to illustrate the complexities of the soul and how justice might come to be within it, we might be contented with his analysis and accept his methodology. However, in creating this city, Plato laid out a plan for an allegedly superior political system that others may seek to implement literally or that he himself was promoting as a new alternative for Greek society. It is therefore important to dive in and explore the details of this system to establish whether it is indeed harmonious and just.

Plato begins by painting a portrait of normal people working and going about their lives in an urban gathering. As they grow in numbers and seek to improve their quality of life, they begin to expand their territory and possibly take over areas belonging to neighboring towns. Consequently he creates the warrior class to defend the city and aid in its expansion. To do so, he sets up a program of indoctrination that targets children at an early age to mould them as desired. To ensure that his program is successful, he expropriates the cultural heritage of the city and brings it under state control. Traditions and legends that are judged to be inappropriate or stand contrary to the state’s goals are abolished. Only narratives conducive to the creation of a fierce and courageous warrior class are allowed. This is Plato’s first ingredient in his recipe for disaster. He stifles free expression and the arts and allows what amounts to government-directed propaganda to dominate. Additionally, he actively stops talent and creativity from settling in the city and opts instead to “employ a more austere and less pleasant poet and story-teller” one whose “stories fit the patterns we laid down at the beginning, when we undertook to educate our soldiers (79).” Young children with as yet uncritical minds have no choice but to sponge up the official programming which is now devoid of anything that is not consistent with a single minded warrior: “For the young cannot distinguish what is allegorical from what is not. And the beliefs they absorb at that age are difficult to erase and tend to become unalterable” (59).

His next step is to brainwash the citizenry into believing a monumental lie of his own creation which he justifies by stating that he does so for their own good. Using state propaganda he explains that the gods created three kinds of people: those with gold mixed into their souls (the rulers), those with silver (the auxiliaries), and those with iron and bronze (the workers) (100). He thus cements his three-class society into a socially immobile, brainwashed, stratified monstrosity built on falsehoods. Rulers are suddenly ordained by the heavens to rule by virtue of a god-given gilded right to which all the people must submit owing to the inferior metals coursing through their souls.

To ensure that his design is as resilient as possible, Plato decrees that children with potential are selected at a young age and separated into an encampment where they will lead a communal life of training and studying to become auxiliaries and rulers (101). In one fell swoop, gifted children are deprived of their parents. What impact will such an upbringing have on them? Will this create psychologically disturbed adults? It seems that Plato is creating a whole class of orphans – for better or worse. In fact, he goes further and abolishes the nuclear family altogether mandating that “friends share everything in common” (108). Love therefore is eliminated and the union of man and woman is reduced to a superficial fleeting moment arranged with the sole purpose of begetting children. This is a regimented emotional desert-scape that leaves no room for one of the most fundamental forces that define what it means to be human. How could this loveless state-dominated deprivation result in anything but stilted monolithic dysfunctional soldiers? How will just rulers emerge from this aloof class if they have been isolated since childhood from the majority of their people and simply cannot identify with their daily struggles?

Fans of the Republic may counter these arguments by maintaining that Plato’s city is only a model (or in platonic terminology, a form) with its wise benevolent rulers ensuring that the model is adequately insulated against the possibility of devolving into real world historical tyrannies. This position is unsound. A model must take reality and human nature into consideration. It must have in-built checks and balances that safeguard against the all too common tendency of humanity to slip into downward spirals of totalitarianism and malevolent dictatorship.

Plato realizes that his model is not fool proof and is vulnerable to deterioration and cycling into other forms of rule. This vulnerability however results from the rulers’ deviation from the laws that the model has set out for breeding and procreation when “they beget children when they should not” (241). He does not recognize that the rulers together with the system itself are the problem. He does not realize that he has created a blue print for a supercharged puritanical tyranny that is based on an ideology of superiority where the rulers actually believe that they have exclusive monopoly over truth and wisdom. No room is made for any self doubt or questioning voices. No room is made for critical art or journalism that can promote different points of view and expose mistakes.

Given a choice, we should opt to live in a bumbling democracy that makes frequent mistakes yet has the courage (enshrined in its institutions of plurality, professional journalism, and mass education) to confront and correct itself over time than be trapped in Plato’s sterile dystopian elitist city that has no practical chances at establishing long term durable justice. We should rather have our lives be based on difficult truths than on convenient lies; for it is better to be blinded by the sun than let Plato pull us down into his dark ideological cave of ignorance, subservience, and lies.

و كما قال الشاعر في أغنية "هنا القاهرة" لفنان المهرجانات الصاعد مصطفى عنبة:

أنا مجنون مجنون

بس عمري ما كنت زبون

فكك يلا من شغل الهمج

أنت وقعت مع إبن البلد

ابعد مالشمس احسن تتسلق

هنا القاهرة

لينك الأغنية https://youtu.be/2AFqG8xXSSg

لكن يحتسبله انه فتح الموضوع و استفذ التاريخ و بدأ سلسلة من الردود و الردود المضادة المستمرة الي وقتنا هذا

#Plato #politics #political theory #justice #tyranny #philosophy

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emblem-333 · 5 years

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What-If Richard Nixon won the election of 1960?

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbin is the last thing standing in the way of total economic collapse of the government. Corbin is their Bernie Sanders, only with more political clout given the parliamentary system. Through years of effective party building, mobilizing and a decaying growth of income inequality worked to provide the Labour Party a large chunk of the seats, though not a majority. Though in the minority the gains of the Labour Party causes massive upheaval in Britain’s power structure. Conservative party leader Theresa May recently left office in disgrace after numerous electoral shortcomings. Right now the Prime Minister of the U.K is Boris Johnson. Basically, he’s mini-Trump. More disheveled, and aligned with the corporate class.

Elsewhere, the French did what the United States electorate couldn’t and bite the bullet and vote for the establishment Neoliberal shill in the face of the rising tide of fascism. Perhaps it was the debacle the Trump presidency only in its infancy managed to cause scared the French into running into the arms of Emmanuel Macron. You’d hope this brush with disaster would humble the centrist in the country. Except, in victory they’re only emboldened that only they know what needs to be done and the filthy unwashed peasants need to understand that. Macron shown hostility towards the Yellow Vest movement whose aims are to raise the poultry minimum wage, in U.S dollars roughly translates to 11.62. Far better than our federal minimum wage of $7.25. But hardly something that can be described as a livable wage.

Macron sits at 70 percent disapproval and his re-election date is 2022.

These three countries have come to the unanimous conclusion that is Neoliberalism is completely useless and only works to facilitate a totalitarian ruler to wrangle enough power to squeeze into power and bring us closer to the apocalypse. However, neither country is truly democratic. So the people, their ideals and concerns don’t matter in the slightest. Though, I’d say the United States is the least democratic of of the three. Two of the last six presidential elections have given us a winner who did not secure the plurality of the popular vote, but their superiority in the electoral college swung them to the Oval Office.

We are still in the early stages of our primary for the out of power party. Democrats are weeding out the competitive field and have three choices apparently to pick from. The candidate of the Hillary Clinton-wing of the Party, made up of aspiring Pod Save America Bros. former vice-president Joe Biden. To his way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way left is elder statesman, self described Democratic-Socialist Bernie Sanders. He is the only candidate marching with labor unions, not crossing the picket line to hold fundraiser with the party’s bigwigs. Somewhere in the middle blowing aimlessly in the wind is Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren. A real Rockefeller Republican. If only that wing of the Republicans didn’t collapse and migrate to the Democrats.

Back when Democrats were the party of the working man (you know, the alliance that allowed them to occupy the White House for all but eight-years between 1933 and 1969) in the middle o the Great Depression recently elected president FDR inherited a country on the brink of succumbing to the same forces that destroyed the Czardom. Luckily for them, the Bolshevik Revolution did anything but wet starving Americans appetites for socialism. The ugliness of the Russian Revolution, and a tinge of antisemitism kept what many in the establishment considered the electorates darkest impulses at bay. The New Deal was designed to prevent a movement similar to Eugene V. Debs from upending the established hierarchy.

In the 1932 election there were four far left candidates. William Z. Foster of the Communist Party, Norman Thomas of the Socialist, Verne L. Reynolds of Socialist Labor, and militant labor leader Jacob Coxey of Farmer-Labor. Together the four pooled 1,029,661 votes, enough for 2.6 percent of the vote share. In Debs’ best showing in his many campaigns for the presidency was 913,693 in the election of 1920.

Suffering Americans wanted the blood of the Wall Street tycoons responsible for the demise of their lives. The wolves were at the gates and Roosevelt went to work to ensure his head wouldn’t be on a pike. The New Deal gave the populist its needed relief and the left wing third parties withered away as the dire situation grew less gruesome. Democrats dominated the White House winning five consecutive elections. Conservatives in the party brought up in the era of States’ Rights and limited government radically had to alter their persona to ensure political survival. Harry S. Truman needed to mend his relationship between the AFL-CIO in order to win re-election in ‘48. Texas senator Lyndon Johnson built upon the New Deal instituting a “War on Poverty” birthing his “Great Society.” This aggressive pro-worker party that was a force at the ballot box brought the rise of the liberal republicans in the GOP. Laissez-faire Republicans like Robert A. Taft, Alf Landon, and Wendell Willkie could only push so far in an age where the voter couldn’t stomach the rich. From 1944 to 1960 the “eastern establishment” wing of the GOP ran on platforms which assured voters worried about giving the reins back to the party of Herbert Hoover their intentions are not to gut the popular social programs such as social security, though they wished government interference would not venture farther than it already had.

Moderates like New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey, and the first presidential attempt of Richard Nixon failed to win the White House. Their only victory was famous war General Dwight Eisenhower, who could’ve ran as the nominee as any party and won by the substantial margin he did in ‘52 and ‘56. The party designed to appeal on the coasts couldn’t muster up the coalition in the Midwest needed to secure victory. Ultimately, Republicans learned the lesson today’s Democrats never will. Running as the lite-beer version of your opponent is a recipe for failure. In 1968, Nixon unleashed his Southern Strategy when the Democrats cast their lot in with the civil rights movement. The effects of the southern strategy are still felt today. The strategy itself still works over fifty-years after its inception.

But back in the early 1960’s neither party truly knew where they stood on the issue of civil rights. Dwight Eisenhower deployed federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to ensure the entry and safety of black students during integration. His opponent, Adlai Stevenson, a great man, a forward thinker, picked a Alabaman segregationist for his V.P. While the Democrats had its fair share of activist on their team, Hubert Humphrey to name one, who fought tooth and nail for a civil rights plank to be enacted into the party’s platform for 1948. But by the 1950’s the segregationist have regained control.

Perhaps the liberal republicans could have had more success if they exercised political fortitude in advocating and legislating in favor of civil rights. Rather than seeing leaders like Martin Luther King as a controversial figure, at the very least they could have viewed him as somebody who could get them more votes and be heralded as a hero in the process. The infamous “turnip session” in the heat of the ‘48 campaign incumbent underdog Truman addresses the Congress held predominantly by republicans he dared them to put their money where their mouths were regarding civil rights. Of course, they balked and lost the White House they were supposed to win and both the House and Senate.

Playing as Nixon on the Internet game “Campaign Trail” I tapped New Yorker Nelson Rockefeller to be my veep rather than tread water with actual running mate Henry Cabot Lodge. Other options are Arizona senator staunch Neocon Barry Goldwater, and moderate elder statesman Everett Dirksen of Illinois. I choose Rockefeller because I wanted to run on a civil rights platform. I condemned the arrest of of MLK, endorsed a federal minimum wage of $1.25 and didn’t distance myself when Rockefeller promised further civil rights legislation while on the campaign trail.

Though Rockefeller was the rising star of the party at the time, his efforts did not give me the crucial state of New York. However, I fortunately did not need it to secure victory. (I’ll post my answers at the bottom)

Richard Nixon/Nelson Rockefeller: 299; 32,825,498

John F. Kennedy /Lyndon B. Johnson: 224; 33,806,388

Harry Byrd/Strom Thurmond: 14; 328,017

[Post Game Speech] With luck, you will be able to duplicate the eight years of peace and prosperity under Eisenhower. Unfortunately, the Democrats maintain their majority in both houses of Congress. With luck, they will be good partners in a bipartisan governing coalition. Your first order of business is to mend fences with Lyndon Johnson, who is returning to his role as Senate Majority Leader.

