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Category: Politics

  • MIL-OSI USA: First Lady Tammy Murphy Hosts 22nd Family Festival in Orange to Address Maternal and Infant Health Crisis

    Source: US State of New Jersey

    The Family Festival Series Has Now Reached 14,950 Families Across 11 Counties

    ORANGE – First Lady Tammy Murphy marked her 22nd Nurture NJ Family Festival in Orange today, gathering 1,100 attendees to receive valuable state, county and local resources for expectant and new parents, including health care, housing support, food assistance, child care and more.

    “Over the past seven years, our Family Festivals have provided support and resources to countless mothers and families across the Garden State. There are incredible resources available to New Jerseyans and – with help from our partners – we are putting them within reach in every community we visit,” said First Lady Tammy Murphy. “Communities like Orange represent the very best of New Jersey. However, we know that communities of color experience significant disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes. That is why I look forward to continuing our festival series in targeted cities as we work to make New Jersey the safest and most equitable place in the nation to have a baby and raise a family.”

    In a city like Orange, with large Black and Latino communities, the consequences of New Jersey’s maternal and infant health crisis are unmistakable. In New Jersey, a Black mother is nearly seven times more likely and Hispanic mothers are three and a half times more likely than white mothers to die of maternity-related complications. Orange ranks sixth among our cities that experience high rates of Black infant mortality.

    Launched by First Lady Tammy Murphy in 2019, Nurture NJ is a statewide initiative committed to addressing our state’s maternal and infant health crisis. Since its inception, Nurture NJ has seen over 65 pieces of maternal and infant health legislation signed by Governor Murphy. The initiative has also developed and implemented groundbreaking programs and policies, such as the first-of-its-kind in the nation Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Authority (MIHIA), which is tasked with overseeing the groundbreaking New Jersey Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center based in Trenton, and will be the arm of government that continues the vital work of Nurture NJ past the Murphy Administration.

    Under First Lady Murphy’s leadership, Nurture NJ has made significant policy achievements including: developing the Nurture NJ Maternal and Infant Health Strategic Plan – of which over half of its more than 80 recommendations have been started or completed; becoming the second state to expand Medicaid coverage to 365 days postpartum; establishing Medicaid reimbursement for doula care; increasing all perinatal Medicaid provider reimbursements to 100 percent of Medicare rates; and launching the most robust-in-the-nation universal nurse home visitation program so that every new parent is visited by a nurse in their home for free within two weeks after bringing home a new baby. Through these innovative policies and more, Nurture NJ has positioned New Jersey as a national leader in the fight against the maternal and infant health crisis.

    The Orange Family Festival was hosted in partnership with the Office of First Lady Tammy Murphy, Nurture NJ, Senator Britnee Timberlake, Assemblywoman Carmen Morales, Assemblyman Mike Venezia, County of Essex, City of Orange, Orange Public Schools, Essex Pregnancy and Parenting, Greater Newark Health Care Coalition, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Newark Community Health Centers, Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern NJ, Perinatal Health Equity Initiative, Prevent Child Abuse NJ, Programs for Parents, RWJBarnabas Health and The Burke Foundation. 

    “Partnering with First Lady Tammy Murphy for the Family Festival in Essex County, Orange, NJ, was a true privilege. This event united families and provided invaluable resources, aligning perfectly with my legislative priorities around children and families. My gratitude goes to the First Lady, the City of Orange, and all other organizers and partners for orchestrating such an inspiring and impactful event,” said Senator Britnee Timberlake.

    “I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to First Lady Tammy Murphy for her unwavering support and dedication to our communities. I am thrilled to welcome the family festival to Orange, NJ. This investment not only enhances our community but also creates opportunities for our residents. Together, we are building a brighter future for our families and ensuring that the Oranges have all the resources and support that our families deserve,” said Assemblywoman Carmen Morales.

    “I’m proud to support First Lady Tammy Murphy’s Family Fun Day in Orange, which provides critical resources and services to our families in a warm, community-centered setting. This event exemplifies our commitment to ensuring all New Jersey families have access to the support they need to thrive,” said Assemblyman Mike Venezia.

    “If there is anything that we learned from the COVID pandemic, it’s that promoting public health and reaching out to the community to make health care more accessible are most important. Events like the Family Festival enable us to connect with underserved and hard to reach communities and provide a one-stop location where residents can begin their journey to wellness. Working with the state, health agencies and community partners, we are Putting Essex County’s Health First,” said Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr.

    “The core of family health is ensuring that every family, regardless of background or circumstance, has access to the care and resources they deserve. Through this event, we celebrate the incredible collaboration between the NJDOH, RWJBarnabas Health, and our community partners, working together to bridge the gaps in health equity and empower families across Essex County. Together, we are building a healthier, more equitable future for all,” said Maya Harlow, Essex County Health Officer/ Director.

    “With open arms we welcome First Lady Tammy Murphy and her staff as we collaborate to launch the Orange Family Festival on Saturday. This family and resource connection effort will serve as a direct pipeline to successes in Orange households, schools and community spaces by focusing on children and parents in need. We appreciate First Lady Murphy and the Governor for helping to extend our reach to every part of our community,” said Mayor Dwayne Warren of Orange.

    “The Orange School District supports opportunities for families to engage with our community partners. I am quite pleased that the City of Orange was selected to host this amazing event for our community.  I believe the powerful information must be disseminated and this event is right in line with this thinking,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Gerald Fitzhugh, II.

    “First Lady Tammy Murphy’s Family Festival in Orange is an inspiration to the people in these challenging times. The event clearly guides families in underserved communities to access the care and resources that are available in their community in an atmosphere of hope for a better and healthier life. The NJ Nurture program gives families, moms and children wealth in health,” said Dr Pamela Clarke, President & CEO of Newark Community Health Centers Inc.

    “Improving maternal and infant health is central to creating a healthier New Jersey and that is what the Family Festivals are all about.  Everyone deserves access to affordable healthcare no matter who they are or where they live and we are grateful for the opportunity to continue our partnership with the Governor and First Lady.  As New Jersey’s health solutions leader, Horizon is meeting our neighbors where they live and helping them achieve their best health through partnerships like this one,” said Wendy Morriarty, VP and Chief Medicaid Officer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ.

    “Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, together with RWJBarnabas Health, remains committed to providing equitable health care, helping to improve the health and well-being of our community, said Richard L. Davis, President and CEO of Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center. “We are honored to be a part of First Lady Tammy Murphy’s Family Festival, which is in alignment with our system mission to partner with our communities to build and sustain a healthier New Jersey.”

    “The Burke Foundation is proud to support the First Lady’s Nurture NJ Family Festivals which bring together families and the support they need to thrive within the communities where they live. We’re committed to improving maternal and child health in New Jersey by investing $15 million over the next five years in programs that will improve families’ health and well-being, and we’re honored to be part of today’s celebration in Orange,” said Atiya Weiss, Executive Director of the Burke Foundation.

    “The Greater Newark Health Care Coalition is proud to partner with First Lady Tammy Murphy and our local and state partners to bring so many resources and programs to the Orange community and its neighbors. Having access to many critical resources under one roof in the community helps eliminate accessibility barriers that prevent our families from benefiting from great programs. We thank First Lady Tammy Murphy, Nurture NJ, and the sponsors for their vision and commitment to improve maternal and child health in NJ,” said Andrea Martinez-Mejia, Executive Director, Greater Newark Health Care Coalition.

    “The Family Festival brings communities together and provides important resources to strengthen and empower families.  We are thrilled to be part of this event which supports children and families and exemplifies prevention in partnership in New Jersey,” said Gina Hernandez, CEO and Executive Director, Prevent Child Abuse-New Jersey and Essex Pregnancy and Parenting.

    “We are thrilled to participate in the First Lady of New Jersey’s Family Festival, where we can stand alongside families and community partners dedicated to a future with equitable healthcare. Our participation in This event reflects our unwavering commitment to addressing disparities in Black infant and maternal health, and we look forward to empowering and supporting families with the resources, knowledge, and compassion they deserve,” said Dr. Nastassia Harris, Founder of Perinatal Health Equity Initiative.

    “We are excited to be part of the festival, so we can meet Essex County parents to share information about the New Jersey Child Care Assistance Program, how to find quality child care and talk, generally, with them about their child care needs,” said Nayibe Capellan, CEO Programs for Parents.

    “We are thrilled to support the First Lady’s Family Festival.  These events not only provide vital health resources for the residents of Orange, but they bring together the community for a day of fun,” said Mariekarl Vilceus-Talty, President & CEO, Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Kamala Harris is being called ‘Jezebel’ – a Biblical expert explains why it’s a menacing slur

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By M.J.C. Warren, Senior Lecturer in Biblical and Religious Studies, University of Sheffield

    lev radin/Shutterstock

    Jezebel has long been used as a slur against women who are considered too self-confident, too independent or too close to power – particularly when they happen to be Black. From Beyonce to Nikki Minaj, US vice-president and Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris is only the latest in a long line of women of colour to be on the receiving end of the slur.

    But beneath the use of Jezebel’s name as a way to paint powerful women as promiscuous lies something even more sinister: the threat of sexual violence for those who will not submit to white patriarchal control.

    An increasing number of Christian nationalist personalities have taken to claiming that the vice-president is a Jezebel spirit. Notably, televangelist Lance Wallnau appears in multiple videos on X (formerly Twitter) claiming that: “with Kamala you have a Jezebel spirit, a characteristic in the Bible, that is a Jezebel spirit. The personification of intimidation, seduction, domination and manipulation”.

    Nor is Wallnau shy about connecting his use of Jezebel to Harris’s race: according to his video, the fact that Harris is Black makes her even more of a seductive Jezebel than Hillary Clinton: “the spirit of Jezebel in a way that will be even more ominous than Hillary [Clinton] because she’ll bring a racial component, and she’s younger”.

    Jezebels old and new

    Different versions of Jezebel are found in the Old and New Testaments, but both are associated with power, independence and sexuality. In 1 Kings, Jezebel is a queen from Sidon (present-day Lebanon). She ruled along with her husband Ahab and refuses to worship the biblical God; she continued her traditional worship of Ba’al.

    Her authority in her marriage and in politics attracted the prophet Elijah’s negative attention. Elijah utters a prophecy that: “The dogs shall eat Jezebel” (1 Kings 21:23), and indeed, 2 Kings 9:32-37 says that the prophecy is fulfilled.

    Knowing her life is in danger, Jezebel puts on her make up and does her hair to prepare to meet her enemy.

    As religious studies academic Jennifer L. Koosed writes, while her self-beautification is used to sexualise Jezebel, “these acts are those of a proud and powerful queen” who boldly meets the man who is about to have her thrown from a window. Jezebel’s bloodied body is trampled by horses and her corpse utterly destroyed.

    Her violent death and the desecration of her body, which is consumed by dogs, dehumanises Jezebel. The Bible presents this as apt punishment for a woman who was so bold as to defy her husband’s traditions and maintain her independence.

    When we meet another Jezebel in the New Testament, the process begins again. In Revelation 2, Jezebel is a prophet, a rival of John the Seer, who travels to different early Christian communities and teaches them. John, the author of the Book of Revelation, imagines Jesus writing to the community who allow themselves to be taught by her. In that letter, the voice of Jesus declares that the punishment for this woman, who dares to be a leader, is rape. John uses vitriolic language to paint Jezebel as sexually immoral, but his complaint is with her authority.

    Long and damaging history

    The Bible frequently paints female characters as unacceptably sexual, or threatens them with sexual violence, in order to maintain its patriarchal hierarchy.

    Definition of the word Jezebel in a religious dictionary.
    Shutterstock

    For example, as biblical scholars such as Renita J. Weems have pointed out, Hosea 1-3 uses the metaphor of God as (abusive) husband and the people of Israel as their (abused) adulterous wife in order to convince the Israelites to worship God again.

    The infamous figure of the “Whore of Babylon” in Revelation 17-18 echoes that divine threat: her control over the kings of the world, her opulence and her sexuality all make her God’s enemy – and her punishment is sexual humiliation and violence.

    Kamala Harris has been labelled Jezebel since at least as early as 2021 when pastor Steve Swofford as “Jezebel Harris” and pastor Tom Buck tweeted: “I can’t imagine any truly God-fearing Israelite who would’ve wanted their daughters to view Jezebel as an inspirational role model because she was a woman in power.”

    Buck doubled down on his comments the next day, saying, “For those torn up over my tweet, I stand by it 100%. My problem is her godless character. She not only is the most radical pro-abortion VP ever, but also most radical LGBT advocate. She performed one of the first Lesbian ‘marriages.’ Pray for her, but don’t praise her!”

    Understood in the context of the attack on women’s rights by Christian nationalists and their allies, giving Harris the name Jezebel connects the biblical threats with the move to criminalise abortion access and even divorce – to take power away from women and restore it to the patriarchal Christian structure.

    While Jezebel is a clearly misogynist term, it has long been used in particular to dehumanise Black women. Racist stereotypes about Black women as hypersexual Jezebels were used by slavers to justify their rape of enslaved women. Even after the end of slavery, this use of the name persisted, as did the racist stereotype about Black women’s sexual availability to justify sexual violence. And Black women continue to experience sexual harassment and abuse at much higher levels than white women.

    So, when Christian nationalists urge their followers to “confront this Jezebel spirit” we can’t forget that confronting Jezebel is violent – in the Bible confronting Jezebel means her death or her rape. These veiled threats should not be taken lightly.

    Femicide is an ongoing crisis. A woman is killed by a man every three days in the UK and three women are killed by men every day in North America. Sexual violence against women is also rampant and is a weapon in the patriarchal arsenal for subduing independent women.

    Calling a powerful woman like Harris a Jezebel, then, isn’t just an offensive slur – it carries with it the persistent threat of racist violence and sexual assault.

    M.J.C. Warren does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Kamala Harris is being called ‘Jezebel’ – a Biblical expert explains why it’s a menacing slur – https://theconversation.com/kamala-harris-is-being-called-jezebel-a-biblical-expert-explains-why-its-a-menacing-slur-241746

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Is targeting UN peacekeepers in Lebanon a war crime? Here’s what international law says

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Giacomo Biggio, Lecturer in Law, University of Bristol Law School, University of Bristol

    Recent incidents involving the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (Unifil) have raised an important question. Can Israel lawfully target UN peacekeepers and premises in Lebanon, or would that constitute a war crime? To answer that question, it’s worth looking at the rules of International Humanitarian Law and how they relate to these apparent attacks by the IDF.

    First though, some background. Since Israeli troops entered Lebanon on October 1, there have been a number of incidents where IDF units have apparently targeted Unifil positions in southern Lebanon. This happened most recently on October 20, when the UN reported that “an IDF bulldozer deliberately demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position” in Marwahin, near Lebanon’s border with Israel.

    Israel has repeatedly called for Unifil units to withdraw from the area. But, according to a UN statement of October 22: “Despite the pressure being exerted on the mission and our troop-contributing countries, peacekeepers remain in all positions.” The UN statement added that: “breaching a UN position and damaging UN assets is a flagrant violation of international law and Security Council resolution 1701. It also endangers the safety and security of our peacekeepers in violation of international humanitarian law.”

    Getting to grips with the legal position involved here begins by looking at the principle of “distinction”. This requires a party to the conflict to distinguish at all times between civilian and combatants, and between civilian objects and military objectives.

    A combatant is everyone who is a member of the armed forces of a party to the conflict, with the exception of medical and religious personnel. In turn, the notion of armed forces comprises all organised armed forces, groups and units which are under a command responsible to that party for the conduct of its subordinates. Everyone who falls outside this category is considered a civilian.

    It’s a fundamentally important distinction. Combatants can be killed unless they are hors de combat (captured, trying to surrender or incapacitated). Civilians, meanwhile, enjoy absolute protection from attack and cannot intentionally be targeted unless they take a direct part in hostilities.

    Civilians or combatants?

    So, are Unifil peacekeepers combatants or civilians? Despite Unifil being armed and under military command, it is a peacekeeping force and not a party to the conflict. Unifil is mandated by UN security council resolution 1701. It operates with the consent of its host state, Lebanon, and in accordance with the principles of neutrality, impartiality and limited use of force.

    Since the war between Israel and Hezbollah ended in 2006, its job has been to confirm Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, ensure that the government of Lebanon exercises effective authority in the area and prevent the entry of weapons into the region. Crucially, Unifil is not engaged in hostilities with either the IDF or Hezbollah. So it is not a party to the conflict.

    From this it follows that Unifil peacekeepers must be considered civilians and enjoy protection from attack. So they cannot be intentionally attacked by the IDF unless they engage in conduct amounting to “direct participation in hostilities” (DPH).

    The state of the conflict in southern Lebanon, October 22 2024.
    Institute for the Study of War

    For conduct to qualify as DPH, it must either kill or injure a party to an armed conflict, or destroy or damage a protected object. This must be deliberate, intentional and result directly from the action of the person accused.

    In practice, this means that a peacekeeper would be committing DPH by, for example, shooting on IDF soldiers with the intent of affecting their military operations. If that was the case, a peacekeeper would lose protection from attack, but only for the time they engage in the conduct amounting to DPH. After this conduct has ended, they would regain protection from attack.

    Crucially, Unifil peacekeepers have never fired on IDF soldiers. If they did perhaps return fire from IDF soldiers, they would acting in self defence, rather than with the intention of affecting the IDF’s military operations. So their actions would not be sufficient for them to be regarded as combatants and they’d still be protected as civilians.

    What is a legitimate military target?

    The same conclusion can be reached with regards to IDF attacks on Unifil’s premises. These qualify as civilian objects and are protected from direct attack. Only military objectives are legitimate targets because, according to IHL, they make “an effective contribution to military action” and their capture, destruction or neutralisation offers a definite military advantage.

    Clearly, that is not the case for Unifil posts. So attacking Unifil peacekeepers and premises would violate the principle of distinction and qualify as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. So, intentionally demolishing a Unifil watchtower with an IDF bulldozer, as happened recently, appears to qualify as a war crime, despite the claim that there was a Hezbollah weapons cache near the watchtower.

    It’s worth adding that peacekeepers and their premises must be the intended target of the attack for it to be a violation of the principle of distinction. If the IDF’s target was – as claimed – a nearby Hezbollah weapons cache, which clearly qualifies as a military objective, any resulting damage to peacekeepers or their premises must be evaluated under the principle of “proportionality” and must not exceed the military advantage anticipated from the attack. Once again, launching an attack with the knowledge it would cause excessive incidental damage would amount to a war crime.

    In the confusion of an IDF offensive in southern Lebanon it’s impossible to ascertain all the details beyond reasonable doubt. Knowing what actually happened is one thing. But once the fog of war lifts and the details become clear, so will the judgment of international law.

    Giacomo Biggio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Is targeting UN peacekeepers in Lebanon a war crime? Here’s what international law says – https://theconversation.com/is-targeting-un-peacekeepers-in-lebanon-a-war-crime-heres-what-international-law-says-241849

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Is Tim Burton an outsider auteur or a global megastar? The Design Museum thinks it has the answer

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Catherine Spooner, Professor of Literature and Culture, Lancaster University

    “Like walking around in a weird, beautiful funhouse.” That’s how Tim Burton described his private viewing of The World of Tim Burton at the exhibition’s opening at London’s Design Museum.

