Protests over European Austerity Measures

German demonstrators clash with police in protests over austerity measures on Sept. 21.

Belgium – EU Observer (Sept. 30): Tens of thousands of angry workers marched through cities across Europe on Wednesday to protest against the wave of government austerity measures that have swept through the region over the past year. A procession of roughly 100,000 people snaked through the streets of Brussels, led by a group dressed in black suits and masks and calling themselves the European Union of Speculators, a pointed jibe at the bankers many blame for the current crisis. Large numbers of union members traveled to Brussels by bus for the event from as far afield as Denmark, with banks and designer stores along the route being heavily guarded, as were E.U. buildings. Belgian police reportedly arrested 218 "troublemakers."

Czech Republic – Deutche Welle (Sept. 21): Police officers, firefighters, soldiers and nurses were among tens of thousands protesting in Prague on Tuesday over government plans to slash salaries. Between 25,000 and 30,000 people from across the Czech Republic took part in the protest, according to official police figures. The demonstration, the country's biggest labor protest of the past three years, brought traffic in some parts of the city to a halt. The country's new center-right cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Petr Necas, has resolved to reduce the budget deficit from 5.3 percent of gross domestic product this year to 4.6 percent next year.

France – France24 (Sept. 8): The French cabinet meets Wednesday, a day after over a million people took part in demonstrations across France to protest against pension reforms that President Nicolas Sarkozy says he is determined to implement and are necessary. French unions threaten to continue strikes if the government doesn't respond to their demands. The strike was part of a high-stakes showdown between the country's largest labour unions and Sarkozy's administration over the government's reform proposals, among them a proposal to raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 over the next eight years. The main CFDT union on Tuesday afternoon estimated that 2.5 million people had taken to the streets across France, while the government claimed the figure was nearer 1.1 million.

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Germany – Expatica Germany (Sept. 27): Talks on toughening budget rules to prevent a new European debt crisis heated up Monday as Germany called for the hammer to drop on countries that repeatedly run excessive deficits. Germany launched the opening salvo in intense negotiations between European Union finance ministers meeting in Brussels as part of a task force looking into ways to strengthen the 27-nation bloc's fiscal discipline. The moves to punish budget bingers came as trade unions prepared to lead demonstrations in Brussels and other parts of Europe on Wednesday to protest austerity measures launched by E.U. states to bring down huge public deficits. In a letter to his E.U. counterparts, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he "chiefly supports" tough proposals, including fines against deficit sinners, to be unveiled by the European Commission on Wednesday.

Greece – Balkans.com (Sept. 22): Greece's public sector union ADEDY on Tuesday called a 24-hour strike on October 7 to protest against the government's austerity policies including wage and pension cuts to reduce deficits. "All workers are asked to massively participate in the rallies and demand the termination of all agreements that did away with rights to work and pensions," the union said. Greek labour unions have staged repeated strikes this year against austerity measures and reforms the debt-stricken country has agreed with the IMF and its euro zone partners in return for a 110 billion euro ($138 billion) bailout.

Poland – TheNews.pl (Sept. 29): Representatives of the All Poland Trade Union Agreement (OPZZ) and Solidarity are holding a demonstration in Warsaw today, demanding better pay and protection of jobs. Held under the motto "NO for budget cuts, YES for job security and economic growth," the protest is part of an international action by the European Trade Union Confederation. Similar protests have been organized in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Lithuania, Latvia and Cyprus. Trade union delegations from 14 E.U. countries have also arrived in Brussels. The trade unionists are protesting against repeated attempts to raise retirement age, a slower than envisaged minimal wage growth and plans of freezing income thresholds entitling to social assistance.

Portugal – The Portugal News Online (Oct. 1): Portuguese have this week been told that belt-tightening measures enforced to date by the government have been inadequate in reducing the country's burgeoning budget deficit. As a result, taxpayers have been asked to make further sacrifices as the minority Socialist cabinet seeks to stop the deficit reaching double figures. Portuguese will now be paying the highest VAT (value-added tax) rates in the Eurozone, while civil servants will have their wages slashed by up to ten percent from 2011.

Romania – Balkans.com (Sept. 23): Thousands of Romanian clerks, nurses and teachers marched through the capital Bucharest on Wednesday protesting against tax hikes and state-sector wage cuts, but the demonstration looked unlikely to sway policy. Austerity measures in recession-hit Romania, vital to the country's 20 billion euro aid package led by the International Monetary Fund, have left the government deeply unpopular and facing a no-confidence vote in parliament next month. Around 10,000 people protested outside government headquarters in Bucharest, according to riot police, although union leaders put the total at up to 17,000. The protesters blew whistles and urged Prime Minister Emil Boc to resign.

Spain – Expatica Spain (Sept. 29): Leftist demonstrators clashed with police and set fire to a police car and rubbish bins in Barcelona on Wednesday on the margins of a nationwide general strike. Spanish unions launched a 24-hour nationwide general strike Wednesday to protest the socialist government's tough labour reforms and austerity measures aimed at slashing unemployment and reviving the battered economy.

Short-Stay Trips to London

  Joe Williams
October 28, 2010

London is a sprawling metropolis of the world’s most famous museums, monuments and historical buildings, a cultural capital with everything from bohemian districts to modern art enclaves. But with the exorbitant prices, most travellers don’t spend more than a few days in London.

The good news is that, even though London is one of the biggest cities in the world, its main attractions are concentrated in the city center, easily accessible via the tube. In just three or four days, you can fully explore the city and get a good sense of what London is all about.

Let’s start in the heart of the city at Piccadilly Circus. As seen in many movies and films, this prominent spot is surrounded by giant neon screens and the city’s oldest buildings. As this is right in the center of the city, hotels in the area are extremely expensive. Those looking for a centralized location and affordable prices might like to book a hotel around Green Park, Russell Square or Covent Garden, all of which are within walking distance from the major attractions.

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From Piccadilly Circus, stroll through the busy streets of downtown London towards Leicester Square, home to red carpet movie screening and the city’s most famous restaurants and bars. By night, the entire area is pumped up with energy and is one of the best areas in the city to party. London’s Chinatown is also located near Leicester Square, so if you’re craving oriental cuisine, you know where to find the best in town. Oxford Street, the trendiest, hippest shopping district in London, is filled to the brim with fashion boutiques and shopping chain stores. It’s just a five-minute walk from Piccadilly Circus. Nearby, you’ll find majestic monuments at Trafalgar Square, where the famous lion statues and the National Art Gallery are located.

For culture vultures, there is no shortage of internally acclaimed museums in London, and most of them are free to enter. The National History Museum has a galore of artefacts on display and information on dinosaurs and aeronautical history. Other museums worth visiting are the British Museum, with impressive mummies on display, and the Tate Museum, for lovers of contemporary art.

If you’re looking to see a different side of London, head over to Camden Market—clustered with funky clothes shops, gothic styles and quirky boutiques. It’s quite an eye-opener and makes an excellent place to wander around on a Saturday afternoon. Another place of interest is the Portobello Road Market on Sundays in Nottinghill. Bohemian travellers will be enthralled by the rows of antique stalls and vintage flea markets.

The best way to end your short visit to London would be a boat ride on River Thames. It’s a great way to take in views of London from the water, especially in summer. The boat ride takes you through London’s major landmarks such as the Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye.

This article was written on behalf of Hotel Direct.

 

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Interview with Kara Davey

Ambrose Musiyiwa
October 12, 2010

Last year, trainee clinical psychologist Kara Davey worked with NHS ASSIST Service, one of the few medical practices in the United Kingdom that provides primary health care services exclusively to asylum seekers, some of whom are victims of torture. This year she helped organize the "Being Heard: Human Rights and Asylum" conference that took place at the University of Leicester in September. Currently, she is researching the effect that supporting asylum seekers and refugees has on individuals who provide that support. 