I swept the northeast and cleaned up in the west and by the skin of my teeth, despite losing the popular vote changed the trajectory of U.S history. Butterflying JFK from the Oval Office basically ensures Robert Kennedy’s effect on the political landscape as well. People often forget right around this era both parties took orders from the mob thanks to their heavy influence in organized labor. In 1952, the voters of the Democrats eyed Estes Kefauver. Kefauver won 12 primary contests and made his political bones unearthing the dirty secrets of his own party’s ties to the mafia. He was shut out of the convention and didn’t sniff the presidential ticket. Nixon complains of ballot stuffing in crucial swing like Illinois. Only reason he never brought it to court is because his party was guilty of doing the same thing.

Without a president John, we don’t get senator Bobby prosecuting scumbag apes like Carlos Marcello. They could continue to exercise extreme influence over the parties today.

The trade off is maybe a Republican comes along and flushes the monsters out of the Democratic Party. It have to be Nixon. Anyone else is a far reach. Then again, this column is attempting to articulate Nixon, of all people, championing civil rights. So perhaps nothing is impossible?

A plus in not having JFK in the Oval Office is he isn’t around to bungle the Bay of Pigs and take us to the brink of nuclear annihilation in the subsequent Cuban Missile Crisis. Young John was inexperienced and couldn’t beat back the bloodthirsty members in his cabinet advocating for the removal of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Castro disliked Nixon - I’m not so sure the feeling wasn’t mutual. But Nixon was craftier than JFK when it comes to foreign policy. Kennedy waffled between caving completely to the pressure of Allen Dulles and standing his ground. Kennedy green-lit a half-assed attempt on Castro’s life, did not supply the CIA-sponsored Cuban exiles the support needed to sustain their offensive and their failure drove Castro right into the arms of the Soviet Union and Nikita Khruschev. By October of 1962 the Russians parked missiles 90-miles off the coast of Florida.

Nixon was far from a pacifist. But at the very least, his decisive nature would’ve warranted a legitimate threat to Castro and possibly dethroned him and turned Cuba into a puppet state for the United States. It’s debatable whether that is a good thing or not. I’m going to say it’s the latter. Cuba has tons of numerous human rights atrocities, but they treat their poor better than we do by giving them decent health care coverage.

The fate of Cuba probably isn’t different than the Dominican Republic in the mid-60’s when the U.S overthrew their democratically elected leader for implanting social programs that angered the church and corporate sectors of the country. Either Cuba becomes a fully impoverished country or succumbs to right-wing theocracy like Iran.

On a brighter note, Nixon likely pushes forward on civil rights and with his victory it vindicates the eastern establishment and sets up Rockefeller to be the face of the party. So we are spared Ronald Reagan. Though, the caveat is Rockefeller was an architect of the War on Drugs in the pre-Reagan era. So despite his superior record on civil rights we can still expect an explosion of the prison population for minor offenses for black Americans.

A Nixon victory in ‘60 keeps the GOP the party of Honest Abe. While the Democrats continue on as the White populist party. Maybe George Wallace gets a crack at the White House in ‘64 and he is the sacrificial lamb for the future trajectory of the party like Goldwater was in OTL for the Republicans. No more coastal or big city elites for the Democrats. They likely run southern gentleman like Wallace or Johnson from here on out.

Kennedy appointed two Supreme Court justices to the bench. It is likely Nixon nominates Warren E. Burger and maybe Thurgood Marshall to the bench. The difference this makes is Nixon probably never runs into Lewis Powell. The justice who would crusade in favor of big money contaminating our elections. If so, our political system is held hostage by the mob, but not by multinational corporations destroying the earth to make a profit.

#richard nixon #john f kennedy #nelson rockefeller #1960 presidential election #free coinage of silver #alternate history #what-if?#sailboatstudios

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douchebagbrainwaves · 3 years

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NOW THEY'RE RAPIDLY RUNNING OUT OF MONEY OR A CRITICAL FOUNDER BAILING

0 means using the web as a platform, which I took to refer to web-based applications offer a straightforward way to outwork your competitors. Sun. I've claimed that the recipe is a great university near a town smart people like. It would be surprising if European attitudes weren't affected by the way; it's the main difference between children and adults. Determination implies your willfulness is balanced by discipline. Americans.1 For someone on the maker's schedule, meetings are a disaster.2 And yet, oddly enough, Ryan Singel's article about the conference in Wired News spoke of throngs of geeks. During the 90s a lot of new areas.3 The third reason computers won is piracy.

A silicon valley has to be designed by hackers who understand design, not designers who know a little about software. That is certainly true. How would you do it like a pilot scanning the instrument panel, not like a detective trying to unravel some mystery. Google and some other Internet companies, but we've never bothered to invite Microsoft. It just seems like the only way to deliver software that will save users from becoming system administrators. In the desktop software era, I think TV companies will increasingly face direct ones. They're effectively free if you're on the manager's schedule. Some would-be founders may by now be thinking, believe me, until you watch them. The best thing would be if they said yes, and how consistently bad people fail as startup founders.

In the US things are more haphazard. A factor of two? They're as unhappy on the territory of humor as a mounted knight on a skating rink. It was a kind of proxy focus group; we could ask them which of two new features users wanted more, and they can generally rewrite whatever you produce. When you hit something that would have killed Apple, prune it off. And so you won't ordinarily need a computer, the variation in what they can do is jump in immediately. How do we manage to advise so many startups that we're getting better at predicting them.4

The complacent middle managers may not be the only kind that work everywhere.5 As for building something users love, here are some general tips. It would be less now, probably less than the cost of starting a company is getting cheaper. We know the current trajectory ends badly.6 Raising money is the better choice, because new technology is usually more valuable now than later. It takes a while to be optimistic. The people calling us were customers, not just co-workers.7 Even in the US own one. Nearly all our users came direct to our site through word of mouth and references in the press about online commerce.8 Not those guys are working on a space that contains at least one good name in a 20 minute office hour slot. If I know the afternoon is going to make when someone pops it by offering a free web-based alternative to MS Office.9 When there's something we can't say that are true, or at least of the good ones, is precisely that: look for places where conventional wisdom is broken, and then try to simulate what would have happened in your country.

So either existing investors will start to want this in most applications once they realize it's possible. A meeting commonly blows at least half a day, and I remember standing behind him making frantic gestures at Robert to shoo this nut out of his office so we could go to lunch. I have often wished I'd had the temperament to do an absurd comedy, which is one of the commonest forms of corruption. Most imaginative people seem to be about ideas, whether they are or not. I do it because I don't like the idea of delivering desktop-like applications over the web. The upshot is, you can make changes almost as you would in a program you were writing for yourself. We had to spend thousands on a server, and thousands more to get SSL. The number of users you can often tell when they're in trouble.10 They produce new ideas; maybe the rest of the conversation. It was a picture of an AS400, and the advantage will grow as new Web devices proliferate.11 I remember the feeling very well.

One answer is the default way to solve problems you're bad at naming. Another way to figure out a definition of Web 2. People need to feel that what they create can't be stolen. Could you have both at once, or does there have to be some baseline prosperity before you get a silicon valley? They're effectively free if you're on the maker's schedule starts to be more important than others?12 If this is true it has interesting implications, because discipline can be cultivated, and in most of Europe in the seventeenth century, and did get Galileo in big trouble. The trade press, we learned, thinks in version numbers. The new model seems more liquid, and more informal.13 For one thing, it seems a bad plan to treat jobs as rewards. VCs were writing checks, founders were never forced to explore the limits of how little they needed them.14 You can't plan when you start a startup, we never anticipated that founders would grow successful startups on nothing more than YC funding.

Notes

What they must do is not a big company. Credit card debt is little different from technology companies. It would have gone into the subject of language power in Succinctness is Power.

But wide-area bandwidth increased more than the don't-be-evil end. This is a negotiation.

A few VCs have an edge over Silicon Valley. I was there when it was 94% 33 of 35 companies that an artist or writer has to be an open source software.

But I'm convinced there were some good ideas in the first couple times I bailed because I think all of us in the 1984 ad isn't Microsoft, incidentally, because universities are where a lot would be investors who turned them down. There was one of them. I recommend you solve this problem, if you get a good open-source but seems to pass. He did eventually graduate at about 26.

In either case the implications are similar.

In Boston the best ideas, they very often come back. 25 people have to be like a little if the public conversation about women consists of fighting, their voices. While environmental costs should be. They live in a cubicle except late at night.

Mozilla is open-source browser would cause other problems. Public school kids arrive at college with a product company. This is one of his first acts as president, he saw that they aren't.

Super-angels will snap up stars that VCs miss. Founders also worry that taking an angel round just converts into stock at the moment it's created indeed, from the DMV.

The word suggests an undifferentiated slurry, but rather by, say, good deals.

I don't mean to be writing with conviction.

Cook another 2 or 3 minutes, then work on what you love. So if all you have significant expenses other than those I mark. I call it procrastination when someone works hard and not to be started in New York, people would treat you like the increase in trade you always feel you should always absolutely refuse to give them sufficient activation energy required.

Incidentally, Google may appear to be secretive, because any VC would think Y Combinator. I should probably fix. Spices are also exempt.

I used thresholds of. In principle companies aren't limited by the government to take action, go talk to corp dev guys should be the last thing you tend to be the model for Internet clients too.

Some of the canonical could you build for them by the fact that you're not even allowed to ask about what was happening in them. But although for-profit prison companies and prison guard unions both spend a lot about some of those you can hire unskilled people to claim that they'll only invest contingently on other investors.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #server #trouble #US #writer #kids #technology #one #minute #work #look #subject

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wazafam · 3 years

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Whether viewers have worked in retail or not, everyone can find something to relate to on Superstore. Some Cloud 9 employees love what they do — Dina and Glenn couldn't picture themselves anywhere else. But others, like Amy and Jonah, feel that there is more to life beyond this quirky store.

RELATED: Superstore: 5 Ways The Series Finale Was Fitting (& 5 It Missed The Mark)

There is so much to love about this sitcom, from Amy and Jonah's romance to the funny dialogue between the characters. While this is definitely a funny show where the characters find themselves in silly situations, there are many storylines that highlight serious topics in a more compassionate way than most sitcoms.

10 Health Care

A sitcom set in a big box store isn't likely to talk about the important issue of health care, but that's why Superstore stands out from other funny shows.

In the third season, the employees at Cloud 9 were talking about how they didn't have proper health care, and when they got sick or had an injury, they had to deal with it themselves. Amy and Jonah set up a health fund, thinking that if everyone put in a certain amount of money, it would be easy to do. As soon as Amy and Jonah decided that employees would fall into Group A or Group B, that brought up the question of why people were being treated better than others. The idea totally fell apart and proved that health care is a much more complicated issue than they expected.

9 Immigration

Mateo is an undocumented immigrant, but he didn't know that he wasn't an American citizen, so he found out along with viewers. Once Glenn learned the truth, he protected his employee and did his best to make sure that Mateo could continue working at Cloud 9.

Superstore dealt with this topic in a compassionate and moving way, and viewers always rooted for Mateo, wanting the best for this fan-favorite character.

8 Maternity Leave

In the season 1 episode "Labor," the Cloud 9 employees realized that they didn't have any maternity leave as Cheyenne went into labor in the store. This turned into a disaster, as Glenn attempted to get around the rule by allowing Cheyenne to go home for six weeks and still get paid, but he has to pretend that she has been suspended. Glenn ends up losing his job as a result. Everyone supports Cheyenne and leaves the store, but Dina doesn't. The show could have had Cheyenne deliver her baby off-camera and avoid the whole topic, but they chose to shine a light on this important issue. The show also talked about it in season 4 when Amy had her baby and was told to come back to the store two days later.

RELATED: Superstore: The 5 Best & 5 Worst Episodes According To IMDB

Cheyenne is known for her ditzy personality but she's also a kind person, and after she has her baby and marries Bo, she wonders if she could advance at Cloud 9.

7 Gun Control

Jonah has hilarious lines in most episodes, and fans know that he can also go on and on about his ideas and opinions. This often frustrates his co-workers, but he also has strong moral beliefs, and he explained his stance on firearms in the second season.

