Via America’s Lawyer: Hundreds of servicemembers were promised compensation for medical malpractice over a year ago. So why haven’t they seen a penny from the Pentagon yet? RT correspondent Brigida Santos joins Mike Papantonio to explain how troops and veterans are still awaiting payouts to the tune of $2 billion. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, […]
In his “What, to the slave, is the Fourth of July” speech, Black abolitionist Fredrick Douglass highlighted the gross contradictions of a country that claimed to celebrate freedom and independence while embracing slavery. Douglass, however, took solace in America’s age. “There is consolation in the thought that America is young. Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages,” Douglass said in his speech on July 5, 1852. The country was 76 at the time.
Today, the settler-colonial nation-state of the U.S. turns 245 years old. Yet the underlying problems of white supremacism that Douglass addressed in his famous speech persist. Among the contradictions of today’s Independence Day observations will include the honoring of the armed forces for “keeping America safe” and “defending our freedoms,” despite the prevalence of white supremacy in the ranks and the fact that many current and former service members participated in the January 6 breach at the U.S. Capitol, which sought to violently disrupt the certification of a legitimate presidential election.
On April 1, the Department of Defense “completed” a 60-day stand-down to address the growing problem of white extremism in the military. The review was prompted by the fact that 20 percent of those facing charges from the January 6 events have a background in the armed forces. The stand-down centered around conversations with rank-and-file soldiers that would allegedly “reinforce the military’s values.” The information gleaned from these discussions would be sent up the chain of command. What would happen next is unclear, at least from what we’ve been told by Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby.
The lack of clarity on next steps is likely due to the fact that no official data would be collected during these conversations. The top brass in charge of coordinating the discussions believe that conversations that reinforce values of the military would be enough, and that data collection would be unnecessary. Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said the stand-down would also be a chance to listen to service members [about] their own feelings about extremism. Such a policy is counterproductive, according to the chief of staff at the Southern Poverty Law Center, Lecia Brooks, who has been calling for more data collection on the scope of right-wing extremism in the military. As Brooks said in a March 25 interview with Democracy Now!, the day after she testified at an Armed Services Committee hearing on extremism in the Armed Forces, “data drives policy.”
In May, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin created an “extremism task force.” This task force has a July deadline to make “recommendations on potential changes to military justice.” Again, any recommendations will be based on scant official data because the military is notorious for not wanting to acknowledge or document the problem of white supremacism in the ranks.
This is what we do know: Veterans make up 25 percent of all militia members in the U.S., according to a recent report from The New York Times. In early 2020, one in three active-duty service members reported to the Military Times that they saw evidence of white supremacism in the ranks. An August 2020 poll conducted by the Military Times reported that 57 percent of troops of color have personally experienced some form of racist or white supremacist behavior.
In 2018, Brandon Russell, a member of the Floridian National Guard, was sentenced to a five-year prison sentence for harboring explosives. It was revealed during the trial that Russell had founded a violent neo-Nazi group. In May 2020, an Air Force sergeant who belonged to a boogaloo extremist movement was accused of murdering a federal security agent. In June 2020, an active-duty soldier named Ethan Melzer was charged with plotting a mass casualty attack in collaboration with his neo-Nazi group.
If the military’s handling of sexual assault is any indication of how the “task force” to confront right-wing extremism will go, then we can assume that there will be plenty of talk without much action to root out the problem.
In 2020 there were 7,825 reports (a large number of cases go unreported) of sexual assault in all branches of the military, a 3 percent increase over 2019. A number of hearings on sexual assault followed the release of the 2012 Academy Award-nominated documentary “Invisible War.” “Invisible War” exposed the depth of the sexual assault epidemic and resulting cover ups in the U.S. military. Nearly a decade later, promises from generals and politicians to solve the issue have clearly proven empty.
Very little has been said about the results of the 60-day stand-down since it concluded on April 1. Silence is exactly what top brass and politicians count on because fixing the problem would pose a threat to their first priority — a strong empire that requires violence and oppression to achieve its goals. From the earliest days of supporting the colonization of Turtle Island to the use of the national guard against Standing Rock and Black Lives Matter protests — and from the wars on Japan and Vietnam to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan — the armed forces needed to dehumanize others as irredeemably violent, dangerous and uncivilized in order to encourage its soldiers to treat them as an enemy.
The U.S. isn’t young anymore. One can’t help but wonder what Fredrick Douglass would say if he were to give a speech on the country’s 245th birthday. The “great streams” of American racism, white supremacy and sexism have indeed worn deep. A full 169 years after Douglass’s speech, the U.S. is still bogged down by many of the same contradictions. Any progress that has been made wasn’t due to benevolent rulers or a compassionate state apparatus, but came as a result of courageous people coming together to shine light on and resist intolerance and oppression.
As American flags are posted on porches and fill front lawns across the U.S., let’s not let them block the light of justice. This Fourth of July, let’s not hide behind empty promises, cover-ups and manipulative patriotism. Let’s continue to expose what the military and other American institutions want to hide. Let’s fight against empire.
It’s well past time that we damn the river of hate that continues to run through this country.
The prosecution of two former soldiers for Troubles murders, including two on Bloody Sunday, are to be halted.
Justice halted
Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service has announced that the case against Soldier F for the murder of James Wray and William McKinney on Bloody Sunday in Londonderry in 1972 will not proceed.
The prosecution of another veteran, Soldier B, for the murder of 15-year-old Daniel Hegarty in Derry later in 1972, will also not proceed, the PPS said.
The discontinuation of the high-profile prosecutions comes after the PPS reviewed the cases in light of a recent court ruling that caused the collapse of another Troubles murder trial involving two military veterans.
The Crown cases against both Soldier F and Soldier B hinged on evidence of a similar nature to that which was ruled inadmissible in April’s trial of Soldier A and Soldier C for the 1972 murder of Official IRA leader Joe McCann in Belfast. Faced with the likelihood of that type of evidence being ruled inadmissible again in any future trial, the PPS has concluded that there is no longer a reasonable prospect of convicting either Soldier F or Soldier B.
The families of the victims in both cases were informed of the PPS decisions in private meetings in a Derry hotel on 2 July.
Director of public prosecutions Stephen Herron said:
I recognise these decisions bring further pain to victims and bereaved families who have relentlessly sought justice for almost 50 years and have faced many setbacks. It is clear to see how these devastating events in 1972, in which the families involved lost an innocent loved one, caused an enduring pain which continues to weigh heavily.
Mickey McKinney with his brothers John (right) and Joe (left), the brothers of Bloody Sunday victim William McKinney (Liam McBurney/PA)
Accused of murder
Solider F, an ex-paratrooper, was accused of murdering Wray and McKinney on Bloody Sunday on 30 January 1972, when troops opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in Derry’s Bogside, killing 13 people.
He was also accused of the attempted murders of Patrick O’Donnell, Joseph Friel, Joe Mahon, and Michael Quinn. He faced a further supporting charge of the attempted murder of a person or persons unknown on the day. The case against him had reached the stage of a committal hearing at Derry Magistrates’ Court, to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to proceed to trial.
The PPS has now requested a court date to formally withdraw the proceedings against Soldier F.
Family members of Bloody Sunday victim James Wray (left to right), Margaret, John, Doreen, family solicitor Greg McCartney and Liam Wray, in Londonderry (Liam McBurney/PA)
The family of McKinney have vowed to challenge the PPS decision in the High Court in an effort to prevent the case being dropped. After meeting with the PPS, Mickey McKinney, William’s brother, said the campaign for justice would continue. He said:
This issue is far from concluded. We will fight on.
The Wray family said they did not intend to take further legal action but would support other families pursuing that course.
In the case of Solider B, the PPS had announced in 2019 an intention to prosecute him for the murder of Daniel and the wounding with intent of his cousin Christopher Hegarty, then aged 16.
Des Doherty, the solicitor for the family of Daniel Hegarty, speaks to the media (Liam McBurney/PA)
Shot dead
The shooting happened during Operation Motorman, an Army operation mounted against the IRA. Daniel and Christopher, who had gone to watch the military operation, were shot after encountering an Army patrol in the Creggan area in the early hours of 31 July, 1972.
The PPS had not yet got to the stage of issuing summons to formally begin the prosecution of Soldier B – a delay caused by the veteran’s unsuccessful High Court bid to challenge the move to bring charges against him. The planned prosecution will now no longer proceed.
A lawyer for the Hegarty family urged the police to obtain a fresh statement from Soldier B, potentially by arresting him, to enable the prosecution to continue.
Daniel Hegarty died on July 31, 1972 (Family Handout/PA)
Solicitor Des Doherty said:
Unless the PPS, through their direction to police, now invite Soldier B to voluntarily attend with the police to be interviewed in relation to the murder of Daniel and the attempted murder of Christopher, then Soldier B should be arrested because there is still time to cure the problem.
Inadmissable evidence
Two distinct sources of evidence were deemed inadmissible by justice O’Hara in his highly significant April 30 ruling that led to the collapse of the Joe McCann murder trial. The first were statements taken from the two accused soldiers by the Royal Military Police in 1972. The judge ruled those unreliable because the soldiers were denied several basic legal rights and safeguards when giving their statements to the RMP, including a formal caution and access to legal representation.
The second evidential source found inadmissible was latter-day evidence emanating from the veterans’ engagement in 2010 with a specialist police unit investigating legacy cases, the Historical Enquiries Team (HET).
A man receives attention during the shooting incident in Londonderry which became known as Bloody Sunday (PA)
O’Hara said it would be unfair to admit that as evidence due to ambiguity over the HET’s purpose – to fact-find or to conduct criminal investigations – and the fact the accused were not informed what offence they were suspected of when cautioned.
The case against Soldier F over the Bloody Sunday murders hinged on the contents of statements taken by the RMP from two other soldiers involved in the events of Bloody Sunday. Without those statements, the Crown would have been unable to prove that Soldier F was in the Bogside when the shots were fired.
In the Soldier B prosecution, an account of the shooting he gave to the HET in 2006 would have been crucial to the PPS case against him.
Crowds on the road to watch the funeral procession of those who died during Bloody Sunday (PA)
The broader picture
A total of seven legacy cases involving military personnel were looked at by the PPS in the wake of O’Hara’s ruling. In four of the cases a decision to prosecute had already been taken.
While the Bloody Sunday and Daniel Hegarty cases will no longer proceed following formal reviews, the prosecution of former soldier Dennis Hutchings for the attempted murder of John Pat Cunningham in Co Tyrone in 1974 will continue. So too will the case against David Jonathan Holden, who is accused of manslaughter by gross negligence in relation to the 1988 shooting of Aidan McAnespie at a checkpoint close to the Irish border.
Those cases are not affected by the same evidential issues
The three other cases involving former military personnel are still awaiting initial prosecution decisions and the O’Hara judgment will be factored into those ongoing processes.
Secret military documents found at a Kent bus stop show us how British foreign policy works. The papers were reportedly found by a member of the public and then ended up with the BBC.
The documents contained important details of a naval confrontation between Russian forces and a UK warship. And an investigation is being conducted into their loss. The documents provide a brief snapshot of the UK’s international conduct and also ask serious questions about it.
Crimea clash
On 23 June, the destroyer HMS Defender passed close to waters claimed by Russia. The ship had left Odessa, where UK defence firms had signed a deal with Ukraine to build military bases and supply patrol ships.