Ambrose Musiyiwa: How would you explain the research you are conducting at present? 

Kara Davey: My research is designed to explore what positive and negative emotional responses are evoked in members of staff who work for charities or voluntary organizations that provide practical support and advice to asylum seekers and/or refugees. For example, I am interested in how much stress is felt by staff as a result of their work, how this stress affects them and how they cope with the stress they experience. 

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I am also interested in whether staff members feel that the work has improved them, in any way, as individuals. For example, do they feel more resilient as individuals? Are they more appreciative of life? And so on. 

AM: How is the research progressing? 

KD: I have already conducted some interviews and asked the interviewees to complete a questionnaire pack for me. They then agreed to help me amend my questionnaires to make them as relevant as possible for members of staff who support asylum seekers and refugees. I am now in the process of recruiting 100 participants to complete just the questionnaires, with the aim of comparing responses from individuals nationwide. 

AM: What motivated the research project? 

KD: I feel it is important to understand the emotional impact of providing support to asylum seekers and refugees because stress, coping and resilience all have important implications on personal well-being. I hope that my research will highlight a range of coping mechanisms that individuals have used to build their own personal resilience. 

Useful findings on coping gathered from this research may then be incorporated into a training package, which can be made available to charities and voluntary organizations nationwide. 

AM: As a clinical psychologist in training, how did your experiences when you worked with the NHS ASSIST Service affect you? 

KD: I found the role very rewarding but quite emotionally challenging at times, too. During my time at the ASSIST Service, I was struck by the great work that employees of the many organizations that I was liaising with were doing. I am not aware of how much support the employees themselves receive. I know that this probably varies largely, but I assume that often it is likely to be much less than the support therapists and mental health professionals receive—despite the fact that people who work with organizations that support refugees and asylum seekers hear about very difficult experiences and can sense some very strong emotions in those that they are supporting. 

This made me admire the resilience of individuals who work or volunteer in this sector, much like I admire the resilience of the individuals that I supported whilst working at the ASSIST Service. Consequently, I wanted to find out more about the positive and negative emotions that are evoked in these employees and volunteers, how they are affected by these emotions, how much support they receive and how they cope with the difficult aspects of their work. 

AM: As a researcher, what are some of the biggest challenges that you face? 

KD: I guess my biggest challenge is likely to be recruiting enough participants to be able to identify useful and reliable trends in the data. The more responses I receive the more I will be able to explore the effects of the smaller research questions I have, such as: Does length of time in the job affect how individuals respond emotionally to clients? Are there regional differences? Are responses different for those who support asylum seekers and those who support refugees?

Getting a large number of responses will also mean that I can be more confident of the effects found in relation to my three main research questions, as the data analysis will be more statistically reliable. The challenge in terms of recruiting enough participants is being able to get myself and my research known nationwide to encourage widespread participation, whilst also being realistic about the huge time restrictions I have due to needing to focus on all the other elements of my job to be able pass my training, too.

AM: How are you dealing with these challenges? 

KD: I plan to overcome these challenges by networking, appealing to organizations who have contacts that might be helpful for me and by attending a lot of team meetings across the country whilst on leave. 

AM: Earlier, you described your placement with the ASSIST Service as being "rewarding but quite emotionally challenging at times." Why is this? 

KD: Some of the asylum seekers that I had the pleasure of seeing regularly at the ASSIST Service didn't really have any other support networks in the U.K., so I wanted to do my best to help them. I sometimes experienced the roller-coaster ride of emotions with them, both in relation to how they felt from day to day and how they felt in relation to their asylum applications. 

I found the work emotionally challenging because the individuals I was supporting were in the U.K. because they needed a chance to move on and rebuild their life in safety and yet they were being forced into social isolation and often their applications for political asylum were being refused without a fair hearing, which was very frustrating. 

Hearing stories about what happened to people prior to their arriving in the U.K. was also shocking and incredibly sad. I was touched by how resilient the individuals I saw were, and they were also really grateful for the small amount of help that I was able to provide them with. 

I felt really pleased and relieved when some individuals received their status documents and we could begin to think about how they move on with their lives. These positive elements, amongst many others, made the work very rewarding. 

AM: What do you think should be done about the challenges asylum seekers face in the U.K.? 

KD: In my opinion, a lot of the asylum seekers who are in the U.K. are also victims of U.K. legislation, which is designed to limit applications and identify any small inconsistencies in people's stories. These inconsistencies are then picked up and held to indicate a "false" application. 

U.K. legislation is rarely sensitive to cultural differences and does not consider research highlighting how difficult it is to disclose traumatic material without first building a trusting relationship. It does not even consider research that documents how difficult it is to remember the details of very traumatic events. 

Asylum seekers also have no choice about where they live. They are not allowed to work and often have limited resources resulting in high levels of boredom, depression and social isolation, which can lead to a decreased sense of self-worth. 

AM: How should the U.K. deal with asylum seekers? 

KD: Asylum seekers should be treated with dignity and given a fair chance, the chance to tell their story, and to be treated like human beings. 

Research that has been conducted into the effects of trauma should be taken into consideration when looking at asylum applications. I also strongly believe that asylum seekers should be given the opportunity to work, for the reasons explained above, as well as to reduce social stigma. 

AM: If I work for an organization that supports refugees and/or asylum seekers and would like to take part in the research you are conducting, where do I begin? 

KD: The questionnaire pack is available online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XGQCW3C. Alternatively, you can email me at kld20@le.ac.uk for a paper version of the questionnaire pack or for more information.

Anyone who provides practical support to asylum seekers or refugees is eligible to take part, regardless of whether this support is during one-off consultations or ongoing casework.

View the Worldpress Desk’s profile for Ambrose Musiyiwa.

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Religious Battles in the Balkans

Risto Karajkov
October 26, 2010

Ramadan Ramadani, recently removed from his position as imam of the Isa-Bey Mosque in Skopje, is disputing the decision.

Recently, after a period of prolonged strife within the Islamic Religious Community (IVZ), its leader Sulejman Rexhepi publicly asked the government of Macedonia and representatives of the international community for protection from radical Islamic groups. He called in particular on the "embassy of the United States and the European Union to support the IVZ and take appropriate measures" against such groups. Rexhepi's public cry for help echoed internationally. It was interpreted as one more sign of the rising influence of radical Islam in the Balkans.

Pressure within the IVZ has been mounting all summer. Rumors, hushed and denied, have gone on for years that the IVZ does not have effective control of all of its mosques in the capital city of Skopje, Macedonia. Late June, the Friday prayer at the Isa Beg Mosque was violently interrupted. A group of people, reportedly led by Ramadan Ramadani, attacked and chased away the Skopje mufti, Ibraim Shabani, and several other IVZ officials, preventing them from conducting the prayer. Only several days before the incident, Ramadani was revoked from his position of odza in the Isa Beg Mosque by IVZ on charges of organizing unauthorized lectures. IVZ said Ramadani was revoked after repeated warnings.

The public learned of the incident only a week later, after a tape was presented by the Democratic Party of the Albanians (DPA), one of the two major parties in the Albanian political block, currently in opposition. DPA accused its political opponent, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), part of the government coalition, of involvement in the incident.

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The incident forced the IVZ, after practically years of denial, to admit that it does not have effective control over some of its mosques in Skopje. It also made it point a finger at "radical groups" that want to take control over the Islamic community in the country. The mosques most often mentioned as outside IVZ control are the Isa Beg, Aladza, Sultan Murat and Hatandzuk.