In the episode "Guns, Pills and Birds," Jonah worked in the area of the store that sold guns. While he could say that he didn't want to sell a gun to someone who seemed to cause suspicion — which could be seen as profiling — he took that to mean that he could refuse everyone. Jonah is all for gun control and he was really uncomfortable with this position.

6 Catastrophic Weather

Jonah is very political and peaceful, and he was just as shocked as the other Cloud 9 employees when a tornado hit St. Louis and destroyed the store at the end of the second season.

RELATED: Which Superstore Character Are You, Based On Your Zodiac?

While Superstore tackled this storyline with its trademark sense of humor, the subject of a weather event is a serious one. Jonah lost his apartment and moved in with Garrett, and Dina began feeling overwhelmed and Amy wondered if she had PTSD. The employees were also uncertain if another worker, Brett, had died in the tornado. These episodes were really sad to watch as the characters had to deal with a shocking event and uncertain future.

5 Racism

In the sixth season of Superstore, the show tackled racism with a storyline about Black hair care products.

Before, Cloud 9 had kept these products locked up, and in this episode, they decided to stop that. Dina acted like changing this policy meant that everything was fine now, and she proved that she truly had no idea about the subject she was talking about. Garrett spoke up about the racism that he had experienced and observed at the company. This is one of the most significant and powerful episodes of the show.

4 Worker's Rights

Superstore also deals with worker's rights, and the unique setting of the show allows them to make some really good points. Fans love watching Jonah and Amy together, and besides falling in love, these two characters have also done their best to stand up for themselves and their co-workers.

In the season 2 episode "Election Day," Jonah and Amy wanted people to vote for a political candidate who cared about unions and other related issues. Season 5 also features the employees trying to form a union. While Jonah and Sandra were able to get some higher-ups to agree to their conditions, everyone found out later that a huge company was acquiring Cloud 9, so it didn't matter anyway. Superstore often shows the unfair reality of working at a store owned by a massive company where the people at the top get all the money and perks.

3 Surrogacy

Glenn and his wife Jerusha had many foster children, but when they tried to have a child, they learned that it wasn't possible. Dina agreed to be a surrogate for them, and she approached this situation with her typical tough attitude.

RELATED: Superstore: The First And Last Lines Of The Main Characters

Carrying someone's baby brings up many emotions and thoughts, and while Dina acted like this was truly no big deal, it was clear by the end of the journey that it was an emotional experience for her. It was sweet that she was able to do this for Glenn, who meant a lot to her.

2 Minimum Wage

In season 5, Cheyenne and Jonah go to a "Raise the Wage" rally, which allows the show to talk about fair pay and the minimum wage.

The show is also honest about how some characters, such as Amy and Glenn, were given high salaries and many perks, whereas those working shifts weren't paid very much at all. Amy felt guilty about making so much money. It also turned out that Marcus was being paid way too much money per hour as there had been a mistake.

1 Running A Business During The COVID-19 Pandemic

Fans had high hopes for the Superstore series finale and the final season reflected real life as Cloud 9 tackled the COVID-19 pandemic.

The employees wore masks, sat far apart from each other during meetings, and in one very relatable scene, Sandra sanitized a group of shopping carts and then a customer touched all of them immediately. Glenn also went into quarantine for a little while. The entire season was relatable as the pandemic has touched everyone's lives.

NEXT: 10 Post-2000 TV Shows With Good P.O.C. Representation

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China

NA CHINA

By Marie Voignier

Jackie, Julie and Shanny, like thousands of young women and men from the African continent, have traveled to Guangzhou in China, hoping to make a fortune there. Struggling in the globalized Chinese economy, they try to start or to improve their business in relation withtheir home countries. Piles of Nike sneakers, Vuitton handbags by parcels of 100, Gucci shirtsin pallets â€¦ every day, these small or big investors, beginners or experienced, buy, pack andship tons of goods which are stacked up in containers bound for Douala, Lagosor Mombasa

DVD / 2020 / 70 minutes

OUTCRY AND WHISPER

By WEN Hai and ZENG Jinyan Animation directed by Trish McAdam

A performance artist approaches a dais with a quiet formality, then proceeds to slowly and deliberately slice a series of cuts into her face with a razor. A doctoral student/filmmaker, under house arrest and constant surveillance, walks up to a vehicle following her and holds up a sign saying, "Shame to insult a woman." Female factory workers describe being arrested and harassed when they stand up for their rights.

Shot over eight years, OUTCRY AND WHISPER is a highly personal and sometimes uncomfortably intimate documentary chronicling women's oppression and resistance in mainland China and Hong Kong. One remarkable and tumultuous sequence is shot in the midst of Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrations.

Co-director ZENG Jinyan-the filmmaker who confronts those tailing her-records striking acts of resistance while also sharing excerpts from her own video diary, in which she talks about her enforced separation from her activist husband and the sexual harassment she faces. Female workers-often from rural provinces, who have come to big cities to work-share their stories of being placed under surveillance for organizing, and being arrested by police working in concert with factory owners.

Zeng and Wen previously collaborated on WE THE WORKERS, a verite documentary about the struggles of largely male union activists organizing workers in China. With OUTCRY AND WHISPER, their focus on women broadens the scope beyond labor. From factory workers gathering to demand collective bargaining to women gathering for a feminist film group, they highlight the common struggles women face, and their inventive and powerful means of fighting back.

DVD (Mandarin, With English Subtitles, Color) / 2020 / 100 minutes

CONFUCIAN DREAM

Director: Mijie Li

Filmmaker Mijie Li's first feature (she co-produced Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert's American Factory), Confucian Dream is an observational documentary about a Chinese woman's embrace of the ancient philosophy of Confucianism and how it affects her family.

Chaoyan, a young wife and mother, believes the ancient teachings of Confucianism will restore balance, respect and morality to her home. She involves her four-year-old son in the rigorous routine of chanting daily mantras. Little Chen may not yet understand the recitations' meanings, but mom is confident she's planting a seed for the future.

Chaoyan's husband finds the daily practice excessive, and indeed many Chinese people today criticize it as feudalistic, conservative, and counter-revolutionary. While Confucianism's primary purpose is to instill peace and harmony, the opposite occurs between Chaoyan and her husband as their beliefs clash and their arguments escalate, bringing forth a gripping portrait of marital and parental crisis.

DVD (Mandarin with English Subtitles) / 2019 / 82 minutes

LOST COURSE

By Jill Li

Embedding herself in the village of Wukan, southern China for several years starting in 2011, first time documentarian Jill Li witnessed an unprecedented experiment in local democracy. Corrupt officials had illegally sold villagers' land, but the villagers decided to fight back.

The documentary is divided into two halves: the first, "Protests", depicts the grassroots activities of Wukan residents as they work to reverse the land sales and gain a substantial measure of control over their local territory. We see how the villagers themselves learn to organize elections, form alliances, and win support. Part two, "After Protests", confronts the collapse of idealism as the newly elected village government finds itself mired in the same kind of corrupt dealings they had originally condemned.

Li reveals the complexities of their triumphs and setbacks from the inside. Her astonishingly intimate, sympathetic and fair-minded access to the events' major players reveals Chinese local politics with three-dimensional passion and energy.

DVD (Mandarin, With English Subtitles, Color) / 2019 / 180 minutes

DEAD SOULS

By Wang Bing

In Gansu Province, northwest China, lie the remains of countless prisoners abandoned in the Gobi Desert sixty years ago. Designated as "ultra-rightists" in the Communist Party's Anti-Rightist campaign of 1957, they starved to death in the Jiabiangou and Mingshui reeducation camps. The film invites us to meet the survivors of the camps to find out firsthand who these persons were, the hardships they were forced to endure and what became their destiny.

DVD (Mandarin, Color, With English Subtitles) / 2018 / 495 minutes

SPARK

Directed by Hu Jie

SPARK opens by the side of a road in Lanzhou City, northwestern China, as trucks rumble through a blasted hillside. An elderly man walks along the dusty road and pauses to point to a nearby spotâ€”the former execution grounds. "They executed many," the man says. "Then fewer and fewer."

Two of those executed were contributors to Spark, a short-lived magazine from Gansu Province whose young, intellectual contributors bravely shone a light on the horrific realities of life during the Great Leap Forward. More than 35 million people died of famine between 1959 and 1961, in large part because of Communist Party policies. To this day, the Party has never fully acknowledged the scope of the disaster.

In SPARK, filmmaker Hu Jieâ€”who has been described as "China's most important unofficial historian-filmmaker"â€” tracks down the surviving men and women of Spark, including founder Gu Yan, allowing them to tell their stories.

Weaving together their interviews, the film is in an oral history of the magazine and the tumultuous period that from which it arose. The interviews are striking in their clarity and their emotional immediacy 60 years later. The son of Du Yinghua, a local Communist Party county committee secretary executed for his sympathy for the Spark writers, breaks down in tears after laying out copies of his father's books. Tan Chanxue seems completely at easeâ€”even smilingâ€”as she recalls being herded, bound, through throngs of schoolchildren brought to witness and cheer the Spark members' public outdoor trial. Remarkably, Hu even gets the Tianshui City leader at the time, Tao Yanlie, to admit that authorities prevented people from leaving town, while 100,000 residents died of hunger. Their deaths, he says, were "recorded but useless. We had to report it, but so what?" At one point, Hu suspects he is being followed. During an interview, the phone rings. The interview subject replies, then refuses to continue the conversation.

The writers who contributed to Spark were not all driven by the same motives. Xiang Chengian, who describes thousands of bodies lining the railway tracks between station and city, thought Party officials must be unaware of the extent of the disaster and would intervene if they knew. In contrast, Zhang Chunyuan wondered how the Communist Party could have become so corrupt in so few years, and said it was clearly fascistic. And Lin Zhao, one of several women contributors, couched her critiques more obliquely, in the form of poetry. All were branded as rightists and faced persecution during the Anti-Rightist Movement of the late 1950s, and both Lin and Zhang were sentenced to hefty prison terms, subsequently changed to death sentences.

A brave and powerful document, SPARK is a testament to the threat to power that comes from people willing to speak out about what they seeâ€”and an invaluable contribution to understanding the period of the Great Leap Forward.

DVD (Mandarin with English Subtitles, Color) / 2018 / 114 minutes

MAINELAND

By Miao Wang

Chinese teenagers from the wealthy elite, with big American dreams, settle into a boarding school in small-town Maine. As their fuzzy visions of the American dream slowly gain more clarity, their relationship to home takes on a poignant new aspect.

Filmed over three years in China and the U.S., MAINELAND is a multi-layered coming-of-age tale that follows two affluent and cosmopolitan teenagers as they settle into a boarding school in blue-collar rural Maine. Part of the enormous wave of "parachute students" from China enrolling in U.S. private schools, bubbly, fun-loving Stella and introspective Harry come seeking a Western-style education, escape from the dreaded Chinese college entrance exam, and the promise of a Hollywood-style U.S. high school experience. In one sleepy Maine town, worlds collide as students fresh from China learn to navigate the muddy waters of this microcosmic global village.

Through lyrical cinematography that transports us from China to the U.S., MAINELAND captures a new crop of future Chinese elites as they try to find their place between the collectivist society they come from and the individualist culture they come to embrace. As Stella and Harry's fuzzy visions of the American dream slowly gain more clarity, they ruminate on their experiences of alienation, culture clash, and personal identity, sharing new understandings and poignant discourses on home and country.

DVD (Color) / 2017 / 90 minutes

OBSERVER, THE

Directed by Rita Andreetti By Rita Andreetti, Matteo Bosi

In August 2014, the 11th Beijing Independant Film Festival was shut down after repeated threats from local authorities. The government wouldn't tolerate the screening of some 'sensitive' works, particularly a historical documentary called "Spark". The news shook filmmakers and public opinion alike and filmmaker Rita Andreetti couldn't help but begin on a search for the man whose work had pushed the government to the edge of tolerance.

The Observer is the portrait of the extraordinary and undetected work of Chinese dissedent artist, Hu Jie. Despite making huge contributions to historical research by uncovering essential testimonies from China's past, his body of work hasn't been recognized the way it deserves.

Carefully ducking away from the spotlight, he has managed to make more than 30 documentaries throughout his career. The content of his work is vital to understanding Chinese society and the preservation of the memory of its past; he is the first artist to dare talk about the Great Famine, the labor camps (Lao Gai) and the Cultural Revolution in an uncompromised way. For that, he is commonly considered the first historical documentary maker of China, despite his blacklisted status.