Aboard were BBC journalists. Defender found itself ‘buzzed’ by Russian aircraft and ships. The journalists filmed the events. And the entire incident was framed as one of Russian aggression.
However, the surprise discovery of the papers turns the UK narrative on its head.
Theatre
Among the details revealed by the BBC after receiving the documents were plans for the Crimean mission, dubbed Op [Operation] DitroIte. And the BBC‘s reporting appears to show officials discussing possible outcomes of the ship’s passage. Their comments suggest that the UK sought an aggressive reaction from Russia.
A Powerpoint slide in the files shows two possible routes. One was close to Crimea and likely to attract what officials term a “welcoming party”. But the other did not pass through contested waters.
The BBC reported:
Alongside the military planning, officials anticipated competing versions of events.
We have a strong, legitimate narrative”, they said, noting that the presence of the embedded journalists (from the BBC and Daily Mail) on board the destroyer “provides an option for independent verification of HMS Defender’s action.
The BBC was cagey about what it disclosed. On the arms exports its says:
The bundle includes updates on arms exports campaigns, including sensitive observations about areas where Britain might find itself competing with European allies.
The shadow war
The files also suggested that high-level discussions were underway about Afghanistan troop deployments after withdrawal this year.
Because the US appears to have requested UK special forces troops stay in the country after withdrawal in 2021. The BBCreported few details, saying they could endanger lives.
The files acknowledged great danger to any troops who remain, for instance:
“Any UK footprint in Afghanistan that persists… is assessed to be vulnerable to targeting by a complex network of actors,” it says, noting that “the option to withdraw completely remains.”
Behind-the-scenes
Naturally, the BBC released very little about the files.
And it appears the Crimea incident was stage-managed at the British end to shape public perceptions. So it seems quite likely the BBC were onboard to report the UK narrative.
These files may only represent a snapshot. But subjected to stage-managed events like Crimea, it’s no wonder the public can’t easily understand Britain’s role in the world. Moreover, serious questions need to be asked about how the UK media works with the UK military.
While a Paris roundtable about the legacy of nuclear tests at Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls is eagerly awaited by the French Polynesian government, the nuclear veterans organisations wonder whether the victims are really represented at the talks. Like every year, they will instead mark tomorrow — July 2 — as the day in 1966 when France detonated its first nuclear bomb in the South Pacific. Walter Zweifel reports.
A high-level roundtable on France’s nuclear legacy in French Polynesia is being held in Paris this week, aimed at “turning the page” on the aftermath of the weapons tests.
Between 1966 to 1996, France carried out 193 tests in the South Pacific, yet 25 years later there are still outstanding claims for compensation and the test sites remain no-go zones monitored by France.
Analysing declassified French documents, the study Toxique by the news website Disclose concluded that the fallout affected the entire population and not only the immediate testing zone around Moruroa as the public had been led to believe.
Macron’s initiative to put the recent history on the table has been welcomed by French Polynesia’s president Edouard Fritch, but has been dismissed by the opposition, nuclear veteran groups and the dominant Maohi Protestant Church, which will stay away, saying the delegation from Tahiti lacks credibility and legitimacy.
For Fritch, the problems thrown up by the nuclear test era have been discussed with French politicians for the past 25 years but he says it is Macron who at last wants to deal with this “pebble in the shoe” in the relationship with Tahiti.
This harks back to Macron’s 2017 presidential election campaign when his team promised Tahitians that Paris would assume key responsibility for health care and to pay in full for the medical costs incurred by those suffering from radiation-induced illnesses.
Tests’ impact on health, environment
Fritch told media that the upcoming talks should bring ‘truth and justice’, with an agenda looking at the tests’ impact on health and the environment, and the financial costs.
The Tahitian delegation also wants France to acknowledge its nuclear legacy in the constitution.
French President Emmanuel Macron and French Polynesian President Edouard Fritch … the initiative to put the recent history on the table has been welcomed – and dismissed. Image: RNZ
Fritch said he would “ask the President of the Republic to give us a precise timetable and above all to send us competent people in the matters that will be discussed”.
Accompanying Fritch is a representative of the Territorial Assembly and the territory’s members of the French legislature, such as Lana Tetuanui, as well as employer and union delegates.
Among the French participants will be the health minister but the defence minister is not certain to attend.
French Polynesia’s former president Gaston Flosse, who for decades defended France’s testing regime, was not invited.
Reflecting the simmering dissonance in Tahiti, the pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira party of Oscar Temaru rejected the invitation to Paris outright, labelling the planned talks a sham.
Temaru said any such talks should not be held in the capital of the colonising power, but rather in New York under the auspices of the United Nations.
While France refuses to acknowledge the 2013 UN decision to reinscribe French Polynesia on the decolonisation list, Temaru insists that “the right of peoples to self-determination is a sacred right, and there is no mixing the sacred and the vile, that is money. Our people are not for sale, Mā’ohi Nui is not for sale.”
The main nuclear test veterans organisation, Moruroa e tatou, decided to boycott the talks.
Its leader Hiro Tefaarere said that after 50 years of people suffering from the test legacy, those going to Paris put money at the forefront of their demands and not ethics.
He said Fritch would not have joined the roundtable had not it been for the release of Toxique which identified the French state’s “secrecy, lies and negligence”.
‘Crime against humanity’ Rejecting the French invitation, the Māohi Protestant Church, which is the main denomination in Tahiti, has in turn invited Macron to attend its synod when he is expected to visit Tahiti in the next few weeks.
The head of the church, Francois Pihaatae, said that by going to Paris, they would have the “wool pulled over their eyes”, but once Macron was in Tahiti the presence of the local people would create a counterweight.
The church has been critical of the French state, saying it proceeded with the tests in full knowledge of the impact of nuclear testing since before 1963.
Both the church and Temaru’s Tavini Huiraatira Party alleged that this amounted to a crime against humanity.
Three years ago, they announced that they had taken their case to the International Criminal Court (ICC), but it is not known if the court has accepted jurisdiction for their complaint.
Paris roundly rejected the claims, condemning what it called the misuse of the court’s international jurisdiction for local political purposes.
The French High Commissioner Rene Bidal said at the time the definition of a crime against humanity centred on the Nuremburg trials after the Second World War and referred to killings, exterminations, and deportations.
Soon after making his charge, Temaru was forced out of office over an election campaign irregularity, which his Tavini Huiraatira party said was orchestrated by France to “politically assassinate” him in retribution for the ICC case.
Until 2009, France claimed that its tests were clean and caused no harm, but in 2010, under the stewardship of Defence Minister Herve Morin, a compensation law was passed.
Over a decade, it proved to be a source of frustration because most claimants, who suffered from any of the 23 recognised types of cancer, failed with their applications.
This prompted a loosening of the eligibility criteria and then again a tightening, leaving it still open for further amendments.
French Polynesia’s social security agency CPS has repeatedly called on the French state to reimburse it for the medical costs caused by its tests.
It said that since 1995 it had paid out US$800 million to treat a total of 10,000 people suffering from cancer as the result of radiation.
Temaru said the money was a debt, pointing out that if a crime was committed it was not up to the victims to have to pay.
Remnants of the French nuclear testing infrastructure on Moruroa atoll where tests were staged until the ended in 1996. Image: RNZ/AFP
Risks around Moruroa The question of the tests’ lasting intergenerational effects remains unanswered.
In 2018, a study was planned after the former head of child psychiatry in Tahiti, Dr Christian Sueur, reported pervasive developmental disorders in zones close to the Moruroa weapons test site.
The findings — reported in the Le Parisien newspaper — caused an uproar in Tahiti and Fritch accused Dr Sueur of causing panic.
The psychiatrist had reported that a quarter of children he treated for pervasive developmental disorders had intellectual disabilities or deformities which he attributed to genetic mutations.
However, three years on a study by a geneticist is yet to be commissioned.
Calls for a clean-up of the Moruroa test site continue.
Although France stopped its weapons tests in 1996, it has refused to return the excised atoll to French Polynesia and declared it a no-go zone.
The Tavini’s Moetai Brotherson, who is also a member of the French National Assembly, said France might lack either the technology or the financial means to remove radioactive sediments.
He also said the cracks on Moruroa were a concern which might explain why France’s biggest investment in the region is the US$100 million Telsite monitoring system against a possible tsunami.
There are fears the atoll could collapse as result of the more than 140 underground nuclear blasts.
Plans for a memorial to be built in Pape’ete have had lacklustre support from those who keep mistrusting France.
While the roundtable is eagerly awaited by the French Polynesian government, the nuclear veterans organisations wonder whether the victims are really represented at the talks.
Like every year, they will instead mark tomorrow — July 2 — as the day in 1966 when France detonated its first nuclear bomb in the South Pacific.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Retired foundation director of Otago’s National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies Professor Kevin Clements has been awarded the International Studies Association’s (ISA) 2022 Distinguished Scholar Award in its peace studies section.
The ISA said the award was given each year to a scholar who had a substantial record of research, practice and/or publishing in the field of peace and conflict studies.
The association’s selection committee was deeply impressed by the breadth and quality of Professor Clements’ work on disarmament, conflict resolution and problems of historical memory and reconciliation in Asia-Pacific, as well as his institution – and organisation – building work.
“I would like to share this honour with all of my colleagues since, among other things, the committee noted my ‘institution and organisation building work’. I could do no institution building without all of your talent, hard work and support,” Professor Clements said.
“I look forward to acknowledging my NCPACS and Australian peace and conflict studies colleagues at the award ceremony.”
At the upcoming 2022 International Studies Association conference in Nashville, Tennessee, Professor Clements will join the Distinguished Scholar Awards Roundtable to celebrate his contributions to the field.
Professor Clements was at Otago for 11 years before retiring in 2020. He was awarded the NZ Peace Foundation’s 2014 Peacemaker Award and served as secretary-general of the International Peace Research Association and past secretary-general of the Asia Pacific Peace Research Association.
Prior to taking up these positions he was the professor of peace and conflict studies and foundation director of the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
His career has been a combination of academic analysis and practice in the areas of peacebuilding and conflict transformation. Professor Clements has been a regular consultant to a variety of non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations.
Weapons licensed for export to two-thirds of states on ‘not free’ register, including Libya, Saudi Arabia and Turkey
Two-thirds of countries classified as “not free” because of their dire record on human rights and civil liberties have received weapons licensed by the UK government over the past decade, new analysis reveals.
Between 2011-2020, the UK licensed £16.8bn of arms to countries criticised by Freedom House, a US government-funded human rights group.
The West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Organisation (TPNPB-OPM) has warned the Papuan people not to trust that the TNI (Indonesian military) and the Polri (Indonesian police) can provide them with security guarantees in the region.
OPM spokesperson Sebby Sambom said that they had “sounded the drums of war” against the security forces so civilian population that were still in certain areas could avoid becoming casualties, reports CNN Indonesia.
“You (the civilian population) shouldn’t listen to the orders by the TNI-Polri saying, ‘We guarantee [the safety of] the civilian population’– there’s no such guarantee, the TNI-Polri are deceiving you,” said Sambom in a video release received by journalists.
Sambom is appealing civilian populations from all groups to leave regions which the OPM had designated as “war zones”. He said that there were several such conflict areas. including Intan Jaya, Puncak Jaya, Ndugama, the Bintang Highlands and Yahukimo.