    A travelling circus that initially took shape at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2009 and has since visited 14 cities in 11 countries, the exhibition now reaches its grand finale in expanded, remixed form in Burton’s adopted hometown. At the press conference, he admitted to feeling somewhat anxious about it. This points to one of the underlying tensions of the exhibition itself – the contrast between laying bare an intensely personal creative process, and Burton’s global megastar status.

    The exhibition’s collaboration with the Design Museum has enabled its re-framing as an exploration of Burton’s “design practice” (in curator Maria McClintock’s words). It traces the complex path from Burton’s initial sketches to their realisation on screen.

    In this respect, the exhibition is successful. Visitors get a sense of the holistic development of Burton’s ideas from preliminary drawings to their realisation by puppet-makers and set and costume designers. Unrealised film projects and personal artworks are also included. This provides a unique insight into the director’s creative process.

    The work itself, moreover, is joyous – a riot of colour and fizzing line. The Burton that emerges is restlessly inventive. We see not only his prolific sketches in pen and ink and watercolour but also his experiments across media with collage, pastels, oils, acrylics on velvet, home movies, photography, children’s picture books and comic verse.

    Some of the most thrilling items are the most personal – teen fan art, scribbles on table napkins, university lecture notes. These offer an impression of intimacy, of unadulterated creativity bubbling up from some hidden wellspring of the subconscious. The staging of the exhibition enhances this impression. Skewed doorways and chequerboard floors suggest that the art is spilling out of the frame into the space of the gallery, evoking the “funhouse” feel that Burton commented on.

    The exhibition is invested in the notion of Burton as auteur, supported by a loyal team of creatives, many of whom are showcased here. One highlight is rows of Jack Skellington heads with different facial expressions, devised by stop-motion animators Mackinnon and Saunders for The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Elsewhere, there is a genuine frisson in seeing Bob Ringwood and Mary Vogt’s iconic costume for Catwoman in Batman Returns (1992), now so fragile that it can only be laid flat, and looking uncannily like shed skin.

    The indisputable star among Burton’s collaborators, however, is costume designer Colleen Atwood. Her spectacular ensembles for Edward Scissorhands (1990), Mars Attacks! (1996), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Wednesday (2022) dominate the central room of the exhibition. Someone please give her a show of her own.

    Missed opportunities

    Where the exhibition is less successful is in its attempts to place Burton in a wider cultural framework. Burton’s influences are covered patchily and explained poorly. Vincent Price is conflated with Hammer Horror (he never made a film with Hammer Studios) and the theoretical concept of the carnivalesque is misunderstood.

    A more thorough exploration of the horror traditions on which Burton draws – particularly German expressionism and Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptations – would have been welcome. The focus on Burton’s drawings also begs closer attention to the illustrative traditions he is indebted to, from Ralph Steadman to Charles Addams and Edward Gorey. To neglect this is to diminish Burton’s skill as an artist who consciously reworks the American gothic tradition into a distinctive new form.

    The final room, “Burtonesque”, has the potential to be the most interesting. It explores the way that Burton’s aesthetic has become distinctive enough to be recognisable in the work of other artists.

    Ultimately, however, it shies away from asking searching questions about stylistic transferability and influence. Rather, it looks at Burton’s collaborations with artists in other media, whether fashion designer Alexander McQueen, photographer Tim Walker, or rock band The Killers.

    These are interesting in their own right but crucially, Burton is still involved in this process. The traditional exit through the gift shop reveals another side to Burton, in which his highly recognisable aesthetic has lent itself to merchandise with varying degrees of connection to the original source. The director has been vocal about the exploitation of his work by AI. But is this, in today’s culture, the logical end-point of the “Burtonesque”?

    The exhibition avoids any kind of investigation of the Burton brand, or even of Burton’s influence on a new generation of creators. In doing so, it misses what is one of the most fascinating paradoxes about Burton: that an artist who is so preoccupied with the figure of the outsider has been so widely embraced, with such immense commercial success.

    Burton’s work raises serious questions about the role and popularity of gothic imagery in 21st-century culture, but this exhibition is content to stick with the funhouse thrills.

    The World of Tim Burton is on at the Design Museum, London, until April 21 2025.


    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    Catherine Spooner has previously received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for a related project.

    – ref. Is Tim Burton an outsider auteur or a global megastar? The Design Museum thinks it has the answer – https://theconversation.com/is-tim-burton-an-outsider-auteur-or-a-global-megastar-the-design-museum-thinks-it-has-the-answer-242172

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Class identity: why fancy freebies are a bigger political problem for this Labour government than its Tory predecessors

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Vladimir Bortun, Lecturer in Politics, University of Oxford

    While much of the intense media coverage of the UK government’s freebies scandal might be attributable to overzealous scrutiny by a predominantly right-of-centre printed press, there is at least one important issue at the heart of all this.

    It should be acknowledged that the gifts are in line with existing regulations – and also arguably less controversial than some of the donations received by members of former Conservative governments. But this Labour government sold itself as something different.

    Several frontbench figures, including prime minister Keir Starmer and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner focused heavily on their working-class credentials ahead of the election. They were doing so to reinforce the message that they are infinitely more in tune with regular people than the Tories.

    Several Labour ministers have accepted donations and freebies from big business and wealthy individuals. Lord Alli lent Starmer his £18m London flat and a New York property to Rayner for a holiday. Several Labour MPs were given tickets to Taylor Swift concerts, and perhaps more importantly, £4 million was donated to the Labour party by Quadrature – a tax-haven-based hedge fund with shares in the arms manufacturing, private healthcare and fossil fuel industries.

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    The obvious question is why these companies and wealthy individuals have made these donations and what they expect in return. People don’t make political donations out of the kindness of their hearts. They often expect something in return, whether in the form of a seat in the House of Lords or a lucrative state contract.

    Even in cases where there is no reciprocity, there are deeper questions of professional and political ethics that arise from donations. And fair or not, those questions are more pressing for a Labour government.

    There is, first of all, a matter of perception during a cost of living crisis. Labour MPs have just voted to keep the two-child benefit cap and remove universal winter fuel payments. Against this backdrop, it’s not a stretch to suggest accepting glamorous gifts creates a distance between lawmakers and the people they govern.

    But beyond that perception is the fact that living a privileged life may have a material effect on an MP’s outlook. There is a significant body of evidence showing that upward social mobility leads people towards more rightwing views on the economy.

    That may be particularly true of politicians. For this group, the trajectory is the most extreme. If you start from a working-class position in society and end up being part of the group that effectively leads that society, your vantage point could not be more different. You are less likely to try to change the status quo that is now the source of your own social and financial benefits.

    To be fair, research my colleagues and I conducted shows that working-class origins have a lingering effect on an MP’s outlook when they enter parliament. They are more likely to take an interest in issues that are important to working-class voters, for example.

    But this effect is diluted by party discipline, such as when MPs are whipped to vote in a certain way (such as on benefits). Social mobility, and in particular a simmering angst about falling back down the social ladder, also shapes these MPs’ decisions.

    Closing the experience gap

    It doesn’t have to be this way. In the 1980s, one of the most leftwing and working-class Labour MPs at the time, Terry Fields, ran and won an election on the slogan “a worker’s MP on a worker’s wage” – pledging to only draw a salary equivalent to a fireman’s and to donate the remainder.

    While this could be dismissed as performative populism from a politician looking to prove that he’s a “man of the people”, there is a deeper rationale at work here. Arguably, you can’t truly represent the interests of working-class people if you live in considerably better material conditions, cut off from the daily experience and living standards of those people.

    How can you fully understand what working-class people and communities go through and, thereby, what kind of policies they need, if you live in a parallel reality to theirs?



    Read more:
    What does class mean today in Britain? Podcast

    This is not to argue that MPs should give up their salaries or that they’re incapable of empathy, but it does show why freebies are such a glaring problem for a new government.

    Working-class people have, themselves, indicated that this experience gap matters to them. Their political alienation over the past few decades has been fuelled by their sense that they do not recognise themselves in the current political elite and the inequality-enhancing policies the elite have been enacting.

    The last election recorded one of the highest abstention rates (and according to at least one estimate, actually the highest) since the introduction of universal suffrage.

    And should a political party remain unmoved by those statistics, there is the small matter of electoral survival. Taken more cynically, working-class communities have become the electoral battlegrounds of the modern era.

    There are not many promising signs so far that the new Labour government is up to the task of representing the working class once again – even the recent workers’ rights legislation has been criticised as falling short by some of the trade unions. And while there’s a long way to go before we know if the freebies scandal will end up costing Labour support at the next election, it certainly won’t be counted as a bonus.

    Vladimir Bortun does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Class identity: why fancy freebies are a bigger political problem for this Labour government than its Tory predecessors – https://theconversation.com/class-identity-why-fancy-freebies-are-a-bigger-political-problem-for-this-labour-government-than-its-tory-predecessors-241619

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: I’m Not Okay: emo is alive and kicking at Barbican retrospective

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Francesca Sobande, Senior Lecturer in Digital Media Studies, Cardiff University

    An emo music retrospective has been a long time coming. There has been extensive work before now to archive and celebrate the cultural memory of this 2004-09 scene, whose name is short for emotional hardcore, but rarely has it been the sole focus of a public exhibition in the UK.

    Located at the Barbican Music Library in London, I’m Not Okay: An Emo Retrospective by the Museum of Youth Culture offers an inviting mix of nostalgia and dynamic documentation.

    The exhibition claims to focus on “a pivotal era when [US] bands like My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy and Finch sparked a transatlantic exchange, fuelling a distinct UK movement led by acts such as Funeral for a Friend”. Indeed the exhibition’s title is borrowed from a My Chemical Romance song of the same name. These are all bands that, to my delight as an emo fan, toured the UK in recent years, reflecting the ongoing appreciation and demand for such music.

    Much more than just spotlighting bands and musicians, the Museum of Youth Culture’s exhibition takes visitors on a trip down memory lane. It allows you to revisit digital culture from the days of file-sharing software like Limewire and the blogging and social media sites Myspace, LiveJournal and Xanga.

    The retrospective is a snapshot of the world of emo around 20 years ago, shaped by people’s recollections of their bedrooms, youth and digital culture, in addition to depictions of emo gigs and gatherings.

    I’m Not Okay, the 2004 song by My Chemical Romance that the exhibition is named for.

    The exhibition charts key points in emo’s 2000s era, from its origins in Washington DC’s post-hardcore scene in the mid-1980s. By bringing together people’s memories of emo from various parts of the world, the exhibition also tracks the ways that the internet, fandom and globalisation were experienced then.

    This is captured by the opening line of text displayed at the beginning of the retrospective: “I’m Not Okay is a rallying cry from a generation whose identity was spread across virtual infinities against the uncertain futures of a new millennium.”

    No one’s 20s and 30s look the same. You might be saving for a mortgage or just struggling to pay rent. You could be swiping dating apps, or trying to understand childcare. No matter your current challenges, our Quarter Life series has articles to share in the group chat, or just to remind you that you’re not alone.

    Read more from Quarter Life:

    In the exhibition, excerpts from people who embraced emo in the 2000s (and beyond) paint a picture of digital culture as being key to the genre’s beating heart. The importance of early social media sites such as MySpace and Bebo is mentioned several times.

    Despite its relatively small scale, the Barbican show covers lots of different dimensions of emo between 2004 and 2009. It touches on matters as diverse as the rise of smartphones, the messiness of MSN messenger and online forums, and the specifics of being Black and emo.

    Emo at home and abroad

    Many of the memories documented in the exhibition point to the way that music and popular culture from North America had, and continues to have, a significant impact on youth culture and music in the UK. But the retrospective also makes clear that there was and is no absence of homegrown talent, spirit and scenes. These subcultures are firmly rooted in the realities of local life in the UK.

    In the 2000s, emo emerged and developed in distinctly regional as well as national ways. Stories about its uniqueness in certain towns, cities and states, sit alongside memories of learning about and yearning to experience its idiosyncrasies in different countries.

    Paramore were one of the few female-fronted emo bands of the 2000s.

    Statements adorning the exhibition walls include people’s recollections of growing up in rural areas, where they were one of few emo kids. Again, what ties those thoughts together is the role of the internet in connecting people to and through emo, as well as the meaningfulness of trips to nearby bigger places with more of an underground scene.

    Within such retrospective reflections are memories of young people’s experiences of a third place. Places that are not home and not a place of study or work, such as public squares, skate parks and club nights, that have increasingly diminished, been unfunded, or become more policed since the 2000s. Through these reflections, the show examines how places and spaces – both online and offline – have changed since the 2000s, in ways that impact young people and music today.

    I’m Not Okay: An Emo Retrospective takes seriously the significance and brilliance of emo. Illuminating elements of youth culture, digital culture and the layered history of emo music and subcultures, this retrospective is a reminder that while the internet of the past is long gone, emo remains alive and kicking.

    I’m Not Okay: An Emo Retrospective is on at the Barbican Music Library until January 15 2025.


    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    Francesca Sobande received Impact Acceleration funding from UKRI in 2024, towards a project that involves collaborating with the Museum of Youth Culture.

    – ref. I’m Not Okay: emo is alive and kicking at Barbican retrospective – https://theconversation.com/im-not-okay-emo-is-alive-and-kicking-at-barbican-retrospective-241870

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: SEK 50 million in humanitarian assistance to Sudan

    Source: Government of Sweden

    SEK 50 million in humanitarian assistance to Sudan – Government.se

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    Press release from Ministry for Foreign Affairs

    Published

    The humanitarian crisis in Sudan is the largest in the world, with around half of the country’s population in need of humanitarian assistance. The Swedish Government has now decided to provide an additional SEK 50 million in humanitarian assistance. Women and children are particularly vulnerable in the current crisis. This assistance aims particularly at helping vulnerable children and meeting women’s needs related to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

    “The humanitarian situation in Sudan is disastrous. Millions of people are in need of emergency support, care and protection – none more so than the millions of children who are vulnerable, and those affected by the critical situation as regards SRHR. The Government is now increasing Sweden’s humanitarian assistance to Sudan by SEK 50 million. The conditions for humanitarian organisations to reach affected people also need to be greatly improved, which the Government is continuing to work for,” says Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa.

    “The situation in Sudan is the most extensive humanitarian crisis right now, which unfortunately is easily forgotten. As is always the case, women and children are most severely affected. We are targeting our assistance where it’s needed the most, which is currently in Sudan,” says Gudrun Brunegård, development assistance policy spokesperson for the Christian Democrats.

    “Children are affected especially severely by the critical conditions and warrant special protection. I’m proud that Sweden is scaling up its humanitarian assistance to Sudan,” says Joar Forssell, foreign policy spokesperson for the Liberal Party.

    SEK 30 million is being allocated to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). UNICEF’s humanitarian activities in Sudan aim to provide children with health and medical care, and they also support initiatives for nutrition, water and sanitation in areas severely affected by the conflict.

    SEK 20 million is being allocated to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). In light of the increase in sexual and gender-based violence during the civil war and the lack of access to health and medical care, UNFPA’s humanitarian activities in Sudan are helping address the SRHR-related needs of women, girls and adolescents, including through the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence and support to people who have been subjected to violence.

    Press contact

    Sweden’s support to Sudan

    With these additional funds, Sweden’s total support – from the Government and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) – to the civilian population in Sudan in 2024 amounts to SEK 709 million. This consists of SEK 489 million in humanitarian assistance and SEK 220 million in long-term development cooperation.

    Sweden’s humanitarian support in Sudan is distributed between a number of civil society organisations, UN agencies and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The assistance is going to health and medical care, life-saving food assistance, water and sanitation, and protection and shelter for families who have been forcibly displaced from their homes.

    Sweden is also providing humanitarian assistance to neighbouring countries Chad and South Sudan, which helps to meet the humanitarian needs of Sudanese refugees.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: NASA Provides Update on Artemis III Moon Landing Regions

    Source: NASA

    As NASA prepares for the first crewed Moon landing in more than five decades, the agency has identified an updated set of nine potential landing regions near the lunar South Pole for its Artemis III mission. These areas will be further investigated through scientific and engineering study. NASA will continue to survey potential areas for missions following Artemis III, including areas beyond these nine regions.
    “Artemis will return humanity to the Moon and visit unexplored areas. NASA’s selection of these regions shows our commitment to landing crew safely near the lunar South Pole, where they will help uncover new scientific discoveries and learn to live on the lunar surface,” said Lakiesha Hawkins, assistant deputy associate administrator, Moon to Mars Program Office.
    NASA’s Cross Agency Site Selection Analysis team, working closely with science and industry partners, added, and excluded potential landing regions, which were assessed for their science value and mission availability.
    The refined candidate Artemis III lunar landing regions are, in no priority order:

    Peak near Cabeus B
    Haworth
    Malapert Massif
    Mons Mouton Plateau
    Mons Mouton
    Nobile Rim 1
    Nobile Rim 2
    de Gerlache Rim 2
    Slater Plain

    These regions contain diverse geological characteristics and offer flexibility for mission availability. The lunar South Pole has never been explored by a crewed mission and contains permanently shadowed areas that can preserve resources, including water.
    “The Moon’s South Pole is a completely different environment than where we landed during the Apollo missions,” said Sarah Noble, Artemis lunar science lead at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “It offers access to some of the Moon’s oldest terrain, as well as cold, shadowed regions that may contain water and other compounds. Any of these landing regions will enable us to do amazing science and make new discoveries.”
    To select these landing regions, a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers analyzed the lunar South Pole region using data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and a vast body of lunar science research. Factors in the selection process included science potential, launch window availability, terrain suitability, communication capabilities with Earth, and lighting conditions. Additionally, the team assessed the combined trajectory capabilities of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, the Orion spacecraft, and Starship HLS (Human Landing System) to ensure safe and accessible landing sites.
    The Artemis III geology team evaluated the landing regions for their scientific promise. Sites within each of the nine identified regions have the potential to provide key new insights into our understanding of rocky planets, lunar resources, and the history of our solar system.
    “Artemis III will be the first time that astronauts will land in the south polar region of the Moon. They will be flying on a new lander into a terrain that is unique from our past Apollo experience,” said Jacob Bleacher, NASA’s chief exploration scientist. “Finding the right locations for this historic moment begins with identifying safe places for this first landing, and then trying to match that with opportunities for science from this new place on the Moon.”
    NASA’s site assessment team will engage the lunar science community through conferences and workshops to gather data, build geologic maps, and assess the regional geology of eventual landing sites. The team also will continue surveying the entire lunar South Pole region for science value and mission availability for future Artemis missions. This will include planning for expanded science opportunities during Artemis IV, and suitability for the LTV (Lunar Terrain Vehicle) as part of Artemis V.
    The agency will select sites within regions for Artemis III after it identifies the mission’s target launch dates, which dictate transfer trajectories, or orbital paths, and surface environment conditions.
    Under NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration at the Moon, land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface, and prepare for human expeditions to Mars for the benefit of all.
    For more information on Artemis, visit:
    https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis
    -end-
    James Gannon / Molly WasserHeadquarters, Washington202-358-1600james.h.gannon@nasa.gov / molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: November 2024 General Election

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal, Southern District of Iowa, announced today that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Amy Licht will lead the efforts of her Office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 5, 2024, general election.  AUSA Licht has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer (DEO) for the Southern District of Iowa, and in that capacity is responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of election day complaints of voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff, and election fraud, in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington.