Rita Andreetti, director and young Italian film critic, allows viewers to discover Hu Jie's humanity and social commitment as she searches herself for Chinese identity. Inspired by the tenacity and the inner strength of Hu Jie himself, the documentary shows how his prolific activity has recently turned into a more intimate pictorial production. Although under increasing pressure, Hu Jie continues today, with different means, to tirelessly fight for the truth.

DVD (Mandarin with English Subtitles, Color) / 2017 / 78 minutes

WE THE WORKERS

By Wen Hai, Zeng Jinyan

Shot over a six-year period (2009-2015) in the industrial heartland of south China, a major hub in the global supply chain, WE THE WORKERS follows labor activists as they find common ground with workers, helping them negotiate with local officials and factory owners over wages and working conditions. Threats, attacks, detention and boredom become part of their daily lives as they struggle to strengthen worker solidarity in the face of threats and pressures from the police and their employers. In the process, we see in their words and actions the emergence of a nascent working class consciousness and labor movement in China.

DVD (English, Mandarin, Color, With English Subtitles) / 2017 / 174 minutes

WIDOWED WITCH, THE

By Cai Chengjie

Winner of the top prize at the Rotterdam Film Festival, director Cai Chengjie's debut feature is, like its titular protagonist, defiantly low-fi, unexpectedly powerful and fiercely unpredictable.

Deemed cursed by the local villagers, three-time widow Er Hao (played by Tian Tian) has her hands full with a rogue fireworks explosion, a tagalong teenager, and a veritable army of crazed local men who can't keep their hands off her. Turned away when she seeks shelter from her neighbors and forced to take up residence in a cold camper van, Er Hao's future looks as bleak as the stark, snowy countryside.

But a series of fluke changes in fortune causes Er Hao to embrace the mystical identity her villagers have assigned to her. As a sort of modern shaman, she steers superstitions into small subversions, helping others who once shunned her and proving that to survive as a woman is a kind of magic.

THE WIDOWED WITCH fearlessly addresses the power of religion in China which, according to the dictates of Communism, is effectively banned. It also conveys the cruelty that can come with village life, and counters the Western narrative of China as a superpower by showing a place where the rule of law is all but nonexistent. Not only is there no recourse or safety net, even the rape that Er Hao suffers goes unpunished. Abused and shunned, Er Hao gains power over the men who have wronged herâ€”but can she find a place in a misogynist, patriarchal and deeply lonely social structure?

With a stunning array of visual styles and a genre-exploding approach to storytelling, THE WIDOWED WITCH is a simultaneously idealistic and despairing filmâ€”a bleak view wrapped in a fabulist aesthetic, and one that encompasses both magic realism and crushing social satire.

DVD (Mandarin with English Subtitles, Color, Black and White) / 2017 / 118 minutes

BEEKEEPER AND HIS SON, THE

By Diedie Wang

The widening gap between generations in China today is at the heart of this deeply resonant documentary about a son, recently returned from the city, trying to modernize his aging father's beekeeping business.

After drifting aimlessly as a migrant worker, Maofu returns to his family bee farm in rural Northern China. Still in his early twenties and eager to provide support for his parents, Maofu brings with him big ideas for the family business; new thoughts on marketing and branding to increase honey sales.

His father, Lao Yu, however, maintains a deep commitment to the traditions of beekeeping which he's practiced for more than five decades. Now in his declining years, Lao Yu also sees first-hand how environmental pollution is depleting his bee colonies. He's struggling with his own self-worth, as well as mixed emotions of whether his son should even stay in this traditional line of work.

As father and son try to collaborate, their vastly different approaches, both to business and to life, run headlong into one other. It's a clash between tradition and modernization; one that is playing out in millions of families across the country.

DVD / 2016 / 85 minutes

BITTER MONEY

By Wang Bing

BITTER MONEY documents China's rapid economic and social transformation by following the rural workers who leave their Yunnan hometown to move to the city of Huzhou, one of the busiest cities of eastern China (with the highest number of part-time workers), to labor in its textile factories. But what they find are few opportunities and poor living conditions that push people, even couples, into violent and oppressive relations. The camera follows Xiao Min, Ling Ling, and Lao Yeh closely, capturing the emotions of their daily hard work and disappointments upon receiving their wages. The film deals directly with the effects of 21st-century capitalism, as filmmaker Wang Bing acts as witness to the lives of people forced to adapt to a new economic landscape.

DVD (Mandarin, Color, With English Subtitles) / 2016 / 152 minutes

CHINESE LIVES OF ULI SIGG, THE

By Michael Schindhelm

Art world sensation Ai Weiwei credits him with launching his international career. Renowned pianist Lang Lang describes him as a mentor to Chinese artists. Curator Victoria Lu believes that his taste and influence as a collector has been felt around the world.

But when Swiss businessman Uli Sigg first went to China, art was far from his mind. The year was 1979, and Sigg-working for the Schindler escalator and elevator company-was hoping to set up one of the first joint ventures between the Chinese government, seeking international investment in the post-Mao era, and a Western company. At the time, even the fanciest hotels had rats, boardrooms were so poorly heated you could see your breath, and the government still regulated hairstyles (five different kinds of perm allowed).

Uli Sigg is not a man who does things by halves. "My ego, my way" says a t-shirt he wears at one point in the film. When he took up rowing, he went to the world championships. When he negotiated a joint venture, he wanted to create a model for future partnerships. And when he became interested in Chinese art, he built a world-class personal collection.

Sigg championed the artists he admired, working tirelessly for their international recognition and to preserve their artwork as a record of China's tumultuous and historic changes. Eventually, Sigg became the Swiss ambassador to China and a consultant on major Chinese art projects, including the construction of the Bird's Nest stadium for the Olympic Games.

THE CHINESE LIVES OF ULI SIGG, directed by art historian and scholar Michael Schindhelm (Bird's Nest) and produced by Marcel Hoehn (Dark Star: H. R. Giger's World, The Knowledge ofo Healing, Monte Grande, Santiago Calatrava's Travels, The Written Face) is a history of China's recent opening to the West, and of the West's embrace of Chinese contemporary art, through the eyes of Sigg and the artists he championed. Artists including Ai Weiwei, Cao Chong'en, Cao Fei, Gang Lijun, Feng Mengbo, Shao Fan, Wang Guangyi and Zeng Fanzhi are interviewed along with curators, diplomats, architects and business colleagues in this colorful documentary survey of contemporary Chinese art.

DVD (Color) / 2016 / 93 minutes

COMPLICIT

Directed by Heather White, Lynn Zhang

Benzene-poisoned, Foxconn factory worker takes his fight against the global smartphone industry from his hospital bed in China to the international stage.

Yi YeTing is struggling with occupational leukemia and trying to obtain compensation from his employer. Wanting to help others, he begins working for a non-profit that assists workers with occupational illness and injuries.

He discovers there are dozens of workers in his local area who were poisoned while making smartphones. Through research in the community, he discovers a leukemia cluster in the neighborhood surrounding Apple's main supplier Foxconn. Yi's research leads him to several workers and their families trying to survive while burdened with their health care costs. Powerful forces are unleashed as he confronts local factories, putting his own safety at risk.

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adults) / 89 minutes

IN SEARCH OF PERFECT CONSONANCE

By Ruby Yang

Twenty-five years ago, China was at war with Vietnam, the Chinese and the Japanese were at loggerheads, and relations across the Taiwan Strait were fraught with tension. Against this backdrop, the Asian Youth Orchestra was founded with the aim of connecting the region's young people through music.

Directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ruby Yang (The Blood of Yingzhou District, The Warriors of Qiugang), In Search of Perfect Consonance profiles this renowned orchestra for a moving chronicle of recent history and a powerful meditation on music and the higher ideals that it inspires.

As the budding young musicians of the Asian Youth Orchestra come together for an intense summer of rehearsals and concerts, we see them reach for these higher ideals. Selected from thousands of applicants across the region, they must overcome not only national differences but also an Asian musical education that emphasizes individual technical brilliance over ensemble performance. By learning to listen to each other and work together, they reconnect with a passion for music, a passion that not only allows their talents to bloom, but also creates deep bonds between them.

These bonds are at the heart of the Asian Youth Orchestra. It was created by conductor Richard Pontzious, who at the time was touring extensively in Taiwan, Japan and China introducing Chinese audiences emerging from the horrors of the Cultural Revolution to the music of Beethoven, Brahms, Prokofiev and Copland. The orchestra's founding principle was to promote peace and friendship through the power of music. It's an aim that has garnered support from some of the world's top musicians, with the great violinist Yehudi Menuhin leading the way, becoming the orchestra's co-founder and first conductor.

Today, it's apt that the piece being prepared by the young orchestra for their three-week concert tour is nothing less than the last movement of Beethoven's 9th. It's a piece that eulogizes brotherhood and, as young Taiwanese trombonist Shao hua Wu says, is "full of hope".

DVD / 2016 / 38 minutes

INSIDE THE CHINESE CLOSET

By Sophia Luvara

In a nondescript lounge somewhere in Shanghai, men and women giggle, eyeing prospective partners, visibly nervous about making the first move. This isn't your average matchmaking eventâ€”it's a "fake-marriage fair," where gay men and women meet to make matrimonial deals with members of the opposite sex in order to satisfy social and familial expectations of heterosexual unions. Inside the Chinese Closet is the intricate tale of Andy and Cherry looking for love and happiness in vibrant Shanghai. They are both homosexual but their families demand a (heterosexual) marriage and a baby from them. Because being single and childless would mean an unacceptable loss of face for their rural families, particularly in the remote countryside where they live. Will Andy and Cherry deny their happiness and sexual orientation to satisfy their parents' wishes? The stories of Andy and Cherry mirror the legal and cultural progress that is happening in China against the backdrop of a nation coming to terms with new moral values.

DVD (Color) / 2016 / 70 minutes

INSIDE THESE WALLS

By Juliet Lammers And Lorraine Price

What happens when a loved one is imprisoned overseas?

In 2002, Wang Bingzhang, founder of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Movement, was in Vietnam meeting with other activists when he was kidnapped, beaten, blindfolded and brought into China where he was imprisoned. He has spent the last fourteen years in solitary confinement.

Although he was mostly absent as a husband and father before his imprisonment, his family feels a deep sense of duty and responsibility towards him. The family fights tirelessly for his release by speaking on his behalf, staging protests, and keeping his story relevant in Western media.

From prison, Dr. Wang sends monthly letters to his family, often over fifty pages long with intricate illustrations. These letters range in tone from fiercely accusatory to humble and remorseful. His son reflects that his father has probably spoken more words to him through these letters than he has in person. And his ex-wife observes, "In a weird way, he's more of a father now than he ever was."

The story of a political dissident and a family struggling to secure his freedom, Inside These Walls weaves a complex tale of political intrigue, familial responsibility and personal sacrifice.

DVD / 2016 / 44 minutes

OF SHADOWS

By Yi Cui

Includes two short films, LATE SUMMER and THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS.

OF SHADOWS is set in the unique landscape of China's Loess Plateau, where the shadow play, as an enigmatic art form, has entertained people and deities for centuries. The film follows a lively and resilient group of shadow play performers as they navigate between the rural staging of ancient plays and the urban spectacle of national cultural heritage.

The film starts when the local performers in a small county called Huanxian are gathered to rehearse for the region's shadow theatre festival. The performance of modern cultural preservation is contemplated, as the folk artists move towards a grand stage. Meanwhile, the filmmaker follows the same group of performers into mountain villages where the shadow play theatre serves local life. A poetic picture of the folk artists unfolds as their everyday life and performance meander through light and shadow.

By juxtaposing the rural and the urban, the grassroots and the official, the state and the local, the light and the shadow, the film paints a haunting portrait of a revered folk tradition transforming against the backdrop of a country in constant transition.

As the last part of Yi Cui's trilogy Ying, which explores the theme of cultural decay and revival, OF SHADOWS goes beyond the melancholy over the decline of traditional culture and searches for the resilience and vitality in the grassroots and the folklore. This poetic ethnography continues the filmmaker's pursuit for the rhythmic flow in cinematic medium - meanings are conveyed not only through narrative threads but also through the musicality.