The dismissed Ramadani has denied accusations of spreading radicalism and has also disputed IVZ's decision for his removal. "The decision is not valid. This is a first in IVZ's history that someone is dismissed in such a non-transparent way," said Ramadani. He argued that IVZ did not have a quorum when it made the decision. He accused the IVZ leader Sulejman Rexhepi of serious financial wrongdoings and said the rhetoric of radicalism was just an excuse. Ramadani started collecting signatures for the removal of Rexhepi from his position as leader of IVZ. He put on hold his initiative mid-August as Ramadan started, but was reported to have collected some 7,000 signatures.

Ramadani's civic initiative cannot replace the chief mufti Rexhepi—the IVZ leader can only be revoked by the Riaset, the IVZ top body—but if the number of 7,000 signatures is accurate, it indicates a significant following.

After the June incident at the Isa Beg Mosque, IVZ asked the Ministry of Interior (MoI) for protection, that is, to help it restore its control over the mosque. The police said they can only intervene if ordered to by the court. Apparently, in legal terms, the administration of the mosque is a civil matter and the police cannot intervene without a court order (the violent incident is a separate matter and can be a simple misdemeanor). "The moment we are ordered by the court, we will intervene" said MoI spokesperson Ivo Kotevski. The ministry said its hands were tied also concerning the allegations of spreading radical teaching of Islam. As long as there is no direct incitement of racial or ethnic hatred, or direct calls for subversion of institutions of government, the police cannot intervene, was the reaction of the MoI.

Insiders explain the police's inertia with the political interests involved. According to them, the two major Albanian political parties, DUI and DPA, are not without a stake in the entire affair. Also, according to some of those interpretations, the accusations of radical teachings are just the front for internal struggles over power and control within IVZ. Several years ago there was an even more serious, armed incident, involving known criminals, in a mosque in the village of Kondovo, apparently over who would have control over the mosque.

Institutions' inertia can easily be explained with political backing in a country such as Macedonia. But it would be completely improbable to think that a major Albanian political party would in any way be supportive of radical Islamic elements. Politics is strongly secular in Macedonia. In addition, Albanian politicians would know better than to risk the support by the international community.

However, elements exist in support of IVZ's claims over the spread of radical teaching. Citing the unauthorized lectures as the grounds for his dismissal, the Skopje mufti, Ibraim Shabani, in particular objected to the lectures by a local Islamic scholar, Bekir Halimi. In July, after the incident, IVZ directly brought Halimi's name in connection with the spreading of Wahabism. Two years ago the police raided the premises of Halimi's association called Bamsiera on suspicion of links with radical groups in the region and internationally. The suspicion was apparently caused by a small money transfers by an organization from Kuwait. Halimi was however neither detained nor charged. Some media subsequently reported the case as a mistake. Halimi himself has denied allegations of spreading radical ideas in the past. He has claimed that the local Muslim tradition is "immune to such influences" and that local priests know how to protect the believers. Ramadani, for his part, justified Halimi's unauthorized lectures arguing that he was a recognized scholar and that it was a privilege to have him speak.

There have been no public reactions following the IVZ's leader call upon Europe and the United States to defend moderate Islam in the country. However, after years of rumors and denials, the clash is now out in the open. Further unraveling seems imminent.

This article was originally published in Italian by Osservatorio Balcani: http://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng.

View the Worldpress Desk’s profile for Risto Karajkov.

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Russia Elects First African

Roland Marke
October 7, 2010

Jean Gregoire Sagbo is Russia's newly elected councilman of Novozavidovo, a rural community about 65 miles north of Moscow. Residents in this seemingly sleepy town would stare at him because they had never seen a black man before. But presently, they have spotted in him a quality equally rare in this locale—an honest politician. Sagbo is the country's first black elected official, from the tiny West African nation of Benin.

Russia is still entrenched in the enigma of racism and plagued with systemic violence. Sagbo's election is a milestone in the country's history, emerging as one of the 10 elected municipal councilors. Among the 10,000 residents here, 48-year-old Sagbo, though an immigrant from Benin, is perceived as a Russian who cares about his adopted hometown. He has promised to jumpstart the impoverished, garbage-littered town, where he has lived for 21 years and raised a family. His long-term vision includes addressing the malaise of drug addiction, cleaning up an eyesore-carved polluted lake and delivering heating service to deprived homes.

Sagbo proved himself as a man of strong civic impulse who had cleaned the entrance to his apartment building, planted flowers and spent his own money on street improvements. About 10 years ago he organized volunteers and pioneered what would become an annual day of collecting garbage, literally cleaning up the streets.

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Russia's black population hasn't been officially enumerated, but studies estimate there are about 40,000 "Afro-Russians." Many are attracted by universities that are less costly than in the West. Scores of them suffer racially motivated attacks every year—49 in Moscow alone in 2009, according to the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy Task Force on Racial Violence and Harassment, an advocacy group.

"His skin is black but he is Russian inside," said Vyacheslav Arakelov, the mayor. "The way he cares about this place, only a Russian can care."

Sagbo is not the first Black Russian politician; he's just the first to win. Another West African, Joaquin Crima of Guinea-Bissau, ran for head of a southern Russian district a year ago but was heavily defeated. Crima was dubbed by the media "Russia's Obama." Now they've shifted the title to Sagbo, much to his annoyance.

"My name is not Obama. It's sensationalism," he said. "He is black and I am black, but it's a totally different situation."

When the Soviet Union collapsed, this town's industries were privatized, leaving the town in financial ruin. It suffered from massive unemployment, corruption, alcohol abuse and pollution. It was previously a prosperous place, not very far from the National Park, where Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev enjoy nature retreats.

Denis Voronin, a 33-year-old engineer, said Sagbo was the town's first politician to get elected fairly, without resorting to buying votes. "Previous politicians were all criminals," he said.

Residents complain that they pay for heat and hot water, but because of ineffective management within the municipality they don't get much of either. The toilet in the municipal building is a room with a hole in the floor.

"Novozavidovo is dying," Sagbo said in an interview in the ramshackle Municipal Building. "This is my home, my town. We can't live like this."

He is gaining some successes. He mobilized residents to raise money and turn dilapidated lots between buildings into colorful playgrounds with new swings and painted fences. When he walks around his neighborhood, he's greeted with handshakes and infectious smiles, and he responds in his fluent, French-African-twanged Russian. Boys wave to him, as if they're reminding him that he promised them a soccer field.

The residents welcome his presence and appreciate what he's doing. "We don't care about his race," said Danilenko. "We consider him one of us."

People around the world are curiously asking, is this really happening in Russia, once an incubator of racism and still a somewhat insular society? But times are changing rapidly, and people around the world, whatever their ethnicity, have similar basic needs for freedom, justice and equality. As Sagbo said, "I am one of them. I am home here."

Roland B. Marke is a published author, poet, songwriter, and activist for the voiceless and underprivileged around the world, whose deep root is from Sierra Leone, West Africa. His short stories and poems have been anthologized. His website is www.rolandmarke.com.

View the Worldpress Desk’s profile for Roland Bankole Marke.

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Alternatives to the War on Drugs

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Building Bridges: Interview with Gill Buttery

Ambrose Musiyiwa
September 14, 2010

A man who fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo sits with his back packed outside a house in North London where he was staying for a while, this particular night not knowing where he will sleep.

Gill Buttery—development worker with Leicester, City of Sanctuary—shares her views on the work the organization is doing to build bridges between asylum seekers and the individuals and organizations that have a presence in Leicester.

Ambrose Musiyiwa: What is Leicester, City of Sanctuary?

Gill Buttery: The City of Sanctuary movement is a network of groups, up and down the country, each aiming to build a culture of hospitality towards asylum seekers and refugees, but each following its own route—depending on the local situation and local needs—to achieve that aim. Leicester, City of Sanctuary works across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

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A lot of the work we do involves communicating with individuals, groups of people and organizations. We try to counter the myths about asylum seekers that are often promoted by the media. A lot of these myths are readily accepted as fact, but once people know more about the true situation facing asylum seekers, a lot of them express a natural sense of indignation at the way asylum seekers are treated and they express compassion towards asylum seekers.