Sambom said that the OPM — which has been labeled as a “terrorist” organisation by Jakarta — would not be responsible for civilians that died.
“If you’re a construction worker, a motorcycle taxi driver, all of you [must] leave the conflict areas. Because we cannot be responsible for your lives, we have warned you,” he said.
“But you listen to the TNI-Polri which deceives you by saying we guarantee [your safety], they are deceiving you,” Sambom said.
OPM call criticised
Joint Defence Area Command III (Kogabwilhan III) spokesperson Colonel Czi Gusti Nyoman Suriastawa responded by claiming that the OPM’s call was “a deception” which had been endlessly repeated by the group.
He said that there were no regions in Papua which are war zones. According to Suriastawa, every incident which had occurred was due to the OPM “terrorist movement”.
Moreover, he claimed that the OPM was becoming increasingly isolated.
“Let them (the OPM) say what they want. Up until now, there are no conflict areas that are war zones, what there is the OPM terrorist movement which is increasingly being squeezed because their capacity to move [is limited because] they are constantly being pursued by TNI-Polri personnel”, Suriastawa told CNN Indonesia.
He said that the Papuan people were increasingly showing their opposition to armed pro-independence groups which the government had now designated as terrorists.
According to Suriastawa, the public was no longer influenced by the “propaganda” of the OPM which he alleged was acting outside the law and even killed Papuan people themselves.
“This shows just how angry the ordinary people are at seeing the brutality and arbitrary actions of the OPM,” he claimed.
Workers fired on
Earlier, an armed group is alleged to have fired on five construction workers working on the Kuk River Bridge in Samboga village, Seradala district, Yahukimo regency, last Thuraday.
Four of the five have been declared dead while the surviving victim is being treated for injuries sustained from broken glass.
During the incident, an armed group numbering about 30 militants fired on a convoy of trucks carrying workers. They were attacked with a variety of weapons including knives, arrows, machetes, samurai swards and rifles.
Based on witness testimonies gathered by police, four other workers were being held hostage by the armed group at an unknown location.
The UK military must stop recruiting under 18s, a coalition of human rights groups has urged. An open letter to defence secretary Ben Wallace said the military should change its recruiting policy. Human rights organisations such as Liberty, Medact, Amnesty, War Child, and Amnesty International UK signed the letter.
The letter highlights that while “most states worldwide now allow only adults to be recruited”, the British Army “still recruits more soldiers at 16 than any other age”. And they said this was especially true for combat infantry roles.
The letter rejected the military’s claim that joining up helps kids:
The army argues that it provides underprivileged teenagers with a route out of unemployment, but since four-fifths of disadvantaged teenagers now continue in school or college from age 16, their enlistment typically brings their full-time education to an early end.
Incompatible with child rights
The signatories warned that:
the evidence now clearly shows that recruiting from age 16 draws them into the armed forces prematurely.
They added:
The risks and legal obligations involved are unambiguously incompatible with their rights and welfare.
They said the problem is fixable:
just a small increase in adult recruitment would facilitate transition to all-adult armed forces.
New resources
CRIN (Child Rights International Network) coordinated the letter. CRIN also worked with poet Potent Whisper to produce resources like a rhyming guide which challenges potential young recruits to reflect on what they might give up by joining.
CRIN PRESENTS: The Rhyming Guide to Joining the Army, a creative piece responding to the issue of military recruitment of young people, with words by @PotentOfficial, animation by Neda Ahmadi and sound by Torch and Compass. Watch the full piece at https://t.co/RipKIVAWrQpic.twitter.com/DwbFNJjfL6
— CRIN – Child Rights International Network (@CRINwire) June 24, 2021
Other resources available on CRIN’s website include:
A briefing paper on why a minimum age of 18 should be introduced.
Outcomes
Researcher David Gee has previously worked on the issue of under 18s recruitment He tweeted that very young recruits are vulnerable on several metrics:
Time to stop stuffing @BritishArmy with 16-year-olds, which leads to:
– worse mental health – high trainee drop-out / unemployment – poor education outcomes – 'lock-in' for four years from age 18 – high rates of bullying/harassment – v low job satisfaction, vs civilian jobs https://t.co/fvndvlwHmH
In a bid to stop the recruitment of 16 and 17 year olds, CRIN urged people to write to their MP and lobby for the minimum age to be raised to 18.
Armed Forces Bill
MPs debated a new Armed Forces Bill on 23 June. On 22 June, Labour announced a review into veterans care. And using language previously espoused by a Tory minister, Keir Starmer said:
I want Britain to be the best place in the world to serve and be a veteran.
It’s not clear if the new consultation means 2019 Manifesto pledges will be abandoned. These included better military pay and housing, and a federation-style body for troops. That body would effectively be a union without the right to strike.
Whether we are dealing with very young recruits, or soldiers leaving the military, there’s clearly a long way to go on human rights and proper aftercare.
Human rights groups call for bar on junior entry, which accounts for quarter of intake to army
Ministers have been urged to stop the practice of recruiting children to Britain’s military by a coalition of 20 human rights organisation as MPs debate the armed forces bill.
The pressure to end the practice also comes as figures showed that girls aged under 18 in the armed forces made at least 16 formal complaints of sexual assault to military police in the last six years – equivalent to one for every 75 girls in the military.
We, Alternative Jewish Voices, hope for a productive and unifying second day at the Christchurch anti-terrorism hui. Security is something we build together and give each other. A threat may be singular, but our safety is collective.
We are saddened to hear that such a kaupapa has been disrespected and we are, additionally, horrified to hear Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses double down on her claim that she was expressing the sentiment of our national Jewish community.
It was wrong to coopt the hui for statements that (according to the comments of those present) “securitised” and “essentialised” the Muslim community.
We object to any statement that presumes Palestinian solidarity must imply a love of violence. Such statements are wrong, period; and it was additionallty wrong to bring those politics into the anti-terrorism venue in particular.
We feel for those who have been hurt, but we are heartened to hear that the hui will continue with its mission.
We have challenged the Jewish Council’s claim to represent our community. We repeat our statement in order to challenge Ms Moses’s present claim that the council’s politics represent the fears of all NZ Jews.
The NZ Jewish Council records its mission thus: “The council is the representative organisation of New Zealand Jewry. Its objective is to promote the interests, welfare and wellbeing of New Zealand Jewry.”
Chosen by regional councils
However, as we understand it, NZ Jewish Council members are chosen by a number of regional Jewish councils. The NZ Jewish Council members seem to be appointed through a series of indirect institutional processes.
Members of Alternative Jewish Voices who belong to synagogues — some for many years — have never had any direct input to the composition of the NZ Jewish Council. Jews who are not members of a synagogue don’t appear to have any voice in these processes at all.
The NZ Jewish Council does not attempt to elicit, include or represent the spectrum of views within the Jewish community.
We want our neighbours to understand that the ardent Zionist voices of the NZ Jewish Council and Israel Institute do not represent the whole community of New Zealand Jews. They emphatically do not represent us.
Alternative Jewish Voices wishes all participants in the Christchurch hui wisdom and unity. We all need your kaupapa and we will all benefit from it.
Via America’s Lawyer: President Biden continues to spin the revolving door between defense contractors and the Pentagon. Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos. Mike Papantonio: President Biden is packing his defense department with people from the defense industry, a sign that, that not much has […]
The United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) believes that the Indonesian government has nine motives behind the branding of National Liberation Army of West Papua as terrorists.
Executive director Markus Haluk of ULMWP said this during a seminar and book discussion “Demanding Dignity, Papuans Are Punished” in Jayapura on Friday.
He said it was believed that one of the reasons the Indonesian government labels armed groups as terrorists was to stem and limit ULMWP diplomacy in various Melanesian countries, the Pacific, and in other countries worldwide.
“We’ve been reading that since a few months ago,” said Haluk.
He said the Indonesian the government continued to strive to increase its influence in a number of international forums attended by the ULMWP delegation.
In these various forums, the Indonesian delegation strived to minimise the role of the Papuan delegation.
“They started with the issue [that] Papua could not afford to pay the dues (For the Melanesian Spearhead Group). Papua has already handled [the various efforts].
‘Terrorism’ issue raised again
“[Then] Indonesia raised the issue of terrorism again,” said Haluk, who delivered a presentation entitled “Revealing the government’s motivation with the terrorist label to Papua”.
According to him, the terrorist brand was also an attempt to silence and isolate the movement of indigenous Papuans.
As a result, whatever the activities of the indigenous Papuans are they would come to the attention of the Indonesian government because they were associated with the terrorist label.
“The terrorist label is a way of isolating the Papuan issue and silencing Papuans’ freedom of expression,” Haluk said.
Haluk said that the effort to silence the expressions of indigenous Papuans was part of the Indonesian government’s efforts to pass a revision of Law No. 21/2001 on Papua’s Special Autonomy.
This happened because the Papuan people continued to reject the Indonesian government’s efforts to extend the Special Autonomy Law, including by holding demonstrations and collecting the signatures of the Papuan People’s Petition (PRP).
“Clearly, there was the arrest of Victor Yeimo, spokesman for the [international West Papua National Committee] and the PRP. There have been expulsions of students from Cenderawasih University student dormitories and flats, internet access has been cut off,” Haluk said.
Easier for Indonesian weapons
“Haluk suspects that the terrorist label for armed groups (West Papua National Liberation Army) is an effort to smooth the way for procurement of weapons and combat equipment for the TNI/POLRI (Indonesia National Army/Indonesia National Police).
The designation of armed groups in Papua as terrorists would also increase the opportunity for members of the TNI/POLRI to participate in various cooperation exercises in dealing with terrorists with other countries and increase the opportunity to obtain funds for handling terrorists from the European Union, United States, Australia and New Zealand.
Haluk said that the terrorist label would also be a means of intimidation against executive and legislative officials in Papua.
In addition, the terrorist label would facilitate the state’s efforts to secure investment and the interests of national and international investors.
“Indonesian political elites play a big role in investment interests, for example in forest concession rights, selling alcoholic beverages, and mining,” he said.
The labeling of terrorists could even be used as a stage for politicians to contest the general election in Indonesia.
“[It could be] a political stage for the sake of the legislative and presidential elections in 2024, as well as for the interests of the local Papuan political stage, for example, seizing the leadership of the Democratic Party in Papua, or the 2023 Papuan gubernatorial election,” Haluk said.
‘Branding’ not new
The president of the Fellowship of West Papua Baptist Churches, Reverend Dr Socratez Sofyan Yoman, who is also a member of the Papuan Church Council, said that the label of terrorists was not new.
“The label appeared in the 1960s. [There is a label] Free Papua Organisation, separatist, KKB, KKBS, GPK, [then now] we are facing the terrorist label. It’s a repetition of all those [labels],” he said.
According to Yoman, the various labels were created to smooth over or legalise the actions of the state apparatus to commit violence against Papuans.
“Papuans continue to be tortured and killed in their own country,” said Reverend Yoman.
This article from Tabloid Jubi has been translated by a Pacific Media Centre correspondent and is republished with permission.
Nearly 20 years ago, a scandal rocked the British military and attracted major press attention. It emerged that between 1995 and 2002, four young army recruits died of gunshot wounds at the Surrey training base known as Deepcut Barracks. Now, a fifth death during the same period has been reported.