    United States Attorney Westphal said, “Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have that vote counted in a fair and free election.  Similarly, election officials and staff must be able to serve without being subject to unlawful threats of violence.  The Department of Justice will always work tirelessly to protect the integrity of the election process.”

    The Department of Justice has an important role in deterring and combatting discrimination and intimidation at the polls, threats of violence directed at election officials and poll workers, and election fraud.  The Department will address these violations wherever they occur.  The Department’s longstanding Election Day Program furthers these goals and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible federal election law violations.

    Federal law protects against such crimes as threatening violence against election officials or staff, intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input.  It also contains special protections for the rights of voters, and provides that they can vote free from interference, including intimidation, and other acts designed to prevent or discourage people from voting or voting for the candidate of their choice.  The Voting Rights Act protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice (where voters need assistance because of disability or inability to read or write in English).   

    United States Attorney Westphal stated that: “The franchise is the cornerstone of American democracy.  We all must ensure that those who are entitled to the franchise can exercise it if they choose, and that those who seek to corrupt it are brought to justice.  In order to respond to complaints of voting rights concerns and election fraud during the upcoming election, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, AUSA/DEO Licht will be on duty in this District while the polls are open.  She can be reached by the public at the following telephone number: 515-473-9300.”

     In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day.  The local FBI field office can be reached by the public at 515-223-4278.

    Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division in Washington, DC by complaint form at https://civilrights.justice.gov/ or by phone at 800-253-3931.

     United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal said, “Ensuring free and fair elections depends in large part on the assistance of the American electorate.  It is important that those who have specific information about voting rights concerns or election fraud make that information available to the Department of Justice.”

    Please note, however, in the case of a crime of violence or intimidation, please call 911 immediately and before contacting federal authorities.  State and local police have primary jurisdiction over polling places, and almost always have faster reaction capacity in an emergency. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: AMERICA/HAITI – Celebration in Pourcine for access to drinking water and the launch of the Scout movement of the Catholic Church

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Monday, 28 October 2024

    Pourcine (Agenzia Fides) – While Haiti remains immersed in a deep crisis, the small mountain town of Pourcine has found reasons to celebrate: the arrival of drinking water and the launch of its first group of Scouts of the Catholic Church.“In the parish of Our Lady of Help, 70 children, young people and adults have participated in the inauguration of the KIRO movement, a Catholic branch of Scouts. It was a weekend of training, games and songs,” said Father Massimo Miraglio, Camillian missionary and parish priest of this community in the mountainous hinterland of Jérémie, to Fides.Meanwhile, the construction of the aqueduct continues with the help of the local population, who transport materials, often on foot and barefoot, despite the climatic difficulties. “Although the bad weather has slowed down the work, we have reached the water tanks,” reports Father Miraglio. “While the connection of the reservoirs and the main pipeline to the springs of Pourcine is being completed, residents have begun to drink water from a temporary pipeline, a moment of celebration for the community that can now access clean water close to their homes.”“All this always with hope and with the aim of building an increasingly united, supportive and willing to work together Christian community,” concludes the Camillian.Returning to the social context of the entire Caribbean country, local agencies report that after a period of relative calm, the “Viv Ansanm” gang coalition has intensified its attacks in the suburbs of the capital in recent days, where they now control up to 80% of the capital. This violence has aggravated food insecurity, with transport routes blocked and the countryside taken over by gangs. Despite the approval of the UN Security Council to deploy a multinational force to support the Haitian police, the operation lacks the resources and personnel necessary to deal with the crisis. The Haitian transitional government has asked that this force be transformed into a UN Blue Helmets peacekeeping mission, but this initiative has not gone ahead. In addition, gangs that previously mainly attacked Haitian police, militias and government infrastructure now appear to be targeting foreign mission vehicles.Amid this chaos, forced displacement has also increased. More than 10,000 Haitians left their homes in the last week alone, and last September the number of displaced is estimated to have exceeded 700,000, almost doubling in just six months. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 28/10/2024)
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    [embedded content]
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  • MIL-OSI Europe: ASIA/IRAN – Archbishop of Tehran: Putting aside the designs of supremacy is key to restoring peace

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    OFMConv

    Tehran (Agenzia Fides) – “We must abandon the aspiration to assert our supremacy and stop investing time, energy and resources in techniques and strategies that distance us from the light,” says Conventual Franciscan Dominique Joseph Mathieu, Archbishop of Tehran-Ispahan of the Latins and future Cardinal and stresses that this is the key to restoring peace in the Middle East and in the world.The Iranian capital, where Archbishop Mathieu exercises his ministry, was hit on the night between Friday and Saturday by an air strike by the Israeli armed forces, along with other areas of the country. The Israeli attack on Iran, coordinated with the United States, hit military targets. According to the Anbamed website, the assessment of the attack has divided opinions in Israel and Tehran: “Netanyahu claims to have given Iran a lesson it will not forget, while the opposition says it was a theatrical action to show firmness, but that in reality it was ‘a caress’, as the minister himself, Ben Gvir, described it. The same type of debate continues in Tehran. But the spiritual leader Khamenei has warned against maximalist and minimalist exaggerations.” “Pope Francis – affirms Archbishop Mathieu in a conversation with Fides Agency – constantly reminds us of the urgency of putting an end to wars, which only bring death and darkness. It is time to face conflicts with courage and transparency. Only through authentic encounter with the other can the spark of fraternity emerge in our common home, which God, made love, has entrusted to us.” Tehran’s politicians and military maintain their position that there will be a reaction, according to the Anbamed website: “Israeli intelligence services say that Tehran could launch up to 100 ballistic missiles in retaliation.” Today, a meeting of the Security Council is also being held in New York, convened by Iran and supported by Russia, China and Algeria. It seems that the possibility of not being absorbed by the vortex of violence is suspended in the prevalence of political options that recognize the prospect of a truce and the end of reprisals as the only realistic way out of the chaos and end the pain of entire peoples. Archbishop Mathieu, who will be created a cardinal by Pope Francis on December 7, concludes: “by walking together, despite our differences, we can be true witnesses of peace. Let us not limit ourselves to dreaming about it: let us build it with concrete actions of reconciliation and unity.” The Archdiocese of Tehran-Ispahan of the Latins is responsible for the pastoral care of all Catholics (approximately 2,000 faithful) of the Latin rite in Iran, divided into 4 parishes. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 28/10/2024)
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  • MIL-OSI Europe: AFRICA/DR CONGO – Controversial debate over proposed constitutional amendment

    Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

    Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – The announcement by President Felix Tshisekedi that he will set up a commission next year to draft a new constitution for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is causing a controversial debate in the country.”Next year I will appoint a commission made up of people from different sectors of society to draft a new constitution that is adapted to the realities of the Democratic Republic of Congo and no longer hinders the functioning of the country,” said the Congolese Head of State during his visit to Kisangani last week.The central point of the constitutional amendment is the abolition of the limit of two presidential mandates, which gives Tshisekedi the opportunity to run for a third term in the next presidential elections. The current Head of State has already been elected twice and, under current regulations, cannot run in the next presidential elections. The proposal to abolish the two-term limit was already put forward in 2015 by Tshisekedi’s predecessor Joseph Kabila, but had provoked opposition from members of civil society and Catholic bishops (see Fides, 16/11/2015). Today, it is Kabila’s own party, now in opposition, that is opposing such a constitutional amendment. The former president’s opposition alliance “Front commun pour le Congo” (FCC) rejects the draft constitutional amendment “firmly and categorically”. Opposition MP Moïse Katumbi also stated that “the constitution will not be changed”. “A change to the constitution is very dangerous because it can further destabilize the country in the current situation in which it is unstable,” said the Secretary General of the Congolese Episcopal Conference (CENCO), Donatien Nshole, in a television interview. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 28/10/2024)
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    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: PM speech in Birmingham: 28 October 2024

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer makes a speech in Birmingham.

    Location:
    Birmingham
    Delivered on:
    (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered)

    It’s always great to be here in Birmingham. A city that is at the heart, not just of our country but also – our plans for growth – as we announced two weeks ago £500m worth of new investment in battery storage will create the jobs of the future right here. And that’s a snapshot of the Britain we are building this week and beyond. 

    Our economy – stabilised. 

    The foundations – fixed. 

    Hope in the future – restored.  

    Another step taken on the long, difficult, but resolute path that we will walk.

    Towards a Britain returned to the service of working people.

    I said on the steps of Downing Street – the day after the election that this would be a government for the working people of this country. 

    That, when the cameras stopped rolling. When that black door closed. We would carry their hopes and aspirations with us. 

    That the basic, completely reasonable desire to want a better future for your family. That would become the driving purpose of this Government. 

    Now, I will never stand here and tell you to feel better, if you don’t. And I will never ask you to feel grateful for what you should expect as a given.  

    Trust in my project to return Britain to the service of working people can only be earned through actions not words: Change must be felt. 

    But every decision we have made. Every decision that we will make in the future will be made with working people in our minds’ eye. People who have been working harder and harder for years, just to stand still. 

    People doing the right thing maybe still finding a little bit of money to put away. Paying their way – even in the cost-of-living crisis but who feel this country no longer gives them or their children a fair chance. 

    People stuck on an NHS waiting list whose town centre is blighted by anti-social behaviour who can’t afford to buy a place they call home or can’t afford the home they have, because of the mortgage bombshell. 

    And people who feel ignored as their lives, no matter how hard they work slide into greater insecurity. Scared of the postman coming down the path – will it be another bill I can’t afford?

    People like that video, we just watched. [Political content removed]

    I know some people want to have a debate about this and I know there will always be the exception that proves the rule. Welcome to the wonders of a diverse country!  

    But I also know that the working people of this country know exactly who they are and that – they are the golden thread that runs through our agenda. Every single one of our national missions is about delivering for them. 

    And we are getting on with the job. That’s why we reformed planning rules to get Britain building again – restore the dream of home ownership.  

    It’s why we ended junior doctor strikes to lift the pressure on our NHS. Start cutting waiting lists. 

    It’s why we stopped the riots with tough sentences for violent thugs. 

    Launched a Border Security Command to smash the people-smugglers. 

    Switched on Great British Energy to get Putin’s boot off our throat. Make our country more secure. Create good jobs – right across the country. 

    And it’s also why we’ve started the work of changing our economy. Stabilising it. Fixing its foundations. 

    But also – changing how it works for them. An employment bill that will finally make work pay.  That will contribute to growth and raise living standards for working people. A direct response to the cost-of-living crisis, we were elected to tackle for them. Because let me tell you, it is working people who pay the price when their Government fails to deliver economic stability. They’ve had enough of slow growth, stagnant living standards and crumbling public services.

    They know that austerity is no solution. And they’ve seen the chaos when politicians let borrowing get out of control.

    We choose a different path. Honest, responsible, long-term decisions in the interests of working people.

    Because it’s stability that means we can invest. And reform that will maximise that investment. £63 billion worth of investment secured from business two weeks ago – a record-breaking show of confidence in our plan for growth.  

    That’s investment that will create tens of thousands of jobs. Good jobs – in every corner of the country. 

    I know some people will recoil when we say we have to take the tough decisions needed to fix the foundations. 

    This doesn’t happen by accident it’s because business can see we are fixing the foundations. Everyone who finds damp in their house – know they have a decision. Paint over it or strip it out, pull off the plaster, deal with it once and for all. 

    So, I will defend our tough decisions all day long.

    It’s the right thing for our country. The only way you get the investment we need. Stability. Investment. Reform.

    That is how we fix the NHS, rebuild Britain, and protect the payslips of working people, delivering on our mandate of change.  

    That’s what the Budget this week will be about.  It’s what every week of this Government will be about. 

    A Budget for working people, from a government for working people. Because returning Britain to their service, that’s our fundamental cause – and it never changes. 

    It will also be the first budget delivered by a woman – ever. That is a moment of pride. That is a moment of pride. When Rachel Reeves stands up – she will be making history – young women and girls will watching across the country. They will look up – and they will notice.   

    It will also be a Budget which will show to the British people that we won’t be distracted from our task.  

    We will stick to our long-term plan.  Run towards the tough decisions, rip-off the short-term sticking plasters, so we can lead our country finally but decisively out of this ‘pay-more, get less’ doom-loop [political content removed].

    Of course there will still be tough decisions. Rebuilding Britain and delivering growth, that will take the skills and effort of all of us. 

    That is why this Budget will also Get Britain Working. It will pave the way for reforms that tackle the root causes of economic inactivity, make sure – that those who can work, do work. 

    [Political content removed] we will always help those who cannot support themselves, but the UK is the only G7 country where economic inactivity is still higher than it was before Covid.

    That is not just bad for our economy, it’s also bad for all those who are locked out of opportunity. So the Chancellor will announce £240 million in funding to provide local services that can help people back into work, and the dignity it brings.

    A Britain that works for working people. With all those who can, playing their part.

    We will also be ruthless in clamping down on government waste, just as we will be ruthless on clamping down on tax avoidance, so the British people that every penny counts.

    Every single person in this country had to do that during the cost-of-living crisis and government must be no different. 

    And frankly, when we’re asking broader shoulders to carry a higher burden on tax, that determination to be more productive and efficient in government, that’s the very least their contribution deserves.  

    Look – nobody wants higher taxes, just like nobody wants public spending cuts. But we have to be realistic about where we are as a country. This is not 1997, when the economy was decent but public services were on their knees.  And it’s not 2010, where public services were strong, but the public finances were weak. We have to deal with both sides of that coin.

    These are unprecedented circumstances, but the budget the Chancellor will deliver on Wednesday, will prevent devastating austerity in our public services and prevent a disastrous path for our public finances.

    [Political content removed]  

    And yes – things are worse than we could possibly have expected during the election – the Budget will set that out very clearly. 

    I mean – just look at the state of our prisons last week.

    [Political content removed]

    On Rwanda, asylum hotels, propping up failing train companies [Political content removed] .  An economy riddled with weakness on productivity and investment. A state that needs urgent modernisation to face down the challenge of a volatile world.  

    A country where people don’t just lack faith in politicians to fix any of this but also wonder – whether Britain can. Whether we still have the resources to move forward or whether decline is now an incurable disease.

    [Political content removed]

    I expect to be judged on my ability to deal with this. I expect to be judged on my ability to deal with it. Politics is always a choice. So we won’t hide from our decisions on Wednesday or for that matter, any day. 

    Besides, as I said two weeks ago at our International Investment Summit we have huge assets in this country. Leading positions in the industries of the future:

    Clean energy, artificial intelligence, life sciences, the creative industries, a technology sector that is the envy of Europe. A heritage steeped in science, trade and innovation. And values. Values deep in the bones of this nation and which say, to the world – this country is open for business. This country respects diversity and difference under the same flag. 

    We are still the country, known all around the world for our pragmatism and our creativity, the ingenuity and industry of our people and so if we do grasp the nettle on our economy, if we do fix those foundations, stick to those values and deliver the change working people need we won’t just get through this – better days are ahead. 

    Seriously – this is an economic plan that will change long-term British growth for the better. We are tackling the biggest challenges in our economy.  

    Higher investment – we’re dealing with it.

    Planning – we’re reforming it.

    The labour market – we’re getting people back to work, but also making sure work pays. 

    On competition – we’re stripping out the needless regulation that holds back private investment and all of this built on that foundation of economic stability. This is what fixing the foundations means.  

    What delivering change means. Everyone in this country will benefit from this. Everyone can wake up on Thursday and see that a new future is being built. A better future. But I tell you now – what we can’t do. Is waste any more time. 

    Politics is a choice and it’s time to choose a clear path.  

    It’s time to embrace the harsh light of fiscal reality. So we can come together behind a credible, long-term plan.  

    It’s time we ran towards the tough decisions because ignoring them set us on the path of decline. 

    It’s time we ignored the populist chorus of easy answers because we saw what happens if you reject the constraints of economic stability and we’re never going back to that. 

    That is our choice. Stability – to prevent chaos.

    Borrowing that will drive long-term growth.

    Tax rises – to prevent austerity and rebuild public services.

    We choose – to protect working people.

    We choose – to get the NHS back on its feet.

    We choose – to fix the foundations reject decline and rebuild our country with investment. 

    And while I’m sure you understand I can’t get into individual measures before Wednesday. I will say this. 

    If people want to criticise the path we choose – that’s their prerogative. But let them then spell out a different direction. 

    If they think the state has grown too big let them tell working people which public services they would cut. 

    If they think tax rises are unfair let them tell working people which taxes they’d raise instead. 

    If they don’t see our long-term investment in infrastructure as necessary let them explain to working people how they would grow the economy for them. 

    [Political content removed]

    Because I have said it before and I will say it again the time is long overdue for politicians in this country, to level with you, honestly about the trade-offs this country faces. 

    To stop insulting your intelligence with the chicanery of easy answers. Working people know that hard choices are necessary. 

    [Political content removed]

    They lived through the cost-of-living crisis so they know that the things they want from us:

    Protecting their living standards. 

    Rebuilding our nation.

    Fixing our public services.

    They know – that this can only be achieved alongside economic stability. There are no short-cuts. 

    No, what they want to see on Wednesday is a country on a different path. Making different choices. They don’t want to pay the price anymore, in times of crisis because our economic foundations are weak and they don’t want to see the proceeds of growth which could serve their family, their community, their public services – instead – always serving those at the top. 

    They want change and that is what they will get. 

    Because that is the mandate we were elected to deliver and the only path consistent with our driving purpose to return Britain to the service of working people.

    That purpose also runs through the priorities we set out in our manifesto. 

    The national missions which capture the hope working people have for the future of our country. Look – there is a paradox in politics at the moment.  

    All around the world, traditional values. Democratic values. Values that have underpinned the way countries like ours have operated for years. The pragmatism that is part of our identity, it’s under attack. 

    Why? 

    Because people – working people most of all have lost faith it can still deliver for their family. And yet, at the same time, what people want from politics that hasn’t changed. 

    People want a stable economy, they want their country to be safe, their borders secure. Economic security, national security, border security. Those are still the foundations everything rests upon. 

    And then beyond that they want exactly what those national missions promise. 

    A growing economy.

    Safer streets.

    Clean British energy in their home. 

    Opportunities for their children.

    And an NHS that is there when they need it. 

    I know populism preys on the fears people have that these things no longer belong to them.  But I have never felt the right response is to ignore those concerns rather than showing that they can still be delivered. 

    So I am never going to pick just one of these missions – and say that’s everything because every single one of them matters to working people. And for the same reason – I will never turn away from them either. 

    In fact, because I know actions speak louder than words because I expect to be judged by the British people.  

    In the coming weeks, on every mission, we will publish clear ambitions for this Parliament and we will also track our progress against them, so that every single person in this country can see exactly how we measure up to things that matter to them. 

    [Political content removed]

    They want to see us build 1.5m homes, make sure a record number of children start school ready to learn, raise living standards so that there is more cash in their pocket, restore confidence crime will be punished. Guaranteed neighbourhood policing in every community. 

    Make our energy system more secure by harnessing clean British energy, accelerating towards net-zero. 

    And on our NHS, they want us to cut waiting times dramatically and meet the 18-week target – that is still the best benchmark for an NHS that is back on its feet facing the future, once more – a beacon of pride to the world.

    These are my priorities for change and I won’t change course.  