From there, we try to get people actively involved—for example, by donating an outgrown school uniform to help an asylum seeker child fit in at school; by dropping off a few tins of food to the British Red Cross to be handed out as part of a food parcel; by welcoming asylum seekers into an established group such as a chess club; or by setting up a whole new project to meet some currently unmet need.

We also try to make people aware of unjust situations like the ones that exist around Loughborough Reporting Centre. For example, one of the things that makes the reporting centre's operations unjust is that asylum seekers from across the East Midlands have to attend frequent appointments with UKBA (UK Border Agency) staff there, but while that is so, a lot of asylum seekers, like the ones who are on Section 4 and those who are destitute, are not allowed to work and do not receive any cash and therefore do not have any money for bus fare. The only way they can make the journey is if they either walk all the way to and from Loughborough or if they get the local British Red Cross Refugee Support project to foot the expense. The British Red Cross, like other voluntary sector organizations, is frequently left to fill the gaps in the limited support provided to those who claim asylum in this country.

AM: How have individuals and groups responded to the message you are bringing?

GB: Once people get beyond the misleading media headlines and start to understand the people behind the stories, then the response is usually amazing. So many people become volunteers, and give so much time, week after week. As we are a small organization with just one part-time staff member, we are totally reliant on our volunteers, and what we have achieved over the past few years is essentially down to them.

For example, following an event early last year aimed at giving potential volunteers and other organizations ideas for how they could get more involved with local asylum seekers, a small team got together and started organizing a Voucher Exchange Scheme. This initiative aimed to give asylum seekers who are on Section 4 the chance to exchange one £35 supermarket voucher per person each month. The initiative would link the asylum seeker with a supporter happy to receive a voucher in return for a regular £35 standing order payment.

The volunteers spent hours researching how similar schemes worked in other parts of the country, submitting funding applications to cover the running costs, setting up the paperwork and referral systems, talking to the referring organizations, recruiting supporters, and very soon were running two sessions a month enabling between 70 to 80 asylum seekers to take in supermarket vouchers and come away with an equivalent amount of cash, the vouchers being posted out to the supporters within days.

As well as being able to pay bus fares, this scheme enabled the asylum seekers to buy fresh fruit and vegetables from the local market, or to get winter clothing from a charity shop or car boot sale instead of having to pay high supermarket prices. Those volunteers involved got to know some of the asylum seekers well over the year the scheme ran, and I know many are now proud to call each other friends.

Many groups and organizations are also now more actively involved in welcoming asylum seekers. Those who have centrally placed buildings, like the Secular Society or the Quakers, regularly make their buildings available for meetings and events.

Those groups who meet regularly, like the Red Leicester Choir, now actively reach out to the asylum seeker community and welcome them into their group. The choir holds weekly practice sessions, fundraises to support good causes, and regularly performs their repertoire of songs from all over the world at local events.

Until a few months ago the Red Leicester Choir didn't have any asylum seekers as part of the choir, but now they have. The voices of asylum seekers add a new depth when the choir sings songs of worldwide celebration, struggle and change.

Being part of a group like the Red Leicester Choir gives asylum seekers a chance to be involved in something that's already happening in the city, and it gives the group the opportunity to interact with asylum seekers in an environment where everyone is able to contribute and where immigration status just doesn't matter.

AM: What would you say are some of the main challenges that asylum seekers face in Leicester?

GB: For a large number it's destitution. Not allowing asylum seekers to work and then denying a large percentage of them access to any benefits and accommodation, including hostels for the homeless, has got to be an unacceptable way of treating people wherever they are from.

Many asylum seekers find themselves trapped in this situation for years and years, relying on hand-outs from charities for food to eat, and the good will of other asylum seeker friends for a sofa or floor to sleep on and, when even that is not available, going hungry and sleeping on the streets.

In other parts of the country, accommodation projects have been set up specifically to help people in this situation, either through shared houses, where properties are used to accommodate a number of people; hosting schemes, where people with a spare room make it available either short term or longer term; or night shelters, where larger buildings are used for temporary overnight accommodation. There have been attempts in the past to set up a similar, local project, but until recently they have struggled to gain support for the project and failed to get it running.

Two years ago we started looking closely at some of the more successful projects in places like Manchester and Coventry, talking to those involved and getting a better understanding of how to get a project established. We arranged meetings with people from various organizations including the British Red Cross and Refugee Action, the Diocese of Leicester and a couple of housing associations, the outcome being a joint project to set up and run a shared house for six destitute women, which is due to open later this year.

Accessing good quality legal advice locally is also a major problem. Successful asylum claims need experienced, thorough solicitors to ensure cases are prepared and delivered effectively, but unfortunately those experienced, thorough solicitors are few and far between.

Asylum cases that don't get good quality legal support—or as happens in a lot of cases, no legal support at all—usually lead to a refusal, followed by an appeal, then another refusal and so on, with the asylum seeker not willing to accept the decision because they know their case hasn't been heard properly because they didn't have adequate legal representation.

Isolation and the lack of something to do are big problems for asylum seekers. Those who cannot speak English cannot access ESOL courses for the first six months they are here and this completely limits their options day-to-day. Even those with good English have very limited access to courses or activities to productively spend the time during the many months of the asylum process, and those who come here as highly skilled professionals are not allowed to work and support themselves or contribute to this country, their skills becoming rusty and their confidence fading over the years.

As well as the negative effects on the self-esteem of the asylum seekers, this enforced inactivity is often interpreted by the media and the general public as justification for the stereotype that asylum seekers are really just scroungers who are here for the benefits, one of the many myths we have to constantly work to challenge.

AM: What effect do these restrictions have on asylum seekers?

GB: Having faced situations in their home countries that forced them to flee and seek a place of safety in another country, and survived, seeking asylum in this country can be the final straw.

Generally asylum seekers want an opportunity to tell their story and to be listened to, to have their experiences and their fears acknowledged, and to be allowed to start to rebuild their lives.

Unfortunately the often inadequate legal support provided means that in too many cases an incomplete story is given and then dismissed as not being plausible, questioning the honesty of the asylum seeker, casting doubt on their integrity throughout the long period of the asylum process.

Coming to terms with what has happened in the past and starting to move on is impossible during this time, when choices about where to live, who with, and how to pass the time each day are taken away, meaning lives are often put on hold for long periods of time.

Many asylum seekers suffer from anxiety, stress and depression at some point during their asylum claim. Insomnia is common, not surprising with so much time to think, about the lack of progress year after year, and about the uncertain future ahead. For some a period in hospital is necessary to help stabilize the situation. Others become media headlines when, unable to cope, they take their own lives.

AM: Why do you think these restrictions are there?

GB: In general people come into the U.K. for many different reasons. Most come to join other family members, to find work or to study. Most are difficult to restrict as many people from other parts of the world have the right to come here for various reasons.

Those claiming asylum are not allowed to work, have very limited opportunity to study, and are a very small percentage of those entering the country, and yet, as a group they have become a scapegoat targeted by the media and politicians alike.

Asylum seekers are here because they have been through traumatic times. They are relatively few in number and they have many day-to-day problems to deal with and so are not often in a position to challenge the negative myths and stereotypes that are so frequently repeated by those who should know better. There are now a growing number of organizations who are speaking out on their behalf, who challenge media misrepresentation, who campaign for changes in the law to remove some of these restrictions, and who reach out to asylum seekers to let them know we are here to support them.

Immigration into the U.K. needs to be controlled, and claiming asylum as a system is open to abuse, so there needs to be regulation and restrictions in place to minimize that abuse, but when those regulations and restrictions can have such a devastating impact on the lives of so many people, can they really be justified?