Sean Benton, 20, and Cheryl James, 18, died while on guard duty at the camp in June and November 1995 respectively. Geoff Gray, 17, died in September 2001, and also while carrying out sentry duties. James Collinson, 17, was also on guard when he died of gunshot wounds in March 2002.
Their deaths would send shockwaves through the army and attract ongoing public and media scrutiny. Surrey Police would eventually be heavily criticised for errors in their investigation. And a long series of inquests would be driven by their grieving families.
Culture of cruelty
Since the deaths were first reported, details of the culture at the camp have gradually emerged. In 2016, the Independentreported that when the first deaths happened in 1995, a ‘culture of cruelty’ was evident at the base. It was claimed rape and sexual assault were common. But up to 60 allegations made by recruits at the time were not pursued by police.
Des James, father of Cheryl James, said in 2016:
I believe there was a serious problem with the culture in that camp. I think there was a culture that breached regulations, a culture of drug use, alcohol bingeing, bullying and sexual intimidation. There was very little respect for individual recruits
The army has been repeatedly censured for its failings. In 2005, sources close to one inquiry found that officers had overseen a “catastrophic” failure at Deepcut.
Private Eye reporter and journalism professor Brian Cathcart covered the story for years. He wrote a cutting analysis of the MOD’s attempts to “kill a story that it would have preferred we had never known about”. He also praised the families of those who died for fighting back.
Fifth death
Until now, only four deaths had been made public – all from gunshot wounds while on armed guard duty. On 10 June, however, news of a fifth death broke. Private Anthony Bartlett reportedly died of a drug overdose in 2001. But the police officer investigating the two deaths of Gray in 2001 and Collinson in 2002 was never made aware of Batlett’s death.
Now retired, DCI Colin Sutton – who led the investigation – said he had never been told about Bartlett’s death despite it occurring just two months before Gray’s in 2001. The new details have emerged in an Audible podcast called Death at Deepcut. As a result, Sutton was interviewed on BBC Newsnight on 10 June.
He said it was ‘staggering’ that he’d not been told of the fifth death, which had been investigated by police at the time. Sutton said Bartlett’s death had been “kept hidden from [him] effectively”.
If you’re the senior investigating officer looking at the deaths of two soldiers at Deepcut and there’s another death of a soldier that you’re not told about, you know, it’s just staggering to me.
He added:
I just don’t understand how that information can be kept from an investigation team that’s looking at this at that barracks.
Justice
Family members, many of whom have never fully accepted the suicide verdicts in the four better known cases, spoke to the BBC. Yvonne Collinson, mother of James Collinson, said:
All these years of experience with the Army and the police, they don’t offer any truths and try and hide things from you that they think might cause them a bit of trouble
She added:
I also feel for the family of this young man. I suspect they didn’t get very much support from the Army because I know we certainly didn’t. Only we understand how it feels. My condolences to them.
Unresolved
A proper public inquiry has been called for by those affected. This has been echoed in recent years by two senior army generals: Richard Dannatt and Nick Carter.
It remains to be seen if the calls for a full inquiry will be listened to. Until a full and frank hearing, the Deepcut scandal will continue to haunt the British military. And, more importantly, the families of those who lost loved ones at the base. In some cases over two decades ago.
The United Liberation Movement of West Papua has accused Indonesian “colonial forces” of a new massacre with the killing of three civilians, “adding to the hundreds of thousands of West Papuans killed during six decades of occupation”.
Interim president Benny Wenda of the ULMWP has also claimed that Jakarta has put the entire population of 4.4 million “at risk of being swiped out” by Indonesian security forces by being labelled “terrorist”.
In a statement, Wenda said a husband and wife, Patianus Kogoya, 45, and Paitena Murib, 43, had been killed at Nipuralome village, along with another Papuan man, Erialek Kogoya, 55.
“They were shot dead by joint security services on June 4 in Ilaga, Puncak regency. Three others, including a five year old child, were wounded during the massacre,” he said.
“Local churches have confirmed the incident, even as the colonial Indonesian police have spread hoaxes to hide their murders.”
Wenda said cold blooded murder was becoming the culture for the security forces.
“West Papua is the site of massacre on top of massacre, from Paniai to Nduga to Intan Jaya to Puncak. This is heart-breaking news following the killing of our religious leaders like Pastor Zanambani,” he said.
‘Count more of our dead’
“We now have to count more of our dead. How much longer will this continue?”
“The OPM is all West Papuans who have hopes for freedom and self-determination, all organisations that fight for justice and liberation in West Papua,” he said.
“I am OPM, the ULMWP is OPM. If you label the OPM ‘terrorist’, you are labelling the entire population of West Papua ‘terrorist’.
“The Indonesian state is targeting all West Papuans for elimination – the evidence is there in Ilaga last week, with unarmed civilians being gunned down.
“How do they justify this killing? With the ‘terrorist’ label.”
Wenda claimed these “stigmatising labels” were part of Jakarta’s systematic plan to justify its presence in West Papua and the “deployment of 21,000 troops to our land”.
He said that the ULMWP continued its urgent call for Indonesia to allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into West Papua.
“Intervention is needed now. What is happening in Palestine is happening in West Papua,” he said.
Wenda appealed to solidarity groups in the Pacific and internationally to speak up for “freedom and justice”.
Policing and militarism are a two-headed monster that protects and upholds the foundation upon which racial capitalism was built — exploitation of the lives of poor Black and Brown people.
Although much attention has been placed on recent expansions of police militarization, these threads have long been intertwined. For Black Americans, police have always acted as an occupying force within our communities. But during the 1960s, a decade of unprecedented Black radical resistance, the lines between police and military and national defense became even more blurred.
On December 8, 1969, the SWAT unit of the Los Angeles Police Department raided the Black Panther Party’s headquarters in Los Angeles, California. Four days prior, the Chicago Police Department had violently raided the home of and assassinated Fred Hampton, the chairman and leader of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, based out of my hometown of Chicago. It is in the legacy and practice of militarism that SWAT teams were created — as a means to decentralize and suppress Black resistance.
As a Black femme abolitionist and organizer from the west side of Chicago, I fight in the spirit of Fred “Baba” Hampton, in a movement that is built upon the community-based power around which the Panthers mobilized to combat militarism, colonialism and occupation.
The attack on the Black Panther headquarters in 1969 was one of the first publicly known uses of newly emerging SWAT teams, but they quickly spread. Throughout the past two decades, SWAT units have become more heavily armed and funded and used all too regularly as a tactic of instant response in predominantly Black cities, particularly in response to uprisings. The 1033 Program, created as a part of the 1977 National Defense Authorization Act, allows the Department of Defense to supply local authorities with its military-grade equipment. War weaponry, such as assault rifles, riot gear, grenade launchers and military tanks, is awarded to police departments and used to perpetuate harm against Black and Indigenous people putting their lives on the line to oppose colonization, white supremacy and policing.
The facts are simple: When masses of Black people mobilize, gangs of police move in, and terrorize.
Since the start of the 1033 Program, around 10,000 law enforcement agencies have received around $7.4 billion worth of equipment.
This equipment funds the type of raids that killed Breonna Taylor, it funds teargas being used against Black people in Kenosha and Minneapolis, it funds the batons the Chicago Police Department uses to beat youth in the streets, it funds the water cannons used at Backwater Bridge at Standing Rock. It funds the murder of millions at the hands of policing, war, militarism, colonialism and imperialism. It is a never-ending cycle of violence.
Given all of this, calls to defund police and end wars are bigger than just targeted demands; they are calls to invest in life, abundance and an abolitionist world in which we don’t depend on the military-industrial complex, the prison-industrial complex or policing to sustain our communities.
This struggle is very personal to me. I am an abolitionist from a city that spends $4.8 million a day and about $2 billion a year on policing — and a city in which taxpayers spend about $38 million yearly to arm, aid in and fund apartheid, genocide and state-sanctioned violence against Palestinians.
Militarism is a strategy of using violence to keep people in positions of power in control and to maintain the racial, economic and other social hierarchies that uphold this power.
$4.8 million a day is the allowance police are given daily to uphold militarism in Chicago.
Divesting from education, mental health services, violence prevention that addresses the root causes, housing, and all other necessities of life keeps the racial, economic and social hierarchies in place that justify the supposed need for police.
This is why in this same city the yearly budget for mental health services is around $9.4 million — equal to less than two days of the police budget.
This is why the budget for substance abuse treatment is only 2.6 million — a half-day worth of police budget on any given day. And only $1.5 million is spent yearly in violence prevention — a proactive way to combat violence without the reactionary nature of police.
This is why in 2013, my elementary school and nearly 50 others — all of which were located on the predominantly Black South and West Sides of the city of Chicago — were closed down in one of the largest public school closures of United States history. The city claimed the closures were due to lack of funding, but four years later, the city proposed spending $95 million to build a police training academy in my neighborhood — where they previously closed schools that they supposedly could not afford to keep open.
It is why, as a 12-year-old in 2013, I went to community hearings begging then-mayor Rahm Emanuel to keep my elementary school open. It is why five years later, I joined #NoCopAcademy, a youth-led campaign against the city-proposed policy academy — and for a change in notion that community safety is directly tied to policing. And it is why, today, I am organizing around demands to defund police and to get the cops — who are being prioritized for funding above education — out of Chicago Public Schools.
It is why, as I joined other #NoCopAcademy organizers on the day of the vote over whether to build the police academy, I was beaten in the stairwells of city hall, while Mayor Lori Lightfoot awarded the Chicago Police Department with a new $95 million police school. The violence perpetrated against my being was accompanied by the violence of more resources being poured into state-sanctioned violence.
It is why my voice was ignored in 2013, and again in 2019 when the cop academy was approved. Now, as I scream Rekia Boyd’s name in the street, chant in her legacy and demand divestment from the institution which was responsible for her death, I am again ignored.
The 2022 fiscal budget under President Joe Biden requests $753 billion in national security funding. This is a 1.6 percent increase that includes $715 billion for the Department of Defense. In 2016, the military utilized about $610 billion. Just as national defense budgets continue to increase drastically year by year, local police department budgets continue to rise as wars are waged in poor Black communities via hyper-policing, surveillance and police torture.
Many of my closest comrades from the hood experience trauma from witnessing and experiencing police violence and torture. For nonwhite people — for people who live in hoods flooded by police and abandoned in every other way, and for those of us who watched our sisters and brothers be tortured and targeted by police on a daily basis — conversations about “defund,” “divest” and “abolish” are not new. They are demands, necessities, discussions we’ve been having in our communities for years, and even decades. And for Black Chicagoans, this is about our lives. This violence happens daily. We don’t need another video of Black trauma. We didn’t need to see George Floyd, or Rekia Boyd, or Adam Toledo, or Laquan McDonald or Breonna Taylor be murdered to know policing is violence. We didn’t need to see genocide, war and crisis unfold in Palestine, Yemen or Nigeria to know militarism is violence.
Police and the military operate under the same practices of militarism. Police move into external communities and occupy. Military forces move into external communities and occupy. The idea that Black and Brown communities need “law and order” and that these institutions implement it alongside safety is flawed. Safety for Black, Brown and Indigenous people doesn’t look like more police. It looks like access and abundance, because when you think about the safest place in the world and the places where you feel most safe, it is very likely that they are places with the most resources and the least police.
As campaigns to defund and divest from death and to fight for liberation continue, the struggle for an abolitionist world lives on through every chant at an action; every ancestor that shows us the way; every community relationship we build; and all the steps we take to become a global community connected in love, liberation and abundance.
French Polynesia’s pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru says high-level talks on France’s nuclear legacy due in Paris this month should be held at the United Nations in New York instead.
He warned those attending that the French Polynesian people and its resources were not for sale.
While French Polynesia’s delegation is being finalised, the leading politicians of the late testing era, Temaru and Gaston Flosse, will not be present.
In the lead-up to the talks, the French social security agency CPS again called on the French state to reimburse it for the medical costs caused by its tests.
It said since 1995 it had paid out US$800 million to treat a total of 10,000 people suffering from any of the 23 cancers recognised by law as being the result of radiation.
Temaru said the money was a debt, pointing out that if a crime was committed it was not up to the victims to have to pay.
Between 1966 and 1996, France carried out 193 nuclear weapons tests in French Polynesia.
The test sites of Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls remain excised from French Polynesia and are French military no-go zones.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
French Polynesian pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru … will not be at the nuclear talks. Image: Johnny Blades/RNZ
The UK government is spending over £23m of taxpayers’ money on expanding its naval base at Duqm port in Oman. As the investigative media outlet Declassified UKreported on 3 June, the expansion could have a “large adverse” impact on an endangered whale population.
The UK is also hosting the G7 summit from the 11 to 13 June. The government says one of its policy priorities for the summit is “tackling climate change and preserving the planet’s biodiversity”. The UK’s actions in Oman, however, are threatening ocean biodiversity and its ability to tackle the climate crisis. So too are the actions of other G7 countries in areas of the ocean.
“Failing in its most basic responsibilities to nature”
Declassified UKreported that it had asked the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the environmental impact assessments it had undertaken for the base. As the outlet pointed out, the base appears to have been operationalsince at least 2018, with the £23.8m cash injection for expansion announced in September 2020.
It took the MoD six months to answer Declassified UK‘s request. In January this year, the ministry confirmed it had not yet carried out an environmental impact assessment. It’s international security directorate said the ministry would conduct these assessments “as the bases developed”, DeclassifiedUK reported. Green Party peer Natalie Bennett commented:
We hear endlessly from this government that it is ‘world-leading’ on environmental issues, yet once again on a crucial issue for a keystone species it is trailing behind others, failing in its most basic responsibilities to nature.
Whale species at “high risk of extinction”
Other studies have assessed the situation for Arabian Sea humpback whales. One 2016 analysis by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), for example, highlighted that the population is “in the ‘at high risk of extinction’ category’”. Unlike many other whales, they don’t migrate and live in a “relatively constrained geographic location” that ranges from the coastal waters of Yemen and Oman to Iran, Pakistan, and India. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says that the whale’s population numbers less than 100 in the coastal waters of Oman.
A 2017 study carried out in relation to an oil refinery at the port, meanwhile, asserted that further construction there would harm the ocean’s wildlife. As Declassified UK reported:
The consultants found there was a “large adverse” risk to the whales from “ship strikes, underwater noise and changes in prey distribution and abundance arising from disturbance and dispersion of sediments during dredging”.
The outlet also noted that the port says “it has put measures in place to protect marine life, such as a speed limit”.
A video by the Environment Society of Oman says that the country’s coastline is home to “20 species of whales and dolphins, and also four species of turtles”.
UK not alone
There are similar extinction worries for whales living in waters around other G7 countries, such as North Atlantic right whales. These critically endangered whales numbered less than 250 mature individuals as of 2018. They live mainly in the eastern coastal waters off the US and Canada. As the New York Times recently reported, these whales regularly get entangled in fishing gear or hit by ships and a new study suggests this may be “stunting their growth”. The analysis found that the whales’ body length is currently around 7% shorter than in 1981, based on an evaluation of 129 whales in comparison to earlier generations. As the outlet highlighted, this is “reducing their chances of reproductive success and increasing their chances of dying”.
On the other side of the US, meanwhile, the critically endangered population of beluga whales who live in Alaska’s Cook Inlet are in serious decline. An article in Anchorage Daily Newsargued that “climate change, prey availability, coastal development and pollution” are potentially contributing to their demise. On pollution specifically, the outlet explained that Alaska issues permits:
that allow the dumping of billions of gallons of toxic substances into the inlet, where critical habitat has been designated for belugas. It’s the only coastal water body in the country where a loophole allows oil and gas companies to dump toxic waste.
Whales are critical to the planet’s health and an essential ally to humans in their fight against the climate crisis. They are a keystone species. That means they support the ecosystem they exist in and if they vanish ecological systems can collapse because so many other species are dependent on them. Those ecosystems in turn prop up the wider climatic stability of the Earth.
Furthermore, whales can play an immense role in capturing and storing (sequestering) carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 emissions, mostly created by the burning of fossil fuels, are the main driving force behind global warming. As an International Monetary Fund (IMF) article pointed out, great whales sequester an average 33 tons of CO2 in their bodies during their lifetime (all living things are made of carbon). Their activities also impact other aquatic life-forms in ways that can massively increase the ocean’s ability to sequester carbon. As the IMF article explains, this means that:
When it comes to saving the planet, one whale is worth thousands of trees
Holistic policy priorities
Most of the issues whales currently face are within governments’ power to change or mitigate. By saving whales, governments would in turn also be greatly bolstering their efforts to tackle the climate crisis and restore ecological equilibrium.
If the world’s governments wholeheartedly started factoring in and prioritising potential ecological impacts in their policy-making, such cyclical and mutually beneficial outcomes would be possible. That’s the sort of holistic policy priorities that global political leaders, like those assembling for the G7 summit, should have on their agenda.
The British Army’s £3.5bn fleet of Ajax tanks could cause tinnitus and joint problems for soldiers inside them. Despite the warnings carried in a leaked report, the MOD still says the new vehicles will be delivered and on time.
That leaked report is from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA). And the IPA believes the Ajax won’t be delivered on schedule.
Leaked report
Ajax is meant to replace the army’s ageing tank fleet, but the leaked assessment says the new vehicle faces multiple issues. These include:
An inability to reverse over obstacles higher than 20cm.
The tank can’t achieve its top speed of 40 mph.
Soldiers inside suffer joint swelling and hearing damage if they drive at more than 20mph.
Excessive vibration means crews are limited to 90 minutes at a time in the Ajax and have needed to take hearing tests.
The vibration also means the main weapon of the tank cannot be fired
Yet the MOD insists the vehicle will be delivered into service on time. Ajax is expected to enter service fully in 2024. This is despite the issues detailed in the leak forcing a six week pause to trials in 2021. Since the Ajax project began in 2010, development issues also caused an 18-month delay.
Problems
Defence procurement has long been a problem for the UK. In April this year The Canaryreported that less than half of the combat jets on new aircraft carriers were British. The others are American.
The F-35 jets themselves were plagued with problems. In 2021, the US media claimed that the Pentagon’s own in-house report warned that the aircraft still had 871 existing problems. However, it’s hard to know what these are because the Pentagon hasn’t released the report yet.
Exceptionalism
Britain’s equipment problems have many causes. One of these is what one former army officer described in 2020 as “exceptionalism”.
This egregious state of affairs is exacerbated by what defence analysis Francis Tusa has labelled “British exceptionalism”, sometimes described less kindly as “not invented here syndrome”
He described this as an:
institutionalised resistance in the equipment procurement system to anything that does not originate within the UK or from UK initiatives, which is surprising given that the British armed services are awash with weapons systems sourced from abroad. The “exceptionalism” bit kicks in when, even when accepting another country’s AFV, for example, as being the best fit for the requirement, there is insistence on a multitude of changes to make it “ours”.
Particular difficulty was caused by problems integrating a separately designed 40mm cannon insisted upon by the MoD
The US firm General Dynamics made Ajax and Lockheed Martin made the F-35. Both US companies. So once again the main beneficiaries of the UK’s military equipment programmes are big global arms firms.
International reporting has hardly been a strong feature of New Zealand journalism. No New Zealand print news organisation has serious international news departments or foreign correspondents with the calibre of such overseas media as The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
It has traditionally been that way for decades. And it became much worse after the demise in 2011 of the New Zealand Press Association news agency, which helped shape the identity of the country for 132 years and at least provided news media with foreign reporting with an Aotearoa perspective fig leaf.
It is not even much of an aspirational objective with none of the 66 Voyager Media Awards categories recognising international reportage, unlike the Walkley Awards in Australia that have just 34 categories but with a strong recognition of global stories (last year’s Gold Walkley winner Mark Willacy reported “Killing Field” about Australian war crimes in Afghanistan).
Aspiring New Zealand international reporters head off abroad and gain postings with news agencies and broadcasters or work with media with a global mission such as Al Jazeera.
Consequently our lack of tradition for international news coverage means that New Zealand media tend to have many media blind spots on critical issues, or misjudge the importance of some topics. Examples include the Samoan elections in April when the result was the most momentous game changer in more than four decades with the de facto election of the country’s first woman prime minister, unseating the incumbent who had been in power for 23 years.
The recent Israel-Palestine conflict in May was another case of where reporting was very unbalanced in favour of the oppressor for 73 years, Israel. Indonesian’s five decades of repression in the Melanesian provinces of West Papua is also virtually ignored by the mainstream media apart from the diligent, persistent and laudable coverage by RNZ Pacific.
There is a deafening silence about the current brutal and draconian attack on West Papuan dissidents in remote areas with internet unplugged.
No threat to status quo
As national award-winning cartoonist Malcom Evans wrote in a Daily Blog column on the eve of last week’s Voyager Media Awards that whoever won prizes, “it’s a sure bet that, he or she, won’t be someone whose work threatens the machinery that manufactures our consent to a perpetuation of the status quo”.
He continued:
“There will be no awards for anyone like Julian Assange or Edward Snowden, but none either for our own Nicky Hager or Jon Stephenson, who exposed war crimes committed in Afghanistan by New Zealanders, and none for Chris Trotter, Bryan Bruce or Susan St John whose writings have consistently exposed the criminal outcomes wrought on New Zealanders by neo-liberalism.”
Evans also cited “Indonesia’s rape of West Papua and East Timor” and the “damning Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians” as examples of lack of media exposure of “New Zealand duplicity and connivance”.
Palestinian protesters target NZ media “bias” at the first Nakba Rally in Auckland last month. Image: David Robie/APR
Hanan Ashrawi, the first woman member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), told Middle East Eye in the wake of the conflict that left 256 Palestinians — including 66 children — and 13 Israelis dead that it was illogical to expect Israel to be both the “gatekeeper and to have the veto”.
“Israel has never implemented a single UN resolution at all, since its creation [in 1948]. And Israel has always existed outside the law. So why do you expect Israel suddenly to become a state that will respect others, human rights, international law and the multilateral system.
“Israel is the country, the only country that legislated a basic law that says only Jews have the right to self-determination in this land which is all of historical Palestine.
“Israel has destroyed the two-state solution.
When Israel opens up …
“Only when Israel opens up, when this system of discrimination, repression, apartheid is dismantled, only then will you begin to see that there are opportunities of equalities and so on.”
However, Ashrawi was complimentary about the new wave of youth leadership and support for the Palestinian cause sweeping across the globe. She was optimistic that a new political language, new initiatives for a solution would emerge.
RNZ Mediawatch’s Hayden Donnell was highly critical over the lack of news coverage of the “newsworthy and historic” Samoan elections on April 9, commenting: “For nearly two days, RNZ was the only major New Zealand news website carrying information about the election results, and analysis of the outcome.”
As he pointed out, since 1982, the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) had been in power and the current prime minister, Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi (now caretaker), had been prime minister since 1998.
“It’s very monumental that we’ve had a political party [opposition FAST Party led by Fiame Naomi Mata’afa] come through so quickly within 12 months to challenge the status quo in many different ways.”
Fiame has a slender one seat majority, 26 to 25, in the 51-seat Parliament, and was sworn in as government in still-disputed circumstances. But the New Zealand media coverage has still been patchy in spite of the drama of the deadlock.
“Tension high in Samoa stand-off” – New Zealand Herald on 26 May 2021. Image: APR screenshot
Woke up to Samoa crisis
The New Zealand Herald, for example, finally woke up to the crisis and splashed the story across its front page on May 24, but then for the next three days only published snippets on the crisis, all drawn from the RNZ Pacific coverage. For the actual election result, the Herald only published a single paragraph buried on its foreign news pages.
“Democracy in crisis” – New Zealand Herald on 25 May 2021. Image: APR screenshot
As for West Papua, the silence continues. Not a single major New Zealand newspaper has given any significant treatment to the current crisis there described by The Sydney Morning Herald as a “manhunt for 170 ‘terrorists’ slammed as a ‘licence’ to shoot anyone”.
Singapore-based Chris Barrett and Karuni Rompies reported that “Indonesian forces are chasing 170 members of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement [OPM]. The crackdown has reportedly displaced several thousand people.
“Tensions have been high since the separatists’ shooting in April of two teachers suspected of being Indonesian spies and the burning of three schools in Beoga, Puncak.”
This is the worst crisis in West Papua since the so-called Papuan Spring uprising and rioting in protest against Indonesian racism and repression in August 2019.
The Jakarta government was reported to have deployed some 21,000 troops in the Melanesian region, ruled since the fiercely disputed “Act of Free Choice” when 1025 people handpicked by the Indonesian military in 1969 voted to be part of Indonesia. The latest crackdown followed the killing in an ambush of a general who was head of Indonesian intelligence on April 25.
Indonesian police carry a body in the current crackdown near Timika, Papua. Image: seputarpapua.com
Discrimination against Papuans This latest round of strife marks widespread opposition to Indonesia’s 20-year autonomy status for the region which is due to expire in November and is regarded by critics as a failure.
Interim president Benny Wenda of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) denounces Indonesian authorities who have variously tried to label Papuan pro-independence groups “separatists”, “armed criminal groups”, and “monkeys” (this sparked the 2019 uprising).
“Now they are labelling us ‘terrorists’. This is nothing but more discrimination against the entire people of West Papua and our struggle to uphold our basic right to self-determination,” he says.
Wenda has a message for the United Nations and Pacific leaders: “Indonesia is misusing the issue of terrorism to crush our fundamental struggle for the liberation of our land from illegal occupation and colonisation.”
The West Papua issue is a critical one for the Pacific, just like East Timor was two decades ago in the lead-up to its independence. Why is our press failing to report this?
The head of the Fiji’s defence force has rejected claims by opposition MPs in Parliament this week and has called for an apology over the “simply, wrong” allegations.
In a statement, Commander Viliame Naupoto said there was no “factual evidence” to suggest that the defence force had caused the initial breach.
Commander Naupoto said the military was carrying its own investigations.
Health officials have also said medical and military personnel in Fiji who have been infected with covid-19 are not part of the frontline response teams.
The assurance comes amid an escalating number of cases on the main island, Viti Levu, with clusters in both hospitals and the Navy.
Health Secretary Dr James Fong said the frontline public health response teams were conducting surveillance and containment efforts in the communities.
He said the ministry screened and tested its frontline personnel for their safety and the public’s safety because “they come into contact with persons who have been exposed to the virus”.
Risk eliminated
Dr Fong said this also ensured the risk to the public from contact with their trace and containment teams was eliminated.
He said the ministry expected all frontline teams would “carefully observe the covid-safe protocol and we appreciate the feedback we get from the public in this regard”.
“Covid-safe behaviour needs to be maintained by all sections of the community, but especially those in the front line of the public health response and clinical response,” he said.
“At this time, when we have seen an escalation of cases, we wish to remind all frontline workers of the higher level of covid-safe behaviour expected by the community and our profession.
“The same is true for all community leaders and persons in leadership positions in our community in setting an example of a high standard for covid-safe behaviour at all times.”
Dr Fong said last night that 23 of the latest count (28) were linked to existing clusters.
The navy cluster began when an officer contracted the virus at a funeral and later infected members of his ship. This cluster continues to grow with 31 more cases this week alone.
The infected officers were isolated onboard three separate ships anchored in Suva.
Military headquarters locked down The military headquarters in Suva has been locked down in recent weeks after four soldiers tested positive.
Mingling between personnel at a quarantine facility in April has also been linked to cases.
The army said it was continuing to provide security services for the covid response teams.
It said two separate bubbles were already in place to contain the spread of the virus at the Queen Elizabeth Barracks (QEB).
Concerns were raised by people on social media over members of the defence forces being infected with the virus.
In Parliament yesterday, opposition MPs Lynda Tabuya and Simione Rasova criticised the military over its handling of officers who had breached managed isolation protocols at a government facility in April.
Tabuya claimed the “military officers caused the original breach and Navy officers also breached Covid borders”.
Rasova said “army and navy officers were spreading covid”.
Commander rejects claims
But Commander Naupoto rejected their claims.
He said there was no sharing of cigarettes as mentioned in the earlier press conferences by health officials, adding that one of the soldiers was in his room when the sharing of cigarettes was alleged to have taken place.
He claimed this was proven by CCTV footage.
Commander Naupoto said there was also an allegation that a soldier had come into contact with a repatriated citizen while the officer was carrying out an inspection without wearing any protective clothing, “again this was proven wrong by CCTV footage”.
“The whole border quarantine process is being reviewed by the quarantine experts in the Ministry of Health to plug any gaps that may exist in the current protocols that are being used and there are systemic issues that need to be reviewed.”
Fiji has recorded 536 cases since March 2020, 466 from the current outbreak which began in April while 349 patients remain infected with covid-19.
Four people have died.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
The International Federation of Journalists has called for the urgent reinstatement of Nasser Abu Bakr, head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, following his victimisation by the French news agency AFP.
Abu Bakr, who has worked for Agence France-Presse (AFP) for more than 20 years, was sacked without valid reason, in what the IFJ’s leading body has called “a clear case of victimisation for his trade union activities, in contravention of the law and international standards”.
Abu Bakr, who is an elected member of the IFJ’s executive committee, had been instrumental in filing complaints about the systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists by Israeli forces to the United Nations Special Rapporteurs and in documenting and exposing attacks on Palestinian journalists and media.
The IFJ will launch a global campaign to demand justice for Nasser.
Already support has flowed in from public bodies in Palestine, from unions around the world and from the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions.
Journalists in Palestine have staged protests outside the offices of AFP. Unions representing staff at AFP’s headquarters and other offices around the world have pledged their support.
The IFJ has already been in contact with AFP management in Paris.
IFJ general secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “The dismissal of Nasser, an elected trade union leader, for nothing more than giving a voice to Palestinian journalists under threat and facing daily attacks is totally unacceptable.
“He must be reinstated.”
12 plus Palestinian journalists arrested Al Jazeera reports that more than a dozen Palestinian journalists were recently arrested by Israeli authorities after attempting to report the news under often “extremely stressful and dangerous” conditions.
Wahbe Mikkieh, one of the journalists detained and later released, told Al Jazeera the message the Israeli police was trying to send was meant to frighten journalists.
“The occupation forces claimed that I tried to obstruct the arrest of my colleague Zeina [Halawani] and that I assaulted the occupation army. That did not happen,” said Mikkieh, who was hit on the head with the butt of a gun causing him to bleed, describing the five days in prison as the hardest in his life.
Republished from the International Federation of Journalists.
16 military personnel were referred to the Prevent scheme in the last two and a half years, records show. Of these, 11 concerned far-right politics. Investigations involved all three military services.
The Prevent scheme is a controversial government-run anti-extremism body which, on paper, aims to intervene in radicalisation. The problem of far-right extremism in the ranks has become an issue not just for the UK, but for several major allies.
Hope Not Hate chief executive Nick Lowles told the Guardian:
The referrals of so many serving military personnel to Prevent, and the general rise in violent far-right extremism in society as a whole, should act as a reminder of the ever present threat of [far-right] extremism and the need for the MoD to increase its internal education and enforcement of its publicly stated rules.
Nuclear submariner
Investigations included two serving sailors. One was a nuclear submariner. The individual had links to the far-right Identarian Movement. In 2018, a soldier was jailed after he was found to be a member of the fascist group National Action. Army and air force cadets were also referred to Prevent.
International problem
The problem of far-right soldiers is international. The US, German, and French governments have all had to deal with the far-right inside military communities.
Trump supporters raided Capitol Hill in January 2021. They wanted to stop the transition of power to president-elect Joe Biden. NPRreported that 1 in 5 defendants in legal cases brought after the riot had served in the military.
In France, serving and former generals clashed with the government over an open letter warning of civil war unless immigration was checked. They said “Islamism and the hordes of the banlieue [impoverished suburbs]” could damage national unity.
An SS Songbook
Police raided a German special forces soldier’s home in 2020. According to the New York Times, officers found:
two kilograms of PETN plastic explosives, a detonator, a fuse, an AK-47, a silencer, two knives, a crossbow and thousands of rounds of ammunition. They also found an SS songbook, 14 editions of a magazine for former members of the Waffen SS and a host of other Nazi memorabilia.
In 2020, the Spanish military had a similar problem. Leaked online chats showed retired officers praising the Franco regime. They discussed shooting left-wing politicians. The head of the military dismissed the issue.
Unimpeachable?
The army takes criticism badly. Yet something is wrong inside the military. There must be more education and accountability, and this is increasingly a matter of public safety. When cases like these emerge in the UK forces, the term ‘a few bad apples’ is usually thrown around. This is no longer enough. A proper investigation needs to be carried out to find out the extent of far-right activity.
Indonesia has cut off the internet in West Papua to conceal its crackdown on the peaceful liberation movement, says a leading Papuan campaigner.
Benny Wenda, interim president of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), has condemned the internet gag while Indonesia’s leading English-language daily newspaper, The Jakarta Post, has also criticised Jakarta’s actions.
In an editorial last Friday, the Post said that many people “suspect that the disruption to the [Papua] internet service in April was actually a deliberate move to silence anti-government critics and activists”.
“The government has been cutting off Papua from the outside world for decades by measures that included restricting foreign visitors, especially foreign journalists,” the newspaper said.
Jakarta remained “stubbornly insistent on maintaining its isolation policy for Papua”.
Erik Walela, secretary of the ULMWP’s “Department of Political Affairs”, is now in hiding, and two of his relatives — Abi, 32, and Anno, 31 — were arrested by the Indonesian colonial police on June 1.