    The budget will light the way and we will use the power of government.

    Stability, investment and reform, partnership across the whole of society, galvanised by clear objectives.

    To deliver on the priorities of the British people.  

    The foundations – fixed.  

    Public services – renewed. 

    A country rebuilt by investment.

    Released from decline.

    Returned once more.

    To the service of working people. 

    Now that is the course we set this week.

    That is the driving purpose of this government.

    That is the change we will deliver.

    Thank you very much.

    Updates to this page

    Published 28 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Speech: PM speech in Birmingham: 28 October 2024

    Source: United Kingdom – Prime Minister’s Office 10 Downing Street

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer makes a speech in Birmingham.

    Location:
    Birmingham
    Delivered on:
    (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered)

    It’s always great to be here in Birmingham. A city that is at the heart, not just of our country but also – our plans for growth – as we announced two weeks ago £500m worth of new investment in battery storage will create the jobs of the future right here. And that’s a snapshot of the Britain we are building this week and beyond. 

    Our economy – stabilised. 

    The foundations – fixed. 

    Hope in the future – restored.  

    Another step taken on the long, difficult, but resolute path that we will walk.

    Towards a Britain returned to the service of working people.

    I said on the steps of Downing Street – the day after the election that this would be a government for the working people of this country. 

    That, when the cameras stopped rolling. When that black door closed. We would carry their hopes and aspirations with us. 

    That the basic, completely reasonable desire to want a better future for your family. That would become the driving purpose of this Government. 

    Now, I will never stand here and tell you to feel better, if you don’t. And I will never ask you to feel grateful for what you should expect as a given.  

    Trust in my project to return Britain to the service of working people can only be earned through actions not words: Change must be felt. 

    But every decision we have made. Every decision that we will make in the future will be made with working people in our minds’ eye. People who have been working harder and harder for years, just to stand still. 

    People doing the right thing maybe still finding a little bit of money to put away. Paying their way – even in the cost-of-living crisis but who feel this country no longer gives them or their children a fair chance. 

    People stuck on an NHS waiting list whose town centre is blighted by anti-social behaviour who can’t afford to buy a place they call home or can’t afford the home they have, because of the mortgage bombshell. 

    And people who feel ignored as their lives, no matter how hard they work slide into greater insecurity. Scared of the postman coming down the path – will it be another bill I can’t afford?

    People like that video, we just watched. [Political content removed]

    I know some people want to have a debate about this and I know there will always be the exception that proves the rule. Welcome to the wonders of a diverse country!  

    But I also know that the working people of this country know exactly who they are and that – they are the golden thread that runs through our agenda. Every single one of our national missions is about delivering for them. 

    And we are getting on with the job. That’s why we reformed planning rules to get Britain building again – restore the dream of home ownership.  

    It’s why we ended junior doctor strikes to lift the pressure on our NHS. Start cutting waiting lists. 

    It’s why we stopped the riots with tough sentences for violent thugs. 

    Launched a Border Security Command to smash the people-smugglers. 

    Switched on Great British Energy to get Putin’s boot off our throat. Make our country more secure. Create good jobs – right across the country. 

    And it’s also why we’ve started the work of changing our economy. Stabilising it. Fixing its foundations. 

    But also – changing how it works for them. An employment bill that will finally make work pay.  That will contribute to growth and raise living standards for working people. A direct response to the cost-of-living crisis, we were elected to tackle for them. Because let me tell you, it is working people who pay the price when their Government fails to deliver economic stability. They’ve had enough of slow growth, stagnant living standards and crumbling public services.

    They know that austerity is no solution. And they’ve seen the chaos when politicians let borrowing get out of control.

    We choose a different path. Honest, responsible, long-term decisions in the interests of working people.

    Because it’s stability that means we can invest. And reform that will maximise that investment. £63 billion worth of investment secured from business two weeks ago – a record-breaking show of confidence in our plan for growth.  

    That’s investment that will create tens of thousands of jobs. Good jobs – in every corner of the country. 

    I know some people will recoil when we say we have to take the tough decisions needed to fix the foundations. 

    This doesn’t happen by accident it’s because business can see we are fixing the foundations. Everyone who finds damp in their house – know they have a decision. Paint over it or strip it out, pull off the plaster, deal with it once and for all. 

    So, I will defend our tough decisions all day long.

    It’s the right thing for our country. The only way you get the investment we need. Stability. Investment. Reform.

    That is how we fix the NHS, rebuild Britain, and protect the payslips of working people, delivering on our mandate of change.  

    That’s what the Budget this week will be about.  It’s what every week of this Government will be about. 

    A Budget for working people, from a government for working people. Because returning Britain to their service, that’s our fundamental cause – and it never changes. 

    It will also be the first budget delivered by a woman – ever. That is a moment of pride. That is a moment of pride. When Rachel Reeves stands up – she will be making history – young women and girls will watching across the country. They will look up – and they will notice.   

    It will also be a Budget which will show to the British people that we won’t be distracted from our task.  

    We will stick to our long-term plan.  Run towards the tough decisions, rip-off the short-term sticking plasters, so we can lead our country finally but decisively out of this ‘pay-more, get less’ doom-loop [political content removed].

    Of course there will still be tough decisions. Rebuilding Britain and delivering growth, that will take the skills and effort of all of us. 

    That is why this Budget will also Get Britain Working. It will pave the way for reforms that tackle the root causes of economic inactivity, make sure – that those who can work, do work. 

    [Political content removed] we will always help those who cannot support themselves, but the UK is the only G7 country where economic inactivity is still higher than it was before Covid.

    That is not just bad for our economy, it’s also bad for all those who are locked out of opportunity. So the Chancellor will announce £240 million in funding to provide local services that can help people back into work, and the dignity it brings.

    A Britain that works for working people. With all those who can, playing their part.

    We will also be ruthless in clamping down on government waste, just as we will be ruthless on clamping down on tax avoidance, so the British people that every penny counts.

    Every single person in this country had to do that during the cost-of-living crisis and government must be no different. 

    And frankly, when we’re asking broader shoulders to carry a higher burden on tax, that determination to be more productive and efficient in government, that’s the very least their contribution deserves.  

    Look – nobody wants higher taxes, just like nobody wants public spending cuts. But we have to be realistic about where we are as a country. This is not 1997, when the economy was decent but public services were on their knees.  And it’s not 2010, where public services were strong, but the public finances were weak. We have to deal with both sides of that coin.

    These are unprecedented circumstances, but the budget the Chancellor will deliver on Wednesday, will prevent devastating austerity in our public services and prevent a disastrous path for our public finances.

    [Political content removed]  

    And yes – things are worse than we could possibly have expected during the election – the Budget will set that out very clearly. 

    I mean – just look at the state of our prisons last week.

    [Political content removed]

    On Rwanda, asylum hotels, propping up failing train companies [Political content removed] .  An economy riddled with weakness on productivity and investment. A state that needs urgent modernisation to face down the challenge of a volatile world.  

    A country where people don’t just lack faith in politicians to fix any of this but also wonder – whether Britain can. Whether we still have the resources to move forward or whether decline is now an incurable disease.

    [Political content removed]

    I expect to be judged on my ability to deal with this. I expect to be judged on my ability to deal with it. Politics is always a choice. So we won’t hide from our decisions on Wednesday or for that matter, any day. 

    Besides, as I said two weeks ago at our International Investment Summit we have huge assets in this country. Leading positions in the industries of the future:

    Clean energy, artificial intelligence, life sciences, the creative industries, a technology sector that is the envy of Europe. A heritage steeped in science, trade and innovation. And values. Values deep in the bones of this nation and which say, to the world – this country is open for business. This country respects diversity and difference under the same flag. 

    We are still the country, known all around the world for our pragmatism and our creativity, the ingenuity and industry of our people and so if we do grasp the nettle on our economy, if we do fix those foundations, stick to those values and deliver the change working people need we won’t just get through this – better days are ahead. 

    Seriously – this is an economic plan that will change long-term British growth for the better. We are tackling the biggest challenges in our economy.  

    Higher investment – we’re dealing with it.

    Planning – we’re reforming it.

    The labour market – we’re getting people back to work, but also making sure work pays. 

    On competition – we’re stripping out the needless regulation that holds back private investment and all of this built on that foundation of economic stability. This is what fixing the foundations means.  

    What delivering change means. Everyone in this country will benefit from this. Everyone can wake up on Thursday and see that a new future is being built. A better future. But I tell you now – what we can’t do. Is waste any more time. 

    Politics is a choice and it’s time to choose a clear path.  

    It’s time to embrace the harsh light of fiscal reality. So we can come together behind a credible, long-term plan.  

    It’s time we ran towards the tough decisions because ignoring them set us on the path of decline. 

    It’s time we ignored the populist chorus of easy answers because we saw what happens if you reject the constraints of economic stability and we’re never going back to that. 

    That is our choice. Stability – to prevent chaos.

    Borrowing that will drive long-term growth.

    Tax rises – to prevent austerity and rebuild public services.

    We choose – to protect working people.

    We choose – to get the NHS back on its feet.

    We choose – to fix the foundations reject decline and rebuild our country with investment. 

    And while I’m sure you understand I can’t get into individual measures before Wednesday. I will say this. 

    If people want to criticise the path we choose – that’s their prerogative. But let them then spell out a different direction. 

    If they think the state has grown too big let them tell working people which public services they would cut. 

    If they think tax rises are unfair let them tell working people which taxes they’d raise instead. 

    If they don’t see our long-term investment in infrastructure as necessary let them explain to working people how they would grow the economy for them. 

    [Political content removed]

    Because I have said it before and I will say it again the time is long overdue for politicians in this country, to level with you, honestly about the trade-offs this country faces. 

    To stop insulting your intelligence with the chicanery of easy answers. Working people know that hard choices are necessary. 

    [Political content removed]

    They lived through the cost-of-living crisis so they know that the things they want from us:

    Protecting their living standards. 

    Rebuilding our nation.

    Fixing our public services.

    They know – that this can only be achieved alongside economic stability. There are no short-cuts. 

    No, what they want to see on Wednesday is a country on a different path. Making different choices. They don’t want to pay the price anymore, in times of crisis because our economic foundations are weak and they don’t want to see the proceeds of growth which could serve their family, their community, their public services – instead – always serving those at the top. 

    They want change and that is what they will get. 

    Because that is the mandate we were elected to deliver and the only path consistent with our driving purpose to return Britain to the service of working people.

    That purpose also runs through the priorities we set out in our manifesto. 

    The national missions which capture the hope working people have for the future of our country. Look – there is a paradox in politics at the moment.  

    All around the world, traditional values. Democratic values. Values that have underpinned the way countries like ours have operated for years. The pragmatism that is part of our identity, it’s under attack. 

    Why? 

    Because people – working people most of all have lost faith it can still deliver for their family. And yet, at the same time, what people want from politics that hasn’t changed. 

    People want a stable economy, they want their country to be safe, their borders secure. Economic security, national security, border security. Those are still the foundations everything rests upon. 

    And then beyond that they want exactly what those national missions promise. 

    A growing economy.

    Safer streets.

    Clean British energy in their home. 

    Opportunities for their children.

    And an NHS that is there when they need it. 

    I know populism preys on the fears people have that these things no longer belong to them.  But I have never felt the right response is to ignore those concerns rather than showing that they can still be delivered. 

    So I am never going to pick just one of these missions – and say that’s everything because every single one of them matters to working people. And for the same reason – I will never turn away from them either. 

    In fact, because I know actions speak louder than words because I expect to be judged by the British people.  

    In the coming weeks, on every mission, we will publish clear ambitions for this Parliament and we will also track our progress against them, so that every single person in this country can see exactly how we measure up to things that matter to them. 

    [Political content removed]

    They want to see us build 1.5m homes, make sure a record number of children start school ready to learn, raise living standards so that there is more cash in their pocket, restore confidence crime will be punished. Guaranteed neighbourhood policing in every community. 

    Make our energy system more secure by harnessing clean British energy, accelerating towards net-zero. 

    And on our NHS, they want us to cut waiting times dramatically and meet the 18-week target – that is still the best benchmark for an NHS that is back on its feet facing the future, once more – a beacon of pride to the world.

    These are my priorities for change and I won’t change course.  

    The budget will light the way and we will use the power of government.

    Stability, investment and reform, partnership across the whole of society, galvanised by clear objectives.

    To deliver on the priorities of the British people.  

    The foundations – fixed.  

    Public services – renewed. 

    A country rebuilt by investment.

    Released from decline.

    Returned once more.

    To the service of working people. 

    Now that is the course we set this week.

    That is the driving purpose of this government.

    That is the change we will deliver.

    Thank you very much.

    Updates to this page

    Published 28 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Council calls for action over national £2.2 billion council housing budget black hole

    Source: City of Canterbury

    Canterbury City Council has urged the government to act now on England’s “broken council housing finances”, including “unsustainable” levels of debt previously given to councils by government.

    It has joined local authorities from across England calling for action ahead the budget this Wednesday (30 October)

    A report this autumn – Securing the Future of Council Housing – backed by more than 100 councils, highlighted that our national council housing system is in crisis, with finances pushed to the brink by past national policy decisions.

    The city council has signed a joint statement urging the government to help turn things round.

    “The new government’s commitment to a ‘council housing revolution’ is a huge step forward for communities across our country,” says the statement.

    “The Chancellor’s first Budget and spending review are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix England’s broken council housing finances.

    “The last government tore up its 2012 council housing settlement and left local government with a £2.2 billion black hole in housing budgets.

    “Our report urges the new government to turn this round, investing in urgently needed new council homes, addressing the unsustainable debt previously allocated to councils and creating a Green and Decent Homes Programme, so together we can deliver the more and better council homes and growth that communities up and down the country so desperately need.”

    Cabinet member for housing, Cllr Pip Hazelton, said: “It is widely recognised that this country’s council housing is in a state of crisis. 

    “Finances are absolutely dire, and we have reached a point where the levels of debt are no longer sustainable.

    “Council homes are the bedrock of the structure of British housing, providing a roof over the head of those who really need it.

    “We are calling on the government to step up and address the many issues we and all councils face, so that we can continue to be there supporting local families and making sure they have good quality, long term homes to live in.”

    Securing the Future of Council Housing was supported by 109 councils across England, led by Southwark Council.

    It highlighted that without urgent action a £2.2bn black hole in councils’ housing budgets is expected by 2028.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New safeguarding course to be launched soon

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    This refreshed product replaces the existing long-standing course, Safeguarding for Children and Adults.

    Gail Charlton, Government Skills

    A new safeguarding course which will be core learning for civil servants across government is to be launched within weeks

    Called Safeguarding, it has recently been piloted by around 160 civil servants from a cross-section of departments and is currently undergoing its final round of refinements following their feedback.

    The course is designed to increase the cross-government awareness of safeguarding roles and responsibilities enabling individuals to identify situations where the safety and well-being of children, young people, adults and the unborn could be at risk. The training will support government organisations in the management of safeguarding activities and ensure that appropriate actions are taken when safeguarding concerns arise.

    “It’s an important awareness level course that helps people recognise the subtle signs that someone may be being exploited or at risk,” said Gail Charlton online business partner for Government Skills (pictured).

    “Whether it’s colleagues, customers, adults or children, we all need to stay alert and know what to do if we believe that something is amiss with someone or their situation.I would encourage all colleagues to take this training as we all have a responsibility to help keep each other safe.”

    Explore the Civil Service recommended learning which offers a diverse selection of high quality courses.

    Updates to this page

    Published 28 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Healing hands: A Sudanese doctor’s account story Oct 23, 2024

    Source: Doctors Without Borders –

    Dr. Mohamed Bashir has worked in several Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) projects in Sudan, including supervising medical activities at the MSF-supported Umdawanban and Alban Aljadeed hospitals in Khartoum state. He is currently working with MSF in South Sudan, where more than 800,000 Sudanese refugees and returnees have fled over the course of the war. Our teams are providing comprehensive care at several facilities and camps in Twic county and Abyei administrative area. Below, he shares his reflections on the impact of the war in Sudan, and calls for continued attention on the conflict. 

    By Dr. Mohamed Bashir, Sudanese medical staff member with MSF in Warrap state, South Sudan

    Do you remember me? I am Dr. Mohamed Bashir, MSF’s former deputy medical coordinator in Sudan. I once wrote a reflection“  in which I shared my firsthand experience of the civil war—not only as a medical humanitarian but as a Sudanese person.

    I’m still with MSF, but now on an assignment in South Sudan, across the border from home. Although I’m physically far away, the effects of the war are ever-present, pulling me back with every news update as I compare the devastation that I hear of with the global news headlines that seem to barely notice. 

    A family sits at the Abyei transit center, which currently hosts around 200 Sudanese refugees. Due to flooding, the center no longer has access to drinking water, latrines, or showers, as water and sanitation trucks are unable to reach the area.
    South Sudan 2024 © Aurélie Lécrivain/MSF

    Sudan and its suffering people have slipped down the world’s list of priorities—forgotten by the media, neglected by political will, and overlooked by the humanitarian donor institutions that should be putting this catastrophe front and center. I ask myself: What can I do as an individual? My resolve is clear—I will continue to support those crushed by this brutal war. 

    Here in Twic County in South Sudan, many of our patients are South Sudanese returnees who have been displaced twice in about a decade. Thousands of Sudanese refugees have also crossed into different parts of South Sudan, scattered in host communities or crowded into refugee camps.

    “I was in Darfur and had to flee in 2003. My journey took me to Nyala, and now, escaping from there, I’ve arrived here,” said Ahmed, who lives at a UNHCR transit center for Sudanese refugees.
    South Sudan 2023 © Sean Sutton/Panos pictures

    I know this pain

    This war continues to torment us, tearing families apart. Those fleeing Sudan share the same stories of loss, uncertainty, and fading hope for peace. I know this pain too well.

    Internal borders and front lines controlled by warring parties have sliced through a nation where lives are being lost, homes destroyed, and livelihoods wiped out. 

    As for the people—us—we are left alone.

    Sudan and its suffering people have slipped down the world’s list of priorities—forgotten by the media, neglected by political will, and overlooked by the humanitarian donor institutions that should be putting this catastrophe front and center.

    My family escaped Khartoum, among the millions displaced, not once but several times in just 18 months. They left everything behind, with no clear path to survival and little attention from the world. We are still suffering from the disappearance of a relative of mine, a civilian taken from his home by a warring party over 10 months ago. We have no news—no information about his health or whether he will ever be released.

    Even for those who escape the violence or reunite after separation, new challenges arise—floods, disease outbreaks—under a collapsed health care system. Most hospitals lie destroyed. Those that remain functional are marooned without medicine, staff, or resources. This is deliberate deprivation; a cruel tactic of war. 

    Surviving on the bare minimum, people have been left waiting for a miracle, yet more displacement, or even worse: death.

    The MSF-supported Bashair hospital in south Khartoum received over 60 wounded patients and 43 deaths after an explosion in a market on September 10, 2023.

    Do not turn away

    Despite all this, I’m here to share our resilience. As humanitarians—medics, logisticians, and nurses—we do everything we can to support those in need. Every small act matters, and every effort counts.