AM: If you could change anything about the way this country deals with asylum seekers, what would you change?

GB: Having an asylum system that is as complex and rigid as ours needs careful navigation by someone who understands it. Expecting an asylum seeker who has recently fled persecution in their home country to successfully find their way through it, often with limited English and a lack of effective legal support, is unrealistic and unsurprisingly leads to a very high percentage of initial refusals.

Effective legal representation from the start would stop the refusal-appeal, refusal-appeal cycle that can drag on for years. In the long run, if people have proper legal support from the start, most asylum cases will be completed within months instead of years, with an outcome that both sides can accept because the preparation and examination of the case has been thorough.

This would mean those asylum seekers who are refused will know they do not have a legitimate future in this country and must take steps to leave. For those who are accepted as having a well-founded fear of being persecuted, instead of years of enforced reliance on inadequate state support or handouts and a life in limbo, they would be in a position to very quickly start to rebuild their lives and start contributing to the economy of this country.

View the Worldpress Desk’s profile for Ambrose Musiyiwa.

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The Cost of Mental Health in Europe

Justin Frewen and Dr. Anna Datta
August 26, 2010

Students participate in a mental health awareness exercise in England.

The past few decades have seen a steady rise in the overall global burden of mental health problems. At the turn of the third millennium, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that mental health problems were at an aggregate point prevalence of approximately 10 percent of all adults worldwide, or 450 million people.

In addition to the distress mental health problems can cause individuals, they can also have serious economic consequences. This is borne out by a range of studies looking at the economic cost of mental health.

The 2000 International Labour Organization (ILO) report, "Mental Health in the Workplace," estimated that mental health cost as much as 3 to 4 percent of the GNP of E.U. states. A 2004 review by Sobocki et al, "The Cost of Depression in Europe," calculated that depression alone had an economic cost for the EU25 and European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) countries of up to €118 billion, or €253 per person. Almost two thirds of these costs arose as a direct result of lost productivity through early retirement, premature mortality or sick leave. Therefore, healthcare costs comprised only a minority of these costs.

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However, these studies fail to account for the human and social costs of mental health issues. One analysis that did provide an economic weighting for such costs was the United Kingdom´s Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health´s policy paper, "The Economic and Social Costs of Mental Health." In this analysis, the human costs of mental health issues—the "adverse effects of mental illness on the health-related quality of life"—were estimated. Taking 2002-2003 as its base period, this report calculated the total cost of mental health problems to the English economy at £77 billion annually, of which £41.8 billion, or 54 percent, was comprised of the human cost of mental health.

The economic evaluation of mental health provides a number of benefits. Primarily, it serves as a reminder that failing to invest seriously in mental health can have serious economic consequences. It also helps clarify the relative priority of various mental health problems through providing an economic measure of their importance. Furthermore, economic analysis can gauge the actual costs of mental ill-health with respect to different social categories. This will enable an improved level of debate as to where mental health service resources might optimally be invested.

Social determinants and health inequity

While genetic factors help determine the dissimilar health prospects of individuals, they are unable to explain larger scale variations between social groups. Furthermore, they cannot account for rapid changes in health prospects and life expectancies over relatively short timescales.

As the WHO emphasized, "The new discoveries on the human genome are exciting in the promise they hold for advances in the understanding and treatment of specific diseases. But however important individual genetic susceptibilities to disease may be, the common causes of the ill health that affects populations are environmental: They come and go far more quickly than the slow pace of genetic change because they reflect the changes in the way we live."

The variance in health risks between various social categories is known as health inequity/inequality. Health inequity measures the regular and consistent divergences in health expectations of differing social groupings as opposed to the random and non-systematic disparities in health status between individuals.

Using 2004 data, Mackenback et al estimated that health inequalities were responsible for reducing the average life expectancy across the EU25 by 1.8 years, or 11.4 million years in total. Healthy life expectancy was reduced by an average 5.1 years, or 33 million years in total. In total, health inequities resulted in over 700,000 deaths per year and 33 million cases of ill health.

These social determinant-derived health inequalities entail a significant economic cost, equivalent to 20 percent of total healthcare costs and 15 percent of social security benefits.

One of the most important social determinants is poverty. As the WHO Regional Committee for Europe explained, "Whether defined by income, socioeconomic status, living conditions or educational level, poverty is an important determinant of mental disability and is associated with lower life expectancy and increased prevalence of alcohol and drug abuse, depression, suicide, antisocial behavior and violence."

Policy implications

Social determinants will arguably have the greatest impact on mental health policy. Whereas in the past mental health policy has concentrated on how to provide medical care at an optimal cost, it is now understood that mental health promotion involves a panoply of social and economic sectors.

Taking a determinants approach to mental health promotion will require action across the width and breadth of society and economy. Future mental health should not be limited to the health sector. Instead, there will be a need for "coherent action" across a range of social determinants.

Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, explained, "Health inequity really is a matter of life and death. ... Health systems will not naturally gravitate towards equity. Unprecedented leadership is needed that compels all actors, including those beyond the health sector, to examine their impact on health."

Furthermore, the mental health sector will need to advocate and provide assistance to key economic and social sectors so they can play their part in improving public mental health. According to Amnesty International, "As well as granting an entitlement to a system of mental healthcare, the state must protect other rights, such as housing, employment and education. These other rights are sometimes described as the underlying determinants of health because enjoying these rights can contribute to enjoying the right to health."

The individual and uncoordinated tackling of isolated social determinants will not be sufficient. Coherent and holistic policies and programs of action need to be developed so as to respond to the unequal distribution of negative social determinants amongst the various socio-economic categories. Of primary importance will be the drawing-up and implementation of inter-departmental policies and plans of action to eradicate structural inequality and endemic poverty.

Tackling the social determinants that contribute to mental health problems will reap benefits in a wide range of areas. The WHO explained that "by tackling some of the material and social injustices, policy will not only improve health and well-being, but may also reduce a range of other social problems that flourish alongside ill health and are rooted in some of the same socioeconomic processes."

Addressing the social determinants that impact negatively upon mental health requires a long-term agenda. Moreover, it may well entail a radical revision of Europe´s current social and economic structures and systems. Failure to do so, however, will not only lead to many European citizens suffering from potentially avoidable mental health problems but also result in a substantial drain on the region´s economic resources.

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State-Building Woes of the U.N.

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Free Trade, Disputed Waters

Simon Roughneen
August 15, 2010

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has often been sidelined by bilateral dealings between China and Asean member-states. But on January 1, the organization scored a major victory when the free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Asean came into effect.

The FTA was a logical follow-up to the facts on the ground: Trade between the two sides more than quadrupled between 2001 and 2009, from $41.6 billion to $213 billion. With the FTA in place, trade between China and Asean is expected to surpass that between the United States and Asean by the end of 2012.
Also on the positive side, in late 2009, China and Asean decided to set up the $10 billion China-Asean Investment Cooperation Fund to underwrite infrastructure, energy, and information and communications technology projects across the region.

Some Asean members have substantial reserves of resources such as oil, natural gas, coal and other commodities that China needs, and new infrastructure development will be required to access them. In return, Asean member-states and their flagship companies get access to the vast and growing Chinese market, highlighted in July by the pledge of Thailand’s CP Group to expand its retail business in China to 1,000 outlets over the coming decade.

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The full story of China-Asean relations, however, is a mix of good and bad. Both Thailand and Vietnam recently complained to China about the impact of a series of dams, both existing and proposed, to be built on the Mekong River (known as the Lancang River in China). A Chinese public relations exercise bringing lawmakers from neighboring countries to view dam projects in Yunnan failed to dampen anger. Thai officials said that the existing four dams have compounded the effects of drought for millions of Southeast Asians who depend on the river for their livelihood.

China’s bilateral trade with Burma reached $2.9 billion in 2009, second only to trade with Thailand among Asean countries, and China is the third-largest investor in Burma after Thailand and Singapore. With China set to pay the Burmese regime an estimated $970 million a year for gas from the Shwe field, economic links between the two neighbors will continue to grow. There were a few turbulent months after bilateral relations were damaged by Burma’s attack on the ethnic Chinese Kokang militia in Shan State last August, but China’s Premier Wen Jiabao received the red-carpet treatment in Naypyidaw in June, and some observers see Burma gradually slipping into a vassal-state relationship with China—although this probably underestimates the wiles of a Burmese regime adept at playing big powers against each other.

Vietnam is one Asean member-state that bristles at the notion of being a Chinese vassal. But Chinese investment in Vietnam comprises a third of all ongoing construction projects such as railways, ports and power plants, and the Vietnamese doi moi system—economic liberalization coupled with a one-party state—is modeled on Chinese reforms under Deng Xiaoping. One investment now causing friction, however, is the multi-billion dollar Chinalco-run bauxite mine in Vietnam’s central highlands. The Vietnamese are angry that 20,000 Chinese workers are filling jobs that locals could perform, perhaps contributing to Hanoi’s recently announced visa restrictions that are aimed at stemming the flow of illegal Chinese labor into the country.

The ongoing dispute over who owns what in the South China Sea puts China at odds with five Asean member-states, Vietnam included. At the turn of the year, China angered Hanoi by setting up local authorities on the disputed Paracel Islands, occupied by China since 1974 but regarded by Vietnam as part of its territory. In addition, the Philippines currently administers several islands claimed by China.

In 2002, the Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea was set up as a mechanism to mitigate rising tensions over the maritime area, but China prefers to proceed on a bilateral basis rather than with the 10-member grouping as a whole, an approach rejected by Asean. The United States is backing Asean as it sees Chinese dominance of the South China Sea as a threat to American interests in the Asia-Pacific region, where it maintains treaty alliances with Australia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington is seeking to work with Asean nations, China and other countries to develop an international mechanism to resolve the disputes. She said the process should be institutionalized through Asean and based on the international law of the sea.

“The United States supports a collaborative diplomatic process by all claimants for resolving the various territorial disputes without coercion,” Clinton told reporters at the end of the two-day Asean Regional Forum in Vietnam in July. “We oppose the use or threat of force by any claimant.”

China’s claims in the South China Sea seem partly designed to keep the United States out of the region. Beijing has accused the United States of using naval ships in the area to conduct espionage, and China’s own claims over the sea would, if realized, prevent the United States from accessing the waters. China is currently retrofitting the 67,000-ton ex-Soviet vessel Varyag as an aircraft carrier. This would likely give China an unmatched advantage in any bilateral territorial dispute in the South China Sea and would give it enhanced leverage over the United States.

The United States is trying to gain traction with Asean and its member-states in other areas. In 2009, the United States and Asean signed a Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. In addition, the United States has embarked on an outreach effort with the Burmese regime, promising relaxed sanctions in the event of reforms in Burma. Old staples—such as the annual Cobra Gold military exercises with Thailand—also remain in place, and the United States continues to court Indonesia and Vietnam as growing political and economic friends in the region.

For Asean, however, the state of U.S.-China relations might have more of an impact on member-states than issues directly between the states and the two world powers. Most troublesome may be the public disquiet being voiced by U.S. multinationals about the changing business environment in China. In recent years, business interests have ensured that, despite their rivalry, U.S.-China relations have been kept on a fairly even keel. But giants such as Google and General Electric have recently broken taboos about criticizing the Chinese government, complaining that China is hindering the operations of multinational investors and boosting its own state-linked companies.

This could be a double blow to Asean members. To start with, it comes just as China begins to promote domestic consumer spending, with the vast domestic market representing the pot at the end of the rainbow for companies setting up shop in China. In addition, if U.S. companies sour on China, one of the effective brakes on bilateral rivalries coming to a head will be removed, and increased friction between China and the United States would have serious implications for Asean.

This article was originally published by The Irrawady: www.irrawaddy.org/.

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Sentimental Journey for the Philippines

Simon Roughneen
June 13, 2010

Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino in Bukidnon in Sept. 2009.

When former President and anti-dictatorship figurehead Cory Aquino passed away last August, the outpouring of grief and nostalgia did more than just make for a memorable funeral and headline obituaries for a national icon. It contributed to the landslide win for her son Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III in the May 10 presidential election.

Initially unsure whether or not to run, the low-key senator spent time in a Carmelite monastery, attempting to discern what was God's will for him and his country. He was the clear leader for most of the pre-electoral polling period, with only eventual 3rd-place finisher Senator Manny Villar ever looking like threatening Aquino's lead.

Villar's campaign went off the rails as Noynoy fingered him as being allegedly too close to the deeply unpopular outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and for links to a corruption scandal.

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Even before the poll took place, odds were short that Aquino would win. Noynoy supporter and head of the influential Makati Business Club Alberto Lim said that Aquino's decision to run was "a game changer" that left the other candidates trailing in his wake.

Rooting out graft was a key campaign issue to which all candidates paid lip service. Ordinary Filipinos see dismantling cronyism as the best bet to addressing the growing poverty and massive rich-poor divide in the 7000-island archipelago.

Despite his pro-poor rhetoric, Villar's wealth and massive campaign spending was not enough to prevent him from fading to a distant third, well behind aging former President Joseph "Erap" Estrada. Erap was ousted in 2001 in what was partly a street protest against corruption in his office and partly a palace coup orchestrated by then Vice President Arroyo, who belatedly latched onto the public protests to instigate nine years of GMA rule.

But Erap retained a loyal following among many poorer voters, despite his propensity for verbal faux pas. Once asked to rate himself as a politician, he replied, "On a scale of one to 10, I give myself 70 percent." As 1999 drew to a close, he appeared on TV ushering in the new millennium. When everyone around him was counting down to the New Year, Estrada was counting up. Such gaffes have made him the butt of many jokes, but simultaneously endeared him to many Filipinos who elide these all-too-human failings with his portrayal of working-class heroes during a long movie career.

The sentiment did not end there. The Marcos family is back big-time, with the deceased dictator Ferdinand's widow Imelda winning the Congress seat in the family stronghold of Ilocos Norte. Son "Bongbong" (Ferdinand Jr.) took a Senate seat. Many Filipinos with whom I spoke over election week said that nostalgia for the Marcos era was growing—quite an indictment of the outgoing GMA administration. It is something akin to a hypothetical Burma, 20 years after the fall of the current junta, lamenting its absence due to the failings of the elected politicians who succeeded.

The early years of the Marcos era were praised for their relative economic stability and prosperity. When asked if the growing appreciation for this time extended to the latter years of the Marcos dictatorship, people said no. The point is that under Arroyo, most Filipinos feel that their country has either stagnated or gone backwards. Despite around 5 percent average annual economic growth, poverty has increased. Around 10 percent of GDP comes from remittances sent home by millions of emigrants, who are so important and ubiquitous they have an official title: overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). There is a dedicated OFW section at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, and there are various offices and departments dealing with OFW matters throughout government departments and the diplomatic corps.

As usual, the election campaign was more form than content, with concert-style rallies featuring TV stars and pop musicians but little or no policy angle. With formal political parties little more than vehicles for their A-list candidates, a coterie of TV celebrities and movie stars have made the jump to political office. Some are big-hitters internationally. While the sporting world wonders whether or not his much-anticipated fight with the undefeated Floyd Mayweather, Jr. will go ahead, world welterweight boxing champion Manny Pacquaio took time out to win a congressional seat in the country's south.

The fact remains that most of the 18,000 elected politicians in the Philippines come from a narrow range of around 200 political dynasties and elites. If voter choices seem somewhat retrograde or superficial, the sad fact is that ordinary Filipinos do not have too many options to choose from in what is more oligarchy than democracy.