DVD (Mandarin With English Subtitles, Color) / 2016 / 79 minutes

ONLY ME GENERATION - AN INTROSPECTIVE LOOK INTO CHINA'S ONE-CHILD POLICY

The one-child policy, a part of China's family planning policy, was a population planning policy of installed by the Chinese government. It was introduced in 1979 and began to be formally phased out in 2015.

"Only Me Generation" is a documentary that explores the effects of the China's "One Child Policy" from the perspective of the policy's first generation point of view.

Almost 30 years ago, the Chinese government first introduced the "one child policy" to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems. Three decades later, they are now looking at a relaxation of the policy. The result is that the babies born under the current policy are a unique population set with issues and challenges that are different from those of other Chinese generations; most notably that they grew up as "only children".

This film provides a unique look into a unprecedented government policy that changed the rules of a society, impacted far more than a generation, and can now be studied on a variety of fronts. The film raises numerous questions and serves as a wonderful launching point for discussion and debate.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of "only children" in a generation of only "only children"?

What are the pressures that these children, the results of the policy, have lived under?

How have parental expectations changes due to family limits on the number of children permitted?

What are their social experiences now that these Only Me Generation children are now adults?

What are the ramifications, if any, of relaxing the policy now after so many years?

DVD (Color) / 2016 / 58 minutes

PATHS OF THE SOUL

By Zhang Yang

An astonishing journey of redemption, faith, and devotion. Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Zhang Yang (Shower, Getting Home) blurs the border between documentary and fiction to follow a group of Tibetan villagers who leave their families and homes in the small village of Nyima to make a Buddhist "bowing pilgrimage"-laying their bodies flat on the ground after every few steps-along the 1,200 mile road to Lhasa, the holy capital of Tibet. Though united in their remarkable devotion, each of the travelers embarks on this near impossible journey for very personal reasons. One traveler needs to expunge bad family karma, a butcher wants to cleanse animal bloodstains from his soul, another nearing his life's end, hopes that the prostrations will break the chain of cause and effect determined by his life's actions.

Stunningly photographed over the course of an entire year, with non-professional actors and no script, PATHS OF THE SOUL is a mesmerizing study of faith that will inspire viewers to reflect on their own journey through life.

DVD (Region 1, Color) / 2016 / 117 minutes

PROFESSOR, THE: TAI CHI'S JOURNEY WEST

Director: Barry Strugatz

The Professor: Tai Chi's Journey West is a feature documentary about Tai Chi and one of its greatest masters, Cheng Man-Ching, a man who brought Tai Chi and Chinese culture to the West during the swinging, turbulent 60's. Though Cheng is an important transformational figure, his teachings have been overlooked. This documentary film tells the story of his remarkable life and features Tai Chi as a martial art and a spiritual practice.

DVD / 2016 / 67 minutes

TA'ANG

By Wang Bing

Director Wang Bing brings his careful eye to the mountainous border-region of northeastern Myanmar in Ta'ang, a powerful and revealing observational documentary that follows members of the Ta'ang minority as they flee to China to escape an ongoing and escalating civil war. In a pair of refugee camps, those displaced by the war attempt to create reasonably safe living conditions, while others go deeper into China where they may find work in sugarcane fields or try their luck in urban areas. Meanwhile, those still in Myanmar must journey across the mountains, belongings and livestock in tow, as the sounds of gunfire and artillery echo around them. Ta'ang captures the constant insecurity, instability and disorientation that come with life as a refugee, the complexities of the choices the Ta'ang face, and the emotional toll they take.

DVD (Color, With English Subtitles) / 2016 / 147 minutes

BEHEMOTH

By Zhao Liang

Beginning with a mining explosion in Mongolia and ending in a ghost city west of Beijing, political documentarian Zhao Liang's extraordinary, visionary new film Behemoth details, in one breathtaking sequence after another, the social and environmental devastation behind an economic miracle that may yet prove illusory.

Drawing inspiration from The Divine Comedy, Zhao offers intoxicating and terrifying images of the ravages wrought by his country's coal and iron industries on both the land and its people. Beautiful grasslands covered in soot and dust. Mountains shredded in half. Herdsmen and their families forced to leave their lands, to escape poisonous air. Miners descending deeper into pitch black mine shafts. Scorching ironworks that resemble hellish infernos. And in hospitals, ill-equipped to handle the deluge, workers suffering critical illnesses.

Building upon his previous acclaimed exposes (2009's Petition, 2007's Crime and Punishment), Zhao combines muck-racking journalistic techniques with stunning visuals to capture an unfolding nightmare. It's a film replete with haunting imagery. But none more so than Zhao's tour through a barren metropolis, a gleaming, newly constructed city, intended as a workers' paradise, that now stands empty, desolate of life; waiting, perhaps, for that economic miracle.

DVD / 2015 / 90 minutes

DREAMING AGAINST THE WORLD

By Francisco Bello And Tim Sternberg

A beautiful, evocative documentary, Dreaming Against the World captures the life, work and struggle of one of the most original yet under-recognized artists of the 20th century â€“ the writer and visual artist Mu Xin; and in doing so, offers a vivid account of art, and its survival, in turbulent times.

Born in 1927 to a wealthy family in the south China city of Wuzhen - Mu Xin was among the last generation to receive a classical education in the literati tradition. After the Communists came to power, Mu Xin, along with many other intellectuals and artists, was arrested and sentenced to hard labor.

But it was here that Mu Xin demonstrated his incredible resolve and commitment to the artistic vision. Risking execution, he began to write and paint, creating an astonishing body of work that merged East and West, the ancient and the modern, terror and transcendence.

Structured around intimate and revealing conversations with Mu Xin, as well as with renowned artist Chen Danqing (Mu Xin's student when the elder artist lived in New York from 1982 to 2006), Dreaming Against the World is a rich documentary portrait.

DVD / 2015 / 35 minutes

HONG KONG TRILOGY

By Christopher Doyle

Renowned cinematographer and artist Christopher Doyle celebrates Hong Kong and its people with his feature documentary debut, Hong Kong Trilogy: Preschooled Preoccupied Preposterous, a vibrant work divided into three parts that focuses on the city's residents in their childhood, youth, and old age.

In Doyle's special form of cinematic narrative, real people improvise fictive scenes inspired by their own stories, which we hear in voiceover. The film's many endearing characters are all portrayed with rare grace: kids interrogating themselves on the topic of world religion, young rappers and artists giving voice to their discontent in underground music bars, and senior citizens going on speed-dating tours of the city.

The film's free-flowing form is much like that of a jazz music piece in which improvisation is as important as a carefully studied score. Many of its images depict a Hong Kong that has never before been represented on film; Doyle shows the slow side of the city, the one inhabited by people who value ideals over finances. Of particular note is his inclusion of the Umbrella Movement and the recent pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong, which blocked traffic, arrested the city's frenzied pace, and forced people to stop and ponder the real meaning of freedom.

The questions raised by the Umbrella Movement â€” questions about how we can live together and what a society should be â€” permeate all three sections of this collaboratively made triptych. Hong Kong Trilogy is an artwork in sync with the pulse of the city, truly a film "of the people, by the people, for the people."

Doyle's illustrious career as a cinematographer includes films by Wong Kar-Wai (In The Mood for Love, Fallen Angels, Chungking Express), Jim Jarmusch (The Limits of Control), Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park), and Zhang Yimou (Hero), among many others.

DVD / 2015 / 85 minutes

KAILI BLUES

By Bi Gan

A stunning debut from Chinese director Bi Gan, Kaili Blues is an audacious, mesmerizing work that announces the arrival of a major new filmmaker.

In a small clinic in the rain-drenched city of Kaili, two preoccupied doctors live ghost-like lives. One of them, Chen, decides to fulfill a family wish and sets off on a train journey to search for his brother's abandoned child, only to find himself in a dreamlike world where past, present, and futureâ€”as well as fantasy and realityâ€”become one.

This remarkable visual achievement, which feels as singular and alien as the films of the great Apichatpong Weerasethakul, was shot in the mining village Kaili, the director's birthplace, and incorporates poetry he has been writing since he was a teenager.

DVD / 2015 / 113 minutes

THARLO

By Pema Tseden

"Renowned Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden returns with his profoundly moving new feature (adapted from his own novella) about a Tibetan shepherd named Tharlo. Visiting a Tibetan town in Qinghai province to obtain a proper ID card from the local police station, Tharlo surprises Police Chief Dorje by reciting from memory a lengthy excerpt from one of Chairman Mao's essays. But things develop in a romantic rather than a political direction. To prepare for his ID photo, Tharlo needs his hair washed, and so meets Yangtso, a beautiful local hairdresser. Their courtship is both exquisitely awkward and enthrallingly suspenseful. Tharlo is smitten, but town-dweller Yangtso's ideas of fun are not quite Tharlo's, and he spends an uncomfortable evening with her at a local karaoke joint.

"This is a passionate love story with darker undercurrents, where basic pastoral imperatives such as protecting his sheep from hungry wolves run against Tharlo's discovery of the contemporary pleasures of smoking, drinking, singing and sex.

DVD (Black and White, Tibetan with English Subtitles) / 2015 / 123 minutes

MOSUO SISTERS, THE

By Marlo Poras

A tale of two sisters living in the shadow of two Chinas, this documentary by award-winning filmmaker Marlo Poras (Mai's America; Run Grany Run) follows Juma and Latso, young women from one of the world's last remaining matriarchal societies. Thrust into the worldwide economic downturn after losing jobs in Beijing and left with few options, they return to their remote Himalayan village. But growing exposure to modernity has irreparably altered traditions of the Mosuo, their tiny ethnic miniority, and home is not the same. Determined to keep their family out of poverty, one sister sacrifices her educational dreams and stays home to farm, while the other leaves, trying her luck in the city. The changes test them in unexpected ways. This visually stunning film highlights today's realities of women's lives and China's vast cultural and economic divides while offering rare views of a surviving matriarchy.

DVD (Mandarin/Mosuo/Tibetan, Color) / 2013 / 80 minutes

XU BING: PHOENIX

By Daniel Traub

"Drawing inspiration from the contemporary realities of his fast-changing country, Chinese artist Xu Bing spent two years creating his newest work, Phoenix. The installation features two monumental birds fabricated entirely from materials harvested from construction sites in urban China, including demolition debris, steel beams, tools, and remnants of the daily lives of migrant laborers. At once fierce and strangely beautiful, the mythic Phoenixes bear witness to the complex interconnection between labor, history, commercial development, and the rapid accumulation of wealth in today's China." -MASS MoCA

The film Xu Bing: Phoenix documents the process of creating the work through to its installation at the Massachusetts' Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA).

DVD (English, Mandarin, Color, With English Subtitles) / 2013 / 17 minutes

FUTURE FOOD: STAY OR GO? (CHINA)

Directed by Alex Gabbay

Who will grow China's food as young people leave the countryside for the cities?

In many remote areas of China young people have little choice but to stay on the land, and yet they may face a destitute future, with millions of farmworkers in China earning less than two dollars a day. Although there are some exceptions, farming is not generally seen as a "sexy" career choice.

The reality is that in China and around the world, young people are fleeing the countryside and moving to the big cities. Who will grow the food that feeds future generations? How can young people be convinced that farming is a good option? Californian-born Rand and his wife Sherry are the founders of Resonance China, a social media agency in Shanghai. They use the internet to create and identify trends and tricks that can create a buzz for global brands. FUTURE FOOD sets Resonance a task: can they make farming popular with young people?

DVD / 2012 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 29 minutes

BEIJING TAXI

By Miao Wang

BEIJING TAXI is a timely, uncensored and richly cinematic portrait of China's ancient capital as it undergoes a profound transformation. The film takes an intimate and compelling look at the lives of three cab drivers as they confront modern issues and changing values against the backdrop of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Through their daily struggles infused with humor and quiet determination, BEIJING TAXI reveals the complexity and contradictions of China's shifting paradigm.

BEIJING TAXI is a feature-length documentary that vividly portrays the ancient capital of China undergoing a profound transformation. The intimate lives of three taxi drivers are seen through a humanistic lens as they navigate a quickly morphing city, confronting modern issues and changing values. The three protagonists radiate a warm sense of humanity despite the struggles that each faces in adapting to new realities of life in the modern city. With stunning imagery of Beijing and a contemporary score rich in atmosphere, BEIJING TAXI communicates a visceral sense of the common citizens' persistent attempts to grasp the elusive. The 2008 Summer Olympic Games serve as the backdrop for BEIJING TAXI's story, a coming out party for a rising nation and a metaphor for Chinese society and its struggles to reconcile enormous contradictions while adjusting to a new capitalist system that can seem foreign to some in the Communist-ruled and educated society. Candid and perceptive in its filming approach and highly cinematic and moody in style, BEIJING TAXI takes us on a lyrical journey through fragments of a society riding the bumpy roads to modernization. Though its destination unknown, the drivers continue to forge ahead.

DVD (Region 1, Mandarin, Color, With English Subtitles) / 2010 / 78 minutes

http://www.learningemall.com/News/China_202102.html

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newstfionline · 4 years

Text

Headlines

Global poverty rates to rise because of coronavirus (NYT) The World Bank says that for the first time since 1998, global poverty rates will rise. By the end of the year eight percent of the world’s population—a half a billion people—could be pushed into destitution, largely because of the wave of unemployment brought by virus lockdowns, the United Nations estimates. While everyone will suffer, the developing world will be hardest hit. The World Bank estimates that sub-Saharan Africa will see its first recession in 25 years, with nearly half of all jobs lost across the continent. South Asia will likely experience its worst economic performance in 40 years.

About 7-in-10 U.S. adults say they need to take breaks from COVID-19 news (Pew Research Center) An earlier Pew study found that 87% of Americans are following coronavirus news “fairly or very closely,” but new research suggests that many are reaching their limits for news intake. A majority of Americans (71%) say they need to take breaks from coronavirus news, 43% say it makes them feel worse emotionally and about half say they find it difficult to sift through what is true and what is not, according to the new survey.

Is the United States still a party to the Iran nuclear deal? (Foreign Policy) When Washington wants to sanction Iran, it seems to think it is. The Trump administration is looking to its fellow members of the United Nations security council to support the United States in extending an arms embargo against Iran, due to be lifted on October 23. Under the terms of U.N. Security Council resolution 2231, the resolution that endorsed the Iran deal, any country can reimpose sanctions if parties are believed to be in breach of the deal. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has pushed back against the idea that just because the United States withdrew from the agreement it is excluded from enforcing parts of it. “Someone suggested this is fancy lawyering. It’s just reading,” he told a State Department press briefing. Pompeo also called on the European nations who were parties to the Iran deal to join the United States in extending the arms embargo.

Bolsonaro appointee blocked (Foreign Policy) Brazil’s Supreme Court has blocked the appointment of Alexandre Ramagem as Brazil’s new chief of federal police, saying that Ramagem’s close relationship with the Bolsonaro family put him in a compromising position. Bolsonaro had already been criticized for the appointment by Sergio Moro, who recently resigned as justice minister. Moro alleged that Bolsonaro had interfered with federal police investigations prior to stepping down.

Swedish authorities thinking outside the box (Foreign Policy) Authorities in the Swedish city of Lund have devised a novel way to ward off crowds for an upcoming day of national celebration: chicken manure. The Walpurgis festival is usually an all-day, alcohol-fueled party to celebrate the coming of spring, with mass gatherings and bonfires part of the fun. With no formal lockdowns in place across Sweden, Lund’s municipal workers will spread a ton of chicken manure in its central park to deter such revelry. “We get the opportunity to fertilize the lawns, and at the same time it will stink and so it may not be so nice to sit and drink beer.” Gustav Lundblad, chairman of the local council’s environment committee, told the Sydsvenskan newspaper.

Happy Birthday ‘Colonel’ Tom (Reuters) British World War Two veteran Captain Tom Moore, who has become a national hero after raising almost 30 million pounds for charities that help front-line National Health Service staff, celebrates his 100th birthday on Thursday with an honorary promotion and two military flypasts. Moore was appointed the first Honorary Colonel of the Army Foundation College, based near the town where he grew up, a position that came with the approval of Queen Elizabeth, the defence ministry said. He raised the money by completing laps of his garden with the help of a walking frame, having initially set out to raise just 1,000 pounds. That figure means he now holds the Guinness World Record title for the most money raised by an individual through a walk.

Pandemic Shakes France’s Faith in a Cornerstone: Strong Central Government (NYT) While France’s vaunted health care system has staved off disaster, France has suffered the world’s fourth-biggest death toll—now at 23,660 official deaths, behind the United States, Italy and Spain—a consequence, critics say, of the central government’s failure to anticipate the onslaught of the contagion. That failure and a critical shortage of masks and testing kits—also resulting from gaps in state policies—led to the virus’s rapid early spread, prompting France to impose one of the word’s strictest nationwide lockdowns, now in its seventh week. Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced a tentative plan on Monday to gradually reopen the country starting on May 11. But it was not clear that those steps would halt what polls show is declining confidence in the government’s handling of the pandemic. “Trust in the state has been eroding for some time, since the state is no longer able to respond to the need for security,” said Phillipe Laurent, the mayor of Sceaux and the secretary general of the Association of Mayors of France.

In lockdown, Swiss turn to snooping and snitching (Reuters) A mother checking on her ex-husband’s sexual habits to protect their asthmatic child; a retiree frustrated with a neighbour who talks loudly on late-night conference calls; a woman angry with a family downstairs for hosting large play dates. These are all client requests made to a Swiss private detective since the country imposed coronavirus confinement measures six weeks ago. Christian Sideris, founder of Seeclop, a six-man detective agency in Geneva, has refused all but one of them, urging his callers to seek other solutions in extraordinary times, but the requests reveal the mounting frustration of living together. “We have a lot of these types of cases because people are confined and on top of each other all day,” he said. Normally, Sideris gets between two and four requests a year for such cases. Since lockdown began, he has had two a week. The Swiss are known for complaining about their neighbours, often using rules designed to keep the noise down. These are rigorously enforced in Geneva, where 16th Century protestant reformer John Calvin banned instrumental music when he was in charge.

Greece Has ‘Defied the Odds’ in the Pandemic (NYT) For years, Greece has been seen as one of the European Union’s most troubled members, weighed down by a financial crisis, corruption and political instability. But in the coronavirus pandemic, the country has emerged as a welcome surprise: its outbreak appears to be far more limited than what was expected. As the virus spread across Europe, many Greeks feared the worst: They would be the next Italy or Spain. After all, the country’s health care system had been weakened by a decade-long financial crisis. And Greece has one of the oldest populations in the European Union, second only to Italy, leaving it more vulnerable to the disease. But the number of reported deaths and people in intensive care because of the virus in Greece has remained a tiny fraction of what they are in many other European nations.

Taiwan Emerging From Pandemic With a Stronger Hand Against China (Bloomberg) Few governments around the world are likely to emerge from the pandemic with a stronger standing than before. Taiwan is one of them—and that’s not good for China. Taiwan was forced to contain the outbreak without official help from the World Health Organization and other international bodies, thanks to China’s longstanding push to isolate the democratically ruled island that it claims as its territory. For weeks, leaders in Taipei struggled to evacuate residents from the virus epicenter in Wuhan, as Beijing rejected basic conditions such as having Taiwanese medical personnel aboard the aircraft. Around the same time, the People’s Republic of China flew bombers and fighter jets around the island, prompting President Tsai Ing-Wen to scramble warplanes. Despite those hurdles, Taiwan has led the world in its fight against the virus, with only about 400 infections and six deaths for a population of 23 million. By comparison, New York state—with slightly fewer people—had almost 300,000 cases and more than 22,000 deaths. Taiwan’s success against Covid-19 has shown that democracies could fight the virus without resorting to authoritarian measures, serving as a key rebuttal against Chinese propaganda showcasing the strength of its system against the West.

Packed With Migrant Workers, Dormitories Fuel Coronavirus in Singapore (NYT) Singapore has seen a surge of coronavirus cases among migrant workers, after months of successfully controlling the outbreak. As of Tuesday, coronavirus cases linked to migrant worker dormitories accounted for 88 percent of Singapore’s 14,446 cases, including more than 1,400 new cases in a single day. Many migrant workers live in packed dormitories on the outskirts of the city. These dormitories can house up to 20 people per room, making it almost impossible to follow social distancing guidelines. Migrant workers around the world have been among the most vulnerable groups affected by the pandemic.

Japanese Gangsters Say “No” To COVID-19 aid (Worldcrunch) Japan’s notorious yakuza—gangsters—have displayed a peculiar sense of civic duty in the face of past national disasters, having donated money to victims of the Kobe earthquake in 1995 and the 2011 Fukushima tsunami disaster. Now, Japanese news site News Post Seven reports that yakuza bosses are publicly declining the 100,000 yen ($940) coronavirus relief checks that the government recently agreed to issue to all registered residents. It’s apparently a question of reputation as much as magnanimity. “To put it simply, it’s not worth it taking a mere 100,000 yen if people then turn around and say that I’m profiting from the country during this state of emergency. If the story spread through word of mouth, my reputation would be finished!,” one unnamed leader of a major gang told Tomohiko Suzuki, a writer and noted organized crime expert. We must assume that the yakuza bosses also wouldn’t dare leave the house without wearing a mask.

Protests flare in Lebanon (Foreign Policy) Protesters are out in full force again in Lebanon, where thousands poured into the streets earlier this week to protest the sharp devaluation of the country’s currency, which has worsened a severe economic crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic. The protests turned violent as demonstrators blocked roads, razed banks, and attacked soldiers, injuring 54 military personnel. The turmoil has some experts worried that the country is on the brink of both economic and political collapse.

#headlines #news

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labourpress · 7 years

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Jeremy Corbyn speech on Brexit

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at an event in Basildon on Labour’s plans for a jobs-first Brexit, said:

***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***

It seems like a long time ago now, but this election was called by the Prime Minister three years early, supposedly in order to make Britain’s exit from the European Union easier for her to manage.

A lot has happened since then. The terrible atrocity in Manchester above all, which has driven home the need to be more effective in the action we take to protect our people, both at home and abroad.

And then we have the extraordinary meltdown of the Conservative Party’s own manifesto within days of it being launched.

Having declared war on Britain’s pensioners, it is now all but impossible to find anyone who can tell you what the Conservative policy actually is on the critical issue of social care, or how many million people stand to lose their winter fuel payments.

The older generation is being reminded of a central truth in British politics: You can’t trust the Tories. You can’t trust the Tories with your pension; with your tax credits; with your personal independence payments; with your national insurance contributions; one U-turn and broken promise after another by this Conservative leadership has made that absolutely clear.

At the same time, we have launched Labour’s own manifesto, setting out positive and fully-costed policies on funding the NHS; scrapping tuition fees; recruiting 10,000 more police officers; raising the living wage to £10; protecting pensioners’ incomes; building more than a million new homes and much more.

We are asking the British people for their support, above all on the basis of that programme of social justice.

But it is also right that we return to the issue of Brexit.

Negotiations with the EU leaders will start in just 18 days.

And the British people have a choice over what priorities, what principles, the British Government will take into those talks.

And which team they trust to lead the difficult negotiations ahead.

I am proud to be joined here today by Labour’s team of Brexit negotiators: Keir Starmer; Emily Thornberry; and Barry Gardiner

A team with the skills and experience to get the best for Britain as we move towards leaving the European Union.

We know the three Tories in whose hands Theresa May has placed our national future: David Davis; Boris Johnson; and Liam Fox.

Now you know I don’t do personal attacks, so let me just say that in Labour’s Brexit team, there is no one who has fibbed to the British people about spending an extra £350 million a week on the NHS because of Brexit; and nobody who has promised to use Brexit to slash workers’ rights; or slash tax for big corporations in a continental race to the bottom; or peddled illusions about the difficulties ahead.

We in Labour understand that getting the right deal, one that secures our country’s interests for the long-term, will be challenging. A matter for serious planning and negotiation, not hectoring and threats.

But Labour is ready.

Ready to deliver a deal that gives British businesses and British society the chance to thrive in a post-Brexit world.

A deal that will allow us to upgrade our economy through public investment in infrastructure and high skilled jobs

A deal that will make Britain a centre for science, technology and research, attracting the brightest and best from around the country and the world, through strategic investment.

A deal that allows us to transform Britain into a country with the strongest rights and protections, and ends exploitation and undercutting in the labour market.

A deal that allows us to become a country that values and protects its public services and invests in its communities.

And a deal that will allow Britain to be a safe and outward looking country, strengthening friendships and working with allies to create a better future for our country, continent and our planet.