    This is exactly what I’ve been doing for the past months in Twic as the MSF project medical referent at Mayen Abun County Hospital. The area was already overwhelmed by humanitarian needs, having witnessed previous internal displacement of thousands of South Sudanese uprooted due to inter-communal violence in Agok in 2022. It’s a place where the health system has collapsed, burdened by malaria, hepatitis E, and malnutrition.

    MSF’s work in South Sudan

    MSF continues to collaborate with the South Sudanese Ministry of Health to run surgical and emergency medical activities in the only secondary health care facility in the Abyei Special Administrative Area.

    Due to ongoing inter-communal violence in South Sudan and the toll of the war in Sudan, MSF teams in Abyei and Twic are handling a continuous influx of violence-related surgeries. From January to June 2024, MSF conducted 16,885 emergency consultations and performed 1,914 surgical operations. Of these, 815 patients required care for violent trauma, including gunshot wounds, blast injuries, and stabbings. Despite these efforts, there remains a significant shortage of hospital care in this region, along with limited surgical capacity and operating theater availability.

    The work here provides a window into another dimension of my country’s war. I see firsthand the dire conditions faced by those who forced to flee Sudan. What astonishes me even more is how overlooked this crisis remains—there is so little mainstream knowledge about the displacement of Sudanese people to South Sudan, Chad, and other countries, despite the overwhelming needs of families seeking refuge.

    We live in a time of escalating crises—both manmade and natural. The casualties of today’s wars, in different places and contexts, are almost too tragic to comprehend. 

    Amid all this, I plead with the world: Do not let Sudan slip from your attention. At times, it feels as though no one cares, as if Sudan has been deliberately deprioritized by the global decision makers, pushed aside for other crises. How much longer can we tolerate this inaction?

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Coloured South Africans are all but erased from history textbooks – I asked learners how that makes them feel

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Natasha Robinson, PhD Candidate and research consultant, University of Oxford

    South African Grammy winner Tyla is proud of her Coloured identity. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

    South African singer-songwriter Tyla made history in February 2024 when she won the inaugural Grammy for Best African Music Performance.

    Her win was celebrated at home. But the 22-year-old sparked controversy in the US by referring to herself as “Coloured”. There, the word is a slur dating back to the Jim Crow era, when state and local laws enforced racial discrimination against African Americans. In South Africa it has a very different meaning – and, by claiming her Coloured identity, Tyla has become an inspiration for many Coloured people who have long felt underrepresented in public life.

    In South Africa, Coloured people are typically understood to be a group that encompasses geographically diverse ancestries. The Coloured community was positioned between white and Black in apartheid’s racial hierarchy of privilege.

    During the 1970s and onwards, in an effort to unify anti-apartheid resistance, activists like Steve Biko sought to collapse any distinctions between oppressed groups. They encouraged anyone who was not white to identify as “Black”.

    In recent years many people have reclaimed the term “Coloured” to discuss their identity and culture. The latest South African census indicated that there are more than 5 million people across the country who identify as Coloured.

    Tyla’s comments are just one example of how “Colouredness” has, in the past few years, found a new voice in South African society. The electoral success of the Patriotic Alliance, which claims to be “born in the heart of the Coloured community”, is another. The highly acclaimed 2023 book Coloured by Lynsey Ebony Chutel and Tessa Dooms also brought conversations about Coloured identity to the fore.

    I research the relationship between history and identity in societies that have experienced conflict. I wanted to know how society’s increasingly positive perceptions of the term “Coloured” are playing out in South Africa’s school history curriculum.

    My resulting research presents a worrying picture. The way that Coloured identity is discussed in textbooks and curricula is leading young self-described Coloured people to believe that their history – and therefore their identity – is shameful.

    The research

    My research involved 10 months of ethnographic observation in two predominantly Coloured schools in Cape Town. I also analysed the history curricula and textbooks used in these schools, as well as repeatedly interviewing five grade 9 students, aged 14 and 15, and their history teachers from each school to understand their views on apartheid history and racial identity.

    There is no mention of the word “Coloured” in the grade 9 South African curriculum assessment policy statements for History. In contrast, the racial terms “white”, “Black” and “Indian” are mentioned 11, 44, and nine times respectively. In my analysis of the four most commonly used grade 9 history textbooks, Coloured identity is referred to, but infrequently. The Pearson textbook, for example, explains that “when we refer to ‘black’ South Africans in this topic [apartheid], it refers to African people, ‘Coloured’ people and Indian people”. It continues:

    The apartheid government found it hard to define race, especially when it came to what they called ‘Coloured’ people. The word ‘Coloured’ is controversial and possibly insulting, so here we have used it in inverted commas. (2013, p. 175)

    Subsuming Coloured identity into Black identity, and referring to the term “Coloured” as “insulting”, makes it difficult to learn about the lives and contributions of those who identified as Coloured.

    For example, all four textbooks contain photographs of Sophia Williams (later Sophia Williams-De Bruyn) and list her as one of the organisers of the 1956 Women’s March, during which 20,000 women marched to the government buildings to protest against racist laws.

    But all four textbooks fail to mention that Williams was classified in terms of apartheid laws as Coloured, identified as Coloured, was a full-time organiser for the Coloured People’s Congress in Johannesburg, and was assigned by the Coloured People’s Congress to work on issues relating to the 1950 Population Registration Act.

    So a student using these textbooks might learn about Williams – but still believe that Coloured people made no contribution to ending apartheid.

    Shame and lack of interest

    This denial of Coloured identity continued in the schools where I conducted ethnographic fieldwork. Teachers in a school on the Cape Flats – with a student population that overwhelmingly identified as Coloured – still referred to the school as a “Black school” by virtue of its involvement in the anti-apartheid struggle.

    The grade 9 history teacher, for example, taught that “the apartheid government gave us labels”, and that “if we didn’t cooperate [by uniting under a Black identity] then South Africa would be a failure”. This statement positioned the students’ distinct Coloured identity as being in opposition to South Africa’s success.

    When the teacher spoke about anti-apartheid struggle heroes, his students frequently complained that life was better under apartheid, and when he espoused ideas of non-racialism, they shook their heads. All of this suggested that the students were actively resisting South Africa’s founding narrative: that brave South Africans united to overcome the darkness of apartheid, and to found a democratic rainbow nation.

    My interviews with students from this school suggested that they felt no connection to South Africa’s history. When I asked about his family’s experiences during apartheid, Lester (aged 14) replied that “they were just a normal Coloured family. Nothing interesting.”

    In another school, a slim majority of students identified as Coloured. Again, Coloured history was not explicitly taught. Students felt alienated from Coloured history in different ways. Bahir (aged 15), for example, felt shame and discomfort about his Coloured identity. When I asked him whether he wished he could study more Coloured history, he declined:

    I actually wouldn’t want to like hear such a thing as slavery … I don’t actually like to hear that my family was put into that like category or something.

    The only Coloured history Bahir could consider was one of enslavement.

    Deborah (aged 14), meanwhile, suspected that there might be a proud Coloured history of anti-apartheid resistance, but assumed it hadn’t been written yet. She attributed the lack of Coloured pride among her classmates to a lack of historical scholarship.

    If I had a reason for why people do not want to be Coloureds, it’s because they don’t have a status, and they don’t have history that’s jotted down also.

    Catching up

    One thing was clear from my research: the absence of Coloured identity in history curriculum, textbooks, or lesson plans did not stop students from identifying as Coloured. However, they felt confused, ashamed or alienated from their history and South Africa’s history.

    Tyla and others are proudly, loudly defending their right to identify as Coloured. It’s time for South Africa’s history curriculum to catch up.

    Natasha Robinson receives funding from the ESRC and the British Academy.

    – ref. Coloured South Africans are all but erased from history textbooks – I asked learners how that makes them feel – https://theconversation.com/coloured-south-africans-are-all-but-erased-from-history-textbooks-i-asked-learners-how-that-makes-them-feel-234832

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: expert reaction to ONS data on fertility and live birth rates in England and Wales in 2023

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Scientists comment on data released by the ONS which suggests birth rates are at a record low. 

    Prof Bassel H.Al Wattar, Associate Professor of Reproductive Medicine and Medical Director of the Clinical Trials Unit, Anglia Ruskin University.

    “The new data from the ONS reflect a worrying yet persistent downward trend of fertility and birth rates in England and Wales. This may be explained by the recent cost of living crisis and financial strain that could be dissuading couples from having more than two children per household. This is also compounded by the progressive reduction in available NHS funding for fertility treatments like IVF which is further contributing to the low fertility and birth rates in the UK as a whole. Many high income countries are seeing a similar worrying trend like Japan and South Korea which has a direct negative impact on the country’s GPD and productivity. The fertility replacement rate should stay close to 2.1 children per woman and the government could implement immediate interventions to help reverse trends such as offering longer paid parental leave, more funding for childcare for working parents, and more funding for fertility treatments in the NHS”

    Prof Melinda Mills, Professor of Demography and Population Health and Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, University of Oxford, said:

    “England and Wales continues the trend of a drop in the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and postponing children until after age 30. Countries such as Italy and Spain reached even lower levels (around 1.24-1.29) previously and South Korea currently has the lowest TRF in the world of 0.72 in 2022.

    “Falling TFRs and postponement in having children to later ages is not surprising given recent trends. People are actively postponing or forgoing children due to issues related to difficulties in finding a partner, housing, economic uncertainty, remaining longer in education and particularly women entering and staying in the labour force. Some individuals also actively make the choice to remain childfree. However, there is evidence that postponing having children to later ages when the partners are less able to conceive results in increases in involuntarily childlessness as well. Linking the medical records from birth of those who were childless in millions of people in Finland and Sweden1, we found that the large increase in those countries was related to mental health and substance use for men and metabolic disorders linked to obesity for women.

    “The structures such as economic security, housing and affordable childcare are essential for allowing people to have the number of children they would like, when they like. Pronatalist policies such as those recently enacted in Hungary with loans or tax incentives are not only expensive but have limited evidence that they will raise the overall fertility rate.”

    Prof Brienna Perelli-Harris, Professor of Demography, The University of Southampton said:

    “The recent decline in fertility in England and Wales is quite surprising, but it is also in line with fertility declines in other countries which until recently had relatively high fertility. The Nordic countries and the United States have also experienced record-breaking lows in the past few years.

    “We are unsure whether the recent declines are due to postponement of childbearing, which can distort the total fertility rate, or an increase in childlessness.

    “Our recent analysis of the Generation and Gender Survey2 suggests that young people are less likely to intend to have a child in the future. The proportion of 18-to 25-year-olds in the GSS who said they definitely do not intend to have a child approximately doubled compared to the same age group back in 2005-2007 (around 7% then compared to 15% today).

    “The low fertility rates observed by the ONS may continue for some time into the future.”

    https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/bulletins/birthsummarytablesenglandandwales/2023

    1. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01763-x
    2. https://www.cpc.ac.uk/docs/PB72_Intending_to__remain_childless_are_concerns_about_climate_change_and_overpopulation_the_cause.pdf

     

    Declared interests

    Prof Bassel H.Al Wattar “No conflicts of interests to declare”

    Prof Melinda Mills “I am a Trustee of the UK Biobank, on the Scientific Advisory Board of Our Future Health and Health and Retirement Survey US and Lifelines Biobank Netherlands. I do not see a conflict of this with this subject matter but provide it just in case.”

    Prof Brienna Perelli-Harris “Funding for the GGS came from the ESRC (UKRI), so no industry links.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Local Government pay

    Source: Scottish Government

    First Minister writes to Unison to encourage meaningful dialogue.

    In response to ongoing industrial action in Perth and Kinross, First Minister John Swinney has written to Unison to encourage further meaningful dialogue with Local Government in order to reach a collective agreement on pay for valued workers delivering important public services.

    The full text of the First Minister’s letter: Local Government pay 2024 to 2025: letter to Unison – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Coloured South Africans are all but erased from history textbooks – I asked learners how that makes them feel

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Natasha Robinson, PhD Candidate and research consultant, University of Oxford

    South African singer-songwriter Tyla made history in February 2024 when she won the inaugural Grammy for Best African Music Performance.

    Her win was celebrated at home. But the 22-year-old sparked controversy in the US by referring to herself as “Coloured”. There, the word is a slur dating back to the Jim Crow era, when state and local laws enforced racial discrimination against African Americans. In South Africa it has a very different meaning – and, by claiming her Coloured identity, Tyla has become an inspiration for many Coloured people who have long felt underrepresented in public life.

    In South Africa, Coloured people are typically understood to be a group that encompasses geographically diverse ancestries. The Coloured community was positioned between white and Black in apartheid’s racial hierarchy of privilege.

    During the 1970s and onwards, in an effort to unify anti-apartheid resistance, activists like Steve Biko sought to collapse any distinctions between oppressed groups. They encouraged anyone who was not white to identify as “Black”.

    In recent years many people have reclaimed the term “Coloured” to discuss their identity and culture. The latest South African census indicated that there are more than 5 million people across the country who identify as Coloured.

    Tyla’s comments are just one example of how “Colouredness” has, in the past few years, found a new voice in South African society. The electoral success of the Patriotic Alliance, which claims to be “born in the heart of the Coloured community”, is another. The highly acclaimed 2023 book Coloured by Lynsey Ebony Chutel and Tessa Dooms also brought conversations about Coloured identity to the fore.

    I research the relationship between history and identity in societies that have experienced conflict. I wanted to know how society’s increasingly positive perceptions of the term “Coloured” are playing out in South Africa’s school history curriculum.

    My resulting research presents a worrying picture. The way that Coloured identity is discussed in textbooks and curricula is leading young self-described Coloured people to believe that their history – and therefore their identity – is shameful.

    The research

    My research involved 10 months of ethnographic observation in two predominantly Coloured schools in Cape Town. I also analysed the history curricula and textbooks used in these schools, as well as repeatedly interviewing five grade 9 students, aged 14 and 15, and their history teachers from each school to understand their views on apartheid history and racial identity.

    There is no mention of the word “Coloured” in the grade 9 South African curriculum assessment policy statements for History. In contrast, the racial terms “white”, “Black” and “Indian” are mentioned 11, 44, and nine times respectively. In my analysis of the four most commonly used grade 9 history textbooks, Coloured identity is referred to, but infrequently. The Pearson textbook, for example, explains that “when we refer to ‘black’ South Africans in this topic [apartheid], it refers to African people, ‘Coloured’ people and Indian people”. It continues:

    The apartheid government found it hard to define race, especially when it came to what they called ‘Coloured’ people. The word ‘Coloured’ is controversial and possibly insulting, so here we have used it in inverted commas. (2013, p. 175)

    Subsuming Coloured identity into Black identity, and referring to the term “Coloured” as “insulting”, makes it difficult to learn about the lives and contributions of those who identified as Coloured.

    For example, all four textbooks contain photographs of Sophia Williams (later Sophia Williams-De Bruyn) and list her as one of the organisers of the 1956 Women’s March, during which 20,000 women marched to the government buildings to protest against racist laws.

    But all four textbooks fail to mention that Williams was classified in terms of apartheid laws as Coloured, identified as Coloured, was a full-time organiser for the Coloured People’s Congress in Johannesburg, and was assigned by the Coloured People’s Congress to work on issues relating to the 1950 Population Registration Act.

    So a student using these textbooks might learn about Williams – but still believe that Coloured people made no contribution to ending apartheid.

    Shame and lack of interest

    This denial of Coloured identity continued in the schools where I conducted ethnographic fieldwork. Teachers in a school on the Cape Flats – with a student population that overwhelmingly identified as Coloured – still referred to the school as a “Black school” by virtue of its involvement in the anti-apartheid struggle.

    The grade 9 history teacher, for example, taught that “the apartheid government gave us labels”, and that “if we didn’t cooperate [by uniting under a Black identity] then South Africa would be a failure”. This statement positioned the students’ distinct Coloured identity as being in opposition to South Africa’s success.

    When the teacher spoke about anti-apartheid struggle heroes, his students frequently complained that life was better under apartheid, and when he espoused ideas of non-racialism, they shook their heads. All of this suggested that the students were actively resisting South Africa’s founding narrative: that brave South Africans united to overcome the darkness of apartheid, and to found a democratic rainbow nation.

    My interviews with students from this school suggested that they felt no connection to South Africa’s history. When I asked about his family’s experiences during apartheid, Lester (aged 14) replied that “they were just a normal Coloured family. Nothing interesting.”

    In another school, a slim majority of students identified as Coloured. Again, Coloured history was not explicitly taught. Students felt alienated from Coloured history in different ways. Bahir (aged 15), for example, felt shame and discomfort about his Coloured identity. When I asked him whether he wished he could study more Coloured history, he declined:

    I actually wouldn’t want to like hear such a thing as slavery … I don’t actually like to hear that my family was put into that like category or something.

    The only Coloured history Bahir could consider was one of enslavement.

    Deborah (aged 14), meanwhile, suspected that there might be a proud Coloured history of anti-apartheid resistance, but assumed it hadn’t been written yet. She attributed the lack of Coloured pride among her classmates to a lack of historical scholarship.

    If I had a reason for why people do not want to be Coloureds, it’s because they don’t have a status, and they don’t have history that’s jotted down also.

    Catching up

    One thing was clear from my research: the absence of Coloured identity in history curriculum, textbooks, or lesson plans did not stop students from identifying as Coloured. However, they felt confused, ashamed or alienated from their history and South Africa’s history.

    Tyla and others are proudly, loudly defending their right to identify as Coloured. It’s time for South Africa’s history curriculum to catch up.

    – Coloured South Africans are all but erased from history textbooks – I asked learners how that makes them feel
    – https://theconversation.com/coloured-south-africans-are-all-but-erased-from-history-textbooks-i-asked-learners-how-that-makes-them-feel-234832

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Governor Murphy Announces Departure of Chief Counsel Parimal Garg

    Source: US State of New Jersey

    TRENTON – Governor Phil Murphy today announced that his longtime Chief Counsel Parimal Garg will depart the administration next month to work in private practice.

    “Parimal Garg has been by my side for the last eight years, from the early days of my first campaign through nearly seven years in the Governor’s Office,” said Governor Murphy. “I relied heavily on Parimal’s advice and counsel on issues from managing a once-in-a-century pandemic to selecting four Supreme Court Justices, and everything in between. No matter the complexity of the challenge, Parimal always thought through every angle of the issue, identified goals, and formulated strategies for achieving them. I am grateful for Parimal’s many years of service and his unwavering friendship, and I know he will excel in this next chapter of his legal career.”

    “When I decided to work for Phil Murphy in 2016, I did it with a belief that regardless of his political odds, he was the right person to put New Jersey back on track,” said outgoing Chief Counsel Parimal Garg. “Over the last eight years, he rose to every challenge, whether that meant repairing New Jersey’s finances, taking decisive action to protect public health, or skillfully navigating different federal administrations to advance New Jersey’s interests. I am forever grateful to Governor Murphy for the opportunity to help lead his team, and for his trust and confidence during my four years as Chief Counsel. I know that the Governor, the First Lady, and the entire Murphy administration will spend the next year cementing a record of achievement that is unparalleled in our state’s history.”

    Having served as Chief Counsel since October 2020, Garg is the longest serving Chief Counsel to the Governor in New Jersey history. From January 2018 to October 2020, Garg served as Deputy Chief Counsel to the Governor, after having worked as a senior policy advisor on Murphy’s gubernatorial campaign beginning in the summer of 2016.