And while Aquino has an evocative family name and background, heir to legacy established by a martyr father and humble yet revolutionary mother, he is at the same time part of that same elite., from an old landed family based in Central Luzon north of Manila.

He exhibits little of the swaggering brashness or materialism that is the stock of the average Filipino politician, but has he the stomach to tackle the elite-based system head-on? It is a big ask, one that proved beyond his esteemed mother. It might even mean doing away with some valuable Aquino family assets. Bobby Tauzon of the Center for Empowerment and Governance in Manila told said, "It would take a lot of self-transformation that includes betraying your own feudal interests—such as giving up the family-owned Hacienda Luisita—if he decides to take the first significant step for a genuine land reform, for example."

Even with the best intentions, Aquino's room for maneuver will be limited, due to the entrenched interests he will have to face. Malcolm Cook of the Lowy Institute, a think-tank dedicated to Asian politics and international affairs, said, "It is really more the system in the Philippines rather than who wins in it that is important and the root to the country's deep political problems."

Another hurdle may be the outgoing president. Mrs. Arroyo is now a Congressional representative, where she hopes to build a power base to at least undermine Aquino's pledges to have her investigated for various abuses during her term of office. She may even try to push for Aquino's impeachment and seek to divert power from the presidency to the Congress, if she can commandeer sufficient numbers in the House.

That may not come to pass, however. Mon Casiple is head of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, a Manila-based policy analysis organization. He thinks that the sketchy party system in the Philippines might work to Aquino's advantage by the time the newly elected representatives sit down in July. He said, "The trend, hitherto, is for the new president to exert political pressure on the lower House such that, at the end, he gets his way and organizes the majority around the programs and initiatives of the executive branch."

The president-elect can do without any distractions, as he will have a full agenda. Over a third of the country's 90 million+ inhabitants live on less than $1 a day, while OFWs now number 8 million. Long-standing insurgencies by Muslim rebels in the south and by communists across the archipelago defy resolution. His pledge to root out corruption means that the public will want to see some important heads roll for past scandals, but a real root-and-branch, anti-graft drive will require more than showcase incarcerations.

How far Aquino can take his reform drive remains to be seen. Writing over 200 years ago, Irish novelist Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey unwittingly set an implicit target for Aquino, as the new president of the Philippines ends his own sentimental journey to the Malacanang Palace. "He found a city of bricks, he left one of marble."

Simon Roughneen was in Manila in early May to cover the Filipino elections. This article was originally published by The Irrawaddy: www.irrawaddy.org/.

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The Lessons of Bhopal and BP

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Kyrgyzstan: the Road Not Taken

Op-Ed

Michael N. Nagler and S. Francesca Po
July 11, 2010

A Kyrgyz police officer injured during a riot.

Until recently, Kyrgyzstan—a landlocked country with an 80 percent Muslim population—was one of the safest countries in Central Asia. However, its neighbor Uzbekistan, which has a 90 percent Muslim population, has suffered from many problems, such as religious extremism. These have created a volatile atmosphere in the country. Consequently, many Uzbek nationals have sought refuge in the safer countries of Central Asia, like Kyrgyzstan.

But when there is tension in their new host countries, such as when Kyrgyzstan's President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was forced out of office in April after bloody anti-government protests in the capital of Bishkek, the Uzbek minority has found itself a convenient scapegoat for the ensuing unrest. The recent volatility surrounding the ousting of the Kyrgyz president triggered knee-jerk violence against the Uzbeks, who were accused of interfering in the country's internal political conflict.

According to various estimates, the recent violence in June has left at least 2,000 Uzbeks dead and some 375,000 displaced, as well as hundreds of Uzbek businesses and homes looted and burned to the ground. Some believe that this violence was instigated and perpetrated by organized armed groups. As a result, despite the peaceful vote on a constitutional referendum at the end of June, making the country a parliamentary democracy, many fear that even more violence—possibly on the level of another Rwanda—could occur.

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In light of this possibility, the international community may imagine it is faced with either the option of risking getting embroiled in a military quagmire, or feeling guilty about doing nothing. However, there is another option. There is a dream that Mahatma Gandhi almost put into practice: the Shanti Sena, or a "peace army," which could prove useful in this situation.

The idea behind the Shanti Sena was that trained nonviolent volunteers would live in a place with conflict long enough to gain the confidence of the locals as a neutral third party. They would then provide services to promote peace in times of tension: abating dangerous rumors and misconceptions, accompanying vulnerable persons under threat, mediating when asked and—if need be—interposing themselves between conflicting parties if it was too late to defuse tensions.

This practice is more commonly known as "unarmed civilian peacekeeping" and it has had tremendous success, despite the fact that it is largely ignored by mainstream media.

In 1981, the Shanti Sena concept inspired the formation of Peace Brigades International (PBI). PBI's main focus became the protective accompaniment of threatened human rights workers, especially in Central America where their presence facilitated several peace-building initiatives and allowed human rights organizations to keep operating despite death threats. Eventually, in accordance with its motto, PBI "made a space for peace."

Taking their cue from PBI, Americans Mel Duncan and David Hartsough decided to dedicate their lives to expanding and professionalizing other such peace teams. They helped found Nonviolent Peaceforce in 2002, a global peacekeeping organization composed of trained civilians from around the world who apply proven nonviolent strategies like protective accompaniment and rumor abatement in areas with conflict. Nonviolent Peaceforce has also helped create space for local peacemakers to carry out their work in areas like Sri Lanka, the Philippines and southern Sudan, and they hope to expand to other areas in need.

Kyrgyzstan could benefit from this kind of a neutral, nonviolent third party presence to teach and demonstrate to the local population that ethnic violence does not solve anything—but nonviolence just might.

In Kyrgyzstan in particular, peace armies could act as a protective force, escorting and defending targeted minorities like the Uzbeks. Nonviolent Peaceforce has already sent an exploratory team to the southern Caucasus, where there have been multiple interstate and ethnic conflicts in the recent past. With an invitation from the new Kyrgyz government, and international support and funding, Nonviolent Peaceforce could get to work in southern Kyrgyzstan and help the country transition—peacefully—into a parliamentary democracy.

Every time nonviolence has been used correctly it has been a brilliant success—and almost every time, barely anyone notices. Until the media catch on, it's up to the public to get informed about unarmed civilian peacekeeping. For if we know of no alternative, we may continue to flounder in the old dilemma of violence or inaction.

Michael Nagler is professor emeritus at University of California, Berkeley, founder of the Metta Center for Nonviolence, and author of the award-winning book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future. S. Francesca Po served in the Central Asia region of the Peace Corps from 2006 until 2008 and currently teaches religious studies at the University of San Francisco and St. Joseph Notre Dame High School. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service: www.commongroundnews.org.

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Red Shirts Rally on Fourth Anniversary of Coup

Simon Roughneen
September 22, 2010

Red Shirts protect themselves with a bamboo barricade during their protests in May in Bangkok, Thailand.

I feel fear, we don't know what this is," said Zhao Fei, who had just arrived in Bangkok from Shenzhen in China. She and her two friends looked lost, wheeling their pink, silver and navy cases among Red Shirt protesters at the same intersection where, four months ago to the day, the Thai army launched a final assault on the group's mass anti-government protest that occupied this luxury shopping district in Bangkok.

"We were scared coming through the crowd in the traffic," she said, admitting that her group did not realize that a political rally was scheduled for the center of Bangkok, where they hoped to stay until Wednesday—"to do some shopping"—before flying south to the beach resort city of Phuket.

An estimated 7,000 Red Shirts were flying red balloons and weaving a street-wide web of red ribbon, the end of a day-long commemoration of the September 19, 2006 army coup that deposed then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

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For many, yesterday's protest revived memories of the March-to-May rally that degenerated into violence that left over 90 people dead and almost 2,000 injured. Thailand's important tourist sector, accounting for 6 percent of the country's economy, was badly hit during the protests, with hotel occupancy in Bangkok down 20 percent on average.

Sunday's demonstration saw traffic diverted from the Rajaprasong intersection, where some of the city's largest shopping centers and high-end hotels are located, along with the famous Erawan Buddhist shrine. Despite the current State of Emergency in Bangkok, which outlaws public gatherings of more than five people, the police allowed the rally to take place, while the Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Situation, the government body formed during the mass protest earlier this year, set up a weekend "war room" to keep tabs on the Red Shirt protests taking place in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

According to Red Shirt leaders, the violence-strewn mass protest from March to May was about "democracy," but protesters I spoke with today said this one-day event was more about "justice." While the atmosphere was festive for the most part, the Red Shirts carried some fiery political messages. Draped across the overpass traversing the intersection read a banner saying, "Who is the Killer?"

Oy, a 51-year-old housewife living in Bangkok, spent her afternoon carrying a placard listing Red Shirt grievances with the current government. Her placard claimed, controversially, that 700 Red Shirts were killed during the protests. "We feel we have to do something to remember the people who died, or there will be no hope," Oy said. "We are innocent, we are peaceful, and we are not armed."

On April 1, still-unidentified "men in black" were deemed responsible for the death of a former royal bodyguard during the first military attempt to disperse the Red Shirt protest. On May 19, after Red Shirt leaders told the remaining protestors to leave the protest site, black-clad militants fought the Thai army as it advanced on the main rally stage, firing grenades and seriously wounding a Canadian journalist.

Listed as the 23rd-wealthiest Thai in a recent Forbes survey, Thaksin is regarded as the funder-in-chief of the Red Shirt movement. He has been on the run since fleeing Thailand—and corruption charges—in 2008. Last night he tweeted a message saying that he hoped for "reconciliation" in Thailand, adding that he is currently in Lebanon.

Red Shirts say their movement is animated by perceived injustice and double standards, with Thaksin and successor parties finding themselves out of power after a 2008 anti-Thaksin Yellow Shirt protest and ensuing coalition party defections that resulted in the current Democrat Party, Abhisit Vejajjiva-led government coming to power.

While the change of government was legal, Red Shirts believe that it happened due to political and legal machinations. On Sunday morning, Red Shirt leader Jaran Dittapichai published a statement titled "Four Years After the Coup," claiming that "the Courtiers disqualified two prime ministers and the People Power Party" (a party set up after Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai—Thais Love Thais—Party was itself disbanded).

"The Courtiers" is apparently a reference to the "elite groups" that Red Shirts see as the puppet-masters behind the various moves to oust their allies from government. Yellow Shirts and pro-government allies regard Thaksin as the driving force behind the Red Shirts, and based their protests against the rule of his administrations and successor governments on what they viewed as his anti-royalist leanings.

One of the previously disqualified lawmakers was Pongthep Thepkanchana, the former deputy leader of Thai Rak Thai. I met him on a walkabout at the Red Shirt rally on Sunday, where he posed for photos and pressed the flesh. "He is a good man, a future prime minister," said one of the ladies who beamed beside him as friends and family snapped away.

Peua Thai—the current incarnation of Thai Rak Thai—would be favored to top the polls in any election, and will be heartened by the turnout in central Bangkok on Sunday. However, all may not be well inside party ranks. A recent leadership overhaul resulted in the outgoing party head Yongyuth Wichaidit resuming his leadership post after an apparent disagreement over a successor.

Laughing off the various glowing endorsements from Red Shirt supporters, Pongthep turned somber as the cameras stopped clicking. "Our democracy is damaged, and the coup of 2006 caused so much trouble for Thailand, which is not over yet," he said.

This article was originally published by The Irrawaddy: www.irrawaddy.org/.

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Thailand Bouncing Back

Simon Roughneen
August 8, 2010

A Thai worker inspects ingots.

Despite political upheaval, Thailand's economy is likely to grow by 6 to 7 percent in 2010, though a slowdown in demand elsewhere could offset this, according to Finance Minister Korn Chatikanvanij.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva told a seminar on the Asean Free Trade Area that "exports of both agricultural and industrial goods are doing well and the outlook for the remaining months is also promising, driven by growing Asean economies and the global economic recovery." He said that for the first half of 2010, Thailand's exports came to a total of $93 billion, up 37 percent year-on-year.

However, sounding a note of caution, Finance Minster Korn told a gathering at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Thailand on Wednesday night that the country's trade- and export-dependent economy means that growth is predicated on demand elsewhere, with a possible slowdown in China causing worry, given that Thailand is already suffering from a drop-off in trade with Europe, which accounts for 12 percent of Thai exports.

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The weakness of the euro against the Thai baht has contributed to a drop-off in tourist numbers, Korn said. Tourism accounts for 6 to 7 percent of Thailand's GDP and upward of a million jobs are tied to the tourism sector, with around 14 million visitors to the country each year. Korn said that Thailand needs "to shift its approach to the tourist sector," citing the possibility of more co-investment and joint ventures from overseas.

However, the relative winnowing-out of tourists' spending money is not thought to be as significant a factor in Thailand's tourism woes as the country's four years of on-off political turmoil.

Previously, William Heinecke, CEO of Minor Group, a leisure company with operations in Thailand, lamented the impact of Thailand's political turmoil on his sector and suggested that the government lift the current state of emergency to help stimulate a tourism rebound.

Speaking at the same forum, Dusit Nontanakorn, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said that "tourism numbers are picking up now," with hotel occupancy now between 40 to 50 percent, well up from the 10 to 20 percent lows experienced during the Red Shirt protests and Bangkok street violence during March and May.

Asked if economic policy had a role to play in addressing Thailand's political conflict, Korn said, "In politics perception counts, and in spite of my belief that this government has done more to alleviate poverty than any previous administration, many people regard this government as not one for the poor, so we have to address this problem."

Acknowledging that aspects of Thailand's economy are skewed toward the wealthy, Korn said that 90 percent of tax revenue comes from employment, but only 10 percent is taxed from assets. "This puts an unfair burden on the ordinary worker and is something we need to deal with," he said. He added that Thailand needs to do more to ensure capital support for small- and medium-sized enterprises, which are "the biggest employers in Thailand."

Although exports will remain an important driver of growth in Thailand, particularly in the run up to 2015 and the planned creation of an Asean free-trade zone, longer-term growth may require stronger domestic fundamentals—and this will depend greatly on political stability, according to Dr. Sompop Manarungsan, an economist at Chulalongkorn University.

The feel-good figures bandied about by the PM and finance minister might have to be reeled back in, however, as the full impact of Thailand's political standoff is revealed. According to a note from the Roubini Global Economics think tank (GRE), "Thailand will give back some of its gains as violent political protests brought all but the export sector to a halt in Q2. Public investment and exports will keep Thailand from dipping back into recession, but growth will run below potential because of political turmoil, which has robbed two percentage points of GDP growth every year since 2006. Sounding a longer-term alarm, the RGE added that "growth will slow to 3 percent in 2011 as Eurozone export and tourist demand retreats."

Nonetheless, according to Korn, Thailand has big plans. The country is already the world's largest rice exporter, but "the opportunity for Thailand to be the main food supplier to countries like China, Korea and India is immense." He said that realizing such plans means that Thailand needs to invest heavily in education, capital access and irrigation. However, Thailand is involved in a dispute with China over the Mekong River, with Thailand's agriculture badly affected by falling water levels on the river, something predicted to get worse as China plans up to a dozen new dams on the Lancang, the Chinese name for the Mekong River.

This article was originally published by The Irrawaddy: www.irrawaddy.org/.

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