The Conservatives want a mandate for their Brexit plan - a plan that puts jobs and living standards at risk and threatens to turn our country into a low-wage offshore tax haven. “Changing our economic model”, as Theresa May put it so delicately, leading a race to the bottom in public services and working conditions.

The party that closed down huge chunks of British industry under Margaret Thatcher, and now pays for tax handouts for the richest with cuts to vital public services, hasn’t changed its spots.

So far, the rhetoric and threats from the Tory government has fostered a toxic climate.

Labour will start negotiations by setting a new tone.

We will confirm to the other member states that Britain is leaving the European Union. That issue is not in doubt.

But, instead of posturing threats and pumped up animosity, a Labour Government under my leadership, will set out a plan for Brexit based on the mutual interests of both Britain and the EU.

Labour will start by giving a clear commitment to the EU nationals who live, work and contribute a huge amount to British society, that they will be guaranteed their existing rights.

It is clear, through my own discussions with European leaders, that it would be the best way to secure reciprocal rights for British nationals living in other parts of the EU.

It is shameful that the Conservatives haven’t acted on this already. That three million members of our communities have been left in limbo.

The Conservatives’ refusal to make the simple commitment that decency demands is a stain on this government’s reputation.

And Labour will be clear from the start: Britain’s economy, business and workforce need tariff-free access to European markets to protect jobs and living standards, and securing that access will be our priority.

Britain certainly can thrive and prosper outside the EU. Our businesses are creative, industrious and inventive.

But they need access to European markets. They need to be part of unimpeded supply chains and they need the chance to grow beyond our borders in order to protect and create jobs, wealth and opportunity.

And the EU’s member states have a mutual interest in maintaining and developing that trade with Britain.

So Britain needs a Labour Government. Instead of putting our economy first, the Conservatives’ reckless approach has left us isolated and marginalised.

Increasing the chances of Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal, which would be the worst outcome for Britain.

Britain is leaving the EU. But let’s be clear, there is no such thing as ‘no deal’.

If we leave without a positive agreement because we have needlessly alienated everyone, we still have to trade with the EU, we still have terms for that trade and very bad ones at that.

Theresa May says no deal is better than a bad deal. Let’s be clear: ‘No deal’ is in fact a bad deal. It is the worst of all deals, because it would leave us with World Trade Organisation tariffs and restrictions instead of the access to European markets we need.

That would mean slapping tariffs on the goods we export: an extra 10 per cent on cars, with the risk that key manufacturers would leave for the European mainland; taking skilled jobs with them.

In sector after sector, ‘no deal’ could prove to be an economic disaster. Theresa May’s approach risks a jobs meltdown across Britain.

Instead, Labour will negotiate a tariff-free deal with the EU, which will benefit both sides, and we will transform our economy for a post-Brexit Britain through a new industrial strategy, that will use powers returned from Brussels, and will rewrite the rules of our economy, so that it serves the interests of the many rather than the few.

Our economy has become dangerously unbalanced; skewed towards London and the financial sector, while our once proud industrial communities have had to live through decades of managed decline.

Productivity and investment lag well behind our nearest competitors; our balance of payments is in deficit and insecure; low paid work is spreading. Leaving the EU will make addressing these weaknesses even more urgent.

That’s why a Labour Government is vital to take a more active role in our economy, working with employers and trade unions to fuel growth and deliver prosperity to every corner of the country.

Powered by our National Investment Bank and National Transformation Fund, Labour’s industrial strategy will deliver the investment our economy so desperately needs.

And our Shadow Business Secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, will be setting out more details of our investment and transformation plan for Britain tomorrow.

Soon, we will no longer be members of the European Union, but agreeing a deal that delivers the benefits of the European single market and the customs union will be the priority for a Labour government.

Leaving the EU will mean the end of free movement of workers between Europe and Britain.

So Labour’s new rules for managing immigration from Europe will be fair and based on what’s best for the economy and our communities.

We will start with a package of strong labour market regulation measures, which will stop the endless undercutting of terms and conditions by unscrupulous employers, often through agency recruitment and which has fuelled much recent migration.

We will crack down on unscrupulous employers;

stop overseas-only recruitment of workers;

strengthen safety and protections at work;

give all workers equal rights from day one in a job;

and increase prosecutions of employers evading the minimum wage.

And, for areas where immigration has placed a strain on public services, Labour will reinstate the migrant impact fund scrapped by the Conservatives.

Labour’s team will also guarantee and expand the rights and protections that British workers have secured through EU legislation.

We will bring forward a specific rights and protections Bill that will lock those protections into British law

The Conservatives simply cannot be trusted on rights at work.

They have led an all-out assault on workers’ rights through their Trade Union Act.

Boris Johnson has demanded that the Government should scrap the EU social chapter.

And the Conservatives also failed to back Labour’s efforts in parliament to protect workers’ rights, which are derived from the European Union.

Labour will not only protect our existing rights, we will extend them.

And Labour’s Brexit strategy will also keep Britain safe.

Unlike the Tories, we will not threaten to withdraw security co-operation from our European allies to get our way. We share similar values, and the solidarity shown by people across Europe after the recent horrific attacks in Manchester; only underlines the point.

We need to work together to make Britain safer and Europe safer.

So Labour will use Brexit negotiations to confirm our commitment to cross border agencies, such as Europol and Eurojust, and we will seek to continue to use the European arrest warrant.

We will also hire 10,000 more police officers to make our communities safer, and an additional 1,000 people to help our security services deal with the threat of terrorism.

Labour is clear that the safety of our citizens should never be used as a bargaining chip.

The choice in this election is not Brexit or no Brexit.

That issue has been settled.

The choice is between a jobs-first Labour Brexit and a reckless Tory Brexit, based on a race to the bottom in working conditions and corporate taxes.

The choice is who you trust to fight for your future? A weak and wobbly Tory Party, which can’t stick with its own key manifesto commitments for a week, which always puts the interests of the wealthy and big business first?

Or a Labour team with clear principles and proven competence, which will put jobs, living standards and the national interest first?

Labour has a plan to transform Britain into a high skill, high wage economy.

And build new trading relationships across the world.

Labour will build a fairer Britain that the millions who voted both “remain” and “leave” last year want to see.

By standing for the many not the few, Labour is the only party which can overcome the divisions of last year’s referendum and deliver a Brexit that brings our country together.

On 19 June, Labour will be ready. Ready to negotiate a Brexit for the many not the few.

That is my promise to our country today.

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hudsonespie · 4 years

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Criminalisation of Seafarer – Rights Without Justice

Criminalization of the seafarers is a term used when any crew, master or any maritime professional faces criminal charges due to an accident involving their vessel, which also caused damage to the port or territorial waters of a country or its environment or such damage to a person or property in the territorial waters of a country.

Most of the time when a charge is brought against the captain of the ship which caused the damage, there is a “wrong belief” that it had an intention on the part of him to commit the offence.

Generally, due to lack of knowledge on the part of the authorities, the seafarers being nearest to the site of the accident are prosecuted by the “local laws” of the country, where such incident took place, even though they may be sailing on a different nationality flag or themselves being from some other country.

Further, it’s the question of operational failure on the vessel which has caused the incident or accident and there is no “mens rea” to cause damage to anyone.

Criminalization of seafarers is of great concern to the marine transportation community. From a practical perspective, seafarers are the single most valuable resource of the industry.

More importantly, from a human perspective, seafarers are a uniquely vulnerable group. They’ve been described as “a special category of a worker” needing “special protection, especially in relation to contacts with public authorities.”

Such indiscrete incident and acts of local authorities have created fear and doubt in the mind of the seafarers on their willingness to work onboard ships.

There was a survey conducted by Nautilus international showing the different criminal charges or investigations, seafarers find themselves at risk of. These are (in order or risk factor): Pollution, scapegoating for a third party, Incorrect Paperwork, Leaving the vessel in poor condition, injuring a person on board, Infringement of local laws, causing an incident relating to drug or alcohol, injuring a person on the shore side, cargo loss etc.

Moreover, the problems faced by the seafarers on being criminalized for an offence is in itself a matter of concern for them.

Seafarers are placed in detention without recourse to fair justice and representation in a foreign country where they don’t have much access to any sort of legal help, they don’t speak the language of the country, they cannot participate in the investigation, and they don’t follow up with the enquiry conducted thereof due to the cultural and language barrier.

Some of the well-known cases in which the seafarers faced Criminalization are The Prestige Case, Tasman Spirit in Pakistan, Costa Concordia case, the Sewol tragedy Ocean Centurion case etc.

Such incidents which cause pollution of sea or death of any person of a country due to the vessel are more in limelight but the minor incidents of harassment from the local authorities on the basis of “port regulations” are often “settled” amicably.

Credits: Rvongher/wikipedia.org

The renowned case of MV Prestige (oil tanker) was one such case of criminalization of seafarer due to oil pollution from the vessel. On 13 November 2002, the MV Prestige was sailing from Ventspils, Latvia to Gibraltar, carrying 77,000 metric tons of two different grades of heavy fuel oil. The weather got changed and it started to take on water from high waves. This caused a 50-foot hole on the starboard side. The crew was evacuated while the ship drifted within four miles of the Spanish coast and leaked oil.

The French, Spanish and Portuguese governments did not allow the vessel to dock to avoid pollution on their coastlines. As a result, after several days of sailing, the vessel split in half on 19 November in Portuguese waters. It sank 250 kilometres from the Spanish coast, releasing over 17 million US gallons (76,000 m3) of oil into the water.

Over 20 million US gallons (76,000 m3) of oil were spilt in total. The Prestige oil spill remains Spain’s and Portugal’s worst ecological disaster until today, causing significant damage to wildlife, environment, as well as the local fishing industry.

The court found the captain, insurer and owner of the tanker that broke up off north-western Spain in 2002 liable. The Captain Apostolos Mangouras was sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment by the Spain court founding him to be “reckless in his duty” and “failing to preserve the environment.”

Image Credit: Bahamas Maritime Authority

The MT Hebei Spirit oil spill was another major oil spill in South Korea making it the worst case of an oil spill in South Korea since 1995. On, 7th December 2007 a crane barge being towed by a tug collided with the anchored crude carrier Hebei Spirit, carrying 260,000 tonnes of crude oil. The collision resulted in three of the five tanks getting burst open and resulted in the leaking of around 10,800 tonnes of oil.

The Hebei Spirit’s most senior officers, Master Jasprit Chawla and Chief Officer Syam Chetan were detained in South Korea. They were found guilty of criminal negligence and sentenced to serve time in jail for 18 months (Master Jasprit Chawla) and 8 months (C.O. Syam Chetan). The government of South Korea’s also detained the crew which sparked controversy.

Upon detention and charges being framed on the seafarer, it is in their right to have a free and fair trial with proper legal aid and enquiry. The main concern is that they are found guilty until proven innocent which is contrary to the rule of law.

Therefore, to protect the rights of the seafarers against unjust criminalization upon a maritime accident the IMO (International Maritime Organization) came up with a bunch of guidelines in 2006 for fair treatment of seafarers.

These guidelines were for the –

Flag state

The port state

Seafarer state

Ship owner and

Seafarer

To mention a few of the guidelines for seafarer protection against criminalisation are:

These assured seafarer fair investigation upon a maritime accident that occurs within their jurisdiction

Cooperate and communicate with all substantially interested States, ship owners, and seafarers

Take steps to provide seafarers’ representative organizations in the port or coastal state with access to seafarers

To preserve the human rights of seafarers at all times

To take steps to ensure/verify that adequate provisions are in place to provide for the subsistence of each detained seafarer including, as appropriate, wages, suitable accommodation, food and medical care; provided interpretation services

Seafarer are advised of their right to independent legal advice

Seafarer are provided access to independent legal advice

Seafarer are advised of their right not to incriminate themselves and their right to remain silent, and, in the case of seafarers who have been taken into custody, ensure that independent legal advice is provided; ensure that all seafarers detained

Seafarer is provided with the means to communicate privately with all of the following parties: – family members; – welfare organizations; – the shipowner; – trade unions; – the Embassy or Consulate of the flag State and of their country of residence or nationality; and – legal representatives; etc.