    Previously, Garg served as a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in Washington, D.C., and as a law clerk to New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner. He received his B.A. from Georgetown University, magna cum laude, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, cum laude.

    Originally from Lawrenceville, Garg now resides in Montclair.

    Garg will depart the Governor’s Office in mid-November. An announcement on his successor will be made prior to his departure.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Sully Creek State Park Renamed Rough Rider State Park with Major Campground Expansion

    Source: US State of North Dakota

    The North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department is thrilled to announce a bold transformation for Sully Creek State Park. In a proud tribute to the indomitable spirit of Theodore Roosevelt and the legendary Rough Riders, the park will officially become Rough Rider State Park. This renaming celebrates Roosevelt and his Rough Riders’ enduring legacy and our dedication to honoring the rugged beauty and cultural heritage of the West.

    This announcement is especially meaningful as it coincides with the 166th birthday of President Theodore Roosevelt, a towering figure in American history who inspired generations to embrace the wild, conserve our landscapes, and embody the pioneering spirit. Roosevelt’s commitment to the land and the Rough Riders’ legacy inspires us to embrace this proud heritage in a park that invites everyone to explore, connect, and create their own outdoor stories.

    Among the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry “Rough Riders” organized by Roosevelt and Leonard Wood to fight in the Spanish-American War were several North Dakotans, including Jesse Langdon, who was the oldest surviving Rough Rider when he died at age 94 in 1975. “The Rough Rider State” also has been one of North Dakota’s unofficial nicknames for more than 50 years.

    Nestled along the scenic banks of the Little Missouri River, just two miles south of Medora, Rough Rider State Park is a premier destination for horse enthusiasts, offering a unique and immersive experience that highlights North Dakota’s stunning vistas. With a trailhead connection to the Maah Daah Hey Trail and facilities designed for horseback riding, it’s the perfect spot to connect with nature in true Western style.

    With an ambitious $4 million investment, Rough Rider State Park is set to nearly double its camping capacity, bringing the total to 70 campsites, along with additional amenities. Visitors can look forward to more modern facilities that will enhance the experience of camping under the wide-open North Dakota skies, with improved access to the park’s beautiful surroundings. The investment is part of a larger funding package for statewide park improvements proposed by Governor Doug Burgum and approved by the legislature.

    “This transformation is a tribute to Theodore Roosevelt’s spirit of adventure and love for the American wilderness. We’re beyond excited to bring these changes to life as part of our commitment to enriching recreational opportunities for everyone,” said Cody Schulz, Director of the North Dakota Parks & Recreation Department. “We are so incredibly grateful to the legislature for making this investment possible, as it will be the most significant infrastructure upgrade in the over 50-year history of the park. And we are proud to work with great partners like the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Billings County, Medora, and many others – who all embody a great love of the outdoors and western culture.”

    Rough Rider State Park will continue to be a cherished destination for families, outdoor adventurers, history enthusiasts, and horse lovers from across the world. Physical, printed, and electronic signage updates will be completed throughout the winter and spring and the campground expansion is slated to begin in the late summer of 2025. We can’t wait to welcome you to Rough Rider State Park, where adventure, history, and nature await.

    The mission of the North Dakota Parks & Recreation Department is to enrich generations through experiences that connect people and places.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Exploring the Future of Cash in Germany — A Foresight Study | Guest contribution in Central Bank Payments News

    Source: Deutsche Bundesbank in English

    Safeguarding the role of cash …
    Many continue to experience the payment landscape in Germany as being shaped by cash. But in Germany, too, the use of cash has been declining for some years now. The coronavirus pandemic has significantly accelerated change processes in payment behaviour. While cash payments accounted for 82.5% of total transactions in 2008, their share fell to 51% in 2023. At the same time, we see an increase in the use of debit cards (27% in 2023) and mobile payments (6% in 2023).
    Nevertheless, cash remains an important part of economic life in Germany. Consumers expect to be able to pay with cash and want to maintain the freedom of choice between cash and cashless means of payment. On top of consumers’ preferences in favour of cash, the Bundesbank considers resilience, crisis preparedness, and inclusivity for all groups in society as further reasons why cash should be firmly anchored in the payment landscape. A functioning cash infrastructure with good access to cash and high acceptance rates of cash is crucial for this.
    The Bundesbank has a statutory mandate to facilitate the smooth functioning of cash and cashless payments. Together with the other Eurosystem central banks, the Bundesbank works to ensure that euro cash remains generally available and accepted as a means of payment and store of value. That said, some developments such as the declining use of cash for payments and the thinning out of ATM networks suggest that a future with cash cannot be taken for granted.
    … calls for future-oriented research
    With this in mind, the Bundesbank has turned its attention to exploring what sort of long-term future cash might have in Germany. In order to be able to proactively shape the evolution of cash in light of the trends we are currently seeing, we need an idea of the environment in which cash will be embedded in future. What developments and trends will influence the payment landscape and the cash cycle over the next 15 to 20 years?
    To take due account of the intricacies of the way in which cash is embedded in social and economic structures, a future-oriented study design is called for. One option is to take the strategic foresight route. The Bundesbank has therefore commissioned a study looking at the cash of the future, which uses this kind of method.
    Future scenarios for Germany’s payment landscape
    A commonly used approach in strategic foresight involves the development of future scenarios. These scenarios are hypothetical visions of the future on a set topic. The scenarios presented in the study describe potential futures for cash and the cash cycle in Germany from the perspective of the year 2037. They show alternative development paths and the influencing factors behind them.
    The scenarios are based on empirical evidence and were developed by strategic foresight experts working with established academic methods. It is important to appreciate that scenarios are not forecasts and, as such, do not represent precise predictions of a future that will definitely come to pass. What scenarios actually provide us with is a way to orient ourselves. What developments are possible, what are the dependencies between different developments and what are the consequences? The scenarios can thus play a role in decision-making and strategy-building and aid communication with stakeholders and the general public.
    A total of three scenarios were developed. In all three scenarios, cash use continues, albeit to different degrees. In all scenarios, cash is the only means of payment available as a fallback option in the event of technical outages.
    The hyperdigital payment world — artificially intelligent, convenient, and vulnerable
    This scenario is characterised by economic and social transformation aimed at safeguarding peace and prosperity. Geopolitical shifts and far-reaching digitalisation are the driving forces of this transformation. All areas of life are highly digitalised, and that includes making payments. The digital euro has already been introduced as legal tender. The majority of the public has a high degree of confidence in digital solutions, in the government, and in the providers of cashless means of payment. In this scenario, cash serves, at most, as a store of value.
    Cash has all but disappeared from everyday payment situations. Only 15% of all transactions are settled using cash in 2037. Payments between individuals are almost exclusively made via payment apps.
    Conventional online commerce, in which cash plays virtually no role, continues to grow strongly. When it comes to bricks-and mortar retail, hardly any checkouts are staffed anymore. Only a scarce few self-checkouts still accept cash payments. With a small number of exceptions, local governments, authorities, and public enterprises do not provide facilities for paying in cash either.
    Banks have massively thinned out their ATM network. With the disappearance of staffed checkouts in the retail sector and the cutback in cash payment options for customers, in-store cash withdrawal services — which are currently still commonplace — vanish as well. Cost pressures on the cash cycle increase considerably up to the end of the decade. Only a small number of effective measures to cut costs in the cash cycle are implemented.
    In accordance with an EU regulation, the Federal Government responds to the massive decline in the use of cash, adopting statutory standards to secure a basic level of cash provision for retailers and the general public. The aim of this move is to maintain the cash infrastructure in case there is a crisis.
    In summary, this scenario shows us a highly digitalised world in which cash plays only a minor role. It is barely able to perform its function as a crisis preparedness measure.
    The cash renaissance payment world — smart, self-determined, and resilient
    The world of this scenario has been shaped by the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, advances in general-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) and the war in Ukraine. On the back of recent experiences, the public has become more aware of the need to prepare for disasters and crises.
    Moreover, many people fear heteronomy and the notion of being controlled by self-learning AI systems trained on mass data. Ambitious individuals tending towards alternative lifestyles are advocating for the right to an analogue life, drawing attention to the dangers of AI and calling for data minimisation and digital sovereignty.
    The benefits of cash are being rediscovered. Cash is associated with values such as sovereignty, independence, and constructive rebellion. This heightened awareness of the benefits of cash gradually spreads into society’s centre ground. Despite the stabilising effects on cash use, cash made up less than 50% of transactions at the end of the 2020s.
    Policymakers were aware of the public’s desire for freedom of choice, as well as of the significance of cash for certain groups in society. Considerations around resilience and autonomy in payments prompted the Federal Government to take regulatory steps to strengthen cash as a means of payment. At the beginning of the 2030s, the Federal Government recommended that retailers should, as a basic principle, accept cash. All of the major supermarket chains offer both staffed checkouts and self-checkouts with cash payment modules.
    Due to an EU regulation on access to cash, the trend towards branch closures and the thinning out of the ATM network started to slow again from the mid-2020s. Clear regulation for maintaining cash infrastructures gives cash cycle stakeholders greater certainty for investing in innovation and cost-saving measures.
    All in all, in this scenario, we see parts of society circling back to cash and its benefits, meaning that cash use is declining only slowly and stabilises in the 2030s.
    The vanishing hybrid payment world — pluralistic, segregated, and indifferent
    In the 2020s, there was significantly greater individualisation and pluralisation in people’s living standards, lifestyles, and personal environments compared with the 2010s. Members of more progressive milieus, in particular, are regarded as early adopters when it comes to innovations in cashless payment instruments. But still, even those who mainly opt for cashless payments often carry an “emergency stash” of a few notes in their smartphone case or in their bag or pocket.
    At the end of the 2030s, cash is still being used by a large part of the population to pay street vendors, when tipping, as a gift to friends or family and when paying smaller amounts. The decline in cash use is gradual (31% of all transactions in 2037).
    The remaining bricks-and-mortar retailers are aware of the diverse preferences of their customer base. This means there is huge variation in terms of cashier system facilities and cash acceptance. However, bricks-and-mortar retailers encourage customers to use cashless payment methods. Public authorities are also coming to favour cashless means of payment.
    Banks continued to significantly reduce the number of their branches and ATMs throughout the country up to the end of the 2020s. As the share of cash is shrinking, less and less cash is coming into shop tills, meaning that in-store cash withdrawal services
    deteriorate. Overall, it becomes harder to access cash.
    A major crisis or disaster that could draw society’s attention to cash as a resilient means of payment fails to materialise. A pro-cash movement among the general public cannot be orchestrated in an increasingly segregated society. This means there is no political pressure to act and no resistance against the gradual decline of cash.
    A downward spiral is created: the use of cash continues to decline as access to and acceptance of cash become restricted. The fixed costs for the supply and removal of cash appear disproportionately high as cash volumes fall. Options for accessing cash and situations where it is accepted are therefore limited further. A hybrid payment landscape — something desired by large parts of society — slowly but surely disappears as it becomes more and more difficult to actually use cash.
    Current developments
    Once scenarios have been developed, they should be checked against current developments from time to time. It is important to bear in mind that certain trends already visible today might appear in one scenario or another but this does not necessarily mean that a particular scenario will occur. Nor do these trends make it more likely that one of the scenarios will prevail. This is because the developments described in the scenarios should not be looked at in isolation; it is only through their interplay that they mesh to form a holistic projection of the payment landscape in 2037.
    Cashless payments more convenient
    Recently published research by the Bundesbank shows that cash currently accounts for 51% of all transactions in Germany. Contactless cards and mobile payment methods are being used more and more frequently. Cashless means of payment are increasingly perceived as more convenient, faster, and easier than cash. These are characteristics regarded as key reasons in deciding for or against a means of payment in the “hyperdigital payment world” and “hybrid payment world” scenarios. On top of this, acceptance of cashless means of payment has risen sharply, including in former cash strongholds such as restaurants and cafés and the services industry. Against this background, the general trend of declining cash usage in the scenarios appears highly plausible.
    Cash availability and acceptance declining
    Acceptance of cash in Germany remains high, although it is slightly declining. Cash payments are almost universally accepted at retail outlets for day-to-day purchases. At retail outlets for durable goods and in the food services sector, acceptance has somewhat deteriorated. In public administration, meanwhile, cash acceptance is low and falling.
    As anticipated in all three scenarios, the number of ATMs and bank offices is declining sharply. The number of ATMs fell by 12% between 2019 and 2023. A weakening of this decline in the mid-2020s does not seem to be on the cards so far. As things currently stand, legal framework conditions creating guaranteed access to cash are lacking. Although more and more people are making use of the option to withdraw cash in shops, Germany’s Retail Federation (Handelsverband) is warning of service constraints if the declining propensity to pay in cash results in there not being enough cash in registers. These developments make a downward spiral of declining cash usage, acceptance of cash, and cash availability highly likely.
    Cash should not be taken for granted
    Cash use does not increase again in any of the scenarios. While the share of cash payments does slowly stabilise in the “cash renaissance” scenario, it steadily contracts in the other two. That said, neither of those two scenarios anticipate a complete disappearance of cash. But two of three scenarios — as well as the developments that we are currently seeing — suggest that its stabilising function and freedom of choice between cash and digital payments are not fully given anymore.
    The Bundesbank considers cash to be its core physical product and takes active measures to safeguard its continued existence and future use alongside its complement, the digital euro. However, the Bundesbank, too, has to adapt to the changing payment landscape. Under its new branch strategy the Bundesbank is aiming to create a more efficient branch network. Branch closures will go hand in hand with extensive investment into new and modern branches. Increased automation and simpler access routes for CIT companies will ensure a secure and efficient supply of cash in the long term.
    Society and policymakers called to action
    The scenarios also show that the responsibility does not lie solely with the Bundesbank. The Bundesbank’s measures will not be adequate unless they are accompanied by action from policymakers and society. That is why it is initiating further collaborative activities. The National Cash Forum brings the relevant stakeholders to the table to lay the groundwork for enhancing and stabilising the cash cycle. A joint dialogue with various interest groups from society culminated in position papers expressing a clear commitment to cash. We at the Bundesbank are committed to contributing to a future with cash.

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: UK sanctions Putin’s interference actors

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    The UK has sanctioned three Russian agencies and three senior figures who are attempting to undermine and destabilise Ukraine and its democracy.

    • UK sanctions Russian disinformation agencies seeking to undermine Ukraine.   

    • Kremlin tasked Social Design Agency (SDA) is exposed for trying to incite anti-Ukraine protests across Europe.    

    • New sanctions also hit three leaders directing the firm’s operations.

    Three Russian agencies and three senior figures who are attempting to undermine and destabilise Ukraine and its democracy have been sanctioned today by the UK.  

    The Social Design Agency (SDA) is tasked and funded directly by the Russian State, and along with its partner company Structura, has attempted to deliver a series of interference operations designed to undermine democracy and weaken international support for Ukraine.    

    This year, the SDA also attempted to incite protests in half a dozen European countries. However, despite Russian pouring money into these malign organisations’ interference activities, their lies have consistently struggled online, with bots and fake sites getting limited interaction. This has forced the SDA to consider buying social media views.  

    The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said:   

    Putin is so desperate to undermine European support for Ukraine he is now resorting to clumsy, ineffective efforts to try and stoke unrest.   

    Today’s sanctions send a clear message; we will not tolerate your lies and interference, and we are coming after you.  

    Putin’s desperate attempts to divide us will fail. We will constrain the Kremlin, and stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. 

    These firms and their leadership are responsible for a vast malign online network, also commonly known as Doppelganger, which plagues social media with fake posts, counterfeit documents and deepfake material. These deceitful tactics are designed to mask the truth around Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and distract from the true nature of the war. Their murky actions are part of a co-ordinated attempt to use deceptive information operations to undermine democracy in pursuit of their aims.    

    These new sanctions demonstrate that no matter how desperate the Russian interference activity has become, the UK is committed to taking action against Russian information manipulation. We will continue to bear down on anyone conducting such activities on behalf of SDA.    

    The US, Canada, France, European External Action Service (EEAS), Germany and Australia join us in calling out the SDA’s underhand activity globally. 

    Background:    

    The full list of those sanctioned today is:   

    • PR agency Social Design Agency (SDA).   

    • PR agency Structura National Technologies.    

    • PR agency ANO DIALOG.    

    • Ilya Andreevich GAMBASHIDZE, the founder of SDA.    

    • Nikolay Aleksandrovich TUPIKIN, the CEO of SDA and owner of Structura.    

    • Andrey Naumovich PERLA, SDA Project Director.    

    These firms are responsible for a vast malign online network, commonly known as Doppelganger. Content including fake posts, counterfeit documents and deepfake material has been pushed out to audiences in English, German and French through a complex online network. The SDA has crafted a web of at least 120 sites spoofing existing news and government websites, towards which it deceptively redirects unsuspecting social media users. Tactics included avoiding common trigger words to circumvent content moderation tools and evade account takedowns. We are working with social media platforms to ensure they are aware of this activity.    

    Our international partners have also previously exposed Doppelganger’s malign interference networks, including France and the EEAS. As part of the monitoring and analysis for the 2024 European Parliament Elections. The European External Action Service has detected that an Doppelganger / RRN Media operation actively promoted Russian narratives to disrupt and interfere with the electoral process. This network was previously attributed by META to the SDA and revealed to be running global information operations aimed at weakening support for Ukraine. France has exposed these Russian actors in June 2023 through the publication of a report by its agency, Viginum.

    Media enquiries

    Email newsdesk@fcdo.gov.uk

    Telephone 020 7008 3100

    Contact the FCDO Communication Team via email (monitored 24 hours a day) in the first instance, and we will respond as soon as possible.

    Updates to this page

    Published 28 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: The Government of Canada announces an investment of $12.5 million to support official language minority community media

    Source: Government of Canada News

    The Government of Canada supports community media in official language minority communities, enabling them to participate more fully in civic life and raise awareness of local and national issues

    OTTAWA, October 28, 2024

    Community media enable minority communities to preserve their language, culture and traditions. These media play an essential role in disseminating local information that reflects the reality and specific needs of these communities, helping to strengthen their sense of belonging.

    Today, the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, announced an investment of $12.5 million as part of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028. This major investment is designed to support official language minority community media across Canada and strengthen their ability to effectively serve their communities.

    Of this amount, $7.6 million will be allocated to 89 new projects over the next four years, contributing to the vitality of community media in minority communities across the country. This investment will help identify and implement the measures needed to strategically strengthen community media and increase their capacity to serve Canada’s official language minority populations.

    In addition, $5 million will be used to train the next generation of community media professionals and address labour shortages in the sector. Thanks to this measure, 125 paid internships will be created at 98 community media organizations across Canada, enabling interns to acquire skills and media to benefit from additional human resources.

    Thanks to this new federal investment, minority community radio stations and newspapers will be better supported in their efforts to become viable businesses, while members of the communities they serve will have access to content in their own language and in their own environment.

    “Community media are at the heart of minority communities across Canada. They tell local stories, help maintain and develop our local and national identities, and ensure that Canadians from coast to coast to coast have access to quality information. That’s why we are investing $12.5 million to support community media in minority communities across the country.”

    —The Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages

    • The Consortium of Official Language Minority Community Media represents 105 minority newspapers and radio stations in 10 provinces and 3 territories.