Victor Yeimo, spokesperson of the KNPB, had already been arrested.
Stigmatised as ‘terrorists’
“I am concerned that all the ULMWP leaders and departments inside West Papua are now at risk after Indonesia has tried to stigmatise us as ‘terrorists’,” said Wenda.
“The head of Indonesia’s National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) has stated that it considers the entire liberation movement, including anyone associated with me, to be terrorists.
“Anyone who stands up to injustice in West Papua is now in danger. Indonesia is cutting off the internet to conceal its crackdown and military operations, continuing its long tradition of concealing information from the world by banning international journalists and spreading propaganda.
“The only way anyone can currently access the internet inside is by standing near a military, police, or government building.”
Wenda said Indonesian authorities had tried to label Papuan pro-independence groups “separatists”, “armed criminal groups”, and in 2019, “monkeys’”.
“Now they are labelling us ‘terrorists’. This is nothing but more discrimination against the entire people of West Papua and our struggle to uphold our basic right to self-determination,” he said.
“I want to remind the United Nations and the Pacific and Melanesian leaders that Indonesia is misusing the issue of terrorism to crush our fundamental struggle for the liberation of our land from illegal occupation and colonisation.”
West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Organisation (TPNPB-OPM) spokesperson Sebby Sambom says the armed resistance force is not prepared to hold a dialogue with or pursue diplomacy with the Indonesian government unless it is mediated by the United Nations.
“We, the TPNPB under the leadership of General Goliath Tabuni reject [a bipartite] dialogue with Jakarta,” said Sambom, reports CNN Indonesia.
However, the armed resistance is urging the Indonesian government to hold tripartite negotiations with the TPNPB-OPM Tabuni leadership and all components of the Papuan liberation movement who have been resisting Jakarta rule.
This dialogue, he said, must be mediated by a third party, and the third party must come from the United Nations.
“We don’t have an agenda for a dialogue, but our agenda is tripartite negotiations, namely negotiations mediated by a UN organisational body,” he said.
“So a Jakarta-Papua dialogue will not be realised, if the main actor is not involved,” he explained.
Earlier, the TPNPB-OPM designated Puncak Ilaga, Papua, as a battleground against joint forces from the TNI (Indonesian military) and Polri (Indonesian police). It designated this region because it was far away from civilian settlements and would not endanger Papuan civilians.
Negotiations rather than war
On the other hand, the TNI was not concerned about the designation of Puncak Ilaga as a battleground to fight the OPM.
However, Regional Representatives Council (DPD) member from Papua, Filep Wamafma, is asking that the Indonesian government endeavour to open diplomatic communications with the TPNPB-OPM rather than conducting an open war in Ilaga.
“I hope that there will be political diplomacy between the TNI, Polri and the OPM in order to reach the best solution, to safeguard civilians,” Wamafma told CNN Indonesian.
CNN Indonesia has attempted to contact Join Regional Defence Command III spokesperson Colonel Czi IGN Suriastawa and Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs Mahfud MD by text message and telephone about the offer to mediate with the involvement of the UN.
Neither Suriastawa nor Mahfud had responded when this article was published.
I’ve been learning as much as I can about the new UFO narrative the political/media class have been pushing in conjunction with the US military to prepare for the Senate report that’s due to be released this month.
One of the disconcerting things I’ve been seeing again and again from all the major players in this new narrative like Lue Elizondo and Christopher Mellon is the absurd assertion that not only is it entirely possible that the unknown phenomena allegedly being regularly witnessed by military personnel are extraterrestrial in origin, but that if they are extraterrestrial they may want to hurt us.
Mellon, the former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence who helped get the ball rolling on UFOs entering mainstream attention back in 2017 when he leaked three Pentagon videos to The New York Times, has stated that he sees extraterrestrial origin as an entirely possible explanation for these phenomena.
“We don’t even understand how you could do something like that,” Mellon said in a recent interview with CTV News of the inexplicable maneuvers and features these aircraft supposedly demonstrate. “We don’t even understand the science behind it. Not like somebody’s a couple generations of fighter jet behind us; I mean this is a whole difference of kind, not degree.”
In this new interview with CTV of Canada I had the opportunity to clarify my views on some of the current #UAP issues: https://t.co/zKxCGWi4NS
— Christopher K. Mellon (@ChristopherKMe4) May 27, 2021
Asked why the pilots of mysterious aircraft with incomprehensible scientific advancement might want to monitor the US military, Mellon said the following:
“Well probably for the same reason we do: to understand what kind of threat we could pose to them. Should a conflict arise they want to be able to engage us effectively, defeat us rapidly, at minimum cost of life and treasure, just as we would on the other side. We do similar kinds of things; we don’t have vehicles quite like this, but we’re certainly very actively monitoring military forces of other countries.”
The notion that UFOs could pose a threat to humans whether their alleged operators are from our own world or from another is being promoted by the main drivers of this strange new plotline, and it is being enthusiastically lapped up by many UFO enthusiasts who see framing these phenomena as a national security threat as the best way to get mainstream power structures to take them seriously and disclose information to the public.
This is bothersome for a couple of separate reasons. Firstly, it is of course bothersome because one ought to be bothered any time military and intelligence insiders make unsubstantiated claims that there’s a foreign threat to US security. The added notion that this foreign threat could be from another world carries all kinds of implications for what kinds of unprecedentedly radical policy and funding adjustments would have to be made in order to counter this supposed threat, and it would take an appalling amount of gullibility to believe that those adjustments would be made for that reason at this point in time instead of the very obvious reason that the US is in a new and escalating cold war with both Russia and China.
Everything Keeps Getting Weirder And Weirder
The Pentagon did not spontaneously evolve an interest in radical transparency, and it is not coincidental that this UFO stuff is coming out as we hurtle into a new cold war and a race to weaponize space.https://t.co/01PskO6yA6
Secondly, it’s bothersome because it just says so much about human madness that people believe UFOs could simultaneously be the product of an immensely advanced extraterrestrial civilization, and also be a threat. They could be one or the other, but not both.
Just in our own tiny blip of recorded history, humanity has matured mentally and emotionally during our time on this planet. We no longer accept it as normal for our governments to torture someone to death in the town square, for example, and owning another human being as property is now seen as reprehensible. We’ve still got a mountain of inner demons to conquer, but you also can’t deny that we’ve created a much more conscious and peaceful world for ourselves than the one we used to live in.
Imagine how much further an intelligent life form would have progressed if it began maturing millions of years earlier than ours. Imagine how emotionally and intellectually developed a civilization would have to be to make it past all the self-imposed dangers its own intelligence posed to it like the dangers human intelligence poses to us now, if it had passed the great test and cleared that hurdle in its maturation process, and then gone on maturing for thousands or millions of years past the point we’re at now.
When I bring this up online people tell me, “Well look at what the Europeans did when they met indigenous populations! That’s what happens when a more advanced civilization meets a less advanced one.”
You see this ridiculous notion pushed everywhere, including by supposedly smart people like Stephen Hawking, that Europeans meeting the indigenous people of Africa, Australia and the Americas is a good model for what we could expect from an encounter with a civilization millions of years more advanced than our own. This reveals a fallacious assumption that genocidal Europeans were in fact “more advanced” than the other humans they met around the world; they were a bit more technologically advanced, but any research on the horrific things they did to those people will show you that they were emotionally infantile by today’s standards. It also looks at humans who began developing on the same planet at the same time as comparable to extraterrestrials who would have begun developing long before us.
Beyond the fact that we have seen in our own experience that an intelligent consciousness will keep expanding its consciousness over time, the most glaring piece of evidence that UFOs could pose no threat to us if they are extraterrestrial is that if they did, they would have taken us out long ago. UFO encounters have been documented for generations; there is nothing humans could do to stop a sentient species that is orders of magnitude technologically superior to us, no matter what the movies say.
If extraterrestrials are here they clearly don’t want to hurt us, and why would they? What could we possibly have that they’d want? In the unlikely event that there is some kind of element or resource here that they need, there’s no reason to believe they couldn’t get it elsewhere, or indeed that they couldn’t create it themselves at the level of scientific understanding they’d necessarily be operating from.
The idea that a civilization could attain a level of advancement comparable to ours, successfully learn to share resources and collaborate enough to avoid wiping itself out, continue maturing for a very long time, master interstellar, intergalactic, and/or interdimensional travel, create aircraft that can operate in the way people who encounter them describe, and then fly across the universe to go kill a bunch of barely-evolved primates for some reason is just absurd on its face, and even if such a thing could happen it would have happened already. This is humans projecting their own particular madness onto a hypothetical species far more mature than our own, myopically assuming that our collective insanity is some kind of immutable quality of consciousness itself.
I’ve sat through so much video footage on this subject, and I just get so frustrated listening to all these military-minded men talking about the need to know what the “capabilities” of these things are and how to prevent them from posing a threat to “national security”. If we are in fact not alone in this universe and are in fact being visited by other civilizations, these are the absolute stupidest questions we could possibly be asking ourselves about them. Not how can we contact them, not is it possible to communicate with them, not what could we learn from them, not where are they from and what is their story, but how can we kill them if we need to.
I have no idea if we are being visited by ETs, but if we are the US military is literally the worst thing our species could possibly use to relate to them.
______________________________
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Over the weekend, Donald Trump ally Michael Flynn openly advocated for a military coup to overthrow the current government and reinstall Donald Trump as president. These comments are absolutely out of line, and many have now called for Flynn to face a court martial for actively calling for the United States government to be overthrown. […]
Bananas, balaclavas and banners … these were stock-in-trade for human rights activists of the New Zealand-based Coalition for Democracy in Fiji who campaigned against then Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka’s original two coups in 1987 and the “banana republic” coup culture that emerged.
Many of the original activists, politicians, trade unionists, civil society advocates and supporters of democracy in Fiji gathered at an Auckland restaurant in Cornwall Park to reflect on their campaign and to remember the visionary Fiji Labour Party prime minister Dr Timoci Bavadra who was ousted by the Fiji military on 14 May 1987.
Speakers included Auckland mayor Phil Goff, who was New Zealand foreign minister at the time, and keynote Richard Naidu, then a talented young journalist who had emerged as Dr Bavadra’s spokesperson — “by accident” he recalls — and movement stalwarts.
The mood of the evening was a fun-filled and relaxed recollection of coup-related events as about 40 participants — many of them exiled from Fiji — sought to pay tribute to the kindly and inspirational leadership of Dr Bavadra who died from cancer two years after the coup.
Participants agreed that it was a tragedy that Dr Bavadra had died such an untimely death at 55, robbing Fiji of a new style of social justice leadership that stood in contrast with the autocratic style of the current Fiji “democracy”.
Naidu, today an outspoken lawyer and commentator, spoke via Zoom from Suva about Dr Bavadra’s unique approach to politics, not unlike a general practitioner caring for his patients, a style that was drawn from his background as a public health specialist and trade unionist.
He referred to Johns Hopkins University in the United States — “the bible of global statistics about covid-19 pandemic in the world” — and remarked that Dr Bavadra had gained his public health degree at that celebrated campus.
Covid and Dr Bavadra
Naidu asked how, if he had been alive today and still prime minister, Dr Bavadra might have approached the Fiji covid-19 crisis with 46 new cases of infection being reported last night.
Fiji has now had 360 cases in total since the first case was reported in March 2020, with 161 recoveries and four deaths.
A shadowy “banana republic” … protesters imitate the seizing of Fiji parliamentarians at gunpoint by hooded soldiers in response to the first coup on 14 May 1987. Image: David Robie screenshotPrime Minister Dr Timoci Bavadra ousted in Fiji’s first coup on 14 May 1987. Image: CDF
Naidu described the current leadership in Fiji in response to the covid pandemic as unresponsive and lacking in direction. He believes Fiji is in a worse position today than it was in 1987 and poverty and food shortages were a growing problem.
The challenge for Fiji was a lack of consultation with grassroots organisations and a “bubble” mentality among the key leaders of Voreqe Bainimarama’s government that refused to see the suffering on the ground.
“Everything was bad in Fiji before 2006 [when Bainimarama staged his coup],” he said, reflecting the leadership’s mantra. “Everything good in Fiji is after 2006.”
Lawyer Richard Naidu speaking about Dr Bavadra’s legacy and the reality of Fiji today. Video: David Robie/FB
Naidu referred to a social media posting in relation to the Samoan constitutional crisis when he commented: “ Australia and New Zealand must be wondering: Is Samoa ‘21 just a rehearsal for Fiji ’22.” The question is what would happen if Bainimarama loses the election next year.
In spite of his fears for the future, Naidu said he still remained optimistic because of the young leadership and committed civil society that was emerging in spite of the barriers.
‘Have we won?’
Looking back 34 years, Naidu asked the audience: “Have we won?”
With a negative response, he challenged the participants to keep working for a better Fiji.
Auckland mayor Phil Goff speaking at the Bavadra reunion last night. Image: David Robie/FB
Mayor Phil Goff said that after the 1987 coups, New Zealand did not just have a “trickle of migration, we had a flood of migration, and I think something like 20,000 or 30,000 people came from Fiji in the wake of the coups”.
And, he added, “that was a huge benefit to our country, it strengthened our country. But it was a huge drain on Fiji because these were the people with skills and energy and they could have been contributing had Fiji been a welcoming country, if everybody had first class citizenship.
“But they didn’t see that future for themselves in Fiji and I understand that and they came to make a better life in New Zealand.”
Goff called on those present to keep campaigning for human rights.
“Criminals go free in Fiji” … an image on display at the Bavadra event in Auckland last night. Image: David Robie screenshot
Union and NFIP days
Trade unionist Ashok Kumar recalled when he had worked for the Fiji Public Service Association and Dr Bavadra had been president at the time and he had inspired many people with the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific movement, “which had been a big issue for Fiji”.
Trade unionist Ashok Kumar speaking. Video: David Robie/FB
Other speakers also spoke of their admiration for a “forgotten” Dr Bavadra and how they hoped to “keep his memory alive”.
Former National Federation Party MP Ahmed Bhamji said it was hoped that the Bavadra lecture event would become an annual one and he declared that they were already planning for the 35th anniversary of Rabuka’s first coup next year.
Bhamji was a sponsor of this year’s event and among his fellow organisers were Nikhil Naidu, Rach Mario and Maire Leadbeater, who was MC for the evening.
Friends of CDF …James Robb, Maire Leadbeater, Rach Mario and David Robie at the Bavadra event in Auckland last night. Image: David Robie/APROrganiser Nikhil Naidu … thrilled with a successful Bavadra night. Image: David Robie/APRFormer National Federation Party MP Ahmed Bhamji … engaging with Richard Naidu over Fiji’s future. Image: David Robie/APRAdi Asenaca Uluiviti (left) and Del Abcede at the Bavadra memorial event last night. Image: David Robie/APRSome of the CDF group and supporters at the Bavadra memorial event in Auckland last night. Image: David Robie/APR
Fiji stands on the edge of covid-19 disaster because some 50 navy officers blatantly broke quarantine rules to hold a funeral for another officer, The Pacific Newsroom has learned.
We have received accounts of the burial at Vunivivi Hill in Nausori while even Health Permanent Secretary James Fong last night acknowledged it had happened.
The navy’s behaviour is symptomatic of a wider arrogance at top levels in government, including former naval commodore and coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama.
On June 6 last year he announced Fiji was “covid free” and that other nations, notably New Zealand, could learn from Fiji’s success which he attributed to “answered prayers, hard work, and affirmation of science”.
He then, accurately, added: “The healthy habits we’ve picked up the past months must continue.”
Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum turned out to be the weak link. He had been in Singapore for health care and to return home he used a Fiji Airways designated freighter flight, FJ1362 arriving April 10.
On the flight, in circumstances still to be explained, were two Fiji nationals who had been in India. They reached Singapore and while tested covid free there, once in managed isolation in Fiji, they were discovered to have an Indian variant of covid-19.
Soldier, cleaner and a funeral
Through a soldier, a cleaner and a funeral, it passed into the community and is now spiking, mainly in the Suva-Nausori area.
Sayed-Khaiyum, who like Bainimarama, has been little seen as the pandemic has grown, is opposed to lockdowns. He says they do not work in developing countries.
Consequently Fiji has resorted to less than effective lockdowns and a system of area controls. Suva-Nausori, for example, has three zones: Lami, Suva and Nausori. Travel between the three is supposedly tightly controlled and enforced by police and the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, of which the navy is a part.
Fiji has resorted to less than effective lockdowns and a system of area controls. Suva-Nausori, for example, has three zones: Lami, Suva and Nausori. Travel between the three is supposedly tightly controlled and enforced by police and the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, of which the navy is a part. Image: TPN
Early last week a navy officer died of unknown causes. On Wednesday there was a funeral service at Vunivivi Hill in Nausori – in another cell and across the border from the main Walu Bay navy base in Suva.
Under covid rules funerals could be held, but limited to 10 mourners limited to families and from within the zone.
But many people saw the Navy break rules that day.
A witness told Pacific Newsroom: “More than 50 Navy officers found a loophole. They visited the funeral gathering in batches of 20.
‘They all drank grog’
“They all drank grog from the same tanoa and used the same bilo.”
Referring to a Navy statement earlier this week, in which Rear Admiral Viliame Naupoto said the virus was spread due to service on small ships, the witness said the outbreak did not occur in the officers’ ships.
“They spread it in the community.”
The obvious question was why when normal families were restricted, there were special privileges for Navy officers.
“They went from one containment area into another and came back spreading the virus.”
Opposition MP Niko Nawaikula said RFMF was limiting its isolation to two days, while everyone else had 14 days.
He quoted another, unnamed witness, to events at Vunivivi Hill involving Walu Bay officers: “First batch of 20 sit drink grog and socialize around same tanoa, one bilo the works. When the next 20 arrive then the first group leave to come to Walu Bay and the next 20 sit and drink grog.
Many more cases expected
“More and many more cases will be announced soon. What lockdown when two sets of rules for people. Same thing at [Queen Elizabeth Barracks].”
Another source asked who at Walu Bay issued more travel passes for Navy officers than were allowed to attend a funeral.
The events described here were Friday night confirmed by Dr Fong himself, although without the same detail.
“ Activities surrounding funerals appear to be the most troublesome spreader events, and this is an alarming situation,” he said.
“Everyone should recall that this latest outbreak gained momentum when one person who contracted the virus in the border quarantine area attended a funeral, yet funeral gatherings continue to be sources of spread.”
Without citing the Navy, Fong said: “Our investigations indicate that in some instances, funeral gatherings of 100 were split up into 5 so-called ‘bubbles’ of 20 persons.
‘We need good sense’
“Many of you will understand that this does not make sense. We need good sense in the common sense space.
“We need to stop twisting and turning our covid safe directives to suit our purposes.
“We need to treasure the memory of those we have lost and when more normal times return we can plan memorial events in which our loved ones are commemorated in a suitable way.”
A footnote: The Fiji military inflicted coups on the nation in 1987, 2000 and 2006.
As well as the army, the navy played key roles.
It is why Bainimarama insists on calling himself “Rear Admiral (Rtr)” even though he never quite qualified for the rank.
A joint unit of Indonesian military and police have broken up a West Papuan rally against the extension of special autonomy and at least 140 demonstrators were arrested – but later released.
The detainees were taken to the West Papua regional police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) command headquarters after the rally by the Papuan People’s Solidarity (SRP) was disbanded on Tuesday.
Action coordinator Arnold Halitopo said that the arrests took place about 7.15 am when the demonstrators were forced into police tactical vehicles under tight security.
“Our action was held at five points in Manokwari, first in front of the University of Papua campus, second at the AMD Amban, third at Reremi Puncak, fourth at Fanindi and fifth at the Wosi traffic light intersection,” he said.
“This is our second demonstration to deliver our demands to the West Papua People’s Council (MRPB). The protest was broken up by police.
“Hundreds of fully armed soldiers and police were closely guarding all points. One hundred and forty six of us were taken to the Mako Brimob. [We were] held there all day then released at 5 pm,” he told Suara Papua newspaper.
The demands of the follow up action, said Halitopo, were expressing their opposition to special autonomy (Otsus) and for the right to self-determination to be given to the Papuan nation.
Several people injured
Halitopo said that several people were reportedly injured when police forced them into the vehicles.
“Comrades were injured when getting into the vehicles. Several people had bruised faces because of the police violence,” he said.
Halitopo also claimed that when they arrived at the Mako Brimob, the police asked the demonstrators for their fingerprints.
“I asked, ‘why must we get our fingerprints taken?’ What we were doing is in accordance with the prevailing regulations on demonstrations.
“But we were asked for our identities, full name, parents and employment. I don’t know what for,” said Halitopo.
According to Halitopo, the action was a follow up to an earlier protest on Friday, May 21. They already had a permit for the demonstration and calls for a peaceful action had been circulated.
But Halitopo said he was surprised that the police had blocked them from protesting for reasons which were unclear. It was said that they did not comply with covid-19 health protocols.
Police intimidation
Runi Seleng, one of the speakers at the action, said that after being transported to the Mako Brimob they were intimidated by police.
“We were intimidated, including being interrogated about the field coordinator and who was responsible for the action, then they asked us to testify about Papuan activists who were said to be the key actors.
“But we said that it was purely an action by the Papuan People’s Solidarity who are aware that Otsus has failed”, explained Seleng.
After negotiations with police, four MRPB members met with the detained demonstrators. They wanted to hear their demands at the Mako Brimob, but the protesters insisted that it must be at the MRPB offices in accordance with an agreement with the MRPB speaker and demonstrators on Friday (May 21).
“In addition to this, the protesters were determined to hold a follow up demonstration.
“The people’s aspirations have not yet been received [by the MRPB]. Despite being intimidated and terrorised, we will come back again until our aspirations are heard,” said Seleng.
Following the arrest a number of sympathisers occupied the MRPB offices until late afternoon asking the MRPB to immediately secure the detainees’ release. At 5.30 pm, the MRPB confirmed that they had been released and had returned home.
Speaking separately, Manokwari regional police chief Assistant Superintendent Dadang Kurniawan confirmed that a group of people holding a demonstration without following covid-19 health protocols had been arrested and later released.
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On June 6 last year he announced Fiji was “covid free” and that other nations, notably New Zealand, could learn from Fiji’s success which he attributed to “answered prayers, hard work, and affirmation of science”.
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