“The IMO 2006 guidelines” also gave the seafarers certain guidelines upon getting arrested to be aware of which are; taking steps to ensure, if necessary, that they have appropriate interpretation services; taking steps to ensure that they fully understand their right, not to self-incriminate and that they fully understand that when statements are made to port, coastal or flag State investigators; taking steps to ensure, that they have arrangements for access to legal advice before deciding whether to give statements to port, coastal or flag State investigators; participating in an investigation, to the extent possible, having regard to their right not to self-incriminate, with port, coastal or Flag State investigators, by providing truthful information to the best of their knowledge and belief.

However, even after the IMO and ITF guidelines on the seafarer’s fair treatment most of the countries refrain from following them.

The seafarers today are still deprived of the basic rights which they deserve upon a maritime accident thereby rising a matter of concern for the entire shipping community to take up the matter seriously and work together for a fair and just trial process.

Despite all these rights given to the seafarers, it has been found that the rights of seafarers, as enshrined in the Guidelines, may often be subject to violation and that there is widespread concern among seafarers.

Upon his/her arrest the port state does not cooperate and communicate with all substantially interested states, ship owners and seafarers about his/her well being; the seafarer is not taken care of for his/her wages, food, accommodation and medical treatment; and often not allowed to communicate with his/her family, welfare organisation, trade union, embassy.

Moreover, it is also the responsibility of the seafarer state to fund the repatriation of their national seafarers following the aftermath of a maritime accident in instances where ship owners and the flag State fail to fulfil their responsibilities to repatriate.

It is of utmost importance for the seafarer to be aware of all the rights given to him/her by the IMO 2006 guidelines and this should be part of the curriculum for their competency exams.

Further, the Master of the ship should be Trained for Media Handling, as an additional qualification, until such time a person designated to do so takes over.

The master must be taught in advance how to handle the media for a while so that in the initial moments of the accident he does not issue any statement or share details of any documents which might be used against him or the seafarer as a statement in the court during judicial proceedings which will jeopardise his stand in the case.

There should be an adjudged transparency between the Master and the Complainant.

IMO has to play a major role in cognizance with Flag state, Owners and the operators as well as mangers.

Instead of going for a blame game of acquisition to Vessel Owner and Master, due diligence has to be exercised in trying to ascertain the root cause and before passing the verdict in the media.

Also, Criminalization cases cost a lot of money to fight. It can be well over US$250,000 in legal fees. The P&I Club help and do so to a certain extent but they are more for the ship owners. Therefore, there is a need for professional indemnity insurance for the seafarers for protection like doctors, lawyers and others have. There also arises a need for an association or a union that can provide such cover.

There is an “International Seafarers Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) has a telephone helpline which manned 24/7/365 and has interpreters so it can assist non-English speakers.” There are various such Seaman Centre who also provide adequate help to the victimized seaman and help them with legal representation. Further, some shipping companies are quick to act and ensure their ship staff is well protected and the P&I Club is informed to take action through their local correspondent.

Thus, incidents that have caused damage due to the operational failure or negligence of the vessel staff or due to the vessel equipment or hull failure due to lack of maintenance or other means, which are not intentionally done by the ship staff needs to be tackled with training and counselling of the seafarer and not their criminalisation.

The Seafarers interest, fear and unwillingness to work in shipping industry due to the criminalisation need to be eradicated and their trust needs to brought back with IMO guidelines being adopted and followed properly all over the world.

Disclaimer: The authors’ views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of Marine Insight. Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from available information and have not been authenticated by any statutory authority. The author and Marine Insight do not claim it to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same. The views constitute only the opinions and do not constitute any guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be followed by the reader.

The article or images cannot be reproduced, copied, shared or used in any form without the permission of the author and Marine Insight.

About the Author:

Rahul Varma, Advocate, Ex Master Mariner and DPA,

Founder, Ally Maritime And Legal Services, Mumbai, India.

www.allymaritime.com

Acknowledgement to Rishabh Srivastava, 4th Year Law Student, Ramaiah Institute of Legal Studies Bangalore.

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impressivepress · 4 years

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Russia 1917: how art helped make the revolution

Revolution in Russia swept away the dictatorial rule of the Tsar in February 1917. Then in October, led by the Bolshevik Party, a second revolution set up the world's first workers' state.

Society was turned upside down as working class people exercised power through the direct democracy of mass councils - or in Russian, 'soviets'. It was a time of liberation and celebration.

But building the foundations of a socialist society would not be easy in such an impoverished country.

The economy had been wrecked by the Tsar's disastrous involvement in World War One as an ally of British and French imperialism. Then civil war raged as the reactionary forces of the old regime were backed by the military intervention of the capitalist powers.

Stretched resources had to be turned towards defending the workers' state, rebuilding the economy and providing people's basic needs.

Even so, in November 1917 the church's stifling monopoly on education was ended. Teaching methods were modernised and made relevant to working class and peasant communities.

Children were encouraged to take part in music, drama, literature and art as part of an all-round approach to human development. Free technical college and university education was opened up.

From August 1918, the agit-trains criss-crossed the country, spreading news of the revolution's aims: democratic decision making, land reform, women's equality, the right of national self-determination, international solidarity.

The carriages were brightly painted, depicting topical themes. They fired the imagination with debates, news, recordings of events in Petrograd and Moscow, exhibitions, performance and film. The 'Red Star' ship towed a cinema barge with seating for 800 people.

Censored under the tsar, shunned by the old art establishment, rebellious artists were swept up by the mood. They got stuck in. One key task was to raise the educational level. It is impossible, after all, for people to run society when most of them are illiterate. Poster art came into its own.

In 1918, the avant-garde artist Vera Ermolaeva founded the 'Segodnia' (Today) collective in Petrograd, the first Soviet children's book publisher. This was when Russia's paper-producing regions were occupied by enemy forces, effectively halting book production.

When the civil war was over at the end of 1920, printing went into overdrive. By 1922 there were more than 300 publishing houses in Moscow and Petrograd.

Ermolaeva also worked at the Petrograd City Museum and helped Kazimir Malevich develop the student-based 'Unovis' (Creators of the New Art). This forged a direct link with the Lomonosov porcelain factory - art into mass production. They teamed up at the experimental and interactive Museum of Artistic Culture which aimed to put control of art into the hands of artists.

Yiddish literature was another crucial part of the education drive - Jews had long been persecuted under the Tsar - with leading roles played by artists such as Marc Chagall. This was only possible because the Bolsheviks had lifted Tsarist restrictions on the Yiddish language.

In August 1918, Chagall became commissar of arts for Vitebsk, the town of his birth (in what is now Belarus), organising art schools, museums, events and conferences. He set up the People's Art College for 300 students in a residence taken over from a fat-cat financier.

A local newspaper announced: "From the lavish mansion of the banker Vishnyak, built on the blood and sweat, the suffering and tears of hundreds and thousands of people impoverished by usury, the dawn of a new culture rose above Vitebsk."

Lyubov Popova applied her ground-breaking art to set designs for the radical theatre director Vsevelod Meyerhold. His style was visual, bold and energetic, engaging the audience - not patronising or aloof.

Varvara Stepanova produced an iconic poster for Sergei Eisenstein's revolutionary film Battleship Potemkin. Popova and Stepanova worked together with the state textile factory in Moscow.

Innovation

Free art studios were set up in Moscow in 1918. One of the teachers was Vladimir Tatlin, who designed a building with rotating floors, meant for the conferences, executive, and communications centre of the Communist International, originally set up to spread socialism across the globe. The building was to be transparent so the workings of socialist democracy could be seen by all.

Steel shortages and technological problems meant that Tatlin's tower could not be built at the time. Its design stands, nonetheless, as a testament to the ambition and optimism of the day.

Tackling the housing crisis was another pressing priority. Innovative solutions were encouraged, combining areas for communal eating, recreation and meeting spaces. The plans often included crèches, shops, libraries and medical services. A central aim was to promote women's equality and participation by freeing them from isolating domestic drudgery.

The general approach was to link art, architecture, engineering and production - breaking down rigid divisions and hierarchies. Inevitably, tensions and jealousies arose at times, reflecting the difficult conditions and the pre-1917 upper-middle class roots of many of the leading artists.

The new workers' state had prepared the ground for this outpouring of energy. Only by nationalising key economic sectors and developing a plan of production could the necessary resources be freed up.

And that was a beacon for the whole world - socially, economically and culturally.

It had created the most modern of modern art anywhere on the planet, and involved many thousands of workers and youth in creative activity, science and technology.

Tragically, however, this new generation faced an almost insurmountable barrier. It is impossible for any country to realise socialism on its own, and Russia in particular needed the support of more economically advanced countries.

Although revolutionary movements shook Germany between 1918 and 1923, they did not overturn capitalist rule. Other mass movements in Italy, Britain, China, the United States, France and Spain - among others - likewise failed to make the breakthrough.

The isolation of the revolution in Russia left the new workers' state stunted. Straining to win the civil war and rebuild the shattered economy, workers did not have the time or energy to participate fully in running society. A bureaucratic caste of administrators and officials - increasingly backed by security forces - began to solidify at the top.

Led by Joseph Stalin, it was a privileged layer resting on top of the nationalised planned economy. In the process of strengthening its grip on power, it snuffed out the last remains of workers' democracy and derailed revolutionary movements internationally.

The superiority of a planned economy over profit-driven capitalism could be seen in the growth of the Soviet Union into a world superpower after World War Two. Moreover, in important social provision: jobs, housing, education and healthcare.

Stalinism

The grotesque top-down nature of the system under Stalin, however, meant that this was achieved at colossal cost: in wasted resources, environmental disaster, distorted development and savage repression costing millions of lives.

Leon Trotsky, co-leader with Vladimir Lenin of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, and many other Bolsheviks and workers, fought for workers' democracy and in defence of international revolution in the 'Left Opposition'. This was opposed to Stalin's self-serving declaration of "socialism in one country."

But the global revolution was stalling, and the population was exhausted by war. And so engagement in the democratic structures of the Soviet government and Bolsheviks - by then renamed the Communist Party - receded.

Stalin's supporters in the bureaucracy took advantage of this period to marginalise the Left Opposition, increasingly with physical repression, and dismantle the democratic structures - to guard against a future resurgence.

Stalin's attack on democracy went hand in hand with a general attack on freedom of expression. In 1926, the Museum of Artistic Culture was shut down. In 1927, Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party, forced into exile the following year. In 1930, Malevich was arrested, his work suppressed. Many artistic organisations were closed in 1932.

In 1934, the Stalinist regime declared that 'socialist realism' was the sole authorised artistic style - alongside 'proletarian literature'. Artists and writers were being ordered to glorify the regime, Stalin above all. Trotsky would sum it up as "a kind of concentration camp for the arts."

Rare examples of innovation and resistance did exist - no regime can impose complete control - but they had to be smuggled out like contraband.

Those unwilling to toe the Stalinist line were targeted. Artists, writers and composers saw their work censored and confiscated. Ermolaeva was arrested in 1934, charged with 'anti-Soviet activity' and sentenced to three years imprisonment. Just before her release, she was sentenced to death - shot dead in a forced labour camp in 1937.

In 1938, Meyerhold's theatre was closed down. In 1939 he was arrested and tortured, on the ludicrous accusation of spying for both Britain and Japan. He was executed in 1940. Zinaida Reich, the actress he married, was knifed to death in their apartment, undoubtedly by secret police agents.

Thousands of other examples could be given. This ran alongside the Moscow show trials as Stalin systematically purged revolutionaries from the system.

Trotsky continued to fight against this counterrevolution. In 1938, the year he set up the Fourth International - founded to defend the revolutionary ideas the Third International had by then abandoned - he drew up the 'Manifesto: Towards a Free Revolutionary Art'.

This was with André Breton, cofounder of the surrealist movement, and the artist and revolutionary Diego Rivera. It led to the formation of the International Federation for Independent Revolutionary Art, grouping together antifascists and anti-Stalinists.

It was a bold but short-lived initiative. The onset of World War Two and the assassination of Trotsky by one of Stalin's agents in 1940 cut across it. Stalinism emerged strengthened at the end of the war - until it finally collapsed in 1989-90.

Trotsky, however, had left a priceless legacy: keeping alive the proven idea that the working class can take power on a democratic socialist and internationalist programme. That there is a viable alternative to capitalism, and to Stalinism. His analysis of art and revolution, art and society, has also been an invaluable addition to Marxist understanding.

Manny Thain · 26 July 2017.

#history article #russian revolution #leon trotsky #socialist party

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