    • Created in 2016, the Consortium is made up of Réseau.Presse, the Quebec Community Newspapers Association (QCNA), the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada (ARC du Canada) and the English-Language Arts Network (ELAN). Consortium members speak with one voice to defend the interests of official language minority media in Canada.

    • Since its inception in 2018–2019, the Consortium’s media internship program has proven to be a talent incubator and an important human resources development tool for official language minority community media. More than half of the interns have gone on to become permanent staff at official language minority newspapers and radio stations.

    • As part of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection-Promotion-Collaboration, the Community Media Strategic Support Fund has supported over 175 strategic projects, contributing to the vitality of official language minority community media.

    • The Action Plan provides for a total investment of $4.1 billion to support seven departments and 33 new or enhanced measures aimed at protecting and promoting the country’s official languages.

    • This is the fifth five-year official languages plan in 20 years. The 33 new measures added to the existing ones have been grouped under four pillars. In addition, they are inspired by government priorities and issues expressed by communities across the country during the cross-Canada consultations conducted in 2022, which resulted in the Report on the consultations – Cross-Canada Official Languages Consultations 2022.

    • On 20 June 2023, Bill C-13, An Act for the Substantive Equality of Canada’s Official Languages, received royal assent. The Act aims to address the decline of French in the country and to clarify and strengthen the promotion of official languages, while supporting official language minority communities.

    • Every province and territory has official language minority communities, each with its own unique reality and needs. The Action Plan aims to respond to the unique challenges facing Francophone communities outside Quebec and English-speaking communities in Quebec.

    John Fragos
    Communications Advisor
    Office of the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages
    john.fragos@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: FACT SHEET: One Month Following Hurricane Helene, Biden-⁠ Harris Administration Spearheads Ongoing Recovery Efforts and Support for  Survivors

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    Since Hurricane Helene’s destructive landfall one month ago, the Biden-Harris Administration has mobilized a Federal response that has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in financial assistance to survivors, substantial debris removal and power restoration, and a sustained commitment to long-term recovery efforts. As President Biden and Vice President Harris have said, their Administration will be with the people across the Southeast and Appalachia no matter how long it takes.
    Thus far, the Administration has approved over $2.1 billion in Federal assistance for those affected by Hurricane Helene, as well as Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in Florida shortly after Helene.
    This includes over $1 billion in assistance for individuals and families to help pay for housing repairs, personal property replacement, and other recovery efforts. To date, the Administration has also approved over $1.1 billion in Public Assistance funding to support local and state governments. This funding is primarily being used to support debris removal, as well to pay for emergency protective measures like surging first responders and providing shelter, food, and water during and after the storms.
    President Biden, Vice President Harris, and senior leaders across the Administration have spoken with and coordinated closely with Governors, Senators, Representatives, Mayors, and other state and local elected officials in impacted states before, during, and after the storms. The President, Vice President, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, and multiple cabinet members and other Administration leaders have been in impacted states to meet with state and local counterparts, survey damage, assess what additional Federal support should be prioritized, and meet with first responders and survivors. 
    On October 26, White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall traveled to North Carolina to coordinate recovery efforts with Governor Roy Cooper, FEMA, and philanthropic partners on the ground. She underscored the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to innovative partnerships that can speed recovery and rebuilding — through collaboration with state and local officials, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and philanthropic donors—for as long as it takes.
    Nearly 5,000 Federal personnel remain deployed to North Carolina and Florida, working side-by-side with state and local officials, to help survivors get what they need to accelerate their recovery.
    For communities affected by Helene, FEMA has delivered over 11 million meals and 9.6 million liters of water. FEMA now has 65 Disaster Recovery Centers open throughout all of the affected communities to provide survivors with in-person assistance with more opening each day. As of October 27, there will be 21 Disaster Recovery Centers open in North Carolina. Power and cellular service are restored for 99 percent of customers in impacted areas.
    As communities begin their road to rebuilding, the Administration continues to provide support and resources, including:
    Defense Personnel Supporting On-The-Ground Recovery
    Throughout Hurricane Helene response operations, the National Guard and Department of Defense have been engaged in the whole-of-government response efforts across the impacted areas. Members of the North Carolina National Guard, together with active duty servicemembers and guardsmen from 15 other states, have conducted more than 1,200 ground missions and more than 400 air missions in coordination with the state of North Carolina, and under the direction of the Dual Status Commander. 
    These efforts delivered more than 13,500 tons of humanitarian aid overland, and nearly another 2,000 tons through the air. This includes 614,881 gallons of bulk water, 4,331 pallets of bottles of water, and 3,108 pallets of food. Service members were active in route clearance – clearing hundreds of miles of roads, which enabled increased access to some of the hardest hit areas of the state.
    From the onset of this mission, the primary goal of active-duty Department of Defense Title 10 personnel and equipment was to provide immediate, short-term assistance to aid the most urgent response efforts. As of last week, Governor Cooper determined that the active-duty troops were no longer needed for this phase, and active-duty service members transitioned their mission to the National Guard and returned to their home bases. The National Guard, working with FEMA, and other Federal, state, and local partners, will remain actively engaged to address ongoing needs, rebuild infrastructure, and aid communities in long term recovery.
    The National Guard has roughly 2,000 Guardsmen, 65 high-water vehicles, and 7 helicopters still mobilized across seven states for the response to Hurricane Helene.
    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has more than 450 personnel engaged in missions across six states – supporting debris removal, temporary power, infrastructure assessments, , and safe waterways assessments. 
    Supporting and Protecting Public Health
    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking action to support providers and suppliers impacted by Hurricane Helene. These providers and suppliers may face significant cash flow issues from the unusual circumstances impacting facilities’ operations, preventing facilities from submitting claims and receiving Medicare claims payments. As a result of the presidential disaster declaration, and HHS public health emergencies declared in the wake of Hurricane Helene, CMS made available accelerated payments to Medicare Part A providers and advance payments to Medicare Part B suppliers affected by Hurricane Helene beginning October 2, 2024. CMS has also made available certain flexibilities related to provider and supplier fee-for-service Medicare debt.
    Following storm damage from Hurricane Helene at Baxter International Inc.’s North Cove facility in North Carolina, the Biden-Harris Administration continues taking action to support access to IV fluids, including ensuring restoration of key production sites, protecting products, and opening imports, in partnership with manufacturers, distributors, hospitals, and other stakeholders. As a result of these steps, Baxter anticipates restarting the highest-throughput IV solutions manufacturing line within the next week. The Biden-Harris Administration also moved quickly to open up imports from six facilities around the world and made it easier for hospitals to produce their own IV fluid during the shortage.
    Supporting Students and Student Loan Borrowers
    The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is partnering with disaster-declared states to determine the extent of impacts to educational communities; identify gaps in resources for response and recovery; and share critical resources to help restore learning conditions. These resources include Project SERV, which provides funding for local educational agencies and institutions of higher education that have experienced a traumatic crisis, including weather-related natural disasters, to assist in restoring a safe learning environment. 
    ED is ensuring affected borrowers in areas impacted by the hurricanes can focus on their critical needs without having to worry about missing their student loan payments. Direct Loan borrowers and federally-serviced Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) borrowers in the affected area who miss their payments will be automatically placed into a natural disaster forbearance. During forbearance, payments are temporarily postponed or reduced, and interest is still charged. Thanks to regulations issued by the Biden-Harris Administration, months in this forbearance will count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Income Driven Repayment forgiveness. Direct Loan and federally serviced FFEL borrowers are not required to take an action, but have the option to call their servicer if they wish to enroll in the forbearance proactively. Perkins loan borrowers should contact their loan holder to request natural disaster forbearance. 
    ED continues to monitor impacts to schools in the affected states, including school closures, damage to school buildings including ongoing utility outages, schools being used as shelters, and the number of displaced students and staff. ED is sending an assessment team to North Carolina this coming week to evaluate damages and work with the state to develop a plan to get students back into classrooms as quickly as possible. In parallel, ED is closely communicating with the leadership of 531 Title IV-participating institutions, across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia due to impacts associated with Hurricane Helene. ED has also posted electronic announcements, reminding impacted institutions of available regulatory flexibilities, and providing guidance on managing Title IV student aid during disaster situations. 
    Supporting Farmers, Agriculture, and Consumers
    The Department of Agriculture (USDA), in coordination with approved insurance providers, announced more than $233 million to help farmers recover from hurricane damage during the fall harvest season. Currently, Hurricane Helene indemnities are estimated to be nearly $208 million for Georgia, nearly $13 million for Florida, $5 million for Alabama, and more than $4 million each for North and South Carolina.  
    To date, USDA has approved Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) benefits to help eligible residents cover the cost of groceries in 112 counties in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee. D-SNAP is a program focused on getting food assistance to those in need for people in communities affected by disasters, who may not otherwise be eligible.
    Supporting Infrastructure and Transportation Recovery
    Since Hurricane Helene made landfall, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been committed to helping water utilities and health departments in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and North Carolina as they work around the clock to bring clean, safe drinking water back to communities impacted by the storm. EPA and its state and local partners have made significant progress restoring drinking water and wastewater services in a vast majority of communities. In Western North Carolina, EPA has deployed two mobile water testing labs. EPA has received and analyzed approximately 700 samples, giving residents clear data about the safety of their drinking water. In addition to water testing, EPA has collected approximately 1,000 containers with oil, hazardous materials, or propane since clean-up efforts began in North Carolina.  
    The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) continues to support response and recovery efforts in impacted communities in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) worked with partners in affected areas to ensure the national airspace quickly returned to normal operations. The FAA deployed personnel to conduct vital infrastructure assessments and restore communications to impacted towers and airports, including Asheville Regional Airport in North Carolina and ongoing work at Valdosta Regional Airport in Georgia, among others. Approximately 133 personnel from Technical Operations and the communications support team remain on the ground supporting a range of response and restoration activities.
    The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sent $144 million in “Quick Release” Emergency Relief funding to North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. These funds represent a ‘down payment’ to help with the immediate aftermath of the hurricane. Additional funding will be flowing to affected communities from the Emergency Relief program pending availability of funds. FHWA also worked closely with all impacted states and other federal agencies to help support their assessments of infrastructure damage.
    Providing Financial Flexibilities to Homeowners, Renters and Taxpayers
    The Department of Housing and Urban Development is providing a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures of mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) as well as foreclosures of mortgages to Native American borrowers guaranteed under the Section 184 Indian Home Loan Guarantee program. The moratorium and extension are effective as of the President’s disaster declaration date in each state. When homes are destroyed or damaged to an extent that reconstruction or complete replacement is necessary, HUD’s Section 203(h) program provides FHA insurance to disaster victims, including renters. Borrowers from participating FHA approved lenders are eligible for 100 percent financing including closing costs. HUD’s Section 203(k) loan program enables individuals to finance the purchase or refinance of a house, along with its repair, through a single mortgage. Homeowners can also finance the rehabilitation of their existing homes if damaged. FHA is coordinating and collaborating with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Agriculture to ensure consistent messaging and policies for single family loans regarding foreclosure moratoriums and repayment/arrearage agreements. Additionally, affected homeowners that have mortgages through Government-Sponsored Enterprises – including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – and the FHA are eligible to suspend their mortgage payments through a forbearance plan for up to 12 months.
    The Internal Revenue Service announced disaster tax relief for all individuals and businesses affected by Hurricane Helene, including the entire states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina and parts of Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. Taxpayers in these areas now have until May 1, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service provided more than 1,000 employees to help with FEMA disaster relief call lines and intake initial information to help disaster victims get federal relief. IRS Criminal Investigation agents were also on the ground in devastated areas to help with search and rescue efforts and other relief work – including assisting with door-to-door search efforts.
    Supporting Workers and Worker Safety
    Working alongside the Department of Labor, the States of Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee have all announced that eligible workers can receive federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance to compensate for income lost directly resulting from Hurricane Helene. And, through the Department of Labor’s innovative partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, displaced workers from North Carolina and South Carolina can now go to the post office in any other state and verify their ID for purposes of getting their benefits quickly.
    Additional Response and Recovery Efforts
    The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has offered over $51 million in tentatively approved disaster loan funding to survivors of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The SBA also has hundreds of staff working on the ground supporting communities in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia in disaster recovery centers, as well as in loan processing and customer service centers that are fielding around 15,000 calls a day with an average wait time of 15 seconds. The SBA is continuing to process disaster loan applications while it awaits Congressional action to replenish their disaster loan funds.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Lankford’s Legislation to Save Taxpayer Dollars by Reusing Excess Federal Property Signed into Law

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Lankford

    OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – The Reuse Excess Property Act introduced by Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Gary Peters (D-MI) has been signed into law. The bill will hold agencies more accountable to the public on how they reuse excess personal property.

    “This is not that hard. Use the stuff you already have before you buy more stuff. When federal agencies just buy more, before they use what we already have, it shows a lack of commitment to saving taxpayer dollars. The federal government is already the largest single buyer of goods and services in the world, so we need to prioritize good stewardship and effective use of property the government has already purchased,” said Lankford. “From paper clips to automobiles, Oklahoma families and businesses make decisions every day about how to use what they have before spending more money. We should always look for ways for the federal government to save more money and waste less time.”   

    “Agencies should always consider reusing excess goods like office supplies, equipment, and vehicles rather than buying them new, and this law will ensure they do just that,” said Peters. “This law will hold the federal government more accountable by ensuring they only spend taxpayer dollars on essential items. The American people know what it means to be frugal and reuse what they own: it’s time federal agencies do the same.”  

    Federally-owned personal property includes physical items such as office supplies, furniture, automobiles, and heavy machinery. The federal government is the largest purchaser of goods and services in the world, and this law will ensure agencies are looking to excess property—available at no cost apart from any necessary transportation—before buying new products in order to save taxpayer dollars.   

    The Reuse Excess Property Act will update existing requirements for agencies to report their excess personal property to the General Services Administration (GSA) by making those reports available to the public as well. This would help agency officials and taxpayers better understand the extent to which agencies are working to cut wasteful spending through the use of excess property. The bill also requires agencies publicly report on their guidance on the use of excess personal property and designate an employee to be responsible for searching through available excess personal property for items that meet agency needs. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Secretary-General’s remarks to the Security Council – on Sudan [bilingual, as delivered; scroll down for all-English and all-French]

    Source: United Nations – English

    adam President, Excellencies,

    I thank the Council for the opportunity to discuss the utter humanitarian catastrophe engulfing Sudan.

    Eighteen months have passed since brutal fighting erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.

    The suffering is growing by the day, with almost 25 million people now requiring assistance.

    The people of Sudan are living through a nightmare of violence — with thousands of civilians killed, and countless others facing unspeakable atrocities, including widespread rape and sexual assaults.

    In recent days, we have heard shocking reports of mass killings and sexual violence in villages in Aj Jazirah State in the east of the country. 

    They are also enduring a nightmare of hunger — as more than 750,000 people face catastrophic food insecurity and famine conditions take hold in displacement sites in North Darfur, while millions struggle to feed themselves every day.

    They are confronting a nightmare of disease — with cholera, malaria, dengue fever, measles and rubella spreading fast.

    A nightmare of collapsed infrastructure — with vital health systems, transportation networks, water and sanitation systems, supply routes and agricultural production grinding to a halt.

    A nightmare of displacement — the largest displacement crisis in the world, with more than 11 million people fleeing since April last year, including nearly 3 million who have crossed into neighbouring countries.

    A nightmare of extreme weather — with nearly 600,000 people affected by heavy rains and floods this summer.

    And Sudan is, once again, rapidly becoming a nightmare of mass ethnic violence, in particular with the dramatic escalation of fighting in El Fasher.  

    Madam President,

    We have consistently appealed to both sides to end the fighting and come to the negotiating table.

    But instead of lowering tensions, they are escalating military action.

    Meanwhile, outside powers are fuelling the fire.

    We face the serious possibility of the conflict igniting regional instability from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa to the Red Sea.  

    Resolution 2736 adopted earlier this year sent a strong signal.

    But we need action on the ground.

    The resolution requested me to make recommendations to protect civilians in Sudan, which I submitted to this Council last week.

    Allow me to outline three key priorities. 

    First — both sides must immediately agree to a cessation of hostilities.

    Such an agreement should be translated into local ceasefires and humanitarian pauses — creating new avenues of dialogue, and laying the ground for a comprehensive ceasefire.

    At the same time, diplomatic efforts must be intensified to finally bring an end to the conflict — including support to implement the commitments in the Jeddah Declaration.

    My Personal Envoy, Ramtane Lamamra, is working around the clock with that objective.

    He convened the parties in Geneva to enhance humanitarian access and strengthen the protection of civilians in Sudan.

    And he supported the coordination of mediation initiatives, in collaboration with regional partners — in particular, the African Union’s High-Level Panel.  

    I urge this Council to continue supporting his efforts, and encourage effective engagement with regional partners like the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the League of Arab States, and other key ones. 

    And I salute the efforts of the African Union and IGAD towards an inclusive Sudanese political dialogue, which would provide an important platform for civilians — including women — to speak out about the importance of ending the war and lend their voices towards a peaceful and democratic future.

    Which brings me to my second point — civilians must be protected.

    We need this Council’s support to help protect civilians in line with human rights and international humanitarian law — including the parties’ own commitments in the Jeddah Declaration.

    The parties to the conflict bear the primary responsibility to ensure the protection of civilians and come to the negotiation table.

    I am horrified by the Rapid Support Forces’ continued attacks against civilians in El Fasher and surrounding areas, which include displacement sites where famine conditions have been confirmed.

    And I am also horrified by reports of attacks against civilians perpetrated by forces affiliated with the Sudanese Armed Forces in Khartoum, and by continuing mass civilian casualties due to apparently indiscriminate airstrikes in populated areas.

    The perpetrators of serious violations of international humanitarian law must be held accountable.

    And domestic and international human rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms must have space for documenting what is happening on the ground.

    Civil society and journalists must be able to do their jobs safely, without fear of persecution and attacks.

    The direct or indirect flow of weapons and ammunitions into Sudan, which continue to fuel this conflict, must cease immediately.

    Diverse Sudanese voices, human rights organizations and others have called for stepped up measures — including some form of impartial force — to protect civilians.

    These calls are a reflection of the gravity and urgency of the situation facing civilians in the country.

    At present, the conditions do not exist for the successful deployment of a United Nations force to protect civilians in Sudan.

    The Secretariat stands ready to engage with the Council and others on the range of operational modalities that can meaningfully contribute to the reduction in violence and the protection of civilians.

    This may require new approaches that are adapted to the challenging circumstances of the conflict.

    Troisièmement, l’aide humanitaire doit pouvoir être acheminée.

    Malgré les difficultés persistantes en matière d’accès et de financement, l’ONU et ses partenaires ont apporté une aide humanitaire à près de 12 millions de personnes entre janvier et septembre de cette année.

    Cela va de l’eau potable, des systèmes d’assainissement et des abris, aux soins de santé et à l’éducation, en passant par la nutrition d’urgence. 

    Mais c’est loin d’être suffisant.

    Une grande partie des personnes assistées n’ont pu recevoir de l’aide qu’une seule fois.

    Plusieurs régions où les besoins sont les plus urgents restent totalement inaccessibles.
    Il est impératif de garantir un accès humanitaire rapide, sûr et sans entrave par toutes les voies nécessaires – au-delà des frontières et à travers les lignes de conflit.

    La réouverture du poste frontière d’Adré représente une étape importante – et ce poste doit rester ouvert.

    J’exhorte les parties à faire en sorte que davantage d’aide vitale puisse être acheminée vers les zones les plus démunies et par les voies les plus efficaces.

    Nous avons besoin que le personnel humanitaire puisse se déplacer dans tout le pays rapidement et en toute sécurité.

    Et nous avons besoin de fonds.

    Notre appel de fonds pour l’aide humanitaire — à hauteur de 2,7 milliards de dollars — n’est financé qu’à 56 pour cent, et le niveau de financement du Plan régional d’intervention en faveur des réfugiés est encore plus insuffisant.

    J’exhorte les donateurs à accroître leurs contributions et assurer un financement souple.

    Dans le même temps, je rends hommage à l’héroïsme des nombreuses initiatives soudanaises visant à fournir une aide vitale et salvatrice sur le terrain.

    Les plus de 700 salles d’intervention d’urgence au Soudan sont un exemple admirable d’action humanitaire de proximité.

    Par leur engagement, ces femmes et ces hommes nous montrent une autre facette du Soudan – le meilleur de l’humanité, dans un pays qui endure aujourd’hui le pire.

    Leur mobilisation devrait être une source d’inspiration pour nous tous.

    Madame la Présidente,

    Comme je l’ai souligné dans le rapport présenté à ce Conseil, il est temps d’agir – d’agir avec détermination – en faveur de la paix pour le peuple soudanais.

    Je vous remercie.

    ****
    [all-English]

    Madam President, Excellencies,

    I thank the Council for the opportunity to discuss the utter humanitarian catastrophe engulfing Sudan.

    Eighteen months have passed since brutal fighting erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.

    The suffering is growing by the day, with almost 25 million people now requiring assistance.

    The people of Sudan are living through a nightmare of violence — with thousands of civilians killed, and countless others facing unspeakable atrocities, including widespread rape and sexual assaults.

    In recent days, we have heard shocking reports of mass killings and sexual violence in villages in Aj Jazirah State in the east of the country. 

    They are also enduring a nightmare of hunger — as more than 750,000 people face catastrophic food insecurity and famine conditions take hold in displacement sites in North Darfur, while millions struggle to feed themselves every day.

    They are confronting a nightmare of disease — with cholera, malaria, dengue fever, measles and rubella spreading fast.

    A nightmare of collapsed infrastructure — with vital health systems, transportation networks, water and sanitation systems, supply routes and agricultural production grinding to a halt.

    A nightmare of displacement — the largest displacement crisis in the world, with more than 11 million people fleeing since April last year, including nearly 3 million who have crossed into neighbouring countries.
    A nightmare of extreme weather — with nearly 600,000 people affected by heavy rains and floods this summer.

    And Sudan is, once again, rapidly becoming a nightmare of mass ethnic violence, in particular with the dramatic escalation of fighting in El Fasher.  

    Madam President,

    We have consistently appealed to both sides to end the fighting and come to the negotiating table.

    But instead of lowering tensions, they are escalating military action.

    Meanwhile, outside powers are fuelling the fire.

    We face the serious possibility of the conflict igniting regional instability from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa to the Red Sea.  

    Resolution 2736 adopted earlier this year sent a strong signal.

    But we need action on the ground.

    The resolution requested me to make recommendations to protect civilians in Sudan, which I submitted to this Council last week.

    Allow me to outline three key priorities. 

    First — both sides must immediately agree to a cessation of hostilities.

    Such an agreement should be translated into local ceasefires and humanitarian pauses — creating new avenues of dialogue, and laying the ground for a comprehensive ceasefire.

    At the same time, diplomatic efforts must be intensified to finally bring an end to the conflict — including support to implement the commitments in the Jeddah Declaration.

    My Personal Envoy, Ramtane Lamamra, is working around the clock with that objective.

    He convened the parties in Geneva to enhance humanitarian access and strengthen the protection of civilians in Sudan.

    And he supported the coordination of mediation initiatives, in collaboration with regional partners — in particular, the African Union’s High-Level Panel.  

    I urge this Council to continue supporting his efforts, and encourage effective engagement with regional partners like the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the League of Arab States, and other key ones. 

    And I salute the efforts of the African Union and IGAD towards an inclusive Sudanese political dialogue, which would provide an important platform for civilians — including women — to speak out about the importance of ending the war and lend their voices towards a peaceful and democratic future.

    Which brings me to my second point — civilians must be protected.

    We need this Council’s support to help protect civilians in line with human rights and international humanitarian law — including the parties’ own commitments in the Jeddah Declaration.

    The parties to the conflict bear the primary responsibility to ensure the protection of civilians and come to the negotiation table.

    I am horrified by the Rapid Support Forces’ continued attacks against civilians in El Fasher and surrounding areas, which include displacement sites where famine conditions have been confirmed.

    And I am also horrified by reports of attacks against civilians perpetrated by forces affiliated with the Sudanese Armed Forces in Khartoum, and by continuing mass civilian casualties due to apparently indiscriminate airstrikes in populated areas.

    The perpetrators of serious violations of international humanitarian law must be held accountable.

    And domestic and international human rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms must have space for documenting what is happening on the ground.

    Civil society and journalists must be able to do their jobs safely, without fear of persecution and attacks.

    The direct or indirect flow of weapons and ammunitions into Sudan, which continue to fuel this conflict, must cease immediately.

    Diverse Sudanese voices, human rights organizations and others have called for stepped up measures — including some form of impartial force — to protect civilians.

    These calls are a reflection of the gravity and urgency of the situation facing civilians in the country.

    At present, the conditions do not exist for the successful deployment of a United Nations force to protect civilians in Sudan.

    The Secretariat stands ready to engage with the Council and others on the range of operational modalities that can meaningfully contribute to the reduction in violence and the protection of civilians.

    This may require new approaches that are adapted to the challenging circumstances of the conflict.

    Third — humanitarian aid must flow.

    Despite continued access and funding challenges, the United Nations and our partners reached about 12 million people with humanitarian assistance between January and September of this year.

    From water, sanitation and shelter — to health care, education and emergency nutrition.

    But huge gaps remain.

    Many of those reached have been assisted just once.

    Some of the areas of most severe needs remain cut off entirely.

    Rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access must be ensured through all necessary cross-border and cross line routes.

    The re-opening of the border crossing at Adre was an important step — and it must remain open.

    I urge the parties to allow more life-saving aid to flow into areas of greatest need through the most efficient routes. 

    We need humanitarian workers moving around the country rapidly and safely.

    And we need funding.

    Our humanitarian funding appeal of $2.7 billion is only about 56 per cent funded, and coverage of the Regional Refugee Response Plan is even lower.

    I urge donors to step up with additional flexible funding.

    At the same time, I pay tribute to the heroism of the leaders of the many Sudanese-led initiatives providing vital and lifesaving assistance on the ground.

    Sudan’s over 700 Emergency Response Rooms are an inspiring example of grassroots humanitarian action.

    Through their work, they are showing us another side of Sudan — the best of humanity in a country enduring the worst of it.

    We can all draw inspiration from their example.

    Madam President,

    As outlined in my report to this Council, it is time for action — decisive action — for peace for the people of Sudan.

    Thank you.

    *****
    [all-French]

    Madame la Présidente, Excellences,

    Je remercie le Conseil de me donner l’occasion d’évoquer ici la catastrophe humanitaire majeure qui frappe le Soudan.

    Dix-huit mois se sont écoulés depuis que de violents affrontements ont éclaté entre les Forces armées soudanaises et les Forces d’appui rapide.

    Les souffrances s’aggravent de jour en jour, et près de 25 millions de personnes ont aujourd’hui besoin d’aide.

    La population du Soudan est plongée dans le cauchemar de la violence : des milliers de civils ont été tués, et un nombre incalculable d’autres personnes sont victimes d’atrocités sans nom, notamment de viols et d’agressions sexuelles à grande échelle.

    Ces derniers jours, nous avons entendu des informations choquantes faisant état de massacres et de violences sexuelles dans des villages de l’État d’Aj Jazirah, dans l’est du pays. 

    Elle est aussi plongée dans le cauchemar de la faim : plus de 750 000 personnes sont en proie à une insécurité alimentaire catastrophique, et la famine s’installe dans les sites de déplacés du Darfour septentrional, tandis que des millions de personnes luttent chaque jour pour trouver de quoi s’alimenter.

    Elle est plongée dans le cauchemar de la maladie : choléra, paludisme, dengue, rougeole et rubéole se propagent rapidement.

    Elle est plongée dans le cauchemar de l’effondrement des infrastructures : les systèmes de santé essentiels, les réseaux de transport, les systèmes d’assainissement et d’approvisionnement en eau, les filières de ravitaillement et la production agricole sont à l’arrêt.

    Elle est plongée dans le cauchemar des déplacements : nous assistons aujourd’hui à la plus grande crise de déplacement de population au monde, puisque plus de 11 millions de personnes ont fui depuis avril de l’année dernière, dont près de 3 millions ont gagné les pays voisins.

    Elle est plongée dans le cauchemar des conditions météorologiques extrêmes : cet été, près de 600 000 personnes ont été touchées par des pluies torrentielles et des inondations.
    Et une fois encore, le Soudan est en passe de sombrer dans le cauchemar des violences ethniques de masse, notamment dans le contexte de l’escalade tragique des combats à El-Fasher. 

    Madame la Présidente,

    Nous avons appelé maintes fois les deux parties à mettre fin aux hostilités et à s’asseoir à la table des négociations en vue d’apaiser les tensions.

    À l’heure où nous parlons, nous assistons au contraire à une escalade de l’action militaire.

    Dans le même temps, des puissances extérieures jettent de l’huile sur le feu.

    Ce conflit risque fortement de déstabiliser l’ensemble de la région, du Sahel à la mer Rouge en passant par la Corne de l’Afrique. 

    La résolution 2736, adoptée en début d’année, a envoyé un signal fort.

    Il est toutefois nécessaire d’agir sur le terrain.

    Dans cette résolution, le Conseil m’a demandé de formuler des recommandations en faveur de la protection des civils au Soudan, recommandations que je lui ai présentées la semaine dernière.

    Permettez-moi de souligner trois priorités essentielles. 

    Premièrement, les deux parties doivent immédiatement s’entendre sur une cessation des hostilités.

    L’accord qui en résulterait devrait se traduire par des cessez-le-feu locaux et des pauses humanitaires, qui permettraient d’ouvrir de nouvelles pistes de dialogue et de jeter les bases d’un cessez-le-feu global.

    Dans le même temps, les efforts diplomatiques doivent être intensifiés pour, enfin, mettre un terme au conflit – notamment en soutenant la mise en œuvre des engagements pris dans la déclaration de Djeddah.

    Mon Envoyé personnel, Ramtane Lamamra, travaille sans relâche à cette fin.

    Il a réuni les parties à Genève en vue de trouver des moyens d’améliorer l’accès humanitaire et de renforcer la protection des civils au Soudan.

    Il a également participé à la coordination des initiatives de médiation, en collaboration avec les partenaires régionaux, en particulier le Groupe de haut niveau de l’Union africaine. 

    Je demande instamment au Conseil de continuer d’appuyer les travaux de mon Envoyé spécial et d’encourager l’établissement d’un dialogue efficace avec des partenaires régionaux tels que l’Union africaine, l’Autorité intergouvernementale pour le développement, la Ligue des États arabes et d’autres acteurs clés. 

    Je salue l’action menée par l’Union africaine et l’IGAD en vue d’instaurer un dialogue politique ouvert à toutes les parties au Soudan, qui offrirait aux populations civiles – y compris aux femmes – une tribune importante pour plaider en faveur de la fin de la guerre et faire entendre leur voix pour un avenir pacifique et démocratique.

    Ce qui m’amène à mon deuxième point : les civils doivent être protégés.

    Nous avons besoin du soutien de ce Conseil pour protéger les civils, dans le respect des droits humains et du droit international humanitaire et conformément aux engagements que les parties elles-mêmes ont pris dans la Déclaration de Djedda.

    Il incombe au premier chef aux parties au conflit de garantir la protection des civils et de s’asseoir à la table des négociations.

    Je suis horrifié par la poursuite des attaques perpétrées par les Forces d’appui rapide contre des civils à El-Fasher et dans les zones environnantes, où se trouvent des sites de déplacés qui connaissent aujourd’hui une situation de famine.

    Je suis également horrifié par les informations faisant état d’attaques contre les populations civiles commises par des forces affiliées aux Forces armées soudanaises à Khartoum et par les pertes civiles considérables que des frappes aériennes menées semble-t-il sans discrimination continuent de provoquer dans des zones peuplées.

    Les auteurs de violations graves du droit international humanitaire doivent être amenés à répondre de leurs actes.

    Les mécanismes nationaux et internationaux de surveillance et d’enquête en matière de droits humains doivent disposer de l’espace nécessaire pour documenter ce qui se passe sur le terrain.

    La société civile et les journalistes doivent pouvoir faire leur travail en toute sécurité, sans craindre de subir des persécutions ou d’être la cible d’attaques.

    Le flux direct ou indirect d’armes et de munitions vers le Soudan, qui continue d’alimenter ce conflit, doit cesser immédiatement.

    Diverses voix soudanaises, des organisations de défense des droits humains et d’autres acteurs ont appelé à un renforcement des mesures — y compris sous une certaine forme de force impartiale — pour protéger les civils.

    Ces appels reflètent la gravité et l’urgence de la situation à laquelle sont confrontés les civils dans le pays.

    À l’heure actuelle, les conditions ne sont pas réunies pour permettre le déploiement d’une force des Nations unies chargée de protéger les civils au Soudan.

    Le Secrétariat est prêt à engager le dialogue avec le Conseil et d’autres parties sur l’ensemble des modalités opérationnelles qui peuvent contribuer de manière significative à la réduction de la violence et à la protection des civils.

    Cela pourrait nécessiter de nouvelles approches adaptées aux circonstances difficiles du conflit.

    Troisièmement, l’aide humanitaire doit pouvoir être acheminée.

    Malgré les difficultés persistantes en matière d’accès et de financement, l’ONU et ses partenaires ont apporté une aide humanitaire à près de 12 millions de personnes entre janvier et septembre de cette année.

    Cela va de l’eau potable, des systèmes d’assainissement et des abris, aux soins de santé et à l’éducation, en passant par la nutrition d’urgence. 

    Mais c’est loin d’être suffisant.

    Une grande partie des personnes assistées n’ont pu recevoir de l’aide qu’une seule fois.

    Plusieurs régions où les besoins sont les plus urgents restent totalement inaccessibles.

    Il est impératif de garantir un accès humanitaire rapide, sûr et sans entrave par toutes les voies nécessaires – au-delà des frontières et à travers les lignes de conflit.
     
    La réouverture du poste frontière d’Adré représente une étape importante – et ce poste doit rester ouvert.

    J’exhorte les parties à faire en sorte que davantage d’aide vitale puisse être acheminée vers les zones les plus démunies et par les voies les plus efficaces.

    Nous avons besoin que le personnel humanitaire puisse se déplacer dans tout le pays rapidement et en toute sécurité.

    Et nous avons besoin de fonds.

    Notre appel de fonds pour l’aide humanitaire — à hauteur de 2,7 milliards de dollars — n’est financé qu’à 56 pour cent, et le niveau de financement du Plan régional d’intervention en faveur des réfugiés est encore plus insuffisant.

    J’exhorte les donateurs à accroître leurs contributions et assurer un financement souple.

    Dans le même temps, je rends hommage à l’héroïsme des nombreuses initiatives soudanaises visant à fournir une aide vitale et salvatrice sur le terrain.
    Les plus de 700 salles d’intervention d’urgence au Soudan sont un exemple admirable d’action humanitaire de proximité.

    Par leur engagement, ces femmes et ces hommes nous montrent une autre facette du Soudan – le meilleur de l’humanité, dans un pays qui endure aujourd’hui le pire.

    Leur mobilisation devrait être une source d’inspiration pour nous tous.
     
    Madame la Présidente,

    Comme je l’ai souligné dans le rapport présenté à ce Conseil, il est temps d’agir – d’agir avec détermination – en faveur de la paix pour le peuple soudanais.

    Je vous remercie.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Rep. Becca Balint and Rep. Mark Pocan Introduce Intersex Awareness Day Resolution

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Becca Balint (VT-AL)

    Washington, D.C. – Today, Equality Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Becca Balint (VT-AL)  and Equality Caucus Chair Mark Pocan (WI-02) introduced the Intersex Awareness Day Resolution. The resolution recognizes October 26 as Intersex Awareness Day and affirms the dignity, and the universal human right to bodily autonomy of intersex people. Intersex Awareness Day is recognized on October 26 and marks the first public demonstration by intersex people in the United States at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1996. 

    “This is about basic human dignity. There are 5.6 million intersex Americans who are no less worthy of respect and dignity than anyone else,” said Rep. Balint (VT-AL). “Every kid born with intersex traits deserves to live free of discrimination and exclusion. And it’s critical the LGBTQI+ community work to raise awareness of the stories and needs of intersex people. I’m proud to introduce this resolution with Chair Pocan to stand up for intersex Americans and affirm the universal right to bodily autonomy.”

    “As we celebrate Intersex Awareness Week, the full force of the Equality Caucus stands with the intersex community, not just today, but every day,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02), Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. “Intersex people are valid and valued members of the LGBTQI+ community, and it is on all of us to ensure the government is addressing the needs of intersex people. I’m honored to be leading the charge to protect intersex peoples’ rights in Congress and to join Co-Chair Becca Balint in introducing a resolution recognizing Intersex Awareness Day.”

    “Intersex people have been fighting for the fundamental human right to bodily integrity for decades. Today’s resolution honors that history, and it stands as a powerful call for a future in which children with intersex traits can grow up free from unnecessary and unwanted medical interventions,” said Erika Lorshbough, Executive Director of interACT. “We are grateful to the sponsors for taking action to raise awareness and help make that future a reality.”

    The Intersex Awareness Day Resolution: 

    • Supports the goals and ideals of Intersex Awareness Day;
    • Encourages the Federal Government, States, localities, nonprofit organizations, schools, and community organizations to observe the day with appropriate programs and activities, with the goal of increasing public knowledge of the intersex community and empowering individuals to celebrate and respect their diversity;
    • Encourages health care providers to offer culturally and clinically competent care to the intersex community, and schools to support education regarding the intersex community, and connect individuals to resources for young people with intersex variations and their families; and
    • Encourages the Federal Government, States, international funding organizations, and United States bilateral and multilateral aid efforts to prioritize the health and human rights of intersex people.            

    Intersex refers to having innate variations in physical traits that differ from typical expectations for male or female bodies regarding the development, appearance, or function of sex-related characteristics. This includes variations in one or more traits such as genitals, gonads and other reproductive organs, hormone production or response, or chromosome patterns, which may present at birth or may occur naturally at a later time.

    The resolution is endorsed by InterACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth and the Congressional Equality Caucus. The resolution is cosponsored by Pocan, Bonamici, Crockett, Davids, Evans, Foushee, Frost, Sylvia Garcia, Grijalva, Jacobs, Barbara Lee, Mullin, Norton, Peters, Ramirez, Sánchez, Ritchie Torres, Takano, Tlaib, and Watson Coleman. 

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –